Wittman Tailwind

Wittman Tailwind
Wittman Tailwind
	Wittman W-10 Tailwind
General information
Type	light aircraft
Manufacturer	homebuilt
Designer	Steve Wittman
Number built	>350

The Wittman Tailwind is a popular two-seat light aircraft for homebuilding. It is a high-wing, braced cabin monoplane of taildragger configuration. It is constructed with a steel tubing fuselage, wood wings, and fabric covering. It offers exceptional cruising speeds and is economical to operate and maintain.^[1]

Design and development

The Tailwind is the third in a series of high-wing aircraft designed by Sylvester J. "Steve" Wittman (1904–1995), a well-known air racing pilot and race plane designer, who also played an important role in the emergence of homebuilt aircraft with the Wittman Tailwind and other designs in the United States.^[2] The first, the Wittman Buttercup two-seater, and later the Wittman Big X four-seater, which was bought by Cessna to use its spring steel landing gear. The Tailwind also inspired the last iteration, the O and O Special. A model of the 1965 Wittman Tailwind may be found in the Sun 'n Fun Museum.^[3]

An inverted Oldsmobile engine used by Wittman in a Tailwind

Wittman developed the C-85 powered "Flying Carpet" in 1953, later renaming it to the "Tailwind".^[4] In 1953, the Tailwind became the first aircraft covered under the FAA's Experimental category to be certified to carry a passenger. While crude looking by modern standards, it outperformed many similar factory-built planes, and only with the advent of composite construction were new designs able to achieve similar speed per horsepower and range.^[5]

Steve Wittman and his wife were killed April 27, 1995 when their "O&O Special", a similar, larger and one-of-a-kind aircraft crashed. The propeller and some fabric covering from this "O&O Special" is on display in the Wittman hangar located on the Pioneer Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co of Corona, California acquired the rights to the Tailwind in January 1996 and became the exclusive distributor for plans and materials.^[6]

The design, has been advanced and standardised construction techniques have been established, a name synonymous with its advancement is Jim Clement. Jim, with the approval of Steve Wittman, created a series of modifications to standardise the design, this also created a lot more efficiency due to cleaner construction techniques. There are a variety of drawings available to tailor to the builders requirements. Jim, went on to build 12 Tailwinds in various configurations. One of the most famous (N6168X) was tested by the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation, or CAFE' for short, in 1994.

See CAFE' Foundation test: https://cafe.foundation/v2/research_aprs.php
Mod drawings available-: -Rear spar carry through tube moved backwards, for better headroom.; -Door shape extended for easier ingress and egress.; -Extended first station (between firewall and front door post) by 2 inches for more leg room.; -Widening of the fuselage by 3 inches.; -Introduced using fine (1.45oz) fiberglass deck cloth and using epoxy to seal the wings.; -aluminium flaps and ailerons.; -Created a tricycle gear version set of drawings.; -With consultation with Brian Alley a set of composite cowlings were made, that has given the tailwind its current standardised look.

Brian Alley, to this day, still produces the cowlings and other composite parts needed to build a Tailwind.

If you are interested in the Wittman Tailwind design, the official forum is on an email based system, Groups.io. alternatively there is a group on Facebook.

https://groups.io/g/TailwindForum/topics

Variants

W-8 Tailwind: The W-8 (initial version) updated to a new designation, the W-10 (see below).

W-9 Tailwind: Steve Wittman rebuilt his W8 with a constant-speed propeller, 35 gallon fuel tank, and a tricycle landing gear. he "dubbed" it a W9^[7]

W-10 Tailwind: Triangular tapered wingtips and longer fuselage. Steve Wittman used a variety of engines namely an inverted Oldsmobile alloy V8, Lycoming O-320 and Continental 0300.

AJEP Tailwind: Marketed in the UK by AJEP in the 1970s in both kit and ready-to-fly form.

Specifications (1953 W.8)

General characteristics

Crew: one pilot
Capacity: 1 passenger
Length: 19 ft 3 in (5.87 m)
Wingspan: 22 ft 6 in (6.98 m)
Height: 5 ft 5 in (1.7 m)
Wing area: 90 sq ft (8.3 m²)
Empty weight: 700 lb (317 kg)
Gross weight: 1,300 lb (590 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Continental 85hp to 100hp Lycoming 100hp to 135hp , 85 to 135 hp (62 to 100 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 185 mph (298 km/h, 161 kn)
Range: 600 mi (970 km, 520 nmi)
Service ceiling: 16,000 ft (4,900 m)
Rate of climb: 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s)

Specifications (W10)