Development
The D-1 Derringer light twin design was originally designed in 1958 by John Thorp as the Thorp T-17 a twin-engined development of his Thorp T-11 Sky Scooter. The design was taken over by George Wing of the Hi-Shear Corporation. The Derringer is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. It had room for two in an enclosed cockpit with an unusual up and backward opening canopy. It was powered by two 115hp Continental O-200 engines, one mounted on the leading edge of each wing. The prototype aircraft (registered N3621G) first flew on May 1, 1962 at Torrance. A second prototype flew in November 1964 but crashed a few weeks later due to an inflight airframe failure. A static test aircraft and two more aircraft were built for testing which resulted in the award of a type certificate on December 20, 1966. The aircraft did not go into production due to internal problems within the Hi-Shear Corporation.
The Derringer used manufacturing techniques that were considered new at the time it was developed. Butt-joined, flush-riveted, chemically-milled and stretched skins are used through the airframe.
Development of a two-seat Coin/military trainer version designated Wing D-2M Derringer was begun but failed to develop further than the design stage.
In 1978 George Wing left Hi-Shear and started the Wing Aircraft Company. The company built one-pre-production aircraft followed by six production aircraft, entering bankruptcy in July 1982, after which only one further aircraft was built before seven unfinished airframes were sold.
Nine D-1 aircraft were on the U.S. civil aircraft register in May 2009.
Read more about this topic: Wing Derringer
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“On fields all drenched with blood he made his record in war, abstained from lawless violence when left on the plantation, and received his freedom in peace with moderation. But he holds in this Republic the position of an alien race among a people impatient of a rival. And in the eyes of some it seems that no valor redeems him, no social advancement nor individual development wipes off the ban which clings to him.”
—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)
“Theories of child development and guidelines for parents are not cast in stone. They are constantly changing and adapting to new information and new pressures. There is no “right” way, just as there are no magic incantations that will always painlessly resolve a child’s problems.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“... work is only part of a man’s life; play, family, church, individual and group contacts, educational opportunities, the intelligent exercise of citizenship, all play a part in a well-rounded life. Workers are men and women with potentialities for mental and spiritual development as well as for physical health. We are paying the price today of having too long sidestepped all that this means to the mental, moral, and spiritual health of our nation.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)