M. Ray Stits est mort!
Posted: Wed 15 Jul, 2015 23:51
M. Ray Stits est mort!
M. Ray Stits le membre numéro # 136 est mort le 8 juin, 2015. Oui sont numéro était le # 136 et il aurait été bien plus bas si ce n’était que sa lettre d’invitation de la part de M. Paul Poberezny ne lui aurait été livré six (6) semaines auparavant !
Ray fut le fondateur du réseau de « Chapitre » des constructeur amateur aux États-Unis. Il travailla avec M. Paul Poberezny à l’élaboration des règles et procédure pour la constitution des « Chapitre de l’Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Lui-même créa le « Chapitre # 1 » à Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.
M. Stits à eu une fabuleuse carrière en tant que concepteur d’avions (15 modèles), mécanicien d’aéronefs et créateur du procédé « STITS » maintenant connu sous le nom « POLYFIBER » !
Entre 1948 et 1965, Ray conçu 15 avions dont il a fait les tests en vol pour 13 dernier d’entre eux. Vous vous demandez pourquoi il n’a pas fait les tests sur les deux premiers ? La raison est simple, due à sa corpulence et son poids, il était trop corpulence et pesant pour faire lest tests sur le plus petit avion monoplan (Envergure : 10 pieds et 10 pouces puis, 8 pieds et 10 pouces) et le plus petit avion biplan au monde (Envergure : 7 pieds et 2 pouces).
La liste des avions qu’a conçus M. Ray Stits ;
1. Stits Junior, world’s smallest monoplane, 8’10” span, 1948
2. Stits Sky Baby, world’s smallest biplane, 7’2” span, 1952
3. Stits SA-3A, single place, 1952
4. Stits-Besler Executive, folding wing, 1954
5. Stits Playboy, two place, 1954
6. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5A, 1955
7. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5B, 1955
8. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6A, two place, tandem, 1955
9. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6B, two place, tandem, 1955
10. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6C, two place, side by side, 1956
11. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7A, two place, 1956
12. Stits Skeeto, 265-pound ultralight, 1957
13. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7B, two place, 1957
14. Stits Skycoupe, SA-9A, two place, Type Certified, 1957-61
15. Stits Playmate, 2/3 place, folding wing, 1963-65
Dans les années 1960, M. Stits réalisa que la vente de plans pour construire des avions n’était pas très lucrative. Il se tourna vers la mécanique. Lors d’une intervention pour réparer un train d’atterrissage sur un avion en tubulure d’acier. Il faut se rappeler qu’en ces temps la seul le type de procédé « RANDOPH » était approuvé. Lorsque que Ray approcha le chalumeau Oxy-Acétylène pour effectué une soudure sur le train d’atterrissage près du fuselage encore recouvert de toile et enduit de produit « RANDOPH » ! Une petite explosion suivit par la mise en flamme de la toile de recouvrement de l’avion ! C’est après cet incident que M. Stits travailla/conçu et fit certifié le procédé appelé « STITS » pendant de nombreuse années. Son procédé contrairement à celui de « RANDOLPH » qui est basé sur des produits chimique à base de « Nitrate et Biturâtes ». Ray lui travailla avec un liquide à base de « Polyester ». M. Stits pris sa retraite officieusement en 1969, et M. Jon Goldenbaum continua à vendre les produits de conception de Ray sous le non de « POLYFIBER » par après.
M. Ray Stits a eu une très grande influence à l’aéroport de « Flabob » pour le mouvement de la construction amateur. L’aéroport et on attiré plusieurs pionniers comme M. Lou Stolp concepteur du ”Starduster”, M. Ed Marquart, dessinateur du “Marquart Charger”, et M. Bill Turner, qui conçu l’avion « Repeat » M. Turner construit trois des quatre répliques de l’avion de course propriété de M Tom Wathen. Il fût un temps ou l’aéroport de “Flabob” et le “Chapitre # 1de l’EAA” étaient la place la plus occupé pour la construction d’aéronef !
Ray même à l’âge de plus de 90 ans, pilotait un avion dans la catégorie « LSA » aux États-Unis. Il continuait à êtres impliquer à l’aéroport de « Fabob ». Ça dernière implication était l’installation d’un réservoir de carburant de 12,000 gallons à l’aéroport pour desservir en « MOGAS 9Essence d’automobile) » les aéronefs de « Construction Amateur » et les aéronefs « Certifié » qui ont l’autorisation approprié (STC) pour l’utilisation du « MOGAS ». Il travaillait aussi avec des étudiants à la reconstruction/restauration d’un « STITS SKYCOUPE ».
Sa contribution au mouvement de la “Construction Amateur » n’est que très peu dire et connu ! Tous comme M. Paul Poberezny, Ray Stits son de réel “Pionniers”! Merci des milliers de fois M. Ray Stits pour toutes vous implications à l’avancement de l’aéronautique/aérospatiale !
J’inclus deux articles en anglais donc j’ai fait un résumé en français (excusé les fautes en passant).
Je me doute que la vie au ciel va changée et que les anges vont devenir « avionner » et vont aller plus vite ! Avec l’aide de M. Ray Stits.
À bientôt,
Jacques
Thanks, Ray!
July 2015 - Ray Stits, EAA member No. 136, passed away on June 8. Yes, he was the 136th person to join the EAA, and his membership number would have been a lot lower if Paul Poberezny’s letter to Ray inviting him to join had not sat in the airport office for six weeks before someone finally delivered it to Ray.
Ray was the founder of our EAA chapter network, working with Paul and the board to amend EAA’s bylaws to allow EAA chapters and immediately starting Chapter 1 at Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.
Paul Poberezny on Ray: “One time when I was talking with Ray about the future of the EAA, he told me it will grow into the largest and most active group of aviation enthusiasts, builders, and fliers in the United States within five years. How right he was—and how much he has helped us get there. Ray Stits has been one of our greatest supporters through the years.”
Thank you, Ray!
Unless your EAA membership number is below 100,000, you may not have heard of Ray Stits. However, few people outside of the Poberezny family had as much influence on the early homebuilt aircraft movement as Ray Stits. Today, at the age of 90, he’s still going strong as a pilot, mentor, and founding member of EAA Chapter One at historic Flabob Airport. Ray has had a sterling career as an aircraft designer, aircraft mechanic and creator of the Stits Process, known today as Polyfiber. Between 1948 and 1965, he designed and built 15 airplanes. Except for the first two designs, he test flew them all. The reason for not flying the first two relates to the nature of the aircraft: they were the world’s smallest monoplane and then the world’s smallest biplane. Ray was too big/heavy to fit into them. They captured world attention, generated considerably revenue on the airshow circuit and resulted in a whole lot of requests for plans.
The incentive to build “Junior”, the monoplane, came from a discussion about the world’s smallest airplane. Someone mentioned Steve Wittman’s little racer with a 13’ span and Ray queried whether or not he could fly something with a 10’10” wingspan. One of the participants in that conversation said it wouldn’t be possible and that was all it took. Ray started building. He’d actually been thinking about it for a long time and proceeded with a 40hp engine from an Aeronca. That got changed to a 65 hp Continental. The plane was a handful and after the third crash on the fifth test flight, Ray shortened the wings to 8’10” and attached tip gates to generate more lift and better aileron control. He found a new pilot, Bob Starr, a former P-51 pilot. In 1950, Junior was a big hit in airshows. He began thinking about a larger sport plane that would be easy to build and fly, but he got sidetracked with another design: his quest to create the world’s smallest biplane.
In May of 1952, he introduced the Stits Sky Baby, a biplane with a 7’2” wingspan. Once again he drew tremendous response from newspapers, magazines and the newsreel companies. And once again he got busy on the airshow circuit…but not for long. After one season, and 25 hours of flying time, the Sky Baby was given to the Smithsonian Institute. In 1963 it was sent to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s museum where it remains on long term loan. Junior wound up on a scrap heap after an off airport landing. Requests were pouring in for plans for both of his midget aircraft, but Ray knew most people couldn’t handle the complexities
of construction or the flying limitations of the two designs. Not being one to pass up an opportunity, however,
he designed, built and test flew the Stits Playboy. It was a single seat, low wing, strut braced, aerobatic airframe that was designed to fly with 85 hp to 160hp engines.
Capitalizing on his fame for the miniature, Ray began selling plans. Realizing that a lot of builders were having problems securing aircraft grade materials, he started stocking and selling materials. He was into his second decade as an aircraft mec hanic when the homebuilt movement began to take off and he slowly transitioned into an early version of Aircraft Spruce & Specialty.
His original Playboy has been rebuilt and now resides in the EAA museum. One of the Playboy builders eventually sold his project to a young aviator who quickly rebuilt the wing, getting rid of the struts and converting it from a fabric covered wooden frame to an aluminum wing. Once finished, it was called the RV-1. The rebuilder was Dick VanGrunsven and his first airplane has been rebuilt and will be donated to the EAA museum this summer.
By 1951, after living in Michigan and Arizona, Ray had moved to Flabob Airport in Riverside, California. He recalled the day he brought the “Junior” over to that airport. “In those days, anything you built yourself made you a kook. You’re a strange guy if you built airplanes. A lot of people told me: ‘You’re crazy doing that’”. In 1953, Ray got a letter from a man named Poberezny. The letter sat in an office at the airport for six weeks before someone finally delivered it to Ray. Paul Poberezny had heard of Ray’s work with homebuilts and had written to invite him to join a new organization he’d founded called the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Ray liked the concept and suggested to Paul that he be allowed to establish a Chapter of the EAA at Flabob. A couple months later, EAA had amended their bylaws to allow for Chapters and Ray was authorized to set up the first one. He got a dozen friends together and founded Chapter One. It’s still very active and leads all the other chapters in the number of Young Eagles they fly annually. Today there are over 700 active EAA Chapters. Ray went on designing new airplanes. Today the designs look dated, like the cars from the Golden Age of Automobiles (1948 – 1959). Aside from the first two designs, there weren’t any concepts that could be labeled radical or futuristic (we’d have to wait for Burt Rutan for that kind of design stream). However, they were all solid designs that offset their kind of plain-Jane styling with functional simplicity and they were on the market at a time when it was still possible to build a complete airplane (including prop and engine) for less than a thousand dollars.
The list of Ray’s designs includes:
1. Stits Junior, world’s smallest monoplane, 8’10” span, 1948
2. Stits Sky Baby, world’s smallest biplane, 7’2” span, 1952
3. Stits SA-3A, single place, 1952
4. Stits-Besler Executive, folding wing, 1954
5. Stits Playboy, two place, 1954
6. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5A, 1955
7. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5B, 1955
8. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6A, two place, tandem, 1955
9. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6B, two place, tandem, 1955
10. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6C, two place, side by side, 1956
11. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7A, two place, 1956
12. Stits Skeeto, 265-pound ultralight, 1957
13. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7B, two place, 1957
14. Stits Skycoupe, SA-9A, two place, Type Certified, 1957-61
15. Stits Playmate, 2/3 place, folding wing, 1963-65
It reached the point where people were really wondering what Ray was going to bring to EAA’s annual convention in Rockford next. He was a prolific designer and builder. In the 1960s Ray began to realize that the business of designing homebuilts and selling plans was very time consuming and not terribly lucrative. Around 1961, Ray went out to the back of his shop to dispose of some scrap aircraft covering that had been removed from an airplane. Disposal in those days was done with a match. But when he bent over to torch the nitric dope covered fabric, the stuff blew up in his face. The flammability of the covering got him thinking and he began a course of study that made him a chemist, leading over several years to the creation of a new covering material and a form of paint that was fire-resistant. Stits Polyfiber was born and it became such a hit in the homebuilt and restoration communities that Ray stopped selling all other forms of aircraft materials and by 1969, he removed all of his aircraft plans from the market. He spent the next couple of decades selling fabric and paint of his own creation. Ray is retired now and Jon Goldenbaum runs Polyfiber, which is still based on the famous “Stits Process”.
Ray Stits had a big influence in making Flabob Airport a major force in the homebuilt aircraft movement. Ray and the airport attracted other figureheads like Lou Stolp of Starduster fame, Ed Marquart, who designed the Marquart Charger, and Bill Turner, who created Repeat Aircraft which built three of the four fabulous replica racers owned by Tom Wathen. There was a time when Flabob Airport and EAA Chapter One was one of the busiest places in the world for aircraft construction projects.
A while back Ray offered some advice to people thinking about designing a new homebuilt: “Get a lot of ideas, do a lot of testing, don’t get involved with partners, don’t promise something you might not be able to deliver, don’t extend yourself beyond your own financial means.”
Ray Stits went on to become recognized as a Master Mechanic and recently became one of a handful of people who has also earned the title of Master Pilot. He still flies an LSA and stays involved with events going on at Flabob Airport. His latest gesture was an offer to install a 12,000 gallon fuel tank on the airport’s fuel farm so that Flabob can become the first airport in the state of California to offer mogas to homebuilders and those who own a certificated aircraft with the proper STC. He’s also involved in working with students at the Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy who are rebuilding a Stits Skycoupe.
Ray Stits made a far-reaching and inspirational contribution to the early days of the homebuilt aircraft movement in this country. His influence on the EAA Chapter Network and the early designers and builders of homebuilts was profound and deserves to be reviewed. Like Paul Poberezny, Ray Stits was a real pioneer.
M. Ray Stits le membre numéro # 136 est mort le 8 juin, 2015. Oui sont numéro était le # 136 et il aurait été bien plus bas si ce n’était que sa lettre d’invitation de la part de M. Paul Poberezny ne lui aurait été livré six (6) semaines auparavant !
Ray fut le fondateur du réseau de « Chapitre » des constructeur amateur aux États-Unis. Il travailla avec M. Paul Poberezny à l’élaboration des règles et procédure pour la constitution des « Chapitre de l’Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Lui-même créa le « Chapitre # 1 » à Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.
M. Stits à eu une fabuleuse carrière en tant que concepteur d’avions (15 modèles), mécanicien d’aéronefs et créateur du procédé « STITS » maintenant connu sous le nom « POLYFIBER » !
Entre 1948 et 1965, Ray conçu 15 avions dont il a fait les tests en vol pour 13 dernier d’entre eux. Vous vous demandez pourquoi il n’a pas fait les tests sur les deux premiers ? La raison est simple, due à sa corpulence et son poids, il était trop corpulence et pesant pour faire lest tests sur le plus petit avion monoplan (Envergure : 10 pieds et 10 pouces puis, 8 pieds et 10 pouces) et le plus petit avion biplan au monde (Envergure : 7 pieds et 2 pouces).
La liste des avions qu’a conçus M. Ray Stits ;
1. Stits Junior, world’s smallest monoplane, 8’10” span, 1948
2. Stits Sky Baby, world’s smallest biplane, 7’2” span, 1952
3. Stits SA-3A, single place, 1952
4. Stits-Besler Executive, folding wing, 1954
5. Stits Playboy, two place, 1954
6. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5A, 1955
7. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5B, 1955
8. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6A, two place, tandem, 1955
9. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6B, two place, tandem, 1955
10. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6C, two place, side by side, 1956
11. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7A, two place, 1956
12. Stits Skeeto, 265-pound ultralight, 1957
13. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7B, two place, 1957
14. Stits Skycoupe, SA-9A, two place, Type Certified, 1957-61
15. Stits Playmate, 2/3 place, folding wing, 1963-65
Dans les années 1960, M. Stits réalisa que la vente de plans pour construire des avions n’était pas très lucrative. Il se tourna vers la mécanique. Lors d’une intervention pour réparer un train d’atterrissage sur un avion en tubulure d’acier. Il faut se rappeler qu’en ces temps la seul le type de procédé « RANDOPH » était approuvé. Lorsque que Ray approcha le chalumeau Oxy-Acétylène pour effectué une soudure sur le train d’atterrissage près du fuselage encore recouvert de toile et enduit de produit « RANDOPH » ! Une petite explosion suivit par la mise en flamme de la toile de recouvrement de l’avion ! C’est après cet incident que M. Stits travailla/conçu et fit certifié le procédé appelé « STITS » pendant de nombreuse années. Son procédé contrairement à celui de « RANDOLPH » qui est basé sur des produits chimique à base de « Nitrate et Biturâtes ». Ray lui travailla avec un liquide à base de « Polyester ». M. Stits pris sa retraite officieusement en 1969, et M. Jon Goldenbaum continua à vendre les produits de conception de Ray sous le non de « POLYFIBER » par après.
M. Ray Stits a eu une très grande influence à l’aéroport de « Flabob » pour le mouvement de la construction amateur. L’aéroport et on attiré plusieurs pionniers comme M. Lou Stolp concepteur du ”Starduster”, M. Ed Marquart, dessinateur du “Marquart Charger”, et M. Bill Turner, qui conçu l’avion « Repeat » M. Turner construit trois des quatre répliques de l’avion de course propriété de M Tom Wathen. Il fût un temps ou l’aéroport de “Flabob” et le “Chapitre # 1de l’EAA” étaient la place la plus occupé pour la construction d’aéronef !
Ray même à l’âge de plus de 90 ans, pilotait un avion dans la catégorie « LSA » aux États-Unis. Il continuait à êtres impliquer à l’aéroport de « Fabob ». Ça dernière implication était l’installation d’un réservoir de carburant de 12,000 gallons à l’aéroport pour desservir en « MOGAS 9Essence d’automobile) » les aéronefs de « Construction Amateur » et les aéronefs « Certifié » qui ont l’autorisation approprié (STC) pour l’utilisation du « MOGAS ». Il travaillait aussi avec des étudiants à la reconstruction/restauration d’un « STITS SKYCOUPE ».
Sa contribution au mouvement de la “Construction Amateur » n’est que très peu dire et connu ! Tous comme M. Paul Poberezny, Ray Stits son de réel “Pionniers”! Merci des milliers de fois M. Ray Stits pour toutes vous implications à l’avancement de l’aéronautique/aérospatiale !
J’inclus deux articles en anglais donc j’ai fait un résumé en français (excusé les fautes en passant).
Je me doute que la vie au ciel va changée et que les anges vont devenir « avionner » et vont aller plus vite ! Avec l’aide de M. Ray Stits.
À bientôt,
Jacques
Thanks, Ray!
July 2015 - Ray Stits, EAA member No. 136, passed away on June 8. Yes, he was the 136th person to join the EAA, and his membership number would have been a lot lower if Paul Poberezny’s letter to Ray inviting him to join had not sat in the airport office for six weeks before someone finally delivered it to Ray.
Ray was the founder of our EAA chapter network, working with Paul and the board to amend EAA’s bylaws to allow EAA chapters and immediately starting Chapter 1 at Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.
Paul Poberezny on Ray: “One time when I was talking with Ray about the future of the EAA, he told me it will grow into the largest and most active group of aviation enthusiasts, builders, and fliers in the United States within five years. How right he was—and how much he has helped us get there. Ray Stits has been one of our greatest supporters through the years.”
Thank you, Ray!
Unless your EAA membership number is below 100,000, you may not have heard of Ray Stits. However, few people outside of the Poberezny family had as much influence on the early homebuilt aircraft movement as Ray Stits. Today, at the age of 90, he’s still going strong as a pilot, mentor, and founding member of EAA Chapter One at historic Flabob Airport. Ray has had a sterling career as an aircraft designer, aircraft mechanic and creator of the Stits Process, known today as Polyfiber. Between 1948 and 1965, he designed and built 15 airplanes. Except for the first two designs, he test flew them all. The reason for not flying the first two relates to the nature of the aircraft: they were the world’s smallest monoplane and then the world’s smallest biplane. Ray was too big/heavy to fit into them. They captured world attention, generated considerably revenue on the airshow circuit and resulted in a whole lot of requests for plans.
The incentive to build “Junior”, the monoplane, came from a discussion about the world’s smallest airplane. Someone mentioned Steve Wittman’s little racer with a 13’ span and Ray queried whether or not he could fly something with a 10’10” wingspan. One of the participants in that conversation said it wouldn’t be possible and that was all it took. Ray started building. He’d actually been thinking about it for a long time and proceeded with a 40hp engine from an Aeronca. That got changed to a 65 hp Continental. The plane was a handful and after the third crash on the fifth test flight, Ray shortened the wings to 8’10” and attached tip gates to generate more lift and better aileron control. He found a new pilot, Bob Starr, a former P-51 pilot. In 1950, Junior was a big hit in airshows. He began thinking about a larger sport plane that would be easy to build and fly, but he got sidetracked with another design: his quest to create the world’s smallest biplane.
In May of 1952, he introduced the Stits Sky Baby, a biplane with a 7’2” wingspan. Once again he drew tremendous response from newspapers, magazines and the newsreel companies. And once again he got busy on the airshow circuit…but not for long. After one season, and 25 hours of flying time, the Sky Baby was given to the Smithsonian Institute. In 1963 it was sent to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s museum where it remains on long term loan. Junior wound up on a scrap heap after an off airport landing. Requests were pouring in for plans for both of his midget aircraft, but Ray knew most people couldn’t handle the complexities
of construction or the flying limitations of the two designs. Not being one to pass up an opportunity, however,
he designed, built and test flew the Stits Playboy. It was a single seat, low wing, strut braced, aerobatic airframe that was designed to fly with 85 hp to 160hp engines.
Capitalizing on his fame for the miniature, Ray began selling plans. Realizing that a lot of builders were having problems securing aircraft grade materials, he started stocking and selling materials. He was into his second decade as an aircraft mec hanic when the homebuilt movement began to take off and he slowly transitioned into an early version of Aircraft Spruce & Specialty.
His original Playboy has been rebuilt and now resides in the EAA museum. One of the Playboy builders eventually sold his project to a young aviator who quickly rebuilt the wing, getting rid of the struts and converting it from a fabric covered wooden frame to an aluminum wing. Once finished, it was called the RV-1. The rebuilder was Dick VanGrunsven and his first airplane has been rebuilt and will be donated to the EAA museum this summer.
By 1951, after living in Michigan and Arizona, Ray had moved to Flabob Airport in Riverside, California. He recalled the day he brought the “Junior” over to that airport. “In those days, anything you built yourself made you a kook. You’re a strange guy if you built airplanes. A lot of people told me: ‘You’re crazy doing that’”. In 1953, Ray got a letter from a man named Poberezny. The letter sat in an office at the airport for six weeks before someone finally delivered it to Ray. Paul Poberezny had heard of Ray’s work with homebuilts and had written to invite him to join a new organization he’d founded called the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Ray liked the concept and suggested to Paul that he be allowed to establish a Chapter of the EAA at Flabob. A couple months later, EAA had amended their bylaws to allow for Chapters and Ray was authorized to set up the first one. He got a dozen friends together and founded Chapter One. It’s still very active and leads all the other chapters in the number of Young Eagles they fly annually. Today there are over 700 active EAA Chapters. Ray went on designing new airplanes. Today the designs look dated, like the cars from the Golden Age of Automobiles (1948 – 1959). Aside from the first two designs, there weren’t any concepts that could be labeled radical or futuristic (we’d have to wait for Burt Rutan for that kind of design stream). However, they were all solid designs that offset their kind of plain-Jane styling with functional simplicity and they were on the market at a time when it was still possible to build a complete airplane (including prop and engine) for less than a thousand dollars.
The list of Ray’s designs includes:
1. Stits Junior, world’s smallest monoplane, 8’10” span, 1948
2. Stits Sky Baby, world’s smallest biplane, 7’2” span, 1952
3. Stits SA-3A, single place, 1952
4. Stits-Besler Executive, folding wing, 1954
5. Stits Playboy, two place, 1954
6. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5A, 1955
7. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-5B, 1955
8. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6A, two place, tandem, 1955
9. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6B, two place, tandem, 1955
10. Stits Flut-R-Bug, SA-6C, two place, side by side, 1956
11. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7A, two place, 1956
12. Stits Skeeto, 265-pound ultralight, 1957
13. Stits Skycoupe, SA-7B, two place, 1957
14. Stits Skycoupe, SA-9A, two place, Type Certified, 1957-61
15. Stits Playmate, 2/3 place, folding wing, 1963-65
It reached the point where people were really wondering what Ray was going to bring to EAA’s annual convention in Rockford next. He was a prolific designer and builder. In the 1960s Ray began to realize that the business of designing homebuilts and selling plans was very time consuming and not terribly lucrative. Around 1961, Ray went out to the back of his shop to dispose of some scrap aircraft covering that had been removed from an airplane. Disposal in those days was done with a match. But when he bent over to torch the nitric dope covered fabric, the stuff blew up in his face. The flammability of the covering got him thinking and he began a course of study that made him a chemist, leading over several years to the creation of a new covering material and a form of paint that was fire-resistant. Stits Polyfiber was born and it became such a hit in the homebuilt and restoration communities that Ray stopped selling all other forms of aircraft materials and by 1969, he removed all of his aircraft plans from the market. He spent the next couple of decades selling fabric and paint of his own creation. Ray is retired now and Jon Goldenbaum runs Polyfiber, which is still based on the famous “Stits Process”.
Ray Stits had a big influence in making Flabob Airport a major force in the homebuilt aircraft movement. Ray and the airport attracted other figureheads like Lou Stolp of Starduster fame, Ed Marquart, who designed the Marquart Charger, and Bill Turner, who created Repeat Aircraft which built three of the four fabulous replica racers owned by Tom Wathen. There was a time when Flabob Airport and EAA Chapter One was one of the busiest places in the world for aircraft construction projects.
A while back Ray offered some advice to people thinking about designing a new homebuilt: “Get a lot of ideas, do a lot of testing, don’t get involved with partners, don’t promise something you might not be able to deliver, don’t extend yourself beyond your own financial means.”
Ray Stits went on to become recognized as a Master Mechanic and recently became one of a handful of people who has also earned the title of Master Pilot. He still flies an LSA and stays involved with events going on at Flabob Airport. His latest gesture was an offer to install a 12,000 gallon fuel tank on the airport’s fuel farm so that Flabob can become the first airport in the state of California to offer mogas to homebuilders and those who own a certificated aircraft with the proper STC. He’s also involved in working with students at the Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy who are rebuilding a Stits Skycoupe.
Ray Stits made a far-reaching and inspirational contribution to the early days of the homebuilt aircraft movement in this country. His influence on the EAA Chapter Network and the early designers and builders of homebuilts was profound and deserves to be reviewed. Like Paul Poberezny, Ray Stits was a real pioneer.