Early Saturday morning in mid April I rolled over and asked my wife to attend the test flight of my Flying Wing. She was up and was ready almost as fast as I was. What support I have!

Friday had been clear with winds of 2-3 knots. Perfect for test flights. My prayers for this day were for safety and no wind. The day before I had called my tow pilot to insure his arrival at the New Braunfels Airport (it has long runways). We had agreed to have the tow plane, a super cub, there about 9:30 am. My brother had prepped  the Wing so it was ready for her first "free" flight. The weekend before we had done a dozen auto tows up to about 125-150 ft altitude to be sure all was ready. With trailer in tow and a McDonald’s coffee and breakfast in hand, we traveled to the airport

As my friends, relatives, and I put The Wing together, several people from the FBO came to watch. One observer remarked "It ain't got no tail!

We could see their thoughts in their eyes: "You’re not going to get me in that thing!" Several walked around to the rear of The Wing and one said, " Where’s the rest of the tail? This thing can’t fly!" I asked if I had any volunteers for testing. Immediately there was a mass exodus to the coffee lounge.

My sister, Judy was not sure this thing going to fly at all!

With the parachute we did another weight and balance check and all was well. As I walked to the FBO at 9 AM to use the facilities, I overheard one instructor telling another that planes without engines don’t fly very well.   He continued, "You are too busy worrying about where to land to enjoy the flying." Boy is he wrong.  I have to admit that for many nights prior to the flight I had gone through the checklist over and over.   I created every possible trouble scenario and even wrote a detail test program with emergency procedures my brother and helpers would place into action if needed.  The day comes and much of that gets stored away to be retrieved only if really necessary.  Buddy had checked the wing over a thousand times.  He had butterflies.  My Dad handed me the canopy. The time had come to set her free!   Butterflies were there but I had explained to myself, "Self, it a sailplane with many hours of hard work to build, hours of a very very good designer working out all the problems and she just waiting for you to say " Lets Go!"   OK,   Lets GO!"

Silently I said, "Now, Lloyd, shut your mouth! Go into the restroom and ponder." So I pondered.

Ralph Thompson , a member of the Airport Board of Directors, was going to fly chase with his 115 hp Citabria. He was also there to allay fears of the airport manager. Ralph found himself caught in a political squabble about me testing my Flying Wing glider at their airport. Thank you, Ralph, for all the Unicom and traffic advisories.    The airport manager had given me a real hard time prior to flight giving me some guff about not letting me do my auto test tow on the airport.   I did those at another airport.  I wanted the runway length here for safety.   His support did came around.

No, Rayford. A twin engine tow plane like this will not be cost efficient!