The Wing Derringer: A ‘Sports Car’ of the Aircraft World

In 1960, entrepreneur George Wing teamed up with John Thorpe to create a compact, two-place twin. After experimenting with various engines, the team ultimately certified and produced this aircraft, the Wing Derringer.

Jason McDowell

Tuesday, August 02, 2022 at 06:49 AM ET

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The compact Wing Derringer resembles a sports car both in appearance and in performance. [Photo: Derringer Aircraft Company, LLC]

Key Takeaways:

The Wing Derringer was an innovative, compact, two-place multiengine piston aircraft designed in 1960 to provide twin-engine redundancy without the excessive size and operating costs of traditional twins for solo or two-person travel.
Despite its small size (smaller wingspan than a Cessna 150), it offered a comfortable cabin, powerful performance (182 knots cruise with twin 160 hp engines), and straightforward handling.
Only 12 Derringers were produced due to business struggles, leading a dedicated community of owners to collaborate on fabricating rare parts and sharing expertise to maintain the remaining aircraft, with the FAA recently moving to make its type certificate data publicly available.

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Multiengine piston aircraft generally share certain characteristics. Compared with their single-engine counterparts, they are heavier, more complex, and they demand significantly more maintenance. Fuel burn and oil consumption is, predictably, twice that of a comparable single.

They also tend to be larger aircraft. With the exception of a few light twins like the Piper Seminole and Beechcraft Duchess that are mostly utilized for multiengine training, the majority are equipped with six-cylinder engines and seat four to six people. Maximum takeoff weights range from around 4,000 pounds to over 5,000 pounds.