Williams W-17 Stinger


The Williams W-17 Stinger is an American homebuilt racing aircraft that was designed for Formula One Air Racing by Art Williams and produced by his company, Williams Aircraft Design of Northridge, California, introduced in 1971. The aircraft was at one time available in the form of plans for amateur construction, but only one was ever constructed.

Design and development

The W-17 Stinger features a cantilever mid-wing, a single-seat enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.
The aircraft fuselage is made from sheet aluminum in a monocoque structure. The wings are all-wood, with laminated spruce spars. Its span wing employs a NACA 64008 airfoil at the wing root, transitioning to a NACA 64010 at the wing tip. As the Formula One rules require, the engine is a Continental O-200A powerplant.
The W-17 has an empty weight of and a gross weight of, giving a useful load of. With full fuel of the payload is.

Operational history

Only one example of the W-17 Stinger was registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration in 1971.
The sole example was raced at the Reno Air Races by pilot John P. Jones in 1973 and captured second place.

Aircraft on display