Experimentation was performed on balsa-wood aircraft, followed by wind testing on the hood of a car, at South Bend Central High School and finally at Michigan University.
[2] Students at the school, led by S. M. Pierce, tested and built a wood and fabric glider based on the designs.
The vertical stabilizers were low, but ran the full length of the fuselage on either side with small canard like control surfaces at the leading edge.
The internal volume of the wing was so large that Snyder planned on using Helium to assist in buoyancy, giving it the name "Dirigiplane" in several publications.
Raoul Hoffman was brought in to re-engineer the glider with the addition of a used Henderson Motorcycle engine and stronger Nicholas Beasley landing gear salvaged from an experimental design built by Milt Hatfield in exchange for flying lessons.