The Custer Channel Wing, a revolutionary aircraft designed and built by Willard R. Custer of Hagerstown, has taken its place among other historic planes at the National Air and Space Museum at Suitland, just outside Washington, D.C.

The first full scale Custer Channel Wing aircraft was built in 1941-1942 by Custer and several employees. The fuselage and wing structure were made of spruce wood and covered with mahogany plywood. The propellers were made of laminated wood, carved and shaped by hand.

The ship was powered by two 55 horsepower engines. The wingspan is nearly 33 feet and gross weight 1085 pounds.

Custer made the first flight in the aircraft Nov. 12, 1942 inadvertently. He's not a pilot and his test pilot was not in town.

He recalled the other day that his test pilot "was not in town on the day financial backers came to see the aircraft. They wanted to take some pictures and asked me to taxi CCW-1 to the small field from my laboratory in Bethesda.

"The field was only about 100 feet away, up a slight hill, and I felt qualified to move the ship. I applied power to get up the incline and was somewhat disconcerted to see the trees on the horizon disappear."

Thus the inventor, a non-pilot, made the first flight of a brand new kind of aircraft.

Full scale flight-testing was begun in late 1943 at the Beltsville airport. Takeoff runs were accomplished in 85 feet, Custer said, adding that "The ship logged more than 300 hours in a restricted test program aimed primarily at learning how well the channels worked, and what new flying techniques were required. When all flight testing was completed the CCW-1 was moved to Hagerstown where it was put in storage while research continued and new patents developed."