Popular Mechanics, May 1947
Photo 1 Caption |
Inventor Custer points to the channel wing design he says makes possible safe 15-mile-an-hour take-offs and landings and doubles planes' lifting capacity. Test version, below, has flown more than 100 hours. |
Photo 2 Caption |
| Front view of experimental plane with 75-horsepower engines. It made take-offs and landings in less than 100 feet--upwind, downwind, crosswind. |
Photo 3 Caption |
| Readying six-foot channel for plywood skin prior to full-scale laboratory trials to determine lift, drag, thrust and pitching moment. Below, rear view of test model flown during Maryland trials. Despite its unusual appearance, the plane's controls are conventional and it is easy to fly. |
Photos 4&5 Caption |
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Supersonic speeds are expected from the channel wing on fighter aircraft. Inventor's rough sketches showing adaptations of channel wing. One has large propeller sweeping rear of channel formed by section joining twin-fuselage fighter. Transport design uses double channels on both sides. |
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