Custer CCW-5
{{Short description|1953 twin-engined, five-seat, channel wing, pusher configuration aircraft}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2021}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=CCW-5 | image=Custer CCW-5 N5855V MAAM Reading PA 27.04.04R edited-2.jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=5-seat light transport | national origin=United States | manufacturer=Custer Channel Wing Corporation, Hagerstown, Maryland | designer= | first flight=13 July 1953 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=2 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Custer CCW-5 was a twin-engined, 5-seat aircraft of pusher configuration, which used a channel wing claimed to enable low speed flight and short take-offs. Two CCW-5s flew, eleven years apart, but the type never entered production.
The aircraft was the third and last of a series of Custer Channel Wing designs.
Design and development
In most situations an aircraft's lift comes chiefly from the low pressure generated on the upper surface by the locally enhanced higher air velocity.Anderson, p.347 This latter may be the result of the movement of the aircraft through the air or, when lift at low air speeds is important for short take-off performance, produced by engine power. The channel wing, the brainchild of Willard Ray Custer, is an example of the latter, where the air velocity over the upper surface velocity in a U-shaped channel formed out of the wing was increased with a pusher propeller at the trailing edge. This near semi-circular channel laterally constrained the airflow produced by the propeller, even when the aircraft was at rest, producing higher flow velocities than over a conventional pusher wing. The need for wing mounted pusher engines made a pusher twin a natural configuration, and for his third channel wing design Custer chose to modify the existing Baumann Brigadier, a 5-seat mid wing pusher twin which itself did not reach production.{{harvnb|Bridgman|1956|page=263}}[http://www.aerofiles.com/_cu.html Aerofiles :Custer]
File:Custer CCW-5 N5855V (rear) MAAM Reading PA 27.04.04R edited-2.jpg
The CCW-5 retained the fuselage and empennage of the Brigadier, but replaced the whole center section with a pair of channels, starting at roots in the lower part of the fuselage. Only beyond the channels did the conventional wings regain their mid-wing configuration. A {{convert|225|hp|kW|abbr=on}} Continental O-470 flat six engine was mounted on slender vertical and horizontal struts at the center of each the channels, on the mid-wing line. These drove constant speed pusher propellers. The main undercarriage was much shortened by mounting its legs on the outer part of the channel section; the Brigadier nosewheel was retained.
The first of two CCW-5s flew on 13 July 1953 and was piloted by Walker Davidson at Oxnard, California. It was reported to have completed its test flying by autumn 1956, when production was scheduled to begin. This did not happen, though a second aircraft flew in June 1964. The delay was partly the result of financial problems. The CCW-5 performed well below the original estimates with a maximum achieved speed of {{convert|220|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} compared with an estimated {{convert|300|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}. It was claimed that the aircraft could fly under control at {{convert|11|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} and that it could take off with a {{convert|1,500|lb|kg}} load at 70% power in {{convert|90|ft|m|abbr=on}}.
The second CCW-5 was finished in 1964 with {{convert|260|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Continental IO-470P engines;{{cite journal|journal=Aviation Week|date=24 November 1958}} it survives and is under restoration at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.{{cite web |last1=Rambow |first1=Bill |title=Custer CC-W-5 "Channel Wing" |url=http://www.maam.org/aircraft/ccw5.html |website=Mid-Atlantic Air Museum |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=21 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151221035120/http://www.maam.org/aircraft/ccw5.html |url-status=dead }}
Specifications
File:Channel wing aircraft.png
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Jane's All the World's Aircraft
|prime units?=imp
|genhide=
|crew=1
|capacity=4 passengers
|length m=
|length ft=28
|length in=8.5
|length note=
|span m=
|span ft=41
|span in=2
|span note=
|height m=
|height ft=10
|height in=10
|height note=
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=root: NACA 4418; tip: NACA 4412{{cite web |last1=Lednicer |first1=David |title=The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage |url=https://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads/aircraft.html |website=m-selig.ae.illinois.edu |access-date=16 April 2019}}
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=3000
|empty weight note=design weight
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=5400
|gross weight note=design weight
|fuel capacity= 200 US gal (757 L; 166 Imp gal)
|more general=
- Maximum gross weight: {{convert|6,000|lb|kg}}
- Landing speed: {{convert|15|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}
- Landing and take-off distances: {{convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=Continental O-470-A
|eng1 type=flat 6-cylinder air-cooled
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=225
|prop blade number=
|prop name=
|prop dia m=
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|prop note=
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=220
|max speed kts=
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=180
|cruise speed kts=
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed mph=
|stall speed kts=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed kts=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed kmh=
|minimum control speed mph=
|minimum control speed kts=
|minimum control speed note=
|range km=
|range miles=1680
|range nmi=
|endurance=
|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=20000
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|glide ratio=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=3000
|climb rate note=.American Aviation, 17 November 1958
|time to altitude=
|lift to drag=
|wing loading kg/m2=
|wing loading lb/sqft=
|wing loading note=
|power/mass=
|thrust/weight=
|more performance=
|avionics=
}}
{{aircontent
|see also=
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|lists=
}}
See also
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
{{commons category|Custer CCW-5}}
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book |title= Fundamentals of Aerodynamics|last=Anderson|first=John D. Jnr.| year=2007|publisher=McGraw Hill|isbn= 978-007-125408-3}}
- {{cite journal|last=Allum |first=Clifford |title= Channel Wing's Second Chance|journal= American Aviation|date=17 November 1958 |volume=22 |issue=13 |page=45}}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_cu.html |title=Aerofiles: Custer |access-date=2010-04-03}}
- {{cite book |title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1956-57|last= Bridgman |first= Leonard |year=1956|publisher= Jane's All the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd|location= London}}
{{refend}}
{{Custer Channel Wing Corporation}}
Category:Channel-wing aircraft
Category:1950s United States civil utility aircraft