Did You Know?
Current news and interesting facts you probably didn't know about the Channel Wing
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8 Channels!!
Former high school physics teacher Jon Haehnel writes, "Electric aircraft and drones seem to be driving a new wave of innovation of STOL/VTOL and in many cases I am seeing ideas originally conceived in the 50s and 60s being reconsidered, sometimes as if they are brand new ideas." Click here to see what the US Air Force is considering now as "novel." The Albers Group certainly has an interesting idea! Thanks, Jon! (posted 9/19/22)
Flying a Screwdriver
In this photo from the Sept 1964 Popular Mechanics, Willard Custer shows how fast-moving air can cause even a screwdriver to fly. Garen Martens of Fairview, OK, brings it current.
In 1966 my family took a vacation to Washington DC. My dad wanted to have a look at the latest progress at the Custer factory so we stopped by for a visit. I was a boy of 13 and quite intrigued at the process. Mr. Custer taught me how to 'fly a screwdriver' and land it in my pocket. It’s a trick I still use today with friends and grandkids.
See his demonstration here. (posted 10/20/21)JabirWatt
JabirWatt is a distributed electric propulsion aircraft. Its creators (David Ullman and Vincent Homer) accurately credit Custer with the idea of generating lift by speeding the airflow over the wing. While the wing is not curved as in a CCW, the JabirWatt uses four electric ducted fans to generate airflows across the wing surface to enhance lift. Click here to see a presentation of it that includes a pair of great CCW videos. (posted 6/06/20)
Custer UAV
The Computational Engineering and Design Group at the University of Southampton, UK reports this
Custer UAV was developed under the Royal Navy requirement for a light aircraft providing over the horizon reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, while being operational from the back of the Type 23 frigate.
See the impressive lift-off and landing here. For those of you building or piloting CCW RPVs/UAVs, please use them to demonstrate the design's STOL/VTOL capabilities. Don't just fly them like any other airplane. (posted 5/25/20)Pneumatic Channel Wing
Robert Englar of the Georgia Tech Research Institute has integrated pneumatic Circulation Control technology with the CCW configuration to create the Pneumatic Channel Wing. Using today's advanced blown wing technology, Englar enhanced CCW STOL performance and stability as demonstrated in wind tunnel tests. He has also patented the design with co-inventer Dr. Dennis Bushnell, Technical Director of NASA Langley Research Center. Google
AIAA 2002-2929
to see the research paper. (posted 5/25/20)Bell Nexus Air Taxi
Aviation Week reports on the Bell Nexus Air Taxi. It uses 6 tilting ducted fans for VTOL. It is
powered by a hybrid-electric propulsion system incorporating batteries and an unspecified Safran turbine engine...In helicopter mode, the ducts are tilted horizontally to generate vertical thrust, and in aircraft mode they tilt vertically to provide forward thrust. The ducts are passive lift systems and generate the vast majority of lift in airplane mode, along with the wings in the center... The duct shape generates lift regardless of what is spinning inside of it in airplane mode.
Sounds like Channel wings! (posted 1/12/19)Electric Planes
Reuters reported (3/22/18) that Norway is buying electric planes. Imagine what you could do with aircraft design if you didn't have to accommodate fuel tanks. And imagine how safe it would be not having to worry about dumping fuel before creating a firebomb in a hard landing. Airbus is working on its E-Fan plane (pictured), which looks like a perfect opportunity for channel wings. In fact, if Willard had had battery power technology available to him, his FAA testing would have been that much easier (he had to use state-of-the-art bladder fuel tanks in his channel wings and carry extra fuel behind the cockpit), and the noise output would have been reduced to zero. (posted 1/10/19)
Goodyear Rubber Aircraft
In 1957, Willard approached the Goodyear company, famous for its blimps. Goodyear had built Corsairs during WWII and, since then, developed its own amphibious airplane, the
Duck
. Willard approached the head of Goodyear Aircraft Company’s advanced programs to check interest in developing a Channel Wing aircraft. Goodyear declined. What’s interesting is that Goodyear was busy at that time developing itsInflatoplane,
an airplane made of rubber that could be carried to troops in the field, inflated, and flown out. According to Jim Winchester in his book, The World’s Worst Aircraft,Years of tests failed to find a valid military use for an aircraft that could be brought down with a well-aimed bow and arrow.
Winchester did NOT include the Channel Wing in his book. (posted 4/21/17)Flying Cars
Flying cars have been in the news recently, but the idea is not new. In 1956-57, Jane's All the World's Aircraft described the ultimate version of the 2-seat Channel Wing (pictured here) as
roadable, with the stub wings designed to fold down automatically beside the channel as soon as the wheels touch the ground…to permit normal car-type parking.
Unlike flying car designs offered today, Mechanix Illustrated described the Channel Wing version asdesigned for…commuters who will be able to land and take off in it from their backyards.
(posted 4/21/17)Water Taxi
Reuters recently (8/24/17) profiled the French startup Sea Bubbles Water Taxi, which must achieve a certain speed before it can rise out of the water on its
legs
. Unfortunately, that speed is higher than the speed limit on the Seine River. Use of a channelwing
under the water would help. An email from England a few years ago reported,We have fitted a channel wing design below an outboard motor propeller to produce stern lift. This lift overcomes the problem that planning craft experience in the transition from displacement speeds to planning speeds where the vessel has to climb over its bow wave…The Custer wing suits this application perfectly, producing massive lift when the forward speed is low, and little lift (and drag) at planning speeds. We have measured lifts as high as 90 lbs from a 9.9 hp engine. A boat's performance and handling are dramatically improved with the Custer wing. Planning can be achieved at very low speeds, and so fuel consumption and range is improved.
(posted 9/12/17)Warthog
Is this a Channel Wing? Certain features of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (or "Warthog"), such as the turbofans positioned just aft of the wings and just forward of the horizontal stabilizer, suggest Channel Wing design. Willard deemed the design close enough to his concept that he sued Fairchild and the USAF for patent infringement in the early 1970s. His suit ultimately failed (there was no channel to be found, even in the tail), but the "Warthog" is a STOL aircraft, a slow flyer, superior to the helicopter in its troop support mission, and very popular with the troops in the field, all features that the Channel Wing was designed to deliver. (posted 11/15/17)