The Channel Wing

At California's Oxnard Airport one afternoon last week, Pilot Walt Davidson clambered into a two-engine plane which had a curious, U-shaped bend in each wing. He started it down the runway and, after a run of only 90 ft., the plane soared into the air at 30 m.p.h. Davidson climbed to 1,000 ft., then circled the airport for four minutes before coming in for a bouncy landing at 40 m.p.h.

For Inventor Willard Custer, 54, the test flight of his "channel-wing" aircraft /- (TIME, Dec. 17, 1951) proved that it could take off in an incredibly short run. Eventually he hopes to show that it will take off at 15 m.p.h. inside 25 ft., hover motionless at a 23DEG angle and land within 25 ft. Custer, who has spent 20 years perfecting his plane, plans to sell a two-engine, five-passenger version for $75,000.

/- Which gets its quick-lifting power from the U-shaped bands which function on the principle of the Venturi tube, i.e., the faster air flows through a tube with a narrow throat and flaring ends, the lower the pressure drops within the tube. On the plane, the lowered pressure causes a suction, even at low speeds, within the channel's, maintaining the flow of air and preserving lift under conditions that would stall an ordinary plane.

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