Custer CCW-5 Channel Wing
Custer Channel Wing Corporation · United States · first flew 1953 · light aircraft
Willard Custer watched a hangar roof lift in a storm and spent forty years building wings shaped like half-barrels around the props — the channel wing flew startlingly slowly, but never into production.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | High-mounted, straight |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 2 × piston, wing-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | 9.31 m fuselage |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Half-barrel channels in each wing wrap around pusher propellers
- Promised near-VTOL lift from propwash over the channel
- Cabin from a Baumann Brigadier grafted between the scoops
Two deep U-channels cut into the wing with propellers spinning inside them — the silhouette looks like a plane carrying a pair of rain barrels.
Specifications
- The Custer CCW-5 Channel Wing has a length of 9.31 m (31 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 12.6 m (41 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 322 km/h (200 mph).
- Typical crew: 1 + 4 passengers.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
The CCW-5 of 1953 married Custer's channel concept to a light-twin airframe, demonstrating flight below 40 km/h airspeed. STOL claims never converted into orders through decades of promotion and lawsuits.
Variants
CCW-1/-2 testbeds preceded the two CCW-5s.
Where you'll see it
A CCW-5 survives at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, Pennsylvania; channel-wing research briefly revived at Georgia Tech in the 2000s.
Related aircraft
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