Willard Custer filed a United States patent in 1929 for a wing design incorporating a semi-circular channel or "half barrel" shape in which an engine was to be fitted in pusher mode. Custer claimed that this layout, the channel wing, which gave STOL operating capabilities, resulted in a design "which is an aircraft not an airplane. It does not plane the air to fly, rather it brings the air to the lift surfaces and reduces pressure to fly at 8 to 11 mph". The CCW-5 accommodated five persons, and its power plants are suspended in the centre of the 6 ft-chord wing channels on tubular frameworks attached to the wing spars. The aircraft draws air through the channels at high velocity, decreasing pressure over the wings and increasing lift. The CCW-5 was claimed to be capable of flying at a sustained speed of 35 mph. Production deliveries were scheduled to commence during 1965, but this was never achieved. For more details of the development and operational history, click here.
