engineering

Willard Ray Custer

Willard Ray Custer is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Willard Ray Custer rather than just read about it. In short: Willard Ray Custer (June 6, 1899, Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania – December 25, 1985, Hagerstown, Maryland) was an American engineer and aircraft visionary, inventor of the channel wing concept. Custer left school at age 13, working as a blacksmith and, later, an engineer and mechanic.

Key takeaways

Willard Ray Custer belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Willard Ray Custer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Willard Ray Custer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Willard Ray Custer (June 6, 1899, Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania – December 25, 1985, Hagerstown, Maryland) was an American engineer and aircraft visionary, inventor of the channel wing concept. Custer left school at age 13, working as a blacksmith and, later, an engineer and mechanic. The inspiration to the channel wing concept came in 1925 when Custer had observed how the roof of a barn was lifted during a very strong gust of wind. He started investigating the phenomenon and, by 1928, he had developed the first Model of a new airplane wing for which he received a patent in 1929. This channel wing managed much lift even at very low airspeeds and allowed start and landing on very short airfields. In 1939 Custer founded the National Aircraft Corporation and, on November 12, 1942, started development of the CCW-1 (CusterChannelWing 1) experimental aircraft. With the CCW-2 that followed, he could achieve almost vertical starts, and flight almost like a helicopter. The military started a number of trials which were subsequently canceled despite some interesting achievements. Later, Custer founded the Custer ChannelWing Corporation and, in 1954, built more aircraft. The last one, the CCW-5, almost reached series production. The principle of the channel wing was not well understood by many, especially at the time. Custer was an experimenter and visionary, with many patents filed, but he did not have a strong theoretical and scientific background. The Custer Channelwing Corporation had to cease its activities, and the channel wing principle was mostly forgotten. Today, only two CCW aircraft survive. The CCW-1 is displayed at the Smithsonian´s National Air and Space Museum, Suitland, Maryland, while the CCW-5 is at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, Pennsylvania.

References

External links Custer ChannelWing Corp. Custer Channel Wing 1, 1942, the Aviation History Online Museum

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Willard Ray Custer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Willard Ray Custer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Willard Ray Custer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Willard Ray Custer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Willard Ray Custer

In research: Willard Ray Custer appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Willard Ray Custer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Willard Ray Custer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1899 births, 1985 deaths, 20th-century American engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Willard Ray Custer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Willard Ray Custer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Willard Ray Custer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Willard Ray Custer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Willard Ray Custer in simple terms?

Why does Willard Ray Custer matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Willard Ray Custer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Willard Ray Custer.