The Airport (1948)

Remember when flying was this easy....Chalk Boards, Handing the pilot a load manifest with a long pole....Great! Wgeb life was easy and simple.

EASTERN AIRLINES MARTIN 404 WALK AROUND

EASTERN AIRLINES MARTIN 404

WALK AROUND

THIS AIRCRAFT IS ON THE RAMP AT MID ATLANTIC AIR MUSEUM

READING, PA. AIRPORT.

I TOOK A TRIP TO READING , PA. AIRPORT AND THE MID ATLANTIC AIR MUSEUM  A FEW WEEKS AGO AND SPENT SOME TIME ON THE RAMP.

 I TOOK A FEW PICTURES OF THIS OLD BIRD, ONE OF MY FAVORITES.

 A BEAUTIFUL AIRCRAFT FROM THE ERA WHEN AIRLINE FLYING WAS A PLEASURE

 Crew: 3 or  
Capacity: 40

                  Length: 74 ft 7 in (22.73 m)                   

Wingspan: 93 ft 3 in (28.42 m)

                   Height: 28 ft 5 in (8.66 m)

                    Wing area: 864 ft² (80.27 m²)

                    Empty weight: 29,126 lb (13,211 kg)

                    Gross weight: 44,900 lb (20,366 kg)

                   Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB16 radial piston engine, 2,400 hp (1,790 kW) each

Performance

                    Maximum speed: 312 mph (502 km/h)

                    Range: 1,080 miles (1,783 km)

                    Service ceiling: 29,000 ft (8,840 m)

First deliveries in 1951 were made to Eastern Air Lines (EAL) who had ordered 60

EAL operated their 4-0-4s in the eastern USA using the class name "Silver Falcon". The first EAL schedule was flown on 5 January 1952 and retirement came in late 1962.

SURE MISS THESE OLD BIRDS.

PRATT AND WHITNEY R-2800 CB16 radial piston engine, 2,400 hp
ONE OF THE BEST RECIPS EVER MADE.

SIDE VIEWS

HEAD ON

LEFT STABILIZER  ELEVATOR ELEVATOR TRIM TABS

RIGHT ELEVATOR AND AFT FUSELAGE

RIGHT WING FLAPS 

RIGHT MAIN GEAR STRUT AND REAR GEAR DOOR

FLAP ACTUATOR FAIRING

FLAP ACTUATOR FAIRING LOOKING TOWARD THE LEFT MAIN

NACELLE  WITH COWL FLAPS STUCK OPEN
EXHAUST MANIFOLD 

FRONT VIEW OF NUMBER 1 NACELLE AND NOSE HUB 

UNDERSIDE LOOKING AFT

NOSE GEAR WITH LANDING LIGHT

VERTICAL STABILIZER IN ROUGH SHAPE

A FAMILIAR LOGO

TAIL STAND CONNECTION

WHEN AIRLINERS WERE AIRLINERS

LEFT REAR VIEW OF FLAPS

A SCENE FROM THE PAST

LEFT SIDE FUSELAGE AND CABIN WINDOWS

LEFT MAIN TIRES AND HUB

AUGMENTER EXHAUST TUBE

A Strange Aircraft...The Custer Channel Wing

This is a little walk around of the Custer Channel Wing, sitting on the ramp at Mid Atlantic Air Museum at the Reading Pa. Airport.

The channel wing is an aircraft wing principle developed by Willard Ray Custer in the 1920s. The most important part of the wing consists of a half-tube with an engine placed in the middle, driving a propeller placed at the rear end of the channel formed by the half-tube.

A wing functions because the air over the wing has a lower pressure than the air under it. The conventional aircraft must reach a significant minimum speed before this pressure differential become large enough that it generates sufficient lift to become airborne.

In Custer's channel wing the rotating propeller will direct a stable stream of air backwards through the channel. A propeller will at the low pressure side normally be supplied by air from all directions. Since the half-tube prevents air from being drawn from below, the air will be sucked through the channel instead. This creates a strong low pressure area in the channel, which again generates a lift.

The old bird is in rough shape. 

looking head on

  

   

No.1

Cockpit

No. 2 and right side

Cockpit Throttle Pedestal

No2 aft

No. 1 aft

Check out the Custer Channel Wing Web Site:

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/bythefire/