As far as I know, there has not been a single thread devoted to the dumpster fire that we all call the Christmas Bullet, but it was mentioned in several threads in the past.
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Seeing this name pop up several times in said threads (even my own replies! ) I decided to make a thread about this once and for all. The design, well just look at it...


According to several articles on the internet, the plane was devoid of any struts or support for the wings, as Dr. WWC believed that the wings would flap like a bird. This is in addition to the fact that he LIED that the design could reduce aerodynamic drag but it actually could not! Also, the chief engineer of one Continental Aircraft company found out that the wood and metals used to construct the aircraft were not aircraft grade and likely were just scrounged around.

The plane first flew in 1919 and the wings flew off immediately after takeoff, killing the test pilot, Cuthbert Mills. (Supposedly his own mother came to watch the flight but to see the wingless frame hurdle to the ground with her son trapped in it with little chance of survival is extremely sad and depressing.) After this, Dr. WWC convinced the military to loan him another Liberty 6 engine to make another plane. This second one, unsurprisingly, also crashed and killed the test pilot. Both fatalities were covered up and kept secret.

Not only that, but before the first test flight, the US military gave Dr.WWC the engine under the condition that it only be used for ground testing. Not only did Dr.WWC not HEED this advice, he asked for a SECOND engine and AGAIN failed to follow the advice!
Later, he and his plane appeared in many magazine articles where he falsely claimed that he did 5 successful test flights and the pilot Mills survived!

I could go on and on about this whole scandal, but before this reply becomes too long, I'll just bullet point a few of Dr.WWC's other "accomplishments.")
- Claimed he invented the aileron
- Bragged that the Nazis offered him a million bucks to rebuild their Air Force
- He had photographic evidence of a successful flight but the government destroyed the evidence because of an investigation against him
- and more...

Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Bullet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Whitney_Christmas
https://jalopnik.com/the-christmas-bull ... 1825187889
https://www.wired.com/2014/12/well-didn ... aud-built/
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/hi ... 0038.shtml

What I want to know is HOW this guy got away with wasting perfectly good engines given to him by the MILITARY, killing TWO innocent people, and LYING about all of it and getting FAMOUS and RICH by CHEATING the public!?



(Sorry if I sound too angry or something, but as Wikipedia themselves put it, "It is considered by many to be among the worst aircraft ever constructed."

You’re thinking too 21st century.

1919 was still the very early days of aviation, the Wild West, if you will. You could propose a terrible design, and get someone to pay for it because there wasn’t much in the way of regulatory bodies or for that matter knowledge. You think it, you build it, you fly it. And quite often, you die in it. Scrapping the last pilot to try a plane off the ground was a fairly common aspect of test flying, really until fairly recently.

There’s reason aviation has really whittled down to so few manufacturers. It’s incredibly hard to get it right consistently, and make enough money to get another shot at getting it right again in the future.

But again, this is 1919. Boeing himself has barely been making aircraft for 2 years. WW1 just gave some people the idea that maybe airplanes are the future. And anyone who claims they can build a better aircraft will probably get the funding they need to try.

If anything I’d say this guy was a genius. He made his money off a terrible airplane, and never once did he even try to fly it. Howard Hughes was an aviation pioneer with an incredible mind for designing aircraft…still almost killed him self flying one of his own. Not this guy though…