General Development Co. twin boom heavy transport aircraft

[hesham]

Hi,

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%201821.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%201824.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%201825.html

 

[Tophe]

This wing is so huge, do you classify this as Burnelli's lifting fuselage? or else as inhabited wing?
Interesting twin-boomer anyway, thanks.

 

[richard]

Just for sharing :

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1557651

 

[Stargazer]

Unfortunately we have no indication of the country this twin-fuselage transport was designed, right?

Or is "Conn." short for Connecticut?

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Or is "Conn." short for Connecticut?

I'd guess so, particularly as I thought 'rest room' was American English?

Love the design BTW, although I wonder if it would have had enough power to ever get off the ground ...

 

[Michel Van]

after littel Goggle fu i found this

there was a car manufacture called "General Development Co." in Ridgewood, NY & Long Island, NY 1946-1948
i know its not Connecticut but Long Island is under it.

 

[Jemiba]

"I wonder if it would have had enough power to ever get off the ground ..."

It looks, as every of those about 9,5m diameter props would have been powered
by 4 engines. If we use the Napier Lion just as an example, that would fit with regards
to size and type (inline engine), we get about 3600 hp. That probably would have been
sufficient. Interesting find !

 

[Nik]

That has a definite Burnelli look about it...

 

[Silencer1]

Hi!

Why use Google, when we have Flight?

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%201824.html?search=General%20Development

 

[Tophe]

Thanks Silencer1. 1929 is surprising for such a modern look.

 

[Jos Heyman]

This aircraft design has been mentioned in Aerofiles:

Company: 1910: (Dr William Whitney) Christmas Aeroplane Co, Washington DC. c.1912: Durham Christmas
Aeroplane Sales & Exhibition Co. 1918: Cantilever Aero Co, Copiague, NY

Aircraft:
Aerial Express 1928 - A Burnelli-like design for an intercontinental airliner of huge
dimensions. Something like 100 passengers, and cargo, were to be housed in
the thick wing. Eight powerful engines in two groups were to drive two huge
propellers. Not built. (NASM has a drawing of it.)

 

[Stargazer]

Now the tricky thing is to find the link between the General Development Co. in Connecticut (whose name appears on the plans) and the Christmas company from DC...

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Now the tricky thing is to find the link between the General Development Co. in Connecticut (whose name appears on the plans) and the Christmas company from DC...

From the Flight article previously cited:

[quote author=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%201821.html]
The new American project owes its inception to Dr. William Whitney Christmas, vice-president of the General Development Company of Connecticut, and Reid, Kinp and Company, bankers and brokers of Hartford, Conn,, are financial sponsors of the enterprise.
[/quote]

Quite a lot of facts and figures about the plane too. There's also a tease right at the end of the article:

We are informed that 62 engineers are now hard at work getting out the production drawings for the new giant monoplanes, and it is hoped that the first machine will be finished and ready for test flights in the autumn of 1930.

To think that more of those drawings could still be out there ...

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks for reading better than me!

 

[bibliophile1]

I was doing some online research, and was really suprised to find a contemporary thread about William Whitney Christmas, the General Development Co., and his flying wing- monoplane.
I believe I have the General Development Company's retained typescript of their illustrated patent application for this aircraft.
It's in the company's buckram binding, stamped in gilt on front cover: "General Development Company. Inventions of William Whitney Christmas. Vol. I." [no evidence of a volume II being issued]. It is labeled "Confidential," and is signed and dated by William Whitney Christmas, May 13, 1930.
He is listed as the "inventor" on all 59 of the "photostat" blueprints, but I've read somewhere, that someone else actually did the drawings.
I'm not sure if this response adds much to the thread, but I was curious about the nature of the continued interest, and couldn't resist responding.
I bought it on eBay a few years ago, because I thought it was interesting, and it's been on the shelf in my office ever since.
Sounds like there is likely a more appropriate collector out there that might appreciate this more than I do, but I've never been sure where to go with it.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Bibliophile1

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Welcome bibliophile1, thanks for posting!

If you are interested in selling then there are collectors on this forum who may well be interested. You should post in the Bookshelf & Marketplace forum.

However, if you just want more people to be able to see the material, then IMHO you could do a lot worse than scanning some of the more interesting diagrams and posting them as attachments here.

BTW do you have any patent application details? (ref no etc?) Material may already be on-line in various patent archives?

 

[bibliophile1]

Thanks for your response, and suggestion about the Bookshelf & Marketplace.
I will post a link to it in that section for anyone interested in it.
I did end up listing it for sale on eBay, and I included a number of scans of the drawings, text, photograph, etc.
The link for it is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360340932955&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1123

It is a seven day auction, and just started a couple hours ago.
It will be interesting to see how much attention it gets.

With kind regards,
Bibliophile1

 

[bibliophile1]

FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

For a number of years I've had on my shelf this signed patent application and blueprint drawings for William Whitney Christmas & his General Development Co. It is the company's retained carbon typescript, illustrated patent application for his FLYING WING monoplane (or inhabited wing) aircraft.
It is over 100 pages long, has 59 full-page blueprint designs, bound into the company's gilt-stamped binding.
It is signed by W. W. Christmas, in 1930, beneath the confidentiality statement.

Someone at this site suggested that if I was interested in parting with it, I should post something in this section about it.

I just listed it for a seven-day auction, at eBay, at the following link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360340932955&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1123

It just started a couple hours ago (Tuesday, February 1st).
There are a number of scans of the text and blueprint designs.
If anyone has any questions/comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.
It will be interesting to see how much attention it gets.
Thanks for your consideration.
With kind regards,
Bibliophile1

 

[Orionblamblam]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

Starting price of $699 seems a bit high.

 

[Orionblamblam]

BTW do you have any patent application details?

Looks similar to this one (though the application seems to be dated later, and much fatter).
http://www.google.com/patents?id=uqxQAAAAEBAJ

 

[unclejim]

This guy Christmas designed several unusual and rather dangerous aircraft, including the Christmas Bullet. He also got the federal government to put monies up for these. No surprise.

 

[Stargazer]

Another Christmas mention is found in the Spangenberg Index, related to a project for the Navy developed with Grover Loening (no further details):
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,9832.msg91314/highlight,christmas.html#msg91314

 

[Tophe]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

The subject is interesting, but I would not invest for it, sorry.

 

[Stargazer]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

The subject is interesting, but I would not invest for it, sorry.

What? Tophe, twin-boom lover extraordinaire... not investing in one of the most AMAZING and crazy twin-boom aircraft projects ever? One that no-one is even sure could even have flown (like his own whiffs)??

I don't understand!!! : : ;D

 

[Tophe]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

Aircraft (and twin-boom ones most of all) are just a hobby for me, while the money I have is for helping my family in law in the Philippines. But feel free to pay if you want.

 

[Stargazer]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

Aircraft (and twin-boom ones most of all) are just a hobby for me, while the money I have is for helping my family in law in the Philippines. But feel free to pay if you want.

Come on, Tophe! I was only teasing you! I thought you knew my humor a little better than this... :'(

 

[Tophe]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

All right. And I understand one of us here may be interested at this price, if millionnaire or something.

 

[lark]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

..did a bit search...

most of the patent drawings of the Christmas and General Development monoplane
can be found via Google Patens.
Search for W.W.Christmas 1,806,586 May 26 1931

Good luck Gent's

 

[Tophe]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

Yes:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=7tFtAAAAEBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=ininventor:W+W+ininventor:Christmas&hl=en&ei=wdGZTt34B83qOdXdsYkK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA
but also:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=z3luAAAAEBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=patent82314&hl=en&ei=PdKZTo-uJsbVsgaBhMX9Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6wEwAA

 

[Stargazer]

Re: FLYING WING Patent & Blueprints W. W. Christmas & General Development Co.

Translated from Les Ailes N°151, 6 February 1930:

A BLUFF INDEED...

When we published the giant airplane project of American designer Christmas, we stated our skepticism as to the feasibility of the project which was to be developed by a company named "General Development of Connecticut".

According to one of our correspondents in the United States, the "New York Times" has revealed that 1) The General Development of Connecticut is a hypothetical company; 2) the necessary funds to create it haven't been collected; 3) the factory exists only in the imagination of the project's creators. The American paper concludes that, in the end, the project was all a deplorable publicity "stunt" for Mr. Christmas and "his" engineer, and that the project will never see the light of day.

The project was odd... but our skepticism was justified!

 

[Stargazer]

Topics merged. Thanks hesham.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


here is one of early Dr. Christmas aircraft,it was low-mid wing twin boom transport aircraft,
powered by two engines,remained a project only.


http://books.google.com.eg/books?id=y94DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA234&dq=popular+mechanics+flying-wing&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FgH_U77lIumb0QWZxIG4CQ&ved=0CBsQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=popular%20mechanics%20flying-wing&f=false

 

[Stargazer]

A very interesting 1931 article about Christmas and his infamous Bullet:

 

[hesham]

Nice find my dear Skyblazer.

 

[hesham]

Just for sharing :

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1557651

A clearer view from Icaro 1930.

 

[hesham]

From Aeroplano 35.

 

[gabrielorosco]

Hi!

How this aircraft was meant to be positioned, I mean, in a "rest" position? Was it meant to be in an inclined position, with the rear small tires touching the ground?

 

[Kugelblitz]

Some data for this ...hrm aircraft.

8x1100hp from "jupiter" engines, 80x42,1m, 963m2 wing area, 40900e/60900to kg, 233kmh, 1290km with 15876kg, 160px

Sorry, I don't remember the source for this.

Interesting take he has on the Bullet, when the consensus elsewhere is that both prototypes crashed rather promptly on their first flights.

 

[hesham]

Some data for this ...hrm aircraft.

8x1100hp from "jupiter" engines, 80x42,1m, 963m2 wing area, 40900e/60900to kg, 233kmh, 1290km with 15876kg, 160px

Sorry, I don't remember the source for this.

Interesting take he has on the Bullet, when the consensus elsewhere is that both prototypes crashed rather promptly on their first flights.

Thanks for the Info.

 

[gabrielorosco]

From Aeroplano 35.

Anybody has this blueprint in high resolution?