Rear view of the port-side engine installation to show its location in the centre of the port-side 'Channel' of this unusual twin-engine design.

After testing this CCW-5, now on display as part of the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, the conclusion was reached that the advantage in lift and field length performance achieved by the channel wing did not offset the layout's many deficiencies resulting from the increased drag profile and weight penalties.

The Custer CCW-5 was designed to give STOL performance by the pusher engines pulling air through the wing 'channels'. This worked OK, but the extra drag caused by the aircraft's layout cancelled out the benefits. It was intensively tested between 1953 and the 1970s, but no production orders were secured. Now preserved by the MAAM at Reading, PA.