Christmas Bullet

{{short description|Early aeroplane dubbed "worst plane ever built"}}  {{Infobox aircraft | name = Christmas Bullet | logo = | logo_size = | image = Christmas Bullet.jpg | alt = | caption = c. 1918 | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = [[scout (aircraft)|Scout]] | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = [[United States]] | manufacturer = [[Christmas Aeroplane Company]] | design_group = | designer = [[William Whitney Christmas]]<br>[[Vincent Burnelli]] | builder = | issuer = | status = Destroyed | owners = | primary_user = | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = 2 | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | retired = | first_flight = January 1919<ref name="Angel">{{harvnb|Angelucci|1987|p=94}}</ref> | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = | variants = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded = }} The '''Christmas Bullet''', later known as the '''Cantilever Aero Bullet''' (sometimes referred to as the '''Christmas Strutless Biplane'''), was an American single-seat [[cantilever]] wing [[biplane]]. It is considered by many to be among the worst aircraft ever constructed for its time.<ref name="Winchester p. 256–257">{{harvnb|Winchester|2005|pp=256–257}}</ref>

==Design and development== Dr. [[William Whitney Christmas]]<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1930/untitled0%20-%200349.html |title=Correspondence: The Christmas Monoplane |journal=[[Flight International|Flight]] |last=Clement |first=Edward E. |page=333 |volume=22 |issue=1108 |date=21 March 1930}}</ref> (1865–1960),<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://encyclopedia.gwu.edu/gwencyclopedia/index.php?title=Christmas%2C_Dr._William |title=Christmas, Dr. William |encyclopedia=Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=George Washington University |access-date=2011-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930160458/http://encyclopedia.gwu.edu/gwencyclopedia/index.php?title=Christmas,_Dr._William |archive-date=2011-09-30 |url-status=dead}}</ref> who had no experience in aircraft design or aeronautical work, claimed to have built an aircraft of his own design in 1908 that was lost in a crash.<ref name="Gilbert" /> After a second aircraft was supposedly built, called the Red Bird, later modified into the Red Bird II, Christmas founded the Christmas Aeroplane Company based in [[Washington, DC]], in 1910. No evidence beyond his own claims has ever been found for the existence of either of these aircraft. By 1912, the company became the Durham Christmas Aeroplane Sales & Exhibition Company and later the Cantilever Aero Company after moving to [[Copiague, New York]], in 1918.<ref name="Gilbert">{{harvnb|Gilbert|1978|pp=41–49}}</ref>

Christmas convinced two brothers, Henry and Alfred McCarry, to back him. They then paid a visit to [[Continental Aircraft Corporation|Continental Aircraft Company]] of [[Long Island]], where Christmas convinced management that his planned aircraft would be the key element in an audacious plot to kidnap [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] of Germany. Two designs were proposed, a single-seat "scout" and a three-place "fighting machine".<ref name="Gilbert" />

The single-seat "Christmas Bullet" featured an all-wood construction with a [[Wood veneer|veneer]]-clad [[fuselage]]. Despite his claims to the contrary, neither design feature reduced [[aerodynamic drag]] nor was he among the first to use this method of construction; the majority of German [[World War I|World War I]]–era two-seater aircraft used for bombing and reconnaissance were similarly constructed. The "Bullet" was powered by a prototype [[Liberty L-6|Liberty 6]] engine. Although the [[US Army]] had been persuaded to lend an engine, the proviso was that the prototype engine was to be fitted into an airframe for ground testing only.

The design had a serious flaw in that it lacked any kind of struts or braces for the wings, with Christmas insisting that they should be flexible. Control of the aircraft was meant to be achieved by [[wing warping]] to its flying surfaces.<ref name="Gilbert" /> Although the Chief Engineer at Continental, [[Vincent Burnelli]], tried to institute changes, the "Christmas Bullet" was completed with the original design features intact. Construction materials were scrounged from available wood and steel stock and were not "aircraft grade", which was also a concern to Burnelli.<ref name="Gilbert" />

==Operational history== On its maiden flight in January 1919, the wings of the "Bullet" peeled from the fuselage and the aircraft crashed,<ref name="Winchester p. 256–257" /> killing the pilot, Cuthbert Mills.<ref name="Gilbert" /> The destruction of the prototype Liberty engine was never revealed to the US Army and a second Bullet was built powered by a [[Hall-Scott|Hall-Scott L-6]] engine.<ref name="Winchester p. 256–257" /> Despite the crash, Christmas placed an ad stating that the Christmas Bullet achieved a 197 mph top speed demonstrated in front of [[Ernest Emery Harmon|Col Harmon]] at Central Park, Long Island. The second aircraft was displayed in [[Madison Square Garden]] on 8 March 1919 as the "First Strutless Airplane".<ref>''Flying'', March 1919, p. 169.</ref> It was also destroyed on its first flight, again with the loss of the test pilot, Lt. Allington Joyce Jolly. The project was abandoned before its [[United States Army Air Service]] (USAAS) evaluation.<ref name="Angel" /> Following the crash of the second Bullet, Christmas continued to campaign for more funding for further projects, seeking out private and government sources, claiming "hundreds" of patents or patent submissions based on his aeronautical research. His far-fetched assertions were proved untrue but he claimed that he sold his unusual wing design to the US Army.<ref name="Winchester p. 256–257" />

A contemporary technical description with photographs and drawings appeared in ''[[Flight (magazine)|Flight]],'' 13 February 1919, claiming that "it would seem that such construction would result in a low factor of safety, but the designer claims a safety factor of seven throughout".<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1919/1919%20-%200207.html |title=The Christmas Strutless Biplane |journal=[[Flight (magazine)|Flight]] |volume=11 |issue=529 |date=13 February 1919 |pages=207–208}}</ref>

==Specifications (First prototype)== {{Aircraft specs |ref=<ref name="Angel" /> |prime units? = imp |crew=1 |length m=6.40 |length ft=21 |length in=0 |span m=8.53 |span ft=28 |span in=0 |wing area sqm=15.79 |wing area sqft=170 |empty weight kg=826 |empty weight lb=1,820 |gross weight kg=953 |gross weight lb=2,100 |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=[[Liberty L-6|Liberty 6]] |eng1 kw=138 |eng1 hp=185 |max speed kmh=282 |max speed mph=175 |max speed note= (anticipated) |range km=885 |range miles=430 |ceiling m=4,481 |ceiling ft=14,700 }}

==See also== {{aircontent  |see also= |related= |similar aircraft= *[[Dayton-Wright RB-1 Racer]] |lists= }}

==References==

===Notes=== {{Reflist}}

===Bibliography=== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last=Angelucci |first=Enzo |title=The American Fighter from 1917 to the present |date=1987 |publisher=Orion Books |isbn=978-5-550-23557-7 |location=New York}} * {{Cite book |last=Gilbert |first=James |title=The World's Worst Aircraft |date=1978 |publisher=Coronet Books |isbn=0-340-21824-X |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania}} * {{Cite book |last=Winchester |first=Jim |title=The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters |date=2005 |publisher=Amber Books Ltd. |isbn=1-904687-34-2 |location=London}} {{Refend}}

==External links== {{commons category|Christmas Bullet}} *[http://aerofiles.com/_ca.html Aerofiles A Century of American Aviation] *[http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0038.shtml Aerospecweb]

[[Category:1910s United States fighter aircraft]] [[Category:1910s United States experimental aircraft|Experimental aircraft 1910-1919]] [[Category:Christmas Aeroplane Company aircraft|Bullet]] [[Category:Biplanes]] [[Category:Sesquiplanes]] [[Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft]] [[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1919]] [[Category:Aircraft flown once]]