American Gyro AG-4 Crusader explained
The American Gyro AG-4 Crusader is a small twin engine aircraft. The aircraft was designed as the Shelton Flying Wing in 1933 by Thomas Miles Shelton.[1]
Design
The AG-4 was developed using wind tunnel tests. The American Gyro AG-4 Crusader is an aluminum skinned four place low-wing twin engine aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear, twin tail booms with individual rudders, and a teardrop shaped fuselage. The wing uses trailing edge flaps and 25 gallon fuel tanks are mounted in each wing root. Retractable landing gear were also tested on the model.[2]
Operational history
The prototype was painted a copper color with green leather seats. It was tested in 1935 at Denver Colorado.[3] The aircraft was funded from stock issued in the Crusader Aircraft Corporation, a parent of the American Gyro Company. The company folded in 1938 under securities fraud investigations before the Crusader could go into production[4]
Popular culture
Tootsietoy came out with a die-cast metal toy of the plane, No. 719 in its catalogue.[5] Hubley and Wyandotte also made toys based on the Shelton Flying Wing.
Variants
- American Gyro AG-4 Crusader
American Gyro AG-6 Buccaneer
A six place variant design powered by Menasco engines[6] Bibliography
- American Gyro Crusader . Aero Digest . April 1935 . 26 . 4 . 52 . February 28, 2021.
- Roca, Alexander Crusader: The Story of the Shelton Flying Wing, its Company, and its Creator Rare Birds Publishing; 1st edition (1989)
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: The CRUSADER NX14429 Page of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website . 2013-10-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131021104947/http://www.dmairfield.com/airplanes/NX14429/index.html . 2013-10-21 . dead .
- none. AAHS Journal. Spring 2004. 42.
- Popular Science. August 1935. The American Gyro Crusader. E Stanton Brown.
- Book: The Journal of Air Law, Volume 8. 71.
- Web site: Pre-War Tootsietoys - article by Clint Seeley.
- Book: Aerospace yearbook, Volume 18. Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Inc., New York, Aerospace Industries Association of America. 268.
