Custer’s first full-size aircraft, the CCW-1 is seen here under construction in the inventor’s laboratory/workshop/office in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1942. Never one to make life easy for himself, master woodworker Custer created a sophisticated, streamlined ovoid fuselage from spruce and mahogany plywood.

A poor-quality but rare photograph of the CCW-1 during its military trials at Beltsville in 1943. Note the 10° dihedral at which the wings are set. Registered NX30090, the dark-blue CCW-1 survives today and is stored at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration & Storage Facility in Maryland, part of the National Air & Space Museum.

The CCW-1's original empennage, with vestigial tailfins plus rudder, and low-aspect-ratio tailplane with a single-piece elevator. This arrangement was later replaced with a boxkite-type tail during military trials at Beltsville in 1943, although the original was reinstated after the trials.

The cover of the May 1947 issue of Popular Mechanics, featuring the CCW-1 and ‘‘the wing that fooled the experts".