American Gyro AG-4 Crusader

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]

AG-4 Crusader
Role
National origin United States
Manufacturer American Gyro Company
Designer Thomas M. Shelton
First flight 1935
Introduction 1935

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]

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]

Specifications (AG-4 Crusader)

Data from AAHS Journal

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Capacity: 3 passengers
  • Length: 21 ft 7 in (6.58 m)
  • Wingspan: 36 ft (11 m)
  • Height: 7 ft (2.1 m)
  • Wing area: 206 sq ft (19.1 m2)
  • Empty weight: 2,000 lb (907 kg)
  • Gross weight: 3,000 lb (1,361 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: 50 gal
  • Powerplant: 2 × Menasco C4-S Inline four cylinder piston, 150 hp (110 kW) each
  • Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 202 kn (233 mph, 375 km/h) [7]
  • Cruise speed: 180 kn (210 mph, 340 km/h) [7]
  • Range: 520 nmi (600 mi, 970 km) [7]
  • Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,300 m) [7]
  • Rate of climb: 1,760 ft/min (8.9 m/s) [7]

References
  1. "The CRUSADER NX14429 Page of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register Website". Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
  2. AAHS Journal: 42. Spring 2004.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  3. E Stanton Brown (August 1935). "The American Gyro Crusader". Popular Science.
  4. The Journal of Air Law, Volume 8. p. 71.
  5. "Pre-War Tootsietoys - article by Clint Seeley".
  6. Aerospace yearbook, Volume 18. Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Inc., New York, Aerospace Industries Association of America. p. 268.
  7. Aero Digest April 1935, p. 52.

Bibliography
  • "American Gyro Crusader". Aero Digest. Vol. 26, no. 4. April 1935. p. 52. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  • Roca, Alexander Crusader: The Story of the Shelton Flying Wing, its Company, and its Creator Rare Birds Publishing; 1st edition (1989) ISBN 978-0962288609
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