Christmas Bullet
| Christmas Bullet | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| c. 1918 | |
| Role | Scout |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Christmas Aeroplane Company |
| Designer | William Whitney Christmas, Vincent Burnelli |
| First flight | January 1919 |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Number built | 2 |
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.
Dr. William Whitney Christmas (1865–1960), 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. 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, NY, in 1918.
Christmas convinced two brothers, Henry McCorry and Alfred McCorry, to back him. They then paid a visit to the 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."
The single-seat "Christmas Bullet" featured an all-wood construction with a veneer-clad fuselage, although 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-era two-seater aircraft used for bombing and reconnaissance were similarly constructed. The "Bullet" was powered by a prototype Liberty 6 engine. Although the US Army had been persuaded to loan an engine, the proviso was that the prototype engine was to be fitted into an airframe for ground testing only.
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