Arup S2 & S4 Flying Wings

A podiatrist from South Bend, Indiana, was responsible for one of the more distinctive and successful tailless designs of the Depression. Dr. C.L. Snyder, intrigued with the flying qualities of a felt heel lift that he had idly tossed through the air one day in 1926, pursued his idea from the primitive model stage to unpowered and powered gliders, and finally to several highly successful disc-type aircraft.

Dr. Snyder's goal was to develop the flying wing for air transport purposes. He envisioned an aircraft with a wing 15 feet thick with a 100-foot span and a 100-foot chord. The passengers were to be seated in the wing with a clear view forward through the plastic leading edge of the wing. Snyder's early glider experiments led to the formation of the Arup Manufacturing Corporation in 1932 to refine his initial experimental configuration to a practical aircraft. Aided by the engineering skills of Raoul Hoffman and with Glenn Doolittle (racing pilot Jimmie Doolittle's cousin) acting as test pilot, Dr. Snyder produced three more variations of the basic disc-shaped Arup S-1 powered glider. Of the three, Arup S-2 and S-4 proved to be more durable and practical, making hundreds of flights during the mid-1930s, including impressive demonstration flights for the NACA, CAA, and the Army.

The Arup experienced an accident-free service life. Some of its pronounced advantages over more conventional aircraft were greater lift and safety, increased cruising range, lower takeoff and landing speeds, and stall-proof flight characteristics. Dr. Snyder's Arups were not commercial successes, however. He had inadequate working capital, inexperienced management, and an aircraft that just did not "look right."