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As seen in this historic footage, some of the best features of the Skyshark were applied to the Cessna 182 airframe to produce the Wren 460. The Wren featured full span, double slotted flaps, movable spoilers called "wren's teeth" to assist in roll control, and a very innovative idea for its day, a movable high lift canard. The Wren achieved a worldwide reputation for being the only safe STOL airplane ever built. It achieved this by not relying on dangerous high angles of attack, and operation behind the power curve to achieve its safe STOL performance.
The high lift canard consists of a fixed horizontal stabilizer with a movable elevator. The canard elevator works automatically in conjunction with the elevator on the tail. The canard elevator is push rod actuated and the canard itself is attached to a rugged steel tube frame underneath the cowl, routine engine maintenance can easily be accomplished. As the elevator on the tail moves up to lower the tail and raise the nose, the high lift canard works just the opposite. The canard elevator goes down which in turn lifts the nose. The canard is an extra lifting surface which in turn adds to the lift generated by the wings. In addition, because the canard lifts the nose of the airplane up, it takes a corresponding amount of aerodynamic download off the tail. By generating more lift and relieving much of the download on the tail, the usable lift is drastically increased. This means slower, safer takeoff and landing speeds, which means shorter distances.
Normally, tricycle gear aircraft are limited to operation from smooth surfaces. The nosewheel of the 260SE/STOL can be lifted completely off the ground with a forward roll of only five feet, and kept off with as little as ten knots of forward speed. This allows operation of the 260SE off unimproved areas with much greater safety.
Steep turns may be made either direction immediately after take off. On the takeoff roll, once 35 knots is reached, the airplane can easily be flown off. Here we roll into a turn as soon as the airspeed hits 45 knots. Once at altitude, steep turns may be executed either direction at speeds as low as 40 knots, hands off! Just think of it, the airplane in a steep bank at slow speeds and you can actually trim the airplane then let go of the control wheel.
Another Wren feature that had to carried over to the 260SE/STOL was the ability to land safely after a complete engine failure during STOL takeoff. This is achievable due to the fact that the 260SE does not hang on the prop, relying on engine horsepower as do all of the other conventional STOL aircraft. Our customers would not sacrifice their safety to get STOL performance. Here 260SE/STOL demonstrates this remarkable trait.