American Airpower Museum.
Lockheed CONSTELLATION.
Stout/Ford Trimotors.
(22 Apr 08)
See also the Aviation Humor page.
(11 May 06)
Nota bene - I am a passenger; NOT a pilot!
Although I logged many hours in the Link trainer at NYC's late (and, by many,
lamented) Museum of Science and Industry, I only had the command controls once,
ca. 1980, in the right-hand seat of a Cessna 210, when our pilot seemed determined
to B-25 the Empire State Building and I conned us away from that fate.
You might visit my other pages which are replete with aviation-related historical
information, such as railroads, Emile
Berliner and his son Henry A. Berliner*), Chrysler and SS and Jaguar, the ordnance page, and the Fairchild Aerial Survey page.
This North American P-51D Mustang model, NL51PT Petie 3rd, clearly was
built to 1':12" scale but is equally clearly a 1:87.1 (HO scale) model:
(photos from, courtesy of, and © 2006 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
This photo, reproduced by specific written permission, is from Brian Lockett's
fabulous virtual Goleta Air & Space
Museum, which I strongly recommend to you that are "air-minded"!
(23 May 07)
TWIN-FUSELAGE AIRPLANES - continued
(continued from the preceding continuation page 5 and that, in turn,
from the main Aviation page)
XP-49 Lockheed Lightning - this one-off oddity was a development of
the original P-38 Lockheed Lightning which was
over-elaborated and never saw service, let alone production. Other than
general beefing-up, it's main difference was that it was intended to pack
two 20mm cannon (the P-38 had one) and four .50 cal. MG (the armament was never
fitted) and that it had longer nacelles and higher vertical tail fins*. Here is a
USAF image from the USAF Museum:
[Image courtesy of USAF Museum - all rights reserved]
* - the fins were not repainted after they were extended and more stripes were
simply added - there were 15 instead of 13.
XP-58 Lockheed Chain Lightning - another one-off oddity developed from
the original P-38 Lockheed Lightning which was
also the victim of endless fiddling; its claim to fame was that it had a rear gunner,
enormously-upgraded forward-firing main armament (four 37mm cannon or one 75mm
cannon, plus two .50 cal. MGs) and one each .50 cal. rear-firing dorsal and ventral MG
turrets.
Here are a USAF image from the Aviation
Enthusiast Corner and two from Jirka Wagner's Czech
MILITARY.CZ site:
[Images courtesy of AEC (left) and J. Wagner (center and left) - all rights reserved]
(Thumbnailed images - click on pictures for slightly larger images)
If the Air Corps/Force hadn't messed around with the specs endlessly, Lockheed
would have had a real winner here; it would have made a ferocious fighter-bomber.
As it was, only a single prototype was built and flown (06 Jun 1944), too late for use.
Twin Cub
Frank Roales, a R/C scale model builder who enjoys building and flying "odd" subjects,
was researching the Twin Ercoupe for a possible next project and found my pages and
contacted me on 16 Oct 03. He has not been able to find out the colors used
on the aircraft. Dave McKenzie, noted in the preceding Twin Ercoupe coverage,
who flew with Grady Thrasher, advises that the "Twin 'Coupe" was painted red and
white and that examination of the photos clearly shows what the paint scheme was.
One of Frank's "odd" subjects was the "Wagner Twin Cub", of which he built a 1/4
scale (wingspan 126" or 10' 2") flying model which flew quite well (as, strangely
enough, did the prototype). There was a well-illustrated article on this odd
beast in the March 1984 issue of Air Classics (pp. 67-73). That article
also covered another oddity not germane here, a twin-engined Tri-Pacer also built by
Harold A. Wagner. Basically, what Wagner did was to put a 1946 J-3 Cub (on
the right) and a 1947 PA-11 Cub (on the left) together, mating stub wings and
tailplanes, and adding some struts between the fuselages. The J-3 had only its
starboard main gear and the PA-11 only it port main gear, but both fuselages retained
their tail wheels. Wagner also offset the props by putting a 4¾" spacer
on the PA-11 engine hub, extending that (port) prop some 2½" in front of the
other!
For those other than the cognoscenti, these are Piper Cubs we are discussing.
Koen van de Kerckhove from Belgium has a great site,
Nest of Dragons, about weird airplanes, with a page full of
Twins (and worse)! It has a photo of not only the Twin Cub but,
lurking in the left background, the 1951-52 Twin Tri-Pacer!
You can readily see how Wagner mounted two 125HP Lycomings 20" apart in a
widened nacelle:
Mikael Aksdal of Norway's Bergen
Veteranfly Klubb posted a similar picture of the Twin Cub, also without
even realizing that the Twin Tri-Pacer is in the left background, but, on this
photo, one can assume that's Harold A. Wagner standing in front (the
resolution is far too coarse to tell):
Whacky, but it flew sweetly first crack out of the barrel (on 06 Dec 51), as
does Frank Roales's model:
Looks real, doesn't it? Guess again:
(photos courtesy of F. Roales - all rights reserved)
Wagner made these craft to get higher performance and succeeded very well, indeed.
By rights, the silly things shouldn't have flown at all or should have vibrated to pieces,
but they did no such thing, each performing quite credibly. Anyone know what
ever became of them?
I'd no sooner started to post these pix when I ran into ANOTHER Twin Cub model, by
Scrubby Skrabala, of Lubbock, Texas, on Shelley Moore's
The FlyBaby site! A
Rick Lazzar also built one which he flew at a Southern New Hampshire R/C Club
meet, as did Phil Morgan, who came in second at a
RAF Model Aircraft Ass'n indoor meet across the pond.
Shelley came though instantly with permission to post; here are Scrubby, himself (who
looks very much like Frank!) at the pre-flight and after and the model:
(S. Skrabala photos courtesy of M. Skarabala via J. S. Moore - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images - click on photos for full images.]
There's something else strange about the Twin Cub (as if its very existence weren't
strange enough)! Air Classics specifically states that the J-3 had a
65HP engine and the P-11 an 85HP one, yet Frank's model shows
85 for both; looking back at the article, Frank's cowls are lettered exactly as Wagner's
were, both reading 85. A bit of J-3 tweaking, p'r'aps, or re-engining, or even
Wagnerian poetic license? Phil Morgan advises that the J-3 was remotored.
You want more on Twin Cub models; thanks to Phil Morgan and the
Royal Air Force Model Aircraft Association, of which he is now chair of Indoor
activities (and well-deservedly so), here are three photos of Phil's indoor flying model,
two on the ground/floor and a rare one of it taking off:
(RAFMAA photos courtesy of C. Waite - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images - click on photos for full images.]
These were take at the RAFMAA Indoor1competition November 2002.
If that doesn't satiate you, here are more photos from Peter, himself, showing just
how he constructed the model (no wonder he's a contest winner!):
(photos courtesy of P. Morgan - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail images - click on photos for full images.]
Not content with such excellent images, the redoubtable Mr. Morgan favo(u)red us with
this description of the craft:
-
"The model is built to 1/18th scale, following the full size structure closely. Wing
span: 29". Motors: 2 x Knight & Pridham KP00 electric driving K&P 5" propellers
cut down to 4½". Power: 4 x 50mA Nicads in series, 2 cells in each
fuselage, motors wired in series with 10R trimmer pot to control motor revs.
Flying weight: 105 grams."
"The colour scheme was a bit of a problem. All I had was factory finish for J3
and PA11 Cubs. The J3 was OK, all yellow with black trim, but what was a
PA11. My wife found a black and white foot of the twin in Aerofiles, which was
the only picture I had of the port side, which showed the colour scheme pattern.
I then came across a colour photo of a PA11 with the owner wearing a red white and
blue tee shirt. This was converted to a greyscale picture and a best guess
made from this to end up with a red and yellow scheme. After completion of the
model, more information was acquired and blue might well be the real colour?"
Resourceful, to say the least, what? Thanks, RAFMAA and Phil Morgan!
Phil also writes that the engines on the prototype started out at 65hp and that, on
the final configuration, both fuselages were fitted with 85hp engines. Further,
"there is a very nice article by Philip Jarrett with photos and three-view drawing in the
Aeroplane magazine dated November 1999". "Additional information
including confirmation of colour scheme can be found in the book Piper Cubs
page 128/129."
It would appear that even more Twin Cub photos (proto or model) are forthcoming -
stay tuned!
The RAFMAA site has a link to
Sams Models - Everything for the Aeromodeller (especially electric drives)
- how could I NOT link it here?
The Champlain Flying Club's
1946 Aeronca Champ
(Undated photo from the S. Simon collection - all rights reserved)
I attended, briefly (1952-53), Champlain College
in Plattsburg(h), New York, on the grounds of the old Plattsburg Barracks (the
Army's cushiest post), which closed in June 1953 when the USAF took it back
to become the Plattsburgh AFB in 1953. The school had a flying club,
the Champlain Flying Club, which bought its Aeronca Champ
new from the Aeronca plant in Ohio in 1946, It was sold through a
Québec dealer in 1956 (wonder who had it from June 1953?), and was bought
by a farmer in Rigaud, Québec, named Willy Lamothe, in flyable condition (it
went across the border in February 1956 on skis), and was stored in the open
behind his barn together with a junker. Recently (as of 31 Oct 2004), an
Air Canada senior pilot (who piloted the last Air Canada 747 ca. 30-31 Oct
2004) bought the craft (and the hangar queen) sight-unseen and it turns out to
be the actual CFC plane! Not only that, but he has all the paperwork
from day one, log book and all, is only the third owner, and proposes to
restore her to flying condition (she even has her original engine in place!).
Other than some details of who signed the bill of sale from the CFC and such,
the rest of this story is more an aviation miracle than a CC story and will be
fleshed out here. The new owner, who collects, restores, tests, and flies
antique aircraft and collects aircraft books, photos, and such, and who hopes
to rebuild her to her original state in her original color scheme, would like color
photos of the plane in its CFC livery, both inside and out. He also asks
that we keep an eye out for Aeronca aircraft parts and instruments as well as
pre-1955 aviation manuals, books, and magazines.
Long Island Air Museums
Long Island (New York, just west of New York City) was one of the earliest centers of
U. S. flight and hosted many famous airports and manufacturers, notably Floyd
Bennett Field, Mitchel Field, and Roosevelt Field, and Sperry, Republic, and Grumman.
A world-class aviation museum exists in Garden City in former Mitchel Field hangars
and new facilities, the Cradle of Aviation Museum and a flying museum in
a former Rebublic Aviation hangar, the American Airpower Museum:
Cradle of Aviation Museum -
occupying two old WWII hangars on Mitchel Field, with new construction between
them, and a state-of-the-art IMAX theater, the Cradle of Aviation features a huge
collection of old and recent aircraft, including a 1909 Bleriot Type XI, a Thomas Morse
S4C Scout, Lindbergh's own Jenny, an OX-5-powered Fleet, Savoia Marchetti S-56,
Grumman Goose, Wildcat, Hellcat, and TBF Avenger, Republic Thunderbolt and
SeaBee, and Waco CG-4a, plus many newer aircraft.
American Airpower Museum
- situated in an old Republic Aviation hangar on the east side of Republic Field, the AAM
features many flyable aircraft of the WWII era, most of which are flown regularly,
including a Grumman TBF Avenger, North American B-25 (Hap Arnold's) Mitchell and T-6
Texan, , a Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Gooney Bird, a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, a Curtiss
P-40 (Flying Tigers) Warhawk, and a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt/Jug. In addition,
the AAM hosts frequent visits by a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a
Consolidated-Vultee B-24 Liberator ion which rides can be purchased.
Lockheed CONSTELLATION - Arguably the sleekest, sexist plane of its type, the
L-049/649/749/C-69 Constellation series and the succeeding L-1049/1649 Super
Constellation series rocked the aviation world with their elegant lines. I
still very well remember my father's first flight from LGA to Chicago {?} in one
of the first TWA Connies; the plane took off to the west and rotated and was airborne
almost instantly. I was up on the old LGA observation deck and was shocked out
of my gourd! The gear was up and locked long before the plane was over Long
Island Sound.
(03 Aug 07)
If you love Connies, you have to see Ralph M. Pettersen's
Constellation Survivors.
I didn't even remember that there was an L-1649A Starliner with a new wing
design and 3,400 hp turbo-compound engines.
Stout/Ford Trimotors
I will be adding more on the Ford Trimotors, originally created by
Stout, here; for the nonce, suffice it to say that one is available
for immediate sale:
(22 Apr 08)
1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor NC9612!
This aircraft has been "restored to an extraordinarily high standard".
"This is arguably the most original and perfect example of this
historically important aircraft, and it remains a national treasure in
its own right".
Snap it up!
Pilot Paul Freeman has an absolutely fascinating
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields site which I link at the bottom of my
main Aviation page and this one but I want to give it even more play. I
strongly recommend it to you; Paul has maps, photos, and other background
on an amazing amassment of abandoned and abstruse airfields, indexed by
state (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico).
As you are obviously air-minded (take that as you choose), you must see the Lion Air site! I'd be Lion if I didn't warn you to keep your tongue in your cheek on this one!
On a more serious note, if you like aero engines, see Steve Vardy's Aero Engine Central.
Also, pilot Paul Freeman has an absolutely fascinating
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields site.
Because of page size limitations,
this page is a continuation of Aviation Continuation Page 2 and Aviation Continuation Page 3 and continues on Aviation Continuation Page 5.
Visit them and the Main Aviation Page.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of Aviation pages.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III -
1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007
- All rights reserved.
Return to Top of Page
times since the counter was installed.
