Academy of Model Aeronautics that is! I have attached a few pictures of my best plane. This P51D has a 65.5" wingspan, a 5 channel radio (throttle, ailerons, rudder, elevator, and retractable landing gear), and a 1.0 cubic inch 4 stroke engine. Its thurst to weight ratio is greater than 1:1 so its verticle performance is limited only by radio range. Special thanks to Cindy for taking the pictures and uploading them to my web space in my absence.
SWEET! <t>That is a nice "ride" Tom! The P-51 was a bad boy. Tied with the P-38 as my WWII fave.<br/> <br/> <br/> While everybody thinks the model jets are neat, I think the coolest flying model I ever saw was a huge B17 wtih 4 working engines. <br/> It was amazing...</t>
Wow! That is cool! I have a friend up the street who's into radio control airplanes too and he builds them in his garage/workshop. The coolest one that I ever saw, was one that I didn't actually see with my own eyes. It was on video tape. I went to the hobby shop here in Montclair about 20 years ago, (for model railroad stuff) and they were showing a video tape of the owner's latest project. It was a huge (model) Catalina seaplane that they had been testing over at Puddingstone Lake in San Dimas. They showed it taking off and landing in the water at the lake, which I thought was pretty impressive for a model! ...........DD PS. Puddingstone Lake is directly below where TT parked his motorhome when he was out here for the Tennessee-UCLA game a few years ago.
I wish he had more time to fly them. Maybe soon he can slow down a little. We are planning to build a shop one of these days to give him more building space. That camera is a sweet little machine. So simple I even have trouble messing up a shot.<VBG> Cindy
Cindy said: You only wish this so that there would be less of these beauties in the house! :roll: She knows that the law of averages can't catch up with me as long as I am not flying! :wink:
That is a very impressive collection. I'm not into model plane flying, but I certainly can appreciate the devotion to a much loved pastime, not to mention the quality of life derived from the time spent. Very nice, Tom.
JIF, I have considered building a P-38 but I have another WWII time frame aircraft that I want to build first. Who can tell me what was the last prop driven fighter plane purchased by the USAF? When you name the plane, you will know the highly unusual plane that I want for my collection. Listen up Cindy!
Sid wrote: Sid, you should see the drawing board! :wink: I am also in the process of building another P-51 Mustang, a P-40 Warhawk, an AT-6 Texan, and a non-military aerobatic plane called the Edge 540. The Edge will be in excess of 80" wingspan and a 1.5 cubic inch engine. It will be capable of the same high speed passes as the P-51 plus it will hover in place vertically at half throttle. Great pilots can perform this hover maneuver just inches off the ground. I need a little more practice on the simulator before I try that. :roll:
Hint: During the Korean War, Japan-based F-xxs were among the first USAF aircraft to operate over Korea. The first three North Korean airplanes destroyed by U.S. forces were shot down by all-weather F-xx interceptors on June 27, 1950.
I don't think anybody would have guessed this Tom. Even with internet search I had a hard time finding this one. Vought F4U-4B Corsair. I also found out that a modified B-29 (designated the B50) was the last prop bomber that the Air Force bought. Terry
I also found out that as speed of our fighters increased that there were problems with the designs. The P-38 Lightnings apparently were a very fast and dangerous plane to fly, which is why the P-51 was such a great plane as well as the F4U-4B they had much better designs. But that after the war that we used captured research data from the Luftwaffe to modify our designs, the F86 had swept wings as a result of that data. Those Germans had an incredible military/industrial complex.
Nope again Terry... The F4U is a plane that I want in my hanger (I want them all I guess) it is not the plane that scored the first three kills in Korea and was not the last volume purchase of a prop fighter by the USAF. I am going to issue another question and then give the answer to the first. Since you mentioned the F4U, why was the "bent wing" design chosen for this aricraft? Now for the original question. The plane that I want to add to my collection is one that looks like a marriage between the P-51 and the P-38. It is the F-82 also known as the "Twin Mustang" although it was a totally fifferent design with similar characteristics. Here are a few looks at that great aircraft:
The F-82 was designed for bomber escort. The mustang was good at this task but was a one seater and not good for long range due to only one pilot. The F-82 allowed for two pilots where they could alternate flying the aircraft on long range escort bombing raids.