The Ford Barn - Flying Flathead

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- - Flying Flathead (https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306684)

Re: Flying Flathead

Quote:

Originally Posted by GB SISSON (Post 2078441)

Is that belly landing photo the Bradley crash? My dad had a friend who was a ball turret gunner on a B17. You just had to respect that guy for his part.

The belly landing crash seen above was actually the result of a sudden gear collapse while taxiing on the airport. Unfortunately, the Bradley crash was the Collings Foundation's B-17 known as "909". It was awful, and what was left of the entire airplane is seen in this photo. #2 engine atop that white de-icing tank. DD

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/attac...4&d=1637575583

Re: Flying Flathead

I worked with a fella who was a tail gunner in a 17. Pilot gruond looped the thing on their last flight & the tail section was severed by a light pole. It spun around & left my friend able to crawl out un harmed. The 17 was scrapped.

Re: Flying Flathead

The Ford 15-P design would likely have needed a lot of design rework to master the control system but it just never happened after the crash. It was likely under powered as well,

Jack Northrup had some problems on the initial flight of the N-1M in 1941. He had looked at the Horton brothers flying wing glider designs a lot for the design phase of this model. His first wing design from the late 20s, the X-216H, still had tail booms & rudder controls but it was stable. The N-1M was tail-less and became a stable platform after adjustments of the control surfaces but it was under powered. The final design had two Franklin engines and finally had enough power to make it a decent airplane.

The Horton brothers actually mastered the design system for there model 229 but the war came to a close before it could go into production. They couldn't get engines for production since they were all going to other projects. It was the first successful jet powered wing design. Jack Northrup's designs were for large recip and jet engine bombers(YB-35 & YB-49 respectively).

All of these designs were limited in flight parameters. They weren't good designs for loops or barrel rolls. They had a tendency to flip over if the pilot got too carried away with aerobatics.

Re: Flying Flathead

In 1992 our Regional Group hosted a Western National Meet using Coeur d'Alene as the host resort. A part of the event was a fly in of a Tri Motor owned then by Evergreen Airlines which now has the Hughes plane. I got to ride in that particular Tri-Motor which I believe has since been sold. It was the plane that did the first trans America commercial flight and Amelia E and Charles Lindberg were aboard that first flight.
I also flew in the Aluminum Overcast from Boeing Field a few years ago. Love those round engines. The Tri Motor was like a Harley with wings!!