That will be a good argument to use with the RSO - "But dude, this one goes to 11!"
What is your opinion on this Avro Lancaster?
- Thread starter Daddyisabar
- Start date
Help Support The Rocketry Forum:
That will be a good argument to use with the RSO - "But dude, this one goes to 11!"
Normally I'd have said this thing has no chance of flying, but based on your past record of getting improbable model aircraft to fly as rockets, the Lancaster has at least a fighting chance. Let's just hope it doesn't emulate the real Dambuster Lancaster's flight mode - horizontal and low level. The dorsal turret was removed from the Lancaster to save weight for the dambusting raid, but any Jerry fighter which gets on the tail of this one will be flamed by a couple of rocket motors.
Doing what others would think impossible, and modifying a Lancaster to do the required job - Barnes Wallis would have been proud.
Rear end Charlie in the ping pong ball tail gun position will take care of the Jerry fighters if they don't have schrage musik. Lord willing the D12 motors will not take care of the entire tail at lift off! It is really just an ignition issue, if all the motors light before she leaves the rod or rail the flame fin action from the Quadracant should keep her flying straight up like a rocket should.
Let the inner evil Bill be free. Like I have said before: Do not fall for the dogmatic view of the Jedi. Only by accepting a broader view of the Force will you be able to fly the rockets you love. Once you have mastered the Dark Art of model rocketry, forever will it guide you destiny. Use your passion to build and launch the B-36, think only of your glory at a successful flight, then you will truly have the Power of a Sith.
This guy has cool stuff. Light, strong, only one slow burning, canted motor and the airplanes fly like airplanes should! None of this Western Cowboy like lets rip these big monsters straight up on American made motors kind of stuff. It is like the difference between any Euro sports car and the Dodge Viper.
o1d_dude
'I battle gravity'
This is a sentimental favorite.
I voted take her out to the HP pads and press the button.
Make sure you take a lot of pictures first.
I voted take her out to the HP pads and press the button.
Make sure you take a lot of pictures first.
sodmeister
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2009
- Messages
- 6,963
- Reaction score
- 36
Love the Lancaster ,beautiful bomber....and I finally got to see one fly last year at the Hamilton Airshow ,only one of two still airworthy.
Now that was a sight to behold , it even looks great in static.I never realized how big the bomb bay was when poking around this grand old aircraft ,not to mention it`s overall size.
I used to have the Tamiya 1/48 scale model(I really need to replace that one !)
I know you shall do a great job of this project.I look forward to this very much !!
Paul T
Now that was a sight to behold , it even looks great in static.I never realized how big the bomb bay was when poking around this grand old aircraft ,not to mention it`s overall size.
I used to have the Tamiya 1/48 scale model(I really need to replace that one !)
I know you shall do a great job of this project.I look forward to this very much !!
Paul T
Yes indeed, but many Lancs were also built on this side of the pond by Victory Aircraft in Malton Ontario, using V-1650 designated versions of RR Merlin engines produced by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit Michigan.
About half the Lancasters built were lost in combat and when you count in losses from other causes I believe the casualty rate among the crews from all over the Empire was the highest of any branch of the service, approaching 60%.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 2,818
- Reaction score
- 25
ya know....think about that for a minute....a 50% combat casualty rate for Lancasters....just makes you appreciate what the men that flew them in WWII did for us all, on both sides of the Atlantic...for those guys to show up, mission after mission knowing the odds were stacked against them is just amazing...
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 2,818
- Reaction score
- 25
sodmeister
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2009
- Messages
- 6,963
- Reaction score
- 36
And many of them kids !!
Can you imagine life as a 19-20 year old boy in one of those things ? AND that goes for all the crews in Lancs ,17s ,24s,25s.....not many fellas over 25 in those things.
That takes balls !!
Paul t
After you finish successfully launching the Lanc, could you modify it, in the Spirit of Barnes Wallis and sling a Grand Slam underneath the beast. That should be very impressive.
In thinking about the casualty rate, remember that in one deadly day, the 8th Air Force lost a 1000 men. The Ploesti Oil Field raids were deadly. 53 planes went down in the Spring raid of '43, so possibly another 530 spirits departed these earthly bonds. I have to get back to my taxes before I run out of time.
In thinking about the casualty rate, remember that in one deadly day, the 8th Air Force lost a 1000 men. The Ploesti Oil Field raids were deadly. 53 planes went down in the Spring raid of '43, so possibly another 530 spirits departed these earthly bonds. I have to get back to my taxes before I run out of time.
All that need be done is to make a Tall Boy or Grand Slam bomb and modify the rack with a lug to hold the bomb's dowel in back. The later big bomb modifications also did away with the front turret, but it is still the same plane. Good chance the Lancaster will fly at NCR if things all work out. At least it won't go too far if it crashes, close enough to get fire crew there real quick.
luke strawwalker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Messages
- 9,147
- Reaction score
- 40
Another irony of WWII is that in 1942-3 in the skies over the Reich the Luftwaffe actually won. The area bombing at night did not break the German's will to fight, the USAAF day light bombing was very inaccurate, they were bombing the wrong targets (heavy industry & submarine bases) and it was all very costly to both sides. Even achieving a one to one loss ratio and with vastly increased production the overstretched Luftwaffe could not keep it up in terms of pilots and later fuel. The great myth is that the mighty P-51 Mustang showed up and cleared the sky in '44, the real story is that the bombers had done it mostly for themselves. By 1944 the accuracy and weight of bombing of PTOL (Petroleum, Transportation, Oil and Lubricants) started to severely impact the Reich, even with the rationalization of industry brought about by Albert Speer. The Luftwaffe ran out of trained pilots and the Allies could win the war of attrition. The losses were so bad for Bomber Command and the USSAF the actual records were not released until the 1980’s.
This war of attrition was hurting us too as we were fighting on two fronts. We had to reduce supplies to the Pacific to be able to fight in Europe and Afrika.
My late uncle, fought in the Second World War conscripted into the Luftwaffe. He told me of the inexperienced pilots that we had rushed into combat, in their great P-38 Lightnings, that did not know how to use the Allison engines, which were turning in opposite directions, to use that engine torque to be able to turn inside his Bf-109e. He said the P-38 could have turned inside if the pilot had the experience, but if he did not, and was rushed into combat, then he would win. He told me he shot down about 30 Allied aircraft, many over the Alps of northern Italy, and was himself shot down a dozen times. He ended up coming to the United States, coming to south Texas, where he met and married my late aunt, and worked for the Stauffer Chemical Company in Pasadena/Houston, Texas. He was a very neat, funny man. He did not want to fight for the Nazis, but had no choice. He loved flying, and he loved the United States. He told me once about the canopy on the Messerschmidt, which was made with very thick bullet proof glass and weighed over 100 lbs. He said the cockpit was so small that he, at about 5'8" tall was cramped in the cockpit. He dropped the canopy one day as he was climbing in and knocked himself unconscious. I hope I have not bored you, I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it.
My late uncle, fought in the Second World War conscripted into the Luftwaffe. He told me of the inexperienced pilots that we had rushed into combat, in their great P-38 Lightnings, that did not know how to use the Allison engines, which were turning in opposite directions, to use that engine torque to be able to turn inside his Bf-109e. He said the P-38 could have turned inside if the pilot had the experience, but if he did not, and was rushed into combat, then he would win. He told me he shot down about 30 Allied aircraft, many over the Alps of northern Italy, and was himself shot down a dozen times. He ended up coming to the United States, coming to south Texas, where he met and married my late aunt, and worked for the Stauffer Chemical Company in Pasadena/Houston, Texas. He was a very neat, funny man. He did not want to fight for the Nazis, but had no choice. He loved flying, and he loved the United States. He told me once about the canopy on the Messerschmidt, which was made with very thick bullet proof glass and weighed over 100 lbs. He said the cockpit was so small that he, at about 5'8" tall was cramped in the cockpit. He dropped the canopy one day as he was climbing in and knocked himself unconscious. I hope I have not bored you, I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it.
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 6,388
- Reaction score
- 2,067
Lets hope your crew is in the other 40%!
I knew all those skills honed during TLP builds would pay off some day... still waiting... :rofl:
Nice work!
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 2,818
- Reaction score
- 25
you are correct Daddy.....it was a war of attrition that the Germans could not win...we simply had more men, more material than they did....the 8th's primary purpose in the early 1944 time period was to lure the Luftwaffe up and to destroy it....if we hit targets while doing it then all the better. D-Day was won during the Jan thru April 1944 time period. It allowed the allies to have air supremacy over the beaches and thru out the breakout period of the summer of 44.
Yep, TLP buildin' is the gateway drug to crazy scratch builds. All those witches hats soon turn into all kinds of weird stuff. I see the polling indicates that I will have to watch out for the guys in the big white van holding the straight white jacket with the really long sleeves. It is already hard enough watching out for the guys in the big black SUV wearing the blue jackets with gold letters on the back. Hopefully I can get better odds than the real life odds were if I want to complete a flight tour with this Lancaster.
All painted and ready for a test flight.
More Pics:
I been to New York City and two worlds fairs and I ain't never seen nothing like that. Lets see, NCR is flying this weekend at the north site Friday through Sunday. Will your presence be felt? IF so, make sure Mike Shinn get's pictures and video. Good luck whenever you fly it.
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2011
- Messages
- 7,565
- Reaction score
- 1,162
Awright squad: FORWARD FACE! Now bow before the Master! Hip Hip-Hooray! Mucho Kudos to your chops, Daddy. Absofrickinlutely Amazing!
If the weather is good and the clip whip is ready she will fly. This baby is not meant for New York City or big world's fairs in London or Paris. You will only see this one between the Major Metropolitan areas of Nunn and Grover Colorado! If she survives, then on to the bright lights and big city of Pueblo!
Thanks. But we will have to see how it flies. They have all been good so far. Hopefully any bowing will not turn into hitting the deck to avoid a problematic Lanc coming off the rail!
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 6,388
- Reaction score
- 2,067
What he said!!!
:wave:
I will keep an eye on the forecast but Saturday morning looks good. I will only fly given the right conditions which do not come that often on the high prairie.
What he said!!!
Thank you as well. The Lanc is going to get some fire retarding treatment on the tail as the B6N flight had some burn. I am expecting some burn on the Lanc so any mitigation possible is needed before the maiden flight. What ever happens it will be exciting and that is what it is all about.
