That's a pretty slick-looking plane. Now correct me if I'm wrong ... but is that tailfin on the bottom of the rear sitting on a dolly? How do you land it?
From the diagrams on the blog page it looks like there is a reinforced skid on the tip of the ventral tail plane. It looks like it may even be retractable. It was common to use grass fields for airstrips back in the '30s and through the war. As planes got bigger and heavier with higher landing and takeoff speeds the paved runways became necessary. I love the old films from early in the war where there are six or eight Spitfires or Hurricanes taking off line abreast across a grass field. Can you imagine what THAT sounded like! Kurt O.
i could stare at that thing all day - thanks for posting... it really is reminiscent of a belly tanker. been waiting for chance to share this video of an r2. seen videos of geebees in flight, but this one gets wrung out! and if anyone knows the history of this design, this is not for the faint of heart... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwqYh995YhU more info here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/4515/geebeer2.html ...these planes were built for the '32 races - maybe i'm seeing things, but is there just a little bit of their shape in the cowl-heavy ford deuce? must have been the times...
don't forget some of the locomotives that were desidned in the same time period. not to mention architecture. must have been a wonderful time to see new things being created.
There's no way I'd fly that thing. First, the center of gravity must be behind the center of lift, making it unstable around the lateral axis. The elevators would need to be highly effective at low speeds to keep the nose down, and having the radiator intakes in the leading edge will disrupt the laminar flow across the control surfaces, especially at higher angles of attack. The size of the wings suggest high loading. Fine for high speed, tricky for takeoff and landing. I'm sure drag is low, but being able to get it up and down again is severly compromised. If there is anything that looks more dangerous than a GeeBee, this must be it. Aircraft racing and graphics had a big impact on hot rodders in the 30's. In LA the '34 stock car race held at Mines Field (now LAX) was also the site of the 1933 National Air Races. Gilmore Oil sponsored both race cars and race planes, and the colors and graphics crossed over. Race planes and hot rods were all part of the same mix in LA.
...at risk of heading further off topic, don't forget the dh.88! http://www.pjcomputing.flyer.co.uk/comet/ here's a great video detailing the '34 macrobertson race (england to australia)... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlVlRlCoBJ0 speed was *the* frontier back then.
Beautiful Bugatti, of course. The stubby little GEEBEE is probably my favorite. Doesn't look like it should fly, I think I heard once that it doesn't want to fly, but it does simply from brute force. Pure hot rod, tiny cockpit at the rear and all engine up to the prop! Saw this while looking at the above link to the GeeBee and is definitely OT but you MUST watch this guy's ability to fly this RC plane. UNREAL, looks like he is batting golfballs around with the rudder as the plane is under power standing straight up. Holy Crap! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSHSn5uIuXc
Don't get me started on aeroplanes - I am deep enough in shit with hot rods! Just add a few 000s onto the bill when you play with winged things. The GeeBee replica is flown by Delmar Benjamin. I had the opportunity to chat with him in 2000 at the Riverside Air Show. The GeeBee themed Deuces of Geoff M-T and the late Joe Lance, were parked adjacent to the aeroplane. If you have seen Delmar fly that thing inverted you realize that he has to have huge cojones!
Couldn't agree more, those were fast and beautiful planes. I am always impressed with cars or planes that are fast - and almost always they are great designs as well. That Bugatti must have been interesting for the pilot with the drives running next to his legs.
Wow. Not to get to far OT as that is a beautiful aircraft/ You have to understand that from a pure HP perspective, the Bf 109 variants fighting in Spain at this time were producing around 700hp while the Emil finally broke the 1000hp barrier just prior to the Polish invasion. This thing was ahead of its time but I wonder how any pilot would have felt with that huge chickenpit to sit in. He would have been really exposed and then with the engines behind him...would have been very hot. I wonder what armaments they planned.
Something else just dawned on me... Those wings are canted forward. We didn't even test that until the 70's. Man that guy was way ahead of his time. Shame it never got off the ground. It would have been upsized with a bubble canopy eventually. Armored plate behind the seat. Perfect center of balance. That plane would have out turned anything at that time except maybe the Spit. But imagine if they would have been able to squeeze a merlin back there and gone with one prop. Wow.
I have loved that Bugatti since I first saw a picture of it. Here are a few pictures of Italian Schneider Trophy sea planes. I believe the second one is still the fastest prop driven float plane of all time. Powered by coupled V12s! Mmmmmhhhh......
I thought either we or the Germans did during the war. Edit - Should have known it was the Germans...
I think I'm the only HAMBer that worked on the Bugatti airplane. It arrived at Vintage Auto Restorations here in Ridgefield in the early 1970's less the two engines. You guys do know the whole plane is made of wood, right? Bugatti farmed out the wood work to a piano company in Paris, and the airfraim designer would come up from NYC once a month while we were working on the project. I think the fillets from wing to fuselage were some type of designe brakethrough, a airplane guy can correct me if got that wrong. They were the only exposed aluminum parts on the plane. The wings are one unit tip to tip and the fuselage droped on to it, just like you'd connect two Lincoln logs as a kid. The tail was another piece that attached as one piece. It arrived with a lot of dry rot in the wood and there was no thought of it ever being made airworthy........Dumbest thing I did was toss all the original fabric in the dumpster, I do have one square inch of it here somewere. If you have questions I'll tyry to answer them. Dr. Williamson was a very cool guy to work for, glad he saved this piece of history.
This can't be OT. Ryan started it! I've always had a soft spot for hose old airborne HOTRODS! This thread has given me chill bumps when I went thru some of the links, especially the GeeeBee! That has to the definitioh of an airborne hotrod. jerry
Stood next to the original GeeBee in the Smithsonian last month, love that plane. There is a replica in an all glass visitor center in Springfield, Mass. right next to an evivated section of I91 that gives you the feeling that you are flying along with it.
The idea of a cutdown automobile did not just appear out of nowhere in the late 40's. Every type of vehicle ever built has contributed to our hobby, if you look hard enough you could find design features from the Roman Chariots in todays vehicles. Some machines made truely remarkable statements in their designs that forever changed segments of the evolution of selevted vehicles. We can no more deny that the airplane effected hot rods then we can Buggati-Miller-Duesnberg's input. Tradition never started and hasen't ended yet.
There actually has been an RC model of the Bugatti. It is an electric powered scratch build by the man of electric RC flight. Keith Shaw. He is referred to as "The Bearded One." Seriously. Dude is a genious. Anyway, I'm sure if Google Keith Shaw and Bugatti you will find some info on it.
Hot rods and airplanes, they all have that sound, that smell. Super stearmans, Bee Gees, P 51s, Coursairs, spitfires, on and on, not to forget the H1 racer.. It's all about power, performance, and Speed. Imagine the sound of those 2 V12s in that sea plane!!!!!!!!! Some one with some serious money should build a replica of that bugatti. I understand not flying the original, It should be saved, being the only one and all. (Aircaft trailer queens), Thanks Ryan, I was trying to concentrate on my roadster, in the corner I have 2 Shaky Jakes R755s, anyone have an ol' pt 17 airframe they want to get rid of? Didn't think so!!! Great Thread, thanks, OLY The cancer car Lives Give to cancer research
CLSSY56 I knew I should have put (racer) behind Bee Gee. That's not the sound I meant. Ha Ha Your quicker than I, OLY
That Bugatti woulda hauled ass if it'd flown. The first thing I thought of seeing that uber-streamlined fuselage is the Bell X-1...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-1
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