New Birds
Frank checks out the landing gear, his favorite feature.
The other day, Frank D arrived at Baylands carrying a new work in progress, a flying fire engine.
It’s a handsome scratch-built twin-engine OV-10 Bronco, all dressed up as a fire-fighting plane used by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Frank admired the plane at a recent airshow, so he bought a small non-flying model and scaled it up into something that will someday fly.
His favorite feature is the retractable landing gear, three rubber wheels which bounce on spring-damped shock absorbers.
Frank anticipates that the plane will use seven servos to control the landing gear along with the flying surfaces, including flaps.
So far, Frank’s biggest challenge has been to recreate the plane’s large nine-paned cockpit, but he’s well underway.
According to Wikipedia:
The CAL FIRE Broncos fly with a crew of two, a pilot and the Air Attack Officer, whose job it is to coordinate all aerial assets on a fire with the Incident Commander on the ground. Thus, besides serving as a tanker lead-in aircraft, the OV-10A is also the aerial platform from which the entire air operation is coordinated.
Another notable project is the latest incarnation of Dennis Castleman’s Frankenplane.
It’s a giant thing, now powered by two motors: a tractor in front and a vectored pusher behind the wings.
An upside-down inverted bright red v-tail brings up the rear.
So far, it hasn’t taken off, but it’s slowly approaching airworthiness.
