B

"Hang The Expense" part 2
I mentioned during the test flight that the B-17 uses two pilots for control. Most large models are piloted by a single operator, which in most cases makes sense. With B-17 models however, when you get to a certain size, they behave exactly like the fullsize, good points and bad. As with all taildraggers, there is an inbuilt tendency to ground loop, due to the C of G position in relation to the main wheels. The B-17 is no different. Where the B-17 suffers in some respect is the fin ( or vertical stabilizer ). This feature provided excellent stability for high altitude precision bombing, but on the ground, the airplane is a HUGE Weather Vane. Any crosswind acting on the fin, will try to aggravate the ground loop tendency, swinging the airplane into wind. Not an Ideal situation if the wind isn't straight down the runway. Like the fullsize, my Fortress takes two pilots to fly. The pilot has the inboard engines, the flying controls, and the tail wheel caster lock, while the co-pilot has the flaps, landing gear and the two outer throttles which are independent. When taking off in a cross wind, the co-pilot advances the upwind engine more than the other to control the weather-cocking!!! Pure teamwork, just like the full size. The two transmitters are on different frequencies. The pilots transmitter sends its signal to two primary receivers which feed the servo signals into an S.M. Services "Rx Buddy". This black box monitors both receiver signals and all Ni-Cads, and sends the servo pulses from one receiver to ALL of the servos ( ie Both Ailerons, Elevators, Rudder & Inner Throttles ). Should the receiver or Ni-Cad fail, control is automatically fed to the other primary receiver and that drives ALL the servos. In this way, any receiver, switch, Ni-Cad or crystal failure is backed up, and safe and full control is maintained. The Co-Pilot's Tx has a single receiver driving the outer engines, flaps and retracts. Other than take off and landing control, The co-pilot works the outer engines during turns, reducing power on the engine on the inside of the turn to assist in "Keeping the skid ball centred", and provide a co-ordinated turn. Low passes with the model banked towards the crowd are assisted by increasing the low engine helping to prevent the model slipping sideways out of the pass. One last function of the twin throttles is that should full control be lost from the main transmitter, some turning control remains using the engines, should it be necessary to turn the model away from a crowd before a crash.
The test flight, and the show that followed a few days later were with a model still a long way from completion. At this time, most of the windows were painted on, there were no turrets or bomb doors, and no detail. I flew the model at the Elvington Air Spectacular Show three days after the test flight and then it was time to detail and paint the B-17. From putting pen to paper designing the model to the test flight was almost exactly 11 months. I still haven't got a clue how I managed it!!! So the end of the show season arrived and it was time to finish the B-17. First thing was to rub down the silver paint. Both Lynne ( my girlfriend at the time, now my wife ) and my dad helped to rub down the old paint work. Once the panel detail had been added, the windows cut out and glazed and turrets built, it was time for some painting.
The nose art complete. Lynne thinks her waist is too small but it is actually her hair covering it that makes it look small. Other "Items" were an accurate copy of the fullsize artwork.		Once the painting and detailing was completed, it was time to assemble the airplane again and check things over for the coming season.
		In August 1996, it all went very badly. A combination of factors resulted in a take off crash when the radio went into failsafe. The olive drab paint had considerably more drag than the silver and this resulted in longer take off runs and climb outs. It was calm so there was no wind to increase airspeed on the take off. As a result, the model was some distance away and still low down; not the best position for a good radio signal. As the model made its first 90 degree turn, the model aerials and the Tx aerial orientation was inline giving the weakest possible signal, and then the landing gear motors interfered with the receivers swamping them, sending the airplane into failsafe, and the engines to idle.
On the day of the crash, the rest of the Team were lost for words, and while I was annoyed, I could see the bigger picture that they couldn't. The other guys saw a pile of bits - I saw a large amount of surviving airframe!

Look back at the construction pictures and at the crash pictures. Look at the way the airframe came apart. The rear fuselage split at it's transport joint and was undamaged other than minor cosmetic damage. The outer wing panels snapped their wooden joiners and they too were undamaged. The inner wing panels were proved by the impact to be vastly over-engineered, and this was also proved early in the construction when each inner wing was loaded to 9G in the workshop; and that was before the spar webbing and sheeting had been added!!! What was damaged was the leading edge, ahead of the front spar, and three of the four engine nacelles were smashed from the wings. The landing gear were also fairly mangled. Being a model 'G' Fortress, it took the blow on the chin!! The front fuselage exploded, but possibly reduced the damage to the rest of the airframe. The whole top deck came away in one piece, everything else was fairly shredded. All the parts were gathered, and several large bags of bits collected. All were returned to the workshop for possible salvage.
The rebuild was spread over the next four years, due to buying a new house, building a workshop, getting married etc., but by March 1998, the airframe was once again looking like a B-17 should.		By the time of the Reunion at Thorpe Abbotts 1998, the model was resprayed, and the fitting of systems was about to begin.
September 1999 saw the B-17 complete its taxi trials and inspection scheme. The inspections were brought in by the CAA for any model over 20Kg in weight to ensure a good and safe standard of construction. Shortly after, I bought my new house and things went on hold.		It was a year later in October 2000, before the B-17 emerged for it's test flight. It was a cold windy day, but the wind was straight down the runway, perfect for the test. Here I am just starting No 2. This was also the first chance to fly with the Team's B-24, seen below.

Finally, some thumbnails of the B-17 over the last couple of years. Including a line up of several of the Team planes.




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