Remote Control B-52 UAV (Huge jet powered model aircraft - with Videos)

Balsa Busters ^ | April 2, 2004 | Gordon Nichols

[Eagle9]

VIDEOS: (Windows Media Format)
- First Test taxi - VIDEO1(3.4MB)

- First Video of Takeoff - VIDEO2 (2.1MB)
- Long video of flying - VIDEO3 (29.2MB)
- Video of the Crash - VIDEO4 (4.6MB)

B-52 Specs:
Builder: Gordon Nichols

Contributing Team Members:
Lance Bell (Co-constuctor, plans)
Neil Dare (Undercarriage systems design and build)
Dave Biddington (Engine pod design and moulding)

Bob Everitt (Tail cone and rear armament construction)

Wingspan: 23'
Length: 23'
Speed:
Range:

Dry Weight: 297 lbs
Fueled Weight: 330lbs (inside the CAA 150kg limit)
Fuel Capacity: 22 litres Jet A1
Kit Manufacturer: N/A
Kit Availability: N/A
Servo/Usage List: N/A

Engine Specs:
Make: Wren
Model: MW54
Thrust: 12Lbs

Sponsor List:

Inwood Models (Balsa, wheels, etc)
SM Services (Electronics and avionic controls)
Jersey Modeler Fuel Can Systems

Radio: Futaba PCM

Contact Info: Neil.Dare@uwe.ac.uk

http://mcgirt.net/index_RC.html

[Eagle9]

There are numerous large military RC model helicopter videos at the following link.

http://mcgirt.net/index_RC.html

[Jet Jaguar]

That is sweet.

ping.

[Dallas59]

Far out!

[Jet Jaguar]

Eagle, your link to the photo crashed. I saw the photo earlier. Now all I get is this.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Fascinating! Thanks so much, Eagle9.

[johniegrad]

I only got the forbidden sign the first time I came to this FR page. Once I went back to the homepage and rehit the link to Eagle's post, the pictures came back. Odd, or more likely, I just don't understand enough about 'puters.

[Jet Jaguar]

It is working again. Cool picture.

[ovrtaxt]

Cool. You could carpet bomb some midgets with that.

[Aeronaut]

[Eagle9]

I received this image in an email with the links to the videos.

[spetznaz]

Really Cool Ping.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Look out, mice! My cats are a-comin' for ya!!!

[Lokibob]

ping

[rlmorel]

Hehe, you could have a lot of fun with this over in the mideast...just imagine the terror in the Iranians when you fly this over at 100 feet...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

DEPENDS ALERT! DEPENDS ALERT!

[Jet Jaguar]

Cool stuff ping.

[Wiz]

Send it to Iraq and load it with some munitions to drop on the terrorists. :)

[luigi]

I've been involved it radio controlled airplanes for a few years now. This is my largest project, right after its' maiden flight.

The first thing that everyone in the hobby tells you is that every plane has an expiration date.

Unfortunately, the B-52 has reached its date.

[luigi]

Thanks for the ping; see #17

[mitch5501]

here's one for ya

wonder what it's worth?

[wolficatZ]

It's not going anywhere except the rubbish bin and spare parts box; totally wiped out. Rather gusty winds on it's last flight.

Hopefully some of the engines were salvaged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SquirrelKing]

bttt

[mylife]

That is very cool! I want one

[Youngman442002]

when I was a kid I had one....for about an hour...the kind with the wing strings...never could figure it out.....this one was cool..

[freedumb2003]

I want one!

I need to call my wife and tell her that her angst over what to get me for my b-day is over!!

[nuconvert]

Very cool. Thanx.

[nuconvert]

Ping Pong

[HighWheeler]

The crash reminded me of this one about 10 years ago:

[RightCanuck]

AWESOME!!!

[U S Army EOD]

Hope it didn't have any little bitty nukes on board.

[Rokke]

I can't believe it crashed. That thing was beautiful.

[TheBattman]

Reminds me of the large scale B-17 flying fortress RC plane I saw several years ago. That thing was amazing with 4 engines and a wingspan of about 12 feet.

But this B-52 is AMAZING! It's a shame it crashed. I would hate to think how much money was invested in that thing.

[jaydubya2]

Did you notice how windy it was that day. Doesn't look like a good RC day.

[Rokke]

Yeah. The wind sounded terrible. How'd you like to be the guy at the controls. Talk about a sinking feeling.

[RhoTheta]

Awesome model ping!

[Grut]

That Fairchild crash was sickeningly stupid; it's obvious from the angle of bank that the airplane is pulling four or five gs when it's only rated for 1.8g positive. The pilot killed himself and he killed his crew.

[Eagle9]

There is a link at the bottom of the above source, Balsa Busters, with a C-17A Globemaster III RC model plane.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~skycam/C-17A_Globemaster_III/

[Eagle9]

I need to call my wife and tell her that her angst over what to get me for my b-day is over!!

Heh, heh. I have a feeling her 'angst' has only just begun .... or yours has.

[Eagle9]

That's a beautiful twin engine. I've watched people flying RC planes in a very large park,formerly a working Penal Farm until the early 1970s, just outside the city. I've never seen anyone flying a plane the size of your twin, but really enjoyed seeing two guys with much smaller planes having a 'dogfight'. They had crepe paper tied to the back of each plane and used their prop to cut it shorter and shorter. The plane with the shortest trailing crepe paper loses.

[Fury]

A more apt statement would be Bud Holland was a hot dog who routinely flew in an unsafe manner, which contributed to him and his crew being killed.

[B4Ranch]

Thank you!

[al baby]

The first thing that comes to mind is
The difference between men and boys is the size of their toys

[Walkingfeather]

Link to video of this crash

http://www.itsvideos.com/viewmedia1075.html

[U S Army EOD]

We basically use to do the same thing in the bar with toilet paper. You would insert the toilet paper and light it and then start to dance. Whoever put their fire out first had to by the drinks. The name of the dance was the DOFA which stood for Dance of the Flaming A#$@ole.

[spodefly]

BTTT

[HighWheeler]

Here is the video itself stripped out of the web page, just right click and "save target as":

http://216.69.173.57/wmv1/military/B52Crash.wmv

[HighWheeler]

I saw a show like 60 Minutes talking about that idiot's past record of abuse and stupidity while flying. He should have been clipped long before this happened.

[steve86]

That Fairchild crash was sickeningly stupid

Was quite the dark day for Eastern Washington State and Spokane and Fairchild in particular.

On the slightly lighter subject of model airplanes crashing, I see the B-52 model had foam core wings, but probably not EPP foam. Amazingly, the EPP models can sometimes do a nose-in crash at 50-60 mph, bounce several feet in the air and go back flying again. Occasionally the foam will fail but often it doesn't. Some of the EPP wing modelers kick their plane from the back to get it into the air -- not something you would normally do with a balsa and spruce model.

[Eagle9]

Reminds me of the large scale B-17 flying fortress RC plane I saw several years ago. That thing was amazing with 4 engines and a wingspan of about 12 feet.

There's several photos of that B-17 before and after the crash, with photos on many other RC aircraft that were flying that same day, located at the following link. Click the photos to enlarge.

http://balsabusters2.warp0.com/CMACDAY.html

[Fred Hayek]

At that bank angle the BUFF is not going to get any lift anyhow. The pilot of that BUFF had a reputation of being a bit of a "hot dog". High crew turnover with that pilot as aircraft commander. And the picture shows where it got him. "There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots" (Chuck Yeager I believe).

[Grut]

IIRC, the immediate cause of the crash was that at such a high angle of bank, airflow through the engines was disrupted and they (or several of them) flamed out. And you're right about the pilot being a notorious hot dog... and, unfortunately, golden boy, so that nothing was done about him.