B-24 Liberator Giant Scale RC Model Airplane - Maiden Flight

Taken on August 26, 2012 @ Houston's Johnson Space Center RC Club. This was the maiden flight of this beautiful plane.

Mike Laible - Pilot, Herman Burton - Flight Engineer
Lee Ray - Videographer
Music by John Williams, "Saving Private Ryan"

Entire maiden flight video (without music) is here:    • B-24 Liberator Giant Scale RC Model Airpla...  

The model is a B-24 Liberator, World War II heavy bomber. The subject is an exact copy of a plane, Homeward Angel, that flew out of Attlebridge, England, 8th Air Force, 466 Bomb Group. The 466th Bomb Group was part of the 8th Air Force and was stationed at Attlebridge, England, during World War II. The 466th BG flew 231 combat missions. The subject was picked because a friend's grandfather was one of the waist gunners, Kenneth Kramer. Coincidentally, after deciding on this subject, it was found out the the tail gunner was named Harold Burton, Sr., no relation to Herman Burton, a partner builder of this RC model.

The subject airplane was built from 1/9th scale plans drawn by Don Smith. The wingspan is 146.3". The finished plane weighs about 53 pounds. Power is four OS 110 alpha series 4-stroke engines, each having a Hayes 12 oz. Slimline fuel tank. Three-blade Master 15 X 7 propellers fit behind Tru-Turn hubs on each engine.

Panel lines were installed using 1/32" Chart-Pak tape. Tulip gel was used to simulate approximately 15,000 rivets. Rivet and paint details by Larry Hultman.

The entire aircraft is covered with 0.6 ounce/sq.yard fiberglass cloth, filled with 2 coats of West epoxy resin. The paint system is PPG K-12 primer, with Glass-Kote epoxy final color coats of olive drab on top, light grey on bottom, insignia red on engine cowls and rudders, with black leading edges' de-icing "boots". Decals were made by Aeroloft Designs, out in Mesa, Arizona, and were dry ink transfers.

Fourteen servos provide power to the primary control surfaces plus the four engines, all handled by the pilot with an Airtronics 10G 2.4 Ghz computer transmitter. An additional 9 servos power the two air systems, 50-caliber machine gun turrets, bomb bay doors and the rear pneumatic tail chock that extends below the belly of the plane to prevent the tail from scraping the tarmac. The co-pilot uses a Futaba T7C 2.4 Ghz transmitter for these functions. The type of servos range from tiny Hitec mini-servos on the throttles and miniature air clylinders, to metal-gear Futaba high torque servos for the control surfaces.

There are two separate pneumatic systems for this plane. One powers the pneumatic disc brakes, custom built by Dennis Aircraft uniquely for this plane. The brakes fit inside the retractable main landing gear machined-aluminum hubs built by Century Jet Retracts (CJR). Scale 1/9th rubber tires and wheel coverings by CJR add a nice touch of realism to the tricycle landing gear.

The second air system provides compressed air for the retractable machine gun belly turret air cylinders, and the fuselage rear underside chock air cylinder. The top turret has azimuth control for the machine guns. The front turret has both azimuth and elevation movement for the guns. The cockpit is fully detailed and is outfitted with 1/9 scale pilots. All turrets have scale crew member gunners, plus detailed guns and ammo belts.