To purchase this on dvd, email me at veterantales@gmail.com In this episode of the Walkaround, we show you the Vought V-173 Pancake located at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field. This is one very unique bird.
The V-173 brings myself into a world that from youth my father told us about, but until a few months ago crasped its full concept. A long time friend / machinist Bales Machine (Steve Bales) has caught my attention when he when a few wks back do where he helped the older guys do some machining parts of vintage air craft. As being raised up (now 69+) my father new of the Flying Pancake, and in 1954 when polio hit, and when touched down at Meacham Field in June of '54, would end his flying career for life. As a professional upholster and my love for vintage restoration of all kinds, would love to offer my services free to those older gents here in TX if needed. Yes, I am no Spring chicken at 69+, but if they need any help, I am here. Great that you shared this, and have subscribed, be cause you contents is what America is all about!
Thank you for making this. One of my all time favorite planes and you have restored it AND made a video of it. A thousand thanks... You guys are awesome...
super funky design...........of all the crazy odd ball ideas, this one actually had some interesting potential and very unique qualities. Its said that when the sister plane was scrapped, a demolition wrecking ball was needed to break up the wing.
If you sign up for a supporting membership, you can get the plans here: www.rcscalebuilder.com/Default.asp Check out the Merlyn Graves Vought V 173 Flying Pancake video (on RU-vid ) of one of these models in flight. :-)
Wow, I wonder if there are any current aircraft which vaguely resemble this V-173 design? Surely some of these concept ideas could be useful for a light STOL aircraft capable of high speeds.
I understand why these old museum birds aren’t allowed to fly anymore but it would be great if they could at least fire up the engines every now and again! Years ago I took a NMUSAF behind the scenes tour of the restoration hanger, I heard they unfortunately don’t do that anymore, our guide explained the planes they restore are taken to a flight worthy status and all of the systems are taken apart and refurbished (I’m guessing that’s a bit of a stretch especially with some of the later jet powered and more complex machines but maybe not... they probably don’t do behind the scene tours anymore because people like me ask 10,000 questions ha) but for some reason it makes a little sad those amazing old engines won’t ever make thunder again. The guide did share a quick story that the restoration crew was messing around one afternoon and managed to fire up an engine for a few seconds that was out of a Japanese Betty (if memory serves me right) that was there getting restored. Restoration hanger shenanigans 😝
Thank you, to the Vought Team for walking through the technical details of this very unique aircraft. They did a magnificent job, both in the restoration and the walk around presentation!
Vought's idea wasn't wasted because the design team of the Osprey used the same philosophy, but this time with moving engines for true vertical take off and landing.
A very interesting design. Would be interesting to see how well such a design would be able to operate redesigned with modern materials and systems. Dunno if the propellers are necessary to direct air over the wing/frame or if they would be able to be replaced with turbofans for the thrust necessary for flight
What if this aircraft was crafted from super-wood instead of any metal. Super-wood is de-lignined and compressed wood which is being discussed f.e. here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VC4d5iai3GE.html
Might be a modern role for such an aircraft. Considering the STOL capabilities, the small radar signature and the speed it might be of use as a UAV for refueling aircraft from a naval assault ship.
