Paul, how did you make the B-17 fly, and what drove you to build something so big?!?
Big.....That was driven by the choice of 4 .15's to drive it. I didn't want anything smaller in a motor, and at the time .61 was the limit. So 4 15's worked. Then it was a matter of determining how much engine, muffler, prop tank etc equipment would be on board, and worked backwards into a size that would give me what i thought was an acceptable wing loading. I also could not exceed the maximum weight limit.
At first I was concerned about what would happen if just one engine were left running. That never proved to be a problem. I would "easily" fly on a single engine. It might have felt like a real B-17 on one engine though! Just enough to keep it in the air, and nothing more. I can tell you that loosing the 3 inboard engines in an overhead eight is fatal though. That happened to the first one, and reduced it to splinters. A new wing was built and added to the rebuilt fuselage. It still exists today.
The second one flew better and is the one most probably remember. That's the one I took to the WC's, and is the one pictured above. I thought it might be interesting to get both of them in the air at one time for "fun". I would need a real crew of helpers to get that done. Maybe a retirement project, and an opportunity for a video!
I built them when I did because I knew my time for doing this may not be too long. It pulls fairly hard for 7 minutes. Bask them, I could only do 3 flights a day reliably. Otherwise muscle problems arose. That's what happened on the semi-finals day of the Nats it flew in. I flew it too much and I got cramps in mu fore arm during the hourglass. I missed the finals by just a few points, and those were clearly given up in the last 3 maneuvers.
I did it just because I always wanted to. I had achieved all of my competition goals by that time, and this is one thing I always wanted to do.....So I did it.