The V173 'Flying Pancake' has been restored and is now at Dallas' Love Field.  This link is a newspaper article about it.
As some of you know, this was the flying, proof-of-concept test model of the XF5U-1 'Skimmer' design.  The V173 was flown many times, but is not a designated 'Carrier Aircraft' and the Skimmer was never flown, so the design gets no scale points, but there is an eligible Nostalgia era design for a profile version.  There is a thread here about my build of this version.

 

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Flying-Pancake-Takes-Up-Residence-at-Dallas-Love-Field-144388875.html

Links to earlier discussions re: Skimmer & V173

http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=14269.0

http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=13576.0

Mike, thanks for the heads up. Great story about the restoration. Bob Heywood are you there.
Thanks
Wayne

Got it!

Thanks.

For Nostalgia, you may be correct that the XF5U would have received bonus points.  The bonus points rule was worded differently in the 74-75 rulebook.  The present day rules require that the full-scale plane had been "successfully flown".  The lone XF5U which was completed was taxi tested, but never flown.  The point is moot, however, since there are no (known) Class1 or Class2 models designed or published prior to the cutoff date, so the 100 point Nostalgia bonus would not apply.

As for the Profile version, no bonus points apply to Nostalgia Profile.  The published plans are ~305 sq.in. plus 'ailevators'.  They were legal for profile in 1972 and were flown by several - including stunthanger member Bob Heywood who is one of the contributors to the original article in AAM.  Here is his description from one of the threads mentioned above:

"The model was originally published in American Aircraft Modeler, June 1972. It does qualify for the Historical Bonus.

The Span is 19-3/4 in (across the main lifting surface). The Length is 23-5/8 in (spinner tip to rear of elevator). The area is 300 in. sq.+. It is a legal Profile Carrier model. I have a blueline taken from Frank's original tracing as well as a copy of AMA # 32545. I assure you that they are the same plan."

the F5U Skimmer (cousin to the V-173) was published in the 1972 June American Aircraft Modeler as a profile for a .35. I have the article and plans on my C/L Carrier CD #6.

Tom Wilk

sxet, I wanna sxet sounds like great fun 

I would appreciate a pointer to those references -- my only reference states that according to the test pilot, he "MAY" have briefly gotten slightly off the ground, but felt that it did not really qualify as 'controlled' flight.

(edit)  Again, though, the point is moot in Nostalgia -- You would give up your Nostalgia points, since there are no Class 1 or Class 2 designs of this plane from before the cutoff date (known, at this time).  Nostalgia Profile has no scale points, so it doesn't matter if the prototype ever flew or not, or even if there was a prototype. We already have a Nostalgia era profile.

If one were to consider building a present day version, if the 'successfully flown' part could be verified, one would an engineering nightmare, although John Vlna has suggested that it might be do-able with electric power.

I would appreciate a pointer to those references -- my only reference states that according to the test pilot, he "MAY" have briefly gotten slightly off the ground, but felt that it did not really qualify as 'controlled' flight.

(edit)  Again, though, the point is moot in Nostalgia -- You would give up your Nostalgia points, since there are no Class 1 or Class 2 designs of this plane from before the cutoff date (known, at this time).  Nostalgia Profile has no scale points, so it doesn't matter if the prototype ever flew or not, or even if there was a prototype. We already have a Nostalgia era profile.

If one were to consider building a present day version, if the 'successfully flown' part could be verified, one would an engineering nightmare, although John Vlna has suggested that it might be do-able with electric power.

I will not be home until early next week where I can get to my library.

Charlie Reeves built a profile scale version of the XF5U for the Tucson 1/2A Multi-Engine Profile Scale contest.  It was flown there for several years.  Power was two Norvel .061's.  In that size, the nacelles were almost scale and the nose/cockpit was not far from scale width while adhering to the 1" maximum width parameter for the fuselage and nacelles in profile scale.  Once it got off of the ground, which was kind of tricky as it would want to nose over if power was not slowly applied, it flew just fine.  I will try to get pictures of it posted when I get back.  The point is that the references show that it became airborne during one of those taxi tests.  That means that it flew.  In scale, the rules simply state that the full size aircraft must have actually flown.  The rules do not specify how well that airplane flew or for how long.  Therefore, the thing was acceptable for that scale contest.

Keith

<snip>
If one were to consider building a present day version, if the 'successfully flown' part could be verified, one would an engineering nightmare, although John Vlna has suggested that it might be do-able with electric power.

Very do-able with todays motors. This guy even lists his specs. at the end. "Fritella Volante" lol, luv it!

Here are some pictures of Charlie Reeves' XF5U, taken the afternoon of the last day of VSC 2009.  From what I remember it flew quite well, although many of my pictures show it banking in toward the center of the circle (not much of a moment arm for tip weight to be effective!!!).  Charlie did a great job on this plane.  The Pima Aviation Museum in Tucson had a scale model roughly the same size...virtually indistinguishable from Charlie's except for the scale props (rotors?) and no cylinder heads sticking out of the nacelles.

Since it was too windy to fly today, I went over to the Frontiers of Flight Museum to see the flying pancake. Very cool, and hard to believe it flew on a pair of 80 horse Continentals. Here's some pic's to enjoy.

Bill:
Your last V-173 pix shows a really nice bit of detailng on the LG strut.  Looks like when the weight was off the gear it flexed down & inward so that the lg struts tucked into a nicely faired & filleted junction.  That was a beautiful bit of detailing on what was a "simple" demonstrator.

Always bugged me that Vought & USN never undertook flight trials of the XF5U.  While outclassed as a fighter the technology would have been darned interesting for some of the close support work that needs to be done...

The V173 flew many times, not the XF5U-1.