Anyone ever fly one?

[Jay]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175487114673?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=48BDbpMlR_y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Y_wPBlKOQsG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[GallopingGhostler]

Aurora B-25 Mitchell Bomber Twin Tornado .060 Engines Vintage Control Line Model
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175487114673

Jay, I never flew such. By the time I was of the age where I could appreciate such in the mid-1960's, AFAIK, the only plastic scale RTF CL aircraft available were Cox and Wen-Mac (then AMF then Testor). But, it is a beautiful model. However with current bid at over $1,000.00 US and 6 days left to bid, it is way beyond my willingness to purchase.

I gather that the hay day for this particular model must have been in the late 1950's. It must have been majestic in flight back then, for those who could successfully fly it. Also I wonder how many had 2 donor engines, shortly after a father-son flight (dad as pit crew, son as pilot). The hard plastic used was great for scale detail, but had a tendency to shatter upon hard impact during a crash.

Several photos I am reposting after editing to remove perspective distortion and reducing file size to acceptable, because nowadays these auction sites tend to clear their cache of already sold or closed items early, losing the imagery for future commenting and historic appreciation of a rarely posted history model CL aircraft.

[kenneth cook]

             A friend of mine has one on his desk. I tell him I'm going to take it. He did fly it in the eighties. I certainly think it's neat . I just don't see why it has such a high value. Those plastics are horribly brittle. My other buddy has the P-47 Thunderbolt. Those .060 engines have the most horrific reed valve system. I have the P-40 that was sold as a model with the ability to convert to U-control.

[GallopingGhostler]

I agree with you, Ken. Interestingly enough, there is a profile B-25, Outerzone Plan# 8115, 42in span North American B-25H Mitchell by Vern Schroeder from Model Airplane News April 1958 https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=8115. It is for twin .09's to .15's. It wouldn't take much to downscale it a touch for twin .049 power. CL twin powered aircraft in war colors are always impressive, plus in more crash resistant balsa would give the essence of flight without chancing destruction of a historic relic.

[David Russum]

In the early '70s I think this was sold as a non-flying scale model.  I barely remember it - a friend's older brother had one, it definitely didn't include engines or a control system.  I think it was marketed as a giant scale model, 1/24 scale or so.  I do remember the props looked like they would work just fine on an .049 engine.

[Steve Helmick]

I agree with you, Ken. Interestingly enough, there is a profile B-25, Outerzone Plan# 8115, 42in span North American B-25H Mitchell by Vern Schroeder from Model Airplane News April 1958 https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=8115. It is for twin .09's to .15's. It wouldn't take much to downscale it a touch for twin .049 power. CL twin powered aircraft in war colors are always impressive, plus in more crash resistant balsa would give the essence of flight without chancing destruction of a historic relic.

My Dad's group over in Palawan, P.I. came up with the idea of installing some sort of Naval gun in the nose of one of their B-25's, which were the glass nose version. Probably due to GI beer? The pilot aimed the plane and gun, and pushed the button to unleash the gun. I remember asking him how a USAAC group got ammo for a USN gun, and he said they just requisitioned it...no problem. He said it was the navigator's job to schuck shells into the 'single shot' gun, and that the airplane slowed noticeably when it fired.

After the gun tore up the nose structure, ol' Dad sent a telegram to Wright Field and got North American to send 3 engineers to Palawan to see what they were trying to do...shoot up Japanese shipping. This resulted in the solid nose version of the B-25, as shown in the Outerzone plan. All that aside, most multi-engined CL models I'm familiar with tended to be tailheavy, so the glass nose B-25 might be more practical.    Steve

[Dan McEntee]

My Dad's group over in Palawan, P.I. came up with the idea of installing some sort of Naval gun in the nose of one of their B-25's, which were the glass nose version. Probably due to GI beer? The pilot aimed the plane and gun, and pushed the button to unleash the gun. I remember asking him how a USAAC group got ammo for a USN gun, and he said they just requisitioned it...no problem. He said it was the navigator's job to schuck shells into the 'single shot' gun, and that the airplane slowed noticeably when it fired.

After the gun tore up the nose structure, ol' Dad sent a telegram to Wright Field and got North American to send 3 engineers to Palawan to see what they were trying to do...shoot up Japanese shipping. This resulted in the solid nose version of the B-25, as shown in the Outerzone plan. All that aside, most multi-engined CL models I'm familiar with tended to be tailheavy, so the glass nose B-25 might be more practical.    Steve

     There was a "gun nose " B-25 with no glass, and had a 30 or 50 caliber gun on each side of the cockpit. Re-enforcing plates had to be added to the nose to protect the skin on the fuselage from the effects of the gun firing and muzzle flash. The B-25 with the cannon ion the nose was the B-25H I do believe. Both of these models were used for low level bombing and strafing runs. The bombs were equipped with parachutes to allow the bombers more time to clear the blast area. My Mom used to make bomb and cargo parachutes during the war when working at a local hat factory. I could easily understand cargo chutes, but I didn't understand bomb chutes until much later!
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Chris McMillin]

I have one of these, almost as nice as the one for sale, but no box. They are expensive because of rarity and market. Everyone wanted one as a kid in my age group. The kids that were older than me saw or actually had one, they only made them from 1960 to 1964 IIRC. The Wen Mac P-38 pretty much the same, 1957 to 1963. They were expensive and complex to fly, so easily wrecked too not because they flew badly but the pilots didn't know how to fly in the first place. I've flown a lot of plastic designs and they fly like heavy scale models. Some Cox models looped well, like the PT-19 and Cox Mini Stunt Pitts Special. I think Bart said they looped about all of the Cox models.

The reason I have them now is they look good in the trophy case and recall a time long past where kids could go to the store and buy an engine powered model airplane and fly it at the school yard. That was my era, so I like them and there are more than a few of us out there! The colors and designs are unique and to me an art form.

Chris...

[Doug Moisuk]

NOT AT THAT PRICE.

[Dan McEntee]

I have one of these, almost as nice as the one for sale, but no box. They are expensive because of rarity and market. Everyone wanted one as a kid in my age group. The kids that were older than me saw or actually had one, they only made them from 1960 to 1964 IIRC. The Wen Mac P-38 pretty much the same, 1957 to 1963. They were expensive and complex to fly, so easily wrecked too not because they flew badly but the pilots didn't know how to fly in the first place. I've flown a lot of plastic designs and they fly like heavy scale models. Some Cox models looped well, like the PT-19 and Cox Mini Stunt Pitts Special. I think Bart said they looped about all of the Cox models.

The reason I have them now is they look good in the trophy case and recall a time long past where kids could go to the store and buy an engine powered model airplane and fly it at the school yard. That was my era, so I like them and there are more than a few of us out there! The colors and designs are unique and to me an art form.

Chris...

        DITTO!

[GallopingGhostler]

The reason I have them now is they look good in the trophy case and recall a time long past where kids could go to the store and buy an engine powered model airplane and fly it at the school yard. That was my era, so I like them and there are more than a few of us out there! The colors and designs are unique and to me an art form.

Yup, I remember those days. It was considered as healthy noise. A 12 YO didn't need an adult to fly with, like today. We rode our bicycles all over the neighborhood.

Speaking of control line, here's my Air Force back in 1970 when I was in high school, on our front lawn in Hawaii. From top left to lower right: 1) 18" Scientific Cessna 180 hollow log; 2) 18" Scientific Li'l Devil hollow log; 3) Cox Piper L-4 Grasshopper RTF; 4) 18" profile Grumman F4F Wildcat with Cox .049 190 postage stamp engine and home made sheet steel engine mount; 5) 18" Top Flite Japanese Zero with Cox .020 Pee Wee full fuselage with steam rolled sheet fuselage shells and undercamber sheet wing.

[John Skukalek]

That's really cool Galloping Ghostler. Did you fly them?

[GallopingGhostler]

The only one I flew short lived was the Cox L-4 Grasshopper. We almost always had a minimum 15 mph Tradewind blowing year round, which played havoc on half-A CL flight. My father did not fly, so it was left up to my buddies, mostly my high school friends that worked at the same poultry farm that I worked at after school.

I joined Uncle Sam's scouting troop shortly after graduating 1972. My father salvaged the wheels and engines off the planes and trashed the rest when I went off to boot camp. When on the US East Coast, they had calm summer afternoons, and it was there that I learned to fly CL with my Army buddies.

Also flew single channel rudder only R/C, got really proficient at it, a total blast, surprised people how one could maintain full control over an aircraft with only one control.

[Chris McMillin]

In CL, leadouts are everything, in RC (and full scale) the rudder is everything...
Chris...

[wwwarbird]

In the early '70s I think this was sold as a non-flying scale model.  I barely remember it - a friend's older brother had one, it definitely didn't include engines or a control system.  I think it was marketed as a giant scale model, 1/24 scale or so.  I do remember the props looked like they would work just fine on an .049 engine.

 I had real nice static version one when I was a kid, mid seventies-ish. It was an "H" model, the short solid nose with the cannon. I think my dad brought it home from a gun show or something and gave it to me. Whoever had assembled it painted it in a flat dark olive drab (accurate) and did an excellent job. They did the frames on all the glass sections as well. There was no insignia or markings on it though. I just thought it was super cool and was a very prized possession until it disappeared at some point, no recollection where to. I remember setting it on the floor in front of a window fan then laying on my belly just staring at it with the props spinning away. I'd mess around with the "throttles" setting the fan to low, medium, high etc., and just imagine being in control of the various operations in a real one, dreaming...
 On occasion I'll check Ebay for a replacement kit but yeah, they're few and far between and nice ones go for BIG money, more than I can swing for one. I'd sure like to have one though.

 Not sure, but I've always felt like the flying version was exactly the same, like it came out of the same originally designed molds but with minor mold adaptations for the C/L requirements. Or, vice-versa, depending on which version came first? I'm sure somewhere out there is an Aurora historian who knows. 

[Dan Berry]

It is doubtful that anyone ever flew one three times.
If the box was better it would likely be three hundred bucks higher.

[Ken Culbertson]

My step father was Pappy Gunn's maintenance officer with the 38th bomb group in the south pacific during WWII.   My uncle who lived with us flew B-24's out of Italy and Libia.  I grew up with B-25 and B-24 stories.  My love for twin tail stunters comes from them.

Ken   

[wwwarbird]

 It's a very difficult thing to pick just one but I've often thought the B-25 Mitchell might just be my favorite airplane. The combination of the purposeful look and angry sound just oozes cool. Even while just firing up the R-2600's or simply idling past on taxi they sound ready to kick some ass.

[wwwarbird]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175487114673?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=48BDbpMlR_y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Y_wPBlKOQsG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 It sold, $2,013.34. Jeezus.

[GallopingGhostler]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175487114673

It sold, $2,013.34. Jeezus.

Wow! Including shipping before sales tax, $2,042.15. NM tax add $167.20. The price of a really nice used baritone saxophone. Definitely beyond my price range. I'd be afraid to let the grand kids play with that.

Well, more power to the buyer.