More Flying with Mr. Al...The Video !!!

I've known Al Painton for 40+ years, even buying my little airplane from him way back in 1985.  We're different in several ways, but have a VERY similar view of flying machines, whether full scale or models: it's seldom enough for a model just to fly...it's got to 'do something', or at least be odd enough to establish a definite personality apart from the crowd.

In his eighty's, Al is STILL absorbing and recreating aviation history...much of it being the stuff that was (or is) overshadowed by the headliners.  So here is his latest project: a B-17 that drops a life boat instead of bombs.  

This was a partnership deal:  Al does all the hard work of building and setting up 'Dumbo', while I show up with my key fob cameras, a roll of scotch tape to install them, then test-fly his beautiful airplane.  

This is what we got during the 17's first flight, with video from the ground and two airborne cameras in Dumbo.  One camera was taped to the nose (which worked), with another one actually in the lifeboat, pointed up---which apparently was scared so badly that it turned itself off.  

Dumbo's CG must have been located somewhere back of the trailing edge, and I spent most of the flight with the elevator stick bumping the top of it's frame.  My friend Brent jumped in, getting on the elevator trim, and taking it to it's forward stop, which reduced the 17's temperament to just below that of a rabid bobcat.  

The whole episode scrambled me so badly that I forgot which transmitter lever raised the gear and dropped the boat...and I wanted BADLY to drop the boat.  So Al came over, waited for me to get Dumbo in a somewhat level pass, then flicked the switch.  The boat clung to the bomber just long enough for me to imagine a scenario of it releasing on landing and vaulting the plane onto it's back, but then snapped loose, complete with a good chute. SUCCESS!

The bomber was still suicidal, but maybe a bit more friendly now that it was shy of it's cargo.  I opted to put it in the grass along side the runway, fearing the dreaded bounce...Bounce...BOUNCE...CRUNCH maneuver the hard surface offered.  So it just swished into the grass, assuming a very scale-like "Crash-Landed B-17" pose.

Brent and his family had showed up with some of his planes to join in the fun.  Brent's in the process of changing careers...from dragging the gear of a turbine Air Tractor through beans and rice fields, to flying for an airline.  Hmm...and I always thought he was afraid of heights...

Brent survived a mid-air collision with his father, Buster, who was flying another Air Tractor.  His dad lost the landing gear strut that severed the tail of Brent's Air Tractor. Brent was saved only by the fact that he was flying low to begin with, and was able to pancake the duster without it flipping.  Even still, he was badly injured and trapped in the Tractor.  His brother Corey literally boosted him up and out as fire engulfed the plane.

Buster dumped his plane on the strip he'd just left and ran to crash site, helping Corey move Brent farther away from the duster.

Brent went through a lengthy rehab, and jokes that he must have gotten his hands on his phone while he was still pretty doped-up.  He was surprised to find a Saito Three-Cylinder Radial waiting for him when he got home!  So, he got the Stearman to give it something to pull around the sky.

Anyway, we had us a great flying day, and here are some photos:





















Shades of 'Twelve O'Clock High'



A family affair:







Brent Gets Ramp-Checked