16 minute read
Bally Bomber
HOMEBUILTS
A GREAT BIG LITTLE BOMBER
Jack Bally’s legacy returns to Oshkosh
BY HAL BRYAN
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
“IT’S JUST AN AIRPLANE.”
That’s how the late Jack Bally, EAA 348338, a lifelong pilot and builder, described his one-third scale replica of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress — just an airplane. Never mind that it’s unique in nearly every respect: an enormous miniature four-engine bomber that looks like it could be a giant RC model until the canopy swings open and a person climbs out. SO LET’S BUILD ONE When asked the big question of why he built himself a one-third scale B-17, Jack’s reply was simple and matter of fact: Because if you scaled down a B-24, you don’t end up with enough wing area. Well, sure, but why build such a thing at all?
“Some of my friends were discussing next projects, and we picked this because there isn’t any other ones out there,” Jack recalled. “There’s two-engine P-38s made, and there’s a lot of P-51s, but there ain’t no four-engine bombers out there. So let’s build one.”
Jack didn’t have any kind of an engineering background, but a few decades as a carpenter taught him a thing or two about working with his hands. As for learning to work with metal versus wood, he pointed out with a laugh that he “did side two houses with aluminum.”
Obviously, nobody makes a kit for an airplane like this, so Jack bought a set of RC model plans and scaled them up. Staying true to the proportions of the full-scale airplane, the “Bally Bomber,” as it’s known, is 25 feet long, with a wingspan of 34 feet, 7 inches, which is about 8 inches less than that of a Piper Cub. Like its ancestor, the airplane is all metal, 2024 and 6061 aluminum, except for the control surfaces, which are fabric-covered, in this case with Poly Fiber. The engine cowlings are made from composites, but he felt like that was cheating and planned to remake them in aluminum. The only part of the airplane that’s significantly out of scale are the cockpit windows, which Jack roughly doubled in height to improve visibility for the pilot.
BALLY BOMBER / PAGE 14
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BALLY BOMBER / PAGE 12
The airplane is powered by four Hirth F-30 two-stroke, air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder engines. The engines are rated at 80 hp, but with no room for a prop speed reduction unit in the scaled-down cowlings, the engines are connected directly to the propellers, resulting in 60 hp at 3300 rpm, or a total of 240 hp. They burn about 4 gph each, for a total of 16, sipping from two tanks in the wings with a total capacity of 40 gallons. In theory, this would provide two hours of flying time with a half-hour reserve.
The 46-inch diameter ground-adjustable propellers are solid wood, well painted to look like metal, and are redlined at 3900 rpm, as any faster than that and the tips will go supersonic. Adjusting the props is a complex and tedious affair, multiplied by 12 blades.
Walking around the airplane, the loving attention to detail, and Jack’s pragmatic approach to it, is reinforced repeatedly. The markings are fictionalized but credible, and the N-number honors his wife’s birthday. The nose art is an era-appropriate pinup, accompanied by the one word that sums up Jack’s project perfectly: Obsession.
THE BOMBER COMES BACK When Jack started this project, he estimated that it would take about five years. That was in 1999. Eighteen years, nearly a thousand lost weekends, 25,000 rivets, and an
PHOTO BY LEONARDO CORREA LUNA
estimated 40,000 man-hours later, the airplane was finished and flown, and made its first AirVenture appearance in 2018. Based on the foot traffic around the airplane, it was a clear winner of that year’s “dead grass award.” Now owned by Larry Neu, EAA Lifetime 104067, the airplane is a clear contender to repeat that honor in 2021. Larry purchased the third-scale bomber last summer and brought the airplane to Oshkosh from Dixon, Illinois.
“I saw the ad on Barnstormers, and I looked at the pictures and was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool,’” Larry said. “One of a kind, 18 years to build. I could never do that. I don’t have the skill, and I don’t have the patience. I thought it was a very unique opportunity [to purchase it].”
Larry intends to move the Bally Bomber down to San Antonio, Texas, where he lives, and make a few modifications to it to allow his 6-foot frame to fit in the aircraft a bit better.
“I did figure out how I can modify the seat to give me some more room,” Larry said. “Once I get the seat modded, it will be a lot more comfortable. Right now it’s got about a one-hour range, and that’s how long my back can handle it.”
Once Larry gets the airplane back to Texas, he’s looking to potentially replace a couple of the engines with electric motors to increase the horsepower and range. In the next few years, Larry plans on taking the Bally Bomber to air shows around Texas and hopes to eventually make it back to Oshkosh.
“I’m thinking I’ll be able to triple my range, which will take it from 120 miles to probably close to 400 miles,” he said. “With that, I can make Houston and Dallas [air shows] and even come back up here again in a few years.”
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HOMEBUILTS TEXAS TEEN SCRATCHBUILDS SKY PUP
BY ABBY OLENICZAK
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
GAGE WIRTZBERGER, EAA 1324792, 18, of Greenville, Texas, built a Sky Pup from scratch and plans to fly it for the first time in a month. He drove it up from Texas, and it can be seen in the Ultralights area.
Gage decided at 16 to build his own aircraft. The blue Sky Pup he built is made out of foam and wood.
Gage’s dad flew RC aircraft and introduced the idea of airplanes to him, he said. He has about a month left until he will have earned his private pilot certificate. Gage said he wants to be sure he understands the material well before taking his test.
This is his first year at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and he has enjoyed every minute of it. Whenever Gage brought up AirVenture, his friends always said it’s a great place to go and would get super excited about it.
Gage said what makes aviation appealing to him is “getting off the ground and up with the birds.”
After looking at the Titan Tornado airplane and a few others, his parents gifted the Sky Pup plans to him for Christmas. They told him it was easy to build and the safest one to fly.
It took him a little over a year to build, and he worked at a chicken farm for two years to afford the materials. Locating the material and avionics took a lot of research, time, and money, he said. The foam needed to be at least 2 inches thick because of the heat in Texas.
For his future, Gage said he may do oil line flying or possibly go to college for an engineering degree.
He wants to get the Sky Pup up as soon as possible and appreciates the help he had building it from his dad and little sister in their shop.
“It was definitely a family project,” Gage said.
PHOTO BY COLIN OLENICZAK
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2021 BROWN ARCH BRICK AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
BY SAM OLESON
AIRVENTURE TODAY STAFF
EVERY VOLUNTEER WHO contributes to making EAA AirVenture Oshkosh the World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration deserves thanks, but the Brown Arch Brick Awards exist to give special attention to a few people who go above and beyond.
The 2021 Brown Arch Brick Award recipients are Larry Huber, Bob McLaughlin, Lee and Paula Crevier, Dr. Stephen Leonard, and the Shay family. The recipients were honored at a ceremony on Friday morning at the Brown Arch.
Beginning in the 1980s, Larry, EAA 285890, started volunteering as a flightline volunteer in the Vintage area. Currently, he’s the vice chairman of showplane aircraft and camper registration, helping to coordinate and assist arriving pilots.
“It’s an honor,” Larry said of receiving the Brown Arch Brick Award. “I’m not a person that likes the notoriety, but I consider it quite an honor. I’ve put a lot into EAA, and EAA has given me far more than I’ve put into it.”
Bob, EAA 188831, has been a longtime volunteer at Kermit Weeks Hangar: EAA Flight Research Center in Oshkosh, as well as at AirVenture. He became the workshops chairman in 1989 and transitioned to co-chairman of the Builders Education Center & Workshops in the early 2000s, a position he held until 2016. He’s also an A&P/IA mechanic, and those skills have helped immensely at the Weeks Hangar.
“I was very honored and always amazed over the years that you get recognition for doing what you love,” Bob said of receiving the award. “The reward is doing what you’re doing and being around the people you volunteer with.”
Lee, EAA 355459, and Paula, EAA 477989, began volunteering with EAA in 1991 and have helped out in a variety of areas, including Pioneer Airport, Ultralights, Convention Headquarters, and basically anywhere else needed. Having been involved as volunteers for three decades now, Lee and Paula have developed strong friendships, which, along with genuine enjoyment of their duties, has kept them coming back to Oshkosh.
Larry Huber Bob McLaughlin
Lee and Paula Crevier
BOB MCLAUGHLIN
“Good people,” Lee said. “We have a lot of friends … I mean there was just a lot of people that we met that we knew, and we didn’t know they were up there like that until we went up there. Then we ended up with the Dr. Stephen Leonard camping group and it’s like, ‘Okay, you go there, you get to camp, you get to see the friends that you made from Canada.’ It’s like an annual thing to go up there and touch base with people you’ve made friends with for years and years.”
Stephen, EAA Lifetime 286293, joined the EAA Aeromedical Advisory Council in the 1980s and has been assisting EAA members and pilots, as well as the organization, with medical-related issues ever since. As part of the council, he’s been an active participant in shaping aviation medical policy as well as personally Shay Family assisting fellow members.
“[The Aeromedical Advisory Council] was initially formed to provide aviation medical advice to Paul Poberezny so he could take informed positions when working with the FAA to help shape regulations,” Stephen explained. “That role has expanded, and because the FAA medical team regularly attends AirVenture, the council members have had the chance to develop mutually productive, personal relationships with them. They trust us, and we are able to provide important input into their policy decisions. The greatly expanded Special Issuance program, and the development of criteria for AMEs to verify qualifications and issue certificates on the spot for a number of conditions that previously required deferrals, are direct results of ideas and input from our council. Finally, we are available as a resource to EAA members to guide them toward resolution of certification problems that they have had.”
Finally, the Shay family — which includes husband and wife team Bill, EAA 292424, and Margaret, as well as daughters Raquel and Sophia, EAA 1051870 — were honored with a Brown Arch Brick Award for their service as volunteers with EAA’s business development team since 2009. Since the Shays began volunteering, they’ve had the chance to meet a variety of new people each and every year — a key factor in why they love coming back each year.
“[I enjoy] the interaction I have with other people and the ability to show people who have never been to Oshkosh before the experience and show them my passion,” Bill said. “The girls have enjoyed the people they’ve been able to meet through the volunteering, to where they’ve been keeping in touch with people year-round. … They keep connections going for the past 11 years they’ve been volunteering.”
