Modern replicas

[Tiger Tim]

Call me nuts but I think the proportions of a Vindicator are strikingly similar to those of a CJ-6

Except for the fact that they'd be about 1/2 scale.

Details, details...

-Tim

[Steve T]

With its slightly cranked wing, I think the CJ6A more closely resembles a half-scale Aichi B7A, myself...

Interwar replicas? It's been the most-charismatic few designs (P-12, P-26, F3F, Hawker Fury biplane, etc) that have been replicated. Top of my list for recreation would be the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin, first fighter used by the RCAF; one could conjure a lookalike around the bones of a Schweizer/Grumman AgCat...Two others, since Japanese types have been noted on this and other threads here lately, would be the Mitsubishi A5M and Nakajima Ki27, said to have been two of the sweetest-handling fighters of any age.

S.

[JohnB]

As much as I love the P-12 and would take one of the replicas in a second, imagine how cool a P-6E would be!

Of course you have the issue of the inline engine...I'd guess the Ranger is too small, the Allison too large. And I'm not a fan of auto conversions.

[jmkendall]

Why not just build a small run of engines to original specifications? After all the originals were built using fairly simple industrial technologies.

[Steve T]

Hm. Falconer V12, as in Thunder Mustangs and race boats...? A P-6E certainly would be nice!

S.

[famvburg]

Isn't the Falconer an auto engine?

[Mike]

I'd love to see the PZL P.11c replicated. The late Mark Hanna had talked about this. Engine is a Bristol Mercury, so the skills exist to rebuild and fit the correct engine, unlike with most of the "lookalikes" built recently.

[JohnB]

Another neat aircraft to see reproduced would be a Douglas Y1B-7 painted in air mail "emergency" markings.

Again, you have the Curtiss engines to deal with.

[Stoney]

I don't think putting retractable gear would be that hard for the P-66/BT-13 as Vultee had already done it.

[The Inspector]

Isn't the Falconer an auto engine?

Yep! they're one and a half SBC displacing 601 C.I.
A few years ago there was an outfit converting 460 Ford big blocks to aviation usage.

[Cvairwerks]

Stoney: A couple of the the changes that would have to be made:

Wingspan reduction of approximately 7 feet
Move the gear outboard approximately 2 feet each side
Convert the flaps to hydraulic
Add the stub spars forward of the gear
May have to sweep the aft spar forward to keep it within the new wing planform

On top of all that, there will be radical surgery for the steel tubing and a new monococque. Couple that with new tail feathers and you might as well have started from scratch and not have had to engineer all the changes.

[C VEICH]

There has, of course, been multiple threads here and on other boards dealing with this (or very similar) subjects. As usual I will throw in my vote for the Fiat G.50. A fairly simple airframe which could probably accept a number of different American radial powerplants and, like several other early war fighters, would most likely perform well due to the relatively light wing loading. I would love to see this one reproduced per original specs but a replica in wood or of mixed construction would be just fine with me as well. My .02 cents.

[Chris Brame]

There are a lot of inter-war aircraft I'd like to see replicated (especially the Keystone B-6 and Martin B-10) but the one I'd choose served with honor for ten years in the Navy, outlasted the plane that was supposed to replace it, and somehow slipped through the cracks with NO known survivors: The Curtiss SOC Seagull. Maybe the folks at Pensacola could trade one or two of their Lake Michigan refugees to some outfit to build a replica?

[shrike]

I'd love to see the PZL P.11c replicated. The late Mark Hanna had talked about this. Engine is a Bristol Mercury, so the skills exist to rebuild and fit the correct engine, unlike with most of the "lookalikes" built recently.

Once you started that, you could expand to P.24 with a 1830 or detuned R2000, and then to my favorite the IAR 80/81 series, all using the most of the same fuselage jigs.

[John Dupre]

There are a lot of inter-war aircraft I'd like to see replicated (especially the Keystone B-6 and Martin B-10) but the one I'd choose served with honor for ten years in the Navy, outlasted the plane that was supposed to replace it, and somehow slipped through the cracks with NO known survivors: The Curtiss SOC Seagull. Maybe the folks at Pensacola could trade one or two of their Lake Michigan refugees to some outfit to build a replica?

I know someone who looked into this quite seriously about ten years ago. The plans exist in the National Archives and will some day be scanned. However if you let the NA know you want to build a flying replica they will ask Curtiss-Wright (they still exist) if they object. C-W will object and the project goes nowhere. There was another set of plans held by the Navy from the old Naval Aircraft Factory but they were loaned out to someone in the government for some reason decades ago and never returned. Still it is a simple enough design that a reasonable replica could probably be built if you were not to concerned with authenticity.