One of our tipsters just sent us this fascinating story about The Bally Bomber, a single man’s huge undertaking that started back in 1999. It’s a 1/3rd scale version of the B-17G Bomber — and no, it’s not remote controlled, there will be a pilot.
Not familiar with the B-17G? What about its trade name? It’s called the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. This massive bomber was developed back in the 1930’s for the United States Army Air Corps as a combination between the Boeing 247 transport plane and the experimental Boeing XB-15 Bomber.
8680 of the B-17G model were built, but as of September 2011, only 13 of the entire B-17 family remain airworthy. The Bally Bomber is the only known scale replica, and looking through the progress photos it is an absolutely jaw-dropping project. It hasn’t been test flown yet, but they are getting painfully close to its maiden flight.
For more information, you can also check out their Facebook page which seems to be updated on a regular basis.
[Thanks Ryan!]
I am in love with this project.
I love image 75, the wings discretely sitting on tree stumps.
Looks like the image counts are broken up by each year,. so picture 75 from which gallery?
I liked this one, from 2013-A: http://theballybomber.com/images/theballybomber_2013_0162.jpg
This is just mind-blowing dedication. What a beauty.
This is so bad ass it’s hard to put into words! A smaller flying fortress with room for a pilot!? Holy cow! This thing will tear through the air with some serious power!
How’s he going to get it out of the basement?
reinforce the FF, open up the throttle and see what happens :P realistically though in pieces
Back in 2002 I got to go inside a real Flying Fortress. At the time, it was the only one flying, with the name “Fifi” on the side. The really amazing part is that the crew were all veterans from WWII that had flown in them during the war. Their stories raised the hair on the back of my neck.
That’s amazing Rallen!
Fifi is the last flying B-29 Superfortress. Still impressive but not a B-17.
During the war my grandfather was a repair mechanic for them stateside up in NY.
What an amazing project! Wilbur and Orville are applauding this man from byond the grave.
As for myself, I need to go change my underwear…
Holy crap this is amazing! I’d love to see a full flight of these make a run on an air show and drop water balloons.
I got to tour a B-17 in Texas a while back. I remember talking to one of the crew members and saying it wasn’t a big mans job. He laughed and said only if your a gunner, the pilots had to be pretty big fellas to work the controls. They were still cable controlled back then, no hydraulics.
Would anyone want to hazard a guess on how much something like this would cost to build?
This kind of project really makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with me in the ambition department. I am much more hands on and DIY than most but this shows how many standard deviations back on the bell curve I am (not adjusting for the fact that he may be just rich as hell). Damn, just top notch.
I saw one of them keeping the company of a Piper Cub wearing Olive Drab and another wearing civilian yellow. I did not see her name, but I was extremely impressed. The plane lives over in Oregon at the Evergreen Air Museum.
This is so awesome, I might throw up. Holy hell.
My stomach turned too after the third picture I viewed and the awe started sinking in. The next time I complain I don’t have enough time to do all of the projects I want to do, I will think of this project and know there is time if you look for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcaEdnFLb1U