ScaleBirds has done a real bang-up job of making an accessible, convincing homage to classic warbirds, giving buyers and builders a way to chase their fighter dreams without the multi-million dollar price tag. Sam Watrous, President of ScaleBirds, gave us a rundown of what his team’s been up to over the winter and through the spring - and things are looking good!
Their Litefighter is coming along nicely, checking all the right boxes on its way to full production. It’s a pretty accommodating canvas for builders, too, accepting more than half a dozen engines up to 225 lbs and 160 hp, resulting in a maneuverable, fun homage to the P-36 and its later iterations.
Builders will be getting their aircraft started soon enough, since early beta customers are getting their hands on the tail kit for their P-36. Watrous has even bigger plans for his modular light-sport platform, telling us it can serve as the base for any number of similar warbird designs in the future. If the Litefighter wasn’t enough he lets slip that ScaleBirds’ reduced-size Boeing B-17 aircraft is coming along just fine, too.
Aero-TV is a production of the Internationally syndicated Aero-News Network. Seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands of aviators and aviation adherents, ANN's Aero-TV has produced well over 5000 aviation and feature programs, including over 2500 episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE UNLIMITED, currently hosted by Holland Lee. Now in its third decade of operation, parent company Aero-News Network, has the most aggressive and intensive editorial profile of any aviation news organization and has published well over a half-million news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated.
Cooperative Surveillance Any surveillance system, such as secondary surveillance radar (SSR), wide-area multilateration (WAM), or ADS-B, that is dependent upon the presence of cert>[...]
Aero Linx: OX5 Aviation Pioneers Incorporated in 1955 as a Pa 501 (c)(3) Not for Profit Corporation, the OX5 Aviation Pioneers is dedicated to bringing before the public the accomp>[...]
The Pilot Appeared To Regain Control After Six Rotations And Attempted To “Fly Out” Inverted But Had Insufficient Altitude On November 8, 2025, at 1038 eastern standard>[...]
From 2018 (YouTube Edition): Aero-News Talks With The Airplane's Builder One of the many unique airplanes at AirVenture 2018 was a 1/3-scale B-17 bomber built by Jack Bally, who ta>[...]
Aero Linx: Society of U.S. Army Flight Surgeons (SoUSAFS) The Society of US Army Flight Surgeons (SoUSAFS) serves to advance the science and art of Aerospace Medicine and its allie>[...]
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (12.04.25): Cooperative Surveillance
See All