Sat, Dec 14, 2024
One of the many unique airplanes at AirVenture 2018 was a 1/3-scale B-17 bomber built by Jack Bally (who has since passed away, but is fondly remembered by so very many), who talked about the 17-year project with Aero-News at the show that summer.
Bally said that the idea was born over "too much beer one night with a bunch of buddies" as they talked about what kind of airplane they could build that would be the only one of its kind. They settled on the B-17, because as far as they knew, there were no flying 4-engine scale models WWII airplanes. They had originally intended to build a B-24, but that airplane would not scale properly.
Bally used scaled-up model airplane plans to build the Bally Bomber. The single-place airplane has a wingspan of 34 feet, 7 inches and is 25 feet long. It is powered by four Hirth 80 horsepower engines rated at 45 horsepower due to modifications, cruises at 110 knots and stalls at about 50 knots.
Bally said that during the construction process, he was visited by several WWII B-17 pilots, "and those were some real good stories."
Bally's story is a good one too. Congratulations on bringing your dream to a reality.
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 over 5000 aviation and feature programs, including well over 1700 episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE UNLIMITED, currently hosted by Sophie Hurlock. 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 over 450,000 news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated.
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