Flight of Phoenix

That plane would never have got off the ground in real life.
Alla
-- Allan Waterfal ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Allan Waterfall's Profile: this thread:

It did. The pilot was killed landing it. But it did fly (ok, it was built for the job, but what the heck?)
Mark Rand RTFM

Presume we're talking about the film where all the survivors lay on to
of the wing behind shields. In which case that wing would only lif downwards into the ground the same way an airbrake works and would hav required more elevator and motor power than was available. Some year ago I fitted an aerobatic model with a similar arrangement and just b applying the airbrakes it could be made to bunt.
Alla
-- Allan Waterfal ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Allan Waterfall's Profile: this thread:

That's the film. Did I hear they's done a re-make? I suppose they use special effects on the new one, rather than kill another pilot.
Perhaps - to keep all parties happy - we could suppose they removed the shields (and the actors sheltering behind) during the actual flight.
A properly designed airbrake would preumably have a neutral effect on aircraft attitude and, if possible, lift.
Wilfrid Underwood

Paul Manz was the builder and pilot of the orig Phoenix and it did fly with the shields on the wing and dummies straped on for passengers. He was a well known restorer of warbirds etc. in Califorina. Had quite a collection of restored warbirds himself.
By his own comments it was a bit##h to fly.
It crashed killing Manz during the filming so the orig movie was altered leaving out the arrival at the oasis scenes.
The remake was done with R/C models according to several model aivation mags. According to some reports the model was not too nice to fly so they made several just in case.
Have not seen the new version but first saw the orig, sometime in the early 60's.
Hugh
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