1/3-Scale Home-Built B-17 Bomber

1/3-Scale Home-Built B-17 Bomber

Built by Jack Bally, this 33% scale B-17 Flying Fortress is actually a man-carrying EAA certified experimental home-built aircraft.

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | 1/3-Scale Home-Built B-17 Bomber

The Bally Bomber B-17 made it’s debut during 2018 AirVenture and was put up for sale in 2018. The aircraft returned to AirVenture 2021 piloted by her new owner.

The Bally Bomber B-17 is an original design by Jack Bally. The four-engine aircraft features retractable landing gear and is built with all riveted aluminum construction. The plans for the EAA experimental aircraft were enlarged from 1/9-scale RC aircraft plans. Despite being a scale replica, the aircraft is relatively large for a homebuilt aircraft with 34 ft. wingspan. Most homebuilt aircraft are single engine designs with a few twin engine models produced, making a four engine homebuilt a rarity in itself.

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | 1/3-Scale Home-Built B-17 Bomber

The Bally Bomber took 17 years and 40,000 man-hours to get into the air. Thousands of EAA members followed Bally’s building progress for years, and the AirVenture 2018 attendees had the chance to see the finished result in person. Jack Bally pass away in 2020 at the age of 79.

Specs

Crew: 1

Wingspan: 34 ft. 7 in.

Length: 24 ft.

Powerplant: 4 × Hirth F-30 Two cycle piston, 85 hp

Propellers: 3-bladed

Updated: August 9, 2021 — 2:23 PM

13 Comments

  1. I just have one word, WOW..

  2. I would love to know where the aircraft is now. It would be an honor for myself or someone whom the family chose to continue the display and tour of his legacy. I know from experience that having put forth many long hard working hours into a project that is very dear to me and my family, that I would most certainly want my project to live on rather than to die with me. Having a successful project such as this with a very long and certainly an exciting history to tell, not to mention the fact that this aircraft is not only unique in many ways, but can also be shown in the air beside its creator, would be dishonorable to both the creator and the aircraft by not continuing the shows, documentary’s, & most certainly the air shows. All aircrafts are made to fly, not store. Please, if you are not already doing so, keep his legacy alive and flying. I’m not sure if I have ever been this emotionally connected to anyone’s project nor this focused on communicating to the family in this manner before, however, weather or not he is calling on me to pilot this project and keep both the aircraft and his legacy alive, or to simply get the word to his family of his possible wishes, I am holding onto a prayer that that is the case and see what may or not transpire. I can only hope I at least get a call from the family so that we can at least visit and give me an opportunity to share information with them that they may want to hear. If not, at least I did what I feel I was asked to do.

    Until then, have a blessed day.

    Mark P

    870 761 4153

  3. Just Wow. I watched the video 3 times and I just can’t get over it.
    I’ve been in love with the B-17 since I was about 9 years old. Started
    watching 12 O’clock High when it was a series about the same time. Built
    numerous plastic models. I live near Dayton, Ohio and the Air Force
    Museum, some times I just go up there and sit on a bench next to Memphis
    Belle, and listen to her tell her stories (a little teched in the head
    as Grandma would say). I gotta build one, Don Smith plans maybe. I’m
    going to be 60 next year, time to get started.

    1. I would suggest you spend some time on RCSB.COM to learn more about B-17’s and what plans work the best to fit your needs. This website is a great place to see what scale modeling is all about and moderated so there isn’t any of the BS present on the other sites.
      Sparky

      1. It is not RCSB.com, it is rcscalebuilder.com
        There is no website for RCSB.com

  4. wow that is all i can say.wow
    from south africa

    1. WOW,WOW WOW

  5. Same here, my dad flew as a radio operator in europe 31 missions, so just seeing a cool thing like this amd the sound of 4 engines is mystifying

  6. To dare to dream big is the right of everyone. To bring that dream to fruition as Jack has done after 18 years and 40,000 hours of work is truly a testament to sheer determination and amazing skill. The world needs more like him.

  7. Now about that P51 Mustang we discussed building….

    Great job. Very interesting.

  8. This aircraft is a wonderful piece of work.

    I wonder if it has similar flight characteristics as the original. My suspicion is that a piece of engineering may be missing since it was not mentioned. Studies of fluid dynamics show that ship hulls, aircraft, and fluid flow in pipes do not scale linearly. That’s why fluid dynamics textbooks have plots of all those weird groups of dimensionless quantities.

    For example, this 1/3 scale model may require something other than 1/3 of the power of the original to move it through the air at the same speed.

  9. Man that is fantastic! So glad Mr Bally got to see it to completion and see it fly. Gorgeous!

  10. It’s funny how passion can drive a person to create something so beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing…

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