B-25 COD

[The Rat]

Why not? They took off from a carrier to hit Tokyo, so let's use them for hauling the mail. This item was procured yesterday:



(Box was too big for the scanner, which is why there's a visible splice near the right end) Just to be different I'll probably give it a tailwheel.    Might fold the wings, or maybe just carve the lines. Main question is, should I go with the dark blue post-war paint as on the TBM-3R, or a later service one with the light grey upper and white unders? Leaning toward the latter myself, but the former might be easier.

[Brian da Basher]

My vote's for gray and white, but have you considered that stunning North Atlantic scheme and maybe some maple leaves too?

Looking forward to seeing more,
Brian da Basher

[GTX]

Top idea

Regards,

Greg

[Scooterman]

grey/white for teh WIN!!

[upnorth]

Yes, go grey over white in the style of the Atlantic Fleet. Overall dark sea blue is about as boring as today's monotonous grey scheems.

I wouldn't go for a tail dragger arrangement. That's a lot of aircraft to control on the small carrier decks of the era and a tail dragging arrangement would do you no favours in deck handling or much needed pilot visibility.

I could certainly see a Mitchell rigged out for COD and carrier operations in general. It was readily convertible for fire bombing so it certainly could be lightened up enough to not only launch from, but recover successfully on a carrier.

Looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

[B777LR]

How about a VIP version? Early business jet

[The Rat]

How about a VIP version? Early business jet

Good idea!@ Not for this one though, I've had my heart set on it for a while. Also tinkered with a SAR job or turbo-prop. Another one would envision a twin-engine category in air racing, we could maybe do a group build on that one day.

[The Rat]

I wouldn't go for a tail dragger arrangement. That's a lot of aircraft to control on the small carrier decks of the era and a tail dragging arrangement would do you no favours in deck handling or much needed pilot visibility.

Well, I'm trying to creatively avoid nose weights. I was also wondering about the arrestor situation. The B-25 landing gear is rather stalky compared to modern aircraft, and I was thinking that a tailhook grabbing a wire might cause the tail to slam down into the deck any way, so a tailwheel would be needed anyway. Might go to an auxilliary one like the Tracker had.

[Weaver]

If you kept the tricycle gear and added a tailwheel, you could hold the tail down with cables to increase AoA at takeoff, in the manner of a Buccaneer. The other good thing with a nosewheel is that you can hang the tail way out over the deck edge for parking, without needing to reinforce those tailwheel arms that some WWII carriers had. I think that on WWII carriers, deck space would be your biggest problem: Hornet was empty of all other aircraft when she launched the Doolittle raid.

[The Rat]

I think that on WWII carriers, deck space would be your biggest problem: Hornet was empty of all other aircraft when she launched the Doolittle raid.

I'm guessing that a lot of the stuff delivered would be consumables, so there would be less leaving than coming in. As a result you wouldn't need any more than one on board at a time to take care of emergencies like medevacs. Each one landing would be leaving almost immediately with a lighter load than when it arrived.

[Eddie M.]

I like this idea very much. For deck space consideration, maybe an Avenger style wing fold for your COD?

[The Rat]

I like this idea very much. For deck space consideration, maybe an Avenger style wing fold for your COD?

If I fold them. Might just carve the lines.

I'm presuming that this is the scheme you're all clamoring for?

[Eddie M.]

Not me. That's the way the S-3 folds and it just never looked natural to me. The E-2 and C-2 style was what I liked, but that's personal preference.

By the way, is that smoke from a camp fire so close to that aircraft?

[chrisonord]

Not me. That's the way the S-3 folds and it just never looked natural to me. The E-2 and C-2 style was what I liked, but that's personal preference.

By the way, is that smoke from a camp fire so close to that aircraft?

It looks like a bunch of the natives have got the hashish going round
Chris.

[The Rat]

I meant paint scheme. Please don't ask for the 'wavy demarcation line' style.