Peace Dividend ALCM Scout Cruiser

[Alvis 3.14159]

The year: 1992. The Soviet Union has collapsed, the fall of communism across Europe is continuing at an unbelievable pace...and politicians of the West are promising a "Peace Dividend". Somehow, all that money spent on Cold War weapons will be beaten into plowshares, or Walkmans, or something. Funny, it never really happened..but...what if it did? What would we have done with nuclear aircraft carriers and B-52s and boomer subs? Ok, maybe some of them could have been converted into something non-military...and my mind began to whirl.

Yeah, I know, it's 2010 and things didn't exactly pan out all love and flowers and stuff...but...you know...the Germans made  a manned version of the V-1...why not the same with the ALCM Cruise Missile? Ok, so here's how it might have happened...

Boeing, facing massive cuts in their military programs, frantically looked for something to develop as a civilian application..and they had the perfect aircraft..the ALCM Cruise Missile! Adapting it to fixed wings and fixed gear was easy, they merely used the proven P-51 Mustang wing planform, and simple, robust strutted landing gear. The Williams engine was derated back to only allow a top speed of 190 knots, and a cockpit was fabricated to go where the payload had formerly been kept. Litton, having developed an excellent terrain following radar/navigation system, was tasked to make the plane now able to fly hands off from take-off to landing..a truly push-button aircraft! Set your take-off point, your landing point, a few parameters like desired altitude, and push the big green start button..and away you go!

The most brilliant stroke was getting the Boy Scouts of America on board. A new category of Scouting, Scouts Aloft, was born, and within a couple years, Fly-In Jamborees were the newest craze in the USA (soon to be replaced with watching Full Contact Tank NASCAR).  With the Scouts Aloft program, Scout troops would be given three Scout Cruisers, and various Scouts would be given turns flying them. While their actual input was minimal,( actual flight control was limited to some basic course and altitude changes, with the Internal Litton Flight Dynamic System always having last say for safety reasons) it did meet FAI regulations, and as a result, the USA began to see a massive boom in civil aviation, at a time when most aircraft manufacturers were looking at an end to their businesses. Cruise Missile derived nav/control systems began to enter into the field, and gradually, more and more people were able to fly. It was the beginning of a great age for General Aviation.

And then Burt Rutan landed on the moon using old Titan missiles....but that's another story!

The cost of starting the Scouts Aloft Program was enormous, as was converting the ALCM to Piloted status, so extensive sponsorship was brought on board. Decried by some as "Flying NASCARs", the multi-hued planes allowed their sponsors much free publicity wherever they went, and the Scouts to afford flight. What was considered to be gaudy then is now, of course, completely normal.

The basic nature of the aircraft allowed for easy servicing and flying, but one little glitch was not discovered in the software until 2003, when a huge international Scouts Aloft Jamboree was held in the Germany. Several hundred Scout Cruisers inexplicably changed course and landed in Moscow's Red Square, and an embarrassed Litton employee was left to explain that there was a leftover program in the nav system that was the attack profile on the Soviets capital city...fortunately, the landing protocols were written to override any thing else that was happening. The Russians were less than amused.








The kit used is the Estes Flying Rocket of the Cruise Missile. No scale is stated, but it measures out to approximately 1/28th scale. The wings are from a scrapped 1/48 P-51, and the gear is from the parts basement. I heat molded the canopy myself, as nothing in the world would fit on that skinny fuselage. I'm pretty sure Scouts weighing no more than 80 pounds would be the maximum "cargo". Decals were printed off at home of a cranky inkjet printer on Testors Clear Decal paper. Paints were Tamiya spraycan white and acrylic bottled paints, and a lot of Tamiya putty helped fair in the bottom of the missile to the wing. It only took 15 years to actually make what I'd thought of in those heady days of the early 90s...Now to make a Cruise liner out of the USS Nimitz....

Alvis Pi

[Hobbes]

Hilarious and thoughtprovoking at the same time; 

[Pablo1965]

Perhaps is a way to make a very cheap figther.
Very nice pryect and finished.
How we said...you are a Crak.

[Tophe]

I love!

[Ed S]

Brilliant!!!

Ed

[ysi_maniac]

 

[NARSES2]

Brilliant 

[Weaver]

Hehehehe....love it.

Now how about the Tomahawk version, or a Russian equivalent based on something like the AS-6?

[martinbayer]

There actually really are flying related Scout programs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Scout

Martin

[philp]

Now to make a Cruise liner out of the USS Nimitz....

Alvis Pi

The Cruise ship that seldom docks.  Carries it's own couple of Greyhound passenger aircraft (cat shots and traps all included in the cost).  Now that I have gotta see.

[sotoolslinger]

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