One of the more unusual models we used to sell was the Monogram (way before Revell acquired them) Flying Flapjack. What was more unusual was that Monogram sent us a working factory-built display model of it. You’d install a battery, flip a switch, and the wings would flap. It looked very much like a stork trying to take off. For years, I thought it was some sort of ‘joke’ model conceived by some insanely creative minds.
I’d forgotten all about that model until Shane Trosclair brought in one model he recently finished: the Flying Pancake manufactured by Sword Models. Shane’s version came with a resin cockpit and he painted it Chrome and Yellow.
This was part of the Navy’s Flying Flapjack program. The Vought XF5U “Flying Flapjack” wasn’t too successful. The Vought V-173 “Flying Pancake, which was a lighter version flew from 1942 to 1947. Charles Lindberg was one of the test pilots.
It also caused quite uproar as the folks who saw it flying thought it was a saucer from Outer Space. It’s on display at an air museum in Dallas.
Photos by Jeff Junker
- A Higher Call - December 27, 2017
- Creative Repurposing - November 26, 2017
- Thinning Ratios - August 6, 2017