Design exercise: most bizarre conversion of a World War 2 surplus airplane?

[riggerrob]

Design challenge: most bizarre civilian conversion of a World War 2 surplus airplane?

Circa 1946, a scrap dealer buys a batch of World War 2 surplus airplanes and converts them for civilian commercial work. Sure, in the real world Lysanders were converted to crop-dusters, Tiger Moths were converted to carry 4-passengers in Fox Moth configuration, etc.
What is the most bizarre conversion you can imagine?
Bonus points if your conversion is based upon an airframe that was scrapped 100 percent immediately after the war (e.g. Curtiss AT-9). Your back-story can include a scrap dealer buying a batch on the promise that they will never fly again as originally made.

 

[Archibald]

Some pretty wild OTL post-WWII missions for veteran warbirds:
- AEW and radar picket platforms: Avengers, Skyraiders, Constellations, Shackletons... and B-17s.
- Firefighting also led to lot of bizarre conversions (Navy B-24s, a.k.a Privateers being retired in 2002 !)
- Weather reconnaissance: B-50s as Hurricane hunters in the early 1960's
- The CIA special ops, notably in Taiwan in the 1960's
- Air races : at Reno and elsewhere (Dago Red, Rare bear)
- WWII movies and TV shows: T-6 turned into Zeros, for example.
- Missile targets: used B-17s until 1959 (!)
- South America poorest air forces: last piston engine fighter brawl happened in July 1969 (!) between Mustangs and Corsairs, as man walked on the Moon and in the so-called Football war, triggered (you guess) by soccer turning into a murderous riot.
- Cameroon used Skyraiders until 1983 (!)
- CAS and dirty bush wars: French T-6s in Algeria by 1962. T-28s, etc.
- engines or radars testbeds

One of the most oustanding is the following story.
...
A handful of Boeing B-17s still in service, in France, by 1985, and that for geodesy. They could only be replaced as global photographic platform by... SPOT satellites.

143 - Les Boeing Boeing B-17 français - Le blog de Avions de la Guerre d'Algérie

Boeing B-17 français © Jacques Moulin 2013. Boeing B-17F Bir Hackeim de l’armée de l’air (Archives M.Cuich). Bien sûr, presque tout le monde croit connaitre les B-17 « Forteresse volante », celles qui ont bombardé l’Europe en 1943/1945, mais peu savent...

avions-de-la-guerre-d-algerie.over-blog.com

 

[red admiral]

A Dornier 335A-12 is used to transport fresh lobsters from Maine to New York in the rear cockpit?

 

[yasotay]

A Dornier 335A-12 is used to transport fresh lobsters from Maine to New York in the rear cockpit?

Hope they enjoy the ride.

 

[Archibald]

A Dornier 335A-12 is used to transport fresh lobsters from Maine to New York in the rear cockpit?

Hope they enjoy the ride.

How about mobsters and their drugs ?

 

[jstar]

Not exactly WW II surplus, but still...

 

[jstar]

DC-3 camper van

 

[Silencer1]

A Dornier 335A-12 is used to transport fresh lobsters from Maine to New York in the rear cockpit?

And Swedish Chef (from Muppets) as a pilot in the front cockpit!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RByK19LSltQ

 

[Stovepipe]

How about a Gotha or Arado powered glider as a camper van?

 

[Arjen]

Apparently, not the worst indignity suffered by Blenheim cockpits.

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

Apparently, not the worst indignity suffered by Blenheim cockpits.
View attachment 677352

But look at her now! The same cockpit section….. well with a fair bit of new material. The silly little car was absolutely vital to enable the rebuild.

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

An Avro Lincoln fuselage was converted from into a glider trailer…

 

[publiusr]

My choice? Cut off the cockpits-and put them in playgrounds to inspire the next generation...civil air brochures and such plastered inside...for when they get tired of playing spaceship. Axiom is renting the ISS theme Fry's, after all. A cockpit in each playground.

 

[lost_treasures]

My choice? Cut off the cockpits-and put them in playgrounds to inspire the next generation...civil air brochures and such plastered inside...for when they get tired of playing spaceship. Axiom is renting the ISS theme Fry's, after all. A cockpit in each playground.

I would have KILLED to have a cockpit in my playground as a kid, should do the same with old tanks and cars, except they're "not up to safety standards" (bs, a kid will find a way to break his arm with play-doh if given the chance, and ruin the fun of play-doh for the millions that actually know how to use it).
Rant aside i feel like it's a less heretical use for a cockpit than to use it as a camper or chicken coop.

 

[bobtdwarf]

We all know that a lot of them were made into the Gulfstreams of their day; including some rare ones like the B-23 Dragon

 

[riggerrob]

We all know that a lot of them were made into the Gulfstreams of their day; including some rare ones like the B-23 Dragon

Plenty of A-26 Invaders were converted to executive transports by On Mark in Florida. The later conversions include a ring-frame to carry wing spar loads across the bomb-bay. This , combined with a deeper fuselage allowed a much longer stand-up cabin.
On Mark also overhauled a batch of USAF A-26 Invaders for COIN duties during the Viet Nam War. The overhaul project was going full-steam until they encountered corrosion on wing spars.

At least one B-26 Marauder was converted into an executive transport.

A few B-25 Mitchells were converted as camera-ships for films like "Battle of Britain."
One B-25 Mitchell got an operating table installed in its bomb-bay. The owner was an American surgeon who liked to do charity work in Mexico during his vacation time.

 

[jcf]

T-6 biplane

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Some pretty wild OTL post-WWII missions for veteran warbirds:
- AEW and radar picket platforms: Avengers, Skyraiders, Constellations, Shackletons... and B-17s.
- Firefighting also led to lot of bizarre conversions (Navy B-24s, a.k.a Privateers being retired in 2002 !)
- Weather reconnaissance: B-50s as Hurricane hunters in the early 1960's
- The CIA special ops, notably in Taiwan in the 1960's
- Air races : at Reno and elsewhere (Dago Red, Rare bear)
- WWII movies and TV shows: T-6 turned into Zeros, for example.
- Missile targets: used B-17s until 1959 (!)
- South America poorest air forces: last piston engine fighter brawl happened in July 1969 (!) between Mustangs and Corsairs, as man walked on the Moon and in the so-called Football war, triggered (you guess) by soccer turning into a murderous riot.
- Cameroon used Skyraiders until 1983 (!)
- CAS and dirty bush wars: French T-6s in Algeria by 1962. T-28s, etc.
- engines or radars testbeds

One of the most oustanding is the following story.
...
A handful of Boeing B-17s still in service, in France, by 1985, and that for geodesy. They could only be replaced as global photographic platform by... SPOT satellites.

143 - Les Boeing Boeing B-17 français - Le blog de Avions de la Guerre d'Algérie

Boeing B-17 français © Jacques Moulin 2013. Boeing B-17F Bir Hackeim de l’armée de l’air (Archives M.Cuich). Bien sûr, presque tout le monde croit connaitre les B-17 « Forteresse volante », celles qui ont bombardé l’Europe en 1943/1945, mais peu savent...

avions-de-la-guerre-d-algerie.over-blog.com

Don't forget the use of a B-29 for airborne TV transmission experiments.

Caroline TV - Stratovision

 

[Archibald]

T-6 biplane
View attachment 695696
View attachment 695697
View attachment 695698

WTH ? who did that, and why ? the mind wonders...

 

[Richard N]

Bennett Airtruck - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bennett PL-11 Airtruck

"The PL-11 Airtruck is a New Zealand agricultural aircraft.

A strikingly unusual aircraft, the PL-11 Airtruck was developed from the Kingsford Smith PL.7 as a replacement for the de Havilland Tiger Moth in the New Zealand aerial topdressing market by Luigi Pellarini for Waitomo Aircraft. The prototype was constructed using bits of war surplus ex-RNZAF North American Harvards. It featured all aluminium structure, a high-wing monoplane with a steel stub wing and V lift struts, steerable tricycle undercarriage, an extremely stubby pod fuselage, the cockpit (made from shortened Harvard glazing) being mounted directly over the radial engine, providing excellent forward view and very high drag, beneath it was room for a superphosphate hopper or up to 5 people in a cabin. The strangeness was completed by twin booms each supporting unconnected tail units, (the idea being a truck could reverse between the tail units to load the hopper). Despite the outlandish appearance the Airtruck was surprisingly successful, if unable to compete with the Fletcher Fu24 in its design market.

The first Bennett Airtruck, ZK-BPV, took to the air on 2 August 1960,[1] and crashed during trials in October 1963. Following company reorganization the second example, known as the Waitomo PL-11 Airtruck and registered ZK-CKE, flew in March 1965. It commenced commercial operations late in February 1967 but crashed a few days later. An unconfirmed report indicates that a third airframe was largely constructed but never flew.

A shortage of Harvard parts led to the type being redesigned for all-new construction by the Transavia Corporation, as the Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, 118 of which were produced in Australia between 1965 and 1985."

 

[bobtdwarf]

Some pretty wild OTL post-WWII missions for veteran warbirds:
- AEW and radar picket platforms: Avengers, Skyraiders, Constellations, Shackletons... and B-17s.
- Firefighting also led to lot of bizarre conversions (Navy B-24s, a.k.a Privateers being retired in 2002 !)
- Weather reconnaissance: B-50s as Hurricane hunters in the early 1960's
- The CIA special ops, notably in Taiwan in the 1960's
- Air races : at Reno and elsewhere (Dago Red, Rare bear)
- WWII movies and TV shows: T-6 turned into Zeros, for example.
- Missile targets: used B-17s until 1959 (!)
- South America poorest air forces: last piston engine fighter brawl happened in July 1969 (!) between Mustangs and Corsairs, as man walked on the Moon and in the so-called Football war, triggered (you guess) by soccer turning into a murderous riot.
- Cameroon used Skyraiders until 1983 (!)
- CAS and dirty bush wars: French T-6s in Algeria by 1962. T-28s, etc.
- engines or radars testbeds

One of the most oustanding is the following story.
...
A handful of Boeing B-17s still in service, in France, by 1985, and that for geodesy. They could only be replaced as global photographic platform by... SPOT satellites.

143 - Les Boeing Boeing B-17 français - Le blog de Avions de la Guerre d'Algérie

Boeing B-17 français © Jacques Moulin 2013. Boeing B-17F Bir Hackeim de l’armée de l’air (Archives M.Cuich). Bien sûr, presque tout le monde croit connaitre les B-17 « Forteresse volante », celles qui ont bombardé l’Europe en 1943/1945, mais peu savent...

avions-de-la-guerre-d-algerie.over-blog.com

Don't forget the use of a B-29 for airborne TV transmission experiments.

Caroline TV - Stratovision

I vaguely remember a gonzo drug comedy about a former CIA aircraft and crew that used an aircraft kind of like this doing pirate radio and TV.. I don't think you could find it on VHS and I can not remember the title of the thing but I do remember part of a trailer that was French fried WTF

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Bobtdwarf,

I definitely know which movie you mean. It either went by the name Riders Of The Storm, or alternatively, The American Way. That movie was a trip, LOL. Dennis Hopper was the lead. Go figure!

The only trailer I could find was one in French. But that doesn't make the movie any less gonzo!

View: https://youtu.be/HtEHJRgqnR4

 

[martinbayer]

Some pretty wild OTL post-WWII missions for veteran warbirds:
- AEW and radar picket platforms: Avengers, Skyraiders, Constellations, Shackletons... and B-17s.
- Firefighting also led to lot of bizarre conversions (Navy B-24s, a.k.a Privateers being retired in 2002 !)
- Weather reconnaissance: B-50s as Hurricane hunters in the early 1960's
- The CIA special ops, notably in Taiwan in the 1960's
- Air races : at Reno and elsewhere (Dago Red, Rare bear)
- WWII movies and TV shows: T-6 turned into Zeros, for example.
- Missile targets: used B-17s until 1959 (!)
- South America poorest air forces: last piston engine fighter brawl happened in July 1969 (!) between Mustangs and Corsairs, as man walked on the Moon and in the so-called Football war, triggered (you guess) by soccer turning into a murderous riot.
- Cameroon used Skyraiders until 1983 (!)
- CAS and dirty bush wars: French T-6s in Algeria by 1962. T-28s, etc.
- engines or radars testbeds

One of the most oustanding is the following story.
...
A handful of Boeing B-17s still in service, in France, by 1985, and that for geodesy. They could only be replaced as global photographic platform by... SPOT satellites.

143 - Les Boeing Boeing B-17 français - Le blog de Avions de la Guerre d'Algérie

Boeing B-17 français © Jacques Moulin 2013. Boeing B-17F Bir Hackeim de l’armée de l’air (Archives M.Cuich). Bien sûr, presque tout le monde croit connaitre les B-17 « Forteresse volante », celles qui ont bombardé l’Europe en 1943/1945, mais peu savent...

avions-de-la-guerre-d-algerie.over-blog.com

Don't forget the use of a B-29 for airborne TV transmission experiments.

Caroline TV - Stratovision

I vaguely remember a gonzo drug comedy about a former CIA aircraft and crew that used an aircraft kind of like this doing pirate radio and TV.. I don't think you could find it on VHS and I can not remember the title of the thing but I do remember part of a trailer that was French fried WTF

Sounds like it would make a perfect double feature with this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(film)

 

[bobtdwarf]

Bobtdwarf,

I definitely know which movie you mean. It either went by the name Riders Of The Storm, or alternatively, The American Way. That movie was a trip, LOL. Dennis Hopper was the lead. Go figure!

The only trailer I could find was one in French. But that doesn't make the movie any less gonzo!

View: https://youtu.be/HtEHJRgqnR4

BINGO! That is the movie

 

[jstar]

Some pretty wild OTL post-WWII missions for veteran warbirds:
- AEW and radar picket platforms: Avengers, Skyraiders, Constellations, Shackletons... and B-17s.
- Firefighting also led to lot of bizarre conversions (Navy B-24s, a.k.a Privateers being retired in 2002 !)
- Weather reconnaissance: B-50s as Hurricane hunters in the early 1960's
- The CIA special ops, notably in Taiwan in the 1960's
- Air races : at Reno and elsewhere (Dago Red, Rare bear)
- WWII movies and TV shows: T-6 turned into Zeros, for example.
- Missile targets: used B-17s until 1959 (!)
- South America poorest air forces: last piston engine fighter brawl happened in July 1969 (!) between Mustangs and Corsairs, as man walked on the Moon and in the so-called Football war, triggered (you guess) by soccer turning into a murderous riot.
- Cameroon used Skyraiders until 1983 (!)
- CAS and dirty bush wars: French T-6s in Algeria by 1962. T-28s, etc.
- engines or radars testbeds

One of the most oustanding is the following story.
...
A handful of Boeing B-17s still in service, in France, by 1985, and that for geodesy. They could only be replaced as global photographic platform by... SPOT satellites.

143 - Les Boeing Boeing B-17 français - Le blog de Avions de la Guerre d'Algérie

Boeing B-17 français © Jacques Moulin 2013. Boeing B-17F Bir Hackeim de l’armée de l’air (Archives M.Cuich). Bien sûr, presque tout le monde croit connaitre les B-17 « Forteresse volante », celles qui ont bombardé l’Europe en 1943/1945, mais peu savent...

avions-de-la-guerre-d-algerie.over-blog.com

Don't forget the use of a B-29 for airborne TV transmission experiments.

Caroline TV - Stratovision

I vaguely remember a gonzo drug comedy about a former CIA aircraft and crew that used an aircraft kind of like this doing pirate radio and TV.. I don't think you could find it on VHS and I can not remember the title of the thing but I do remember part of a trailer that was French fried WTF

Sounds like it would make a perfect double feature with this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(film)

Better: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pirate_radio