Pumpkin Bombing

[BHunt]

Originally Posted by robertahegy

I think it is a dumb idea and could be very dangerous. Sorry for being a party pooper. Flour bombing is one thing. Hanging a 10+ pound pumpkin on a stick on the end of your wingtip is another.

Roberta

Agreed. But it?s not just a 1 or a 0. There are actual ideas in between. Some people say building an airplane in one?s garage is ?a dumb idea and could be very dangerous,? but we don?t blindly take their advise either. I?m trying to poll the crowd on if anyone has done pumpkin bombing and how it worked out. But if you?d like to explain how flour bombing is a safer alternative IRT your experience with it, I?m totally up for the conversation.

[BHunt]

Originally Posted by Vlad

I can launch small pumpkins out of this device.

PS. Local FSDO came to look at it and put me back in phase 1 for 5 hours.

Glad. That thing is cool. And documentation during your creation?

[Vlad]

It was a team effort Scooby. A brilliant engineer from Mass helped. Based on DanH idea.

[C-FAH Q]

Originally Posted by robertahegy

I think it is a dumb idea and could be very dangerous. Sorry for being a party pooper. Flour bombing is one thing. Hanging a 10+ pound pumpkin on a stick on the end of your wingtip is another.

Roberta

It was only 9 lbs. 😀

[BHunt]

Originally Posted by Vlad

It was a team effort Scooby. A brilliant engineer from Mass helped. Based on DanH idea.

Vlad. Auto-correct messes with my previous post. Sorry for misspelling your name.

[C-FAH Q]

Best pumpkin drop I have ever seen was a twin with a large camera/equipment hole cut into the belly. As it flew past, two guys were chucking pumpkins down the hole as fast as they could. It missed the target, but dang it was fun to watch.
Not sure what the weight of the pumpkins were.

[robertahegy]

The flour bombs we used were only a few ounces of flour in a lunch paper bag. We tossed them out a vent window and did not have them hanging on the wing of the plane. We could control where we threw them out.

Roberta

[jliltd]

At the Texas STOL Roundup in 2015 in Llano I saw an RV-8 taxi by with his sliding canopy removed. I felt bad for the guy thinking he was taxiing to a hangar to repair his slider mechanism. Then he got in line with the rest of the flour bombing aircraft and took his turn taking off. I was incredulous. With his sliding canopy removed and flying open-cockpit with only the front windscreen! The RV-8 fellow would get over target and do a steep wing-over and throw his flour bomb over his shoulder at the target. He was pretty good shot and almost won. Really cool man.

Jim

[rv7charlie]

We use an old Cessna 195 fuselage & whatever we can find for wings as our target here at Slobovia Outernational. Several years ago, a T-6 driver (flying solo) had to leave right after lunch (before the competition started) and asked if he could drop one on the way out. 'Sure; go for it.'

He took off, & circled back at ~200' AGL. Tossed it out of the open canopy, and hit the fuselage dead center, right behind the cabin area.

Anyone within flying distance of Jackson MS, we'd love for you to come on down on Nov. 4. MS71 on the Memphis Sectional, if you can still find one in print.

Cajun Jambalaya at noon, & competition starts at 1:30. Must be 'safe enough', since we have an FAA employee living here and we always invite the local FSDO. :-)

Come on down!

[roadrunner20]

A while back, there was a thread & someone had come up with a bomb bay door that was activated by a cable to dual piano hinge doors in the baggage area. Very cool set up.

I just checked the thread, but the images are no longer available.
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ay+door&page=8