After watching Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome, I was intrigued by the crazy plane featured in the movie. I guess you Aussies were aware of it, but I always thought that this contraption was just a weird adhoc aircraft built by the film crew ala Flight of the Phoenix. But here it is in all of its gllory: the Airtruk! Does anyone put out a model of this (?) beauty?
There was a kit of it released long ago. One occasionally makes an appearance at Oshkosh which I have photos of. Very unique aircraft that is function driven not form. A pure utility design.
OUCH! My eyes! My eyes! That thing really put the hurt on 'em! OW!
The Airtruk is unusual to say the least. I have seen them at Oshkosh too. I have seen plans to make a balsa model but never a kit. Gerald who made the kit and when? I have thought about trying to make one using one of the old egg shape airplane kits,
Wait until the OZ folks wake up and see this thread![(-D]
This is the only photo of the Airtruk that I could gleen from the internet. Anyone else have any pictures of it from the movie?
And here is one from a discussion group:
![[image]](http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z170/fletcherfu24/PL-12400.jpg)
Here is a source for a cardmodel of this little hoozit:
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Air-Truk/air-truk.php
Hmmm, definitely not one of the higher achievements of aircraft design, it may be Aussie but it still hurts my eyes just to look at it.
Cheers
::Edit:: I can’t spell
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Airtruk.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transavia_PL-12_Airtruk
Josh
Google is your friend…here are several images of them.
Maybe the guys from downunder can shed light on who made the kit…my mind being what it is suggests it could have been Airfix. Or possibly a resin kit from someone else. I have seen it at a contest or two over the decades.
WHY???
How can anyone call an Airtruk ugly?
It’s so ugly that it’s appealing…alluring…as funky as can be. Besides, it’s got wings, hasn’t it? Isn’t that why we’re all here on this forum? LOL
I’d love to see a quarter scale model of the thing - with a teensy little Jedediah (aka Bruce Spence) at the controls…but then again, all my tastes in cars and plane models tend to lean towards oddities anyway…
I’m with you, Lee. I loved it from the first time I saw Beyond Thunderdome!
m@
Here you go, taking off from Korat, 1974 on classified missions, a classified aircraft. That’s what I was told when I took the photos of this aircraft that I wasn’t supposed to.
Colorful enough for a military aircraft.
Talk about one B _ _ _ Ugly aircraft! That Thai Air Force version is not exactly in stealth paint job either. It probably doesn’t matter because the ugliness is so bad as to preceed the aircraft’s arrival by at least 10 minutes to give everyone time to cover their eyes.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
What air force is this one from?
It would be the one that I would like to see in a model. I just don’t think that I would want to be the patient that it came to pick up.
Somewhere there is a shopping cart missing those wheels!
And worryingly why are the pilots windows blacked out as well on the ambulance version, that’s just going to generate more business surely!
Karl
I think its Australian army actually. I think they rigged some up for medevac.
I can’t imagine anyone other than someone like High Planes taking an intrest in making a kit of that Airtruck beastie.
Now, If I could just have a kit of that and a PZL Belphegor (below) in 1/72 to put together on my shelf, I’d be a happy camper.
Does that mean that you already have a Caproni Stipa Flying Barrel?
Or a Caproni Moroni C2?
CAPRONI-MORONI C2 “SCUD” EXPERIMENTAL FIGHTER
When the tide of war turned against it, Fascist Italy turned with the tide. The C2, or “SCUD,” was one direct result. The engineers of Aeronautico Piccolino Abagano Elari Quattori in Turin were charged with designing an aircraft of modern fighter type that could, should word come in mid-air of another change in Italian allegiance, instantly reverse course and become part of the now friendly force.
Thus the unique two-engine configuration, central cockpit with swivel seat and dual controls facing fore and aft. Time for the SCUD (mean “Scuderia con curso il travala,” or “turncoat”) to switch directions and sides was set a less than two minutes from a top speed of 265 mph by air force consultants. This performance criterion was never tested, much less met, since pilots refused to attempt it, except on the ground with an ambulance close by. One pilot did take the sole SCUD prototype aloft, but once airborne decided to visit his mother in Salerno and wrecked the craft crash-landing on a nearby beach. The SCUD was painted gold by artisans formerly employed in upkeep of the Sistine Chapel.
A remarkable feature of the plane, considering its fighter designation, was it total lack of armament. The designers successfully resisted all attempts to ruin its unbroken lines with ugly guns.
And some of you guys reckon the Airtruk is ugly…just look at those nightmares above…LOL…