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Tom's Trip - and a Bugatti

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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Week two of the cross country adventure:

https://nutmegflyer.wordpress.com/15-week-two/

Never knew that Bugatti designed an aircraft - back in 1937 -

img_0208.jpg


I'm now holed up in Sioux Falls SD, as a major winter storm approaches. Hope all is well with you guys.
Tom
 
Make sure to pay close attention to wx reports and road conditions. Middle of SD is not where you want to be in a blizzard!
 
Tom,
You're getting close to me! Any approximate ETA yet? We're hunkered down for the storm here too. Although the center will go a little ways north of here, they're still predicting snow to the valley floors by tomorrow night. It's supposed to warm up nicely after that, so it should be good weather through Yellowstone and Jackson and into Logan. Looking forward to your visit!
 
NutmegCT said:
Never knew that Bugatti designed an aircraft - back in 1937 -

img_0208.jpg


I'm now holed up in Sioux Falls SD, as a major winter storm approaches. Hope all is well with you guys.
Tom
Click to expand...

They have one on display at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh. As I remember, the drive shafts for the props go under the pilots seat!
 
Gliderman8 said:
They have one on display at the EAA Museum in Oshkosh. As I remember, the drive shafts for the props go under the pilots seat!
Click to expand...
Yep. P-39 Bell Airacobra had the same thing (just going to a front prop). We gave almost 5000 of those to the Russians. I'm pretty sure Bugatti never actually built any of those planes: the planes on display are replicas built from Bugatti plans. I'm really enjoying Tom's adventure!
 
The Bugatti in the photo is the original 1937 aircraft, now displayed at EAA; I took the photo while exploring the AirVenture museum a few days ago. It's the original aircraft, with two props (counter-rotation) and two engines with driveshafts running under the pilot's arms. Restored but not airworthy.

An original drawing:

640f497840da6a5165b3f4c24b1cf372_large.jpg


Condition when found after WW2:

6ade9ed52b7f2a3a15b8577f70ec729f_large.JPG
 
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AH...you are correct Tom. That is the real airplane. As I just read, it was never actually completed until a restoration started in the '70s in the USA (at which point it had lost the original engines). But it's the Real Deal. I was confusing it with the ongoing replica project seen ~HERE~.
 
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