Chance Vought XF5U RC-Scale Model "Flying Pancake"

First evaluation flight of the XF5U by Max Merckenschlager at
Scale competition in Neu Malsch (GER) July 2015.
( Max died May 2023 R.I.P )
We lost a great colleague
and we miss him...

[@demej00]

Love the plane, hate the music.

[@lunaticfringe8066]

Very impressive! The military prematurely killed the project. I think the plane had a lot of potential.

[@Dawgsofwinter]

Sad but to an extent understandable. She can be considered to be among a group of aircraft known as the super props. A generation of prop fighters that arrived just as the jet age started kicking off. They started her earlier than many of those but by the time they'd ironed all the kinks out... Sadly she got to per-production just too late to be worth the expense in a military already looking at downsizing and new technologies while being ahead of her time. (yeah strange as it sounds US mil was prepping to downsize for a good chunk of the last year of WWII.

[@penelopegreene]

Yes.

[@itsRNDKbitch]

It's piston powered enggine, old machine, so in 1947 Turboprop enggine is more Better on military fighter plane

[@brealistic3542]

That is a amazing aircraft ! So glad someone decided to build a RC version so we could see it fly !😎

[@jamesberwick2210]

Back during concept trials, with an indoor electric model, that back moving surface is not the elevators but a flap that works in reverse. Up pushed the rear down and allows for really short takeoffs and landings. the elevators and ailerons are the outboard surfaces. Originally his test model was hinged at the rear and it took off almost vertically,

[@TalkingGIJoe]

Dude, that just ain't right! Too beautiful and too well flown! Congrats!

[@claudiomueckay7251]

One of the best videos I’ve ever seen! Awesome Project!!!🙌👍

[@Scalepilot]

Thank you! I'm glad if you like it !!😀

[@Scalepilot]

This Model is designed and built by Max Merckenschlager. Two times Worldchampion in Scale F4C.

[@manofsan]

XF5U looks amazing! Someone made a pilotable ultralight version of F4U: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfMqJeslNStgMU I wish someone would now make a manned pilotable version of XF5U

[@Taurcan]

Something like54 years ago, I purchased a vacuformed, 1:72 model of that aircraft at The Squadron shop in Detroit. It had the usual problems in construction that were common to vacuform in those days, but it was a totally unique aircraft that necessitated the purchase. But to see the accuracy, and detail in that R/C model was astounding. My only complaint was that dummy in the cockpit. It looked like an afterthought. To me, it was jarring, when compared to the beautiful perfection of that replica. Well done, Sir!

[@tonerotonero1375]

Such a pity we couldn't see the prototype fly. The design was radical and so innovative. This RC version is more than a teaser to me and I would love to see it fly with its realistic 4 blade giant propellers. Thanks for the video.

[@donhammer186]

There is footage of the XF5U prototype in flight on Y/T.

[@tonerotonero1375]

@@donhammer186 No, the real XF5U never took off. Only the proof of concept, the V173 did.

[@donhammer186]

@@tonerotonero1375 Your right! I didn't catch the fact that it was a scaled down version for proof of concept...

[@charlesgwyn2115]

Those props are a work of art.

[@bobnewkirk7186]

What a neat airplane ! Can you imagine what a couple of hundred of those coming in on some South Pacific island would have been quite a sight !

[@speedintraffic]

So beautifully made, and looks like it flies very well. You must be very highly skilled both in aeronautics and model building. Do you have any further information about this project? I'm sure that many people would be very interested in your detailed analysis of the design and prototyping etc that you did which led to the development of this superb model.

[@EclecticDiscus]

Awesome job! Love seeing builders building aircraft that will never be kitted. Fantastic !

[@hoodoo2001]

That is the most impressive RC model of real aircraft I have ever seen. And who is this bastard that finds videos to thumbs down.

[@Scalepilot]

i don't know, maybe he don`t like the Music.

[@OldMtnGeezer]

@@Scalepilot He's not the only one!

[@stevereid7140]

Video 9, Music -3

[@Acheiropoietos]

Volume control +11

[@hotaviation1698]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYbLinRqp9etlbs

[@Scalepilot]

The falling part is a landing gear door.

[@connclark2154]

That is all I wanted to know.

[@frankkelley1499]

Thanks...couldn’t figure that ou

[@EnFuegoDuo]

What is the musical track you used? It was really good!

[@Scalepilot]

@@EnFuegoDuo The title is freely available on KZbin.

[@PetrincicBrosRC]

Amazing video and amazing plane. I love it. Thanks for posting and big salute from Slovenia, Pilot Robert

[@ZagadkaTeg]

Wow! Beautiful. Just been doing a little work on mine, ended up watching an old video and saw this! Certainly puts mine COMPLETELY in the shade. Great job!

[@Scalepilot]

Yeah, it is a nice Model, but not easy to fly.

[@marcbrasse747]

Maybe it would be easier to fly if the props where similar to those of the original. Zimmerman must have intended a specific wing in prop stream effect over the whole span and not only at the tips.

[@johnclary729]

From what I've read about the prototype aircraft that was a scale distance take off run. It was supposed to be able to take off in practically no roll if there was any kind of wind over deck.

[@Sabotage_Labs]

About 200 feet or 60km with 25knt head wind. Perfect for naval deploymen 25knts is nothing at sea!

[@P61guy61]

Second time I’ve watched this. Still awesome. Thank you for posting.

[@nopostLiFePo4]

Wunderschöner Nachbau. Dazu gehört schon viel Mut, so etwas in der Größe nachzubauen. Und es fliegt phantastisch. Gratulation.

[@butchkaminsky9470]

Love it!

[@atreyuprincipalh4043]

What an awesome video,I love that great minds recreate this exceptional rare flying Aircaft.

[@slate4687]

This is absolutely awesome

[@well6112]

that thing flies really good!!! seems really stable and forgiving (considering that it lost a control surface midflight and had some landing gear problems)!!!

[@Veldtian1]

Yeah it's extremely stable and resilient to aerodynamic inconsistencies it seems.

[@gregss.771]

Wow, that flies great! Love this airplane.

[@Scalepilot]

Great, that you like it too.

[@hubertmantz1516]

Fantastic! What a plane. Very well flown by the owner 👍🏽

[@jimpuglisi7973]

The flying pancake is such a radical plane would love to see it in person 👍🏻

[@theoldar]

So much more original than another Mustang or F16! Great modelling.

[@OldMtnGeezer]

Beautiful model & great flying. Kudos for that. But if there's a more inappropriate music bed out there for the subject at hand, I'll bet it'd be hard to find.

[@maggielandrey7232]

This makes me unbelievablely happy to see haha

[@superspit]

Why the music?

[@jimg6698]

The music sucked where I almost didn’t watch the video.

[@JustDarrenJ]

Beautiful!! Sure makes you wonder what could've been...

[@fw1421]

Absolutely beautiful model!

[@tomfey6020]

Those display propellers are fantastic!

[@ThomasGrillo]

Fascinating aircraft. This aircraft inspired the design for the Cylon raider in Glen Larson's Battlestar Galactica (70s). Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@owenb9370]

Stunning. What this channel is all about.

[@kvogel9245]

The original flying pancake (first prototype, painted yellow) can be seen up close at the Frontiers of Flight Museum (Dallas).

[@lautoka63]

I think that this was called the "Flying Flapjack" by the Americans. Assonance works well, but your design does better. Well done.

[@kvogel9245]

As I understand it the first prototype, painted yellow, was the flying pancake. Saw it at the museum at Love Field in Dallas. The flying flapjack never actually flew except for a few test hops.

[@chuckeberth4370]

Very stable aircraft. Love unusual scale planes.

[@StonyRC]

The terrible muzak (that ruins the sound of a wonderful model) is enough to get this a thumbs down. Don't put muzak where it isn't needed!

[@KRW628]

Remarkable! This flies better than the real one ever did.

[@whalesong999]

Yeah, as I recall, it never got beyond ground handling tests. Was destroyed before it actually could be flown.

[@likydsplit8483]

I have to wonder if this design deserves to be revisited. With fly-by-wire capability it strikes me as excellent platform for a dedicated CAS aircraft.

[@rudolfdoelker5773]

The flying pancake was developed at the end of the war and do to it's stability and aerodynamics would have been the fastest next to jet propulsion. I would enjoy seeing a complete aircraft with people flying them instead of Cessna death traps.

[@shaftoe195]

Dude, the flying pancake was built specifically for LOW SPEED stability and extremely short takeoffs. It has no business in fast plane league...

[@brealistic3542]

Actually the unique thing about this wing design is it can do BOTH! 😎😎

[@Sabotage_Labs]

Yup, low speed and short takeoff from naval ships!

[@chrisambrose8838]

Cessna death traps?? Excuse me? I’m guessing you are not a pilot. 51 years flying my CESSNA 172!

[@Sabotage_Labs]

@@chrisambrose8838 There are old pilots. There are bold pilots. There are no old pilots. But, you likely heard that 52 years ago. Maybe take about 35-55% off next time before posting. Maybe pump the breaks. Your flight career is antidotal and not a fact. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of aviation fatalities are...wait for it... Light General aviation. I believe it's over 85% percent of aircraft crashes/incidents are pilot error. I'm happy you've had a long flying career and a safe one at that. I was a pilot, am a pilot still? Was a pilot. Either way... many pilots dies in Cessna. Regardless... this is KZbin man. Not Twitter! Maybe offer s reasoned argument regarding an RC Plane and a popular training aircraft For instance, Cessna 172s are responsible for .56 deaths per 100k flight hours. Not bad really. But, 0.00 pilots died...flying the pancake. Soooooo... is the Cessna a "death trap" compared to pancake? Hard to say since the pancake only flew 186 times. It was off to a hell of a safety record...lol. Again.... RC plane...KZbin... maybe post when you're in a good mood? I don't know.... maybe it's me but...came of as kind of aaaaahhhh....hmmmm. Dick?

[@MrCubflyer]

Great model thanks for sharing it.

[@oxcart4172]

Somebody should build a full size one. It would be amazing at airshows

[@gxlbiscuit]

awesome aircraft!!! i would have enjoyed actually hearing it

[@JLanc1982]

Beautiful!

[@mikesrcgarage]

That's amazing but crazy! What flew off of it? 🤔 Very nice! 👍

[@ericolsen67vw]

That's really cool. How could someone not like that???

[@MrSpikebender]

This plane looks goofy as hell on the ground TOTTALY different in the air!!! Cool

[@P61guy61]

Stunning

[@peterjensen3162]

Wow amazing looking aircraft, thanks for sharing this. Great cameraman, be more gentle with the soundtrack in next video 😉

[@fridolo]

Fantastic model! Fantasic flight! i love its sound! i eish the music was hept a little lower to her this great sound of it!

[@JRandallS]

Cool plane and dug the wah-wah guitar track as well. Seemed appropriate to me despite what the naysayers complain about. Anyone who takes the time to build this, video it and share it with us has the right to make his own backing track as well :) If I was to build a modern plane, using this as a guide, I think I'd need some computer guided stabilization and a clear floor so I could land it better. Those wings are so wide I'd never see the ground.

[@Scalepilot]

Thank you, for your assessment.

[@thatairplaneguy]

The golf claps after the third landing 🤣

[@p51amustang]

That's quite an accomplishment. I've seen flight videos of earlier versions with fixed gear. This is a very substantial project. Never mind about wingspan, it wouldn't help. Any data available like weight, amp hours used for the flight, etc? How long was the flight?

[@claudenewbolt2659]

GOOD LOOKING AIRCRAFT, THE CHANCE VOUGHT XF5U.

[@hadleymanmusic]

It looks to fly quite stable. Have you seen the Jim Lloyd model plane?

[@andresgarcia7757]

Hey, are you going to use the 4 blade props next? Looks awesome, I really wonders how does it fly

[@nipponhouseplayer]

Beyond amazing✨👍🏻

[@gormauslander]

Those props seem smaller than the original. Were they shrunk in the final prototype?

[@maxj0930]

Why does the opening footage show 4-blade adjustable pitch props, but the flying is done with 2-blade props? Are there 2 different models on display here? Beautiful flying,by the way!

[@whalesong999]

Those are made for static display only. The power systems cannot swing the bigger propellers thus small diameter flying propellers are used which match the power system.

[@jeduthunoosthuis5794]

This is beyond cool!

[@johnsiders7819]

Only seen one other flying model of that plane. Really nice video The music could have been a bit lower wanted to hear the electric motors more .

[@edwindavidson1895]

what does it take to get ahold of the plans for this?

[@djay6651]

I can totally see test flights of these birds causing UFO sightings. What a crazy design to be seen in the mid to late 40s.

[@besiprimitif9513]

its a manta ray, in the sky!

[@jodyguilbeaux8225]

the military had this design in the 1945-1950 didnt they?

[@tomkalfas4721]

Fantastic model and beautiful flying! I've always wanted to build a large scale version of this plane. Are plans available for it?

[@OstrzeUmysl]

I would like to get my hands on plans

[@Scalepilot]

Send me your E-Mail Adress and i will try to help you.

[@nathanielroerig7453]

also would love plans [e-mail]

[@N99JH]

Mr. Wherle I would like very much to talk with you about your model, and, if possible, get a copy of the plans. Can you please reply to my home address: [e-mail] Best Regards Joshua

[@jack-n-the-bots2926]

I would also like a set of plans [e-mail]

[@wazza33racer]

dark skies brought me here.............its a super funky design

[@professormadlad7773]

This can be a good plane to make as a kit for enthusiast.

[@chasyes1]

Awesome!!

[@SixPackDan]

Sooooo why does the static model have 4 bladed props and the flyer has two?

[@MrGuliton]

could you fly it also with the big props?

[@jtothewa4858]

you did a good job

[@aoeu256]

This looks more efficient than quadcopters while still being easy to take off. It'd be good for drone delivery.

[@Veldtian1]

an estol skycar without the complications and all the benefits.

[@g3heathen209]

if it weren't for that landing gear door coming off it would have been a perfect flight

[@GRW3]

I saw something come off and expected disaster but was happy it didn’t happen. Took steady nerves to not overreact to that.

[@JFrazer4303]

Original scale props were not needed for flight. Even on the V-173, they cost it speed and did not help for STOL performance or efficiency at cruise. See the video "Flying Heel Lift" of the Arup S-2 of the '30s, for the originator of the Vought/Zimmerman plane.

[@hadleymanmusic]

Hey man ive a model design but not sure how to size a motor for it. 18×16 or a 20×22 inch planform.. Any ideas?

[@Sabotage_Labs]

Well done and expert craftmens. Curiosity question... props don't appear to be scale. In real life they were much bigger on only 80hp engines. So, my guess is...hard to put bigger motors in it because maybe weight or CG and huge props on smaller motors would likely cook? I figure there was a design restraint considering the artisan quality build! Well done! Such a cool design by Zimmerman taking advantage of the laws of physics and aerodynamics!

[@z_actual]

a bit bouncy bouncy but a good effort it wont counter tip vortices as well without the full diameter props but seemed to fly remarkable well

[@TerminatorFRA]

Just try to be in the mind of the Japanese that would have seen this thing for the first time. He would have rubbed his eyes. :D

[@darrellcook8253]

How do you say WTF in Japanese?

[@fromtheflightdeck252]

Superb

[@caturlifelive]

Awesome

[@dogdooish]

Just imagine what a pair of 4 strokers would sound like, a magic aircraft not grabbing me without the smell of burning Castor :)

[@michrain5872]

So pretty :3

[@armatacalanca962]

Jeeesus, i can't even do that with a frypan! :D

[@jamesberwick2210]

What might have happened if they took the radial engines out and put in turboprop engines out at the tips? Put an only if one engine failed, connect with a clutch to drive the other prop to get down? How about a modern version as a commute, short field airliner?

[@geraldharper330]

awesome

[@Warbird-Aviation]

Bravo

[@Moontanman]

Yeah this is cool!

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

Imagine the response from a Japanese pilot seeing this during WW2.

[@sushiromifune7096]

He would have reported that an unhandled "Uchiwa" was flying.

[@hadleymanmusic]

Does it spin easy?

[@MrJmd116]

Cool. Does it have a driveshaft that connects the two props like the real one has?

[@Scalepilot]

No, there are two separate motors without mechanical connection.

[@MrJmd116]

Ever seen a rc plane that had one? I imagine they would have to be custom fabricated.

[@FeralRabbit]

Would like to see it flown with scale propellers and really tested for its slow flight capabilities. one of my favorite airplanes. they built two prototypes and never even test flew them just destroyed them.

[@buzonetti]

Why have You changed the propeller blades before flight?

[@Scalepilot]

+Łukasz Bus The efficiency of the original propeller is not sufficient. Because the air thickness adapted not to scale the model can be. Therefore, you need a larger propeller speed.

[@wompstopm123]

you probably know better but , i thought the propellers where supposed to be way bigger

[@patricklovenguth7427]

Gut gemacht. Gibt es sowieso irgendwann könnte ich ein paar Tipps oder Pläne für das Modell bekommen? Ich versuche, meine eigenen zu bauen, aber es geht nicht gut Vielen Dank

[@JoshWeaverRC]

I turned up the volume to hear those props and heard exotic elevator music.

[@chuanist]

Video editors should require proof of editorial taste before enabling additional sound tracks.

[@martulda]

Cool! Thumbs Up! The real one had truly larger propellers but who cares 😎👍

[@ferce889]

i would have gone around on that landing! but he did well