FYI, from the Bally Bomber facebook page It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Jack Bally Sr., designer, engineer, and builder of the Bally Bomber. Jack passed away Sunday, June 21, at Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital in Dixon, Ill. Nothing gave him more joy than designing and building the Bally Bomber – and sharing it with you. He was a master carpenter, a self-taught aviation engineer, and a beloved father, husband, and friend. His legacy will live on here, in our hearts, and in the place he loved most: the sky. We will miss you, Jack. Over and out. I saw the plane at Oshkosh in 2018. Nice work. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
INCREDIBLE aircraft, and obviously an incredible man. Watched as many videos as I could find on the plane. If anyone can find something with footage of it in flight? I would SURELY like to see such a thing!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1914863431864935 The Bally Bomber facebook page has several videos See also The consensus, including the pilot, was that the thing was underpowered. But in my opinion it's still amazing.
I was thinking the same thing about the power. It appeared to fly at a fairly high AOA and I think that losing one engine would be a real problem. A great accomplishment, though.
4 X 85 hp 4-cyl Hirths. Could not find data on weight of the plane. Absolutely amazing... all metal, it looks like.
Wow! Incredible! Sooo cool! Labor of love began in 1999. Bally's B-17, Bob Parks, Aug.2013 https://ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/ballys-b-17.418962/#post-142511424 . Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BallyBomber
Reminds me of the guy I saw arriving at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia in around 1986, inside a 1/20 USS Arizona!
Darn, I last heard about this when it was under construction. I periodically thought about it (I loved it!!) but never got back to searching for it. Thanks for posting this. So sad that he passed away but he got to finish it before he left. I am tearing up thinking about it. RIP.
If someone else is going to fly the airplane, I hope they give it more power before it kills somebody.
I'm not an aviator/pilot, whatever, but? Yeah, my physics & engineering is "fair." The delta between "stall speed" and "cruising speed" sure sounded VERY tight, to me... Still? Totally LOVE the design, and the B17 was one of my favorite WWII platforms.
July '21 New owner's plans for Bally's Bomber https://inspire.eaa.org/2021/07/30/a-great-big-little-bomber/ Aug. '18 Image Unavailable, Please Login . .
