VOUGHT V-173 "FLYING PANCAKE" TO BE RESTORED

THE V-173 "FLYING PANCAKE"-a short-takeoff experimental airplane-will be restored by Vought Aircraft Industries' retirees at its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Estimates are that it may take three to four years to rebuild the priceless vintage aircraft. It was built by the Chance Vought Aircraft division of the United Aircraft Corp. in the early 1940s and first tested in 1942. The aircraft is on loan from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which has stored it in one of its facilities in Suitland, Maryland.

To transport the V-173 from Maryland to Texas, Vought retirees designed and built a metal and plywood fixture to carry it at a 32-degree angle on a flatbed truck.

Designed by Charles H. Zimmerman, among the names given to the aircraft are The "Flying Pancake," "Flying Flapjack," "Flying Saucer" and "Zimmerman's Skimmer." It was test-flown on November 23, 1942, in Stratford, Connecticut, by Boone T. Guyton-a former Navy fighter pilot and Chance Vought's chief test pilot. During its test life, it accumulated 131 hours in several hundred flights. Guyton made the most flights (54) in it; among its pilots were Richard Burroughs, Charles Lindbergh and a number of Navy pilots. The V-173 could fly as slowly as 15mph, it cruised, during tests, at about 75mph, and it had a top speed of 138mph.

The V-173's lightweight airframe structure was made of wood and had a fabric covering. Two 80hp engines turned two, 16.5-foot, three-blade propellers, and it had a wingspan of 23 feet, 4 inches. The stork-like fixed landing gear gave the airplane a 22-degree nose-high ground angle, and it weighed about 3,050 pounds for most of its flights.

In 1944, the V-173 was folded into the XF5U-1 program-another Zimmerman design, but one that was built but never flown. The protracted development program and the advent of jet aircraft caused the cancellation of the project on March 17, 1947.

For more information, go to www.vought.com/gallery/historic/V173_Pancake1.htm.>