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Laird LCW-300 Speedwing

TARPSBird

Moderator
Staff member
The December issue of Flight Journal magazine has an article on the Laird LCW-300 Speedwing biplane from the early 1930's. It was a classic rich person's sport plane. Only a handful were made, and only one has survived. Nevertheless it's a sharp-looking plane with the lines of a military fighter and would be a nice addition to FSX.

View attachment 13827
 
I love the looks of that aircraft. It's the only one of its kind in the world today, as I recall, or at least the only one flying/complete. It won a few awards when it debuted in the summer of 2012, following the completion of its restoration. At that time it was owned by Walt Bowe, based then at the Shellville airport, Sonoma, CA. It was later sold and as of early 2013 it has been based in France.

Here's a nice video on the aircraft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeGfCsPUTFA

(Walt ended up purchasing a P-40E after selling the Speedwing, and then this year purchased a Sea Fury after selling the P-40E.)


Another Laird design I would love to see, in detail, in FSX, would be the Laird Super Solution (would be a great compilation to the Alabeo Gee Bee, if done in a similar fashion):







 
John, thanks for the link to the video. You can see why I made the reference to a military aircraft, especially when it goes into that steep climb. Looks more like late 1930's than a 1929 design. I have A.F. Scrub's Super Solution but a dedicated FSX version and/or the Speedwing would be sweet.
 
At the 1994 Oshkosh saw [FONT=helvetica neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Jim Rollison's 1929 Laird Speedwing...throaty and beautiful to see!
Ted
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John, thanks for the link to the video. You can see why I made the reference to a military aircraft, especially when it goes into that steep climb. Looks more like late 1930's than a 1929 design. I have A.F. Scrub's Super Solution but a dedicated FSX version and/or the Speedwing would be sweet.

If you have Version 1 of Scrub's Laird, may I humbly suggest that v.2 has a more accurate version of the original paint that I did

http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=laird&x=25&y=10

then PM me and I will give you another tweak
 
Ted, that's actually the very same airplane as the subject of this thread, NC4442. I don't know the history between 1994 and when Walt Bowe purchased it, but Walt purchased the aircraft from Jim in 2010, and had it re-restored to how you see it today.
 
Jim's was black and gold at the time. Of course I am color blind LOL! The photo doesn't do it justice. This what we saw...ain't she purty???

1359941M.jpg
 
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