Scratchbuilt 1/144 Beardmore Inflexible “The World’s Worst Aircraft” By Joel Christy

Introduction

The World’s Worst Aircraft , that is the sobriquet that has been given to the Beardmore Inflexible. However after researching and modelling this subject I beg to differ. When finished in 1928 the Inflexible was the world’s largest aircraft and until the appearance of the Bristol Brabazon in the late 1940s, the largest landplane in the United Kingdom. Designed by Dr. Adolf Rohrbach to a British Air Ministry specification, the aircraft was to investigate the possibilities of a really large all-metal monoplane. Beardmore was chosen to build the aeroplane with a design team headed up by W.S. Shackleton. The result did show that a “really” large monoplane could be built completely out of metal. The frame and new pre-stressed skin was made of duralumin. The power came from three Rolls-Royce Condor engines each rated at 650 h.p. The span was 157 feet and the aircraft weighed 37,000 pounds, about the same as an early Boeing B-17. Quite amazing for 1928! Had research continued into this type of design Britain might well have had the world’s largest strategic bombers long before World War II. Who knows, it might have even discouraged the belligerents of that conflict.

Building a model of such an aeroplane presented a major dilemma ; what scale? In 1/48 the model would span about 56 inches, even in 1/72 it would be 28 inches. So I opted for 1/144 scale which still turned out to be a relatively big model. At first I thought I would have to make up my own plans using the dimensions available and a profile I found on the Web. However whilst perusing the WWW I found an excellent set of plans from a March 1990 Aeroplane Monthly magazine. This set of drawings was all I needed. I scaled them out to 1/144 scale and started to work.

The Model

The fuselage was pretty straight forward being simply slab sided and rectangular formers making up most of the construction. It is basically featureless except for some long panels on the top which I made out of 5 thou plastic sheet. A bit of 40 thou sheet was used to shape the rounded nose. As can be seen in the archive photo, the Inflexible metal skin appears rather wrinkled. To achieve this I attached aluminium foil to the fuselage sides with clear varnish. When finished it gave the same effect as found in the photo.

Turning to the flying surfaces I decided to use Harry Woodman’s method of a built up wing using ribs and spars with sheet styrene folded over and glued at the trailing edge. As the Inflexible wing was a simple design it was an easy job. I made eight ribs and glued them to the lower 20 thou sheet halves of the wing panels. When dry I glued four spars between the ribs. Before this I had scribed the panel lines in the top and lower surfaces of the wing panels. Once all was dry the plastic sheet was folded over and glued with liquid poly and clamped with office clamps. The inner ends of each wing was left open to receive the spars mounted on the completed fuselage. The tail surfaces were made in a similar fashion to the wings and glued to the fuselage.

When all the flying surfaces were dry I mounted the shaped 40 thou spars to the fuselage where the wings were to go. These spars set the huge dihedral found on the Inflexible, to me its most dramatic feature.It makes the aircraft look like a giant bird of prey.

With the basic airframe complete I turned to the two wing mounted engines. First I carved a two ended wooden mould as seen in the picture. Then 15 thou plastic sheet was plunge moulded over the forms and cut to shape. I used a bit of Milliput to reinforce the halves and glued them together. Once dry a bit of filler and sanding completed the job.

The wheels came from the spares box which in this case were from a 1/48 SE5a. The wheels for the Inflexible were about 8 feet in diameter, one of which can still be seen in the Science Museum in London. I drilled the 12 holes and reamed them out to look like those in contemporary photos of the aeroplane.

The wing and undercarriage struts were all fashioned out of soft flower arranging wire and glued to the airframe with super glue. The large balances on the flying surfaces were bits of Contrail strut material cut to size. The large tail wheel also came from the spares box.

Painting was next and I decided to use Humbrol number 40 dark green as the NIVO colour used on aircraft of that era. All photos I had seen of the Inflexible pointed in this direction. I airbrushed the entire model and when dry the foil fuselage panels looked great. After two coats of Klear/Future I applied the decals. When that was done I added the few features needed to finish the model. Propeller spinners were made of sprue files to a point, the blades from bits of Contrail strut material, the radiators of 40 thou sheet scratched with a razor saw as were the oil coolers and expansion tanks out of strut material. The exhausts on the fuselage were made of flower wire whilst those on the wing engines were made out of a sandwich of corrugated plastic sheet and cut at an angle. I added two tiny seats to the cockpit and a windscreen of clear plastic sheet. Lastly I attached the large balance to the rudder.

Conclusion

So there you have the giant Beardmore Inflexible. When it was flight tested the pilot, Squadron Leader Noakes found the aeroplane to be completely stable and virtually viceless. In his own words the Inflexible was a “perfect lady.” Hardly the words one would use to describe the “World’s worst aircraft!” More’s the pity that this amazing aeroplane was only scrap three years later. For more information go to Air Forum on the Web and to “Bomber Guy” on Youtube for a great little film clip of the Inflexible.