Subject: Santa's Aircraft: 2003
From: "Al & Peggy Petrie" <[email-masked]>
To: "Steve Bamford" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:27:35 -0800

With the airframe hours on his Harrier Jump Jet running out, Santa had to
look around for a new aircraft to deliver all the toys on Christmas Eve.
Some suggested the B-1, others the Hercules, and others still the Super
Guppy, but in the end, the genuises at Saulino Aviation and Software came up
with the perfect design. Utilising the attributes of the AH-1Z Cobra
helicopter and V-22 Multirole aircraft, the designers developed a fast,
manueverable VTOL with a decent range. Air-to-air refuelling was achieved by
tanking off the old Boeing 727 delivery plane (last used in the early 90's)
and thus, global range was made available.
First assembled at the North Pole Airframe Plant Number 4 in July, 2003, an
extensive test program wrung out the problems. A constant recurrance were
engine flameouts, which were eventually traced to disgruntled reindeer
"altering" the fuel, and once the gas cap locks were installed, the plane
flew without any further problems. This Christmas Eve will be it's first
official mission, but it is rumoured that it did fly some Turkey Drops over
the American mid west during Thanksgiving.

The Model:
What you get when you blend a 1/48 Italeri AH-1Z with a 1/72 Italeri V-22,
and a couple of almost 1/32 scale "Christmas Village" figures....
I finished it in the early hours of Dec 23...I've got to start these things
sooner! The skids were moved back to allow for a shift in the model's c/g,
the rotor housing was cut off the top of the Cobra fusleage, and the V-22
wing/engine assembly was attached. A widening bar was inserted into the
forward fusleage to allow for both the scale change and the enhanced girth
of the pilot. The classic wooden bench style seat was scratch built.
Markings were hand painted.
Now, what to do next year....B-52??? 1/32 B-17?? Or the ever classic 1/24
Bf-109???

Alvis