1/48 Polar Pogo

Gallery Article by Alvis 3.1

Christmas Eve 2008

 

In 1953, Santa was looking for something new to fly on Christmas Eve. Whilst browsing a catalogue from Convair Aviation (which he'd picked up intending to buy a Tradewind or perhaps a C-99) he came across the Pogo, a prototype VTOL aircraft of the tailsitter design. He immediately saw the usefulness...no more parachute drops down chimneys! No more landings alongside the house, then scrambling up a slippery roof to only drop down into the chimney. No, this plane was perfect!

He set his elves to modify the stock Pogo, adding extra long outriggers to drop down and allow a good footing on even the most steeply sloped roof. He had the elves paint the plane to look like a Christmas tree (An idea that was used again in 1968 on the XB-70) and with a golden prop and spinner, it was pretty spiffy to look at. Santa was very happy with how it turned out. Sadly, it didn't live up to his expectations.

The exhaust of the turboprop was responsible for more missing shingles than the Great Hurricane of  1902, and several houses actually caught fire. Only the swift work by his elves and some very full reindeer saved the day. 1953 turned out to be the solo performance of the Polar Pogo.

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I used the basic good old Lindberg Pogo kit, with decals made on my inkjet printer at home. Other decorations were added with white, gold and silver paint pens. The plane depicts the initial rollout scheme, before the outrigger wheels were replaced with ice crampons.

Alvis 3.1

Photos and text © by Alvis 3.1