Built by Otto "Red" Sorrell of Rochester, Washington in 1956, this unique aircraft was designed to take pleasure flights close to an airfield. Many different motors were used on the craft: a chainsaw, a motorcycle, and finally, the 20-horsepower engine from a military target drone. Unsurprisingly, its strange design has earned it the nickname "The Flying Bathtub."
Robinson said that the plane flew slow enough on landing that he could "cruise by ten feet in the air and say 'Hi' to people on the ground." He also noted that people were "just agog to see such a funny thing flying." Robinson sold the aircraft to the Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation (PNAHF), the predecessor organization to The Museum of Flight, in 1971.
Built by Otto "Red" Sorrell of Rochester, Washington in 1956, this unique aircraft was designed to take pleasure flights close to an airfield. Many different motors were used on the craft: a chainsaw, a motorcycle, and finally, the 20-horsepower engine from a military target drone. Unsurprisingly, its strange design has earned it the nickname "The Flying Bathtub."
Robinson said that the plane flew slow enough on landing that he could "cruise by ten feet in the air and say 'Hi' to people on the ground." He also noted that people were "just agog to see such a funny thing flying." Robinson sold the aircraft to the Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation (PNAHF), the predecessor organization to The Museum of Flight, in 1971.