The Waco as ART

[barnbstormer]

I was surpised to open our little local newspaper, at lunchtime, to see an article about an aviation art exhibition at the local Mattie Kelley Art Center Galleries at Nothwest Florida State College. It said the "Flight Path" art exhibition was dominated by a full-scale model of a 1920's Waco biplane. So I got in the car, drove five minutes down the road, to see this for myself. The article said Artist Michael Brennan created it for an art exhibition in Tallahassee, and "thought he would have to destroy it, before the college asked him to exhibit it," here. The Arts Center is now in the process of of acquiring it as a donation.. Sadly, I was the only one there, viewing it. Sure brought a smile, though.. every modeler's dream...

[wacoykc]

Not exactly a Waco....more of a Curtiss Jenny with only one set of wing struts on each side. Wonder where they got Waco?

[dtpitcairn]

wacoykc, I agree that it does not seem to be a faithful model however I am not a Waco historian so it may be. Check out the Waco 4 through 7 at http://www.aerofiles.com/_waco.html to see that some were modified JN-4 Jennys (or Canucks) and some were based loosely on the Jenny design, hence the resemblance.

[wacoykc]

Pretty well aware of what is on aerofiles since I provided a huge amount of their Waco info and photos. True, it does have some characteristics of the Waco 4-7. Was curious as to why they chose to build something like that which were not too popular versus something more prevelant.

[Canso42]

Maybe the person who built it was just that. A modeller-not a vintage aircraft restorer and that was convenient and easy to build. And who never encountered real aviaton purists.

[dtpitcairn]

Sorry wacoykc, I realized that later when I saw that you have some great pictures of the early Wacos on your website. Thanks for clarifying. I agree, I am impressed that the artist even knew about the earlier Wacos.