VB-2 (oz16482)

 

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Now that's a design that looks like it has potential. Why haven't I heard of it nor its designer??
91 years old!!
Danforth Higgins - 29/12/2025
LEO D. VARTANIAN, 95 ROCKFORD - Leo D. Vartanian, 95, passed away peacefully Thursday, April 7, 2011. He was born Aug. 20, 1915, in Indianapolis, the son of John and Eran Vartanian. He served in the Army Air Corp during World War II from 1942 to 1945, in the Pacific theatre. After serving his country, he studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He was employed as a commercial artist for more than 30 years: first as a free lance artist, then ending his career working for The Atomic Energy Commission, The University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory in the graphics and motion picture departments. He retired in 1979. Leo was one of the original members of the Chicago Aeronuts Model Airplane Club, founded in the 1930s. He was also a member of The Academy of Model Aeronautics, and he held a civilian pilot's license.
Model glider on oz https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=15656
Bio on
https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/def…
pit - 29/12/2025
Alphonse “Funzie” Bellantonio 1920-1998, son of Italian immigrant. In 1935 Oct. issue of MAN there is a photo of Bellantonio near Vartanian with similar models.
Probably VB stands for a collaboration between the friends (if true) but in Model Builder I found a photo of the VB-3 probably an evolution of VB-2.
Plan by Funzie Bellantonio on Lockheed Orion (oz7687).
Pit - 30/12/2025
Got it, have tagged the designers now. Many thanks.
SteveWMD - 30/12/2025
Please, Pit, how can you know that? This is impossible for a human being! You must have a wider and deeper information base than the CIA, KGB, Sureté, Stasi and the CCPCHIS* all put together! A photo caption from a 90 years old magazine :))
* Previously unknown acronym of the Chinese Communist Party Celestial Heaven Information Snoops.
Miguel - 30/12/2025
It's a sort of virus generally contracted in the childhood for which there is no cure or vaccine. Someone call it "passion".
pit - 30/12/2025
This highly cambered cabin model with the Brown Jr was a contemporary of Max Bassett’s Miss Philadelphia and I’ve never heard of it!
Raul Tomals - 31/12/2025
When I print this plan, should it be 96 inches or 92 inches?
https://antiquemodeler-old.hrncar.work/approved...
Mike Brumley - 02/01/2026
This here plan has a wingspan of 96 inches, printed at full size.
SteveWMD - 03/01/2026
I feel there is something still to be clarified on this model. I suspect that VB stand for Vartanian Brown, considering Leo bought a Brown engine in those years and started the VB serie. Probably the error started looking at 1935 photo of Bellantonio and Vartanian together and the advertising of Heathe Model Co. that say they marketed plans of Bellantonio and Vartanian record holder model plans, intended as different plans. I saw some mistake in Pond's attribution to Vartanian VB Serie and Old Timer plans list. Finally I found a Pond's comment on this matter:
"VARTANIAN VB-3 FOLLOW-ON
Received an interesting letter from Leo Vartanian in answer to our plea of the V-B design series. As this writer wrote, I do have the correct series; VB-1 (crashed), VB-2 plans on hand; VB-3, sketches on hand; and the cabin model erroneously identified as VB-3 is the "Old Reliable" (also called "Old Faithful"), plans on hand. In short, all plans VB-2, and Old Reliable are available from the Pond archives. One of these days, we w ill draw it up for the modelers. Resembles a K-G in many respects. Photo No. 6 from Leo shows what his original "Old Reliable" looked like in the Chicago area. As previously stated, Goldberg considered this design in 1937-8 one of the most dependable flyers of that age. Note lack of cowl. Didn't seem to hurt the performance one bit.
John Pond"
Pit - 04/01/2026
Pit:
Was that quote from John Pond part of a Plug Sparks column? Perhaps, I can find some pictures around that date.
Tom
TomRyan - 06/01/2026
Tom, asap, I will send photos of various VB to OZ.
Pit - 07/01/2026
Added model pic [main pic, 003] from MAN Oct 1935, thanks to Pit.
SteveWMD - 09/01/2026
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