W.A.S.P. REMOTE CONTROLLED FREIGHTER AIRCRAFT

 This is the WASP Remote Control Freighter, seen fleetingly in the Stingray episode, ‘Star of the East’, before it’s ignominiously destroyed by Eastern dictator, El Hudat. 

The model is obviously a simple variation of the WASP Spearhead bomber, which was created using commercially available Revell and Aurora Convair B-58 Hustler kits which needed little alteration.

Of course, the most obvious change from the Spearhead for the Remote Control Freighter is placing two turbojet engines on top of the wings and adding a horizontal stabilizer on top of the tail fin.

As we only get a brief glimpse of the Freighter on screen, It’s hard to identify which of the available B-58 kits at the time was used for the original model and the added parts. The Aurora B-58 1.76 scaled kit no. 375, which first appeared in 1958 was certainly used for one of the WASP Spearhead models, as was the slightly smaller Revell 1.91 scaled kit no. H-252 which first appeared in 1957. The Lindberg 1.85 scale kit no. 560 could certainly be in the mix, as that also came out in 1959.

Although I do have examples of some of those vintage kits, I chose to use the more modern Italeri B-58 kit, as it’s a cheaper option and to be honest I prefer it’s less bulbous engine shape.

As we don’t see the Freighter landing or taking off, it was fairly obvious I’d go for a similar look to the Spearhead bomber. The fins on the under fuselage weapons pod needed to be repositioned, and I left the plastic glass out of the rear cockpit windows. When the landing gear is fitted, the fold down doors are left off.

The position of the engines on top of the wings, probably another point of debate for the more pedantic aircraft enthusiasts who forget it’s fictional, means unlike the bomber, this model doesn’t need to be weighted towards the front.

I added the large ‘W’ under the starboard wing. I can’t say for sure whether the filming props had that, as my screen captures of the aircraft viewed from below showed something that could be a ‘w’, but wasn’t at all clear. Nevertheless, I like the look. I’ve noted some modellers have also added a large’ W’ on top of the port wing, but, like my bomber model I decided against that.

The model is painted in Hycote gunmetal, and Revell matt yellow, followed by some light weathering. After applying some of the decals, the model was finally sprayed with a matt sealer.

Here's a photo of my WASP Spearhead bomber.

I think it’s fair to say that the WASP Freighter was more than likely simply just an altered one of the dozen or so Spearhead models that were produced for Stingray, some being made in flying mode and some with landing gear fitted.

The fleeting glimpse we see of the WASP Freighter on screen.

In the ‘Star of the East’ episode, the Freighter engine configuration is what we see flying over the ocean. However, using a fast film cut, just prior to it’s destruction the model is replaced with a different one with engines on it’s wings and a single one on it’s tail fin! This model is presumably weakened to allow for the special effect explosion.

The models were built by studio model makers, Richard “Eric” Backman, and Ezra Dearing (born William Jones). Both worked on several of the Anderson’s productions. Eric had already worked on the Anderson’s previous puppet series, Fireball XL5. Ezra was in his mid fifties when he worked on Stingray, making him one of the oldest people to have worked for the studio.

Using the Convair B-58 Hustler, as a basis for the heavy duty WASP aircraft was arguably, a good choice. It was without doubt, a sleek, and capable looking aircraft, very advanced and had not long entered operational service as a state-of-the-art Nuclear bomber when Stingray was being produced.

The B-58 was the fastest bomber at that time, capable of Mach 2 (1375 mph) at high altitude, and had a range of 5115 miles, combining fuel from it’s internal and it’s under-fuselage fuel pod.

It could fly for up to 18 hours carrying a payload of up to six nuclear weapons to any target on the globe.

B-58 Hustlers appear as fictitious ‘Vindicator’ bombers in the 1964 Cold War thriller, Fail Safe, and later, the 2000 made-for-TV remake.

It was, however a difficult aircraft to fly, and cost a fortune to maintain. It entered service during March, 1960, and was retired just ten years later, in January, 1970.

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