One Of The Coolest Motorhomes In The World Started Life As A Legendary WWII Plane

The coolest motorhomes of all time weren’t made by the big brands churning RVs in Indiana, but are instead the work of crafters and dreamers with visions beyond what traditional designs have to offer. Their creativity has produced countless awesome custom builds over the decades, but one stands out as particularly spectacular and unique.

I’m talking about the Fabulous Flamingo, a World War II-era Douglas R4D that traded its wings for a truck chassis to create an amazing 38-foot motorhome that will never be mistaken for anything else – except a plane making an emergency landing, perhaps.

The Fabulous Flamingo is the work of Air Force veteran Gino Lucci, and the RV keeps a World War II legend alive in a unique way.

Preserving Old Birds

Every year, I go to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh to take in everything aviation for a whole week. The 2024 edition of the event featured a lot of great hits, from an appearance of one of the few Beechcraft Starships to seeing the motorhome built out of Elvis’ formerly abandoned jet. I even got to meet a hero, Hoover from the YouTube channel Pilot Debrief. I highly recommend a visit to AirVenture, and not just if you’re a plane nut. The event is just a great time for everyone of all ages.

However, there was one more treat at America’s greatest airshow that I somehow missed. Parked in the Camp Scholler campground was an airplane fuselage. Normally, that would be fairly weird, but it was AirVenture, where weird is the norm. It was, of course, the Fabulous Flamingo, and you’ll be impressed by how well a plane becomes an RV.

According to Vintage Aviation News, builder Gino Lucci didn’t have any family background in aviation, but like many of avgeeks, the appetite to take flight was there at a young age. The publication then notes that Lucci earned his pilot license through a scholarship with the Civil Air Patrol, later joining the United States Air Force. Lucci would spend the next 25 years serving America’s Air Force as a specialized mechanic and ending up in places like Diego Garcia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, and the Persian Gulf.

In 1996, while Lucci was still in the military, he wanted to reverse-engineer a Junkers Ju-87 Stuka, a historic attack aircraft from the 1930s. The Lucci family business, Nashville, Michigan-based Round Engine Aero, was founded to fund that project. Since then, Round Engine Aero has become a big name in helping aviators keep vintage aircraft alive. Round Engine Aero finds rare parts that other suppliers won’t have, and Lucci goes out to rescue aircraft that have been long abandoned.

Round Engine Aero is such a huge deal in the aviation community that a little bit of everyone from general aviation pilots to the National Air and Space Museum has used the company’s services. Also impressive is that since 2015, Round Engine Aero has been the largest privately-owned used parts supplier that you’ll find at every AirVenture.

Somehow, the story gets even cooler, and what’s really amazing is just how Lucci found himself in this position. With his son, Giacinto, Lucci runs a pretty fascinating operation. In years past, America used to be obsessed with the folks who traveled around America, uncovering rare artefacts and national treasures found in barns, lost in forests, and gathering dust in personal collections. I mean, who hasn’t seen at least one episode of American Pickers? Lucci lives that life, but with aviation.

The Luccis employ a bit of new-school tech to old-school hunting techniques. The team will scour the Internet for clues on where to find aircraft to rescue. They’ll dig through the Internet and use satellite imagery to locate the next big piece of history. Then, the father and son team will hop into their vehicle and drive out to a location and start knocking on doors if they have to. In doing so, Lucci has been able to salvage and rescue aircraft that had been lost to time and to nature. Round Engine Aero can then preserve these rescues to keep pieces of history intact when others might tear them apart.

It’s through this detective work that Giacinto spotted a decommissioned Navy 1943 Douglas R4D among two other Douglas DC-3 variants in Missouri. This aircraft would end up becoming the Fabulous Flamingo.

An Aviation Icon

If the look of the R4D rings a bell but the name does not, it might be because you know of the plane the R4D was developed from, the Douglas DC-3. The DC-3 and its variants are some of the most iconic aircraft in history. Even people who don’t know planes might be able to identify a DC-3 and the world might have been a different place without them.

The National Air and Space Museum has some excellent history:

The development of the Douglas DC-3 was brought about by the commercial airlines demand for an economical passenger-carrying airplane. Up to 1934, airline passenger craft were too slow and carried too few passengers to be really profitable. United Air Lines had ordered sixty of the new Boeing 247s, the first truly modern airliners and had effectively tied up production. The 247 carried ten passengers at 160 mph and made all other transports obsolete. The other carriers were thus forced to find another plane if they wished to be competitive in the passenger-carrying business.

In 1933 the Douglas Aircraft Company designed a new passenger plane, as ordered by Transcontinental and Western airlines, to compete with the Boeing 247. The first model, the DC-1, was soon succeeded by the DC-2 and the start of quantity production. American Airlines, at the time, was using the slow Curtiss Condor, which was fitted with sleeper berths. American needed a new airplane able to compete with the DC-2 and the Boeing 247, but one with sleeping accommodations.

In 1935 C. R. Smith, president of American Airlines, made a direct request of Douglas to build a larger, more comfortable plane which could lure the luxury trade.” On December 17, 1935, the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) made its first flight. The original plane was designed as a luxury sleeper with seven upper and seven lower berths and a private forward cabin. The day plane version, known as the DC-3, had twenty-one seats instead of fourteen berths. The design included cantilever wings, all-metal construction, two cowled Wright SGR-1820 1,000 hp radial engines, retractable landing gear, and trailing edge flaps. The controls included an automatic pilot and two sets of instruments. The original design was so satisfactory that the basic specifications were never changed.

I’ll try to give you an example of what flying was like before the DC-3. If you were a passenger, you likely boarded aircraft like the Ford Tri-Motor or the Curtiss Condor. I’ve had the privilege of being a passenger in a Tri-Motor once, and the experience was unforgettable. It was also something vastly different from anything that you might expect today.

Air travelers back then had to contend with smaller cabins, slower speeds, and flight endurance under 1,000 miles. If you were an airline, flying passengers alone wasn’t profitable, so you also got mail contracts.

The National Air and Space Museum continues with how the DC-3 changed that:

American Airlines initiated DST nonstop New York-to-Chicago service on June 25, 1936. and in September started service with the DC-3. A year later, with the DC-3 in service, Smith stated, “It was the first airplane in the world that could make money just by hauling passengers” This was the beginning of an immortal airplane known the world over. As the success of the DC-3, with its larger capacity for passengers, its speed, and its economical operation, was realized, airlines throughout the world began placing orders with Douglas.

In the United States the big three transcontinental lines were very competitive. With the advent of DST coast-to-coast service by American Airlines, Trans World Airlines obtained DSTs and DC-3s for such flights also. When United Airlines, with its Boeing 247s, saw that the Douglas plane was outclassing its own service, the company purchased ten DSTs and five DC-3s, and began flights on January 1, 1937. In July of that same year United introduced sleeper service between New York and California.

By 1938, 95 percent of all U.S. commercial airline traffic was on DC-3s. Two hundred sixty DC-3s, 80 percent of the number of airliners, were in service in 1942 on domestic carriers. As of December 31, 1969, thirty DC-3s were still being used by U.S airlines. Foreign companies also began to order the economical Douglas-built plane. KLM was the first European airline to own and operate DC-3s, in 1936, followed by companies in Sweden, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and elsewhere. By 1938 DC-3s were flown by thirty foreign airlines, and by 1939, 90 percent of the world’s airline traffic was being carried by these aircraft.

The Douglas DC-3 was famous even in its own time. The Museum notes that in 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented Donald Wills Douglas, the founder of Douglas Aircraft, with the Collier Trophy, which recognized the DC-3 for its worldwide success.

That would be a record good enough for any aircraft, but then the Douglas DC-3 became instrumental in helping the Allies win World War II. In military hands, the DC-3 undertook various roles and names, including the C-47 Skytrain, the Dakota C-53 Skytrooper, the R4D, the C-117D, and so many more. Click here to find out the dozens of names that the military designated for its DC-3 variants. I didn’t even include all of the other regions that built DC-3s under license, like Japan and the Soviet Union.

When historians say the DC-3 changed the world of aviation, they were not exaggerating. The DC-3 was just that much of an influential aircraft. It carried enough passengers so that airlines could make money from passengers. It was so durable that the military could overload them past their gross weight limit, and they’d keep flying. When all was said and done, over 16,000 examples of the DC-3 and its variants were built. The DC-3 is so everlasting that there are a shocking number of examples still flying today.

The Fabulous Flamingo

According to Round Engine Aero, the Fabulous Flamingo was built in 1943 by Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City. The aircraft was designated as a C-47B and then was transferred to the Navy a year later, earning the new designation of R4D-6 along the way. Round Engine Aero continues:

Stationed with VR-3 at N.A.S. Olathe during the war, she went to N.A.S. Jacksonville in 1946. In 1947 she was transferred to the Naval Air Force Atlantic Command (AIRLANT) first being based at Brazil Naval Station, then N.A.S. Cherry Point in 1948. She was then converted to an R4D-5.

In 1959 she was declared surplus by the government and sold to Wein Alaska Airlines who afterwards, resold the aircraft back to the government, namely the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for use as an Approach Procedures Calibration aircraft. Originally flying as N67, she was reregistered as N25. In 1980 she was purchased to be converted to a freighter at a cargo operation, however the fleet was upgraded from C-47’s before she was converted and she was put into storage.

In 2008 a tornado struck the airfield where she was stored and caused significant damage to the airframe. The landing gear was knocked out from under it, the copilot side wing was bent, various damage to the center section, and pilot’s side wing, the fuselage twisted and kinked. Over the next 10 years, the usable parts were slowly removed from the airframe and multiple parties sought the airframe, with most interest being further dismantlement.

If it were not for the tornado, the Fabulous Flamingo, which was once a part of a fleet for Baron Aviation air cargo, but Lucci notes that it didn’t get a chance to fly for the firm. Unfortunately, the damage meant that the aircraft would never fly again. Lucci retired from military service in 2015, and when he found the R4D rotting away in Rolla, Missouri, he had to save it.

Something I’ve found heartwarming about this story is that, like me, Lucci hasn’t focused entirely on one type of vehicle. According to military news publication Stars And Stripes, Lucci’s father was a cabinet maker who built a motorhome when Lucci was a kid.

In the video above, Lucci even says that his aunts and uncles built their own RVs, so he thought it was just something everyone did. Lucci wasn’t that far off! There were so many awesome custom RVs from that era. He thought that one day, when he built his own motorhome just like his father, it was going to be built out of an airplane.

Giacinto is credited with the discovery of the Fabulous Flamingo and other vintage aircraft that day. Apparently, it took Lucci a whole year to convince the owner of the R4D to part ways with the aircraft. Then, one day in 2019, Lucci got the score of a lifetime.

Once the R4D reached Michigan, some 455 miles away, Lucci engaged in some of the old-school engineering that we love at The Autopian.

Lucci had an International DuraStar 4400 delivery truck sitting around, and it was the perfect platform for this build. The DuraStar, which sold from 2002 to 2018, slotted into the Class 6 and Class 7 truck categories and was sold with such medium-duty workhorses as the Navistar DT466 straight-six and as high as the Cummins ISL 9 in later production years.

While the DuraStar series didn’t catch on in the motorhome world, one DuraStar motorhome prototype was built in 2006, and the DuraStar has also been used for school buses. This DuraStar is equipped with a DT466 7.6-liter straight-six. In the DuraStar 4400, this was offered with 225 HP and 620 lb-ft of torque to 300 HP and 860 lb-ft of torque, or more than healthy for this application.

A Dream Realized

To fit the fuselage, Lucci cut the aircraft a bit behind its wing root. It’s noted that fitting the fuselage onto the frame of the International took some trial and error. Reportedly, early on, the aircraft-RV was prone to weathervaning – the tendency for an aircraft to turn into the relative wind. That part’s a bit amusing, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. According to Lucci via Vintage Aviation News, some chassis tweaks fixed that part right up. Other neat bits include how the fenders up front are the aircraft’s old engine cowlings, while the rear quarters are wing tip tanks. The original emergency exits were retained, too!

Something else I love here is how Lucci went all of the way with this build. The other now-famous plane-RV, the Elvis Lockheed Jetstar modified by YouTuber James Webb and crew, was still very rudimentary when I last saw it. That RV went down the road fine, but had no environmental controls and was closer to a traveling museum than it was a motorhome. Not the Fabulous Flamingo – this motorhome is totally functional with working seatbelts, windshield wipers, a sink, a microwave, an oven, and more. It even has beds and a dinette, and a bathtub. A lot of coaches from Indiana don’t even have a real tub!

The RV gear in itself is impressive, but what really excites me is the creative reuse of aviation materials. The aircraft’s old radio racks became the kitchen cabinetry, a real plane sink is in the kitchen, and the wood around the windows? Those are old spars repurposed to give a vintage look. It’s said that while the Fabulous Flamingo is filled with vintage aircraft parts, most of them come from other planes. As a huge fan of repurposing old materials, I love this. I also love how it’s said that the instruments on the co-pilot side of the flight deck still function.

The finished rig spans 38 feet and towers 12 feet, 6 inches over the pavement. Of course, there isn’t a wingspan here, but the Flamingo is reportedly a half-inch narrower than the legal width limit in Michigan, which is great. Even the aircraft’s name has a story: Lucci’s wife loves flamingos, and he loves the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, which was often called “Fabulous,” even by McDonnell Douglas. Smash those two loves together and boom, you have the Fabulous Flamingo.

It’s said that mounting the fuselage to the International’s frame took a few months, and the RV was roadworthy about a year in. But as with many huge projects, it took a couple of more years to really refine the concept. Lucci says in the above video that the Fabulous Flamingo has pretty good performance as it easily attains 70 mph and has a top speed of around 85 mph, like a normal RV. However, Lucci drives at a more leisurely pace of around 55 mph to 60 mph because people are always practically breaking their necks to get a look at the Fabulous Flamingo. In this case, going slower is safer!

Over the years, folks have twisted Lucci’s story into some real weird stuff. Dig around the Internet, and you might see claims that it was built by Russians, or you may find randos on Facebook posting Lucci’s photos and calling themselves the builders. Nope, the Fabulous Flamingo is all-American and the Luccis built her in beautiful Michigan.

Now, years later, the Fabulous Flamingo is not just an excellent advertising vehicle for Round Engine Aero and an AirVenture fan-favorite, but Lucci actually uses it as a real motorhome. All of this is just so astounding. But it’s also inspirational. Lucci took a childhood dream and made it a reality. It just so happens that his dream was one of the coolest motorhomes ever built! Apparently, I’m not alone in this, as wherever the Fabulous Flamingo goes, it captures the imaginations of people both young and old.

If you want to see this wonderful aircraft-motorhome, there’s no need to potentially cause an accident on the highway. Just head on over to AirVenture! You’ll get to see the Fabulous Flamingo and so much more.