SHADAIR MOBILE TRANSPORTER - from the 1970 TV Series ‘UFO’ created by Gerry Anderson
The Mobiles are the front line of SHADO’s ground based defences. Seen only briefly in the series the SHADO Mobile Transporter was a massive aircraft.
Similar to the giant US C5 Galaxy aircraft or Russian Antonov An 205 that coming into service around the time the show was being made. The Hercules C130 was one of the largest transporter in operation at the time and Airfix did a splendid kit of this, that came complete with Bloodhound Missile and trailer. The box art was really sensational - the great ROY CROSS - so I have used that as an inspiration for this artwork. Based on a scene in the episode ‘The Computer Affair’, the Mobiles are deployed somewhere in Canada and you see the plane land and the Mobiles exit the rear. This painting imagines that scenes in more detail. I have included the guard and his dog - a fun little extra included in the Hercules kit.
I think the aircraft is about would be about 195 feet in length – capable of carrying 4 Mobiles! So in this scale would be about 16” long, with a wingspan of about 200 feet 17”. You’d get 3 Mobiles and Shado Control included... these would be a little over 2 inches in length! White or silver/grey plastic.
Designed by Derek Meddings
What If Model KIts #17