CL Navy Carrier
Dick Perry, 427 Live Oak Ln. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122; E-mail: [email protected]
MYSTERY AIRPLANE: The aircraft in the October issue was the Lockheed Model 12A.
A few Lockheed Model 12A aircraft made their way into the services in the 1930s. The majority served the same purpose as their civilian counterparts: as transport aircraft. The Navy designated their Model 12As "JO."
In October of 1938, the Navy had already let a contract for the Grumman XF5F Skyrocket—its first twin-engine fighter design. Yet there was no test experience for twin-engine aircraft in carrier operations, and the Navy had no recent experience with tricycle-gear aircraft aboard ship.
To handle both deficiencies, the Navy modified one of its Lockheed transports with the addition of a fixed tricycle undercarriage. The airplane was used to test operations of twin-engine aircraft with tricycle gear aboard aircraft carriers.
The Navy designated the test aircraft the XJO-3. The configuration that the XJO-3 pioneered was first ordered by the Navy in 1941, as the Grumman F7F Tigercat.
The winner of the October Mystery Airplane contest is Frank Beatty of Granite City, Illinois.
There were fewer correct entries for the August Mystery Airplane: the Curtiss XBTC-2. Bob Heywood, who flies with the Dayton Buzzin' Buzzards, was selected from among the correct entries.
This month's contest
For this month's Mystery Airplane contest, I'm deviating from the norm. There's no three-view drawing this time, but rather an opportunity to test your history knowledge, as well as your knowledge of aircraft.
I mentioned that the Navy had no recent experience with tricycle-gear aircraft on carriers in 1938, but I didn't mean that it never had any experience. For a chance to win a year's membership in the Navy Carrier Society, can you identify the first tricycle-gear aircraft used in shipboard operations?
Mail your entry to me at the address at the top of the page.
Photo correction
Oops! The August issue contained two fine photographs of Bill Calkins' Hawker Sea Fury. Unfortunately, one of them was supposed to be a Seafire. The caption was correct, but the photographs were switched in publication.
The correct photo, from the 1998 Nationals, is included this month. Terry Kirby built the Supermarine Seafire Mk XV from the Progressive Miniature Aviation kit, which was intended for the Radio Control Combat event.
Nationals Equipment
As I've done in past years, I'll devote the rest of this month's column to the equipment used at the Nationals. As one of the largest Carrier contests of the year, it may serve as an indicator of the types of equipment that are working well for competitors around the country.
By far, the most popular design at the Nationals, or at any other Navy Carrier contests, is the Martin MO-1. There were 25 MO-1s among the 41 models entered this year.
Profile Carrier offered a little more variety than the Scale classes, but still, more than half of the entries were MO-1s. Bill Bischoff's foaming design was the most popular MO-1 on the field.
There were three Guardians in Profile Carrier. One was Bill Melton's latest creation, which will be published in the near future. It won first place, with a Nelson .36 for power.
Bill's model's slow speed of 313 seconds was the best of the event. The model's low-speed performance may have been aided by the flaps that Bill uses on his Guardian designs. His model had the smallest wing (325 square inches) and the heaviest wing loading of the top five models, yet still achieved the best low speed.
The other Guardians were Bill Calkins designs. One was a stock Brodak kit. The one that Bill flew was modified from the original kit design by shortening the wing from 425 to 385 square inches. It placed fifth.
The top speeds in Profile were between 94.5 mph (Mike Greb) and 93.9 mph. The best high speed and two of the top four were achieved with Nelson engines. The other two top speeds were achieved with a Wiley and a Tune-Hill O.S. conversion. The Nelson engines, which are commercially available, used Nelson plugs. The preferred propeller for top speed was the APC 9 x 6, and there was one Grish 9 x 7.
Class I
In Class I, all of the top nine places went to MO-1s, except for John Vlna's Skyraider. Half of the MO-1s were Bill Bischoff designs.
Because the high speeds were more spread out in Class I, low speed was not such a dominant factor in placing as it was in Profile. That is not to say that slow flight didn't influence the scores significantly, just that there was more variation in scores.
The highest speed in Class I belonged to Pete Mazur at 102.1 mph, but his low speed allowed him to place no higher than fifth. Pete's model used a venerable K&B .40S with a Grish 9 x 7 prop and a Fox R/C plug.
With the exception of Pete's model, those with the top speeds had APC 9 x 6 props. Two engines running on suction topped 86 mph with higher-pitch props.
The other high speeds were held by a model with a SuperTiger X40 (Bill Melton, 100.0 mph) and one with a Jett .40 (Mike Greb, 97.9 mph). The more numerous engines included three K&B .40Ss and three O.S. .40 VFs. There were also two Wileys and two SuperTiger X40s.
Class II
The top five places in Class II were MO-1s. The most numerous engine, and the one used by the top three finishers, was the Webra .61. The Webras were also the fastest models in Class II, though I don't have the exact speeds achieved. Bill Melton's Rossi .65 was a top contender for high-speed honors, though he lost his airplane without achieving a low speed.
APC was the dominant prop in Class II, with 10 x 7 and 10 x 6 sizes preferred. There were two specialty fiberglass props with a nominal 10 x 8 size among the best high speeds.
More than 75% of the contestants used fuel with at least 50% nitromethane content. The lowest nitro rating was 40%.
K&B plugs were the dominant brand in Class II, with the K&B I.L. used most often. The Fox R/C plug was a close second.
The use of left-hand-rotation engines continues to grow, making up more than 40% of the entries this year. There were numerous engines that were originally produced with reverse-intake timing, and the rest contained custom cranks or induction valves.
APC seems to have solved the problem of suitable propellers for the "backward" engines, with 9 x 6, 10 x 6, and 10 x 7 sizes being used.
It was gratifying to see some new designs at the Nationals, including two biplanes in the Profile event: John Vlna entered a Berliner-Joyce OJ-2, and Art White entered a Boeing F4B. There were six Grumman Guardians in the official events; Bill Calkins had a new Hawker Sea Fury; and there was a Curtiss XS2C-1 that had not been out before.
While the MO-1 continues to dominate, some variety is definitely starting to creep into the event. With the destruction of Pete Mazur's and Bill Melton's MO-1s this year, we might see some new models (other than MO-1) from some of the traditional top performers next year.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
