February 2001 129
As I Announced in the October issue, the
last Mystery Airplane was the Bristol Brigand.
The winner of that contest was Don Boose of
Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Don won a one-year
membership in the Navy Carrier Society.
In the October column, I mentioned that
Rand McNally listed the aircraft as a
shipboard attack aircraft. Although that
reference fulfills the documentation
requirements for anyone who wants to build
a Brigand, I received interesting letters from
a few readers who had experience with that
aircraft or with other aircraft from Bristol.
None of the correspondents recollected the
Brigand serving aboard carriers with the Royal
Navy. One was modified for catapult
operations, but that seems to have been to
validate steam-catapult development rather
than to test the aircraft for carrier service.
The correspondents unanimously doubted
that the Brigand ever made arrested landings.
The Mystery Airplane for this month
may stump those who are most consistent
in their correct answers.
Send me your entry via US Postal Service
or E-mail at the addresses at the head of this
column. I’ll select the winner from among
those who correctly identify the aircraft.
I’ll give you an extra chance to win if
you can describe the circumstances that
qualify this airplane as a legal prototype
for the Navy Carrier events.
Thanks to Ted Kraver for providing the
Control Line Navy Carrier Nationals (Nats)
coverage in the December issue.
Ted flew some interesting aircraft at the Nats,
which are shown this month. His Profile Carrier
entry was the General Aircraft Fleet Shadower,
or Shipguard. I’ve described the aircraft in
previous columns, so I won’t go into the history.
Ted used four AS .09 engines for power.
Although I can’t say it is a thing of
beauty, I’m sure it was an interesting
model to watch in flight.
The Curtiss biplane, which Ted calls his
“Ely Flyer,” is modeled after the aircraft with
which Eugene Ely demonstrated the first
takeoff and landing aboard a US Navy ship.
Ted’s model included aircraft floatation
devices underneath the wing and Eugene’s
personal flotation devices (bicycle inner tubes
wrapped around his torso). The Webra .40 engine
was fed from a cylindrical fuel tank mounted
under the top wing, modeled after the original.
This Curtiss is a slightly larger than
Ted’s original, which many of us have
enjoyed watching at past Nationals.
I’ve received interesting correspondence from
Iain Neillands, who has been collecting old
CONTROL LINE NAVY CARRIER
Dick Perry, 427 Live Oak Ln. NE, Albuquerque NM 87122; E-mail: [email protected]
The subject of this month’s Mystery Airplane contest may stump many readers.
Ted’s Curtiss pusher biplane is modeled after the aircraft that made the first landing
and takeoff from a ship. The model is powered by a Webra .40 engine.
Ted Kraver’s Profile General Aircraft Shipguard entry is a rarity in the Carrier circles,
with its four engines. Ted flew it at the 2000 Nationals.
130 M ODEL AVIATION
model magazines through on-line auctions.
He Iain writes the “Planes” feature of the
Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots
Association’s (PAMPA’s) Stunt News.
Iain is interested in scalelike models
for Precision Aerobatics, and he noted that
the dive-bombers of World War II have
good proportions for Stunt. They also are
well-proportioned for Navy Carrier
modeling, and these types of models have
been published in the past.
Iain sent me several plans he found
for models that are appropriate
prototypes for our event.
Bill Noonan’s 35-inch-span Curtiss SB2C
Helldiver in the January 1945 Air Trailswas an
aircraft I had never seen. The interesting article
began by describing the aircraft’s war service,
which was current information at the time.
Bill used an Ohlsson .23 ignition engine.
The model was appropriately sized, but the
Carrier events were still five years away.
The January 1953 Model Airplane News
contained one of the first Navy Carrier models
published: Dick Ealy’s Curtiss XSO3C
prototype Seagull. It had roughly a 37-inch
span and 285 square inches of wing area.
The model used a Forster .29 ignition
engine, with dual points for speed control.
The second set of points were set on the
ground to a retarded timing, to reduce power.
This gave a choice of two engine speeds in
flight, via a relay operated by electrical
current through the flying wires.
Roland Baltes’ Class I Douglas TBD
Devastator, from the July 1972 American
Aircraft Modeler, is a classic with which
many of you are probably familiar. Roland
was one of the great competitors and
designers in Navy Carrier, and he did
much to further the sport.
Some of the fun is looking at
advertisements in the older magazines. Victor
Stanzel & Company, JASCO (Junior
Aeronautical Supply Co.), Cleveland Model
Products, Sig, and Pactra were all represented.
Even Charles Atlas had an ad in the Air Trails.
As I write this in early October, the dates for the
National Championships this summer have not
been set. Nonetheless, I am starting to organize
events as the Navy Carrier event director.
We have been fortunate in the past, and have
had volunteers to provide the manpower needed
to run the events. Critical positions of center
judge, tabulators, and pull-testers are needed for
each of the two days of official events.
I will consider different people for each
day if there are volunteers who would serve
as event officials for Class I and II and would
like to fly Profile, or vice versa.
We also need timers and runners, but we
can be more flexible on times if you’d like to
serve for a half-day.
In the past, many of the officials have
participated in the unofficial events—
Sportsman Profile Carrier, Nostalgia Carrier,
.15 Carrier, and Skyray Carrier.
If you are willing to volunteer as an
official at the Carrier Nationals, please
contact me via mail, E-mail, or telephone—
(505) 856-7008. MA
