Flying for Fun 2003/11

66 MODEL AVIATION
D.B. Mathews
F l y i n g f o r F u n
909 N. Maize Rd., Townhouse 734, Wichita KS 67212
THE ANSWER: For several months I’ve batted around varied
opinions concerning whether building and flying model airplanes
is a sport or hobby. Bill Hannan’s book Model Builders & Their
Models provides delightful insight into the puzzle.
“Question: is modeling a Hobby, Sport, Science, or Art?”
“Yes!”
Perhaps many of us are guilty of pigeonholing Hannan’s
Runway’s various offerings as all small, rubber-powered Scale
and Peanut designs, but they are not. Bill’s catalog lists many
documentation drawings, a wealth of books containing threeviews,
Paul Matt drawings, Windsock Datafiles, etc. There is a
great deal of highly valuable material for models in any scale
(many of them novel and out of the rut), not to mention great
reads. Contact Hannan’s Runway at Box 210, Magalia CA 95954.
Beyond Description: I’ve been sitting here trying to describe the
phenomenon of Jim Walker in a single tag line, with no luck. He
was such an extraordinary inventor, promoter, showman, and
businessman that no simple summary can begin to describe him.
Through the years I’ve collected a file full of material about
American Junior (AJ) aircraft and Jim Walker, but I have held off
doing much with it since I feel incapable of capturing the
greatness of this man in a few words.
Fortunately Frank Macy of Portland, Oregon, has been able to
assemble much of the archival material from the AJ plant and
from Jim Walker’s survivors, and he is working on a definitive
biography of the man many of us consider the greatest promoter
our sport has ever seen.
Frank was on the cover of the October 2002 Model Aviation
holding a Fireball on floats. He has successfully revived the AJ
Hornet and Interceptor products and has made them available to
those of us who recall these models with fondness and those who
have been hearing the legends for 50 years.
I previously mentioned the folding-wing Interceptor glider,
even to the point of prematurely announcing its availability, but it
is in production now. The molded folding mechanism Frank has
developed is superior in smoothness and durability to the original
stamped, lightweight metal folding mechanism that Jim Walker
patented.
The quality of the wood and its fabrication are splendid, and
Notice the use of the term “Ready-to-Fly” in 1940 AJ ad. Models
illustrated are gliders or have rubber power.
Frank Macy Interceptor 404 is 1947 “Jet” (P-80) version that
replaced earlier 1939 P-39 outline and had longer span.
One grasped Interceptor’s wingtips, pointed it straight up,
launched it with rubber band on stick in opposite hand.
the printed colors are much sharper than I recall. I learned from
Frank that this is because the new product is silk-screened, as
opposed to using the printed inks of the original.
Even during the worst of the balsa shortage of the war years,
the Interceptors were available. This might have some connection
to the thousands of them produced for the military to be used as
gunnery trainers. The kids of my generation spent innumerable
fun-filled hours launching these models with the rubber band on a
stick.
For many of us, the Interceptors were the first models that
flew well enough for us to learn about adjusting and trimming
Free Flight models, which are skills that have been mostly
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ignored among the Almost Ready-to-Fly generation. If the
Interceptor had a problem, it was the tendency to fly too well and
get lost in thermals or land high up in trees. Oh, unappreciated
youth.
Frank is also producing the Hornet: a classic rubber-powered
ROG (rise-off-ground) reproduction that in its day was probably
the best of those all-balsa simple fliers. Unlike the numerous ripoffs
on the market at that time, the Hornet featured an
undercambered airfoil sheet wing produced by steaming the blank
and clamping it in a form.
Frank also has the Hornet available, but the propeller is molded
plastic—not the original three laminated layers of molded
hardwood of the original.
Consider the hours of enjoyment you could help a youngster
(of any age) find if you stuck one of either model in his or her
Christmas stocking. It would expand the thought process farther
than the average video game.
Contact Frank Macy at 1501 S.W. Baker St. #53, McMinnville
OR 97128; Tel.: (503) 435-1916, for current prices and ordering
details.
Memories: If you were around in the 1950s, you might recall Jim
Walker’s various Control Line (CL) demonstration flights. Most
famous might have been his ability to fly three CL models at one
time using a modified football helmet to which a handle was
attached. This was originally done with Fireballs and later with
1⁄2A Firebabys.
Sort of forgotten are Jim’s Saber Dance demonstrations using
Ohlsson & Rice (O&R) engines equipped with two-speed sparkignition
systems. With them he could hover a Fireball and fly it up
and down vertically by switching back and forth from high to low
speed with a special handle. I guess Jim was flying 3-D before
anyone had even heard of it.
Another pleasant memory was the crowd of kids that followed
Jim around as he demonstrated Interceptors, Hornets, and Ceiling
Walkers. Perhaps this was because he gave thousands of them
away to the youngsters. At an old Navy Nationals, the standard
joke was that Jim Walker could be found by looking for a huge
batch of kids having a great time.
He was a pioneer in remotely controlled flight; notice I didn’t
limit that to radio control. I distinctly recall a newsreel at a movie
showing Jim controlling a glider acoustically. He’d shout the
Introduced in 1939, the “folding wing wonder” was ordered by
hundreds of thousands by military for gunnery targets.
One of Jim Walker’s more outlandish products—the 1949 Ceiling
Walker—was a simple design that worked incredibly well.
Jim Walker’s Firebaby was superior to other manufacturers’
plastic products. It flew well, could be easily repaired.
correct command through a megaphone, then the model would
turn accordingly. I’m not making this up!
A classic newsreel shows Jim demonstrating a radio-controlled
lawn mower at an indoor flying event. For some reason the
system malfunctioned, and the mower “ate” his neatly parked
models on the edge of the circle. That’s sort of impressive.
Jim was one of those hearty souls who showed up at those
post-war Nationals to attempt to fly Radio Control. He could
always be located by looking for his De Soto six-door Saratoga
sedan with a set of speakers on the top. The De Soto had one of
those special bodies that bands, etc. often favored. Jim used the
speakers to keep up running banter/sales pitches while he was
demonstrating outdoors.
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Jim’s inventiveness extended to an
O&R .60 set up with contrarotating
propellers to theoretically cancel out the
effect of torque. That same model had a
mechanism that reversed the wing dihedral
when the model was inverted, but I can’t
document that with photos or a magazine
search—perhaps since I can’t recall a year
for this wild idea.
Until this moment I’d never thought of
it, but Jim was a Pied Piper for kids and
adults. He was able to attract a crowd,
keep its interest, and even sell it
something, similar to P.T. Barnum except
that Jim was impeccably honest. He ran a
flying circus at which he was the
ringmaster. What fun it was!
Jim was an inventive genius who held
all sorts of patents for an eclectic mix of
concepts. Some of his inventions were
used in his products, some were used to
produce them, and others were unrelated to
model airplanes.
Not only did Jim patent and collect
royalties for many years on the control
system that used two lines, a bellcrank,
and an elevator horn, but he even held the
copyright to the term “U-control.”
When I first started writing columns,
Bill Winter quickly called to my attention
that I was using the copyrighted term Ucontrol
when I should have been using
“Control Line,” which also covers the
various alternate systems developed as
subsumes.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, many
kits and published designs left out any
detail of a control system to avoid the $1
per kit royalty; they would read “Use your
favorite control system” or such. Other
manufacturers provided screwball
alternate control systems that did not
work. We routinely substituted a Veco
control horn (manufactured under license)
and would not have it any other way.
The patent Jim Walker was the most
proud of and had spent the most time and
energy demonstrating until it caught on
like wildfire around the world was
eventually taken from him by the court
system. I resist the urge to comment on the
patent trial, the reasons behind its being
filed, and the court’s decision.
Whether Jim invented U-control or not
is not nearly as important as the effect he
had by demonstrating it around the world.
Had he not done so, CL flying would have
remained an oddity because the person the
court named as the original inventor did
nothing to promote CL.
There were those in that 1950s era who
felt that Jim should not have collected $1
per kit royalty, but should have donated
the patent license free. The $1 per kit
bought way more than that in promotional
value.
Modeling activities have never seen
anything to match Jim Walker’s incredible
zeal and salesmanship, and likely never
will. Here’s a salute to a persistent Frank
Macy for preserving the Jim Walker legacy
and even making some of the products
available to a new generation of fliers.
Postscript: When you are looking at the
photos this month, keep in mind that when
these Jim Walker models were new, a kid
could pay for a movie ticket and a bag of
popcorn for 25¢.
Now add in the contemporary costs of
liability insurance, Occupational Safety
and Health Administration and
Environmental Protection Agency
compliance, workmen’s compensation
unemployment insurance, social security,
legal fees, etc. that did not exist in 1940,
and you can probably understand the
inflation. MA