110 MODEL AVIATION
IN FAIRNESS to this magazine’s art staff,
please understand that because of the nature
of this column I often use old photos with
resolution and contrast that are well below
accepted minimums for contemporary
photography. These are often in black-andwhite
and don’t reproduce with much
quality, but they are of such historical
interest that they should be appreciated
nonetheless.
There are also variables in the printing
process itself that can cause photos to be
overly dark, as were those in the August
2006 column, or too light.
Off and on in the last several months I have
been selecting photos and text to describe
odd and seldom-modeled full-scale aircraft.
This has been an attempt to interest readers
in pursuing out-of-the-rut subjects for Scale
models. Not only that, but I’ve found an
excuse to spend hours looking at the huge
quantity of aviation material on the Internet.
The response from readers about this
choice of column subjects indicates that
many of us hold an interest in odd airplanes.
As I keep mentioning, it’s unfortunate that
the available kits, and particularly ARFs,
for Scale models are so narrow in choices.
Apparently the Asian manufacturers feel
safety in producing replicas of a narrow
group of prototypes that are instantly
identifiable to potential buyers. This limited
choice often results in pit areas looking as if
someone found a way to clone model
airplanes.
This month, for fun, I’ll look at some
pusher prototypes. Although the earliest
Flying for Fun D.B. Mathews | [email protected]
The rare-aircraft theme continues with four obscure pushers
A rare photo of the only aircraft of a pusher engineering study by Cessna: the XMC. It’s a
lovely airplane with little available documentation. Photo courtesy Dick Massey collection.
Anderson-Greenwood produced a small number of AG-14 aircraft in the 1950s. It’s an
intriguing but seldom-modeled subject. Photo by Bob Banka.
flying models were twin pusher sticks, the
successful pusher FF model has always
been the exception, even in Scale models.
One of the most pervasive reasons for the
engine-aft designs’ lack of popularity has
been the tendency of such models to be tailheavy.
As I write this, the only kitted pusher
engine FF design I can recall was Jerry
Stollof’s Yogi, which was difficult to
balance. There were also some CL pusher
kits produced—notably a scale Stearman
Hammond by Aerodesign.
Until the advent of electric power, only a
few pusher RC models had been popular,
such as the MAN Fan Jet and its clones.
The pusher layout has become highly
popular for electric-powered models
ranging from $50 Air Hogs aircraft to
extremely sophisticated designs.
In this age of electric-powered models,
much of the weight-distribution problem
has been solved. Consider the glowpowered
unit’s concentration of weight
compared to an electric motor and its
batteries.
Wet power has the largest percentage of
its total weight distributed in a compact
space, whereas the electric-power unit has
less than half its mass in the motor itself.
Now the builder can move the bulk of the
power-plant weight way up forward in a
pusher design.
Not only does electric power help with
the tail-heaviness, but consider how much
simpler starting procedures are with an
electric pusher compared to that powered by
a glow engine. With electric power the
airplanes I’ll show you this month could be
developed into excellent Scale models.
Cessna “Magic Carpet”: This is a product
of a well-known light-aircraft manufacturer
that I’ll bet you have never seen. From its
inception this airplane was intended to be
an engineering study rather than a
production aircraft.
That differs drastically from the Cessna
CH-1 helicopter designed by Charles Seibel
12sig4.QXD 10/25/06 11:38 AM Page 110today as a major manufacturer of metal
products for industry, including the aircraft
business.
Additionally, under the abbreviation
AGCO Anderson Greenwood is a major
producer of industrial valves and meters.
The company invested in developing a
product for the predicted post-war aviation
boom as an addition to its product line.
The two-seat, twin-boom, light-cabin
AG-14 monoplane first flew in October
1947. A production prototype flew three
years later, and a line was set up for full
production. As I’ve written several times,
the market dried up for two-place light
aircraft and only a handful were ever
produced.
An interesting piece of trivia came my
way from retired 34-year Cessna employee
Richard Geide, who worked in the Cessna
experimental hangar here in Wichita.
According to him, during the production
and testing of the Magic Carpet at Cessna,
there was an Anderson Greenwood in the
hangar.
The all-metal AG-14 spanned 34 feet,
cruised at 110 mph, and was powered with
a Continental C-90 engine. I am unable to
determine how many were produced.
Surely some flying Scale models of the
AG-14 have been built, but I can’t recall
seeing or reading anything about one.
Stearman-Hammond Y: The pusher
configuration for aircraft is nothing new;
consider the Wright Flyers. However,
throughout the years a surprising number of
civilian and military designs featured this
layout, but few ever reached serial
production until the advent of Burt Rutan’s
“EZ” series.
In 1934 The Bureau of Air Commerce
announced a contest to see who could
come up with an “everyman’s” airplane
under initiative AB-205. Many designers
entered the contest, and a few built
prototypes such as the Waterman Aerobile
December 2006 111
The Y was an unusual “everyman’s” airplane manufactured by Stearman-Hammond. It
featured coupled rudder/aileron, as did the Erocoupe. Banka photo.
The Trella T-106 home-built pusher. Claude McCullough built a successful 1/4-scale model
and competed with it in the AMA Nats. McCullough photo.
and placed into series production, only to
reveal insurmountable operational and
maintenance problems. There were so many
that Cessna bought back the ones they had
sold and destroyed them!
The XMC (Experimental Magic Carpet)
was an exercise to investigate and evaluate
new light-aircraft design and aerodynamics,
new construction techniques, and advanced
materials. In that respect, much was learned
that was later applied to full production
aircraft.
The single two-place research aircraft,
engineering designation Model 1014, was
first flown on January 22, 1971, with chief
test pilot Bruce Barret at the controls.
Subsequently the XMC entered a test
program to evaluate ground handling,
flying characteristics, and visibility
throughout the flight regime.
As a further study, in 1972 the single
prototype was reworked to include
increased vertical stabilizer, spatted nose
gear, and a shrouded, or ducted, propeller.
The model designation was changed to
1034 to differentiate the two versions.
The shrouded propeller produced less
thrust and more noise, so that exercise was
discontinued. As far as can be determined,
the prototype was scrapped.
The “Magic Carpet” would make a
delightful Scale model. However, when
Textron bought out Cessna, the new
management decided that the multiple file
cabinets in the plant that contained
historical material was wasting space.
My friend Bob Pickett, who described
himself as the “unofficial historian of
Cessna” before his untimely death, had
collected much of this irreplaceable data.
The powers that be had everything hauled
off to the landfill.
To my knowledge no XMC three-views
remain, and all I could find was the
company photo that longtime Cessna
employee Dick Massey had saved from
years ago.
This aircraft deserves to be reproduced
in model form if anyone has material on it.
If you do and would like to share, let me
know.
Anderson Greenwood AG-14: The XMC
was an aircraft for which little documentation
is available. Now we are going to look at one
for which there is a ton of documentation, yet
is seldom, if ever, modeled.
Most who have an interest in Scale
models is aware that Paul Matt Scale
Airplane Drawings Vol. 1 contains a superb
set of three-views for the AG-14. The book
should be available from the aviation
booksellers. In addition, Bob’s Aircraft
Documentation (3114 Yukon Ave., Costa
Mesa CA 92626) has a Foto Paak in color of
the AG-14.
So with all the excellent documentation,
why isn’t this aircraft modeled more often?
Anderson Greenwood was not your
average start-up, sell stock, and go broke
aircraft developer. It remains in business
12sig4.QXD 10/25/06 11:52 AM Page 111and the early Erocoupe.
The Hammond is one of the two award
winners for the “flivver” (i.e., safe, easy to
fly, and affordable) aircraft competition.
However, none of the designs even came
close to the target price of $700.
Designer Dean Hammond of Ypsilanti,
Michigan, chose to use an expensive
Menasco aircraft engine in lieu of a
converted automobile engine, requiring that
the aircraft be priced at $3,000 Depression
dollars.
Long after Lloyd Stearman left the
Wichita company bearing his name, he
got involved in improving the designs,
moved the company to San Francisco,
California, and reorganized it as
Stearman-Hammond. The improved Y-
125 (called the “Ariel”) version with a
four-cylinder Menasco 125-horsepower
engine was certified in April 1936, and
the Bureau of Air Commerce ordered 15
for use by its field personnel.
The features that distinguished the Y
were its exceptional slow-speed handling
and two-control flight system. Coordinated
directional control was accomplished solely
with differential aileron control and no
rudder pedal per se, much as the post-war
Erocoupe. It was found that many people
could solo the aircraft with less than four
hours of dual flight time.
I read on the Internet that Henry Kaiser
made an unsuccessful attempt to revive the
design after World War II. In 1936 the US
Navy ordered two Stearman-Hammonds to
convert to radio-control target drones with
an eye on developing guided missiles in the
future.
The drones were designated JH-1 and
had radio-control equipment developed by
the Naval Research Laboratory. They were
placed into use in 1937, and rumor has it
that both were subsequently shot down.
The prototype spanned 40 feet, was 26
feet long, and stood 7 feet, 7 inches, off the
ground. It had a maximum speed of 120
mph and weighed a heavy 2,150 pounds.
Wouldn’t the Y be special as a modeling
subject? A Foto Paak is available from Bob
Banka, and the only three-views I can find
are from the November 1936 Air Trails.
There must be more material available
because Bill Cohen (67-945 Foothill Rd.,
Cathedral City CA 92234) sent photos in
1997 of his 10-foot Stearman-Hammond
under construction.
It might be that he documented the
aircraft from the Y that is on display at the
Flying Lady Restaurant in Morgan Hill,
California. Someone with a real interest in
reproducing this interesting and unusual
prototype should contact Bill.
As most who write this sort of column
know, it is difficult to gauge the readers’
reactions to subject material. I can’t help
but wonder how large an audience I reach
with the sort of topic I am covering this
month.
As a poor test, but a test, I will provide
anyone who appreciated this month’s
column with a set of three-views of the
Stearman-Hammond for a #10 SASE. Or
let me know via E-mail.
Trella T-106: Claude “Mac” McCullough
(102 Constance St., Montezuma IA 50171)
has a well-deserved reputation among Scale
RC fliers for modeling out-of-the-rut
prototypes. I am including one of his quests
for the unusual this month.
Mac developed and flew a 1/4-scale
Trella at the Nats and prompted many
“What is that?” sort of questions. One
dominating factor in the development of his
model was roughly a half ton of lead in the
nose to get the thing balanced. Mac used a
four-stroke O.S. Pegasus for power, which
flew well. It was an unusual sight and
sound in flight.
The Trella brothers built the sole T-106
in a three-car garage between 1946 and
1949. They had previously constructed
other, simpler home-builts they designed,
but this one was intended to be a
production airplane. As with so many
promising civilian aircraft of that era,
nothing became of their plans because of
the market situation in that time frame.
The two-place Trella was powered with
a C-85 Continental engine, but was small
with a 34-foot span and 21-foot length.
Construction was all metal—not composite
as one might surmise from looking at the
photo. Mac sent a nice, clear photo of his
model, but I chose the one I have used
because it shows the prototype more
completely.
Dave Clevenger, an owner for more
than 10 years, and Bob Pauley, who drew
the three-view for the Experimental
Aircraft Association’s Sport Aviation
magazine, were so interested in the model
that they attended the Nats to see it fly.
Bob Banka has photos and three-views
of the T-106, and I’m sure Mac would
gladly help anyone with more data if he or
she were sincerely interested in building a
model. However, Mac does not have
reproducible construction drawings.
I have barely scratched the surface of
unusual prototypes in these columns. If you
enjoy strange full-scale aircraft, type the
name of any of the four I’ve covered this
month into an Internet search engine. You
will find incredible listings of airplanes you
have probably never heard of. It’s a
wonderfully entertaining trip to take.
I just had my 74th birthday. I find that my
enthusiasm for model airplanes continues
unabated, but the energy levels have
declined.
Therefore, I, with the agreement of the
MA editors, will begin writing this column
on a bimonthly basis. My next column will
be published in the February 2007 issue. In
the biblical words of Matthew 26:41. “the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak.”
For those who prefer to communicate
via standard mail, my address is 909 N.
Maize Rd., Wichita KS 67212. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/12
Page Numbers: 110,111,112
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/12
Page Numbers: 110,111,112
110 MODEL AVIATION
IN FAIRNESS to this magazine’s art staff,
please understand that because of the nature
of this column I often use old photos with
resolution and contrast that are well below
accepted minimums for contemporary
photography. These are often in black-andwhite
and don’t reproduce with much
quality, but they are of such historical
interest that they should be appreciated
nonetheless.
There are also variables in the printing
process itself that can cause photos to be
overly dark, as were those in the August
2006 column, or too light.
Off and on in the last several months I have
been selecting photos and text to describe
odd and seldom-modeled full-scale aircraft.
This has been an attempt to interest readers
in pursuing out-of-the-rut subjects for Scale
models. Not only that, but I’ve found an
excuse to spend hours looking at the huge
quantity of aviation material on the Internet.
The response from readers about this
choice of column subjects indicates that
many of us hold an interest in odd airplanes.
As I keep mentioning, it’s unfortunate that
the available kits, and particularly ARFs,
for Scale models are so narrow in choices.
Apparently the Asian manufacturers feel
safety in producing replicas of a narrow
group of prototypes that are instantly
identifiable to potential buyers. This limited
choice often results in pit areas looking as if
someone found a way to clone model
airplanes.
This month, for fun, I’ll look at some
pusher prototypes. Although the earliest
Flying for Fun D.B. Mathews | [email protected]
The rare-aircraft theme continues with four obscure pushers
A rare photo of the only aircraft of a pusher engineering study by Cessna: the XMC. It’s a
lovely airplane with little available documentation. Photo courtesy Dick Massey collection.
Anderson-Greenwood produced a small number of AG-14 aircraft in the 1950s. It’s an
intriguing but seldom-modeled subject. Photo by Bob Banka.
flying models were twin pusher sticks, the
successful pusher FF model has always
been the exception, even in Scale models.
One of the most pervasive reasons for the
engine-aft designs’ lack of popularity has
been the tendency of such models to be tailheavy.
As I write this, the only kitted pusher
engine FF design I can recall was Jerry
Stollof’s Yogi, which was difficult to
balance. There were also some CL pusher
kits produced—notably a scale Stearman
Hammond by Aerodesign.
Until the advent of electric power, only a
few pusher RC models had been popular,
such as the MAN Fan Jet and its clones.
The pusher layout has become highly
popular for electric-powered models
ranging from $50 Air Hogs aircraft to
extremely sophisticated designs.
In this age of electric-powered models,
much of the weight-distribution problem
has been solved. Consider the glowpowered
unit’s concentration of weight
compared to an electric motor and its
batteries.
Wet power has the largest percentage of
its total weight distributed in a compact
space, whereas the electric-power unit has
less than half its mass in the motor itself.
Now the builder can move the bulk of the
power-plant weight way up forward in a
pusher design.
Not only does electric power help with
the tail-heaviness, but consider how much
simpler starting procedures are with an
electric pusher compared to that powered by
a glow engine. With electric power the
airplanes I’ll show you this month could be
developed into excellent Scale models.
Cessna “Magic Carpet”: This is a product
of a well-known light-aircraft manufacturer
that I’ll bet you have never seen. From its
inception this airplane was intended to be
an engineering study rather than a
production aircraft.
That differs drastically from the Cessna
CH-1 helicopter designed by Charles Seibel
12sig4.QXD 10/25/06 11:38 AM Page 110today as a major manufacturer of metal
products for industry, including the aircraft
business.
Additionally, under the abbreviation
AGCO Anderson Greenwood is a major
producer of industrial valves and meters.
The company invested in developing a
product for the predicted post-war aviation
boom as an addition to its product line.
The two-seat, twin-boom, light-cabin
AG-14 monoplane first flew in October
1947. A production prototype flew three
years later, and a line was set up for full
production. As I’ve written several times,
the market dried up for two-place light
aircraft and only a handful were ever
produced.
An interesting piece of trivia came my
way from retired 34-year Cessna employee
Richard Geide, who worked in the Cessna
experimental hangar here in Wichita.
According to him, during the production
and testing of the Magic Carpet at Cessna,
there was an Anderson Greenwood in the
hangar.
The all-metal AG-14 spanned 34 feet,
cruised at 110 mph, and was powered with
a Continental C-90 engine. I am unable to
determine how many were produced.
Surely some flying Scale models of the
AG-14 have been built, but I can’t recall
seeing or reading anything about one.
Stearman-Hammond Y: The pusher
configuration for aircraft is nothing new;
consider the Wright Flyers. However,
throughout the years a surprising number of
civilian and military designs featured this
layout, but few ever reached serial
production until the advent of Burt Rutan’s
“EZ” series.
In 1934 The Bureau of Air Commerce
announced a contest to see who could
come up with an “everyman’s” airplane
under initiative AB-205. Many designers
entered the contest, and a few built
prototypes such as the Waterman Aerobile
December 2006 111
The Y was an unusual “everyman’s” airplane manufactured by Stearman-Hammond. It
featured coupled rudder/aileron, as did the Erocoupe. Banka photo.
The Trella T-106 home-built pusher. Claude McCullough built a successful 1/4-scale model
and competed with it in the AMA Nats. McCullough photo.
and placed into series production, only to
reveal insurmountable operational and
maintenance problems. There were so many
that Cessna bought back the ones they had
sold and destroyed them!
The XMC (Experimental Magic Carpet)
was an exercise to investigate and evaluate
new light-aircraft design and aerodynamics,
new construction techniques, and advanced
materials. In that respect, much was learned
that was later applied to full production
aircraft.
The single two-place research aircraft,
engineering designation Model 1014, was
first flown on January 22, 1971, with chief
test pilot Bruce Barret at the controls.
Subsequently the XMC entered a test
program to evaluate ground handling,
flying characteristics, and visibility
throughout the flight regime.
As a further study, in 1972 the single
prototype was reworked to include
increased vertical stabilizer, spatted nose
gear, and a shrouded, or ducted, propeller.
The model designation was changed to
1034 to differentiate the two versions.
The shrouded propeller produced less
thrust and more noise, so that exercise was
discontinued. As far as can be determined,
the prototype was scrapped.
The “Magic Carpet” would make a
delightful Scale model. However, when
Textron bought out Cessna, the new
management decided that the multiple file
cabinets in the plant that contained
historical material was wasting space.
My friend Bob Pickett, who described
himself as the “unofficial historian of
Cessna” before his untimely death, had
collected much of this irreplaceable data.
The powers that be had everything hauled
off to the landfill.
To my knowledge no XMC three-views
remain, and all I could find was the
company photo that longtime Cessna
employee Dick Massey had saved from
years ago.
This aircraft deserves to be reproduced
in model form if anyone has material on it.
If you do and would like to share, let me
know.
Anderson Greenwood AG-14: The XMC
was an aircraft for which little documentation
is available. Now we are going to look at one
for which there is a ton of documentation, yet
is seldom, if ever, modeled.
Most who have an interest in Scale
models is aware that Paul Matt Scale
Airplane Drawings Vol. 1 contains a superb
set of three-views for the AG-14. The book
should be available from the aviation
booksellers. In addition, Bob’s Aircraft
Documentation (3114 Yukon Ave., Costa
Mesa CA 92626) has a Foto Paak in color of
the AG-14.
So with all the excellent documentation,
why isn’t this aircraft modeled more often?
Anderson Greenwood was not your
average start-up, sell stock, and go broke
aircraft developer. It remains in business
12sig4.QXD 10/25/06 11:52 AM Page 111and the early Erocoupe.
The Hammond is one of the two award
winners for the “flivver” (i.e., safe, easy to
fly, and affordable) aircraft competition.
However, none of the designs even came
close to the target price of $700.
Designer Dean Hammond of Ypsilanti,
Michigan, chose to use an expensive
Menasco aircraft engine in lieu of a
converted automobile engine, requiring that
the aircraft be priced at $3,000 Depression
dollars.
Long after Lloyd Stearman left the
Wichita company bearing his name, he
got involved in improving the designs,
moved the company to San Francisco,
California, and reorganized it as
Stearman-Hammond. The improved Y-
125 (called the “Ariel”) version with a
four-cylinder Menasco 125-horsepower
engine was certified in April 1936, and
the Bureau of Air Commerce ordered 15
for use by its field personnel.
The features that distinguished the Y
were its exceptional slow-speed handling
and two-control flight system. Coordinated
directional control was accomplished solely
with differential aileron control and no
rudder pedal per se, much as the post-war
Erocoupe. It was found that many people
could solo the aircraft with less than four
hours of dual flight time.
I read on the Internet that Henry Kaiser
made an unsuccessful attempt to revive the
design after World War II. In 1936 the US
Navy ordered two Stearman-Hammonds to
convert to radio-control target drones with
an eye on developing guided missiles in the
future.
The drones were designated JH-1 and
had radio-control equipment developed by
the Naval Research Laboratory. They were
placed into use in 1937, and rumor has it
that both were subsequently shot down.
The prototype spanned 40 feet, was 26
feet long, and stood 7 feet, 7 inches, off the
ground. It had a maximum speed of 120
mph and weighed a heavy 2,150 pounds.
Wouldn’t the Y be special as a modeling
subject? A Foto Paak is available from Bob
Banka, and the only three-views I can find
are from the November 1936 Air Trails.
There must be more material available
because Bill Cohen (67-945 Foothill Rd.,
Cathedral City CA 92234) sent photos in
1997 of his 10-foot Stearman-Hammond
under construction.
It might be that he documented the
aircraft from the Y that is on display at the
Flying Lady Restaurant in Morgan Hill,
California. Someone with a real interest in
reproducing this interesting and unusual
prototype should contact Bill.
As most who write this sort of column
know, it is difficult to gauge the readers’
reactions to subject material. I can’t help
but wonder how large an audience I reach
with the sort of topic I am covering this
month.
As a poor test, but a test, I will provide
anyone who appreciated this month’s
column with a set of three-views of the
Stearman-Hammond for a #10 SASE. Or
let me know via E-mail.
Trella T-106: Claude “Mac” McCullough
(102 Constance St., Montezuma IA 50171)
has a well-deserved reputation among Scale
RC fliers for modeling out-of-the-rut
prototypes. I am including one of his quests
for the unusual this month.
Mac developed and flew a 1/4-scale
Trella at the Nats and prompted many
“What is that?” sort of questions. One
dominating factor in the development of his
model was roughly a half ton of lead in the
nose to get the thing balanced. Mac used a
four-stroke O.S. Pegasus for power, which
flew well. It was an unusual sight and
sound in flight.
The Trella brothers built the sole T-106
in a three-car garage between 1946 and
1949. They had previously constructed
other, simpler home-builts they designed,
but this one was intended to be a
production airplane. As with so many
promising civilian aircraft of that era,
nothing became of their plans because of
the market situation in that time frame.
The two-place Trella was powered with
a C-85 Continental engine, but was small
with a 34-foot span and 21-foot length.
Construction was all metal—not composite
as one might surmise from looking at the
photo. Mac sent a nice, clear photo of his
model, but I chose the one I have used
because it shows the prototype more
completely.
Dave Clevenger, an owner for more
than 10 years, and Bob Pauley, who drew
the three-view for the Experimental
Aircraft Association’s Sport Aviation
magazine, were so interested in the model
that they attended the Nats to see it fly.
Bob Banka has photos and three-views
of the T-106, and I’m sure Mac would
gladly help anyone with more data if he or
she were sincerely interested in building a
model. However, Mac does not have
reproducible construction drawings.
I have barely scratched the surface of
unusual prototypes in these columns. If you
enjoy strange full-scale aircraft, type the
name of any of the four I’ve covered this
month into an Internet search engine. You
will find incredible listings of airplanes you
have probably never heard of. It’s a
wonderfully entertaining trip to take.
I just had my 74th birthday. I find that my
enthusiasm for model airplanes continues
unabated, but the energy levels have
declined.
Therefore, I, with the agreement of the
MA editors, will begin writing this column
on a bimonthly basis. My next column will
be published in the February 2007 issue. In
the biblical words of Matthew 26:41. “the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak.”
For those who prefer to communicate
via standard mail, my address is 909 N.
Maize Rd., Wichita KS 67212. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/12
Page Numbers: 110,111,112
110 MODEL AVIATION
IN FAIRNESS to this magazine’s art staff,
please understand that because of the nature
of this column I often use old photos with
resolution and contrast that are well below
accepted minimums for contemporary
photography. These are often in black-andwhite
and don’t reproduce with much
quality, but they are of such historical
interest that they should be appreciated
nonetheless.
There are also variables in the printing
process itself that can cause photos to be
overly dark, as were those in the August
2006 column, or too light.
Off and on in the last several months I have
been selecting photos and text to describe
odd and seldom-modeled full-scale aircraft.
This has been an attempt to interest readers
in pursuing out-of-the-rut subjects for Scale
models. Not only that, but I’ve found an
excuse to spend hours looking at the huge
quantity of aviation material on the Internet.
The response from readers about this
choice of column subjects indicates that
many of us hold an interest in odd airplanes.
As I keep mentioning, it’s unfortunate that
the available kits, and particularly ARFs,
for Scale models are so narrow in choices.
Apparently the Asian manufacturers feel
safety in producing replicas of a narrow
group of prototypes that are instantly
identifiable to potential buyers. This limited
choice often results in pit areas looking as if
someone found a way to clone model
airplanes.
This month, for fun, I’ll look at some
pusher prototypes. Although the earliest
Flying for Fun D.B. Mathews | [email protected]
The rare-aircraft theme continues with four obscure pushers
A rare photo of the only aircraft of a pusher engineering study by Cessna: the XMC. It’s a
lovely airplane with little available documentation. Photo courtesy Dick Massey collection.
Anderson-Greenwood produced a small number of AG-14 aircraft in the 1950s. It’s an
intriguing but seldom-modeled subject. Photo by Bob Banka.
flying models were twin pusher sticks, the
successful pusher FF model has always
been the exception, even in Scale models.
One of the most pervasive reasons for the
engine-aft designs’ lack of popularity has
been the tendency of such models to be tailheavy.
As I write this, the only kitted pusher
engine FF design I can recall was Jerry
Stollof’s Yogi, which was difficult to
balance. There were also some CL pusher
kits produced—notably a scale Stearman
Hammond by Aerodesign.
Until the advent of electric power, only a
few pusher RC models had been popular,
such as the MAN Fan Jet and its clones.
The pusher layout has become highly
popular for electric-powered models
ranging from $50 Air Hogs aircraft to
extremely sophisticated designs.
In this age of electric-powered models,
much of the weight-distribution problem
has been solved. Consider the glowpowered
unit’s concentration of weight
compared to an electric motor and its
batteries.
Wet power has the largest percentage of
its total weight distributed in a compact
space, whereas the electric-power unit has
less than half its mass in the motor itself.
Now the builder can move the bulk of the
power-plant weight way up forward in a
pusher design.
Not only does electric power help with
the tail-heaviness, but consider how much
simpler starting procedures are with an
electric pusher compared to that powered by
a glow engine. With electric power the
airplanes I’ll show you this month could be
developed into excellent Scale models.
Cessna “Magic Carpet”: This is a product
of a well-known light-aircraft manufacturer
that I’ll bet you have never seen. From its
inception this airplane was intended to be
an engineering study rather than a
production aircraft.
That differs drastically from the Cessna
CH-1 helicopter designed by Charles Seibel
12sig4.QXD 10/25/06 11:38 AM Page 110today as a major manufacturer of metal
products for industry, including the aircraft
business.
Additionally, under the abbreviation
AGCO Anderson Greenwood is a major
producer of industrial valves and meters.
The company invested in developing a
product for the predicted post-war aviation
boom as an addition to its product line.
The two-seat, twin-boom, light-cabin
AG-14 monoplane first flew in October
1947. A production prototype flew three
years later, and a line was set up for full
production. As I’ve written several times,
the market dried up for two-place light
aircraft and only a handful were ever
produced.
An interesting piece of trivia came my
way from retired 34-year Cessna employee
Richard Geide, who worked in the Cessna
experimental hangar here in Wichita.
According to him, during the production
and testing of the Magic Carpet at Cessna,
there was an Anderson Greenwood in the
hangar.
The all-metal AG-14 spanned 34 feet,
cruised at 110 mph, and was powered with
a Continental C-90 engine. I am unable to
determine how many were produced.
Surely some flying Scale models of the
AG-14 have been built, but I can’t recall
seeing or reading anything about one.
Stearman-Hammond Y: The pusher
configuration for aircraft is nothing new;
consider the Wright Flyers. However,
throughout the years a surprising number of
civilian and military designs featured this
layout, but few ever reached serial
production until the advent of Burt Rutan’s
“EZ” series.
In 1934 The Bureau of Air Commerce
announced a contest to see who could
come up with an “everyman’s” airplane
under initiative AB-205. Many designers
entered the contest, and a few built
prototypes such as the Waterman Aerobile
December 2006 111
The Y was an unusual “everyman’s” airplane manufactured by Stearman-Hammond. It
featured coupled rudder/aileron, as did the Erocoupe. Banka photo.
The Trella T-106 home-built pusher. Claude McCullough built a successful 1/4-scale model
and competed with it in the AMA Nats. McCullough photo.
and placed into series production, only to
reveal insurmountable operational and
maintenance problems. There were so many
that Cessna bought back the ones they had
sold and destroyed them!
The XMC (Experimental Magic Carpet)
was an exercise to investigate and evaluate
new light-aircraft design and aerodynamics,
new construction techniques, and advanced
materials. In that respect, much was learned
that was later applied to full production
aircraft.
The single two-place research aircraft,
engineering designation Model 1014, was
first flown on January 22, 1971, with chief
test pilot Bruce Barret at the controls.
Subsequently the XMC entered a test
program to evaluate ground handling,
flying characteristics, and visibility
throughout the flight regime.
As a further study, in 1972 the single
prototype was reworked to include
increased vertical stabilizer, spatted nose
gear, and a shrouded, or ducted, propeller.
The model designation was changed to
1034 to differentiate the two versions.
The shrouded propeller produced less
thrust and more noise, so that exercise was
discontinued. As far as can be determined,
the prototype was scrapped.
The “Magic Carpet” would make a
delightful Scale model. However, when
Textron bought out Cessna, the new
management decided that the multiple file
cabinets in the plant that contained
historical material was wasting space.
My friend Bob Pickett, who described
himself as the “unofficial historian of
Cessna” before his untimely death, had
collected much of this irreplaceable data.
The powers that be had everything hauled
off to the landfill.
To my knowledge no XMC three-views
remain, and all I could find was the
company photo that longtime Cessna
employee Dick Massey had saved from
years ago.
This aircraft deserves to be reproduced
in model form if anyone has material on it.
If you do and would like to share, let me
know.
Anderson Greenwood AG-14: The XMC
was an aircraft for which little documentation
is available. Now we are going to look at one
for which there is a ton of documentation, yet
is seldom, if ever, modeled.
Most who have an interest in Scale
models is aware that Paul Matt Scale
Airplane Drawings Vol. 1 contains a superb
set of three-views for the AG-14. The book
should be available from the aviation
booksellers. In addition, Bob’s Aircraft
Documentation (3114 Yukon Ave., Costa
Mesa CA 92626) has a Foto Paak in color of
the AG-14.
So with all the excellent documentation,
why isn’t this aircraft modeled more often?
Anderson Greenwood was not your
average start-up, sell stock, and go broke
aircraft developer. It remains in business
12sig4.QXD 10/25/06 11:52 AM Page 111and the early Erocoupe.
The Hammond is one of the two award
winners for the “flivver” (i.e., safe, easy to
fly, and affordable) aircraft competition.
However, none of the designs even came
close to the target price of $700.
Designer Dean Hammond of Ypsilanti,
Michigan, chose to use an expensive
Menasco aircraft engine in lieu of a
converted automobile engine, requiring that
the aircraft be priced at $3,000 Depression
dollars.
Long after Lloyd Stearman left the
Wichita company bearing his name, he
got involved in improving the designs,
moved the company to San Francisco,
California, and reorganized it as
Stearman-Hammond. The improved Y-
125 (called the “Ariel”) version with a
four-cylinder Menasco 125-horsepower
engine was certified in April 1936, and
the Bureau of Air Commerce ordered 15
for use by its field personnel.
The features that distinguished the Y
were its exceptional slow-speed handling
and two-control flight system. Coordinated
directional control was accomplished solely
with differential aileron control and no
rudder pedal per se, much as the post-war
Erocoupe. It was found that many people
could solo the aircraft with less than four
hours of dual flight time.
I read on the Internet that Henry Kaiser
made an unsuccessful attempt to revive the
design after World War II. In 1936 the US
Navy ordered two Stearman-Hammonds to
convert to radio-control target drones with
an eye on developing guided missiles in the
future.
The drones were designated JH-1 and
had radio-control equipment developed by
the Naval Research Laboratory. They were
placed into use in 1937, and rumor has it
that both were subsequently shot down.
The prototype spanned 40 feet, was 26
feet long, and stood 7 feet, 7 inches, off the
ground. It had a maximum speed of 120
mph and weighed a heavy 2,150 pounds.
Wouldn’t the Y be special as a modeling
subject? A Foto Paak is available from Bob
Banka, and the only three-views I can find
are from the November 1936 Air Trails.
There must be more material available
because Bill Cohen (67-945 Foothill Rd.,
Cathedral City CA 92234) sent photos in
1997 of his 10-foot Stearman-Hammond
under construction.
It might be that he documented the
aircraft from the Y that is on display at the
Flying Lady Restaurant in Morgan Hill,
California. Someone with a real interest in
reproducing this interesting and unusual
prototype should contact Bill.
As most who write this sort of column
know, it is difficult to gauge the readers’
reactions to subject material. I can’t help
but wonder how large an audience I reach
with the sort of topic I am covering this
month.
As a poor test, but a test, I will provide
anyone who appreciated this month’s
column with a set of three-views of the
Stearman-Hammond for a #10 SASE. Or
let me know via E-mail.
Trella T-106: Claude “Mac” McCullough
(102 Constance St., Montezuma IA 50171)
has a well-deserved reputation among Scale
RC fliers for modeling out-of-the-rut
prototypes. I am including one of his quests
for the unusual this month.
Mac developed and flew a 1/4-scale
Trella at the Nats and prompted many
“What is that?” sort of questions. One
dominating factor in the development of his
model was roughly a half ton of lead in the
nose to get the thing balanced. Mac used a
four-stroke O.S. Pegasus for power, which
flew well. It was an unusual sight and
sound in flight.
The Trella brothers built the sole T-106
in a three-car garage between 1946 and
1949. They had previously constructed
other, simpler home-builts they designed,
but this one was intended to be a
production airplane. As with so many
promising civilian aircraft of that era,
nothing became of their plans because of
the market situation in that time frame.
The two-place Trella was powered with
a C-85 Continental engine, but was small
with a 34-foot span and 21-foot length.
Construction was all metal—not composite
as one might surmise from looking at the
photo. Mac sent a nice, clear photo of his
model, but I chose the one I have used
because it shows the prototype more
completely.
Dave Clevenger, an owner for more
than 10 years, and Bob Pauley, who drew
the three-view for the Experimental
Aircraft Association’s Sport Aviation
magazine, were so interested in the model
that they attended the Nats to see it fly.
Bob Banka has photos and three-views
of the T-106, and I’m sure Mac would
gladly help anyone with more data if he or
she were sincerely interested in building a
model. However, Mac does not have
reproducible construction drawings.
I have barely scratched the surface of
unusual prototypes in these columns. If you
enjoy strange full-scale aircraft, type the
name of any of the four I’ve covered this
month into an Internet search engine. You
will find incredible listings of airplanes you
have probably never heard of. It’s a
wonderfully entertaining trip to take.
I just had my 74th birthday. I find that my
enthusiasm for model airplanes continues
unabated, but the energy levels have
declined.
Therefore, I, with the agreement of the
MA editors, will begin writing this column
on a bimonthly basis. My next column will
be published in the February 2007 issue. In
the biblical words of Matthew 26:41. “the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is
weak.”
For those who prefer to communicate
via standard mail, my address is 909 N.
Maize Rd., Wichita KS 67212. MA
