Flying for Fun - 2008/02

Flying for Fun D.B. Mathews | [email protected]
New A380 visits Wichita Airbus engineering facility
Also included in this column:
• The Convair XC-99
• Examples of scratch-built, plans-built, kit-built,
and ARF models
Aaron Ashbrook enlarged plans from an MA construction article
to build his impressive F4B-2. It’s loaded with charm.
An enormous Airbus A380 made two low passes over Wichita’s
airport in October. Notice the sun’s glint off the right side.
Another giant: the Convair XC-99 is a double-decked cargo
version of the B-36. Photo courtesy Airborne Grafix.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 4, 2007, the new Airbus A380 made
two low passes over a large crowd at the Wichita Mid-Continent
Airport. It was primarily a tribute to the more than 100 engineers
at the Airbus facility in Wichita who did most of the design work
for the giant’s wings.
I set myself up approximately a mile from the edge of the
runway to get pictures. The sun was just rising, giving an
attractive glint to the left side of the southbound aircraft. I should
have stayed home and shot the photos from my front yard; the
A380 banked to the right for a second pass and flew almost
directly over my home (which is 3 miles west of the airport). Oh
well!
The crew could not land the monster on the Wichita runway
because of size restrictions. The A380 requires runways that are at
least 200 feet wide, and Wichita’s are only 150 feet. That’s wide
enough for 747s and the Concord, but the A380 would knock off
runway markers and lights if it landed there.
The write-up in the Wichita Eagle newspaper mentioned that
the local air-traffic controllers made sure there was plenty of space
between the giant and any other traffic because of the turbulent
wake behind the A380. Imagine flying behind this monster in a
lightplane! I’ll bet the wake turbulence spreads out over miles and
miles of airspace.
Claims have been made in the media that the A380 is the
largest passenger airplane ever. That got me wondering how it
compares to other large aircraft from the past. Checking various
Internet sites revealed an interesting comparison.
• A380: wingspan, more than 261 feet; passengers, 555-853;
takeoff weight, 1.2 million pounds
• 747: wingspan, 211 feet; passengers, 416-524; takeoff weight,
910,000 pounds
• Hughes H-4: wingspan, 319 feet; passengers, 750 troops (?); takeoff
weight, 400,000 pounds
• XC-99: wingspan, 230 feet; passengers, 400 troops; takeoff weight,
320,000 pounds
The “world’s largest” claim depends on what you’re measuring.
Looking at wingspan, the Hughes “Spruce Goose” is the winner, but
the A380 wins lifting capacity by a mile. It seems that the Evergreen
Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, doesn’t need to
change the signs on its Hughes H-4.
Convair XC-99: The XC-99 is essentially a double-decked B-36 that
was developed in 1948 as a potential cargo/troop transport. Only one
was ever built, and it was used for several years as a cargo carrier. The
aircraft made a big splash in the various aviation magazines of the
period, and then it sort of disappeared.
In April 1958 I was on a tour of duty as a dental officer to Lakeland
Air Force Base. Being a lifetime airplane nut, I spent my evenings
wandering around Kelly and Randolph Air Force bases. (All three are
in San Antonio, Texas.)
February 2008 97
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Mark Smith’s attractive P-6E is a Great Planes ARF. Mark is
AMA’s District IX vice president.
John Dalton built his Fokker from a Balsa USA kit. This photo was
chosen to give a size reference to the big model.
Gary Metzger built his Cunningham Lazy Ace with plans from
Woody Lake. Can you tell that Gary is an ex-Marine?
Walt De Frees constructed his Aeronca L-16 from Wendell
Hostetler plans. It sports an interesting yellow color scheme.
Shortly after I began snooping around at Kelly, I turned to the side
of one of the numerous warehouses, only to be confronted by a huge
airplane parked in run-down shape. I immediately identified it as the
XC-99.
I waved down the first officer with wings on his tunic and learned
that the aircraft had been declared surplus from the Air Force inventory
and was going to be restored by a group of local volunteers. That was
the last I ever heard of the project, and I have always wondered if the
airplane was eventually cut up for scrap or what happened.
While researching on the Internet for XC-99 photos and facts, I
found that the airplane still exists and that it is being disassembled into
pieces that are small enough to fit in a C-5A Galaxy. The Convair will
be transported to the Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio, where it will
be restored and placed on display. So that mystery has been solved.
After seeing how the B-36 overwhelms the other aircraft in the
museum, one can only wonder where the XC-99 is to be exhibited.
Both are massive airplanes!
For a look at some other photos of strange aircraft, visit the
Airborne Grafix Web site. I’ll bet you’ll see some you didn’t know
about.
Pet Peeve Revisited: Longtime readers know how hung up I am about
the misuse of the term “scratch built.” Here we go again.
There are several ways to categorize model-airplane construction,
including ARF, kit built, plans built, and scratch built. To label a model
constructed from someone else’s plans as “scratch built” is an error.
Scratch-built models start with a clean sheet of paper or
photographically enlarged or reduced drawings in which all the wood
sizes, hardware, etc. have to be re-engineered. The term as used in
other interests (cooking, hot rods, homebuilt aircraft, etc.) is clear-cut,
but in modeling it is often used incorrectly and can lead to strange
problems in identity.
To clarify that last statement, my friend Dick Massey of Wichita
has a full-scale Wittman Tailwind he has been flying for years. He
built it from Steve Wittman’s drawings; therefore, it is plans built.
When Steve Wittman developed the prototype, that project was
02sig4.QXD 12/20/07 10:54 AM Page 98scratch built. Had Dick bought a kit of precut
and welded parts, his project would have been
kit built. Had he bought a nearly finished
Tailwind with only a few details to complete
before flying it, the airplane would have been
an ARF.
I’m going to share examples of the four
categories, or at least show you pictures of
some exciting modeling projects.
Aaron Ashbrook of Fort Worth, Texas,
enlarged drawings for his Boeing F4B-2 from
a construction article published in the January
1994 MA. It is powered with a 3W-85 engine,
covered in Stits fabric, and painted with Rust-
Oleum. It is a marvelous flier, which is
proven by the fact that the model is 12 years
old and still looks great.
Aaron basically had to re-engineer the
construction of the much smaller original
model. He created a new design by increasing
the wood and hardware dimensions.
Since building from plans is the most
common way to create a model that is
different or fills a personal need for a
particular aircraft for which no kits or ARFs
are available, I will present two such
airplanes.
Gary Metzger of Wichita purchased plans
for his Lazy Ace 84 from Woody Lake. The
late Chuck Cunningham designed a series of
these popular biplanes in various sizes and
kitted a few of them before his untimely
death.
Woody purchased the rights from the
estate and is selling most of the Cunninghamdesigned
plans. (The December 2007 “Flying
for Fun” column featured Chuck
Cunningham’s Radio Control Modeler
drawings for float-flying.)
Gary’s Lazy Ace is powered with a
Zenoah G-62 engine turning a PK 22 x 8
propeller. The model is covered with Super
Colortex and painted with Sig dope. The 27-
pound airplane performs beautifully.
Walt De Frees of Leavenworth, Kansas,
built his L-16 from Wendell Hostetler’s
Plans. It is powered by a Zenoah G-26
engine, covered with Solartex, and painted
with Rust-Oleum.
In the last few columns I’ve mentioned the
Aeronca 7AC Champ; the L-16 is a military
version of that aircraft. The Champ’s
considerably wider cabin and vertically
hinged door makes it much easier to load
more cargo. John Wolf of Bethel,
Pennsylvania, informed me that that is
probably why bush pilots much prefer the
Champ to the Cub.
The militarized Cub was designated “L-
4,” and the equivalent Aeronca model T, or
tandem, was the YO-58 and later the L-3. The
latter was not a Champ, but the Aeronca
Tandem: the only Aeronca constructed with a
box fuselage.
John Dalton of Topeka, Kansas, built his
Fokker triplane from a Balsa USA kit. The
model is covered with Solartex and painted
red with spray-can enamel.
100 MODEL AVIATION
The triplane is powered with an O.S.
1.60 twin engine swinging an 18 x 8
propeller that has been painted to appear
laminated. This was done by using a brush
over pencil marks and then staining the
surface. The technique makes a
remarkably realistic propeller from a stock
unit.
True to scale, this model (and many
other World War I fighters) is a handful to
take off and land on a paved runway, but it
flies beautifully once it’s in the air. The
full-scale Fokker triplanes were never
flown from pavement—only grass.
The ARF shown is a Great Planes
Curtiss P-6E flown by Mark Smith of
Overland Park, Kansas. It is powered with
a Saito 1.50 four-stroke engine, which
seems to be an ideal fit. Flight
performance is rock steady and pretty in
low passes.
Mark is the District IX AMA vice
president, and he attends many district flyins.
He is affable and a joy with which to
visit. He represents the AMA very well to
us locals. I’ve been attending modeling
activities for more than 50 years, and Mark
and Stan Chilton are the only vice
presidents I’ve ever encountered at a local
event.
The P-6E was a special modification of
the stock P-6, with its outstanding paint
scheme and colorful details. A single
squadron of P-6Es was used for exhibition
flying, similar to the much later
Thunderbird team. Can you visualize a
whole group of these flying over a crowd?
Whether you draw it, build it from
someone else’s plans, build a kit, or buy an
ARF, be sure you fly for fun! MA
Sources:
Airborne Grafix
+49 7541 307 630
www.airbornegrafix.com
Wendell Hostetler’s Plans
(330) 682-8896
www.aero-sports.com/whplans
Woody Lake
[email protected]
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