Old-Timers-2007/04

140 MODEL AVIATION
The passing of David L. Ramsey: a devastating loss to modeling
Old-Timers Mike Keville | [email protected]
A 1958 newspaper photo from Easton, Pennsylvania,
shows members of the Model Airplane Doctors (MAD)
club. Text has names. Photo by Bill Lovins.
Jerry Rocha (L) and Ding Zarate: two-thirds of the 2006 Jimmie Allen postal contest
winners. Mike Palrang left before the photo. Jerry Rocha photo.
Gil Morris launches his Brown-powered
Comet Clipper Mk I at September’s SAM
Champs in Muncie IN. Lovins photo.
WITH REGRET WE learned of David L.
Ramsey’s death November 25, 2006. An
active member of Society of Antique
Modelers (SAM) Chapter 1 in the Denver,
Colorado, area, he was the Old Timers
columnist for Flying Models magazine.
Prior to David’s passing he had been
elected SAM 1 president for 2007. His
entertaining and photo-laden columns will be
missed.
I have one update and two corrections to my
December 2006 column. The Comet Clipper
in the lower left-hand photo on page 161
belongs to Kevin Sherman, editor of Gas
Lines: the newsletter of the Southern
California Antique Model Plane Society
(SCAMPS) club.
He wrote:
“It’s actually the first ignition-powered
model I ever built. I scratch-built it when my
dad started flying free flight again with the
guys in Perris [CA]. I always liked the
elliptical wing and overall looks of the
Clipper. Of course I had to have a cowl
because I hate the looks of the Clipper
without it.
“It is actually painted red and cream over
Polyspan and is the original covering and
finish. The model started out with a Madewell
.49 but now has a Super Cyclone in it, flying
well on about 90% power. I’ve won
numerous contests with it and it still flies
great.”
Following are those corrections to the
December column.
1) Hal Wightman will be the contest
manager at this year’s SAM
Championships—not the contest director, as I
wrote. That latter task will be shared by Gene
Wallock for the FF events, Bob Angel for the
RC portion, and Allyn Johnson for the
Nostalgia events.
2) The next item was a major faux pas,
Also included in this column:
• December column corrections
• Bob Holman’s revised Web
site
• Easton PA Model Airplane
Doctors
• Jimmie Allen postal
championship victors
• Bill Northrop can scale his
plans to any size
• “Veco Joe” and the eight-hour
flight
thus I was surprised to hear about it from only
two readers. In a segment regarding
lightweight Polyspan, I wrote that it weighs
“18 grams per square inch.” Somewhat
excessive, wouldn’t you say? That should
have read “18 grams per square meter.”
That will teach me to proofread these
things with a bit more diligence before hitting
the “Send” key. At least that’s the plan.
Bob Holman revamped his Web site
(www.bhplans.com) during the winter and
reports that now he can make in-house
additions as his list of Old-Time CAD plans
and laser-cut parts continues to grow. He has
everything from small Rubber designs to
Lanzo Bombers in all sizes. Check it out.
Among photos Bill Lovins (Denver CO)
submitted was a newspaper’s public-relations
feature from 1958. It shows members of the
Easton, Pennsylvania, Model Airplane
Doctors (MAD) club, and I’ve included it in
this issue.
See how many faces you recognize. In the
front row are (L-R) Ray Volkert, Bob Gutai,
and Nelson Itterly. The little guy in front is
Jackie Volkert. In the back row are (L-R) Eli
Weaver, Drake Hooke, Bobby Schillis, and
Bill Andrews.
Some of the club members flew CL on a
concrete circle at the Easton airport. They
were also allowed to fly FF at the airport,
which was actually closed down for that
purpose on special occasions.
“Those were the days,” wrote Bill.
It’s hard to argue with that.
Members of SAM Chapter 27 (Napa CA)
were victorious in last year’s Jimmie Allen
postal championship with a total of 1,056
seconds. Team members were Jerry Rocha
(more often known for his CL Speed
activities), Mike Palrang, and Ding Zarate.
In the accompanying photo Jerry is on the
left. He and Ding are holding their B-A Cabin
entries. Mike had to leave before the photo
was taken.
As the current winners, SAM 27 will
sponsor this year’s event. For an information
package send a large SASE to Jerry Rocha at
3583 Ruston Ln., Napa CA 94558.
Bill Northrop wants you to know he can scale
any of his plans to meet personal requirements
for projects such as 1/2A Texaco. You can
check with him at 2019 Doral Ct., Henderson
NV 89014; Tel.: (702) 896-2162.
This information is courtesy of Kevin
Sherman, who reminds us that SAM requires
that all 1/2A Texaco models be categorized as
Antiques—not just Old-Time.
Fellow MA columnist Joe Wagner, author of
“The Engine Shop,” asked if I’d like to read
about his long-ago eight-hour flight, and of
course I said “Bring it on.” I had to condense
it a bit, but following is “Veco Joe’s” tale that
may sound familiar to many readers.
“Sixty years ago my friend Gordy showed
up at my place around 3 or 4 a.m., urging
‘Let’s go fly!’ I was working the 3-11 p.m.
shift then and was usually still awake at that
hour, often in my shop constructing a new
model or repairing an old one. All my older
models had been lost or damaged, and a new
one on the board was a long way from
completion.
“But Gordy wouldn’t take no for an
answer, so I scrounged through my ‘fix-itlater’
collection and came up with a red
Berkeley Brigadier fuselage with a smashedin
nose, a white wing from a Megow Zomby,
and a royal blue Towline Glider tail.
“We sawed the nose off the Brigadier at
the landing gear bulkhead, then glued on a
solid balsa block using Testors fast-drying
cement. I added a plywood facing as a
mounting base for a glow Arden .099.
Meanwhile, Gordy patched and doped the
silkspan on the wing and tail.
“By dawn we had something to fly, though
a weirder-looking free flight is hard to
imagine. The glider tail was much larger than
the Brigadier’s original one, and the Zomby
wing much smaller.
“Plus the fact that the glow Arden weighed
far less than the spark-ignition Ohlsson .23
that I’d had in the Brigadier—thus for proper
balance we had to rubber-band the wing onto
the fuselage some 3 inches aft of where it
would normally fit.
“We took it to a nearby softball field,
hand-glided it a few times, then began power
flights. With no timer to limit engine runs we
put one squirt from my oil pump fuel can into
the Arden’s built-in tank and another into the
exhaust ports as a prime. This provided just
enough height for the model to transition from
climb to glide, then circle a few times before
landing.
“By this time it was just after 8 a.m. on an
ideal day for trimming out a new model: clear
blue sky with no wind whatsoever. It was
perfect. Then Gordy said, ‘Let’s try a longer
engine run.’
“Since we figured most of the fuel had
been used up, we gave it two squirts—then
Gordy pumped in more. The Arden burst into
full power; I unhooked the plug and launched.
Our model went up and up and up. By the
time the Arden quit, the airplane was a mere
dot in the sky.
“With no wind aloft it stayed above us and
would probably land nearby—or so we hoped.
Sure enough, the airplane appeared to become
larger as it glided downward.
“Then it happened. Apparently the sun
shining on the softball field had generated a
thermal strong enough to carry the model
back upstairs where it soon became a tiny dot
again. Though hard to believe, this same
sequence repeated itself several more times
throughout the morning. And afternoon!
“Gordy drove home, made us some lunch,
brought it back, and as we ate the model kept
flying. By afternoon a gentle breeze arose and
the model began moving south. Around 3
p.m. we piled into his ’41 Ford convertible
and headed out after it.
“By 5 p.m. the model was over the
downtown district and out of thermal action
since it began descending steadily. We
followed its path in the car, our continual
upward staring attracting attention from
people emerging from offices and stores.
Based on remarks I heard, it seemed that
some spectators thought it was a ‘real’
airplane coming down over the city.
“Around 5:15 the flight ended with a headon
impact near the top floor of a downtown
business college. Our model tumbled into an
alley. I retrieved the broken pieces, tossed
them into the back of Gordy’s car, and we got
out of there as inconspicuously as possible.
“The model never flew again. I hadn’t the
nerve to try putting it back together. That one
epic flight was quite enough!”
And that’s quite enough here too since I’m
approaching my word limit. I’ll be back in two
months. MA