Free Flight: Old-Timers
MY BRIEF PARAGRAPH in the September issue on ignition-coil polarity "sparked" some response! It is nice to get letters and find out there are people out there reading this stuff. Jack L. Boone wrote in and described himself as a retired electrical engineer who used to design automobile test equipment. "You are absolutely correct when you indicate a 20% to 40% increase in performance by observing the correct polarity on the coil," Jack says. "All automotive coils were marked for polarity." Jack will be happy to correspond with anyone who wants to discuss ignition systems; his address is 114 Conrad Ct., Mukwonago WI 53149. Now it gets interesting. Another well-qualified gentleman (with an M.S. in Electrical Engineering), Floyd Carter, says that while the battery-voltmeter test described in the September column will work to identify which primary terminal is connected with the high-voltage winding (to determine polarity), the difference is minimal in terms of coil output-Floyd says it's approximately 2%, not the 20% to 40% claimed.
Free Flight: Old-Timers
BACK in the May 1989 edition of my column, I featured a photo of a pretty Rubber model called Miss World's Fair. It stimulated more letters than any other single item I have used, with many people writing for information about where to get plans-and several to point out my error as to the designer of that model. I had stated that it was a Frank Zaic design. I was wrong. Even Frank Zaic wrote to tell me so, and I also heard from Herb Greenberg, who did design this model and several others for Scientific, including the Red Zephyr and the Oriole.
Positively Presidential
It's not every year that AMA gets this much presidential attention. In 1990 President Bush named September Sport Aviation Month, and he also accepted a prestigious award from a distinguished AMA member. A banner year for AMA publicity. President George Bush was presented with the 1990 Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award at a dinner hosted by the American Recreation Coalition (ARC) on June 19 in Washington, DC. David Humphreys, ARC chairman of the board and a 12-year AMA member, presented the prestigious award to the president in recognition of his long-standing record as an advocate of recreation programs and initiatives. In his presentation speech, Humphreys praised the president's commitment to protecting and expanding America's recreational opportunities.
Free Flight: Old-Timers
I have been granted extra space this month to show you photos from R.J. "Mik" Mikkelson's trip to England in 1985. Mik, you may have noticed, has been a major source of photos for this column and was the co-conspirator and draftsman for the Stahl P-47 caper (see my column for September '89 if you don't know about that one). Anyway, 1985 was the first of several trips to England by Mik and some of his flying buddies from SCIF (Southern California Ignition Flyers) and SCAMPS (Southern California Antique Model Plane Society) and some East Coast folk such as Bert Pond and Danny Sheelds. The California contingent included such well-known names as Sal Taibi, Jim Adams, Ken Sykora, Andy Faykun, Wade Wiley, and Al Richardson, among others. Some of the group were in England for weeks, taking in several contests and fun flys, visiting aviation museums, and generally having a memorable time. Since then, Mik and others have returned several times, and some of the English fliers have traveled here to visit "the colonies." They were at the SAM Champs when I reported on that meet for this magazine in 1986, and in 1989 they attended the United States Free Flight Champs at Taft, where among other things they reenacted the 1939 Wakefield Championships with the American fliers by holding a contest for the Wakefield models of that year.
Conscientious Objector
Looking for a model that can stand up to the rough-and-tumble of AMA Category II and III competition - and win? This robust rubber-powered Mulvihill is a good bet. Most Mulvihill Designs that have been published seem intended for Category I competition (five-minute maxes), to judge from their relatively large and fragile structures. This one was designed to succeed in events flown under AMA Category II or III rules. I knew the contests I'd be flying in would involve windy weather and small, rough fields, so most of the time Category II or III rules would hold (three- and two-minute flight times for the first three flights). Conscientious Objector is somewhat smaller than the typical Mulvihill design and it's also much less fragile. A model capable of five minutes in early morning air won't do you much good if the wing folds on the first windy flight or gets beat to shreds as you push for five maxes just to reach the requirement for a five-minute max.
