Just for the Fun of It: Plane Talk
THEY SAY there is nothing certain but death and taxes. It's also certain that I never know what I am going to write about. My old manual typewriter, like a horse, seems to know where it is going. It presents a "readout" without guidance. Vibes tell me it probably intends to prance through letters. "Don't think," it admonishes. "You'll hurt yourself!" I think about irrelevant things. I see Jim Walker, the master showman, doing his RC lawn mower act-when all we had was one frequency. It could only happen in Brooklyn. Such innocent looking guys (who me?) with transmitters hidden behind their backs.
Spoilers (With Power!?)
YOUR SENIOR FALCON is on the downwind leg of the landing pattern and you go to half-throttle cruise, turn onto the crosswind leg, then onto final, and arrive almost over the "fence" at 75-ft. altitude-still at cruise power. Can you get onto a short landing strip? Yes-if you have spoilers. Can you abort with the spoilers out? Easily. Can you land from anywhere, no matter how high, while far out? With ease, every time. This is not a theoretical article. Answers are won in the trenches. This is an unadorned report of a problem that, seemingly quickly answered, turned into an intriguing adventure that kept opening fascinating doors.
Just for the Fun of It: Plane Talk
YOU SAY you love nostalgia. I think of it as history, things that are past but not gone. Modeling is a continuum. My "nostalgic" things are mostly contributed by others. The what's-next beckons me. But it would be a sad loss if our yesterdays had no relationship to our tomorrows. The Wright Flyer is not nostalgic. It is awesome to see it in the National Air and Space Museum. Today's scientists respect the classic "systems approach" that produced it. Now, let's pick up with Paul Brown, who runs an industrial company in Hobart, IN. "I was only 17 1/2 years old at the Nats in 1930," Paul recalls. "There were only three or four people in this area interested in model aircraft, and I got my info from American Boy magazine.
Just For The Fun Of It: Plane Talk
Left: Leading off Al Backstrom's tailless fantasies is the Hoffman All Wing, a follow-up to Arup (remember Smilin' Jack comic strip?), for which Hoffman was chief engineer. Very stable, model had many flights on rubber, now perks on CO-2. Configuration is less sensitive to CG shifts than conventional planes. Tips are ailerons. Winter is drawing a large one for possible RC. Right: This all-sheet Waterman Aerobile taught Al little because it always flew so well. Did 40 sec. indoors on its third flight, now is worn out from flying (ceiling hits). Al has a bigger built-up glow version. Winter thinks RCM published one for RC. Full-size plane was in the Guggenhelm Safety Plane competition in the 30s. Above: Lippisch Delta I, precursor of postwar delta fighters. High aspect ratio makes model extremely hard to adjust. Large props OK on a pusher, but a tractor version (Delta II) would not tolerate power burst of more than a 4-in. prop. Both flew, but not well. Builder considers them flops. Right: Backstrom's model of his own successful full-scale plank. Best flier of series, it does 60 sec. in a Cat. I site.
Just for the Fun of It: Plane Talk
THEY SAY you can tell a man by his books. We tell our fellows largely by the kinds of models they build and fly. Before this column sets sail on a three-year journey in search of the Great White Whale, I owe you a landmark. Resisting the impulse to explore the Alice-in-Wonderland science of preparing competition Scale documentation, that calculated science of thought-controlling judges (show 'em everything but show 'em nuttin), be it known that documentation done for its own sake can become a book. This book is about the Albatross-the double S tells you it is not about Scale. The Albatros (one S) was a WW I German fighter.
