Carl V. Carlson: Gas Model Pioneer
Fifty years ago, a few modelers were beginning to experiment with something revolutionary-gas power. The exploits of Max Bassett succeeded in creating a revolution in model aviation almost overnight. There were others-before and after him-who worked along parallel lines. Here's the story of one such pioneer.
Maxwell Bassett: First Gas Model Champion
THE OPENING YEARS of this decade mark a significant, yet almost unnoticed, milestone in the history of model aviation-the Golden Anniversary of "gas power." That is not to say that no gas models existed before 50 years ago. Indeed, one of the first gasoline-powered models on record-built by a 16-year-old named Ray Arden, who much later invented the glow plug-is said to have flown as early as 1907. However, this and the handful of other attempts at gas power by various individuals over the next 25 years somehow failed to spark the imagination of the large majority of model airplane builders. The result was that our hobby grew up virtually tied to rubber power until the early 1930s.
Maxwell Bassett: First Gas Model Champion
THE YEARS 1934 and 1935 had been mostly successful for Maxwell Bassett as far as Gas model flying was concerned. Having started the Gas model revolution with Bill Brown in 1932 and 1933, he went on to win the first NAA-sanctioned Gas model competition at Newark, NJ in the spring of 1934 . . . and the Texaco Trophy-Gas modeling's ultimate prize-for a second year running at the 1934 Akron Nationals. He had launched his Miss Philadelphia IV on an amazing 54-mile cross-country duration flight of more than 2 1/2 hours-a feat which, though not recognized by the NAA as an official record, nevertheless brought him national prominence in newsreels and publications like Time, Reader's Digest, Popular Science, and the New York Times.
