Thomas Morse Scout S4C
DURING World War I, American pilots were trained in lumbering Jennies and Standards, then expected to fly nimble Nieuports and Spads in combat in France. This training gap was closed in 1917 by the Thomas Morse Company of Ithaca, New York. The Scout S4C was America's first advanced fighter trainer. While some have called it the AT-6 of World War I, it actually was produced too late to have any significant effect upon the war. Orders for 1,050 of these biplanes were canceled at war's end after 497 had been delivered.
Duck Herding
It nearly caused a range war. Radio Control (RC) fliers in Minnesota have long known that migrating flocks of ducks, geese, and other birds can be maneuvered, much as sheep can be controlled by a sheepdog. An RC model can move a flock to the left or right, or even turn it around. Flying through the flock divides it in two, then the halves can be merged again. It's great fun! Trouble started when duck hunters in northern Minnesota annoyed a local RC club by hunting too close to their flying site. The fliers responded by diverting the birds away from the duck blinds; then the duck hunters retaliated by getting airplanes of their own. Before long, camouflaged floatplanes arose from the duck blinds to regather the scattered flocks and guide them back into the range of the waiting ground fire.
Mariha 1
MARIHA HAS a somewhat unusual origin. A local flier of full-sized sailplanes, Fred Hewitt, designed the full-sized prototype of Mariha as a high performance homebuilt. A model version of Fred's sailplane was built to see if anything could be learned about the design before construction of the full-sized version was complete. Since then, the model Mariha design has evolved into a high-performance RC model sailplane that maintains the appearance of the full-scale Mariha, yet combines the speed and maneuverability of a slope glider with the light wing loading of a flat-land thermal soarer.
Hatz Biplane
HAVE YOU NOTICED that biplane fliers tend also to be glider fliers, and that glider fliers, tend also to fly biplanes? They seem worlds apart, yet biplanes and gliders have something in common. They are romantic subjects, and they are objects of beauty in the air. One of the prettiest of the modern biplanes is the popular homebuilt, the Hatz Biplane. John Hatz designed the Biplane over 16 years ago without drawing any plans. The Hatz has been compared to a Cub with two wings and open cockpits. It was Dudley Kelly, architect and former layout engineer at Convair, who drew the plans and made them available to the public. Mr. Kelley will send you a three-view and color photo of the full-size Hatz for $3.00. His address is: Dudley Kelly, Route 4, Versailles, KY 40383.
Would Your Club Mind If . . .
THE SIGNS OF SECURITY were everywhere in Washington that day: air traffic had been routed away from the city, streets were blocked near the vicinity of the White House, and a sign on Pennsylvania Ave. said "No Vans or Pickups Beyond This Point." I waited on the south portico of the White House along with representatives of the press, lobbyists, and foreign dignitaries. We all searched the sky to get a glimpse of the President's plane. Suddenly it appeared above the pines that decorated the periphery of the famous residence-a gleaming red, white, and blue airplane with the letters spelling "The United States of America" on the fuselage. It flew a wide sweeping turn over the city, then began its descent.
