Control Line: Navy Carrier
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS. Our United States Navy is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Naval Aviation beginning in May and continuing throughout the year. This could be an excellent opportunity to provide Carrier flight demonstrations at Navy air shows and base open houses to let others know about our hobby and, particularly, about CL Navy Carrier flying. A good place to inquire about 75th anniversary activities would be the Public Affairs office at your nearest Navy Base or Naval Air Station. The official logo is printed in Navy blue and gold (naturally), and Navy PA offices might be able to provide one to adorn your club carrier deck. Another possible benefit is obtaining a site for a Carrier contest. The SLOW Club holds its annual contest at Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington, DC even without a Carrier event. This could be a good time to ask about using a Navy facility near you.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
THE MYSTERY PLANE in the July issue was the Boulton Paul Sea Balliol T. Mk. 21. The Balliol design began as the P.108, a three-seat, all-purpose advanced trainer with an Armstrong-Siddeley Mamba turboprop engine. The prototype made its first flight on March 24, 1948 and was the first aircraft in the world to fly with a turboprop power plant as the only means of propulsion. The Royal Air Force production variant (Mk. 2) used a Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine for power and deleted the extra seat. With a few equipment changes, a smaller propeller, and a tail hook the aircraft became the Mk. 21 for the Royal Navy, of which 30 were procured for the Fleet Air Arm. The winner of the May contest is Eugene Nickels, Jr. whose name was selected from among over a dozen correct entries. Congratulations, Eugene.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
THE WINNER of the Mystery Plane contest in the July Issue is Monty Greenly (Long Beach, CA). His was one of only four entries to correctly identify the Boulton Paul Sea Balliol trainer used by the Royal Navy. Joe Wagner provided an interesting bit of additional information which he turned up in his research. Although the Balliol was a Boulton Paul design, the Sea Balliol was produced by Blackburn, a more traditional supplier of aircraft for the Royal Navy. Profile Carrier engines. Profile Carrier has seen a lot of engines over the years, but recent history seems to favor the down-sized versions of larger Schnuerle-ported engines-most notably the Tune-Hill conversion of the OS .40 FSR and the K&B 5.8. These engines are heavy and expensive. Recently, two new engines have appeared which offer a lighter-weight alternative. Both are intended for Combat competition.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
EXCEPT for a casual mention from time to time, it has been 10 years since I've taken time in this column to discuss wing flaps in any great detail. Since the readers have, no doubt, changed over the years and because the style of flying is rather different now than it was a decade ago, this seems a good time to bring up the subject again. The original Carrier rules very much favored high speed over low speed in the scoring equations. The models that predominated under those rules tended to be small. Class I models of 125-140 sq. in. wing area, Class II models of 200-230 sq. in., and Profile models very close to the 300 sq. in. minimum were common. Low speeds were flown in a near-level attitude with the wing providing the lift (as opposed to the present nose-high prop-hanging that has become popular in recent years).
Control Line: Navy Carrier
1988 NATS. If you read the minutes of the August Executive Council meeting (in the November 1986 AMA News), you noticed that the site for the 1988 Nats is still under investigation. Cam Martin reports that one of the sites being considered is Fentress Naval Aviation Field south of Norfolk, Virginia. This is, no doubt, good news for the modelers in the southeastern United States. Vince Mankowski and Howard Crispin have surveyed the site and are looking at potential layouts for the flying activities. One of the plans calls for Carrier to be flown over grass. Although some Carrier contests are flown over grass, most of these use grass because pavement is not available. The preparation required to provide a grass flying circle which will allow safe landings (no cartwheels) takes many months, and that won't happen at Fentress.
