Up and Around
TIME for a nostalgia trip! The last time I saw Jim Walker was only about two weeks before his untimely passing. At that time, I was project engineer for a company that had manufacturing facilities in the old cannery building in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Living in Tulsa, my route to and from work took me past our Tulsa Glue Dobbers flying field each day. Late one Saturday afternoon, there were several cars at the field, so I slowed to see who was there, intending to hurry on home. Suddenly, I spotted a familiar metallic maroon Buick with an aluminum trailer. "That's Jim Walker's rig!" I said aloud.
Up and Around
TRAILING EDGE: During the past year, there has not been a single week when I did not hear from someone who was interested in-or getting involved with-some sort of Old-Timer modeling. Regardless of the reasons that so many have been drawn back to this trailing-edge-of-technology modeling, a pervasive attitude is felt by many of us: Winning, just for the sake of winning, is not the main attraction. For the majority-even many who once competed at an almost frantic level-the demands and obligations of our present lifestyle prevent winning from being the most important part of our interest.
Up and Around
DREAMLAND for modelers: Many things can jog modelers' memory banks and send them off into dreamlands of fond memories. Nothing does it quicker for this pilot than thumbing through old model magazines. Because of the thoughtfulness of a very kind reader, I recently received a large box of old mags dating from 1936 through 1944. Popular Aviation with Lindbergh's Hughes Racer, Air Trails with Carl Goldberg's Valkyrie, and Model Airplane News with Sal Taibi's Powerhouse-what a trip! But it's the musty aroma that wafts up with every page you turn that sets it all off. In retrospect, I can only think of how fortunate I am to have been associated for more than a half-century with an avocation that has such a positive image.
Up and Around
MY LATE Aunt Albertine was most musically inclined. She even married the director of music for the old Waldorf-Astoria in the New York City of the 1920s. It was only natural that all her children would become accomplished on more than one instrument. One son, however, had a penchant for physics. This son, Edward by name, graduated in the midst of the depression 1930s. With no job in sight, Edward took a government-sponsored physics exam and scored second highest in the nation. I don't remember all the details, but from the offers of employment that ensued, he accepted a position with the original NACA (now NASA) at Langley Field, Virginia.
Up and Around
SEVERAL MONTHS ago I sort of redefined the wording used in most engine books to describe misfiring in our engines. Years ago when I first started to study two-cycle design, the use of the term "detonation" for early firing of an engine bothered me. Such phrases as "firing with the valves partially open" don't really describe a two-cycle. Since the word "detonation" means "to explode," and the topic under discussion is "firing too soon," why not use "pre-detonation" or "pre-ignition"?
