Blackburn Type 1 Monoplane
THE HISTORY of Robert Blackburn, the aviator "with the trained engineering mind" is replete with the important and very significant contributions he made during his lifetime. The book Blackburn Airplanes Since 1909 by A. J. Jackson, discusses in detail the many airplanes he built from 1909 up to the beginning of World War I. In those five years, 11 different airplane configurations were built and documented-quite an achievement for that time period. After 1914, his originality and genius produced many more aircraft. The land/sea version was developed from the two-place Type I Model, built in 1914. A subsequent improved Type I airplane was built from which the seaplane version was assembled. The original landplane was powered with an 80 h.p. Gnome rotary engine that was almost completely cowled in, while the seaplane version had the 100 hp twin-row, 5-cylinder radial Anzani engine.
The `Macs' Show
SUPPOSEDLY a picture is worth a thousand words, but in spite of seeing photos of the activity at the Annual Model and Crafts Show in Anaheim, in sunny California, one cannot comprehend the sights and sounds without being there. Only by actually witnessing the tender loving care used to compose the attractive displays and by actually talking, touching and meeting modeling friends, can one appreciate the pleasure of being there. And it was all there on Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2! The reward of 12 months of preparation to MACS promoters Dick Bernard, Lou Kolbo, Don Patton and John Thacker from the Orange Coast R/C Club in cooperation with Southern California Hobby Industries Association members Si Cohen, George Jenkins and Bruce Patton, was the enthusiastic response by participants and supporters of the show.
The Malmo Junior and Seaplane
THE MFI-9 can be considered the "second generation" model of Bjorn Andreasson's original BA-7. The extremely simple construction, along with the excellent flight characteristics, evolved in the end into many variations, including a versatile military version, and the MF I-17 Safari. Bjorn Andreasson conceived the design of his two-place 75-hp homebuilt with an engineer at Convair, San Diego. After proving his engineering ability with the successful flight of the BA-7 in October 1958, he eventually returned to Sweden as head of the aircraft division of A.B. Malmo Flygindustri where his talents were concentrated on advanced light-plane designs. An improved version, the MF I-9 Junior, with a 100-hp Continental engine, was flown in May 1961. Subsequent versions included a float plane and snow-skis models, the improved MF I-9B trainer and the mili-trainer for the Swedish Air Force. A series of evolutionary changes in design finally emerged as the very versatile 200-hp MF I-17 Safari, flown by Count Carl Gustav Von Rosen for Ethiopian relief flights in 1974.
