Moffett Redux - 2003/10
Rear Admiral William A. Moffett headed the US Navy’s
Bureau of Aeronautics from its inception in 1921 until his
death in 1933. His primary duty during that assignment was
to effectively integrate fledgling naval aviation into fleet
operations.
A-B Shrike
THIS DESIGN is a larger, modified version of my 1/2A Shrike previously published quite some time ago (June 1975) in Model Builder. Though originally designed for FAI Power, the advent of such gadgets as prop brakes and auto tail surfaces made the 1/2A Shrike obsolescent for that event. While these refinements have the potential to increase performance of FAI Power models, in my view their utilization requires an almost monomaniacal devotion to a single event. As a longtime skeptic of gadgets on Free Flight models, I chose to adapt the Shrike for the AMA A and B Power classes, where it has remained very competitive.
The Novice
THE CONCEPTION of this simple model took place on a hot May day in Taft, Calif., site of the 1973 USA Free-Flight Championships. My son Robert, age 12, had just experienced a frustrating day of competition in which he had failed to place in both 1/2A and A junior gas, his favorite events. To me, his seeming failure was simply lack of luck, i.e., six perfect launches and power patterns, but only two light thermals for 5 minutes maxes. Two maxes in six attempts at Taft generally means "forget it," and I was prone to shrug it off as one of those days. But not 12-year-old Robert. His reaction was . . . "Dad, I need to fly more events. The small towline gliders look interesting, and the competition doesn't look too sharp. How about helping me with one of those!"
Big Boy
UNLIMITED RUBBER is an event which seems to frighten away many competitive modelers. While several theories for this apprehension may be adduced, perhaps the most valid ones center around the difficulty of carving an efficient propeller and obtaining adequate good quality rubber. Presuming these two concerns have deterred one or more of the readers of this article from building an unlimited ship, be assured that the problems can be surmounted. In the case of the propeller, a precarved version with all folding hardware attached is available from Sig Manufacturing Co., Inc. Likewise, rubber with the quality and performance necessary can be procured from either Sig or FAI Model Supply.
