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SR-72 Flying over Wichita, Kansas?

FAA to Monitor Model Airplane Fields for UAS Violations (welcome to Amerika, comrades)

Veteran Pilot Receives WWII Combat Medals

Cessna Downsizes Its Chinese Assembly Plans

Air Force Pilots Will Fly by Remote on Future Missions

Google Buys Titan Aerospace for Drone Capability

Bio-Inspired Unmanned Aircraft Capable of Soaring Like Birds

Next Generation Solar Plane Unveiled in Switzerland

FAA to Establish Center of Excellence to Conduct Research into Unmanned Aircraft Issues

Scale Model WWII Craft Takes Flight with Fuel from Sea Concept

Tablet-Controlled Unmanned Copters Deliver Goods for Marines

The Drone That Shot Down the Feds

Avid Model Aircraft Builder Remembered by McDonald's Coffee Buddies

Airshow Veteran Jim "Fang" Maroney Crashed in Tennessee Forest

Drone-Assisted Hunting to Be Illegal in Alaska

Facebook to Build Drones and Satellites to Beam Internet Around the World

Scientists Find First Asteroid with Rings

Mystery Aircraft Spotted over Texas

New Dwarf Planet Discovered Beyond Pluto

Goodyear Unveils Next-Generation Blimp

DARPA Developing 'Radical' Copter/Plane Hybrid

Air Force to Upgrade UAV Ground-Control Stations for Use with the Internet

NTSB Judge Rules FAA Ban on Commercial

Revell Displays 2014 Plastic Model Line

 

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Rubber Power Wakefield
F.A.I. Free Flight "Gas"

Are you an aeromodeler and does your name happen to be Carl Hermes, Rolf Hagen, Robert Dunham, or Donald MacKenzie? Were also you contesting in the free flight realm during the mid 1950s? If so, you might find yourself among these photos taken during the 1954 international FF championships held at the Suffolk County Air Force Base, sponsored by now defunct Convair aircraft company. All those young men are old timers now, as are the models they were flying. Maybe one of these fellows is your father or grandfather. Print out the photo and send it to him if you want to see a grown man cry. Take a close look at the last photo and you will spy none other than Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle...

"ATH" Airmen of Vision
Aircraft Design Competition

Take a look at the jet fighter design submitted by  Lorry Burchett of Detroit, Michigan, and see if it looks somewhat familiar to you. Except for the horizontal stabilizer spanning between the twin tail booms, it reminds me a lot of Scaled Composite's ("Scaled") X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne. This and two other 'futuristic' aircraft designs were part of a run by Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men in 1954. The chosen three are nothing like each other. First prize was awarded $50, which in 2014 is the equivalent of $434.79. Scaled founder Burt Rutan, the man who single-handedly popularized canard configurations....

Amazing Airplanes Photos
from Post WWI - Pre WWII

A couple weeks ago I published an article on my RFCafe.com engineering website titled, "Amazing Collection of QSL Cards and Photographs from 1924-1978." If you are an amateur radio operator, you will probably want to take a look at the absolutely huge collection of QSL cards collected over many decades by Mr. Thomas "Tom" Russell Gentry (W5RG). I mention the website here as well because there is an equally amazing collection of post World War I through pre World War II airplane photographs that have most likely never been seen anywhere else. There are hundreds of biplanes and pilots and hangars and engines and officers and aerial reconnaissance views, and a whole lot more. Many show the result of...

X-Acto Knife Advertisement

Here is a full-page advertisement for X-Acto products that appeared in the Christmas edition of American Modeler. I remember seeing X-Acto knives in the few modeling magazines I could lay my hands on when I was young and just becoming aware of the wonders of model building. Since there were no hobby shops nearby and I had not yet learned the fine art of mail ordering, my razor blade supplies were limited to digging double-edged shaving blades from my father's dispenser. It was sometimes a bloody affair using those things for cutting balsa. Until I got older and acquired my own set of tools, the selection around our house was pretty sad - maybe a dull...

Hobby Express Brings
Manufacturing to USA

Check this out: Hobby Express, originally Hobby Lobby, has brought production of their classic Telemaster kits back home to Tennessee. "'Made in the USA' is an important consideration for Hobby Express when we source products. We are dedicated to the renewal of American manufacturing and assembly. Look for the 'Made in the USA' logo on the product pages listed below." News 2 WKRN-TV in Nashville did a feature story on them in April 2014.

WKRN News 2

Peter O'Dactyl F/F
is "Toeliner," Too!

Radio controlled models of birds have been popular for a long time. You might recall the R/C version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull that was made for the movie back in the 1970s (it showed up in an edition of R/C Modeler), and then various others have appeared in modeling magazines throughout the decades. The Best of Show winner at the Toledo show in 2011 was a giant size, twin turbine powered, fire breathing dragon! This "Peter O'Dactyl" pterodactyl model was published in American Modeler back in 1962 by Roy Clough, Jr. Its 36" wingspan and simple stick and tissue construction makes it a great novelty project for stirring up interest in young modelers...

Don Pratt's Full-Scale
1941 Taylorcraft

Website visitor Lincoln R. wrote to ask for a scan of the 3-view for the Taylorcraft that appeared in the February 1968 edition of American Aircraft Modeler. This particular 1941 vintage Taylorcraft was owned by well-known scale aeromodeler Don Pratt. It was still in pristine condition three decades after being manufactured. Don built a 1/4-scale model of his own airplane.

1957 AMA Nat Photos

Unless you happen to be 10-year-old Stephen Stackhouse, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, then chances are if you recognize anyone from these 1957 Nats pictures, it is your father or grandfather. I think I saw that pinstriped sport jacket of Frank Bropher's hanging in the local Salvation Army thrift store ;-) The Corsair control line model was make from the same type kit as my Sterling F4U Corsair (which is still under construction).

Rocket Trails - How To Get
Started In Model Rocketry

Harry (aka "Old Rocketeer") Stein wrote a monthly column for American Modeler back in the 1960s that covered a variety of topics ranging including model rocket contesting, model rocket building and trimming for flight, recovery systems, and even a little rocket scientist theory when appropriate. This particular article discusses getting started in model rocketry with using the diminutive Astron (Estes) Scout rocket which used a low-tech tumble recovery system. With the Space Age in full swing by that time, youths and adults around the world were anxious to get involved. It was an exciting time for everyone. My own foray into model rocketry began in the late 1960s during the Apollo...

Testors Advertisement
circa 1954

"The Testor Corporation has been manufacturing products for hobby, craft, and home decorating for more than eight decades. Since 1929, the oval Testor logo has been associated with quality and integrity. Testor hobby finishing materials and accessories, plastic model kits, craft paints and supplies, and airbrushes are sold world-wide, satisfying the demand for these fine products. Testor currently staffs a manufacturing facility in Rockford." - from the Testors "About Us" page. This advertisement appeared in a 1954 edition of Model Airplane News.

Rocket Trails:
1962 Nationals Pix

4th National Model Rocket Championships near USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, was covered in the December 1962 edition of American Modeler. Mr. Harry Stine, who wrote the "Rocket Trails" column for many years, posted a few photos and short descriptions of the participants and their rockets. The Front Range region of Rocky Mountains has changed a lot in the half a century since that event was held. I moved to Colorado Springs for the first time in 1992, lived there for a couple years, left, and then returned in 2000 to discover a world of difference in population and housing density in that relatively short time period. The city had just about doubled...

Zlin Akrobat
For the Tenderfoot

Website visitor Adrian C., of Moncton NB, Canada, wrote to ask that I scan and post the article for a catapult-launched free flight glider model of the Zlin Akrobat that appeared in the September 1971 edition of American Aircraft Modeler. Written by well known and frequent contributor to the "For the Tenderfoot" series in AAM, this version of contest-winning full-size Akrobat has an 11" wingspan and the plans provide a high level of detail and realism for such a small model. Its bright scale-like red and white covering scheme is particularly attractive. 

Chula Vistan
PAA-Load Free Flight

Here is unique and sophisticated 1/2-A free flight model designed for and flown successfully in Half-A payload, Half-A free flight, Class A free-flight, and it meets FAI gas requirements. By adding a set of floats it can be flown in R.O.W. events. Chula Vistan's elliptical dihedral and use of a diesel engine set it apart from many similar models of the era (mid-1950s). As with many F/F models, the Chula Vistan's framework is a work of art that is most appropriately covered in a translucent or transparent scheme with colored trim so that its structure can be appreciated. Not being a free flighter, I do not know if it meets modern specifications for...

Model This B-24 Liberator

One thing you can be pretty sure of when looking at airplane model articles in 1954-vintage magazines is that they are either free flight, static display, or control line. Radio control was still very new at the time and it was largely the realm of experimenters and guys who were willing to risk a lot of building time and effort on what would almost certainly eventually end in disaster. So, when I saw this construction article for a nice 68" wingspan, 4-engine B-4 Liberator, I knew it would be for control line. Although finding a copy of the original plans will be a challenge, the version I scanned along with the construction article high enough resolution to scale up for use...

Novel Field Kit
for a Free Flighter

Here is novel idea from well-known free flight modeler Bill Hannan and hobby shop owner Russ Barrera. The pair converted an unused transmitter case into a handy field box for use with free flight models. In addition to adding a hinge and latch to the cover, the retractable antenna sports a small wind sock for judging launch times and even a compass in place of the RF power meter to note the direction of your model as it drifts off into the wild blue yonder when the dethermalizer fails to trigger.

Sketchbook
Model Building Tips

This is the earliest edition I have of Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men, so this is also the first edition of Sketchbook I have. Sketchbook continued for many years as a monthly feature where modelers wrote to the magazine with handy ideas for saving time and/or money, and just for offering tips and suggestions on a different way of doing something. In those days there was not the plethora of accessories available for building models, so a lot of creativity was involved. Even items as commonplace as bellcranks for control line models and dethermalizers for free flight were fabricated from salvaged parts like metal soup cans and hairpins. I'm guessing no magazine today would publish a scheme to attach bottle rockets...

1955 National Model
Race Car Competition

"Time for the quarter mile distance was 6.05 seconds or 148.76 mph. There's your new Champion!" That was the judge's announcement at the conclusion of the 1954 National Model Car Competition. The cars ran in a 70-foot diameter circle on a tether, screaming away with their 0.0601 in³ displacement engines turning 22,000 rpm! Six laps at that diameter equals 1/4 of a mile - the distance over which the cars are timed. It must have been quite a sight and sound as those model cars tore around the track! Anderson, Indiana, hosted the event. The American Miniature Racing Car Association (AMRCA), which officiated at the event, is still in existence today and still runs races in the same manner...

Flying Site Success Story
- Billings Bounces Back

The loss of flying fields with a reasonable distance from population centers has been a problem for decades - half a century even, according to this story from a 1962 edition of Model Aviation.. You might be tempted to think that this instance must be in a bustling urban location like Atlanta, Georgia, Albany, New York, or Dallas, Texas, but in fact the problem here was in Billings, Montana. Usually the impetus is due to complaints about noise from model aircraft engines as houses are built nearby. The Flying Mustangs lost their field because a neighboring airport needed to expand its airspace, thereby forcing the flying field shutdown. A field where I flew occasionally near Kernersville, NC, had been in place for decades. In a period of about five years, a large neighborhood of expensive homes...

Iron Curtain Engines
- Da? Nyet?

Amazingly, even during the Cold War years it was not uncommon to see aircraft modelers from the "Iron Curtain" countries participating in international contests. Even Commies like flying model airplanes. Because their societies and politics were so closed and guarded, getting information about their modeling supplies was darn near impossible except during events where inspection could be made. Being a generally friendly bunch of guys, the modelers would share their designs with the Free World, and vice versa. Then, in subsequent years the Commies would show up with equipment that was exact replicas of ours. Truth be know, most or all of the participants were probably KGB agents engaging in extracurricular espionage...

Free Flight
Color and Visibility Chart

Much has been written about colors and trim patterns that assist in preventing our model airplanes from being lost from flying out of sight against a blue sky or against a background of white, puffy clouds. Free flighters are particularly concerned about such things since their models are at the mercy of air currents. Even dethermalized models can be whisked away, never to be seen again, when a boomer of a thermal or a strong gust of wind asserts its influence. As a flier of radio controlled sailplanes, I can attest to the tense moments when suddenly a model at great altitude transitions from visible to invisible. Down elevator and rudder trim is the best action to set up a spiraling dive until eye contact is made once again...

Jim Walker's A.J. Aircraft
Company Advertisement

Jim Walker's A.J. (American Junior) Aircraft Company began operation in 1929, with no way of knowing the doom and gloom that would befall the country in October of the year when the Stock Market crashed and triggered what would become known as The Great Depression. By the time we had begun to come recover from the financial tragedy, World War II was at our doorstep, and a lot of raw materials - balsawood for airframes, metal for engines, rubber for wheels - was being directed toward the defense equipment and supply buildup, supplies were hard to come by. It was a really bad time to be starting a new business. The passion for all things that flew...

Skiddin' II Racing Hydroplane

Model boat plans are more difficult to come by than model airplane plans, so seeing this article in Air Trails for a small, free-running model hydroplane was a nice find. Its simple, inexpensive construction makes it a quick build for those rare modelers that still build their own models out of wood. The Skiddin' II can easily accommodate a modern miniature radio control system and a brushless motor setup. The original model was designed for a transom-mounted glow fuel outboard engine, but those things make model boat plans look plentiful. If you really want an outboard, try eBay, and be prepared to pay a couple hundred bucks for it.