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 "Like a bumblebee flitting from flower to
flower, a new insect-inspired flying robot created by engineers at the University
of California, Berkeley, can hover, change trajectory and even hit small targets.
Less than 1 centimeter in diameter, the device weighs only 21 milligrams, making
it the world's smallest wireless robot capable of controlled flight. For a robot
to fly, it must be equipped with a power source, like a battery, and electronics
for flight control, both of which can be challenging to integrate into very small,
lightweight devices. To overcome this issue, Lin and the UC Berkeley team used an
external magnetic field to power the device and control the flight path. The robot
is shaped like a small propeller and includes two small magnets..."
 Being very far-sighted, having a modern
alarm clock next to the bed with large LED numbers is a great convenience for seeing
the time at night. However, I have always hated the electronic alarm sound and neither
do I want music since it tends to put me back to sleep. The old fashioned wind-up
mechanical alarm clocks did the job quite handily, and I missed having such a clock
after many decades of doing without. So, I decided to look for a Peanuts-themed
clock from the 1960s or 70s. This
Snoop alarm clock came up
for bid on eBay, and I picked it up for under $10, probably because the seller said
it did not work. He was correct that it didn't work in its selling condition. However,
I disassembled...
 In this November 1940 issue of the Boy Scouts
Boys' Life magazine, amateur radio operators, or "hams," are described
as having the ability to communicate across vast distances, connecting far-flung
locations such as Goulds, Florida, Cali, Colombia, Cairo, Kenilworth, England, Bombay,
and Brisbane. These operators, licensed by the Federal Communications Commission,
engage in various activities such as talking to distant stations, participating
in contests, and providing emergency communication during natural disasters. With
call letters assigned by international treaty, these stations use a combination
of code and phone to make contact, exchanging reports and QSL cards. The
Radio merit badge
was first offered in 1918 and has been...
 The venerable
Cessna 150 first came
on the scene in 1958. Per Wikipedia, "The Cessna 150 is a two-seat tricycle gear
general aviation airplane, that was designed for flight training, touring and personal
use. The Cessna 150 is the fourth most produced civilian plane ever, with 23,839
aircraft produced. The Cessna 150 was offered for sale in the 150 basic model, Commuter,
Commuter II, Patroller and the aerobatic Aerobat models." The design has changed
considerably since 1958, with two of the most notable changes being the vertical
fin and the rear fuselage behind the cockpit. Note that a photo of the 1958 Cessna
150 is on the cover of this edition.
 LaGuardia Airport was dedicated on October
15, 1939 as the New York Municipal Airport, and opened for business on December
2 of that year. It was built on the site of the old Gala Amusement Park at a cost
of $40 million. This aerial photograph shown here was taken within a couple months
of when LaGuardia first opened since this "Airports:
Biggest and Busiest" article appeared in the March 1940 issue of Boys' Life
magazine. The recent Google map satellite view is below the page scan, and I superimposed
the 1940 runways and taxiways on top of it for comparison. You can see where expansions
were built into the water to accommodate longer runways...
 Long before rechargeable nickel-cadmium
(NiCad) and nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries were used for starting model airplane
engines, we used standard primary type (non-rechargeable) 1.5-volt dry cells. In
fact, the nominal 1.2-volt-per-cell potential of NiCad and NiMH batteries were barely
high enough to sufficiently light the ignition coils in the glow heads and/or glow
plugs, which were designed for 1.5 volts. Today's glow plugs work just fine on 1.2 V
or 1.5 V. I have written before about how as a kid on a very small modeling
budget, I would often spend a long time flipping the propeller of my
Cox .049 engines while using a single,
worn-out D-cell battery (usually "borrowed" from my father's only flashlight). One
Christmas my parents got me a field kit that included a can of 25% nitro Cox fuel,
a glow head clip...
 During World War I, the United States spent
$1,500,000,000 on military aviation, resulting in the development of various
advanced aircraft designs. This 1937 issue of Flying Aces magazine
mentions a few of them. This was 19 years after the armistice. Although these planes
did not see combat due to the war ending sooner than expected, they showcased American
ingenuity and engineering prowess. Notable examples include the L.W.F.G.2, which
had a top speed of 130 mph and carried seven guns; the Loening monoplane, which
was the fastest two-seater fighter at the time with a speed of 146 mph; and the
Curtiss single-seater fighter, capable of reaching 160 mph. These aircraft laid
the foundation for modern American military aviation...
 While looking through some old issues of
American Aircraft Modeler magazine, I was quite surprised to find that
none other than radio great
Paul Harvey is (or
was) a builder and flyer of radio controlled airplanes. There was a feature article
done by Paul Harvey in one of the issues in the 1974 timeframe. Mr. Harvey then
wrote a regular column titled "Paul Harvey Views." Understandably, the column only
ran for a few months - probably because of his extremely busy schedule. This one
is from the December 1974 edition...
 "In August last
year Nokia and Axiom Space announced they were working to equip the latter's next-generation
lunar
spacesuits with 4G/LTE connectivity for the for NASA's Artemis III mission to
the moon. The idea is that arming the new spacesuit, called Axiom Extravehicular
Mobility Unit (AxEMU), with high-speed cellular-network capabilities means it can
support HD video, telemetry data and voice transmission over multiple kilometers
on the moon. This means the Artemis III crewmembers will then be able to capture
real-time video and communications..."
 Previously I posted the first part of a
story about two 1980s-vintage bicycles I bought from a guy off craigslist. That
was the complete teardown and restoration of
Melanie's Columbia
Commuter III, 3-speed women's model. This page has photos from doing the
same thing to my
Huffy 3 Timberline, 3-speed men's bicycle. One important aspect worth repeating
is the use of Krud Kutter for removing all the oil and grease. The stuff is amazing.
I soaked all the parts overnight that would fit in a bucket filled with a gallon
of it. Upon removing even the grimiest and greasiest components like the gearbox,
bearings, and the chain, I discovered they were squeaky clean. A toothbrush removed...
 Being
a long-time fan of John T. Frye's "Carl & Jerry" technodrama™ series, I
have been intending to attempt a contemporary version which has a Ham radio theme.
Its purpose, as with "Carl & Jerry," is to encourage young people to adopt electronics
as a hobby and even as a career, while using Amateur Radio as an enticement. Ham
radio offers practical experience in electronic theory, fabrication, and operation
in an environment that encourages community service, mentorship, camaraderie, and
self discipline. In the U.S., there are approximately 760,000 licensed amateur radio
operators; worldwide, the estimated number is around 3,000,000. The American Radio
Relay League (ARRL) and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) track these
statistics. This title of the series is, for now anyway, "Calvin &
Phineas Hamming It Up," and the first adventure is called, "The Phantom QRM."
Call signs are fictitious, chosen to hopefully not step on someone's real call sign.
The boys' names derive from my grandson's name...
 You might wonder why an article entitled
"Winning
the National Radio Control Meet" for model airplanes would appear in the ARRL's
QST magazine. The answer is that back in 1940 when it was published, a
Ham license was required to operate a radio control (R/C) transmitter. There were
no license-free bands for hobbyists as there are now. In fact, it wasn't until 1976
that the FCC suspended their requirement for registration as an operator, which
has returned in the form of an FAA "drone" (aka USAS) pilot directive. The author,
William (Bill) E. Good (W8IFD, W2CVI), was the twin brother of Walter (Walt) A.
Good (W3NPS), both of whom held doctoral degrees in and physics, and were referred
to as "the fathers of radio control." The photo of Bill shows his station...
 Often when I see photos of some of the
early
radio control gear for model airplanes, I have a simultaneous reaction of aghastness
and marvel at the crudity and ingenuousness, respectively, of the electromechanical
devices - the same kind of reaction I have to stories about early surgical procedures
and equipment. In 1940, when this article appeared in the ARRL's QST magazine, successful
takeoffs and landings were considered notable events not so much because of pilot
ability (or inability), but because of the low reliability of available electronic
and mechanical gear. Vacuum tubes with attendant heavy, high voltage power supplies,
and heavy metal gears and shafts required large airframes to support...
 American Modeler magazine published
stories on many forms of modeling including airplanes, cars, boats, and rockets.
A lot of attention was paid to teenagers in order to encourage a pursuit of careers
in engineering and science. In case you don't know, the U.S. Navy used to sponsor
the AMA Nationals specifically to attract young modelers into the service. This
1957 edition reports on the activities of James M. Blackmon, Jr., who was the nation's
youngest rocket builder to receive national recognition by the
American Rocket Society.
He built in his basement a 6' tall liquid-fueled rocket...
 This November 1961 installment of American
Modeler magazine's "Sketchbook
- Hints & Kinks" column has a very interesting alternative to the traditional
"stooge" that is used when a helper is not available to assist in launching a control
line airplane model. The drawing is a bit confusing, but what's going on is the
flyer starts and holds the model at a point just outside the dashed line circle,
and the pole is set midway of the diameter of the circle. That gives the airplane
half the circle to take off before it is free of the pole. Then, it is flown normally.
I can see where, as the inventor states, the process could be a spooky until the
flyer has gotten used to it...
 "Delta Air Lines and JetZero are partnering
to develop a
commercial blended-wing-body (BWB) aircraft that would be 50 percent more fuel
efficient than those in current operation, the carrier has announced. The development,
which builds upon a Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) investment
in the BWB technology, comes as Delta continues to focus on its goal of net-zero
emissions by 2050. BWB aircraft received a boost in 2023 for its BWB aircraft when
the U.S. Air Force awarded it $235 million over four years for the development and
production of a full-scale demonstrator. The aircraft is to take its first flight
in 2027..."
 Website visitor Tom A. wrote to ask me to
post this "Baby Biplane" article
from the October 1971 edition of American Aircraft Modeler magazine. It
was one of the For the Tenderfoot models that the magazine published almost
monthly for many years. The Baby Biplane uses a very simple structure but as with
any biplane of any size, the extra work of building a second wing and adjusting
it to fly properly take a little more work. Using the modern trick of printing a
colored patter on the Jap tissue prior to attaching it would make Baby Biplane look
really spiffy...
 Estes does not sell the D-13 engine line
anymore, but it does sell a D-12. The D-13 produced 9 pounds of thrust according
to this article and the 1971 Estes catalog (p94), whereas according to the 2014
Estes catalog the D-12 produces only 7.4 pounds (p79). If you want similar performance
with readily available
rocket engines,
you will need to get them from a company like Aerotech, which makes an F30FJ-6 model
that produces 9 pounds of thrust. With that solution you're look at about $12 per
launch. I believe that with modern materials like graphite for spars and/or leading
edges, and the lightweight airborne systems, the flying weight could be significantly
reduced, and a much lower thrust (and cost) engine could be used...
 Here is a detailed account of
American model aviation magazines, presented in chronological order of their
founding, including publication date ranges, editors' names with their tenures where
available, and a description of each magazine's purpose and target audience. These
titles - spanning from the early 20th century to the present as of February 2025
- reflect the evolution of model aviation from rubber-powered gliders to modern
RC drones. The data is drawn from historical records, enthusiast archives, and trends
A conceptual timeline follows, imagining the overlapping publication spans, though
an image isn't generated here - envision a horizontal chart from 1915 to 2025 tracking
these magazines' lifespans...
 Low-wing airplanes had not quite caught
on with the flying public prior to World War II, so Aeronca had an uphill battle
in gaining acceptance of its "Model-L" series of
planes. It ended up being a complete success. The article has an interesting tale
of salvaging partially-complete airplanes during a flood in Cincinnati in 1937 using
techniques that would never be allowed in today's highly regulated and monitored
world. Interestingly website visitor Glen M. sent me a photo of an Aeronca
LC on floats - the "LCS" model the author of this American Aircraft Modeler
magazine article suggests might have never been built. To be fair...
 As of
February, 2025, when this is being written, several major
artificial intelligence engines are publicly accessible through free tiers,
temporary free access, or subscription-based models with broad availability. I have
been evaluating ChatGPT-4 (OpenAI) and very recently, Grok 3 (xAI). I requested
from both ChatGPT and Grok, tables of comparison and contrast between the two, based
on "Aspect" criteria I provided. Those results are presented below. They seem to
be mostly honest assessments. Perhaps not surprisingly, Grok 3 often invoked
the name of its founder (Mr. Musk) during my interactions with it on wireless
communications topics. I will reveal more on that later...
 "September 30 marked the end of the FAA's
fiscal year and with it, the annual conclusion of the annual 12-month tracking of
fatal accidents among experimental category aircraft. The preliminary numbers
from the agency received late last week appear to present an excellent snapshot
of safety over the past year. While the final totals are still being tabulated,
the initial total of 37 accidents is well below the FAA's not-to-exceed figure of
46 for the period. That includes 29 fatal accidents in homebuilt aircraft. More
details will be available in the coming weeks as the FAA's annual total of GA activity..."
 Hi Johnson was a well-known designer
and manufacturer of model airplane engines in the middle of the last century. His
series of throttled engines was widely used in the early years of radio control.
A lot of research went into producing the engines to produce long lifetime, easy
starting, and consistency of operation. The
Johnson
35 R/C, which is the subject of this 1962 American Modeler magazine
article, was one of the first to used dual ball bearings on the crankshaft, contributing
mightily to the accomplishment of the aforementioned goals. The state of the art
for all types of model flying had advanced to where pilots could expect...
 With all the news lately about AI (artificial
intelligence) and whether the good it can do offsets the bad, I decided to ask both
Grok 3 (X.ai) and ChatGPT (OpenAI) to compose short essays on a few model aviation
related topics. While that will not settle the aforementioned dilemma, it will provide
a peek into the "good" side of what AI can do. I have been using ChatGPT for a few
months, and just recently Grok 3. Here is a side-by-side, unedited comparison
of the results of submitting the exact same query to both AI beings. Note that the
content for both Grok 3 and ChatGPT is fairly brief, not long-winded treatises
that would fill a book. Having used both for a while, it seems when you hear about
students using AI...
 As with most things these days related to
model airplane components, extensive research into materials, structure, and functionality
have been thoroughly researched and engineered to the point where the modeler has
little more to do that install parts into his craft. Parameters have been thoroughly
analyzed using computers over a wide range of input stimuli to determine the optimal
configuration. The effort dedicated by author Wayne Schindler to design and conduct
an experiment to determine the optimal dimensions and shapes for a
ducted
fan propulsion system is nothing short of academic. His efforts produced a list
of design parameters to consider when building a ducted fan-powered model airplane.
The net result in Mr. Schindler's case was an amazing 325% thrust improvement...
 "A
study from Canada has found a 26% annual chance that space debris will re-enter
the atmosphere and
pass through a busy flight area. The chance of space debris hitting an aircraft
is very low, but the research from a team at the University of British Columbia
highlights that the potential for uncontrolled space debris to disrupt flights and
create additional costs for airlines and passengers is not. The research is published
in Scientific Reports. In 2022, a re-entering 20-tonne..."
 The
Gloster E.1/44, presented in this 1948 issue of Popular Science magazine,
was a British experimental jet fighter developed in the 1940s as a potential single-engine
counterpart to the twin-engine Gloster Meteor. Designed by the Gloster Aircraft
Company to meet Air Ministry Specification E.1/44, it was powered by a Rolls-Royce
Nene turbojet and featured a sleek, straight-wing design with a tricycle landing
gear. Initially conceived as a simpler and more economical jet fighter for the Royal
Air Force, the project faced numerous delays due to shifting priorities...
|
 The Northrop Gamma was as close to a one-size-fits-all
aircraft as you would come by in the mid 1930's. It is pretty incredible to ponder
the rapid development in aircraft and engines in the short three decades since the
Wright brothers made their world's first powered flight in 1903. Airspeeds went
from 30 miles per hour to more than 200 miles per hour. Engines went from 12 horsepower
to nearly 1,000 horsepower in that timespan. The
Northrop Gamma appeared in more than a dozen different versions
including an air racer, a military bomber, a trainer, a high altitude weather research
platform, a military attack airplane, and a seaplane. It was one of the first production
designs to incorporate a completely enclosed cockpit - a welcome feature to pilots
in cold weather ...
 In yet another testament to the venerable
Douglas DC-3 (and its predecessor DC-2), this 1942 article in
Flying Aces magazine highlights the extreme extent of battle damage some
of these planes suffered and still managed to fly to a safe landing. Of course not
all flight crews were so fortunate, but the robustness of the airframe and engines
are rightly credited for their endurance and reliability. During and long past the
rigors of World War II service years, the DC-3 built upon its reputation as
a work horse. It is no wonder that the DC-3 (and its military designation of C-47)
has for going on a century been the all-time favorite transport type airplane of
many aviation enthusiasts - including yours truly. If I had a bucket list, which
I really do not, at or near the top of the list would be to take a ride in a DC-3
or a C-47. In all the places I have lived in the last many decades, there has never
been one at an airshow that was offering rides for hire. Time is running out
...
 This "Starting
Control Line Flying Scale" article in the 1960 Annual Edition of Air Trails
magazine is still a good primer on how to go about getting into scale flying model
competition. Some of the contest rules have changed over the decades since, but
the basics are the same. The table of model sizes and engines might need to be adjusted
for electric powered models, but in the scale world there are still many modelers
who use internal combustion engines - especially in the large airplanes. A quietly
humming motor does not give quite the same real-world affect as a screaming engine.
Even with all the research going into full-scale electric aircraft, we're still
many moons away from have a viable military fighter, transport, or commercial commuter.
The drawing is by the famous Cal Smith (as is the cover image), but the text of
the article is not attributed to any named author...
 This
Hiller
Helicopters XROE-1 "Rotor-cycle" looks a lot like the Bensen Gyrocopters that
seemed to be in every magazine in the 1960s and 1970s (including this May 1957 American
Modeler edition), either as a feature story or in the advertisements in the back.
A couple James Bond movies even featured them as high-tech, futuristic flying machines.
The U.S. military experimented for a while with the personal gyrocopter concept
for surveillance and search and rescue operations, but it never really went anywhere.
Remote-controlled drones do a lot of that work these days. Significant improvements
have been made in airworthiness over the years and now there are many personal gyrocopters
in use around the world - both homebuilt and commercially built...
 If you do a Google search on
Silkspan and dope covering methods,
a lot of good written instructions can be found. In fact, I suggest you read one
or two of them if you have never done a Silkspan and dope covering job before, or
if it has been a while and you want a refresher course, or if you have tried and
never been able to get an acceptable result. There is no special skill required
to obtain a really nice looking Silkspan and dope finish, there are a couple "gotcha"
scenarios that can ruin an otherwise simple process. I believe the two worst mistakes
you can make are painting dope in air that is too humid, and using a thinner that
is not entirely compatible with the dope (nitrate or butyrate). I decided it might
be a good idea to make a video of how I have been successfully achieving decent
Silkspan and dope finishes for lo these 40 or more years. My finishes have never
won any prizes, but the tissue (Silkspan) has always been nice and taught and the
brushed dope has gone on evenly, with nice, sharp trim lines. The subject of this
tutorial / demonstration is a Sopwith Camel biplane from a Manzano Laser Works kit.
My Camel first flew as a 3-channel radio controlled model, and was covered with
Monokote. It experienced an unplanned encounter with terra firma and broke off half
of the top left wing. Since I had originally planned to build it for control line...
 Air Trails HOBBIES for Young Men magazine,
which was published in the 1950s and 1960s, covered a wide array of subjects including
model cars, boats, trains, rockets, and helicopters. It may have billed itself as
targeting young men, but men of all ages enjoyed its monthly contents. The December
1945 edition had this spread on some early cars such as the
Pierce
Silver Arrow and 1922 Durant. The image of line drawings and brief descriptions
would also make a good wall poster if you want to print it out. If you are a vintage
car aficionado, then most likely you have visited the Jay Leno's Garage website.
He has one of the nicest private collections of antique automobiles and motorcycles
in the world...
 Sure, you can go online and find hundreds
or maybe thousands of instances of real-life
aircraft instrument images for your model airplane or helicopter, then scale
them to the right size and do a high definition color printout for gluing onto the
panel of your latest pride and joy. However, prior to just a couple decades ago,
the task was more difficult. You could fairly easily find instrument images in magazines
and books and then make copies on a printer or copying machine; some even had a
scaling function allowing you to change the size to fit your need. That was so for
about the last four to five decades, and often gaining access to a printer. Before
that, it was necessary to either be lucky enough to find printed images of the correct
size, or buy a set of printed instruments from a company that sold instruments sets
of various scales...
 These images were scanned from my 1976 yearbook
for
Southern Senior High School in Harwood, Maryland. Only pages with information
on Seniors is included. Birthdates have been covered over, but everything else remains.
Please let me know if you would like your picture and/or information removed. On
the other hand, if you would like to send additional information for posting or
would like me to send you the full-resolution scan of your page, then please send
me an e-mail at KirtAAR@aol.com. A full list of all the names that go with these photos can be found at
the bottom of this page. Having them in text format (versus a photo) will allow
search engines to find your name and associate it with Southern Senior High School.
Oh, and yes, all the photos are in B&W; there are only eight pages with color
in the entire book!
 Some companies
have expressed an interest in being able to target Airplanes and Rockets via the
Google
AdSense program. Yes, it is possible to do that. As you might expect, finding
the exact information on the Google AdSense website is a bit difficult. This short
video does a good job summarizing exactly how to implement the "Ad Targeting" option,
then "Placements," and then add "Websites." Just enter airplanesandrockets.com
. There are other settings to optimize your advertising campaign with keywords (both
included and excluded), pricing, scheduling, statistical data collection and reporting,
etc. If you are currently using Google AdSense, then please consider this method,
and if you are not using AdSense, now would be a good time to look into it. I have
had reports from some companies that experience great results using AdSense (not
just on Airplanes and Rockets)...
 Snow season has arrived here in Erie, Pennsylvania,
already, and I didn't want to miss the chance to do some flying off of snow skis.
Last winter I mounted a pair of DuBro snow skis to my Herr Engineering J-3 Cub and
flew a couple times with them, but they were the standard model that are too big
and heavy for this 1/2A-sized model.
DuBro's
Park Flyer Snow Skis seemed like they might be a better choice for the J-3,
so I ordered a pair. The size is just about right, but the vacuum-formed plastic
was a bit too thin for me to confidently install them on the J-3. I decided that
they would be perfectly useable with a little sturdying up. As can be seen in the
photos, there are two stiffening slots molded into the skis, so I epoxied a 3/32"
x 1/4" spruce stick into each slot. Up inside the landing gear mount area is hollow,
so I shaped a piece of hard balsa block to fit, and then drilled through-holes to
accept ...
 I have been using a 4½" bench vise for decades,
and have always wanted to get a larger one. It was OK for most jobs, but there have
been times when I thought for sure I'd break it when hammering or bending metal
parts in it. This
Craftsman 5½" Bench Vise (Model No. 113.228162) appeared on eBay and looked
to be in pretty good condition. I figured a bit of polishing and painting would
restore it to nearly good-as-new. The vise was taken completely apart and all the
paint was removed using a high speed grinder with an abrasive pad. It left the metal
unscathed. Areas that could not be reached with the grinder were wire brushed. Unpainted
metal parts were polished with a fine grit pad. A thin coat of RustOleum primer
was applied, then three coats of gloss red over that. The vise was set in the sun
all day to cure. A thin layer of grease was put on the swivel base mating surfaces,
jaw screw, and where the handle meets the vise jaw...
 Amazingly, the General Dynamics Corporation's
Groton, Connecticut, Electric Boat Division is still in operation after all the
years passed since this article appeared in Young Men magazine. According to the
company website, "Established in 1899, Electric Boat has established standards of
excellence in the design, construction and lifecycle support of submarines for the
U.S. Navy. Primary operations are the shipyard in Groton, CT, the automated hull-fabrication
and outfitting facility in Quonset Point, RI, and an engineering building in New
London, CT. The current workforce is more than 14,000 employees." Why "electric
boat?," you might ask? Submarines, whilst submersed, are typically driven by electric
motors powered by storage batteries. When on or near the ocean surface, a diesel
engine powers the craft while recharging the batteries. Nuclear powered subs can
run underwater nearly indefinitely since they do not require air for combustion.
Shown here are some of the many
models
of the world's submarines throughout their relatively short history. The library's
more than 1,200 books record of Alexander the Great having had himself sealed in
a glass barrel and lowered into the water in order to observe submarine phenomena.
For some reason the library's employees are not named. The man building the models
is in a business suit, but then it was still fairly common at the time for men to
wear a suit and tie even at home whilst performing domestic chores or participating
in a hobby...
 It was on March 16, 1926, that
Robert
Goddard made history in Auburn, Massachusetts, by successfully launching the
world's first liquid fueled rocket. The propellant was a mixture of gasoline and
liquid oxygen. That was a mere ten year prior to this article that appeared in
Boys' Life magazine. Author T.E. Mussen comments that as of the writing,
"thus far the rocket has carried neither men nor recording instruments, nothing
more than the source of its own propelling power." Breathtaking speeds of 700 mph
had been attained and altitudes of 7,500 feet staggered the imagination with impossible
proposals - like someday sending human beings to the moon. The oft referenced American
Rocket Society (ARS) was created in 1930, and was the leading professional group
for advancing rocket science. The group was planning for such missions three decades
before they became reality. ARS was merged with the Institute of Aerospace Sciences
in 1963 to become the present day American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
(AIAA)...
 As with most aspects of every type of hobby,
there is a plethora of different types of
glow plugs available for your selection. The same goes for engines in which
to use them. The quandary that haunts many modelers is which glow plug is the best
for a certain engine, fuel, ambient temperature, altitude, etc. In the April 2012
edition of Model Aviation magazine, Bob Aberle addressed just that topic
and provided a website for an extensive treatise on glow plug specifications and
usages. In it James McCarty, Brian Cooper, and Brian Gardner list the major glow
plug manufacturers and present voltages, heat ranges, applications, intended fuel
nitro content, short versus long, idle bar, etc. Fifty years earlier, William Netzeband
published an extensive article in the 1963 Annual Edition of American Modeler
magazine that employs a very methodical and scientific approach that resulted in
extensive graphs and tables that are still largely applicable to today's equipment...
 As a lifelong admirer of Charles Schulz's
Peanuts comic strip, I occasionally buy a collectible item like a Snoopy music box
that plays "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," a plastic Schroeder and piano figurine,
a Charlie Brown Skediddler, or a Snoopy astronaut from the Apollo era. This time
I bought the edition of TV Guide that announced the first showing of the "A Charlie Brown Christmas"
cartoon. Also in this edition is the announcement of plans to preempt regular programming
to televise the launch of the Gemini VII spacecraft, which carried astronauts
Frank Borman and James A. Lovell. It launched right on time at 7:30 pm on December
4th, 1965. "As his millions of fans long since have discovered, under that inept, ineffectual,
bumbling exterior of Charlie Brown's there beats a heart as soft and sweet as a
marshmallow. In the sequence on these pages, drawn exclusively for TV Guide by Charlie's
creator, Charles Schulz, he becomes concerned about the true meaning of Christmas...
 Gliders (aka sailplanes) have always attracted
me because of their
sleek
lines and graceful, silent flight. As a sailboat requires its pilot to possess
a knowledge of how to exploit properties of air currents to propel his water craft,
so, too, must a glider pilot know how to interpret and predict air currents to enable
long flights of his aircraft. As an enthusiast and practitioner of both model and
full-size boats and airplanes (many moons ago), I have great appreciation for both
motor-powered and nature-powered versions, but given a choice between the two, I'll
take the sailplane and the sailboat most of the time. It was not until materials
science was able to produce spars and skins strong and light enough for enabling
high aspect ratio wings that glider transformed from pudgy and boxy to lean and
highly aerodynamic. High performance sailplanes can achieve greater than 40:1 glide
ratios, meaning 40,000 feet (7½ miles) horizontally for every 1,000 feet of altitude
lost (in neutral air). In 1945 when this "Glight!" article appeared in Flying Age
magazine, the aforementioned materials discoveries had either not yet been made
or not yet applied to glider airframes, as can be seen in these photos...
 Air Trails magazine ran a regular
feature called "Airmen of Vision" that was a deign idea contest where readers submitted
futuristic designs for everything from small homebuilt aircraft to military jet
fighters and large commercial airliners. The 1950's was an era when young men were
totally caught up in the dawning age of jet propulsion, transistorized electronics,
flying cars, interplanetary flight and moon landings, wind-powered ocean liners,
robotic home servants, and even - get this - personal computers! If you search the
Airplanes and Rockets website for some of the other aircraft and automobile design
contest entries, you will be amazed at how close some of them come to ones that
have been built over the years. Check out this SpaceShipOne lookalike ...
 By 1960 when this "And
Aweigh They Go!" article appeared in the Annual edition of Air Trails magazine,
radio control systems had advanced to where they were providing a semblance of proportional
control, were smaller in volume and weight (thanks to semiconductors rather than
vacuum tubes), and were more affordable and reliable. Model engines, too, were more
convenient and easier to operate thank to the advent of glow fuel and glow plugs
rather than gasoline and spark ignition systems. Some modelers still employed the
older equipment or a mix of old and new, but the serious contenders did then as
they do now by tending to go with the latest and greatest engines, electronics,
hardware, and construction techniques. The model boats featured here are examples
of the latter...
 Outboard motors for model boats have been
available for a long time. Advertisements in modeling magazines from the 1950s (as
far back as my collection goes) has plenty of them.
Ailyn's Sea Fury outboard
motor and the Fuji outboard motors are just a couple examples for which I have
copies of the ads. I don't know if any are still manufactured today, but if you
hang around eBay long enough, you will find them up for auction. As of this writing,
there is a Fuji .15 outboard motor up for bid. It appears to me in remarkably good
condition. These two advertisements were scanned from 1950s vintage American
Modeler magazines, offered by America's Hobby Center (no longer in business)
in New York City. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator
the $29.95 price in 1957 would be $313.59 in 2011 money. These vintage motors usually
sell at about the inflation-adjusted price, so when you see them go for a couple
hundred dollars, it really is not so much in today's money...
Some companies
have expressed an interest in being able to target Airplanes and Rockets via the
Google
AdSense program. Yes, it is possible to do that. As you might expect, finding
the exact information on the Google AdSense website is a bit difficult. This short
video does a good job summarizing exactly how to implement the "Ad Targeting" option,
then "Placements," and then add "Websites." Just enter airplanesandrockets.com
. There are other settings to optimize your advertising campaign with keywords (both
included and excluded), pricing, scheduling, statistical data collection and reporting,
etc. If you are currently using Google AdSense, then please consider this method,
and if you are not using AdSense, now would be a good time to look into it. I have
had reports from some companies that experience great results using AdSense (not
just on Airplanes and Rockets)...
 Although I have never owned or run one of
the vintage ignition type model airplane engines, the articles telling of their
operation makes me glad that glow engines were the powerplant du jour by the time
I entered the modeling realm in the late 1960s. Just as the smaller A−size and smaller
glow fuel engines are generally more finicky to start and adjust to run consistently,
so were the similar sized ignition engines - like the
Arden .099
probably was. Persistence and anticipation of the joy of hearing a model airplane
engine fire up and scream - and of course the smell of the burning glow fuel - as
you prepare to launch the craft skyward is what made all the hassle worth it. My
friends and I spend untold amounts of time struggling to get our Cox .049s started
and running well enough get a few turns around the control line circle before the
carefully... |
