|
 "Drones
will be deployed for long distance inspection of infrastructure as well as site
security following new rule changes published by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
The aviation regulator's new rules will enable drones to fly beyond the visual line
of sight (BVLOS) of remote pilots in so-called 'atypical' operations through its
new policy for atypical air environments (AAE). BVLOS flights have been taking place
in the UK for several years, but these flights have occurred primarily in trials
under strict restrictions..."
 The 1956 Air Trails magazine Annual
Edition reported on the World Championships in Germany for the International Wakefield
Cup, F.A.I Free Flight, and Nordic A/2 Glider events. The three '55 World Championships
were held in September at the U.S. Air Force's Finthen Airfield, near Wiesbaden,
Germany. Competition was fierce amongst European and American contenders. It is
worthwhile to remember that 1955 was a mere eleven years after the end of World
War II, and that former foes were gathered together for a sporting contest.
There could easily have been men there who, without knowing it, were competing against
military adversaries they met on the battlefield or in occupied towns a decade earlier...
 This
rocket
boost glider called the Dyna-Soar was powered by American Telasco's version
of the Jetex 50 engine. Jetex rocket engines were quite popular with model airplane,
boat, and car builders through the early 1970s, at which point the fuel supplies
began to disappear. Most Internet sources posit that Imperial Chemicals Industries
(ICI) ceased making the fuel pellets due to a combination of liability and regulation
issues. ICI, based in Scotland, manufactured the Jetex fuel pellets* from a measured
blend of guanidine nitrate, 2,4-dinitroresorcinol, potassium nitrate...
 Leonardo da Vinci is usually credited with
producing the first illustration of a helicopter concept. It employed a rotating
helical corkscrew device at the top in order to enable the craft and occupant to
"screw his way aloft, in much the same manner as Archimedes designed his eponymous
helical screw device to lift water from a lower level to a higher level. Water,
being dense and cohesive with itself, was easily elevated, whilst air, not being
dense or cohesive, did not yield to the same technique. In fact, if the "aerial
screw" were able to spin rapidly enough and was of an efficient aerodynamic design,
it would work. Here is a 4-screw drone to prove it. These "Windmill
Planes" presented in the February 1939 issue of Popular Science magazine represent
the state of the art at the time. Surprisingly omitted is an example of Igor Sikorsky's
helicopter design, which he first flew successfully in September...
 "On the occasion of the 50th anniversary
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which began its operations
on October 1, 1958, we offer this list of the
50 most memorable images from NASA's history. We recognize that any such ranking
is inherently subjective. The rationale for why any one image ranked two slots higher
than any other combines several factors, including our attempt to balance the list
between human spaceflight, satellite imaging, and planetary exploration. Many wonderful
images did not make the final cut - we couldn't convince the editors to give us
20 pages instead of 10. The list omits significant events from space history that
were not NASA achievements..."
 This sort of cutting edge technology used
to be the domain of military operations, but nowadays it can be found in amusement
parks and even at backyard parties. The parachute training facility which appeared
in a 1937 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine was real whiz-bang stuff
at the time. Although Russia's system is featured here, I have to believe other
countries were doing the same sort of thing. Using a
high power fan to boost the paratrooper trainee in a simulated parachute descent
was an excellent method of introducing men to the sensations and reactions to control
inputs via shroud lines. The story noes not mention whether the fan was forceful
enough to simulate a free-fall experience. Just today a saw a news item showing
such recreational free-fall machine companies called Urban Air and iFall...
 Since first starting with control line model
sin the late 1960s, I always intended to build a multi-engine model of some sort,
but didn't get around to it until around 2016 when I began construction on a Douglas
DC-3 (maiden flight occurred in 2023). With the plethora of ready-to-fly (RTF) and
almost RTF (ARF) models on the market today at very reasonable prices, there is
no real good excuse for not doing it; so I'll have to stick with my bad excuses.
But I digress. This simple twin
"Wee-38" Lightning which
appeared in the December 1959 issue of American Modeler magazine, uses
a pair of Cox .020 or .049 engines and solid balsa components. You could electrify
the model with equivalent brushless motors, ESCs, and a LiPo battery pack. It would
be nice if a series of ESCs would be marketed for twin motors, since unlike with
brushed...
 The
Space Race was one of the most significant geopolitical and scientific competitions
of the 20th century, driven by the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet
Union during the Cold War. It spanned from the late 1940s through the 1970s, with
a focus on achieving superiority in space exploration, a domain viewed as critical
not only for scientific advancement but also for military and strategic dominance.
Rooted in rocket technology developed during World War II, the Space Race transformed
the world's understanding of science and technology, culminating in the most dramatic
achievement: the landing of humans on the Moon in 1969. This treatise explores the
key milestones, the countries and key players involved, technological developments,
the interplay between military...
 This article appeared in the November 2024
issue of Astronomy magazine - not sure why. "Brothers is a place that has
somehow slipped outside the passage of time. Located in a sea of sagebrush in central
Oregon, this former stagecoach stopover once serviced horse-drawn migrants bound
for the Willamette Valley. Thanks to the nonprofit organization
OregonRocketry, Brothers has outlasted the surrounding ghost towns to find new
purpose as one of the preeminent high-power rocket launch sites in America. The
group has purchased land and established a site out here in coyote country for the
advancement of amateur rocketry and education of future aerospace engineers. They
have a waiver from the FAA that currently allows them to blast the things nearly
four miles into the air..."
 "Japanese
operator SoftBank announced that the Sunglaider, its large-scale solar-powered uncrewed
aircraft system (UAS) designed for
High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) stratospheric telecommunications, was
utilized in a field trial conducted by AeroVironment and the U.S. DoD in New Mexico,
the U.S. During the trial, carried out in early August, Sunglider succeeded in achieving
stratospheric flight, the Japanese operator said. With a wingspan of 78 meters and
the capability to carry payloads weighing up to 75kg, the Sunglider is larger than
other publicly announced HAPS UAS..."
 The
Cessna
Skymaster (336/337) has always been my favorite twin-engined civilian lightplane.
A military version of it is designated as the O-2 Skymaster. For as long as I can
remember, I have threatened to build a control-line model of one. Well, that time
has finally arrived, and I began by ordering these plans from the AMA Plans Service.
It will be powered by a pair of 480-sized brushless motors, and throttle will be
controlled by a hand-held car/boat format transmitter, the one I use on my control-line
Douglas DC-3. I am modifying the fuselage construction to accommodate the motors,
and am adding formers to simplify the building process. Mr. Welch's original omitted
formers in the cabin area...
 Fox model airplane engines had a reputation
for ruggedness and contest-winning performance, but were also notoriously difficult
to get started - at least without an electric starter. In 1961, when this full-page
advertisement appeared in American Modeler magazine, electric starters
were not in many modelers' field boxes, and particularly those owned by youngsters
whose modeling budget came from meager allowances and paper routes. Born in 1958,
I was 15 or 16 years old before being able to afford the luxury, and I remember
relentlessly flipping the propellers on my
Fox 15 and Fox 35 control line engines. Half the time when they...
 If you have ever wanted to try your hand
(thumbs, to be more specific) at a floatplane, then this
1/2A size Aeronca
Champion which appeared in the March 1957 issue of Model Airplane News magazine,
is just the ticket. Although designed by Walt Mooney as a free flight ROW (rise-off-water)
model that easily converts between wheels and floats, modifications to 3 or 4 channel
radio control would be a snap, especially since the plans show separate construction
for the control surfaces along the hinge line. With about a 46" wingspan and lightweight
but strong construction, this model could easily have been designed with modern
electric power...
 I did a quick Web search on how to
repair damaged book bindings, and as is typical, most of what is out there is
a rewritten regurgitation of other pages. Tape and glue are the order of the day
per those instructions, but that is really insufficient to effect a good repair
on books - particularly older volumes - which use string and fabric along the spine
to form a very rugged and durable binding for standing up to repeated use. When
you desire to restore a book to as close to its original condition as possible,
the more extensive method described in this 1965 Popular Mechanics magazine article
is needed. All the tools and materials required are described, as is instructions
for assembling a book...
 "Rohde &
Schwarz has been at the forefront of addressing the evolving threats posed by advanced
drone technology to security, public safety, and critical infrastructure. As drones
become more sophisticated and complex, malicious drones equipped with advanced capabilities
present significant challenges. To counter these threats, Rohde & Schwarz has
developed cutting-edge
Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (CUAS) designed to detect, neutralize, and mitigate
emerging drone risks effectively. In a recent interview, Martin Woywod, Product
Manager for Counter-UAS Systems at Rohde & Schwarz, explained the urgency of
counter-drone technology in today's world..."
 Airplanes and Rockets website visitor Lars
B. wrote from Sweden requesting that I scan this "Wind Flying" article
from the September 1972 edition of American Aircraft Modeler magazine.
It describes a method for replacing engines and motors with human power for preforming
some pretty impressive C/L aerobatics on windy days. Basically, you drag the model
airplane around on its control lines, which often required not just turning in a
circle while standing in one place, but walking around a small circle in order to
get more speed. If there is any wind, you need to put extra effort into the pulling
when moving into the wind. I can remember doing this as a teenager, only I did it
with the engine in place but not...
• FCC Rules for
5 GHz Band Drone Operations
•
EAA Weighs in on MOSAIC
• Smithsonian
Opens Hangar Doors to Pilots
• EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 July 22-28
• The Smallest
Air Force One
 Post World War II was a big time for
model building and operating. Veterans and their families helped relieve the stress
and anxieties of the era with both scale and original design
model boats, cars, trains,
submarines, motorcycles helicopters, airplanes, tanks, even oddities like bicycles,
farm equipment, carnival layouts, animals, and historic buildings (of which
many of those appeared in model train layouts). The level of artistry and craftsmanship
was impressive, particularly considering the sparsity of pre-made miniature accoutrements
like hardware fittings, mechanisms for operating control surfaces and mechanisms,
and even appropriate finishes. Radio control was in its infancy, being largely the
realm of modelers with knowledge...
 Website visitor Steve R. wrote requesting
that I scan and post this "Square Hare" article from the September 1962 issue of
American Modeler magazine. Says, Steve, "I built one of these back then
on Galloping ghost and it went great till servo failed (modified mighty Midget motor).
Later I built another for Class one Aerobatics fitted with OS 40 and Kraft Propo,
this was very successful. Nostalgia strikes and I'd like to build another as a sport
model." Square Hare from Delaware is a bit unique in that its wing has no spar and
is constructed from diagonally arranged ribs sandwiched between 3/32" balsa sheeting.
Looking at all the hardware required just for the elevator control really makes
you appreciate modern radio gear with servos. Hopefully, Steve will grace us with
a photo of his completed Square Hare.
 "On September 9, the House of Representatives
passed H.R.2864: the
Countering CCP Drones Act. This would add future equipment made by DJI technologies
to the FCC's Covered List on the premise that it poses a risk to U.S. national security.
The Countering CCP Drones Act would essentially ban UAS and related tech produced
by DJI from operating on U.S. telecommunications infrastructure. This trails several
'inaccurate and unsubstantiated' claims against the company regarding sensitive
data sharing with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This would not directly affect
customers, at least for now, though it is guaranteed to have a massive effect on
DJI's..."
 I had no idea that there were multiple versions
of the Ford Trimotor
(aka Tin Goose). This article from an 1962 edition of American Modeler
magazine provides a fairly in-depth look at the history of the airplane. If you
follow politics at all, you know that Halliburton is a name that became a household
word when George Bush chose Dick Cheney as his vice president. According to author
Joe Christy, SAFE-way airline, which operated Ford Trimotors, was started by Oklahoma
oilman Erle Halliburton, and was sold to TWA (Trans World Airline) in 1931. In an
incredible stroke of good fortune, Melanie and I were able to take a ride in a Ford
Trimotor in the summer of 2013, flying out of Erie International Airport (see my
Ford Trimotor video)...
 The
1955 Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) National Model Airplane Championships,
held at the Los Alamitos, California, Naval Air Station was by all measures a smashing
success - "the best run Nationals competition in history." Extensive coverage of
the event appeared in the Annual Edition of Air Trails magazine. Free flight
and control line model airplanes were there, but no radio control types attended;
the technology was not yet within reach of enough hobbyists to warrant inclusion.
A look at the photos makes evident the amazing quality and variation of models,
both scale and non-scale. Take a look at the F4U Corsair with the folding wings,
the Ford Trimotor, Fairchild C-119, and the Fokker DR-1 triplane. Speaking of quality
models, two of the feminine kind were on-hand to award trophies. Hillevi Rombin,
Miss Universe of 1955, and movie starlet Marla English, are pictured with two lucky
winners..
 Ummm... was this really a "space walk?"
If so, then I "sky walked" when I climbed to the top of my 6-foot wooden ladder
yesterday. "The world's first commercial space walk, performed by billionaire
Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, tested new technology and was practically
flawless. It wasn't a small step - more a clamber, really - but as billionaire entrepreneur
Jared Isaacman
climbed partway out of a SpaceX Dragon capsule located nearly 740 kilometers
above Earth on early Thursday morning, he made a giant leap into spaceflight history.
That's because Isaacman is a private citizen who is flying in a commercial spacecraft
on a voyage he paid for - not a government-agency...
 Here are plans for the
Boeing B&W 1916
Biplane that I electronically scanned from my purchased copy of the March 1965
Model Airplane News magazine. When I have more time, I will dig the magazine
out of storage and scan/OCR the rest of the article. For now you can at least review
the plans. Click on the images for larger versions. I have even large files for
them at the original 200 dpi resolution. Designed and built by Mr. Francis Reynolds.
Plans for this fine model were drawn by Mr. Ray Vinup. All copyrights (if any) are
hereby acknowledged. "The Boeing Model 1, also known as the B & W Seaplane,
was a United States single-engine biplane seaplane aircraft. It was the first Boeing
product and carried the initials..."
 When building my Enterprise-E control stunt
airplane, I knew that the amount of control surface throw available for both flaps
and elevator was extreme, but I wanted to have the reserve capability in case it
was needed. It was definitely NOT needed! Fortunately, because of the way the top
fuselage hatch is designed for removal there is easy access to the flap control
horn, and thereby the ability to move pushrod clevises around to decrease throws.
Even with doing that, however, the model is still very sensitive to control line
handle movements. My only solution was to obtain a
control line handle with
line spacing less than the 4-1/4" on the stock Sullivan handle. That spacing has
been a little too much for other models as well, so an alternate handle would be
nice anyway...
 I received a lot of feedback after first
posting this piece on how to straighten cupped
and/or bowed laminated countertops. That was a couple years ago. Since I continue
to see severely deformed countertops in Lowes and Home Depot, it is worth brining
attention to it again. You might be able to get a really good deal on the otherwise
unsellable laminated countertops, then use my easy method for nearly perfectly flattening
them. Al that is required is sawing a cross-hatch pattern part-way through the bottom
surface, and then screwing, gluing, and clamping them whilst being held flat. The
wood around the outside edge serves as the space normally placed between the top
of the lower cabinet base and the countertop. Tyr it. You'll like it!
 "Gotonomi,
a UAV satellite connectivity solutions provider, has announced the completion of
further successful flight trials and the opening of orders for production units
of all variants of its
UAV satcom terminals at Commercial UAV Expo 2024 in Las Vegas. The launch marks
a significant milestone, transitioning from pre-production flight development kits
to type-approved, commercial terminals, enabling scalable beyond visual line of
sight operations (BVLOS) for drone operators wishing to offer inspection, surveillance,
and delivery services. Following extensive verification testing, including flight
trials..."
 When I first saw this "U-Control
Model Plane" article in a 1952 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine,
I expected it to have been written by one of the Stanzel brothers. Long after their
entry into the model airplane manufacturing world, Joe and Victor created their
line of battery-powered, electric motor-driven control line models in 1958. It eventually
included a helicopter, a monoplane, and a flying saucer, amongst other craft. The
Stanzels, BTW, invented the Monoline control line system which was adopted by U-control
(aka control line) speed modelers because it created much less aerodynamic drag,
facilitating higher airspeeds. Maybe this article was a motivation for the Stanzels...
 Another of Melanie's family's relics is
this pine clothes chest.
After more than 100 years of use and abuse, this chest was in dire need of restoration.
Construction is very low density pine, with dovetailed corners. Finish was a clear
varnish with no stain. The bottom, back, and inside had no finish at all. Restoration
consisted of knocking apart and re-gluing most joints, sanding, and filling in the
multiple dings and scratches where they were really deep. Minor imperfections were
kept for the sake of character. Minwax dark walnut stain was used inside and out,
and allowed to dry for a week. Then, two coats of Deft satin clear were brushed
on with 320 sanding and 0000 steel wool between coats...
 "The SETI Institute, in collaboration with
the Berkeley SETI Research Center and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy
Research, has initiated a pioneering study using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)
in Western Australia. Led by Dr. Chenoa Tremblay of the SETI Institute and Prof.
Steven Tingay of Curtin University, this research marks the first
search for alien technology in galaxies beyond our own, specifically targeting
low radio frequencies (100 MHz). The MWA's extensive field of view (FOV) allowed
the research team to examine approximately 2,800 galaxies in a single observation,
with known distances for 1,300 of these galaxies..."
 This report of the
1962 (16th) British
Nationals appeared in the 1963 Annular edition of American Modeler
modeler, which I believe was published in January of 1963. Just as back in the day,
the U.S. Nationals were held on a military installation (U.S. Navy sponsorship),
the British Nats were held at Barkston Heath R.A.F. station. Although technically
it was an international event, it appears that Brits and Yanks were the only competitors
- or at least the only ones mentioned. See anyone you know?
 When
Dyna-Jet engine in new or like-new condition is listed for sale or auction on
eBay, it usually sells for north of $500. Sometimes buyers get lucky and win an
auction for less. This 1946 Popular Science magazine article entitled "Baby V-1
Flies for Fun" appeared just a year after Germany had surrendered unconditionally.
Only a year before that, Londoners ran for cover in underground shelters when V-1
"Buzz Bombs" were heard making their tell-tale 45 Hz "buzz" noise as they made
their way toward England. "V-1" was from the German Vergeltungswaffe 1 meaning
"Vengeance Weapon 1." The only reference to a "robomb" I see other than this
article is from a 1944 issue of Time magazines entitled, "Science: How the Robomb
Works." As Paul Harvey would famously say, "Now you know... the Rest of the story."
 SpaceX
and Blue Origin have been in the news for the last decade for their efforts (some
successful, some not) to
autonomously land a spacecraft vertically under its own power. Love it or hate
it, NASA has been doing that for nearly six decades. Granted, it was on celestial
bodies with lower gravitational acceleration than on Earth, but the earliest craft
(Surveyor 1, 1966) had relatively crude electronics aboard, including a Doppler
radar, flight computer, and video camera. The now legendary Apollo Guidance Computer
has been written about extensively, and is a testimony to the brilliance of the
scientists, engineers, managers, operators, and technicians who built and flew it.
Articles like this one in the May 1967 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine...
|
 This expertly rendered 3-view drawing of
the
Luscombe Silvaire appeared in the June 1959 issue of American Modeler magazine.
Draftsman Jim Trigs provided many such detailed drawings for modeling and full-scale
aircraft publications. According to this 2012 Capital Journal newspaper piece on
Jim Riggs, he flew from 1953 through 2008, with 28 of those 52 years devoted to
United Airlines. Being a South Dakota native, he was inducted in to the South Dakota
Aviation Hall of Fame in 2012. Jim soloed in a Cessna 140 in 1953 when he was 16,
then went on to log nearly 22,000 hours of flight time over his career. He flew
helicopters in Vietnam, and spent decades in the Civil Air Patrol - a true aviation
enthusiast. Jim left us in 1995...
 In 1960 when this article appeared in
American Modeler magazine, radio control (R/C) was still in its infancy and
was a rich man's sport (mostly). R/C also required an amateur radio operator's license
in order to use the transmitters. Control line and free flight constituted the purview
of the vast majority of aeromodelers.
Towline gliders were
very popular in areas where enough open area was available - and back then there
was a whole lot more open area than there is today. Take a look at the backgrounds
of photos and movies in the 60's and before and notice how relatively undeveloped
the land was, even around larger metro regions. Anyway, this article offers sage
advice to modelers considering getting into towline gliders. Many kits were available
in the day...
 Danny M., a website visitor from The
Land Down Under, wrote to ask that I scan and post this article for what today we
would call a "smart" glow plug driver. There is also an accompanying article in
the same July 1974 edition of American Aircraft Modeler magazine titled "The AAM
Glowdriver." Danny said, "I built one in 1978, it is still working fine. When a
friend saw how it would light a plug under water and clear a flooded engine instantly
he begged me to build him one. Unfortunately the original article is long gone,
so I found your website and noticed that you list the magazine in question." Well,
thanks to our resourceful mate, now the plans and article are available again in
case you are experiencing a bit of nostalgia...
 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)...
 Back in the days when the cycle time between
writing articles, proofing, laying out pages, shipping hard copies to printers,
setting up presses, and preparing magazine for mailing was about a three or four
month process, coverage of a July-August event would finally appear in November-December
timeframe. Photos, of course, were all in black and white. Nowadays, with everything
done digitally and involving almost no physical, hands-on steps in the process,
we often see Nats event happenings as early as September. The November 1974 issue
of American Aircraft Modeler magazine included extensive coverage of that
year's Nats, which was held in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This is the
control line stunt portion. If you were around during the era...
 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...
 Every month in Model Aviation, the
AMA's monthly publication, there is a "Safety" column that reports on model-related
accidents and issues like not charging Li−Po batteries in appropriate containers,
not smoking around glow fuel and gasoline, not flipping your propeller with a bare
finger, etc. Many moons ago the big safety concern was not flying control line models
too near to high voltage power lines. This photo from the April 1957 edition of
American Modeler shows some guy attempting to retrieve a radio control
model from its landing spot
atop a set of telegraph
wires. He is standing on a barbed wire fence using a wooden pole to prod it
off the lines. The captions asks, "Who knows line voltage?"
 Can you imagine what a sweet sound it must
be with four Cox .049 engines running at the same time on the same airplane? Keith
Laumer and John Simmance didn't have to wonder once they teamed up to design, build,
and fly this 45" wingspan, control line
B-17
Flying Fortress. As if that wasn't enough, they added a custom electrical retractable
landing gear (including the tail wheel), navigation lights, throttles on all four
engines, and flaps! An 800:1 reduction gear box was coupled with a 3 volt motor
to drive the retract mechanism, flaps, throttles, and light switches. A third control
line and a Roberts 3-line bellcrank controlled everything. Operation of the retracts
is a bit dicey since they are triggered to go up at full throttle, then go back
down at low throttle. That means the pilot has to be careful not to command full
throttle while the model is on the ground or the landing gear will fold up on him.
I would not have wanted the task of trying to get all four Babe Bee .049 engines
running at the same time. Today we have commercially available electric starters
for the small engines, but in 1963 when this article appeared in American Modeler
magazine, it was either use the spring starter on the engine or flip it by hand...
 Things were all so simple then; time has
rewritten every line - to paraphrase a popular song from the mid-1970's. That was
the era when this 1975 issue of American Aircraft Modeler magazine ran
the
Electric Flight Action column by Mitch Poling. Having just entered into the
radio control (R/C) phase of aeromodeling at the time, I was not too overly interested
in electric flight since my prior experience had been with glow fuel powered control
line models. Electric propulsion systems were overly heavy, overly large, and underly
(sic) powerful. Brushed motors with standard magnets, and usually without ball bearings
on the shaft lacked the power of today's brushless motors. Nickel cadmium (NiCad)
batteries have about a quarter the energy storage density as lithium types (Li-Ion
or Li-Po, so combined with the low efficiency of the motors, flight times were very
short. My first experience with an R/C e-powered model was a Great Plane Spectra
sailplane, which was a powered version of their 2-Meter Spirit glider. a while later
I tried a Carl Goldberg Mirage 550 e-powered model. Both were plagued with
brush and commutator problems. All of those issues have been solved with modern
brushless motors and Li-Po batteries - which have their own issues, primarily cost
and fire hazards. I wonder whether modern material and methods...
 With as expensive as carpet is these days
(even cheap carpet is expensive), protecting it from the ravages of a computer chair
is essential for preservation. Casters wreak havoc with carpet, and even if you
replace the castors with fixed feet (w/ or w/o Teflon bottoms), deep depressions
are formed. One solution is too buy one of the plastic carpet protectors, but they're
big and ugly. Nice ones are available, but they're usually very expensive. I have
seen picture of very nice rectangular wooden surfaces people have built to allow
the chair to roll, but my space is cramped. All I need is a compact surface to contain
the chair feet without requiring the chair to roll. Since the seat swivels, getting
in and out of it is simple enough. My solution is shown in the photos. It did not
take long to construct, and is as diminutive as possible, being just large enough
to cover the foot span. The base of the
computer chair carpet
protector is cut from 1/2" furniture grade plywood...
 The type of glass
referred to in this 1953 Science and Mechanics magazine article is not
the solid sheet type made from sand (silicon), but fiberglass. It has
strands of glass mixed into the plastic weave, hence the name. It is the
glass component that causes itching as it pricks your skin. Breathing it into
your lungs is dangerous as the minute particles of glass can lodge in the
tissue. Typical of the era, the workers shown handling the fiberglass have no
protection for eyes, nose, mouth, or skin. Fiberglass ended up not being the
material hoped for because it ultimately could not stand up to the extreme
structural and thermal loads typical of high speed aircraft. It was also not
tolerant of being exposed to intense sunlight while sitting on a tarmac. The few
commercial and homebuilt fiberglass airplanes need to be painted white to
reflect as much ultraviolet light as possible to prevent delamination and
deterioration of the components...
 While I never had the pleasure of owning
an AAMCo Lou Andrews
Aeromaster Too
biplane, it was one of the many kits I though someday I would build. After 61 years
of existence, there still is no Aeromaster Too kit in my collection, and at this
point likely never will be. The Aeromaster Too was a four-channel ("full-house"
as it was known back in the day) aerobatic biplane with a 48" wingspan for .45 to
.61 in3 displacement glow fuel engines. It used balsa, plywood, and hardwood construction
along with music wire components for the landing gear and cabane struts. The photos
presented here were downloaded from multiple Aeromaster Too kits listed on eBay.
They typically sell in the $125 to $200 price range, which is very comparable to
what a new kit of similar size and complexity would sell for today...
 This
Nufnut free flight model airplane article and plans came to being in response
to laments from would-be model airplane builders who tried and failed at their first
(and sometimes more) attempts to make and fly something even as simple as a rubber
powered model. The author decided to present detailed instructions on building and
covering an open frame stick and tissue model, being sure to detail areas that generally
cause the most trouble. The most difficult task for most beginners is covering the
airframe with tissue and then obtaining a warp-free structure after application
of dope. If you are new to the hobby and either have experienced such disappointments
or are considering getting into the fine hobby of model airplane building and flying
and seek sage advice on how to avoid discouraging pitfalls, then you have come to
the right place. Tufnut is a somewhat unique design with its solid balsa fuselage
that has a slot cut in it for containing the rubber band, rather than just using
a stick with the rubber hanging underneath...
 This is the Sunday, January 16, 1944, "Flyin'
Jenny" comic strip. The Baltimore Sun newspaper, published not far from where
I grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, carried "Flyin' Jenny" from the late 1930s until
the strip ended in the mid 1940s, so I saved a couple dozen from there. The first
one I downloaded has a publication date of December 7, 1941 - that date "which will
live in infamy," per President Roosevelt. Many Americans were receiving word over
the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while reading this comic at the
breakfast table. I expect that soon there will be World War II themes. "Flyin'
Jenny," whose real name was Virginia Dare (what's in a name?), was a test pilot
for Starcraft Aviation Factory who divided her time between wringing out new airplane
designs and chasing bad guys. She was the creation of artist and storyteller Russell
Keaton...
 When this article appeared in a 1949 issue
of Air Trails magazine, the
Jetex engine
line was relatively new to America. It had just been introduced in England in 1947
by Wilmot, Mansour & Company Ltd., of Southampton, consisting of Wilmot brothers,
Charles Mandeville Wilmot, John Wilmot, and Joseph Naimé Mansour. In 1950, American
Telasco became the U.S. importer and distributor of the Jetex line of motors, fuel,
and model airplane kits. Henry Struck's "Jetex Job" uses the Jetex 100 engine,
which was bigger and more powerful than the Jetex 50 model. Tailless airplanes
were popular because the lack of a vertical fin minimized the influence of wind
on flight since weathervaning was less pronounced. Jetex Job is a fairly large model
with a 21" wingspan, but you can see how lightweight the construction is. The fuselage
uses a formed 1/16" balsa tube in the rear engine area...
 Douglas Rolfe, who provided many detailed
and line drawings of full-scale aircraft for American Modeler magazine, here summarizes
the history of
Chance Vought Aircraft Company. While the name appears to be the joint venture
of two separate people, one by the name of Chance and the other by the name of Vought,
it is in fact the namesake of Mr. Chance Milton Vought. Another such instructional
name of the same sort is Johns Hopkins University, which is named after Mr. Johns
Hopkins. Probably the most well-known airplane models are the F4U Corsair
and OS2U Kingfisher of World War II and Pappy Boyington's Black Sheep
Squadron (VMA-214) fame, and the F8U Crusader of Korean War fame. Chance Vought
obviously was really fond of the "Corsair" name since he name three separate models
with it: the 1926 O2U Corsair, the 1931 V50 Corsair, and the 1940 F4U Corsair...
 "The
Andromeda Strain" movie came out in 1971, just two years after Michael Crichton's
book of the same name was published. The plot centered around a military satellite
which had returned to earth harboring a deadly microorganism that killed the entire
town of people where it landed. 1969, the year of the book, coincided with when
the first humans, via Apollo 11, were exposed to the environment of another
heavenly body - the moon. "The Andromeda Strain" owed its public intrigue to decades
of stories telling of and wondering about what kinds of deadly living and nonliving
entities might permeate outer space and potentially cause a plague which might end
life on Earth. Although NASA had, by July of 1969, a lot of experience with vehicles
and humans going into space and returning with detectable traces of harmful organisms
or chemicals, it had never dealt with anything that had been exposed to the surface
of another solid body (the moon). Any type of biomass that might have accompanied
a meteorite would have been rendered lifeless as its host projectile burned during
passage through Earth's atmosphere. Apollo 11 astronauts might bring with them
entities protected by the same life-preserving capsule that would keep them alive
during their trip home...
 The National Association of Rocketry (NAR)
has been around since 1957. At one time, the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA)
was pretty tightly joined with them in covering model rocketry events and promoting
model rocketry. In fact, for while there was space allotted in American Aircraft
Modeler, AMA's monthly magazine, for model rocketry. From February 1968 through
August 1969 there was a newsletter feature entitled "Model
Rocketeer" in addition to a separate article, often written by G. Harry Stine.
A complete list of all editions is provided. The NAR and AMA still work together.
For example, the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) delegates authority for aeromodeling
and spacemodeling to the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), who has in turn delegated
Spacemodeling (model rocketry) to the NAR...
 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...
 (add other photos) A nice vintage
Sunbeam Model FP−11A electric frypan, like one we had decades ago, showed up
at an estate sale. I plugged it in and it heated up quickly, so I paid the man $5
and brought it home. The magazine advertisement shown on the left is from 1956,
so it's more than sixty years old! Melanie and I have been on a mission for many
years to find Made in the USA products for use rather than support Red China. That
goes for appliances, tools, electronics, clothing, household goods, and whatever
else can be found. Before investing time into cleaning it up, I wanted to give it
a good going over. A quick check with the thermocouple showed that the temperature
was out of alignment with the dial. I removed the protective cover and found the
adjustment screw provided for setting the temperature. After a few iterations of
adjusting and measuring, I arrived at a place where the frypan would heat up to
about 20° degrees above the set point, turn off, then turn back on about 20° degrees
below...
 Plastic model kits were rare in 1939. For
that matter plastic "anything" was rare at the time. It was not until after World
War II that injection molded plastic was commonly found in commercial and household
items. Accordingly, the majority of small static display models were carved from
balsa, basswood, pine, or other soft woods with straight grain and no knots. Many
craftsmen honed their skills carving, sanding, painting, and detailing solid models
such as this
Martin
167 bomber which appeared in the December 1939 issue of Flying Aces
magazine. Boats, ships, cars, trains, trucks, and other types of vehicles and equipment
was commonly modeled, for both military and civilian varieties. In one of the vintage
modeling magazines - possibly Flying Aces - there was a photo of a guy
with his extensive model of a circus, including tents, beasts, human performers,
transport trucks and trailers. Different strokes for different folks, as the saying
goes...
 Airplanes and Rockets visitor Jochen S.,
a school teacher from Germany, wrote to request that I scan this
Super Sabre Trainer
(SST) article that appeared in the May 1972 edition of American Aircraft Modeler
magazine. The SST reference had marketing gravitas in the day because of the public
fascination with the Supersonic Transport (SST). The Super Sabre Trainer is a ½A
control-line model designed by Dean Swift for his 6-year-old son to learn to build
and fly C/L airplanes. It is a simple, profile fuselage with sheet balsa surfaces.
Jochen wants to use the SST in a program to introduce students to aircraft modeling.
He says they will also benefit from trying to read the article in English and to
convert inches to metric units...
 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...
 Control line (CL) carrier flying is one of
those things I've always wanted to try, but have never gotten around to it. Unlike
with radio control (RC) modeling, CL has not changed much over the decades. A lot
of people have made the switch from glow fuel power to electric power, but the overall
methods and technology has been pretty consistent. CL carrier events are still,
it seems from my reading, dominated by glow fuel power, a three-line systems, and
some form of the old standard Martin MO−1 airplane model. Prior to the 1970s, before
all the major commercial and residential development took place all over the country,
control line flying could be found in many community and industrial area vacant
lots. There was plenty of room and opportunities to build and fly models were abundant
(if there were no neighbors complaining of the noise. Nowadays, you're lucky to
find a public control line flying area, and you almost never just happen to be driving
by someplace and see model aviation of any sort being carried out...
 It's hard to imagine a time when radio control
was such a novelty that contests included events where models were steered around
on the ground to weave through obstacles, as was the case when this 1957 American
Modeler magazine article was published. The thing is, when I got my first R/C
system, an OS Digital 3−channel set, I had not yet learned to fly so I "drove" my
S−Ray around the yard and in the street in front of my house. The noise from the
OS .20 engine and the RF interference on television VHF channel 5 annoyed the neighbors
at times. My transmitter was at 27.195 MHz, and the harmonics fell squarely
into the RF and audio bands. My best friend back in the day had one of the Smog
Hogs referred to in the article. In 1957,
radio systems only approximated proportional control, so smooth
maneuvers were not easy to do. Receiver tuning was necessary between flights for
a lot of systems, and interference from other users in or near the 27 MHz band
was a constant threat to models...
 Here is Melanie with her gaf
View−Master "Tour Theatre" set that she had as a little girl.
She took better care of her stuff than I did, so a lot of her toys and dolls are
still around decades later. It came with a Standard 30−watt projector and a hand−held
stereo viewer. Also included was a nice case and a few reel sets with various places
around the world*. Being a Peanuts fan like me, she had a couple 3−reel sets: "Snoopy
and the Red Baron," and Peanuts." We have a "Little Drummer Boy" and "Dennis the
Menace" set, too. The others are long gone. I had just a hand−held viewer. See my
space program reel sets. The hand−held View−Master viewer that created a 3D scene
by using a pair of stereoscopic images fed individually to each eye. One of the
Peanuts reels has a frame showing how those stereoscopic images were created using
two cameras set up a distance apart so that each had a slightly different perspective
on the subject, just as your eyes have. There are 14 frames in each reel, so using
two frames per 3D scene, that makes 7 scenes per reel. Replacement 7-14-scene reel
selector lever installed on mechanism. Home-brew 7-14-scene reel selector lever.
6-32 bolt is soldered to steel lever, and then the head ground down to provide needed
clearance. 7-14-scene reel selector mechanism. Side view of projector reel advance
mechanism. Westinghouse RVR115, 120V, 30W light bulb for View−Master Standard projector.
The projector, on the other hand, cannot create a 3D image on the screen (or wall).
Therefore, a standard 3D reel only has 7 unique scenes on it. Special reels were
sold for the projector that had 14 unique scenes on it. As such, the projector designers
provided a lever to be positioned for either a 7-scene or a 14-scene reel. We discovered
that the lever was missing...
 Melanie gave me a Peter Rake-designed
Sopwith Camel from Manzano Laser Works
short kit for Christmas 2008. The entire building process has been documented here.
The laser cut parts are very nice, as can be seen in these photos. There are a couple
places you can go to read construction articles on the Sopwith Camel, but they are
for radio control. My Camel was originally going to be built for control line, so
I figured it would be worth including some additional information here. I have since
then decided to use a 3−channel R/C setup. I planned at first to use the recommended
Graupner GR170323 motor/gearbox combination, but have since settled on an E−flite
Park 370 brushless outrunner motor to get the extra power. Either a 2−cell, 1500
mAh LiPo or a 3−cell, 1300 mAh LiPo battery will be used. Using an APC 10x4.7 e−propeller
and the 3−cell LiPo, the thrust-to-weight ratio on a full charge well exceeds 1:1.
The instructions and plans are very sparse, and leave a lot to the imagination regarding
the actual construction, so there are photos here that you will not find elsewhere...
 If you're anything like me, you have an appreciation
for the older comic strips. Getting the message being conveyed sometimes requires
a knowledge of the events of the era, but for the most part the humor and/or satire
comes through even when you assume it relates to current events. WWI and WWII timeframe
comics, for instance, often alluded to the evils of Fascist governments overseas,
while today they may be likened to the deeds of our own government. These "Contest
Caper" comics from a 1955 edition of Air Trails magazine are timeless...
 By the time these aeroplanes arrived on
the world's airfields, barely a decade had passed since Wilbur and Oliver Wright
made their famous flight in 1903 at Kitty Hawk. World War I broke out in the
middle of 1914, and planners quickly realized the value of air power as soon as
daring pilots proved the unmatched ability (by ground forces) ability to conduct
surveillance and attacks well behind enemy lines. Avoiding ground fire was a relatively
simple matter of flying high enough to keep out or range of bullets and rockets.
However, it was not long before opposing forces found themselves battling each other
high above the ground battle. Air-to-air combat had begun, proving the ruggedness
of both man and machine. A time period of 1908 through 1919 is presented in this
installment of "Air
Progress" appearing in a 1960 issue of American Modeler magazine. Biplanes stilled
ruled the day, with monoplanes being too fragile to hold up under the demands of
high-G aerobatic maneuvering... |
