|
 While looking for the edition of TV Guide
that published the first airing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," I noticed that the
time period coincided with the launching of the
Gemini VII spacecraft.
In a stroke of good fortune, it indeed included an announcement that regularly scheduled
programming would be preempted as necessary to provide live coverage of the launch,
to give timely updates, and to coverage the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. 2:30
Gemini Space Flight The 14-day Gemini VII space flight is scheduled for launching
from Cape Kennedy's Pad 19 at 2:30 P.M. Astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell
will be making man's longest journey...
 "An aviation company pushing the boundaries
of
solar-powered flight has successfully finished the first in a series of tests
for its uncrewed airplane, taking off from Mississippi's Stennis International Airport
for six flights high over the Gulf of Mexico. The company, Skydweller Aero Inc.,
says its aircraft - essentially a giant drone with a wingspan greater than a 747
- had one flight lasting 22.5 hours and another lasting 16 hours during the initial
testing campaign. The company says it is developing technology to enable its airplanes
to eventually spend months cruising at 40,000 feet, guided by a team of techs on
the ground and using only the sun for fuel. The top of the plane is equipped with
17,000 solar cells..."
 A scheme I have considered for control line
models is one of the entries in the "Sketch Book" section of the February 1949 issue
of Air Trails magazine. Mr. Joseph Johnson shows how he used a moveable
rudder on his scale airplane to increase tension on the control lines when up elevator
is commanded. A similar system could be devised for stunt models which increases
right rudder (for CCW circles, left rudder for CW) as either up or down elevator
is fed in. Another option I have never tried is to have a
moveable
rudder controlled by a spring connected to a sliding bellcrank platform that
would increase outward rudder when line tension lessens, and decrease it when the
lines get tight. Such a system would be most useful for compensating for wind gusts
that slacken the control lines. Maybe some day I'll have the time to experiment
with that. A handful of other ideas are included...
 Website visitor Bob wrote to ask that I
scan and post the construction article and plans for the
F-84G Thunderjet control
line model. It appeared in the July 1970 issue of American Aircraft Modeler magazine.
The unique feature of this model is that the power is supplied by the pilot. A fishing
pole and line is used to drag the airplane around the flying circle and a separate,
standard two-line elevator control is used to maneuver the model. Construction is
sheet balsa. Author Joe Wagner (well-known in the modeling world) claims that with
a bit of practice just about any aerobatic maneuver can be accomplished except for
the overhead routines like the figure eight...
 "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.
|
 If you like re-visiting the old days of
radio control (notice I didn't use the adjective "good") to see how far we have
come in terms of equipment, then this article from the January/February 1963 edition
of American Modeler magazine is just what you are looking for.
Dr. Walter Good (no relationship to the adjective mentioned above) developed
this "handheld" transmitter at a featherweight seven pounds to replace his previous
32-pound monstrosity. Modern digital transmitters with 100,000x the processing capability
weigh less than a pound. Being a tube circuit admirer, I have always been impressed
at what designers were able to do with so little. Some day our kids will look back
at the Futaba 14M and wonder how we managed to keep model sin the air with the need
to actually hold a transmitter at all (brain wave control will be standard equipment)...
 Old seafarers' superstitions wore on long
past the days when sailors believed their ship might run over the edge of the Earth.
They carried over into maritime services well into the 20th century, and probably
to some extent into the 21st century. It was common to blame a long string of bad
luck on one poor sap whose appearance on the scene just happened to coincide with
the supposed curse. He was called a "Jonah," after the Biblical character whose
presence on a fishing boat caused a constant run of bad weather until the crew finally
tossed him overboard where the leviathan of the deep swallowed him. In this story
from a 1938 edition of Boys' Life magazine, a particular
seaplane
suffered problem after problem, like water in the gas tank causing dead stick
landings on rough seas, so the pilots and mechanics referred to it as "Jonah's plane."
As with many stories of the era, this one centers around airplanes and ships...
 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 running - usually because I could not afford to buy enough fuel
to fly as often as preferred...
 When I think of a Navy (or Air Force, or
Army, or Marine, or Coast Guard) test pilot, what comes to mind is a high powered
fighter airplane, a bomber, or even maybe a helicopter, but the guys in this 1937
Popular Mechanics magazine article are proving cargo and personnel type seaplanes.
Doing so might not be as glorious as the aforementioned types, but it is still no
job for the weak of heart or slow of mind. The average lifetime of a test pilot
is less than that of "regular" pilots because not only are new, untried concepts
tested, but part of the wringing out procedure involves pushing the craft to its
limits to determine whether the design goals were met, and to know what the placarded
"never exceed" numbers should be. Many a test pilot perished during the final "10-G"
stress tests of airplanes during World War I, which is quite a demand from
what were usually stick and tissue (spruce and silk, actually) airframes...
 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)...
 Your knowledge of model aircraft kits, engines,
and equipment will need to stretch back a couple decades to score 10 out of 10 on
this model-aircraft-themed quiz. 1) Which company manufactured the "Antic" series
of open frame R/C models? 4) What is the full last name of Sig Manufacturing's co-founder
Hazel Sig? 7) What type of models did Estes first produce? 10) What type of airplane
model construction was Cox Manufacturing famous for? Winners get a free 1-year subscription
to the Airplanes and Rockets website ;-) Good luck!
 John Burkam was one of the few true pioneers
in free flight and particularly
radio controlled model helicopters. His experiments date back into the 1940s.
His rubber-powered Penni Helicopter appeared in the January 1970 issue of American
Aircraft Modeler. Also, he covered the 1972 and 1974 helicopter Nationals competitions
in American Aircraft Modeler. John was an engineer with the Boeing Company. His
attention to detail and lack of fear in tackling design issue with numbers, graphs,
and formulas is apparent in his work, although any type of design in previously
unexplored or little explored areas of technology requires some degree of seat-of-the-pants
guestimates. Both philosophies are present in this article. The "Super Susie" is
powered by a Cox .049 Tee Dee engine, has four channels, and weighs in at around
2 pounds. That is pretty remarkable for early 1970s equipment. It's too bad someone
doesn't produce an .049-powered R/C copter today...
 The Douglas Aircraft Company's
DC−4 conducted its maiden flight on June 7, 1938. It was a hugely successful
four-engined aircraft used for civilian and military passenger and cargo transportation.
Military versions of the plane were designated C−54 and R5D. The DC−4 was designed
to be the airline industry's "dream" airplane - "a Grand Hotel with wings", capable
of cruise speeds of more than two hundred miles per hour and a range of 3,300 miles,
making it capable of non-stop coast-to-coast flight. Although the DC−4 was the brainchild
of United Airlines, a consortium of five companies - United, TWA, American, Eastern
and Pan American - financed the endeavor to ensure success would not be hampered
due to cost and competition concerns. The airplane's control systems were so complex
that a new crew member position called "flight engineer" was created to monitor
and tend to all the meters, dials, knobs, switches, and panel lights, while allowing
the pilots to worry mostly about flying...
 Website visitor Kenneth E. wrote to say
that he is working to build a complete collection of the Tenderfoot models that
were published in the Academy of Model Aeronautics' American Aircraft Modeler
magazine. The Tenderfoot series was an attempt to provide motivation to young newcomers
to the hobby. They were a mix of freeflight rubber powered airplanes and helicopters,
gliders, and ¼A & ½A control line designs that built quickly,
simply, and cheaply. Kenneth requested reprints of the following three models: the
½A C/L Saucerer from January 1970, the FF HLGs
Bonanza and Mustang
(this article) from January 1971, and the FF rubber Clodhopper from February 1973...
 Whilst 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. The first
feature on Paul Harvey appeared in the May 1972 edition in a monthly column titled,
"On the Scene." (see below) 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. I did a Google search to try to find information
on Paul Harvey's modeling activities, but could not find anything at all. That is
when I decided to go ahead and reprint this one article from the May 1974 edition
of American Aircraft Modeler. I hope he won't mind...
 Flying Aces magazine featured a monthly
"Aviation
News" column that covered both model and full-size aviation happenings across
the country and on foreign soil. This 1934 issue reported on the land-based "lighthouses"
which were established throughout the land in order to guide airplanes from airport
to airport. Not much in the way of radio direction finding was available at the
time, and this method was more consistent and reliable than having farmers build
bonfires in their fields for pilots to look for. "Dead reckoning" was still the
order of the day back then. Compared to today where only in the most remote areas
are lacking any manmade visual object to positive identification while navigating,
real "seat of the pants" skill was required to fly cross-country routes without
getting lost. Nowadays, GPS-linked and/or inertial navigation systems can flying
an airplane from point A to point B without any assistance from a human. Also
told...
 Plans with minimum instructions for the
Miss Max
free flight model were published the July 1961 issue of American Modeler
magazine. Bryant A. Thompson (AMA 2697 - USAF Team Member), of Wichita Fall,
Texas, placed third in the Open Clipper event at the 1960 Dallas Nationals using
his Miss Max cargo design. It lifted 40−½ ounces. The "300" ½A Free Flight and Clipper
Cargo versions are both shown in the plans. Scaling factors for "300" (Class ½A),
"450" (Class A), and "900" (Class B) model sizes are provided. A Cox Pee Wee .020
is drawn on the plans for the Cargo Clipper version. In the top view, note that
the wing is shown "flattened" (without polyhedral). "Flat span" dimensions are what
appear in the table.
 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!
 Here is a nifty little project for those
of you who still actually build your models. Finding plans for a flight-proven rubber
band-powered helicopter is rare. This construction article and plans for the
Unicopter, a one-bladed
chopper by Mr. Bill Hannan, appeared in the May 1973 edition of American Aircraft
Modeler. It can be made out of a handful of materials that are probably laying around
your hobby bench area. It might not be as exciting as a Blade MCX2 coaxial rotor
RC helicopter, but... oh wait, it actually might just be as exciting after all...
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)...
 Bell Telephone Company played an important
role in the development of the aviation industry by providing communications systems
for airlines. As intimated in this promotion in Boys' Life magazine, in 1961, Bell
introduced the
"air-ground-air" radio system, which allowed pilots to communicate directly
with air traffic controllers on the ground, improving safety and efficiency in air
travel. This system was a major technological advancement, as it replaced the earlier
system of communicating via Morse code, which was slow and prone to errors. The
air-ground-air system allowed pilots to communicate in real-time with controllers,
enabling faster and more accurate instructions for takeoff, landing, and navigating
airspace. Bell Telephone Company continued to innovate in the aviation industry,
introducing new technologies such as satellite-based navigation systems and weather
radar systems, which have greatly improved air travel safety and efficiency...
 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...
 As I have written many times, the lack of
proportional representation of
women
and girls in the model airplane realm is not because when they do show up, no
attention is paid to them. In fact it is just the opposite. Go to any flying field
of any type - R/C, C/L, or F/F, and watch what happens when a girl shows up with
a model if you doubt it. In 1960 and in 2022, and all the years in between, the
fairer sex is sought out and highlighted by model aviation magazines. They are never
exploited, ignored, or criticized - just the opposite. You can be sure that any
female model builder/flyer and/or contest official receives due attention and credit.
The 1959 Academy of Model Aeronautics Nationals (Nats) is a prime example of that
which I claim to be so. Many other examples can be found in the articles posted
here on the AirplanesAndRockets.com website...
 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...
 The name Frank Ehling was big in control
line circles (pun intended) back in the middle of the last century. He was a very
active modeler in free flight, control line, and radio control for that matter,
and was the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) technical director for a while. Frank
was a prolific and accomplished airplane designer, plans draftsman, flyer, and competitor.
This article and plans for his "Combat King"
control line combat model appeared in the June 1959 issue of American Modeler magazine.
It is a flying wing design with a 37" wingspan and is meant to powered with a .29
to .35 size engine. As with most of the vintage model designs, it would easily be
converted to electric power and be competitive. Construction materials are standard
balsa and plywood. |
