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 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...
|
 Airplanes and Rockets website visitor
Mel G. wrote to ask that I scan and post this article on Dick Mathis' famous
Bounty Hunter 1/2A free
flight airplane. It appeared in the September/October 1965 issue of American
Modeler magazine. Mel says he built one from a kit bought at MAL Hobby (Model Aircraft
Laboratories) back in the 1980s. According to their website MAL Hobby has been in
business in Irving, Texas, since 1948, but according to Archive.org their website
appears to have disappeared sometime about 2014. I could not find the Bounty Hunter
kit listed on their website. If you are looking for an article or plans not already
posted here, please send me an e-mail and I will be glad to do so if I happen to
have the issue you need...
 This is the February 8, 1942, "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...
 These couple
vintage model
aviation comics appeared in the May 1957 issue of the Academy of Model Aeronautics'
American Modeler magazine. The one on page 8 might need some explanation in order
"get it." Back in the era, aviation of all sorts - both model and full-size - was
still a novelty for most people. When either type of aircraft was seen close to
the ground where people could get up-close looks, a crowd would often gather. In
this comic, a huge group of people stopped to watch the model airplane fly, so the
modeler decided it was his civic duty to provide a show for the onlookers. Many
decades ago, comic strips had a very broad appeal with people. Daily newspapers
and magazines often carried a large variety of single pane comics and strip comics...
 Little did most people know that two months
after this October 1941 issue of Flying Aces magazine arrived in their
mailboxes, the U.S. would be drawn into what would become World War II, following
the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. Flying Aces
was chock full of factual and fictional stories about the last war (War War I),
and the things the Krauts and Nips were already pulling across Western Europe, North
Africa, China, and the South Pacific. Much more subject material was near at hand.
Oddly, the magazine changed its theme and title to Flying Age shortly before
the end of WWII, electing to focus more on full-scale aircraft rather than models.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Inflation Calculator, the $9.75 Phantom
P-30 engine would cost you about $194 in 2023. In 2020 it would have been $163.
That means the total rate of inflation for the last three (3) years has been around
19% (~6.3%/year). In 2016 the equivalent price would have been about $153, so from
2016 to 2020 the increase was just 6.5% for the entire four years (~1.6%/year)...
 Featured here in the September 1949 issue
of Air Trails magazine are no fewer than 52 model aircraft (or boat or
car) engines on the market at the time. As with most items considered non-essential
that required critical resources (material and/or manufacturing capacity), the modeling
industry took a hit during the World War II years. Much print space was consumed
by tips and tricks for how to make your own components or substitute material for
what had been customary. Balsa was in short supply because it was (and still is)
used in the construction of air-dropped equipment pallets. Rubber, metal, plastic
(still relatively new at the time), and even some cloth and paper was often difficult
to procure for building or repairing models. Once the war was over, companies went
as fast as they could in converting from wartime production back to peacetime production...
 The October 1950 issue of Air Trails
magazine did a duo-feature on Henri Delanne and his
Duo-Monoplane designs. This article reports on the life and accomplishments
of Delanne and his out-of-the-box concept of what an airplane should look like.
While not quite canards, they did have the wing far back on the fuselage, and larger
than usual horizontal stabilizer surfaces (essentially a second wing - almost a
biplane with sever staggering) and dual vertical fins. Flying surfaces were so close
to each other that airflow from the forward wing had to profoundly affect the rearward
wing. Wind tunnels, pioneered by Wilbur and Orville Wright, were available for study
of such configurations, but it would be very interesting to see on of Delannes Duo-Monoplanes
modeled on a modern software simulator using computational fluid dynamics algorithms...
 The old adage about pioneers taking the arrows
is true in many realms - not just the exploration and settling of the wild west.
This story entitled "Sparks
on Ice" recounting the trials and tribulations of the troops who installed and
debugged the first arctic directional beacons appeared in a 1945 issue of Flying
Age magazine. "Sparks" (or "Sparky") was an endearing nickname given to early radio
operators who used spark gap transmitters to send out their Morse code messages.
It stuck around for many years after better transmitter systems were developed -
although it is not very often heard today. The most interesting part of Mark Weaver's
article is a discussion of the many atmospheric phenomena that affect radio waves
of various wavelengths. A lot of smart people - enlisted, commissioned, and civilian
- sacrificed mightily...
 In the late 1960s when I received a Cox
Sky Copter free flight helicopter for Christmas, there was very little in the way
of commercially available flying model helicopters. It was modeled after the Bell
47−G, which was later made famous by the M.A.S.H. television series. Victor Stanzel
sold its tethered ElectroMic "Copter" that was powered by a pair of "D" cell batteries.
As far as I know, Cox made the only nitro fuel powered free flight helicopter, named
"Sky Copter." It was powered by a Cox .020 engine mounted to the top-center of the
main rotor shaft, and caused the rotors to turn due to the counter torque cause
by the propeller on the .020. It worked very well. After getting the engine started,
you would give the rotors a spin in the clockwise direction (looking down from the
top), and the gently push the model straight up. My guess is that most of the lift
was provided by the engine's propeller pushing air down, and that the spinning rotors
served primarily to stabilize the model during powered flight. Once the engine quit,
the spinning rotors essentially went into a counter-rotation mode to gently bring
the Sky Copter back to terra firma...
 Over time, our (Melanie and me) Peanuts collection
of memorabilia has grow from the few items she had left over from her girlhood to
complete sets. It took a lot of patience to be able to get good quality items at
an affordable price. The "Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz" book was very helpful
in identifying which Peanuts memorabilia items were made. The author mentioned that
the rarest Hungerford doll
piece was the piano that came with Schroeder, so a saved search was placed on eBay
and after about a year ...
 Cal Smith covers a huge amount of turf in
this article about the Academy of Model Aeronautics' (AMA's) control line
Navy Carrier event equipment, airframes, engines, and flying techniques.
Back in 1961, when this article appeared in American Modeler magazine,
the U.S. Navy was still sponsoring the AMA National Competition as a means of encouraging
young men to consider careers in the Navy as pilots as well as all the other disciplines
needed to keep the fleet afloat, so to speak. I always wanted to try building and
flying Carrier, but the opportunity never presented itself. There have not been
local clubs with a carrier deck, and I have neither the land area nor the money
to build my own. It sure seems like flying Carrier shouldn't be as difficult as
it really is, but I have watched competitions at Brodak and snagging one of the
arrestor lines ...
 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...
 Model boat plans are more difficult to come
by than model airplane plans, so seeing this article in the August 1954 issue of
Air Trails magazine for a small, free-running hydroplane was a nice find.
Its simple, inexpensive construction makes it a quick build for those rare modelers
that still build their own models out of wood. The Skiddin' II can easily accommodate
a modern miniature radio control system and a brushless motor setup. The original
model was designed for a transom-mounted glow fuel outboard engine, but those things
make model boat plans look plentiful. If you really want an outboard, try eBay,
and be prepared to pay a couple hundred bucks for it...
 Nowadays if you want to know whether a supplier
of model items (or anything else for that matter) has something in stock for shipment,
all you need to do is log onto the company's website and search. Or, you might prefer
to call since long distance calls are no big deal like they were back in the times
when everyone paid by the minute to talk outside of his local calling area. Not
so in 1972, when evidently I wrote to
Hobby Lobby International to find out whether they still sold any single-channel
radio control (R/C) systems. At the time I was just a few weeks shy of 14 years
old (based on the cancellation date) and my sole income was from a newspaper delivery
route (when papers were delivered on bicycles by teenagers rather than by adults
in gas-guzzling cars). I found this postcard mixed in with some old photographs
...
 In looking at this advertisement by
Douglas Model Distributors in the September 1949 issue of Air Trails
magazine, you might wonder what type of models Douglas was distributing. Of course
if you want to sell products and service to men (and boys), one of the best gimmicks
to use is a pretty - and shapely - girl (see the AeroGloss ad also on the page).
Marketeers have been onto that angle since the dawn of civilization. The company
was located in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the time of this advertisement, but a search
for Douglas Model Distributors shows they are now (if it is the same company) set
up in Liberty, Missouri. On their webpage there is a note about their retail distributor
business called Sprue Brothers Models, which is funny because a "sprue" is the little
section of plastic on a model kit injection molded parts tree that connects the
parts to the tree. I'm guessing the company name is a play on the process...
 We modelers really have an easy time of
it these days if there is a much stronger desire to fly than to build, or if there
is an innate inability to build well. Levels of engineering and prefabrication have
reached the point that even with vehicles as complex and inherently unstable as
helicopters
and multirotor platforms, a model pilot wannabe can purchase just about any
flying platform in a ready-to-fly configuration. Not many people back in the era
when Roy Clough wrote this article even dreamed that for a couple hundred bucks
it would be possible to buy a helicopter that would be able fly in a hands-off manner,
but would even have an onboard computer that would bring the craft back to an upright,
stable, hovering state simply by pushing a literal panic button on a transmitter.
The state of the art in R/C helicopters was presented in this 1953 issue of
Air Trails magazine...
 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...
 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)...
 The flying business was big business in the
early days of aviation. From the beginning, specialized training and certification
was needed to be trusted in the air with mail, cargo, and the lives of strangers.
As with today, a flyboy could teach himself to fly and put his own neck on the line
(only with ultralights now, though), but anything more meant graduating from a college
curriculum and/or getting training from the military. The Civil Aeronautics Authority
(CAA, now the Federal Aviation Administration cum FAA), oversaw non-military flights
and its Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) regulated and certified private schools
for teaching aspiring pilots aerodynamics, mechanics, weather phenomena, airframe
and powerplant maintenance, rules and regulations, public relations, and other necessary
skills. This "Youth
Air Movement News" column from the December 1939 issue of Flying Aces
magazine reported on the progress of the program, and mentioned here that women
were being permitted into the flying schools as well...
 This
Parris-Dunn "Little Bobby" Helicopter Kite kit may well be the
only one left in existence. Many thanks to Mr. Steven Krick for providing the
kit to me for documenting. I will contact the AMA's National Model Aviation Museum
in Muncie, Indiana, to find out if they want it for their collection of model aviation
historical items. A fairly extensive search on the WWW turned up exactly zero other
examples of this kit, or any mention of it for that matter. Parris-Dunn was primarily
a wind-powered electricity generator company located in Clarinda, Iowa, formed in
the 1930s. In the days before commercial electric power was delivered to rural areas,
farms and homes were run on DC power provided by banks of lead-acid storage batteries,
so the generators were very popular as a means of recharging them. Many early radio
sets ...
 You might have noticed that I have a "thing"
for the Aquila glider. Having built
two - one from plans and one from a kit - back in the mid-1970s when the article
first appeared in RC Modeler magazine, I developed an appreciation for the graceful
lines and the flight performance. In later years I modified a Great Planes 2-Meter
Spirit glider to look a bit like the Aquila, and dubbed it the Aquila Spirit. Next,
never having had a glider with a wingspan greater than 99", I scaled up the Aquila
plans to 105% and built that. That one, which was a lot of work to build, was sold
to a guy in Maryland before making a household move. Now, desiring another Aquila,
I decided to build a version with a one-piece wing, but did not want it to be 99"
long. Two meters was too short, so I went with an 85" wingspan. That is the one
pictured and described here. Because large flying sites are so hard to come by,
I elected to install a motor in the nose, but also provided for a tow hook just
in case. Note the unique method for attaching the wing. I didn't want a removable
cut-out section in the fuselage, so instead the wing passes through the fuselage
and is held fast with a couple small rubber bands. The rubber bands only keep the
wing in alignment. I've never seen anything like it before, so maybe I've just invented
a new method of wing attachment (patent pending)...
 On July 21, 2013, Melanie and I toured the
inside of the "Memphis Belle"
that was used in filming the movie of the same name. North Coast Air, based at Erie
International Airport, hosted the event. This particular B−17 Flying Fortress is
not the original Memphis Belle, but is a version that was produced in 1945, near
the end of World War II. It is being leased by the Liberty Foundation
for country-wide public tours while the ill-fated Liberty Belle is being restored.
Rides were being offered for around $500 per seat, so we had to pass on that. I'd
gladly pay the price if we could afford it, because the costs of operating such
an aircraft is enormous. Fortunately, wealthy sponsors pay for the majority of the
expenses. The Smithsonian of course has a fully restored B−17, but it sits in a
museum and never takes to the air. The B−17's four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet
radial engines make an unmistakable sound in the air, as do other multi-engine World
War II era planes. I still run outside the house an search the skies when I
hear such a sweet noise.. |
