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 When Melanie and I got married in 1983,
part of her dowry included some of the toys she had as a little girl. A
Hasbro Lite-Brite
was one of them. Our kids played with it when they were young, but somewhere along
the line during our many household moves, it disappeared. We probably donated it
to the Salvation Army at some point - a lot of our stuff has ended up there. About
a month ago we started watching for a good one on eBay that didn't cost too much.
Finally, there was a 1967-vintage Lite-Brite in like-new condition up for auction
that we got for around $45. It has a nice box...
 Per "Wild Bill" Netzenband's report in this
1961 issue of American Modeler magazine covered the Vancouver Bi-Liners,
MAC highlights, Alan Nichols' success in Thompson Trophy Racer events, encouraging
clubs to adopt the affordable, and slow-flying contests. He addresses backlogged
club crest submissions, noting the impracticality of featuring all due to volume.
Alan Nichols debunks the myth that models wear out quickly, citing his year-old
Nobler and a five-year-old Fierce Arrow with original engine. Memories resurface
of McDonnell Aircraft's picnic air shows, where Phil Hamm's reliable metal jet stood
out. Southern California's new Control-Line Association, led by John Gudvangan and
others, seeks enthusiasts. Detroit's Metropolitan Speed Association unveils an $8,000
Rouge Park speed circle, aiming for a competitive...
 This article entitled "Why Pilots Will Matter
in the Age of
Autonomous Planes" appeared in the June 2025 issue of IEEE's Spectrum
magazine. "Long after planes start flying themselves, humans will still be in the
loop. In August 2001, an anonymous guest posted on the forum at Airliners.net, a
popular aviation website. 'How Long Will Pilots Be Needed?' they wondered, observing
that '20 years or so down the road' technology could be so advanced that planes
would fly themselves. 'So would it really be useful for a person to go to college
now and be an airline pilot if a few years down the road they will be phased out
by technology?' Twenty-four years later, the basic technology required to make aircraft
fly themselves exists, as evidenced by the fact that most commercial flights are
flown largely on autopilot..."
 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...
 This is the complete set of
Peanuts Skediddlers,
sold by Mattel. Linus is extremely difficult to find, and when you do, he typically
sells for $200 or more. If you find a Linus Skediddler with the original box, expect
to pay $400. 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. Everything
was gotten via eBay auctions. It took a lot of patience to be able to get good quality
items at an affordable price. Here is a bit of history I gathered on the Skediddlers.
Phenomenon: In the mid-to-late 1960s, Mattel capitalized on the explosive popularity
of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip by releasing the Skediddler - a line
of friction-powered toys. Unlike wind-up mechanisms, these toys relied on a simple
push-and-go design: sliding them across a surface activated internal gears, causing
the characters' limbs and heads to jerk in a whimsical "skedaddling"...
 This 1949 Air Trails magazine article
warns that the
Soviet
Union has surpassed the U.S. in military aircraft production by a 15-to-1 margin,
with advanced jet fighters, bombers, and long-range piston-engine planes already
operational. Soviet scientists have also conducted atomic tests and are close to
producing compact A-bombs. Intelligence reveals a Red Air Force of 15,000 first-line
aircraft, including 2,400 jets, some surpassing American designs. The Soviets broke
the sound barrier before the U.S. and have developed powerful turbojet engines,
some with innovative features like variable-pitch stators. German scientists and
captured technology accelerated Soviet progress, particularly in rocketry and jet
propulsion. Their aircraft feature advanced construction techniques, such as metal-plywood
sandwich wings, and superior armament...
 A long time ago (circa
1977) I bought a used glider winch at an auction held by the Prince Georges Radio
Club, in Maryland. It cost me somewhere around $25, which was a lot for me in the
mid 1970s. The motor and control circuitry was contained in a plywood box, with
a jack for the foot switch and terminals to clamp jumper cable to from a car. In
looking at these plans for the
AAM Glider Winch shown
here from the April 1973 American Aircraft Modeler, it looks a lot like mine, only
mine was in a wooden box. It worked extremely well for my 99"
Windfree and 99"
Aquila sailplanes. Unfortunately,
I sold it shortly after getting married in 1983 (couldn't eat the winch). I would
love to have it back. Actually, what I would rather have at this point is a winch
that is powered by a cordless drill that would be lighter...
 We take for granted most of the technology
that surrounds us. Unless you were alive 60 years ago at the dawn of microelectronics
and space flight, it would be difficult to imagine a world without cellphones, desktop
computers, color TVs, the Internet, and even
satellite-base weather forecasting. Everyone likes to make jokes about weathermen
being no better at predicting the weather than your grandmother's roomatiz[sic],
but the fact is that, especially for short-term (2-3 days) predictions, we get pretty
good information. As a model airplane flyer, I check the wind level forecast nearly
every day to see whether my model plane can handle it. AccuWeather's free hourly
forecast is usually pretty darn accurate for today's and tomorrow's wind...
 In this 1937 "Smoke Scream" in a 1937 issue
of Flying Aces magazine, by Joe Archibald,
Lt. Phineas
Pinkham, the 9th Pursuit Squadron's resident troublemaker, stumbles into chaos
when he encounters an elephant named Hungha Tin and its Hindu mahout. After the
elephant drinks a bottle of arnica meant for a local's backache, it goes berserk,
wreaking havoc across the Allied camp. Meanwhile, Brigadier Scruggs confesses to
Pinkham that he sleepwalked and handed top-secret battle plans to an unknown spy.
Pinkham, framed by the mahout - who's actually a German agent - unknowingly smokes
a drugged cigarette and nearly flies a stolen Spad to the enemy. The vengeful elephant
interrupts his forced defection, allowing Pinkham to escape with Hauptmann von Spieler
as his prisoner. Back at base, Pinkham...
 The Academy of Model Aeronautics is granted
tax-exempt status because part of its charter is for activity as an educational
organization. I think as time goes on, it gets harder for the AMA for fulfill that
part of its mission because presenting anything even vaguely resembling mathematics
or science to kids (or to most adults for that matter), is the kiss of death for
gaining or retaining interest. This article, "Control-Line
Aerodynamics Made Painless," was printed in the December 1967 edition of
American Modeler magazine, when graphs, charts, and equations were not eschewed
by modelers. It is awesome. On rare occasions a similar type article will appear
nowadays in Model Aviation magazine for topics like basic aerodynamics and battery
/ motor parameters. Nowadays, it seems, the most rigorous classroom material that
the AMA can manage to slip into schools is a box of gliders and a PowerPoint presentation...
 Peter Bowers first became know to me because
of his Fly Baby homebuilt airplane. It won the
Experimental
Aircraft Association (EAA) design contest in 1962. Back in the middle and late
1970s, I was taking flying lessons and dreaming big about building my own aerobatic
biplane. Being an avid woodworker, the Fly Baby appealed to me because it was constructed
entirely of wood, except for a few critical metal fittings. My plan was to build
the biplane version of the Fly Baby. Like so many other things, the aeroplane never
got built. Peter Bowers was not only an aeronautical engineer and airplane designer
but also an aviation historian and model airplane enthusiast...
 "FlightGear" is an Open Source (aka
Free) flight simulator program which I first wrote about in 2012. It has come a
long way - and was pretty dran good, aven back then - and is now a viable competitor
for Microsoft's Flight Simulator (MSFS). The leatest release as of this writing
is 2024.1.1. The graphics are superb and easily on par with MSFS. FlightGear has
a joystick interface, but I don't own a joystick, so my experience with it using
keyboard inputs. VR headsets are also supported now. The basic download comes with
a couple dozen aircraft, and there are many additional models available as separate
downloads. FlightGear runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Thanks to all the folks
who have spent their valuable time developing FlightGear! FlightGear website: "FlightGear
is an open-source flight simulator. It supports a variety of popular platforms (Windows,
Mac, Linux, etc.) and is developed by skilled volunteers from around the world...
 The October 1950 Air Trails magazine
showcases
modelers' innovations, including H.G. Oliver's Plexiglas skids for speed models
and Don Nelson's booster battery setup. Ray Biernacki suggests keeping brushes soft
with thinner fumes, while Richard Larson offers a footswitch for bench testing.
Ted Jones improves dethermalizer safety, and Charles Francis simplifies its design.
Willard Hafler's flying wing excels in speed and sport flying, and Leon Shulman
repurposes a crankcase recess as a fuel tank. The magazine encourages readers to
submit their own ideas, paying $2 per accepted sketch. These practical, cost-saving
solutions highlight the creativity of mid-century model aviation enthusiasts, blending
engineering ingenuity with accessible materials - a snapshot of hobbyist innovation
in postwar America...
 "IEEE Spectrum interviewed Bertrand Piccard
at a pivotal moment in the hydrogen-powered aircraft project, with the plane, called
Climate Impulse,
about 40 percent built. Piccard spoke about the contributions of his corporate sponsors,
including Airbus, to the Climate Impulse project and about why he's confident that
hydrogen will eventually succeed as an aviation fuel. He'll fly around the world
in a hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft. Few explorers have reached the heights, literally
and figuratively, that Bertrand Piccard has. He is the quintessential modern explorer,
for whom every big mission has a purpose, which generally boils down to environmental
and climate-change awareness. In 1999, he was the first person to circumnavigate..."
 Amazingly, even during the Cold War years
it was not uncommon to see aircraft modelers from the "Iron Curtain"
countries participating in international contests. Even Commies like flying model
airplanes. Because their societies and politics were so closed and guarded, getting
information about their modeling supplies was darn near impossible except during
events where inspection could be made. Being a generally friendly bunch of guys,
the modelers would share their designs with the Free World, and vice versa. Then,
in subsequent years the Commies would show up with equipment that was exact replicas
of ours - copyrights and trademarks held no legal weight behind the Iron Curtain.
Truth be know, most or all of the participants were probably KGB agents (or other
Commie country equivalents) engaging...
 While talking to a lady working one of the
tables at the 2016 Brodak Fly-In (July 14, 2016), she happened to mention that the
Brodak Manufacturing &
Distribution operations plant is located about a mile away, right behind Brodak's
Hobby Shop in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. I made sure to stop by after first visiting
the hobby shop. Brodak, unarguably the largest seller of control line models and
flying supplies, has the advantage of being its own manufacturer for most of its
products. Because of that, they are able to sell at the lowest prices possible for
a proprietary line of goods. Control line model airplane kits, nuts and bolts and
washers and other assembly hardware, flying lines and handles, landing gear, nitro
fuel, dope, thinner, adjustable line leadouts, balsa, plywood...
 The
1961 AMA Nationals (NATS) showcased American excellence in model aviation as
Joe Bilgri, William Bigge, and Carl Redlin dominated the World Indoor Championships
in England, with Bilgri's record 37-minute flight securing individual honors. The
event featured engineering marvels like Ken Spitulski's scratch-built radio-controlled
freighter and Paul Williams' Twin Ringmaster, a dual-engine stunt plane. Pan-American
Airways concluded its 14-year sponsorship of payload competitions, marking the end
of an era. Veteran modelers like Carl Goldberg rubbed shoulders with rising talents,
while unique designs such as Doug Joyce's canard-style "Lightning" demonstrated
the hobby's creative spirit. The competition also included lighter moments like
the Miss Model Aviation pageant and Testor's best-finish award...
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 Here is yet another example of how hobbyists
laid the groundwork for technical innovations that were eventually adapted for use
and improved by professional organizations - the military, universities, corporations.
Radio control of model airplanes was first successfully achieved by a pair of brothers,
Dr. Bill Good and Dr. Walt Good (kind of like the Wrights), who experimented with
what were at the time rather crude engines and electronic and electromechanical
devices. The year was 1936, only eleven years before this article appeared in Radio−Craft
magazine reporting on the U.S. Army Air Force's and Navy's use of radio-controlled
drones, or as the title says, "Teleguided
Missiles." Some systems were designed from the ground up to be missiles while
others were systems installed in existing aircraft which had been decommissioned
for normal human-piloted use. They were sort of a Kamikaze craft without the expendable
airman inside...
 Just as with the Douglas Model Distributors
ad appearing on the same page of the September 1949 issue of Air Trails
magazine, you can see how marketing people knew how to get the attention of men
and boys. Victor Aerosearch ("aerosearch" possibly being an allusion to "aeronautical
research"?), maker of the very popular (at the time) AeroGloss hot fuel-proof dope,
employed the same eye-catching technique. Of course both companies leveraged the
dual meaning of the word "model" to their advantage. Some people like to say you
only need to use an attractive model to get people to notice your product if the
product is not attractive enough on its own to garner interest. Others say the girl
serves two purposes - to get the attention of men in the business and to suggest
that if you use this particular product, you will naturally draw the attention of
girls who look like the one in the ad. Both arguments have merit, but I'm guessing
the most prevalent one is the latter rather than the former.
 The 1956 Annual edition of Air Trails
magazine reports here on the 1955 Air Force Model Airplane Championships held at
Travis Air Force Base, in California. Check out that B-29 control line model entry,
and then see this B-29 model inherited by Boyd Steffe. Back in the good 'ole days,
the U.S. armed forces spent taxpayer money supporting sporting events and hobby
pursuits. It helped increase morale, esprit de corps, technical prowess, physical
fitness, and very importantly, it promoted the service as a career and lifestyle.
Both the Air Force and the Navy were heavily into model aviation by sponsoring competitions
on bases worldwide. The Navy was a prime sponsor of the Academy of Model Aeronautics'
Nationals competition for many years, using its exposure to young men as a recruitment
effort. Today, sadly, such activity is looked upon by our Woke armed forces as White
Privilege and money is instead applied toward gender change operations and lifelong
medical and psychological support...
 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)...
 Dr. Ralph Brooke was a member of the 1963
U.S. International Team, which won the World Champion ships at Genk, Belgium. He
custom designed "Whistler" full house radio control model airplane is featured
in this 1963 issue of American Modeler magazine. The engine was a Veco
.45, which was smaller than the .60 size used by many competitors of the day. The
plans are well-drawn, but the wing portion is broken across the two sheets, and
only the left half is shown. The wingspan is only 59", so it really wouldn't have
been that much trouble to put at least the entire wing half on one sheet. That has
always been a pet peeve of mine. Otherwise, the Whistler is a nice looking model
and could easily be adapted to electric power ...
 Isn't it interesting how these days you
almost never hear Communists referred to as Communists? Up until the last two decades
or so, newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, movies, et al, regularly used
the word to describe countries and leaders thereof such as Russia and Soviet Union,
China, Cuba, North Korea, and North Vietnam. I don't think it is because we don't
want to hurt anyone's feelings; rather, it is because the purveyors of the media
are openly simpatico with the precepts, but don't want to bear the stigma of the
title. In 1950 when this "Commies
in Profile" article appeared in Air Trails magazine, no pretenses were
made about who the bad guys were and calling the villain by name was popular. Russia
had been our ally in World War II, but only because we had a common enemy -
the Axis powers. Anyway, here is a collection of known aircraft in the Russian air
force in the time between WWII and Korea. The similarity to many American, British,
and German planes is obvious. The most interesting, IMHO, is the MIG Utka (duck)
canard design...
 If you have been looking for an unusual project
that should build fairly quickly, cost very little, contain non-standard materials,
and qualify for a vintage design contest, then
Rathgeber's "Minimum" fits the bill. It is a 1/2A control line
speed model with about an 8" wingspan that appeared in a 1957 issue of American
Modeler magazine. It does not appear to have been intended for serious competition,
but given the single-line control and extremely high thrust-to-weight ration and
minimal drag design, it might have been a contender back in the day. Designer George
Rathgeber does not give specifics on timed flights. My guess is that it was a handful
to fly due to lack of tail feathers ...
 Radio control (R/C) of a model does not get
much simpler than the transmitter and receiver circuits shown in the schematics
of Figure 2. Of course the cleanness of the transmitted signal and the selectivity
of the receiver of that signal leaves a lot to be desired. In 1952 when this article
appeared in Radio & Television News magazine, the airwaves were not
cluttered with wireless communications devices, but given that these radio systems
were sharing the electromagnetic spectrum with Citizens Band (CB) radio, the chances
of getting "shot down" from nearby operators was pretty high if you lived within
a few miles of where CBers were communicating. More sophisticated R/C equipment
was available from commercial manufacturers, but this system targeted the do-it-yourself
types and those with limited hobby budgets...
 Here are a few more photos from the
1959 AMA Nationals,
in continuation of coverage in the July and August issues of Model Aviation
magazine. Some are behind-the-scenes shots rather than just flight line action.
Vintage unbuilt kits of a lot of the airplanes you see in these pictures are selling
for a small fortune today on eBay. BTW, this series of Model Aviation is completely
different than and precedes the current incarnation of Model Aviation that
followed the American Aircraft Modeler and American Modeler titles.
Its size is just 8½" high by 5½" wide, and were typically only about 20 pages. The
February 1959 issue has about twice as many pages because it also contains the 1950-1960
"Official Model Aircraft Regulations Governing Sporting Model Aviation in America."
I have all 12 issue from 1959, and don't know if others are available...
 It was May 6, 1937, just a couple months
after this comic appeared in the March 1937 issue of Flying Aces' "Wisecrack-ups"
feature, that the namesake of the alluded-to dirigible would suffer a fiery end
to its service in ferrying passengers back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean.
Prior to that, big plans were in the works for making fortunes on luxury travel
in the relative safety of a large, inherently stable - and presumably safe - mode
of transcontinental travel. Even a switch from highly flammable hydrogen to inert
helium was not enough to assuage the flying public's concerns. Besides, helium was
rather scarce and therefore expensive at the time. The other comic is rather funny,
given the fuselages of both the aeroplane its presumptive passengers. Otherwise,
a collection of puns, jokes, and humorous conversations are included. Some of the
content's impact will be lost on a younger generation not familiar with the situational
circumstances of the era. Enjoy!
 In the mid-1940s, toward the end of World
War II, Flying Aces magazine changed its name to Flying Age,
while changing its focus from model aviation to aviation in general. Much to the
consternation of many of its readers, that included no longer including the much-loved
fictional stories of flying superstars like Kerry Keen, Dick Knight, Capt. Philip
Strange, Battling Grogan and his Dragon Squadron, Crash Carringer, and of course
Lt. Phineas Pinkham. The good aspect of the change is that Flying Age
published a lot of stories about full-size aircraft and flying which were geared
toward their audience of modelers who were interested in all aspects of aeronautics.
This piece discussed primarily
variable pitch, constant speed propellers being used on military, commercial,
and civilian airplanes. You, like I, though that by now there would be similar propellers
available for model aircraft use, but apart from a few homebuilts, no commercially
made products are available (there was one for indoor electrics, but nothing for
powerful engines / motors). Given the number of variable-pitch rotor heads for helicopters,
it shouldn't be so hard to implement for airplane propellers...
 When most people think about control line
(CL) models, airplanes are what comes to mind. However, prior to the advent of miniature,
reliable radio control (RC) systems, model boats and model cars also ran on control
lines, as reported in a 1957 issue of American Modeler magazine. Most of
the time they went in circles, just like model airplanes do; however, some hobbyists
stretched out long sections of straight line in order to get maximum speeds from
their craft. Unlike with model airplanes where an operator in the center of the
circle exerted control of the elevator (and sometimes throttle), the
control line boats
and cars generally ran with no form of control. In fact, usually the models
were tethered with a single line in the center of the circle and the operator handled
the boat or car from the outside...
 This particular page is from page 47 of the
July 1957 issue of American Modeler magazine. If you can find one of these
older model Thimble-Drome (Cox)
PeeWee .020's on eBay in the original packaging, it will typically
end up selling for $75 or more. Thimble Drome is no longer in operation. Use the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator to see what items cost in
today's dollars. For instance, that $3.95 PeeWee .020 would be $35.19 in 2018 money
- a factor of nearly 10x ...
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)...
 Walter M. Jefferies, Jr., was one of the
premier illustrators for model aircraft magazines in the era that this 4-view drawing
of the Temco TT−1
"Pinto" jet appeared in American Modeler magazine. The Pinto was designed to
be a rugged military trainer. Temco (Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company
) was in competition with Cessna Aircraft's T−37 "Tweet" ( an embarrassing name)
which we all know by now based on its familiarity won the bid. Once you have heard
the loud, extremely high pitched sound of the T−37 sitting on the tarmac, you'll
never forget it. A primary difference between the two airplanes is that the Pinto
was a tandem seating arrangement, while the Tweet was side-by-side. I would have
given a month's pay when I was in the USAF to be able to get a ride in a T−37. Of
course month's pay for a non-NCO airman back in the 1970's was a pittance, so it
would have been a cheap ride...
 Each
autumn I used to anxiously await the appearance of the newest edition of The
Old Farmer's Almanac on the store shelf. It is not that I was/am an avid farmer,
just that I enjoy reading the anecdotes, tales, and interesting historical tidbits
included amongst the pages along with tables of high and low tides, moon and sun
rising and setting times, astronomical events, and weather patterns expected for
the year that lay ahead. Most of all, I liked working the
puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty levels gradually got lower
and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the last decade or so I have
not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut stuff. Because
quite a few of the Mathematical Puzzles from the older editions are worthy of an
engineer's cerebration, contemplation, and deliberation, I am posting the ones I
own here on RF Cafe. Answers to numbers 1 through 11...
 Ahhhh, the days before electric powered
everything. I will be the first to admit that the ease of operation, cleanliness,
and quietness of an e-powered model is convenient and helps keep neighbors happy,
but the undeniable fact is that from a motivational perspective, nothing in modeling
compares to a screaming
internal combustion engine (ICE) with blue smoke pouring out of
the exhaust - especially when no muffler is installed. Go on, you can admit it,
unless of course you have never partaken in that aspect of our hobby. When I was
a kid, if I could hear even the slightest hint of a glow engine running, I'd be
on my bicycle pedaling as fast as I could toward the source of the beautiful sound.
Sometimes it was a kid down the road with his Cox tethered car, or on rare occasions
a fellow model airplane flier. A man a couple blocks away flew R/C airplanes and
helicopters, and my sudden presence every time he started up an engine probably
made him cringe (although I did stay out at the street unless invited over). I would
be content to sit on the side of the road and listen to the engine run and if lucky,
get a whiff of the exhaust. I've told Melanie that if I ever lapse into unconsciousness
and cannot otherwise be revived, fire up a Cox .049 in front of me or wave a spent
Estes rocket engine under my nose. I there still is no response... |
