|
 As a lifelong admirer of Charles Schulz's
Peanuts comic strip, I occasionally buy a collectible item like a Snoopy music box
that plays "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," a plastic Schroeder and piano figurine,
a Charlie Brown Skediddler, or a Snoopy astronaut from the Apollo era. This time
I bought the edition of TV Guide that announced the first showing of the "A Charlie
Brown Christmas" cartoon. Also in this edition is the announcement of plans
to preempt regular programming to televise the launch of the Gemini VII spacecraft,
which carried astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell. It launched right on
time at 7:30 pm on December 4th, 1965. "As his millions of fans long since have discovered,
under that inept, ineffectual, bumbling exterior of Charlie Brown's there beats
a heart as soft and sweet as a marshmallow. In the sequence on these pages, drawn
exclusively for TV Guide by Charlie's creator, Charles Schulz, he becomes concerned
about the true meaning of Christmas...
 I've been using X-acto tools since my teenage
years the early 1970s. Before that, my razor knife blades were either the single-edge
hardware store type or double-edge blades copped from my father's safety razor (those
were truly dangerous, even with one edge taped). Half a century later, I now have
a selection of many flavors of X-actor blades and handles. As the chart above shows,
there seems to be an X-acto blade for every purpose. I often wondered what they
were all meant for, until I found this
X-acto Blade Usage Chart
from the company. Like most people, by far my most often used blade is the trusty
#11. I've been through hundreds of them. X-acto also makes a wide variety of specially
shaped carving blades, including vees, cups, circles (routers)...
 Most people these days are probably now
aware of an aeronautical profession that up until around the early 1980s was a vital
part of aviation - the
flight
engineer. This 1950s article in Air Trails magazine highlights what
was at the time a very prestigious and sought-after position for people wanting
professional level careers in both commercial and military aviation. Since the 1930s,
aircraft were rapidly growing larger and more complex. Most had two to four engines,
retracting landing gear, pressurized cabins, autopilots, electronic and celestial
navigation, long distance routes, and increasingly crowded airways. All that plus
en route and destination airport weather, and even ground traffic clutter at
airports...
 This is part two of a series from the March
1957 issue of American Modeler magazine that briefly introduces a dozen
winning free flight models and comments from their designers. Current day modelers
who like to fly the vintage (old timer) airplanes might pick up a useful tip from
the masters of the golden age of free flight. Materials have not changed a lot since
then, other than maybe the use of carbon fiber in the airframe, and no doubt engine
technology has gotten better, but the fundamentals of trimming for the powered and
glide portions of free flight pretty much remain the same...
Anyone who watched the
WKRP in Cincinnati TV sitcom back in the 1970s has to remember what was one
of the funniest episodes ever. Here is the 4 minutes that made Prime Time history.
In this Thanksgiving episode, station owner Arthur Carlson decided he would surprise
the community with good deed - that doubled as a promotional stunt for his radio
station - by dropping turkeys from a helicopter for lucky shoppers at the local
shopping mall. Watch the disaster unfold as Les Nessman reports live, and then see
Carlson's final comment that is still used or alluded to in many comic routines.
Posting this video is an RF Cafe tradition. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
 "A team of students at the University of
Southern California has officially set a
new record for the highest amateur space launch - and they've set the bar very,
very high for anyone who tries to beat it. The rocket, Aftershock II, reached a
height of about 470,000 feet (about 90 miles), passing the existing record for highest
amateur space flight by about 80,000 feet. The launch The team's successful launch
took place on October 20, though it took roughly a month for the student team to
verify the data via a report this month. That data showed that the amateur rocket
traveled roughly five-and-a-half times the speed of sound during the launch. To
perform the test, students from the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab traveled to the Black
Rock Desert, since the playas and dry lake beds there proved suitable..."
 This brief piece from the October 1950 issue
of Air Trails magazine was a springboard into articles on
control line models for beginners. The Peppy Trainer, for example, is 28" wingspan,
flat−bottom airfoil control line model with a solid balsa fuselage and tail surfaces.
It used a .09 engine - which would typically be easier to adjust and keep running
than a standard .049 engine. That article also recommends more than a dozen other
good trainer models to server both the rank control line beginner and someone just
getting into control line aerobatics. Many have built-up fuselages, which the experts
claim is best for high precision maneuvers since the rigidity of the 3-dimensional
structure minimizes twisting, keeping the alignment between the wing and horizontal
stabilizer consistent. There are low-wing, mid-wing, and high-wing configurations,
both scale-like and non-scale...
 Destination Lancaster pledged $100,000 toward
finishing construction of the new
Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Museum is expected
to become a top destination and draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Aerospace
Valley area near Lancaster, California. Art Thompson, Chairman of the Flight Test
Historical Foundation (FTHF) said, 'This significant pledge from Destination Lancaster
demonstrates their vision for the economic growth and tourism potential of our region.
The new museum will serve as a cornerstone attraction, drawing aviation enthusiasts..."
 Airplanes and Rockets website visitor Michael
M. wrote to request that I post this article, along with the ones for the
Satellite 1000 free-flight champion,
and The Giants of Free Flight. His reason was that he wanted to get his flying team
back together again in Bill Hunter, who passed away recently. This 1972 American
Aircraft Modeler magazine article on covering with Mylar is very extensive
and is another example of such efforts that were common in hobby magazines of decades
ago - a large part of my motivation for making them available. It is rare...
 1943, in the midst of World War II,
was about the beginning of the time when all the
fantastic predictions of flying cars, video phones, domestic robots, two-day
work weeks, meals in pill form, self-driving lawn mowers, self-driving cars, moon
and planet habitats, and other creations were being pitched by technical magazines
like Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Science and Mechanics,
Mechanix Illustrated, and others. Even the "women's" mags were full of
promises of automated everything to make housework simpler. While many of the fundamental
inventions has since been created, only a few have evolved to full maturity as envisioned.
A flying machine in every garage is one which has not. Such a Jetsons...
 We will be moving back to Erie, PA, where
overcast skies dominate, and the city lights kill views, so I am going to try to
sell this before leaving. I'd keep it as a museum piece for display if I was going
to have room, but we might be going into an apartment. The entire system has been
stripped down and refinished, with original components retained for authenticity.
Included are telescope, mount, clock drive, finder scope, 9 mm and 18 mm
eyepieces, 2x Barlow, dust covers. This is truly a unique opportunity. Please contact
me via e-mail if you are interested in buying it. Local pick-up only, or I'll deliver
for $50 within 100 miles of Greensboro, NC, with payment in advance...
 Here is a very simple technique for creating
and applying custom
lettering - or even complex graphics - using Monokote covering. It makes cutting
out and positioning the individual pieces easy on flat surfaces or surfaces with
a simple curve or bend. Complex surfaces like cowls and wheel pants can be more
challenging, but at least the shapes can be created this way. Use any word processor
or graphics program to create the exact size and text and/or graphic shapes, including
spacing and alignment, italics, font face, etc., that you want on your printer.
Print it out on regular printer paper (20# works fine). Tape the paper onto the
Monokote and cut out each character with an x-Acto...
 This
Midwest Products Sharpie Schooner is one
of two static display models that I built for my dearest, Melanie (the other being
a Midwest Products Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack). She actually bought them to build
herself, but decided to let me build them instead. I used my woodworking, metalworking,
and painting skills for the structure and accessories, and she used her sewing skills
to make the sails. Applying all those tuft strings on the sails was quite time-consuming.
Deft Gloss clear was sprayed on the entire structure and sanded between coats for
a smooth surface. Then, Testors enamel paint was applied on the bottom of the hull.
The effort paid off with a 1st Place ribbon at the 2004 Dixie Classic Fair, in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina...
 The Russian MiG-15 and French Mystère jet
airplanes were prominent first in the Korean War and then into the Vietnam era.
They were two of the earliest jet fighters in air warfare. Many of the American
jet planes were being modeled around 1956, when this issue of Young Men magazine
came out, but at least in domestic magazines, plans for foreign jobs were fairly
rare. Here are plans for the two aforementioned Russian and French jets which use
the Jetex 50 engine for propulsion. Construction is all balsa, consisting of
a minimal framework covered with 1/32" balsa...
 Snow season arrived here in Erie, Pennsylvania,
already (13" on November 10th), and I didn't want to miss the chance to do some
flying off of snow skis. Last winter I mounted a pair of DuBro snow skis to my
Herr Engineering
J-3 Cub and flew a couple times with them, but they were the standard model
that are too big and heavy for this 1/2A-sized model. DuBro's Park Flyer Snow Skis
seemed like they might be a better choice for the J-3, so I ordered a pair. The
size is just about right, but the vacuum-formed plastic was a bit too thin for me
to confidently install them on the J-3. I decided that they would be perfectly useable
with a little sturdying up. As can be seen in the photos, there are two stiffening
slots...
 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...
|
 Is the
BOMARC an airplane or a rocket? If
it is an airplane, then it is the pilotless type (aka "drone"). If it is a rocket,
then it is the ultimate in controlled trajectory hardware - at least in its day.
The DoD referred to it as a surface-to-air guided missile. The name is a combination
of "BOeing Airplane Company" and "Michigan
Aeronautical Research Center."
Clever, non? If memory serves me correctly (it has been 30+ years), the AN/TPX-42
IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) secondary radar system (built by Gilfillan) I
maintained as an air traffic control radar technician reserved a special "X" bit
in its data packet to designate the BOMARC - and maybe other guided missiles. That
might have been a military secret at the time, because the Air Force instructors
acted like they were divulging proprietary information when discussing why that
bit was present in an otherwise...
 Wives poking fun at their hobby-obsessed
husbands is not a new thing. Good-natured articles contributed by wives have appeared
in all kinds of specialty magazines for decades. This one entitled "Why
Not Authentic, Prefabricated Husbands?" was written by the wife of a model airplane,
rocket, and boat builder. Her name is Laurie Cunningham, which makes me wonder if
she is the better half of Chuck Cunningham, who wrote the "Cunningham on R/C" column
for R/C Modeler magazine for many years. Mrs. Cunningham's experience is not
unlike my own wife's (Melanie) dilemma living with me going on four decades. Throughout
our house on display are Estes rocket models, plastic and balsa model airplanes
and boats, and even a helicopter or two. Most of them are ones I've never flown
or floated for fear of messing up the carefully applied finish. Fortunately, the
in-service models are now all electric so there is not a mess of glow fuel dripping
onto the floor - just an occasional tire mark on the wall. In exchange for her tolerance...
 The topic of
R/C system reliability rarely is mentioned in model airplane magazines these
days. Many of the high-end, big dollar planes like jets (turbines), giant scale
and giant 3D, do use redundant receivers and batteries because the pilots have thousands
of dollars worth of equipment and hundreds of hours of personal time invested in
them. Operating at 2.4 GHz with spread spectrum modulation, there is little
to no chance of radio interference, which was a huge problem back when this article
appeared in a 1955 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. William ("Bill")
Winter, who would later serve as president of the Academy of Model aeronautics (AMA),
was editor of Model Airplane News magazine at the time. Vacuum tube receivers
and electromechanical escapements and relays were being used in model airplanes.
The very nature of construction of those components made them extremely vulnerable
to vibration and shock induced intermittent or total failures. The models themselves
were necessarily large and often underpowered for carrying such heavy loads aloft.
We owe the R/C pioneers a lot for taking the arrows of trial and error to ultimately
give us the carefree systems we enjoy today...
 This
Sketchbook was
scanned from the March 1957 issue of American Modeler magazine, published
by the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Most building tips are timeless. Even in this
era of ready-to-fly (RTF), almost-ready-to-fly (ARF), bind-and-fly (BAF), etc.,
there are still many modelers who build their own aircraft. Nearly all top tier
competition fliers build their own models, as do aficionados of vintage (aka old-timer)
models. Some guys just would rather build than buy a pre-build airplane, whether
from a kit or from plans. I like the idea of using a sharpened bullet cartridge
for boring lightening holes in ribs, tail surfaces, etc., rather than using a drill
bit. The tip about using a slot in the bellcrank for the flaps of a control line
stunt models seems a bit iffy, since it can permit oscillations (fluttering) during
normal flight...
 Back in the early 1970s when first entering
the realm of radio control, I loved sailplanes because of their graceful appearance.
Gliders were also the only reasonably priced models with long wingspans, so there
was that, too. My first glider was a Sterling Cirrus (87" wingspan), which was not
meant for R/C other than a very compact and lightweight escapement system with a
single channel on rudder. I made the tragic decision to install two servos from
my newly acquired, used OS DP−3, 3-channel radio. It made the model so heavy that
the thin wings could barely support it. About three or four flights did it in. From
there I graduated to a Marks Windward glider, then to the Windfree. My ultimate
experience was with an Airtronics Aquila sailplane with a third channel operating
wing flaps. This Cirrus model by Graupner, with its amazing 118" wingspan and an
ABS molded plastic fuselage was one of the kits that was not within reach of my
meager budget. At the time (c1976) the retail price was somewhere in the $60 range,
which in today's highly inflated dollars is the equivalent of about $285...
 Nowadays know as Spartan College of Aeronautics
and Technology, the
Spartan School of Aeronautics was founded in 1928 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by oil
magnate William G. Skelly. Skelly believed air transportation was the way of
the future and to be successful would require skilled aircraft technicians and pilots.
Spartan claims to have trained more than 100,000 technicians and pilots for careers
in the aeronautics industry. They now have branches in Denver, Colorado, and Los
Angeles and Inland Empire, California. The Spartan Black Cat logo, which includes
the number 13, and the slogan "Knowledge and Skill Overcome Superstition and Luck,"
was the original insignia of the Spartan College Dawn Patrol. The fact that Spartan
School of Aeronautics began only a year before of the stock market crash of 1929
and survived the ensuing decade-long Great Depression and Dust Bowl years is a testament
to its tenacity. This advertisement appeared in a 1954 issue of Air Trails -
Hobbies for Young Men magazine...
 Website visitor Danny B. wrote to ask
that I scan and post this article and plans for the "Just
Right" (aka J.R.) pee wee size free flight model. It appeared in the November
1958 issue of American Modeler magazine. J.R. is a simple built-up balsa
airplane with a 29" wingspan that uses a Cox Pee Wee .020 engine for power.
As with most other vintage models, the J.R. could fairly easily be converted to
electric power. I did not have the November 1958 issue, but fortunately there was
a batch of the entire year of 1958 on eBay, so I bought them. The Post Office gave
itself 10 days to deliver a 2-Day Priority Mail package from two states away, and
of course blamed it on the Wuhan Virus. When they finally arrived, I discovered
the seller had mistakenly sent 1957...
 These are some really great action photos
from the
23rd Annual National Modelplane Championships held in Chicago. Considering it
was from a time when auto-focus, auto-exposure, auto-f-stop, auto-shutter-speed,
and other modern features were not available on cameras, photographer John W.
Schneider did an incredible job of obtaining shots with one one chance of getting
each instance. Most events were held at Chicago's Glenview Naval Air Station, compliments
of the U.S. Navy. Some free flight events were held at the Chicagoland Airport,
while indoor flying took place in Chicago's 132nd Infantry Armory. The quality of
construction and finishing is apparent, even in the grainy, black and white photos.
Coverage of the event appeared in the November 1954 issue of Air Trails magazine.
Do you recognize any of the names and/or faces here?
 Ambroid was probably the biggest name in
model aircraft cement. It has been around in one form or another since the early
1900s. The name is a portmanteau of amber (its color) and celluloid. By the time
I got into the balsa model building scene in the late 1960's, Duco cement was being
fairly widely used, and since it is what was on the shelf of my local convenience
store, that's what I used. A few years later when I was driving and could visit
hobby shops, I tried
Ambroid cement, but never really took to it, primarily because it seemed to
get brittle quickly. There was never a joint failure I could attribute to Duco cement,
so I stuck with it (pun intended). About ten years or so ago the price of Duco cement
began going way up, so nowadays I use mostly Sigment*. I had used Sigment occasionally
prior to that and had confidence in its integrity. It appears Ambroid cement is
no longer being manufactured, but Sigment is, so I highly recommend it as a general
purpose glue for balsa structures...
 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...
 Around 1978, before entering the U.S. Air
Force, I built a Dumas Pay'N Pak radio controlled
hydroplane (modeled after the Pride of Pay'n Pak unlimited hydroplane). Sadly, this
is the only known existing photograph of my Pay'N Pak unlimited hydroplane. As shown
in the photo to the right, it is hanging in my room in the barracks at Robins Air
Force Base, Georgia (c.1980). The cowling & rear airfoil assembly is not attached
for some reason, so you can see the water-cooled engine, flywheel, part of the drive
shaft, rudder assembly on the transom, and the plywood hatch over the radio compartment.
Like most of my other R/C models, it sported a Futaba radio. Construction was not
simple, as I remember it. Interlocking plywood bulkhead members formed the basic
inner structure, and the plywood sheeting was epoxied on the bottom, sides, and
top. Forming and holding all the compound curves while the epoxy cured without allowing
a twist to be built in was a real challenge. The transom is the only totally flat
piece on the entire craft. I coated the entire thing with fiberglass resin and managed
to get a very smooth and shiny finish using an automotive lacquer paint (sprayed
by my friend, Jerry Flynn). I cannot recall which engine I used, but it was a marine
type with the water-cooled head. To start the beast, I used a piece of string about
1/8" in diameter, threaded it under the grooved flywheel, and gave it a tug...
 he first-ever appearance of animated Peanuts
characters came in the form of television commercials for the
1960 Ford Falcon. I learned
about them in a book titled Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz. To me, Peanuts
represents a more innocent time in America, where neighborhood kids played together,
were moral in their actions, and even "crabby" kids like Lucy were not evil. Cops
and robbers, cowboys and Indians, pirates and naval mariners did battle with makeshift
weapons and only one ball team at a time won a trophy. My sisters and I rode in
basic cars like the Ford Falcon, without the benefit of seat belts, crawling up
onto the package shelf in the back to watch the world pass by, standing on our heads
in the back seat, and thinking it a privilege to get to ride up front on the rare
occasions when Mom was not in the car, too. It takes me back to my boyhood days
in the 1960s and 70s when similar activities were a part of life, without all the
computer-based activities...
 This article was scanned from the 1961
American Modeler Annual edition. The magazine has been out of print for
decades, and is difficult to access unless you are fortunate enough to buy one off
of e-Bay. Hopefully the original authors won't mind my reprinting "Secrets of 'Winning' Airfoils" here, but if they
do, I will remove it. Airfoil plotting goes back to the NACA (National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics) days of white shirts, neck ties, thick−rimmed glasses,
and slide rules. Drawing boards, straight edges, and French curves which were in
use since the days of the Wright Brothers eventually got replaced by software, but
all the pioneering work was done by engineers with shirt cuffs smudged with pencil
lead. Consider this a window for a look back in history...
 If
you are familiar with aircraft electronic navigation systems, reading in this 1951
Radio−Electronics article's opening paragraph about how "Omnirange
aircraft navigation will make air travel safe, dependable, and predictable regardless
of visibility, and volume of air traffic," really makes you realize how far we have
come in the last seven decades. The network VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) station
revolutionized aviation by enabling precision navigation using relatively simple,
reliable, and inexpensive equipment in the cockpit which enables pilots to fly from
waypoint to waypoint across the country. Eventually, five variations of VOR evolved
with ranges going from 25 nautical miles (~29 statute miles) up to 130 nm. The addition
of TACAN (TActiCal Air Navigation) provided slant distance information to or from
the VORTAC station. Since the introduction of full precision GPS, when the U.S.
government unclassified the "P-code"...
 People are paying amazing prices for a piece
of model aviation history. This 1968 era
Graupner Weltmeister
Cirrus sailplane kit recently sold at auction on eBay for $2,500. You might
think for that price the seller would pick up the shipping cost, but evidently not.
According the the BLS Inflation Calculator, that $2,500 in 2020 money is the equivalent
of $505 in 1968. The Graupner Weltmeister Cirrus (kit #4229) has a wingspan of 3000 mm
(3 meters). The box states, "True-to-scale R/C soarer for tow launching, slope
soaring and conversion to powered glider. Accommodates multi-channel or proportional
R/C equipment with 2 - 6 channels for rudder, elevator and aileron control. Wingspan
is 118 1/8" " The fuselage appears to be constructed of four sections of molded
ABS plastic. My guess is that packet of " A look at the kit contents shows lots
of metal parts, including an aluminum main former for the power pod assembly. Lots
of balsa and hardwood parts are required for the big wing and empennage components...
 With the entry of the United States into
World War II came the need for service members to be trained on many new technologies
- among them being airplanes and the ability to identify them quickly. Electronics
technicians and airframe and powerplant mechanics were in need, of course, but everyone
had to be able to tell friend from foe when airplanes were approaching. In order
to assist the war effort, a call went out to civilians to begin producing thousands
of
models at a 1:72 scale so that at 35 feet away they appeared in
size to be that of a full-scale version at about half a mile. Detailed paint jobs
were not required - only that the profile from all angles look exactly like the
real thing. In fact, the models were painted flat black so as to look like a distant
airplane against the background sky. Both Allied and Axis airplane models were needed
so that soldiers and sailors could quickly spot a potential danger and decide whether
to take cover and prepare to fight, or to continue with business as usual. This
article appeared in the May 1942 edition of Popular Science, meaning that it was
probably written sometime around February, only a few months after the Japanese
attacked our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941...
 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...
 It seems most every old time rubber-powered
free flight model has been converted by someone to electric-powered radio control.
The availability of motors and R/C airborne systems weighing in the grams - or fraction
thereof - is making R/C flight for even the tiniest models possible. It would be
interesting to see somebody convert these
Matchbox
Fliers, which appeared in the April 1962 issue of American Modeler
magazine, to at least single-channel R/C using one of the nano-size radio systems
available today. Heck, there's probably a way to even mount a camera to a model
this small these days...
 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)...
 114 River Road, Edgewater, MD 21037 (originally
Rt. 4 box 504) is where I grew up - or more appropriately, got older - and spent
as much time as possible building and flying every kind of airplane, rocket, and
helicopter I could get my hands on. It has been close to 20 years since going back
there, but thanks to the miracle of Google Earth, I was able to grab this satellite
image of the old stomping grounds. It looks pretty much the way I remember it. My
father and I built the addition on the southwest end, and the porch on the southeast
side. That section of sidewalk that goes nowhere now used to terminate at a 10'x10'
steel shed. Those two outbuildings in the back yard are new. In the zoomed out view
of the Google map (below) you can see the entire neighborhood of Holly Hill Harbor.
Explanations of the markings will be given later in the story. The yellow circle
is approximately where I flew and eventually crashed many control line airplanes.
After destroying the first couple Cox plastic models I received as presents at Christmas
and/or birthdays, I finally got wise and bought a Cox PT-19 Trainer. It was with
the PT-19 Trainer that I finally learned to fly a control line airplane...
 If you have only ever known a time in the
R/C era when 2.4 GHz, spread spectrum radios were in use and not only were
there no interference issues, but there were no licenses required, either, for legal
operation, then it might be hard to imagine when this was not so. Most people in
the R/C realm at least remember the 72 MHz frequency band where each system
operated on a specific center frequency, where no two systems could be operated
in the same vicinity. Before that there was the 27 MHz band, which is where
I began, more specifically on 27.195 MHz. Only five frequencies were reserved
by the FCC exclusively for radio control use. That meant never more than five planes
in the air, or even being worked on with the radio on, at a time. The band was part
of the original Citizens Band (CB) radio allocation. Commercial CB radios were notoriously
lousy at controlling bandwidth and often overlapped the R/C bands with enough power
to cause deadly (to a model) interference. My FCC operator's permits (Class
C and Class D), obtained sometime around 1972, is long gone... |
