|
 Not being able to hold off any longer, I
finally began working on a scratch-built version of the
Airtronics Aquila. I had the good
folks at Staples enlarge the plans to 105% to push the wingspan just over 100" (~104")
so it will be my biggest sailplane ever - yeah, I know, lame. By scaling up so slightly
most of the structural components like the spars, balsa and plywood, etc., will
be able to stay per the original without risking overstressing. However, since this
Aquila will sport a brushless motor in the nose (sacrilegious?), I am beefing up
some of the areas and using harder balsa in places I might not have otherwise. Since
I do not have easy (pronounced "affordable") access to the large pieces of 1/8"
LitePly...
 "Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union (USSR),
the spacecraft known as
Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never
made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction. Much
of the spacecraft came tumbling back to Earth within a decade of the failed launch.
The European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking confirmed its uncontrolled reentry,
based on analysis and no-shows of the spacecraft on subsequent orbits. The ESA's
space debris office also indicated that the spacecraft had reentered after it failed
to appear over a German radar station. It was not immediately known..."
 Carl
Kohler strikes again with this 1959 Popular Electronics magazine techno-story
entitled, "My Guided Missile." His alter ego, self-proclaimed "genius-type engineer"
protoself faces off against an exasperated wife over his latest ambitious creation
- the
Kohler Komet homemade guided missile. Undeterred by his wife's concerns about
past radio-control mishaps, he takes the rocket to Bonneville Flats for testing,
assuring her of its safety features, including a parachute recovery system. However,
disaster strikes when the launch startles him, causing him to crush the transmitter.
The missile spirals out of control, narrowly missing the group before obliterating
a police car in a spectacular crash...
 This
1942 Life magazine article profiles a
B-17E Flying Fortress bomber and its nine-man crew, detailing their roles in
America's early WWII air campaign against Japan. The bomber, part of the 342nd Bombardment
Squadron, operates as a self-contained "task force," capable of delivering devastating
strikes like Colin Kelly’s sinking of the battleship Haruna. The crew - four officers
(pilot, copilot, navigator, bombardier) and five enlisted gunners - undergo six
weeks of operational training at MacDill Field to forge teamwork essential for survival.
The B-17E's firepower includes eight .50-caliber machine guns manned by the enlisted
crew...
 This May 1954 Model Airplane News
magazine ad for Jim Walker's A-J Aircraft Co. promoted the rugged
"Firebaby" control-line
model, emphasizing its durability while acknowledging that crashes happen. The
ad reassured buyers that spare parts were readily available through dealers, ensuring
quick repairs. The Firebaby was offered in single-wing or biplane configurations,
with or without an engine, priced as low as $2.50 (without engine) or $7.85 (with
engine). Jim Walker, a pioneering figure in model aviation, revolutionized the hobby
with mass-produced, ready-to-fly (RTF) models. His designs, like the Firebaby, made
control-line flying accessible to beginners. Walker’s company, A-J Aircraft, claimed
to be the "World’s Largest Manufacturer of Ready-to-Fly Model Aircraft" at the time.
Later, Cox Models surpassed A-J, becoming the dominant RTF...
 "How
to Design and Build Flying Models" might have been the first book I ever read
on the title's subject. I probably checked it out of the Annapolis Public Library
sometime in the late 1960s. Somehow, I still have it (I hate to think what the overdue
book fee is for it by now). After all the intervening years, the one passage from
the book that sticks with me is a description of what it would be like to have a
twin engined World War II control line model with home-built retractable landing
gear. I remember laying in bed and seeing myself flying that imaginary model - corny,
but true. At around 10 years old with my only actual control line flying experience
being with a Cox PT-19 Trainer, it could only be a dream. Tools, ability, material,
and money were not there. What little I earned from a paper route was divided amongst...
 This
1942 issue of Life magazine reported on the first 1,000 Japanese volunteers
arrived at Manzanar, a government "reception center" in California's Owens Valley,
to prepare for the
forced relocation of 112,000 Japanese residents from the West Coast. Though
most were U.S. citizens, they were treated as potential enemies. The Army promised
humane conditions - self-governance, paid labor ($54-$94/month), and agricultural
development - but Manzanar remained a guarded concentration camp. Internees, limited
to what they could carry, were housed in barracks with minimal furnishings. Despite
scenic surroundings, including views of Mt. Whitney, the camp was stark, with
unfinished sewers and communal meals. Some expressed loyalty, even proposing wartime
factory work...
 "A team of cyber-systems researchers, engineers,
optical specialists and roboticists at Zhejiang University, in China, has developed
a navigation system for quadcopter drones that gives them the ability to carry out
precise flight maneuvers autonomously. As reported in the journal Science Robotics,
the group developed a multi-pronged system that allows quadcopter drones to carry
out complex aerobatic maneuvers autonomously, in a safe manner, both indoors and
outdoors. It would be advantageous if drones were able to carry out tasks autonomously
without human intervention. It would allow for flying..."
 At
Tuskegee, Alabama, March 7, Colonel Frederick V. H. Kimble, U. S. A., pinned wings
on the blouses of five young Negro lieutenants, members of the first
graduating class of the Army's first Negro air school. Since last July they
had undergone all the primary and advanced training to which white Army cadets at
Randolph and Kelly fields are subject. Now they are charter members of the Air Force's
99th (all Negro) Pursuit Squadron, established last summer at a $2,000,000 airdrome
near Alabama's famed Tuskegee Institute and now developing into one of the Army's
biggest training bases...
 "Claimed
to be a world first, the demonstration took place at Swinhay House. A McMurtry Spéirling
PURE Validation Prototype 1 (VP1) was driven on to a custom-built platform which
then rotated 180 degrees to invert the stationary vehicle. Relying on the huge 'Downforce
on Demand' created by twin 23,000 RPM fans on the car's undercarriage, the Spéirling
remained firmly attached to the platform and was driven a few feet forward before
the rig rotated it back to ground. 'This demonstration was an exciting proof-of-concept
using a small purpose-built rig, but is perhaps just the beginning of what's possible.
With a longer inverted track or a suitable tunnel, we may be able to drive..."
 Balsa wood was a special thing to me as
a kid. To me, it represented the essence of model airplanes and model rockets. At
the time - the 1960s and 70s - plastic and foam as model components were considered
a sign of cheapness, low quality, amateurishness. It was like having "Made in Japan"
stamped on it. Now, of course, it's a different world where Japan is renowned for
some of the highest quality electronics and cars and the plastic and foam ARFs represent
some of the highest-performing aircraft at the flying field. I have owned a few
of those foamies, but still, at least for my tastes, nothing beats the look, feel
and aroma of balsa. Somehow the tell-tale surface texture of foam, even with a nice
paint job, ruins the authenticity of an otherwise beautifully factory-finished scale
F4-U Corsair or P-38 Lightning. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Sig Manufacturing
was...
 When this
Trans World Airline (TWA) advertisement appeared in the April 29, 1950, issue
of The Saturday Evening Post magazine , the airline industry was transitioning from
relying on amphibious aircraft for long-distance overseas flights to using land-based
planes. These new aircraft, like the 300-mph Skyliners mentioned in the ad, offered
increased speed and comfort, revolutionizing air travel and making it more accessible
to the general public. TWA capitalized on this newfound ability to fly customers
quickly and comfortably to destinations across the U.S. and around the world, emphasizing
the potential for adventure and leisure even within the constraints of a typical
two-week vacation...
 An
April 1942 issue of Life magazine, just four months into WWII, carried
this full-page advertisement celebrating the
Lockheed P-38 Lightning, a revolutionary fighter aircraft hailed as the world'
s fastest - nearing the speed of sound - with unmatched maneuverability, outclassing
enemy planes in combat. Built by Lockheed for the U.S. Army and British RAF, the
P-38 embodied American ingenuity and freedom, flown by daring pilots defending democracy.
The ad positions the Lightning as a symbol of U.S. air supremacy, critical to Allied
victory in WWII, while promoting Lockheed's role in advancing aviation for both
wartime protection and postwar progress. The closing tagline, "Look to Lockheed
for Leadership," reinforces the company's wartime prestige and vision for the future...
 Some of the adventure stories in Flying
Aces magazine were practically full-length novels. The May 1934 issue included
one of Donald Keyhoe's pieces entitled, "Death
Flies the Equator," featuring intrepid G-2 agent, Dick Knight, and his sidekick,
Lothario Doyle, who team up to pit good against evil across the globe. The notorious
"Four Faces" cabal fixed on achieving world domination are a constant challenge
for the wits and wile of our heroic pair. Dick Knight supplies the brunt of required
brainwork while ex-Marine Doyle breaks bones and faces when needed. Both are accomplished
airborne dogfighters, avigators (archaic term for aviator / navigator), and mechanics.
Many of these stories involve fantastic weapons and deception devices, sabotage,
moles, traitors, and incredible feats of flying. They really are "page-turners,"
and the only things that keeps me from reading straight through is wanting to be
able to spread the entertainment across t
 Flettner rotors were at one time believed
to be the next big thing in air-driven propulsion. They would replace cloth sails
on boats and fixed wings on aeroplanes. I remember seeing such fantastic contraptions
in magazines like Mechanix Illustrated and Popular Mechanics back
in the 1960's and 1970's. The nouveau sails and wings were actually built on experimental
vehicles which can be found in a Google search on Flettner rotor. They operate on
the Magnus effect, which is where a lifting force is generated by a spinning sphere
or cylinder moving through the air (or water, or any fluid), thereby causing an
unequal pressure to build on opposite sides. I had a Magnus rotor kite as a kid
in the late 1960's that was made of thin, molded plastic...
 Without
a doubt, Germany has in the past far overestimated its ability to conquer the world
by leveraging its undeniable history of innovation and determination. A success
in the Franco-Prussian War gave it a sense of superiority and invincibility. WWI
and WWII were lost primarily due to the
blitzkrieg strategy later failing to overwhelm and subdue the enemy in short
order, causing protracted wars and diminishing resources from within its domain.
If Germany had instead exploited its technical prowess in world markets, it might
have been an economic superpower today. The native population was/is brilliant.
Today, Germany's leaders are, in acts of self-flagellation and penance...
 During the late 1930s, commercial air transportation
experienced a significant boom, largely fueled by the introduction of the Douglas
DC-3 in 1935. This aircraft, widely recognized for its efficiency and reliability,
revolutionized air travel, making it more accessible and popular than ever before.
The rapid growth of this sector placed an
unprecedented
demand on air traffic control services, as exemplified by the busy operations
at Newark, the world's most active airport at the time. The article from the 1938
issue of Boys' Life magazine further illustrates this, detailing a trip
from Newark to Pittsburgh, where Air Traffic Control, managed by the Bureau of Air
Commerce, played a critical role in ensuring the safe and orderly movement of a
burgeoning number of flights, underscoring the vita...
 In
this October 1964 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine, editor Hugo Gernsback
writes about the historic feat on July 31 of that year, where NASA lunar probe Ranger 7's
RCA-designed television cameras successfully transmitted the
first close-up televised pictures of the moon's surface to Earth after six previous
failed attempts. The unmanned spacecraft traveled 240,000 miles through space over
68 hours to capture 4,316 still images with its six high-resolution cameras. These
images provided crucial information for future manned lunar explorations, revealing
that the dust layer on the moon's surface is likely only 2 to 12 inches deep, and
showing small craters down to sizes of three feet. The success of Ranger 7
marked a significant advancement in lunar exploration technology, paving the way
for further unmanned missions and eventual manned expeditions to the moon...
 Imagine if your path to flying an R/C helicopter
involved first designing, then building, and then troubleshooting the contraption.
That was the burden of pioneers. We have people like
S.S.P. Helicopter
designer Gene Rock to thank for being able to enjoy the state-of-the-art models
that are available today. This article from the August 1972 edition of American
Aircraft Modeler magazine describes the process of machining all the metal
parts for an Enya .45-powered craft. Mr. Rock even designed a very successful mechanical
gyro for keeping the tail under control. If you have ever tried flying an R/C heli
without any type of gyro (I have, on a DuBro Tristar), you will fully appreciate
what a pleasure it is to not have to manually counter torque changes (throttle)
with tail rotor stick input from the transmitter. Around 2008 I bought a Blade MCX2
coaxial rotor helicopter for flying inside, and the gyro is so good on that thing
that you can put it in a full speed pirouette...
 In 1946, Popular Science magazine
highlighted the
burgeoning
potential of helicopters, detailing their versatility and the innovative ways
people envisioned using them, from hunting expeditions and aerial orchestras to
funeral services. The article underscored the helicopter's unique capabilities,
such as vertical take-off and landing, and its proven utility during World War II
in diverse environments. Commercial helicopters were on the cusp of becoming available,
with initial deliveries set to start that year, though primarily for business and
government use due to high costs and complexities in operation. The piece also discussed
the challenges faced by manufacturers, including mechanical complexities like torque
and the need for mass production to reduce costs...
 If
you do a lot of overseas air travel for work (or any other reason), this
en route time map from a 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post
magazine might give you a bit of cheering up. Compare the length of time in the
air back during the day of propeller-driven airliners versus what you typically
experience today. United Aircraft published that a trip from New York to London
took 12-½ hours (with favorable winds). The same flight today takes around 7-½ hours,
a 40% reduction. From Seattle to Tokyo was 28-½ hours, and is now 10-½ hours, for
a 63% reduction! Those shorter flight times are due to both faster jet-powered airplanes
and an ability to climb to and cruise at altitudes where jet stream winds are highly
additive. Of course having to endure 10-½ hours crammed into a narrow seat with
the back of the front...
 "Like a bumblebee flitting from flower to
flower, a new insect-inspired flying robot created by engineers at the University
of California, Berkeley, can hover, change trajectory and even hit small targets.
Less than 1 centimeter in diameter, the device weighs only 21 milligrams, making
it the world's smallest wireless robot capable of controlled flight. For a robot
to fly, it must be equipped with a power source, like a battery, and electronics
for flight control, both of which can be challenging to integrate into very small,
lightweight devices. To overcome this issue, Lin and the UC Berkeley team used an
external magnetic field to power the device and control the flight path. The robot
is shaped like a small propeller and includes two small magnets..."
 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...
|
 Here is a list of
model airplane, helicopter, rocket, and boat videos
put together around 2008. As you might expect, by now many of the websites and/or
the original content are gone. Where possible, I located missing material on the
Archive.org website (the Wayback Machine). Links I couldn't find anywhere have been
deleted. Many of the videos are ones I created for the Airplanes and Rockets website...
 Did you know that
Citizen-Ship Radio was a division of Curtis Dyna-Products
Corporation - the company that produced the Dyna-Jet engine? Me neither. This uniquely
done full-page advertisement from a 1971 issue of American Aircraft Modeler
broke the news. I'm not sure when Citizen-Ship stopped making radio control gear,
but it couldn't have been too long after 1971 because they didn't appear in the
model airplane magazines much after then. Cutris Dyna Products, by the way, is still
in business producing fogger machines for crops, special effects, and other needs.
...
 1954 was just a decade after World War II,
during which time the Army Signal Corps introduced a method of printing - or etching
- metallic circuit conductors on an insulator substrate, and thus was born the printed
circuit board (PCB). The first boards used a phenolic-paper laminate, which is the
shiny brown substrate material that is still found in some industrial applications
like motors and control panels. Ferric chloride was used to etch away the copper
foil not masked off with photoresist chemicals. I made many crude PCBs using a resist
ink pen to draw circuit traces and component mounting pads, then etched away the
exposed copper with ferric chloride purchased at Radio Shack. This line from the
article is reminiscent of people who remarked similarly about the first televisions
and computers: "One of the first questions that arises is: 'What good is it and
what do I gain by using it?'" Printed inductors were already being used, as the
photo shows. Back in the mid 1980s, I programmed an
HP 85 computer, using HP
BASIC (aka Rocky Mountain BASIC), to draw printed inductor patters in the engineering
development lab where I worked for Westinghouse. A built-in thermal printer spit
out the image on paper, and then the image was transferred onto clear acetate in
a copying machine for use in the photoresist exposure process. Anyone else remember
using one?
 The "Ephemeris" Class A and FAI
free flight model was somewhat of a sensation in the modeling world back in 1963
when it appeared in the March/April issue of American Modeler magazine because it
featured up thrust. Its designer, R. Jess Krieser, was "thinking outside the box"
before the term was even coined. Mr. Krieser took an engineering approach to redesigning
the Carl Goldberg "Sailplane" model and after examining tables and graphs on L/D
curves on airfoil drag coefficients, settled on the final form factor that became
the Ephemeris. Read about it here...
 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 ...
 Outboard motors for model boats have been
available for a long time. Advertisements in modeling magazines from the 1950s (as
far back as my collection goes) has plenty of them.
Ailyn's Sea Fury outboard
motor and the Fuji outboard motors are just a couple examples for which I have
copies of the ads. I don't know if any are still manufactured today, but if you
hang around eBay long enough, you will find them up for auction. As of this writing,
there is a Fuji .15 outboard motor up for bid. It appears to me in remarkably good
condition. These two advertisements were scanned from 1950s vintage American
Modeler magazines, offered by America's Hobby Center (no longer in business)
in New York City. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator
the $29.95 price in 1957 would be $313.59 in 2011 money. These vintage motors usually
sell at about the inflation-adjusted price, so when you see them go for a couple
hundred dollars, it really is not so much in today's money...
 The July 2013 edition of IEEE's Spectrum
magazine had a really good article on a high tech study that is being done on the
manner in which an albatross
manages to fly great distances and for long periods of time while rarely needing
to flap its wings. As shown in the thumbnail (and in the article), an albatross
performs a series of rapid climbs into very strong wind, turns, and dives leeward
nearly to the water's surface, then repeats the process over and over as it makes
its way to its destination. The process is called dynamic soaring. R/C soaring pilots
have been doing the same sort of thing for a few years now. Obviously the albatross
figured out how to fly like that long before mankind was able to mimic it, but the
researchers in the article seem to not have knowledge of the R/C soaring technique.
They are capturing albatrosses in their nests and attaching GPS-based sensors with
data recorders to the birds' back feathers and retrieving the units when the birds
return to their nests...
 If you ever had any doubt whether Bill Winter
was one of the model airplane hobby's earliest and most prolific contributors, check
out this article that appeared in the January 1955 edition of Popular Electronics
magazine (only the third issue since its inception). Radio control systems were
just beginning to be commercialized and priced at a point where a lot of the public
could afford it. Quirks and high unreliability that plagued early systems had become
less of an issue so that airplane and power plant design efforts could take priority
with aeromodelers. In this article, Bill addresses setting proper
wing incidence and engine
thrust angles for good, repeatable, stable flight...
 This is a complete set of the
Peanuts Bobblehead (Nodder)
figures. They're not perfect, but in pretty good condition. Over time, our Peanuts
collection of memorabilia has grown 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. The "Peanuts:
The Art of Charles M. Schulz" book was very helpful in identifying which Peanuts
memorabilia items ...
 For
as long as I can remember, The Old Farmer's Almanac (OFA) has included a set of
Mathematical Puzzles in its annual publication. They range in
difficulty from 1 (very easy) to 5 (sometimes quite difficult). Having been a faithful
buyer and reader of the OFA for as long as I can remember, I have spent many hours
toiling with some of the more challenging examples. In fact, there were a lot which
I never did figure out and needed to look up the answers in the back (come to think
of it, I experienced the same dilemma with my college engineering textbooks). Because
quite a few of the Mathematical Puzzles are worthy of an engineer's cerebration,
contemplation, and deliberation, they will all be eventually posted here...
 After about a 12-month hiatus from flying
any kind of model airplane, and having sold all of my RC gear prior to moving to
Erie, PA, I looked around for something that would get me back into the air quickly.
My first inclination was to build yet another Spirit 2-meter sailplane and put a
brushless motor in it like before, but I really didn't want to have to take the
time to build it first. I also did not particularly care for most of the ARF gliders
that were available, but seeing the ParkZone
Radian sailplane on the Horizon Hobby website and watching the video of its
flight convinced me to spring the $250 for the RTF version. There certainly is no
better value out there - a nice-looking sailplane with brushless motor and controller,
servos, a 3-cell Li-Po battery, and a charger, along with a 2.4 GHz spread spectrum
radio system. You cannot buy the parts individually for that much. See September
7, 2009 update: Assembly was a piece of cake - just slide the horizontal stabilizer
/ elevator into place and secure it with the supplied clear tape, then connect the
pushrod wire to the control horn...
 In 1961 when this
Citizen−Ship LT−3 Relayless Receiver promotion appeared in American Modeler
magazine, transistorized circuits were a relatively new thing. Many people were
dubious of the newfangled technology and were leery of the dependability of them.
It didn't take long for the convenience of low weight, small size, higher functionality,
and no need for bulky and heavy high voltage batteries to sway even the most hard
cord tubeist (a word I just made up) toward adopting the format. Even so, the state
of the art had a long way to go to get anywhere close to today's micro- and nano-sized
receivers and servos, with capabilities and reliability levels only dreamed of in
1961. The escapement mechanism featured was powered by a twisted rubber band. A
pulse of current from the receiver caused the control arms to rotate a quarter turn
when a small solenoid released the escapement tab. So, although the receiver itself
was "relayless," the escapement still had one (a relay is a solenoid with make/break
electrical contacts)...
 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 ...
 The
Berliner-Joyce OJ−2 was a multi-purpose biplane built for naval
service. Its maiden flight was in 1931. As this American Aircraft Modeler
magazine article photos show, it could be configured with wheels or floats.
Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Corporation had is main offices in Baltimore, Maryland,
which was a popular location for defense contractors then and now. The Glen L.
Martin Company, manufacturer of the famous Martin B−10 Bomber, was also in
Baltimore. The OJ-2 was in heavy competition with the Vought O2U Corsair, which,
unlike its eventual and much more famous successor gull-wing, all-metal
F4U Corsair, was a fabric-covered biplane. Someone at Vaught must have really
been stuck on using the Corsair name ...
 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 ...
 Here is a fairly unique free flight rubber
model named the "Scotch
Monoped" partly due to its having a single wheel and partly due to its designer
being of Scottish heritage. It is of simple stick and tissue construction, and full-sized
planes were published in the December 1939 issue of Flying Aces magazine. "Scotty"
Mayors says he made it inherently stable under all conditions by providing lots
of side area in the fuselage and dual vertical fins. The airfoil is a rather thick
flat-bottomed section. A look at the open framework reveals that minimum weight
was a goal, since even the wing ribs have lightening holes cut in them. I forgot
to scan the wing plan sheet...
 Given the "Hydro Hints" title of this article
from the September 1949 issue of Air Trails magazine, I though it would be about
model hydroplanes, but it turned out to be about designing and building floats (pontoons)
for free flight and control line airplanes.
Rise
Off Water (ROW) has been a popular sport flying and contest event for about
as long as model airplanes have been around. Unlike with R/C water flying, these
floats needed only to function as launching devices since unless you are flying
off a large body of water, it is unlikely that the model would also be landing on
water. In fact, many ROW flights are initiated from a make-shift "puddle" consisting
of a child's plastic wading pool or a small area in the ground that has been filled
with water specifically for the event. Take-off run distances are extremely short
unless the model runs into trouble or the floats and/or airplane are poorly designed...
 These images were scanned from my 1976 yearbook
for
Southern Senior High School in Harwood, Maryland.. Only pages with information
on Seniors is included. Birthdates have been covered over, but everything else remains.
Please let me know if you would like your picture and/or information removed. On
the other hand, if you would like to send additional information for posting or
would like me to send you the full-resolution scan of your page, then please send
me an e-mail. A full list of all the names that go with these photos can be found
at the bottom of this page. Having them in text format (versus a photo) will allow
search engines to find your name and associate it with Southern Senior High School.
Oh, and yes, all the photos are in B&W; there are only eight pages with color
in the entire book...
 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...
 If you ask most people what a
birth star is, almost certainly
he/she will relate it somehow to astrology. The thought makes me cringe. Although
there really is no such thing as a birth star, there is such a thing as a star whose
distance from Earth is equivalent in light-years to the day you were born. That
means the light leaving the star actually began radiating in the direction of Earth
within a few months of the day you were born. For instance, I was born on August
18, 1958, which was 54.5 years ago. All that's needed to find my birthday star is
to find one that is 54.5 light-years away. Fortunately, there's an app for that.
Per the Joint Astronomy Center website's birthday star finder: (the original website
is gone) "Your birthday star is in the constellation Taurus...
 CO2 power for model airplanes
gained a lot of popularity in the 1950s and throughout the 1960s and then waned
for some reason in the 1970s. The same trend was exhibited in Jetex type engines.
CO2 engines run off a cylinder of compressed carbon dioxide gas, which
were and still are readily available due to their use in air rifles and pistols.
A metal tube feeds the top of the engine cylinder where a metal ball under pressure
from the gas seals off the cylinder until the piston pushes up on it. When the port
opens, gas pressure forces the piston down to the point where the gas is ejected
at the exhaust port. Momentum from the propeller mass swings the piston back to
the top of the cylinder where it once again opens the ball valve to start the cycle
all over again. CO2 engines are very reliable and easy to start since
no ignition is required; however, the power−to−weight ratio is fairly low. This
1962 American modeler magazine article presents plans, and building and flying instructions
for the "Fizz−Wizz..." |
