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 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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 The Douglas DC−3 (C−47 was the military
version designation) has always been my favorite twin engined commercial airplane.
Its nickname of "Gooney Bird" amongst troops is undeserved IMHO. The DC−3 is credited
with launching the commercial airline industry, and its C−47 version was listed
by Dwight D. Eisenhower as being on the most important tools for winning World War II.
Edward F. Burton, Chief Engineer at Douglas Aircraft Company, runs through the evolution
of the DC−3 and it predecessors and descendants in this December 1945 issue of
Flying Age magazine. December of 1935 marked the maiden flight of the DC−2,
was was a direct follow-on the the DC−2. A single DC−4 (4 engines) was built and
delivered to Japan. Then a DC−5 was built (high-wing version of the DC−3) but never
went into production. The 4-engine DC−6 entered commercial service in 1946, followed
by the very popular DC−7. A coaxial, counter-rotating pusher prop model DC−8 (not
to be confused with the 4-engine commercial DC−8 jet) never made it off the drawing
board. The next iteration was the C−54, which...
 It was in this May 1975 issue of R/C
Modeler magazine that I first saw the
Airtronics Aquila
sailplane (way too graceful to refer to it as merely a glider). Airtronics had
not introduced a kit yet, but they were selling a canopy and hardware kit along
with plans, so I ordered them and scratch built my first Aquila. I was 17 years
old then. It was covered to look like the one in the photo above (which would become
the kit box label photo). Not having lite ply for the fuselage, I used hard balsa.
Somehow I eventually managed to destroy Aquila #1, but by that time a kit was available,
so I bought one and also the ABS plastic fuselage. A standard Hi-Start was used
for launching. A few years ago I built a 105% Aquila version simply because I wanted
another Aquila and had never built a sailplane with a wingspan greater than 99".
I am now in the process of building an 80% scale Aquila...
 It's hard to imagine a time when contemporary
news on aircraft development included the Convair
B−36 Peacemaker bomber. The maiden flight was just 11 years before
this piece appeared in a 1950 issue of Air Trails magazine. I have always
wanted to build a control line model of a B−36, but like so many other some-day
projects, it will probably never get done. A guy named Joe, who lives at the end
of my street here in Erie, Pennsylvania, was a B−36 crewman during the Korean
War era. Joe is in his 90s now, and drives a Ford Mustang. Vanderbilt University
professor Franklin Farra has an interesting wall-wood flying wing sailplane that
he plans to fly someday. Based on the fact that there are none like it on the circuit
today, the concept probably never took off. It might make a interesting scale model
project ...
 U-Control, aka U/C, aka Control Line, aka C/L,
is still very popular today even with radio control available. It is a great model
of modeling for those of us with bad eyesight who have trouble with tracking airplanes
at a distance. With control line your model is never more than about 70 feet from
you and there is never a problem with knowing which direction the model is headed
and whether it is right-side-up or upside-down. In 1960 when this Annual issue of
Air Trails magazine was published, R/C was mostly a rich man's sport, or
at least an electronics man's sport. Free flight and control line dominate aeromodeling.
Monthly features like "U-Control Corner" ran in model aviation magazines of the
era, and offered many great tips...
 As with most electrical and electronic equipment,
performance increases have come often and significantly in the six and a half decades
wince the article was written. In 1957 when this article appeared in American
Modeler magazine,
battery
technology was still crude by today's standards, but much advancement had been
accomplished during the war years of WWII and Korea for the sake of field portable
communications gear. Chemistry and packaging improved to where if the user was knowledgeable
and applied certain precautions, a high degree of reliability could be garnered
from various cell types. Having the right battery for the task at hand was and still
is paramount to achieving success. It is interesting that vibrator type DC-to-AC
power supplies were still being used to supply the high plate voltage for electron
tubes. Some higher voltage batteries could be connected in series instead, but that
often resulted in too heavy and too bulky packs that could not be readily accommodated
by the airplane model...
 Even in 1975 when this "Helicopter
Action" column appeared in American Aircraft Modeler magazine a very
small percentage of R/C fliers had ever even tried their hands at helicopters, and
an even smaller portion had been successful enough to keep at it. Gyroscopes for
tail rotors were still in the prototype development stage, fixed pitch rotor blades
were the norm. Control over the rotor disc was not by direct linkage to the blades,
but to a rotor head assembly with a flybar. Only two servos were used - one for
left/right and one for fore/aft. When setting up controls to the swashplate, accounting
for gyroscopic precession was required since the desired output is 90° from the
input in the direction of rotation. It was counterintuitive to the fledgling helicopter
setter-upper, but like magic, it worked. It was during the setup of my DuBro TriStar
helicopter that I first learned of the concept (I was 18 years old). I say all that
to say this: Given the advanced state of the art in R/C helicopters today you might
think...
 These 4-level wooden bleacher plans are
the latest version. I was going to write up a hardware parts list, but never got
around to it. Both sections of the bleachers shown in the photo (built in fall of
2011) are still in service and are in excellent condition. Pressure treated lumber
was used for everything, and all the nuts, bolts, and washers are galvanized. Screws
for the planks are outdoor deck grade. Pressure treated landscaping timbers are
sitting on the ground between the soil and bleachers. My daughter sold the property
a couple years ago, so I don’t have access to it to take any other photos. My son-in-law
and I built both sections of bleachers in one weekend. Since many of the parts are
duplicates, we cut out and drilled the first of each type, then used them as templates
for the rest. If you have half a dozen people available to cut and drill, that will
speed the process considerably. We also built up the first seat/step frame, then
built the others on top of it to assure all were identical (using screws temporarily
so the bolts didn’t get in the way). Get the first one as perfect as possible. Prior
to erecting the entire assemblies, the ground area was leveled and the landscaping
timbers laid into position. We used long deck screws to hold them together to prevent
shifting during assembly. The completed bleachers will be as level as the foundation.
Adjustments can be made, if needed, with shims cut from the pressure treated wood.
Note that if the ground is wet/moist, the landscaping timbers will quickly begin
to bow upward as the wetter bottom expands...
 Modern day scale models are amazingly detailed
with functional miniature instruments, control yokes and joysticks moving in unison
with stabilizer, rudder, ailerons, throttle, and others. Access to relatively inexpensive
3-D printing, laser printers, and laser cutters has greatly enabled scale modelers.
The state of the art has advanced for far that competition is extremely stiff. Even
so, in the 1960's when this "Cockpit
Details for the Scale Model" article appeared in Air Trails magazine,
the skill level was quite impressive given the resources available at the time.
This particular subject is an instrument panel for a Piper J3 Cub, but photos from
scale contents of the era showed highly detailed cockpits for civilian and military
aircraft ranging from Cessna 180's to B-36 bombers and F−86 Saber jet fighters...
 "The
fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder." That, according
to Gene Kranz (NASA Flight Director during the Gemini and Apollo missions), was
Alan Shepard's reply when asked what he thought about as he sat atop the
Mercury Redstone rocket*, waiting for liftoff. Shepard knew the boost vehicle,
the "Redstone," was originally designed as an expendable ballistic missile and not
for safely launching humans into space might have had something to do with it, too.
This 1957 vintage article (5 years prior to Shepard's flight), describes some the
electronics systems that were used in the program both onboard for stabilization
and on the ground for guidance. "A new type computer can solve in five minutes a
ballistic trajectory problem which would require a man more than a year to complete."
Today, a cellphone app can do it in less than a second...
 This vintage
Jetex-Powered
Comet Lockheed F−94C Starfire kit (Kit No. SP−1) has been started by the previous
owner. It was designed and drawn by Gerald Blumenthal. The copyright date printed
on the plans is 1953. Many of the parts had been cut out of the printwood balsa
sheets, but none of the airframe has been assembled. I have not done a full inventory
of the kit, but it appears most, if not all, parts are present. The vacuum-formed
plastic components are a bit deformed and discolored from sitting in the box for
many decades, but are useable. A unique feature is the way the landing gear legs
are assembled out of a hardwood dowel for the main strut with music wire protruding
from the bottom for attaching the wooden wheel. One of the gears is already built.
Details are provided for the installation of a Jetex 150 engine with the augmenter
tube. This is a very rare kit...
 Flying Aces magazine, which was
published in the middle of the last century, had for a while a monthly featured
entitled, "Down Memory's Runway," where vintage (at the time) aircraft were
featured in pictures and captions. Of course those same airplanes are practically
prehistoric today. By 1942 when this column was published, biplanes had been replace
by monoplanes as the standard commercial and military design. A 14-passenger Boeing
80-A passenger biplane is included, along with the statement that it is believed
to be the only tri-motored biplane built in the U.S. Of course there was the famous
Ford Trimotor, but it was a monoplane. Also included is a photo of Claude Ryan with
his company's first M-1 monoplane. The swirled finish ...
 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)...
 Alain Pons, of France, sent my a paper copy
of the plans for his custom-designed 6-foot wingspan R/C canard model airplane -
"Alain's
Duck.". I had it scanned to JPG format at Office Max and then did some clean-up
to enhance the contrast and eliminate most of the fold lines. You can easily scale
the plans to any size you need to fit your tastes. Thanks again to Alain for making
this available ...
 Melanie inherited a very old
rolling pin from her grandmother,
and at some point in our many household moves it either got lost or we gave it away.
It has been gone for many years. The one she has been using was bought at Kohl's
- nothing special. Unlike Melanie's grandmother's rolling pin which was turned from
a single piece of wood, including the handles, the replacement roller is on an axel
between separate handles. A couple years back I finally found a 12" Craftsman wood
lathe like the one I had bought soon after separating from the USAF in 1982, but
I sold it in 1992 prior to a cross-country move. A little over a year ago, we built
a house on our daughter and son-in-law's farm, and needed to cut down a couple very
large red oak and white oak trees. They were cut into 10-foot by 10" wide by 1"
thick fence boards and stacked to dry for a year. I chose some of the best examples
of boards and ran them through my Craftsman planer to have in store for future projects.
Window ledges were made for the house from some of it, and there were a lot of 1-1/2"
wide strips left over. I decided to laminate in alternate strips of red and white
oak. The contrast is not extreme like when using maple and walnut...
 Jetex "rocket" motors were quite popular
during the 1940s through the 1970s. Their debut in the modeling world was in 1948,
per the Jetex.org website. Unlike Estes rocket engines that used combustion to generate
a high velocity ejection stream, Jetex fuel pellets merely "burned" at a constant
rate while the exhaust was forced through a small orifice in the engine's metal
housing (casing). Also unlike Estes engines, the Jetex casing was reusable and re-fuelable.
Half a dozen or so sizes and thrust levels eventually were produced. I had a couple
of the Jetex 50 engines that got strapped to Guillows balsa gliders and, to
some degree, were made to fly in jet-like fashion...
 This information appeared in a 1970s era
Sig Manufacturing catalog that I had as a teenager. Sig also had an extensive article
on balsa tree foresting and harvesting. They are as useful today as it was many
moons ago. Also, Al and Rod Clark created a very nice set of graphs that plot
balsa density versus weight for wide variety
of balsa sheet thickness, width, and length combinations. There is also a brief
discussion on balsa grain (A, B, and C) and how it affects the wood's characteristics.
It is hosted on the AMA's website. Balsa is one of the lightest woods available,
and in many respects has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any wood - even
oak. The chart at the right gives a comparison of a few familiar wood types...
 When deciding which type of covering material
to apply to a model airplane structure, it would be helpful to have a table of
covering density for comparison. Here
is such a table which shows, for instance, that 21st Century Fabric is the heaviest
type of covering you can use. MicroLite covering is the lightest weight. Not shown
are most doped or painted coverings because finished weights are so dependent on
substrate type (silk, Silkspan, tissue, etc.), paint or dope type, and number/thickness
of coats. To calculate the covering weight, multiply the density by the total surface
area of your model. Unfortunately, most of these coverings are no longer manufactured,
but a lot of it can still be found on eBay... |
