Dyna-Jet Engine
June 1957 American Modeler

June 1957 American Modeler Table of Contents These pages from vintage modeling magazines like Flying Aces, Air Trails, American Modeler, American Aircraft Modeler, Young Men, Flying Models, Model Airplane News, R/C Modeler, captured the era. All copyrights acknowledged.

Here are a couple videos of pulse jet engines being run. The top one is a home-made pulse jet engine mounted on an R/C Long EZ. The bottom video presents a short tutorial on how the Dyna-Jet is built, how it is made, and how to start it.

Here is an article in the 1946 issue of Popular Science magazine entitled "Baby V-1 Jet Flies for Fun," which may be one of the first mentions of the Dyna-jet engine, which was developed by William Tenney and Charles Marks of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was later marketed in the 1950s by a company named Curtis Automotive Devices manufactured the now-coveted Dyna-Jet engine (they typically sell for >$400 on e-Bay --- if you can find one).

Are they still around today? Yep, only the company name is now Curtis Dyna-Fog. One of the first pulse-jet products aerospace engineer Russell Curtis produced was the Dyna-Jet "Red Head" miniature engine for use in model rocketry (per their website).

This advertisement was scanned from page 57 of the June 1957 edition of American Modeler.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator the $35.00 price in 1957 would be $339 in 2021 money.

Below is the e-Bay auction mentioned.

Articles About Engines and Motors for Model Airplanes, Boats, and Cars:

• Deezel Engine - January 1955 Model Airplane News
• AT's Post-War Motor Roundup - September 1949 Air Trails
• Motor of the Month: K&B Torpedo .049 Engine - November 1952 Air Trails
• Mills "Brothers" - ½   Diesel Engines from England - January 1952 Air Trails
• World's Smallest Mass-Produced Glow Plug Engine Unveiled by Cox - May 1961 American Modeler
• Cameron .09 Marine Engine - July 1954 Air Trails
• Electromotive Power Plants - March 1974 American Aircraft Modeler
• Netzeband Reports on the Aero 35 Horizontal Piston Engine - October 1963 American Modeler
• Wankel Engine Models - July-August 1963 American Modeler
• Multi-Cylinder Engines - March 1967 American Modeler
• Air Progress: The Jet Engine - July 1951 Air Trails
• 50-HT Hopped-Up Jetex - March-April 1963 American Modeler
• Allyn .049 Sky Fury Engine Review - May 1954 Model Airplane News
• CO2 Power is Coming Back - April 1969 American Aircraft Modeler
• Cordless Electric Flight Motors - July 1973 American Aircraft Modeler
• Cox Babe Bee .049 Engine - Operation & Troubleshooting Guide
• Babe Bee: New Member of the Cox Family - April 1957 American Modeler
• Cox Golden Bee .049 Engine - Photo of disassembled engine
• Cox Thimble Drone PeeWee .020 Engine - Engine photo & operation sheet
• Junior 451 / DP-03 CO2 Model Airplane Motor - Photos, user's guide, and video of it running
• Designing a Ducted Fan - February 1971 American Aircraft Modeler
• Ducted Fans!  --  Scale-Like R/C Planes - March 1962 American Modeler
• Dyna-Jet Engine - June 1957 American Modeler
• Engine Idling Secrets (Part 1) | (Part 2)

      November & December 1962 American Modeler

• Engine Roundup - 1955 Air Trails Annual Edition
• Eureka Importing Company "Tiger Jet" Ad - July 1957 American Modeler
• Fox 15 C/L Engine - Photo of my 1st engine bigger than a Cox .049
• Fox 35 C/L Stunt Engine - Photo of my next C/L engine,
• Fox 40 R/C Advertisement - April 1962 American Modeler
• Gentlemen, Start Your Engines! - August 1969 American Aircraft Modeler
• Global Engine Review - 1963 Annual Edition American Modeler
• Hot Engines! - January/February 1963 American Modeler Article
• How Bill Wisniewski Reworks His Engines - June 1957 American Modeler
• How to Select the Proper Glow Plug ... and Why - 1963 Annual Edition American Modeler
• Inside the Two-Cycle Engine - February 1968 American Aircraft Modeler
• Iron Curtain Engines - Da? Nyet? - August 1962 American Modeler
• Jetex Jet Engine Ad - May 1954 Model Airplane News
• Jetex Motors & Fuel Pellets - Photos of my collection of motors
• Johnson Engines Continue on Improvement Program - February 1957 American Modeler
• Powerplant Revue: Hi's Radio Mill Proves Potent Yet Docile .35 - February 1962 American Modeler
• McCoy .35 Red Head C/L Engine - Photos of my engine and the user's sheet
• Model Motor Museums (Part 1) | (Part 2)

      November & December 1959 American Modeler

• Netzeband Reports on a Horizontal Piston Engine

       September/October 1963 American Modeler

• Norvell .15BB Revlite C/L Engine - Photos of my engine
• O.S. 25 LA Engine - Photos of my engine
• Outboard Model Boat Motors - Advertisements of many different outboards
• Rubber Motor Testing - August 1968 American Aircraft Modeler
• There's a Wankel in Your Future - June 1968 American Aircraft Modeler
• Thimble-Drome Piper Super Cub 105 - October 1957 American Modeler
• The Visible Wasp Airplane and V-8 Automobile Engines - Advertisements
• The Wright Cyclone 9 Radial Aircraft Engine - by Monogram

Posted October 20, 2021
(updated from original post on 11/27/2010)