Du-Bro was the first American company to
produce a radio control helicopter kit - the Whirlybird 505. That was sometime
around 1972 It was modeled after the way free flight helicopters were built an the
engine and propeller sitting on top of the main rotor, using a free-wheeling rotor
that turned in response to the counter torque of the engine. Fixed pitch rotor blades
were controlled via a flybar assembly as was the case prior to the advent of flybarless
rotor heads. Du-Bro's next helicopter was a much-improved and very popular Hughes 300,
using a driven rotor with the engine mounted in the fuselage. It also used a flybar
for rotor control. Building off that success, they next introduced this
TriStar R/C helicopter. It was smaller than the Hughes 300
and modeled after the RotorWay Scorpion homebuilt helicopter that was all the
rage in the 1970s and 80s ...
Way back in 1975, my friend, Jerry Flynn,
and I assisted Dick Weber in his successful flight on June 14, 1975, that set a
new FAI Closed Course Record of 225 miles in 5 hours and 38 minutes. We were both
flaggers to signal when the Tortoise has passed the distance markers. See the article
titled, "652 Miles Per Gallon," in the November 1975 issue of Model Aviation
magazine. We were not at all involved in all the painstaking effort that Dick had
put into preparing his model for the record flight. This account of
William Bertrand's trials and tribulations in finally setting
a new radio control world endurance record is valuable insight into what it can
take to achieve such a goal. test after test on engines, fuel, airframe, radio system,
fuel tanks ...
Ohlsson & Rice Inc., a powerhouse of
1950s American model-engineering, cast legendary glow-plug motors loved by car,
boat, and plane builders. Born in 1941 Los Angeles from ex-Utica Tool founders
J. Ohlsson and R. Rice, the firm cranked out rugged, light cast-aluminum blocks
- mainstay .23 to .49 cu in "O&R 60" and 1.3 hp sparkies - plus
ready-to-pounce accessible throttles, cowlings, wheels, balsa kits, and tools.
Garish orange boxes and comics-style decals made Christmas bright for boys
fueling dreams on tether tracks or free-flight, control line, and R/C. Military
sales and glittering awards ensured post-war boom...
The more things change, the more they stay
the same, as the saying goes. In 1942, when this featured appeared in Flying
Aces magazine, the participation of
women and girls in model aviation was very limited. Being that
it was more than 75 years ago, it might have been attributable to a lack of encouragement
or even outright discouragement by men and boys. However, here it is 75 years later
and the participation rate by women and girls is not that much greater. About the
only time you see them in photos in modeling magazines is when they are young girls
who are part of a schoolroom group activity conducted by an AMA member. the same
goes for model rockets. For that matter, the same goes for model cars, boats, and
helicopters. A lot of money and time...
1968 was the beginning of the 3-man crew
Apollo era with the first manned space flight of the series, Apollo 7, launching
in October of that year. Model rocketry was all the rage. Per this article from
a 1968 issue of American Aircraft Modeler magazine, the average age of
an American model rocketeer was about 13.6 years. I was 10 years old at the time
and had by that time been building and flying model rockets for a year or two. Being
a fan of both airplanes and rockets - hence this website's name - I liked the
rocket boost gliders. The Estes Falcon, Nighthawk, and Space Plane models were
available at the time. The Falcon was the simplest with a pylon-mounted engine that
ejected with the ejection charge. The Nighthawk was more akin to the Polish boost-Glider
in this article, where the power pod separates from the airplane and comes down
via streamer while the airplane glides back to earth...
"Sketchbook" (aka
"Sketch Book") was a regular feature in American Modeler magazine. It consisted
of a handful of construction, operating adjustments, and finishing tips and suggestions
(aka "kinks") for model aircraft, rockets, cars, and boats, all submitted by readers.
A staff artist put those ideas to drawings. This October 1958 issue included a twin-engined
control line model that claimed to fly well even if one engine quit before the other
(which was almost always the case on fuel-powered models) - without an outboard
thrust offset - due to both engines being located as close as possible to the fuselage
centerline. Another tip suggested a method for marking and masking off complex,
curved areas for painting by cutting thin strips of Scotch Tape for the initial
outline. One reader showed how to significantly strengthen the wing-to-fuselage
joint...
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.
This is the January 4, 1942, Flyin' Jenny comic strip. I expect that soon there
will be World War II themes...
As reported in this 1950 issue of Air
Trails magazine, the
19th
annual National Championship Model Airplane Contest, held at Hensley Field Air
Station in Dallas, Texas, in 1950, unfolded against a backdrop of military readiness
as Marine and Navy air units prepared for the Korean War. Despite the gravity of
the situation, more than 500 ardent contestants from the United States, Canada,
and Mexico eagerly arrived at Hensley Field, ready to participate in the first-ever
National model meet in the Southwest. For many senior flyers, aged between 18 and
21, the competition held special significance, as they were either expecting draft
notices or had already decided to enlist...
The first thing I learned (or re-learned)
in reading this article is that in 1967, "Hertz" had only recently been assigned
as the official unit of frequency. According to Wikipedia, International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) adopted it in in 1930, but it wasn't until 1960 that it was adopted
by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) (Conférence Générale des
Poids et Mesures). Hertz replace cycles per second (cps). The next thing that happened
was that I was reminded of how images such as the op-art tracing of
antenna oscillation that are routinely generated today by sophisticated
software, required huge amounts of setup time and trials to yield just a single
useful and meaningful image using actual hardware...
This
Dremel Model
381 Moto-Tool Kit is the next generation after my Dremel Model 371 Moto-Tool
kit that my Dremel Model 370 Moto-Tool was part of. Somewhere along the line I disposed
of the plastic box that held the Moto-Tool and accessories, so I looked on eBay
for a replacement. After many years of waiting, the closest I came was this Dremel
318 Moto-Tool Kit. It appears to be identical to the Model 371, only it came with
the Dremel Moto-Tool Model 380. The Model 380 has ball bearings whereas the Model
370 uses brass bushings. This Dremel Model 381 Moto-Tool Kit appears to be in like-new
condition and looks like it has never been used. Scans of all the manual pages are
posted below in case you have been looking for them.
Arch Whitehouse's air adventure stories
with wily ballistics expert and ace pilot Kerry Keen (alter ego,
The Griffon) are one of my favorite reads in the vintage Flying Aces
magazines. While testing their amphibious Black Bullet over Long Island, aviator
Kerry Keen (the Griffon) and mechanic Barney O'Dare spot a stolen experimental aircraft
- a winged fortress capable of carrying tanks. When Barney vanishes mysteriously,
Keen discovers his partner has been entangled in a plot to steal "Avalin," a revolutionary
armor formula. The trail leads to kidnapped movie star Doreen Yardley, who unknowingly
received the formula- all while protecting Keen's masked identity...
This article entitled "The Boom
in R/C Boats" appeared in the June 1955 edition of Popular Electronics
magazine which, during the early years of its existence devoted quite a bit of print
space to radio control airplanes, boats and cars. As with all things electronics,
a huge surge in consumer interest was occurring with over-the-air communications.
Bill (William) Winter served as the editor of the Academy of Model Aeronautics'
(AMA's) American Modeler and American Aircraft Modeler magazines
from 1966 through 1974, but his efforts to promote all form of modeling - airplanes,
helicopters, cars, boats, trains, and rockets - covered many decades. His first
recorded article, "Building the Famous Udet Flamingo," (co-authored by Walter McBride),
was published in the March 1935 issue of Universal Model Airplane News
magazine...
It would be interesting to do a side-by-side
comparison on what was considered engineered
control line stunt
model airplane design in 1957, when this article was written, to what is today considered
to be optimal design criteria. I am trying to get back into control line stunt flying
and have one model built currently, the Enterprise-E. It has been flown a few times
and is (was) extremely sensitive on the controls when set up per the plans. A little
bit of control handle movements resulted in a huge amount of both elevator and flap
deflection. Fortunately, access to the flap control horn is available through the
removable top fuselage hatch, so I was able to relocate the pushrod from the bellcrank
to the flap horn, and then from the flap horn...
When Melanie and I got married in 1983,
part of her dowry included some of the toys she had as a little girl. A
Hasbro
Lite-Brite was one of them. Our kids played with it when they were young, but
somewhere along the line during our many household moves, it disappeared. We probably
donated it to the Salvation Army at some point - a lot of our stuff has ended up
there. About a month ago we started watching for a good one on eBay that didn't
cost too much. Finally, there was a 1967-vintage Lite-Brite in like-new condition
up for auction that we got for around $45. It has a nice box...
Per "Wild Bill" Netzenband's report in this
1961 issue of American Modeler magazine covered the Vancouver Bi-Liners,
MAC highlights, Alan Nichols' success in Thompson Trophy Racer events, encouraging
clubs to adopt the affordable, and slow-flying contests. He addresses backlogged
club crest submissions, noting the impracticality of featuring all due to volume.
Alan Nichols debunks the myth that models wear out quickly, citing his year-old
Nobler and a five-year-old Fierce Arrow with original engine. Memories resurface
of McDonnell Aircraft's picnic air shows, where Phil Hamm's reliable metal jet stood
out. Southern California's new Control-Line Association, led by John Gudvangan and
others, seeks enthusiasts. Detroit's Metropolitan Speed Association unveils an $8,000
Rouge Park speed circle, aiming for a competitive...
This article entitled "Why Pilots Will Matter
in the Age of
Autonomous Planes" appeared in the June 2025 issue of IEEE's Spectrum
magazine. "Long after planes start flying themselves, humans will still be in the
loop. In August 2001, an anonymous guest posted on the forum at Airliners.net, a
popular aviation website. 'How Long Will Pilots Be Needed?' they wondered, observing
that '20 years or so down the road' technology could be so advanced that planes
would fly themselves. 'So would it really be useful for a person to go to college
now and be an airline pilot if a few years down the road they will be phased out
by technology?' Twenty-four years later, the basic technology required to make aircraft
fly themselves exists, as evidenced by the fact that most commercial flights are
flown largely on autopilot..."
This is the February 8, 1942, "Flyin' Jenny" comic strip. The Baltimore Sun newspaper, published
not far from where I grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, carried "Flyin' Jenny" from
the late 1930s until the strip ended in the mid 1940s, so I saved a couple dozen
from there. The first one I downloaded has a publication date of December 7, 1941
- that date "which will live in infamy," per President Roosevelt. Many Americans
were receiving word over the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while
reading this comic at the breakfast table. I expect that soon there will be World
War II themes. "Flyin' Jenny," whose real name was Virginia Dare (what's in
a name?), was a test pilot for Starcraft Aviation Factory who divided her time between
wringing out new airplane designs and chasing bad guys. She was the creation of
artist and storyteller Russell Keaton...
This is the complete set of
Peanuts Skediddlers, sold by
Mattel. Linus is extremely difficult to find, and when you do, he typically sells
for $200 or more. If you find a Linus Skediddler with the original box, expect to
pay $400. Over time, our (Melanie and me) Peanuts collection of memorabilia has
grow from the few items she had left over from her girlhood to complete sets. Everything
was gotten via eBay auctions. It took a lot of patience to be able to get good quality
items at an affordable price. Here is a bit of history I gathered on the Skediddlers.
Phenomenon: In the mid-to-late 1960s, Mattel capitalized on the explosive popularity
of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip by releasing the Skediddler - a line
of friction-powered toys. Unlike wind-up mechanisms, these toys relied on a simple
push-and-go design: sliding them across a surface activated internal gears, causing
the characters' limbs and heads to jerk in a whimsical "skedaddling"...
This 1949 Air Trails magazine article
warns that the
Soviet Union has surpassed the U.S. in military aircraft production by a 15-to-1
margin, with advanced jet fighters, bombers, and long-range piston-engine planes
already operational. Soviet scientists have also conducted atomic tests and are
close to producing compact A-bombs. Intelligence reveals a Red Air Force of 15,000
first-line aircraft, including 2,400 jets, some surpassing American designs. The
Soviets broke the sound barrier before the U.S. and have developed powerful turbojet
engines, some with innovative features like variable-pitch stators. German scientists
and captured technology accelerated Soviet progress, particularly in rocketry and
jet propulsion. Their aircraft feature advanced construction techniques, such as
metal-plywood sandwich wings, and superior armament...
A long time ago (circa
1977) I bought a used glider winch at an auction held by the Prince Georges Radio
Club, in Maryland. It cost me somewhere around $25, which was a lot for me in the
mid 1970s. The motor and control circuitry was contained in a plywood box, with
a jack for the foot switch and terminals to clamp jumper cable to from a car. In
looking at these plans for the
AAM Glider Winch shown
here from the April 1973 American Aircraft Modeler, it looks a lot like mine, only
mine was in a wooden box. It worked extremely well for my 99"
Windfree and 99"
Aquila sailplanes. Unfortunately,
I sold it shortly after getting married in 1983 (couldn't eat the winch). I would
love to have it back. Actually, what I would rather have at this point is a winch
that is powered by a cordless drill that would be lighter...
We take for granted most of the technology
that surrounds us. Unless you were alive 60 years ago at the dawn of microelectronics
and space flight, it would be difficult to imagine a world without cellphones, desktop
computers, color TVs, the Internet, and even
satellite-base weather forecasting. Everyone likes to make jokes about weathermen
being no better at predicting the weather than your grandmother's roomatiz[sic],
but the fact is that, especially for short-term (2-3 days) predictions, we get pretty
good information. As a model airplane flyer, I check the wind level forecast nearly
every day to see whether my model plane can handle it. AccuWeather's free hourly
forecast is usually pretty darn accurate for today's and tomorrow's wind...
In this 1937 "Smoke Scream" in a 1937 issue
of Flying Aces magazine, by Joe Archibald,
Lt. Phineas
Pinkham, the 9th Pursuit Squadron's resident troublemaker, stumbles into chaos
when he encounters an elephant named Hungha Tin and its Hindu mahout. After the
elephant drinks a bottle of arnica meant for a local's backache, it goes berserk,
wreaking havoc across the Allied camp. Meanwhile, Brigadier Scruggs confesses to
Pinkham that he sleepwalked and handed top-secret battle plans to an unknown spy.
Pinkham, framed by the mahout - who's actually a German agent - unknowingly smokes
a drugged cigarette and nearly flies a stolen Spad to the enemy. The vengeful elephant
interrupts his forced defection, allowing Pinkham to escape with Hauptmann von Spieler
as his prisoner. Back at base, Pinkham...
The Academy of Model Aeronautics is granted
tax-exempt status because part of its charter is for activity as an educational
organization. I think as time goes on, it gets harder for the AMA for fulfill that
part of its mission because presenting anything even vaguely resembling mathematics
or science to kids (or to most adults for that matter), is the kiss of death for
gaining or retaining interest. This article, "Control-Line Aerodynamics
Made Painless," was printed in the December 1967 edition of American Modeler
magazine, when graphs, charts, and equations were not eschewed by modelers. It is
awesome. On rare occasions a similar type article will appear nowadays in Model
Aviation magazine for topics like basic aerodynamics and battery / motor parameters.
Nowadays, it seems, the most rigorous classroom material that the AMA can manage
to slip into schools is a box of gliders and a PowerPoint presentation...
Peter Bowers first became know to me because
of his Fly Baby homebuilt airplane. It won the
Experimental
Aircraft Association (EAA) design contest in 1962. Back in the middle and late
1970s, I was taking flying lessons and dreaming big about building my own aerobatic
biplane. Being an avid woodworker, the Fly Baby appealed to me because it was constructed
entirely of wood, except for a few critical metal fittings. My plan was to build
the biplane version of the Fly Baby. Like so many other things, the aeroplane never
got built. Peter Bowers was not only an aeronautical engineer and airplane designer
but also an aviation historian and model airplane enthusiast...
"FlightGear"
is an Open Source (aka Free) flight simulator program which I first wrote about
in 2012. It has come a long way - and was pretty dran good, aven back then - and
is now a viable competitor for Microsoft's Flight Simulator (MSFS). The leatest
release as of this writing is 2024.1.1. The graphics are superb and easily on par
with MSFS. FlightGear has a joystick interface, but I don't own a joystick, so my
experience with it using keyboard inputs. VR headsets are also supported now. The
basic download comes with a couple dozen aircraft, and there are many additional
models available as separate downloads. FlightGear runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Thanks to all the folks who have spent their valuable time developing FlightGear!
FlightGear website: "FlightGear is an open-source flight simulator. It supports
a variety of popular platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) and is developed by skilled
volunteers from around the world...
The October 1950 Air Trails magazine
showcases
modelers' innovations, including H.G. Oliver's Plexiglas skids for speed models
and Don Nelson's booster battery setup. Ray Biernacki suggests keeping brushes soft
with thinner fumes, while Richard Larson offers a footswitch for bench testing.
Ted Jones improves dethermalizer safety, and Charles Francis simplifies its design.
Willard Hafler's flying wing excels in speed and sport flying, and Leon Shulman
repurposes a crankcase recess as a fuel tank. The magazine encourages readers to
submit their own ideas, paying $2 per accepted sketch. These practical, cost-saving
solutions highlight the creativity of mid-century model aviation enthusiasts, blending
engineering ingenuity with accessible materials - a snapshot of hobbyist innovation
in postwar America...
"IEEE Spectrum interviewed Bertrand Piccard
at a pivotal moment in the hydrogen-powered aircraft project, with the plane, called
Climate Impulse,
about 40 percent built. Piccard spoke about the contributions of his corporate sponsors,
including Airbus, to the Climate Impulse project and about why he's confident that
hydrogen will eventually succeed as an aviation fuel. He'll fly around the world
in a hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft. Few explorers have reached the heights, literally
and figuratively, that Bertrand Piccard has. He is the quintessential modern explorer,
for whom every big mission has a purpose, which generally boils down to environmental
and climate-change awareness. In 1999, he was the first person to circumnavigate..."
Amazingly, even during the Cold War years
it was not uncommon to see aircraft modelers from the "Iron Curtain"
countries participating in international contests. Even Commies like flying model
airplanes. Because their societies and politics were so closed and guarded, getting
information about their modeling supplies was darn near impossible except during
events where inspection could be made. Being a generally friendly bunch of guys,
the modelers would share their designs with the Free World, and vice versa. Then,
in subsequent years the Commies would show up with equipment that was exact replicas
of ours - copyrights and trademarks held no legal weight behind the Iron Curtain.
Truth be know, most or all of the participants were probably KGB agents (or other
Commie country equivalents) engaging...
While talking to a lady working one of the
tables at the 2016 Brodak Fly-In (July 14, 2016), she happened to mention that the
Brodak Manufacturing &
Distribution operations plant is located about a mile away, right behind Brodak's
Hobby Shop in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. I made sure to stop by after first visiting
the hobby shop. Brodak, unarguably the largest seller of control line models and
flying supplies, has the advantage of being its own manufacturer for most of its
products. Because of that, they are able to sell at the lowest prices possible for
a proprietary line of goods. Control line model airplane kits, nuts and bolts and
washers and other assembly hardware, flying lines and handles, landing gear, nitro
fuel, dope, thinner, adjustable line leadouts, balsa, plywood...
The
1961 AMA Nationals (NATS) showcased American excellence in model aviation as
Joe Bilgri, William Bigge, and Carl Redlin dominated the World Indoor Championships
in England, with Bilgri's record 37-minute flight securing individual honors. The
event featured engineering marvels like Ken Spitulski's scratch-built radio-controlled
freighter and Paul Williams' Twin Ringmaster, a dual-engine stunt plane. Pan-American
Airways concluded its 14-year sponsorship of payload competitions, marking the end
of an era. Veteran modelers like Carl Goldberg rubbed shoulders with rising talents,
while unique designs such as Doug Joyce's canard-style "Lightning" demonstrated
the hobby's creative spirit. The competition also included lighter moments like
the Miss Model Aviation pageant and Testor's best-finish award...
The AirplanesAndRockets.com website
exists entirely on the support of its visitors by way of a small percentage earned
with your
Amazon.com purchases, which typically works out
to less than $10 per month. That barley covers the domain registration and secure
server fees for AirplanesAndRockets.com. If you plan to buy items via
Amazon.com, please click on this link to begin
your shopping session from here so that I get credit for it. Doing so does not cost
you anything extra. Thank you for your support.
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...
