Old Remote Control P-51

[mikewint]

Control line combat: Never did this but saw guys that were really into it. The planes were small and mostly wing and motor. Two guys got into the flying circle back to back. Both took off at the same time and the idea was to run your prop into his airplane while he tried to do the same to you. The action was fast and furious and lines would get tangled. Never could understand how they kept track of their plane and his and with tangled lines you lost freedom of motion to a degree.

 

[ODonovan]

My only adventure with control line planes was a Cox P-51, in the mid/late '60s.

I DID have a control line dragster though, right after that.

I had to take it to my school in order to get a piece of sidewalk long enough to run it. That's back in the day when you could go onto school grounds, play basketball, baseball, or whatever, and not get arrested.



-Irish

 

[mikewint]

I had two of Cox's .049 non-flying bricks. The first a P-40 Flying tiger did a quick loop from the ground and buried itself nose first in the ground. My second was an .049 Stuka. The Stuka as I recall made it around maybe twice. The control lines became loose and down it went

 

[ODonovan]

There was a fine line between success and failure with the Cox planes. If you had the lines too short, they would spin you around too fast, get you dizzy, and you'd fall down. If you made them too long, you couldn't control them very well. Sounds like you had the latter. My first flight was the former, which taught me to lengthen the lines a bit, but not too much. I believe it was because the planes weren't heavy enough, being light plastic. They didn't have the inertia to handle the length of lines they needed.



-Irish

 

[mikewint]

The lines and handle were part of the aircraft set. I think that they were about 25ft. Wanting to get the plane up in the air ASAP I had full up on the tail ailerons. Which is what she did, up and over.
The .049 replica aircraft were simply NOT aircraft for a beginner.

 

[at6]

I still have two of the .049 engines here at the house. The planes are long gone.

 

[special ed]

As a c/l flyer since 1955 this appears to be a scratch built, aluminum sheet c/l with an early 50's torpedo engine {before K&B}. This will be heavy to fly and non aerobatic. The engine is low power compared to newer ones. I suspect it was never flown because of it's undamaged condition. Keep it as it is because the glide when out of fuel will be non existant.

 

[Milosh]

Got a Cox PT-19 for Christmas one year. Had many great hours with it going round and round. It had a profile fuselage and eventually the plastic motor mount broke from to many hard landings.

 

[special ed]

When Cox PT-19's were still available, I could find them in second hand stores, some times as cheap as .50 cents, after people did spring cleaning. We used them in our club to teach kids to fly. They flew ok with a pusher prop running clockwise. Still have four, but suspect the plastic is too brittle to fly. I used to go to the field {in my early twenties} to enjoy the dads try to fly their kid's new Christmas present. After the smashup, I began to see the kid,s face and realised it was the first time they saw dad screw up. We began to show up at the field after holidays and offered to teach the kids to fly. It worked a lot better and they got to take the whole plane home.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Thank you guys. I will see if I can get some detail shots of it Monday. It looks too much like a kit to me to be scratch built, but it may be.

 

[Milosh]

Aaron, not to many kits around back in the day but lots of plans.

 

[mikewint]

lots of plans.

I suspect that that might indeed be the case. I can't recall ever seeing or even hearing about a metal-skin control line aircraft.
Again in those early days perhaps a small garage-type manufacturer producing a few "kits" and pre-builts. Those rivets are also a puzzle. Not many would have had a rivet gun to install them...

 

[special ed]

My guess is the builder did sheet metal repair during WW2 possibly aircraft skins. I'll bet the model was made 1950 or 51.

 

[special ed]

maybe the aircraft he worked on was a P-51 and he didn't need plans to build a model.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Jack was on a Dover Air Force Base, he had all the tools he needed if he had plans and templates
Hell, he painted his car on base. LOL Ed, he was a transport pilot. But I would also guess that he had some one in the repair shop help him in there spare time.

 

[special ed]

That's good to know. Thanks Aaron.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Here are some more photos.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

 

[fubar57]

Very nice. Looks large and heavy

 

[Wurger]

I don't think it is too heavy. But looking nice.