Simpler times ... perhaps not ...

[special ed]

I realized (apologies to the R/C people) that my friends and fellow club members who flew R/C, were flying a box that was flying the plane. When it went down, they yelled "somebodys hitting me". When I went down, I was the pilot holding the handle, I was the test pilot, I was the contractor who built it, and often the designer. Few sports participants built every thing they use, that is until ready to fly R/C from china. They just throw everything away after a crash, buy another one, and my friends bring the wreckage to me for salvage.

 

[mikewint]

I started out with the Cox .049 ready to fly bricks. I might have made perhaps one circle if that before I gave up and decided that a real plane with a bigger motor was needed. Once again I went fancy with a P-40 that took a lot of building, rice paper, and a few gallons of dope. It flew a LOT better but I still had a lot to learn and buried it one time to many. Next was a simple "profile" model, essentially just a wing and tail. Designed from the ground up as a control-line flyer it did, beautifully. That's when I really learned how to fly control-line doing my first up-and-over, loops, and even inverted

 

[special ed]

That's what I'm talking about. Design your own, build it , fly it . It is a great confidence builder for a young person. Most of the aviators years past started with models. At least six of our present model club had or have a license for fullsize aircraft.

 

[mikewint]

One of the things that I thought was really Chool were those guys who were into combat flying. Standing back to back and trying to chew up the other guys streamer with the prop of their plane though many times it was the plane and sometimes both that got chewed up. The planes were very simple, mostly motor and wing and were unbelievably fast. Really fun to watch

 

[at6]

Those were the days. My first control line bit the dust before one circle. The next and last survived a few flights before it too bit the dust. I still have a couple of the .049 engines here.

 

[special ed]

If you think combat was fast then, you should see it today. the .15s (2.5cc) now fly as fast as the .36s. did in the 60s and 70s. If you want to see some fat, bald old men flying in circles, check out Ring Masters Flying Club.com You will find one of us flying his pulse jet.

 

[mikewint]

Yea, I saw the pulse jet control-line and also a 4-engine Lancaster control line. The jet flier had a center post to hold on to he was turning so fast. One poor guy had a biplane control-line and he just went round and round mostly straight and level. Then after about 6-7 minutes he tried a wing-over. Not enough pull and the line went slack and that poor plane went nose first into the ground. I admire their skill but my control-line days are over with all the improvements in RC and price reductions