Safety Reminder

[Papa]

Believe it or not That was the normal aero modelling activity. You had the engine on a 10 second run. Either a measured amount of fuel or a clockwork cut off. There was no throttle so you were either on at full rpm or off. You will see some holding the model for some time. That's to let the tank run down to the 10 second mark. Under normal conditions the model would climb to height in a wide circle. the rudder had a trim tab although some built the rudder with some turn induced. The model would then glide down in a lazy circular style. If you got caught in a thermal you had a dethermalizer to get you down. The elevator was hinged and attached to a rubber band that pulled it to full up. You used some cotton to hold it down and you put a fuse in the cotton. Once the fuse burned through the cotton the elevator would flip and hopefully it would come down. I say hopefully because some times it would be out of site before the fuse worked. That is why so many had bikes, they were the retrieval crew.

That was far too windy and caused all kinds of stalls etc. The flying wing was neat. They were all the rage at one time. You used a Cox Pee Wee with an integral fuel tank. The engine was on a boom and the wing on the opposite side balancing each other. A second boom was weighted to give lateral balance. You started them on a sick with a nail, the head was removed, and when it got up to speed it would lift off and fly, anywhere it wanted. They were really neat. Before helicopter mechanisms. There is an awful lot in that video that I remember as a kid. Nice to know that some people still preserve the history of the hobby.

Jack.   

[piker]

I built some stick and tissue models as a young teenager and would walk to the large field near my house to fly them (as well as my early RC models... mostly gliders).  One free flight model in particular was powered by the new TD.010 engine that was the cutest and tiniest engine I've seen.  The plane would not get very high on a run.

One day, the wind was a bit stronger than I would usually fly in, but I figured it was O.K. as the plane didn't go very high.  Well, apparently the engine hadn't worked in yet, until that flight, when it decided to pour on the power.  The plane went up and up and up, and away.  I searched through the woods for days after, but never found it.

I launched from location A, and I think the plane ended up in the woods at B, but maybe further.  I'll never know   

https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=44.240972,+-76.425100&daddr=44.242586,-76.421589&hl=en&sll=44.24194,-76.426091&sspn=0.010699,0.020299&t=h&mra=me&mrsp=1,0&sz=16&z=16

[eddiecj]

I'd pay to be out in that field with that crowd having that much fun, while making some bangers and mash over a fire! Does it get better?