Here is a note I received from fellow long-ago Shark 15 owner Kim Allen Stricker, in response to my posting here. Kim has given permission to include it on my Shark 15 page. He is also providing construction photos for the short kit he bought from LazerWorks.

Hey Kirt,

I stumbled across the short story on your website about a Jetco Shark 15 built in the early '70's. Man! What a weird coincidence...down to the glue used...I guess a lot of us were living the same dream back then! My Uncle Wayne taught me to fly control-line planes in 1968 (starting with a battered, but beloved Cox PT-19 Trainer), and on many Sunday afternoons, the local ball park was filled with the whining cadence of endlessly circling models of every color that Aero Gloss offered.

My uncle had built a Shark 15 (with Duco Glue) and installed an Enya .19 (that sucker MOVED!!!). Being a farmer on a tight budget, he had to match the airplane to the engines he had on hand, and didn't own a .15, so the Shark became a .19-powered Aerial Hot-Rod.

Another thing about my uncle was that when he finished a model...it was finished...no trimming, no ballast added or removed, and very little investigating or enhancing of it's flight habits. His son Bobby, and I just had to adapt to any quirks the plane might have.

While the Shark looked and flew great, it maneuvered like a big truck with no power steering. A simple loop would result in a screaming, grass clipping pull-out that would have the "down wire" trailing way out behind the guitar-string-tight "up wire"! We'd have the handle hauled clear back to horizontal, trying to miss the ground, with the appropriate "WHOA" from any spectators as the Shark laid a shock wave across the ballpark's infield!

Of course, this was ultimately the source of it's un-doing, when Bobby came up an ant's-height too short, and the Shark impacted the ground right in front of us. The grass grabbed the plane and stopped it almost instantly, exploding nearly all of the silkspan off the wings, and fracturing everything from the engine mounts to the rudder.

A few years later, I built my own Shark (again with Duco Household Cement), and checking out the carcass of my uncle's plane (he kept everything), discovered that he had made a mistake in hooking up the controls. You might remember that the pushrod ran from the bellcrank to a horn on the flaps, with another pushrod going from the flaps to the elevator. He had their position reversed, so the poor Shark had a ton of flap travel, with just a little elevator movement!

With the correct pushrod positions, the Shark became a great aerobatic machine and I flew it for many years with the same Enya that had powered my uncle's plane...still blasting around the sky, but missing the ground with a lot more margin!

Anyway, hope this wasn't too boring. Thanks much for your story!!!

More... (June 2008)

As a 12-13 year-old, I was very lucky to have my Uncle Wayne step up to give me a direction for all the stuff that goes on in a kid's mind at that age. Those dusty, oily Sunday afternoons at the ball park are some of the best memories I have. The names of the airplanes and their engines (Ringmaster, Shoestring, Voo Doo, Cox, McCoy, Fox) are still magic-sounding to me, and it's hard for people to appreciate that they were way more than just toys.

With my lawn-mowing/Grit selling budget, every purchase had to be strategically planned, and involved a lot of imagining and day-dreaming before the actual plane ever came into existence on my little work table. Even their box-tops were used as posters in the "Hall of Fame" I created by nailing them to the wall beside my bed!

More... (August 2008)

Over the past couple of years, I've been slowly working through my stacks of old photos...scanning them to my computer, and found a few of an old buddy of mine and his Shark. In 1975-76, Kevin built a Shark and painted it in colors and scheme very nearly matching mine. The planes were so close in speed that we found we could easily fly in close formation, and actually put on a couple of good shows with our Sharks.

The similar looks got us into trouble one afternoon. We had a good flight going...I had just come over the top, and was locked onto Kevin's Shark...about a foot or so above it, and about a foot back from even. He told me later that he got confused and thought his was the top Shark...anyhow, he yanked hard, intending to wing-over away from my plane...and of course, I plowed into him!

My prop tore into his inboard wing and flap, and then ripped off his inboard stabilizer and elevator. The strike killed my engine and broke it's prop, but I was able to just glide down and actually make a pretty good landing on the infield dirt, with just a hole knocked in my outboard wing from his rudder. Kevin wasn't as lucky...when my prop struck his elevator, it tore the control horn loose, so the only pitch control he had was the flaps. And of course, the engine picked this time to go to full lean, and really started to wind up!

At first, we thought he was gonna make it...we knew the engine had to be almost out of fuel, and his Shark continued in level flight (while I grabbed mine and ran to safety!) for two or three laps...with Kevin yelling that he wasn't getting much from his control inputs...real "rock-on-a-string" stuff! Unfortunately, it finally got a little off level, swooping and climbing steeper and steeper...until it hit the ground. Considering what could have happened, he got off pretty easy...crunched belly, bent landing gear and torn up covering on the bottom of the wing. I think he repaired it, but don't remember for sure.

I've also included photos of my old Shark...been getting the shop in shape for building the new one...gonna try to recycle some of the hardware from the old dog, so I may use the bellcrank and leads, along with the landing gear wire.

That's about it...time to go do a little "Shark Surgery"!

More... (August 2008)

I finally got a full day to myself, and used several chunks of it to move the Shark along. I'm still appreciating those laser-cut parts!

I decided to put the lead-out exits under the wingtip (Cosmetics), and may make the landing gear two piece, so I can fly without it...IF I can get someone trained enough that I trust them to chuck the sucker!