|
 The role of the
flight engineer
is one of the most significant yet increasingly historical professions in the history
of aviation. Introduced during an era when aircraft systems grew increasingly complex,
the position of flight engineer bridged the gap between pilots and the intricate
mechanical and electrical systems of larger, multi-engine aircraft. The history
of the flight engineer position is closely tied to the evolution of aviation technology,
airline operations, and the military's increasing reliance on heavy aircraft during
and after World War II. The position of flight engineer first emerged in the 1930s
with the advent of multi-engine commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 314 Clipper
and the Douglas DC-4. These aircraft required a dedicated crew member who was responsible
for monitoring and managing the various systems, including engines, fuel, hydraulics,
pressurization, and electrical systems...
 As a lifelong admirer of Charles Schulz's
Peanuts comic strip, I occasionally buy a collectible item like a Snoopy music box
that plays "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," a plastic Schroeder and piano figurine,
a Charlie Brown Skediddler, or a Snoopy astronaut from the Apollo era. This time
I bought the edition of TV Guide that announced the first showing of the "A Charlie
Brown Christmas" cartoon. Also in this edition is the announcement of plans
to preempt regular programming to televise the launch of the Gemini VII spacecraft,
which carried astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell. It launched right on
time at 7:30 pm on December 4th, 1965. "As his millions of fans long since have
discovered, under that inept, ineffectual, bumbling exterior of Charlie Brown's
there beats a heart as soft and sweet as a marshmallow. In the sequence on these
pages, drawn exclusively for TV Guide by Charlie's creator, Charles Schulz, he becomes
concerned about the true meaning of Christmas...
 I've been using X-acto tools since my teenage
years the early 1970s. Before that, my razor knife blades were either the single-edge
hardware store type or double-edge blades copped from my father's safety razor (those
were truly dangerous, even with one edge taped). Half a century later, I now have
a selection of many flavors of X-actor blades and handles. As the chart above shows,
there seems to be an X-acto blade for every purpose. I often wondered what they
were all meant for, until I found this
X-acto Blade Usage Chart
from the company. Like most people, by far my most often used blade is the trusty
#11. I've been through hundreds of them. X-acto also makes a wide variety of specially
shaped carving blades, including vees, cups, circles (routers)...
 Most people these days are probably now
aware of an aeronautical profession that up until around the early 1980s was a vital
part of aviation - the
flight
engineer. This 1950s article in Air Trails magazine highlights what
was at the time a very prestigious and sought-after position for people wanting
professional level careers in both commercial and military aviation. Since the 1930s,
aircraft were rapidly growing larger and more complex. Most had two to four engines,
retracting landing gear, pressurized cabins, autopilots, electronic and celestial
navigation, long distance routes, and increasingly crowded airways. All that plus
en route and destination airport weather, and even ground traffic clutter at
airports...
 This is part two of a series from the March
1957 issue of American Modeler magazine that briefly introduces a dozen
winning free flight models and comments from their designers. Current day modelers
who like to fly the vintage (old timer) airplanes might pick up a useful tip from
the masters of the golden age of free flight. Materials have not changed a lot since
then, other than maybe the use of carbon fiber in the airframe, and no doubt engine
technology has gotten better, but the fundamentals of trimming for the powered and
glide portions of free flight pretty much remain the same...
Anyone who watched the
WKRP in Cincinnati TV sitcom back in the 1970s has to remember what was one
of the funniest episodes ever. Here is the 4 minutes that made Prime Time history.
In this Thanksgiving episode, station owner Arthur Carlson decided he would surprise
the community with good deed - that doubled as a promotional stunt for his radio
station - by dropping turkeys from a helicopter for lucky shoppers at the local
shopping mall. Watch the disaster unfold as Les Nessman reports live, and then see
Carlson's final comment that is still used or alluded to in many comic routines.
Posting this video is an RF Cafe tradition. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
 "A team of students at the University of
Southern California has officially set a
new record for the highest amateur space launch - and they've set the bar very,
very high for anyone who tries to beat it. The rocket, Aftershock II, reached a
height of about 470,000 feet (about 90 miles), passing the existing record for highest
amateur space flight by about 80,000 feet. The launch The team's successful launch
took place on October 20, though it took roughly a month for the student team to
verify the data via a report this month. That data showed that the amateur rocket
traveled roughly five-and-a-half times the speed of sound during the launch. To
perform the test, students from the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab traveled to the Black
Rock Desert, since the playas and dry lake beds there proved suitable..."
 This brief piece from the October 1950 issue
of Air Trails magazine was a springboard into articles on
control line models for beginners. The Peppy Trainer, for example, is 28" wingspan,
flat−bottom airfoil control line model with a solid balsa fuselage and tail surfaces.
It used a .09 engine - which would typically be easier to adjust and keep running
than a standard .049 engine. That article also recommends more than a dozen other
good trainer models to server both the rank control line beginner and someone just
getting into control line aerobatics. Many have built-up fuselages, which the experts
claim is best for high precision maneuvers since the rigidity of the 3-dimensional
structure minimizes twisting, keeping the alignment between the wing and horizontal
stabilizer consistent. There are low-wing, mid-wing, and high-wing configurations,
both scale-like and non-scale...
 Destination Lancaster pledged $100,000 toward
finishing construction of the new
Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Museum is expected
to become a top destination and draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Aerospace
Valley area near Lancaster, California. Art Thompson, Chairman of the Flight Test
Historical Foundation (FTHF) said, 'This significant pledge from Destination Lancaster
demonstrates their vision for the economic growth and tourism potential of our region.
The new museum will serve as a cornerstone attraction, drawing aviation enthusiasts..."
 Airplanes and Rockets website visitor Michael
M. wrote to request that I post this article, along with the ones for the
Satellite 1000 free-flight champion,
and The Giants of Free Flight. His reason was that he wanted to get his flying team
back together again in Bill Hunter, who passed away recently. This 1972 American
Aircraft Modeler magazine article on covering with Mylar is very extensive
and is another example of such efforts that were common in hobby magazines of decades
ago - a large part of my motivation for making them available. It is rare...
 1943, in the midst of World War II,
was about the beginning of the time when all the
fantastic predictions of flying cars, video phones, domestic robots, two-day
work weeks, meals in pill form, self-driving lawn mowers, self-driving cars, moon
and planet habitats, and other creations were being pitched by technical magazines
like Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Science and Mechanics,
Mechanix Illustrated, and others. Even the "women's" mags were full of
promises of automated everything to make housework simpler. While many of the fundamental
inventions has since been created, only a few have evolved to full maturity as envisioned.
A flying machine in every garage is one which has not. Such a Jetsons...
 We will be moving back to Erie, PA, where
overcast skies dominate, and the city lights kill views, so I am going to try to
sell this before leaving. I'd keep it as a museum piece for display if I was going
to have room, but we might be going into an apartment. The entire system has been
stripped down and refinished, with original components retained for authenticity.
Included are telescope, mount, clock drive, finder scope, 9 mm and 18 mm
eyepieces, 2x Barlow, dust covers. This is truly a unique opportunity. Please contact
me via e-mail if you are interested in buying it. Local pick-up only, or I'll deliver
for $50 within 100 miles of Greensboro, NC, with payment in advance...
 Here is a very simple technique for creating
and applying custom
lettering - or even complex graphics - using Monokote covering. It makes cutting
out and positioning the individual pieces easy on flat surfaces or surfaces with
a simple curve or bend. Complex surfaces like cowls and wheel pants can be more
challenging, but at least the shapes can be created this way. Use any word processor
or graphics program to create the exact size and text and/or graphic shapes, including
spacing and alignment, italics, font face, etc., that you want on your printer.
Print it out on regular printer paper (20# works fine). Tape the paper onto the
Monokote and cut out each character with an x-Acto...
 This
Midwest Products Sharpie Schooner is one
of two static display models that I built for my dearest, Melanie (the other being
a Midwest Products Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack). She actually bought them to build
herself, but decided to let me build them instead. I used my woodworking, metalworking,
and painting skills for the structure and accessories, and she used her sewing skills
to make the sails. Applying all those tuft strings on the sails was quite time-consuming.
Deft Gloss clear was sprayed on the entire structure and sanded between coats for
a smooth surface. Then, Testors enamel paint was applied on the bottom of the hull.
The effort paid off with a 1st Place ribbon at the 2004 Dixie Classic Fair, in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina...
 The Russian MiG-15 and French Mystère jet
airplanes were prominent first in the Korean War and then into the Vietnam era.
They were two of the earliest jet fighters in air warfare. Many of the American
jet planes were being modeled around 1956, when this issue of Young Men magazine
came out, but at least in domestic magazines, plans for foreign jobs were fairly
rare. Here are plans for the two aforementioned Russian and French jets which use
the Jetex 50 engine for propulsion. Construction is all balsa, consisting of
a minimal framework covered with 1/32" balsa...
 Snow season arrived here in Erie, Pennsylvania,
already (13" on November 10th), and I didn't want to miss the chance to do some
flying off of snow skis. Last winter I mounted a pair of DuBro snow skis to my
Herr Engineering
J-3 Cub and flew a couple times with them, but they were the standard model
that are too big and heavy for this 1/2A-sized model. DuBro's Park Flyer Snow Skis
seemed like they might be a better choice for the J-3, so I ordered a pair. The
size is just about right, but the vacuum-formed plastic was a bit too thin for me
to confidently install them on the J-3. I decided that they would be perfectly useable
with a little sturdying up. As can be seen in the photos, there are two stiffening
slots...
 While looking for the edition of TV Guide
that published the first airing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," I noticed that the
time period coincided with the launching of the
Gemini VII spacecraft.
In a stroke of good fortune, it indeed included an announcement that regularly scheduled
programming would be preempted as necessary to provide live coverage of the launch,
to give timely updates, and to coverage the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. 2:30
Gemini Space Flight The 14-day Gemini VII space flight is scheduled for launching
from Cape Kennedy's Pad 19 at 2:30 P.M. Astronauts Frank Borman and James A. Lovell
will be making man's longest journey...
 "An aviation company pushing the boundaries
of
solar-powered flight has successfully finished the first in a series of tests
for its uncrewed airplane, taking off from Mississippi's Stennis International Airport
for six flights high over the Gulf of Mexico. The company, Skydweller Aero Inc.,
says its aircraft - essentially a giant drone with a wingspan greater than a 747
- had one flight lasting 22.5 hours and another lasting 16 hours during the initial
testing campaign. The company says it is developing technology to enable its airplanes
to eventually spend months cruising at 40,000 feet, guided by a team of techs on
the ground and using only the sun for fuel. The top of the plane is equipped with
17,000 solar cells..."
 A scheme I have considered for control line
models is one of the entries in the "Sketch Book" section of the February 1949 issue
of Air Trails magazine. Mr. Joseph Johnson shows how he used a moveable
rudder on his scale airplane to increase tension on the control lines when up elevator
is commanded. A similar system could be devised for stunt models which increases
right rudder (for CCW circles, left rudder for CW) as either up or down elevator
is fed in. Another option I have never tried is to have a
moveable
rudder controlled by a spring connected to a sliding bellcrank platform that
would increase outward rudder when line tension lessens, and decrease it when the
lines get tight. Such a system would be most useful for compensating for wind gusts
that slacken the control lines. Maybe some day I'll have the time to experiment
with that. A handful of other ideas are included...
 Website visitor Bob wrote to ask that I
scan and post the construction article and plans for the
F-84G Thunderjet control
line model. It appeared in the July 1970 issue of American Aircraft Modeler magazine.
The unique feature of this model is that the power is supplied by the pilot. A fishing
pole and line is used to drag the airplane around the flying circle and a separate,
standard two-line elevator control is used to maneuver the model. Construction is
sheet balsa. Author Joe Wagner (well-known in the modeling world) claims that with
a bit of practice just about any aerobatic maneuver can be accomplished except for
the overhead routines like the figure eight...
 "Drones
will be deployed for long distance inspection of infrastructure as well as site
security following new rule changes published by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
The aviation regulator's new rules will enable drones to fly beyond the visual line
of sight (BVLOS) of remote pilots in so-called 'atypical' operations through its
new policy for atypical air environments (AAE). BVLOS flights have been taking place
in the UK for several years, but these flights have occurred primarily in trials
under strict restrictions..."
 The 1956 Air Trails magazine Annual
Edition reported on the World Championships in Germany for the International Wakefield
Cup, F.A.I Free Flight, and Nordic A/2 Glider events. The three '55 World Championships
were held in September at the U.S. Air Force's Finthen Airfield, near Wiesbaden,
Germany. Competition was fierce amongst European and American contenders. It is
worthwhile to remember that 1955 was a mere eleven years after the end of World
War II, and that former foes were gathered together for a sporting contest.
There could easily have been men there who, without knowing it, were competing against
military adversaries they met on the battlefield or in occupied towns a decade earlier...
 This
rocket
boost glider called the Dyna-Soar was powered by American Telasco's version
of the Jetex 50 engine. Jetex rocket engines were quite popular with model airplane,
boat, and car builders through the early 1970s, at which point the fuel supplies
began to disappear. Most Internet sources posit that Imperial Chemicals Industries
(ICI) ceased making the fuel pellets due to a combination of liability and regulation
issues. ICI, based in Scotland, manufactured the Jetex fuel pellets* from a measured
blend of guanidine nitrate, 2,4-dinitroresorcinol, potassium nitrate...
 Leonardo da Vinci is usually credited with
producing the first illustration of a helicopter concept. It employed a rotating
helical corkscrew device at the top in order to enable the craft and occupant to
"screw his way aloft, in much the same manner as Archimedes designed his eponymous
helical screw device to lift water from a lower level to a higher level. Water,
being dense and cohesive with itself, was easily elevated, whilst air, not being
dense or cohesive, did not yield to the same technique. In fact, if the "aerial
screw" were able to spin rapidly enough and was of an efficient aerodynamic design,
it would work. Here is a 4-screw drone to prove it. These "Windmill
Planes" presented in the February 1939 issue of Popular Science magazine represent
the state of the art at the time. Surprisingly omitted is an example of Igor Sikorsky's
helicopter design, which he first flew successfully in September...
|
 Little did most people know that two months
after this October 1941 issue of Flying Aces magazine arrived in their
mailboxes, the U.S. would be drawn into what would become World War II, following
the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. Flying Aces
was chock full of factual and fictional stories about the last war (War War I),
and the things the Krauts and Nips were already pulling across Western Europe, North
Africa, China, and the South Pacific. Much more subject material was near at hand.
Oddly, the magazine changed its theme and title to Flying Age shortly before
the end of WWII, electing to focus more on full-scale aircraft rather than models.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Inflation Calculator, the $9.75 Phantom
P-30 engine would cost you about $194 in 2023. In 2020 it would have been $163.
That means the total rate of inflation for the last three (3) years has been around
19% (~6.3%/year). In 2016 the equivalent price would have been about $153, so from
2016 to 2020 the increase was just 6.5% for the entire four years (~1.6%/year)...
  The Peanuts© comic strip, drawn by Charles
Schulz, has been my lifetime favorite. That it is also the world's favorite strip
is no wonder. Now that I have crossed the half-century threshold, I tend to look
back at the innocence and complexity of the themes with a perspective other than
simply entertainment - although I still thoroughly enjoy reading them just to get
a few good laughs. Along the way, I have managed to collect a few bits of memorabilia.
Melanie was a Peanuts fan as a child and actually still had some of her girlhood
collection. Part of her dowry when we married was a couple dozen Peanuts paperback
comic books, Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy Skediddlers, the Snoopy Christmas tree
ornament, a couple Peanuts banners, and a few other odds and ends. The rest of the
stuff like the Snoopy astronaut and the magazines with early Charles Schulz artwork
was purchased off of eBay. Schroeder, Lucy, and Snoopy Bobbleheads (aka Nodders)
were added in November 2012 as well as the Schroeder & Piano...
 Per Merriam-Webster, the word "quiz" as a
noun means: 1) an eccentric person, 2: a practical joke, or 3: the act or action
of quizzing specifically - a short oral or written test. As a verb it means: 1)
to make fun of - mock, 2) to look at inquisitively, or 3) to question closely. Since
this "Quiz on Aeronautical Engineering Education" from a 1946 issue of Air Trails
magazine is directed toward the reader, its content does not seem to meet any of
the definitions. It can only really be called a "quiz" if it is directed toward
the
Northrop Aeronautical Institute, which it is. It is clearly a case of the reader
asking the questions, not the reader being quizzed on his aeronautical knowledge.
I point this out only because it seems like a deceptive technique for grabbing the
reader's attention by implying a test of technical prowess - in which the kind of
people who read this sort of magazine typically love to participate. Instead, it
is merely an advertisement...
 In 1956 when this
Northern Minx
article and plans appeared in Young Men magazine, state of the art radio
control (R/C) was still composed of vacuum tubes and discrete components, usually
connected together via point-to-point wiring. Batteries were of the lead-acid type
for the transmitter and carbon or alkaline for the airborne receiver. As you might
guess, that resulted in heavy models which needed to be relatively large in order
to keep the wing loading down. Northern Minx only had a 48-inch wingspan, and used
a simple one-tube receiver with a rubber-powered escapement for channel control
of both the rudder and the elevator. The plans show only the rudder control installation,
and the photos appear to only show a single escapement, though. The builder just
about needed to use a shoe horn to squeeze all that in the fuselage. Interestingly,
the Northern Minx has a break-away nose section containing the firewall, engine,
fuel tank, propeller, spinner, and cowling...
 Danny M., a website visitor from The
Land Down Under, wrote to ask that I scan and post this article for what today we
would call a "smart" glow plug driver. There is also an accompanying article in
the same July 1974 edition of American Aircraft Modeler magazine titled "The AAM
Glowdriver." Danny said, "I built one in 1978, it is still working fine. When a
friend saw how it would light a plug under water and clear a flooded engine instantly
he begged me to build him one. Unfortunately the original article is long gone,
so I found your website and noticed that you list the magazine in question." Well,
thanks to our resourceful mate, now the plans and article are available again in
case you are experiencing a bit of nostalgia...
 Anyone
who watched the
WKRP in Cincinnati sitcom back in the 1970s has to remember what was one of
the funniest episodes ever. Here is the 4 minutes that made Prime Time history.
In this Thanksgiving episode, station owner / manager Arthur Carlson decided he
would surprise the community with good deed - that doubled as a promotional stunt
for his radio station - by dropping turkeys from a helicopter for lucky shoppers
at the local shopping mall. Watch the disaster unfold as Les Nessman reports live,
and then see Carlson's final comment that is still used or alluded to in many comic
routines. Posting this video is an RF Cafe tradition. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
 Here is yet another example of how hobbyists
laid the groundwork for technical innovations that were eventually adapted for use
and improved by professional organizations - the military, universities, corporations.
Radio control of model airplanes was first successfully achieved by a pair of brothers,
Dr. Bill Good and Dr. Walt Good (kind of like the Wrights), who experimented with
what were at the time rather crude engines and electronic and electromechanical
devices. The year was 1936, only eleven years before this article appeared in Radio−Craft
magazine reporting on the U.S. Army Air Force's and Navy's use of radio-controlled
drones, or as the title says, "Teleguided
Missiles." Some systems were designed from the ground up to be missiles while
others were systems installed in existing aircraft which had been decommissioned
for normal human-piloted use. They were sort of a Kamikaze craft without the expendable
airman inside...
 As with most electrical and electronic equipment,
performance increases have come often and significantly in the six and a half decades
wince the article was written. In 1957 when this article appeared in American
Modeler magazine,
battery
technology was still crude by today's standards, but much advancement had been
accomplished during the war years of WWII and Korea for the sake of field portable
communications gear. Chemistry and packaging improved to where if the user was knowledgeable
and applied certain precautions, a high degree of reliability could be garnered
from various cell types. Having the right battery for the task at hand was and still
is paramount to achieving success. It is interesting that vibrator type DC-to-AC
power supplies were still being used to supply the high plate voltage for electron
tubes. Some higher voltage batteries could be connected in series instead, but that
often resulted in too heavy and too bulky packs that could not be readily accommodated
by the airplane model...
 Breaking News!!! - My
electric-powered,
control line DC−3 model completed its maiden flight on August 2, 2023. It flew
beautifully! The lines kept nice and tight even with slight wind gusts. I was unsure
whether the motors and propellers would provide sufficient thrust, but 4−cell LiPo
battery, it will climb nearly straight up. In fact, though, the maiden flight only
used a 3-cell LiPo and it flew fine. The propellers are counter-rotating jobs meant
for a drone. They are the only 3−bladed props I could find that were small enough
in diameter with wide blades and high pitch. Allegheny Airlines livery was chosen
because of a photo I have of one sitting on the tarmac at Erie International Airport
sometime in the 1970s. A video will be posted soon...
 This "Mactuator," or
magnetic
actuator for radio controlled models, may be a form of the very first truly
digital servo - that is to say that a digital input consisting of ones and zeroes
determines the position of the control arm. Analog servos and their "digital" cousins
of the types employed by R/C modelers use the relative position and width of a pulse
in a train of pulses to determine what the position of the control arm will be.
The main difference between the two types is the refresh rate of analog versus digital
- about 20 milliseconds vs. 0.3 milliseconds, respectively. Most people
not familiar with hobby type servos would probably assume - and understandably so
- that a digital servo takes as a signal input a binary word of some length instructing
it where to position the control arm. For instance, the receiver might output a
10-bit word that represents 210 = 1024 discrete positions for the servo...
 Most
people familiar with the history of
radio control (R/C) airplanes credit twin brothers Walt and Bill Good for the
first truly successful R/C airplane, which they dubbed "Big Guff," in 1938. Interestingly,
this YouTube interview with the Good brothers mentions, as does Mr. Isberg
in his 1939 article in Radio News magazine article, the first sanctioned R/C contest
where the Good's model was the only one to fly. Ross Hull and Clinton DeSoto were
two other prominent early R/C'ers. Transmitter operators were licensed Hams who
designed and built their own equipment at 56 MHz, unlike modern turn-key R/C
systems operating in unlicensed ISM bands. Vacuum tubes were used in the transmitter
and the airborne receiver. Lead-acid batteries often provided power for the receiver
and control surface actuators (pseudo-servos) in the airplane, which unfortunately
would burst during a crash...
 The "Ephemeris" Class A and FAI
free flight model was somewhat of a sensation in the modeling world back in 1963
when it appeared in the March/April issue of American Modeler magazine because it
featured up thrust. Its designer, R. Jess Krieser, was "thinking outside the box"
before the term was even coined. Mr. Krieser took an engineering approach to redesigning
the Carl Goldberg "Sailplane" model and after examining tables and graphs on L/D
curves on airfoil drag coefficients, settled on the final form factor that became
the Ephemeris. Read about it here...
 Here are detailed drawings for the
Douglas
A-20 Boston / Havoc Bomber that I electronically scanned from my purchased copy
of the November 1970 American Aircraft Modeler magazine. Per Wikipedia: "The Douglas
A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft,
night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. Designed
to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was ordered by France for
their air force before the USAAC decided it would also meet their requirements."
Because the drawings span two pages, you will need to adjust the size and alignment
a bit to get halves to line up properly. From there, with some extra effort you
should be able to create plans for a model if plans can no longer be purchased or
you just enjoy drawing plans (I do). Line drawings for this fine model were created
by Mr. Björn Karlström...
 Here are the plans and article for Charles
Parrott's semi-scale
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk control line stunt model as they appeared in a 1963 issue
of American Modeler magazine. It sports a 38" wingspan and is powered by an inverted-mounted
Fox .35 Stunt engine fed by a modified Veco 3.5 ounce fuel tank. There was
an effort in the era to have competition stunt models resemble real-life airplanes,
even though exaggeration of fuselage, wing, and tail surfaces were required to facilitate
stunting. As is evidenced by today's top control line stunt models, the fad gave
way to structures designed specifically for accommodating the needs of flight. Even
full-size aircraft design moves in that direction over time, where traditional features
and methods give way to modern technology and materials. Compare the look of a production
composite frame general aviation airplane from Diamond Aircraft or Cirrus Aircraft...
 My
flight simulator software (MS Flight Sim 2002) and computer it runs on (HP i7 notebook)
are each more powerful than the software and computer that ran the
Douglas DC-8 pilot training simulator featured in this 1958 article in Popular
Electronics magazine. Two racks of 1000+ vacuum tubes did the figurative
electronic heavy lifting while massive DC motors did the literal physical cockpit
heavy lifting. The computer needed to handle as many as 40 variables at one time,
including 6 differential equations of motion. 100 servomotors, 540 amplifiers and
2,200 gears drove the instrument panel gauges, dials, and movie projector mechanisms.
The instrument panel description conjures images of the inside of a modern office-grade
copying machine with its very dense conglomeration of gears and axels...
 Since there is a lot of wisdom conferred
each month upon the model aircraft magazine reading public, I thought it would be
of service to scan, OCR (so you can search the text), and post some of the articles
from vintage American Aircraft Modeler magazines. This first is the "Walt Mooney on Free Flight,"
from the January 1974 issue. One item is how a flying club near the Miramar Naval
Air Station (of Top Gun fame) lost its site because someone (a non-member) flew
an R/C glider at high altitude during a full-size training exercise, thereby disturbing
the program. Eventually, all kinds of aeromodeling will be covered including free
flight, control line, and radio control. Stay tuned for more to come...
 Here is the method I came up with to straighten
what were initially very
bowed (lengthwise)
and cupped (depthwise) laminate countertops. An Internet search on recommended
ways to correct it turned up nothing. Many suggested that with as severely curved
as mine were, the best thing to do is to discard them and buy new countertops. That
was not an option for two reasons. First, after the COVID scamdemic the cost was
double what it had been just two years prior. Second, the scamdemic, in early 2022,
was still causing a major shortage of building materials, so finding a suitable
selection was nearly impossible. Having been a woodworker for many decades, there
have been a few times I needed to remove warps, twists, or bows from wood surfaces.
Cutting a crosshatch pattern on the underside for stress relief and then flattening
and bracing the surface always did the trick. Attempting to flatten the countertop
by weighing down the edges and screwing the top to the base cabinets would not work
because the tension in the curve would likely have caused the laminate on the top
to split. Cutting slots in the bottom surface made the less-thick wood easily bend
back into a flat surface. The slots were cut about a third of the way through from
the bottom, and were spaced 2 inches apart...
 A controversy
brews over the merits of breeding plants that glow like a lightning bug. Proponents
say
glowing trees could eventually replace electric street lights, thereby reducing
pollution created by generating stations. Opponents say messing around with tree
genes is dangerous and should be disallowed since it could lead to unanticipated
environmental ramifications on both plant and animal species. The unique aspect
of this effort is that it is being pursued primarily by genetic hobbyists rather
than corporations - at least for now. There is bound to be a huge financial potential
for such a copyrighted line of plants. My opposition to the concept is primarily
a concern for light pollution projected skyward. Astronomers have a difficult enough
time with ever-encroaching sources of ambient light...
 Some companies
have expressed an interest in being able to target Airplanes and Rockets via the
Google
AdSense program. Yes, it is possible to do that. As you might expect, finding
the exact information on the Google AdSense website is a bit difficult. This short
video does a good job summarizing exactly how to implement the "Ad Targeting" option,
then "Placements," and then add "Websites." Just enter airplanesandrockets.com
. There are other settings to optimize your advertising campaign with keywords (both
included and excluded), pricing, scheduling, statistical data collection and reporting,
etc. If you are currently using Google AdSense, then please consider this method,
and if you are not using AdSense, now would be a good time to look into it. I have
had reports from some companies that experience great results using AdSense (not
just on Airplanes and Rockets)...
 While not specifically drawn as plans for
building a model of the
Pietenpol
Air Camper, all the detail and dimensions necessary for scaling to any size
is possible using these sketches which appeared in the March 1961 issue of American
Modeler magazine. The "Piet" has been as popular a subject for modeling as is was
and still is for building full-size aircraft. Originally designed in 1930 by Bernard
Pietenpol, the craft borrowed many of its metal parts from Ford automobiles, including
the engine and suspension spring for a tail skid. Aircraft Spruce & Specialty
Company still sells Sitka spruce wood kits for the full-size Pietenpol Air Camper;
the total as of this writing is less than $4,000. You can be sure the information
contained in this article is trustworthy because it was authored by Mr. Pietenpol
himself!
 Here are a few more helpful
model building tips from the May 1961 issue of the Academy of Model Aeronautics'
American Modeler magazine. Many are not so useful anymore because inexpensive
and commercially made versions of the gadgets and tools presented are readily available.
Of course you can still do it yourself for any of them, and if time and/or money
is an issue, you might need to. The first one requires a product that is scarce
these days - photographic negatives. Nearly every household used to have old negatives
laying around, but not anymore. Maybe your parents or grandparents have some they
could spare if you really want to give it a try. The painted-on water-transfer decal
seems like a pretty slick idea, and could still be a useful trick. I wonder how
well it works... |
