 "Future lunar landers might come equipped
with
3D printed rocket engine parts that help bring down overall manufacturing costs
and reduce production time. NASA is investing in advanced manufacturing - one of
five industries of the future - to make it possible. Through a series of hot-fire
tests in November, NASA demonstrated that two additively manufactured engine components
- a copper alloy combustion chamber and nozzle made of a high-strength hydrogen
resistant alloy - could withstand the same extreme combustion environments that
traditionally manufactured metal structures experience in flight..."
 Website visitor Doug W. wrote to ask that
I scan and post this article on Dave Platt's familiar
Contender. It mentions
at the end of the article that Top Flite would soon be kitting the Contender, which
indeed it did. The man down the street from me when I was a kid flew radio controlled
models and he had a Contender (early 1970s). It was covered in yellow and light
blue MonoKote - kind of a strange color scheme. When he crashed it beyond repair,
he gave me the carcass. That was a treasure to me at about 13-14 years old. It was
the closest I had ever come to owning an R/C airplane. Occasionally, American Aircraft
Modeler magazine printed plans in blueprint format, which is very difficult to use
as a model building plan. They definitely do not convert well to graphical format...
 "Researchers have published a study revealing
their successful approach to designing much
quieter
propellers. The team used machine learning to design their propellers, then
3D printed several of the most promising prototypes for experimental acoustic testing
at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's specialised
'echo-free' chamber. Results now published in Aerospace Research Central show the
prototypes produced around 15dB less noise than commercially available propellers,
validating the team's design methodology. RMIT University aerospace engineer and
lead researcher..."
 "NASA is set to start high-voltage functional
ground testing of the agency's first all-electric X-plane, the
X-57 Maxwell, which will perform flights to help develop certification standards
for emerging electric aircraft. NASA is also supporting these new electric aircraft
by developing quiet, efficient, reliable technology these vehicles will need in
routine use. Testing is expected to start with low power, checking the startup and
shutdown sequences and verifying that the new motor control software boots up and
controls the motors as expected. The first pair of electric cruise motors to fly
on the X-57 will be powered up and activated, allowing engineers to ensure that
the vehicle's propellers spin as designed..."
 "World War II is one of the most documented
conflicts in history. Millions of photographs and miles of motion-picture film stock
provide a rich visual record of its brutal violence and celebrate its martial purpose.
Color photography, though not new, had only just become widely available when
the war began in 1939. Color images of the war are not hard to come by, but they
are considerably rarer than black-and-white images. As the lived experience of World
War II fades - because of the passing of those who participated in it and
of those who observed it from the home front - the use of original color imagery
provides a sense of immediacy for younger generations, for whom the war is often
a vague and distant event from the last century. As part of the National Air and
Space Museum's ongoing renovation, which includes creating new exhibits in our flagship
location on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..."
 TV Guide crossword puzzles
were always my mother's favorite Sunday evening pastime. It's not that she couldn't
handle the New York Times' notoriously challenging crossword, it's just that The
Evening Capital newspaper didn't have a Sunday edition so we didn't get
the puzzle. My father worked as the classified advertising manager at The Evening
Capital so we received a free subscription tot he paper. This particular crossword
puzzle appeared in the edition of TV Guide that featured the first-ever
airing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" which I bought on eBay, so I figured I might
as well scan and post it. Enjoy! Back in the day I was not an avid crossword puzzler,
but I am now a daily worker of crossword puzzles and once a week I even create a
custom crossword for visitors of my RF Cafe engineering website...
 Each
autumn I used to anxiously await the appearance of the newest edition of
The Old Farmer's Almanac on the store shelf, and such was the case with this
1981 issue. It is not that I was/am an avid farmer, just that I enjoy reading the
anecdotes, tales, and interesting historical tidbits included amongst the pages
along with tables of high and low tides, moon and sun rising and setting times,
astronomical events, and weather patterns expected for the year that lay ahead.
Most of all, I liked working the puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty
levels gradually got lower and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the
last decade or so I have not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut
stuff...
 I
finally got around to scanning selected content from the 1986 issue of The Old
Farmer's Almanac. The "Old and New Mathematical Puzzles" feature was always my favorite,
so that's what is posted first. Difficulty levels are assigned as 1 for the easiest
to 5 for the hardest. Solutions are provided for levels 1 through 4, but level 5
(problems 12 through 15) problems were to be mailed in (no e-mail in the day) to
vie for a cash prize for providing the "best set of solutions," though I don't know
how one solution to these problems can be deemed "better" than another. Problem
#5 is interesting in that you must assign a value for the various numerical prefixes
and quantities. Sure, we all know what "atto" and "score" are, but what about "crore"
and "myriad?"
 "DARPA's LongShot program,
which is developing an air-launched unmanned air vehicle (UAV) with the ability
to employ multiple air-to-air weapons, has awarded contracts to General Atomics,
Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for preliminary Phase I design work. The objective
is to develop a novel UAV that can significantly extend engagement ranges, increase
mission effectiveness, and reduce the risk to manned aircraft. Current air superiority
concepts rely on advanced manned fighter aircraft to provide a penetrating counter
air capability to effectively deliver weapons. It is envisioned that LongShot will
increase the survivability of manned platforms by allowing them to be at standoff
ranges far away from enemy threats, while an air-launched..."
 Each
autumn I used to anxiously await the appearance of the newest edition of The
Old Farmer's Almanac on the store shelf. It is not that I was/am an avid farmer,
just that I enjoy reading the anecdotes, tales, and interesting historical tidbits
included amongst the pages along with tables of high and low tides, moon and sun
rising and setting times, astronomical events, and weather patterns expected for
the year that lay ahead. Most of all, I liked working the
puzzles and riddles. Over the years the difficulty levels gradually got lower
and lower (aka dumbed down), to the point where for the last decade or so I have
not even bothered buying the OFA. Now it is full of numbnut stuff. Because
quite a few of the Mathematical Puzzles from the older editions are worthy of an
engineer's cerebration, contemplation, and deliberation, I am posting the ones I
own here on RF Cafe. Answers to numbers 1 through 11...
 Donald Keyhoe wrote a huge number of aviation
adventure articles for Flying Aces magazine in the 1930s. His flying ace
was Captain Philip Strange, a "G−2" agent with a unique sense of intuition that
allows him to practically (but not really) read people's minds. He is also a master
of disguises. Capt. Strange's era is World War I and his venue was the
front lines of Germany and France. After Philip Strange came Kerry Keen (aka "The
Griffon") during the World War II era, written by real-world ace pilot Arch
Whitehouse. You will likely be introduced to a new bunch of words that were particular
to the times, like "ack emma," referring to the signalman's phonetic pronunciation
of "A" and "M." In "The Ghost from
G−2," the reference is to "aircraft mechanics," but ack emma was more routinely
applied to "A.M." for morning, or ante meridian ("pip emma" was P.M., or post meridian).
"Ack-ack" was for...
 Mr. Ronnie Espolt, of the Kansas
City Free Flight club, is hosting a Postal Contest this weekend, April 24th and
25th, 2021, featuring the Guillow's Javelin and Lancer rubber-powered models. A
"postal" contest is where pilots fly their models at their home field, and then
report results to headquarters by email. Must be "built to the plan," no major modifications.
Stock prop diameter, with landing gear in place. Any covering-material is OK. Any
size rubber motor is OK. Deletion of those snappy-looking cheek cowls is allowed.
We urge anyone that has photos of their entry or entries into this year's
Sky Battle 2021 Postal Contest to submit
them so we can add them to the gallery below for everyone to enjoy.
 This is part two of an article that began
in the September 1974 American Aircraft Modeler magazine. The
Supersweep
was used to break the long-standing Indoor Hand Launched Glider (IHLG) record of
one minute and thirty seconds. In 2009, Stan Buddenbohm set a new record for 1:52.12
(see video below). Website visitor Ward B. recently wrote asking that I post
the second article on the Supersweep, so, here it is. Plans can be found in the
September 1974 edition of American Aircraft Modeler.
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