CONTROL LINE NAVY CARRIER
Dick Perry
427 Live Oak Ln. NE, Albuquerque NM 87122 E-mail: rlpnscp@earthlink.net
Mystery Airplane Contest
As I announced in the October issue, the last Mystery Airplane was the Bristol Brigand. The winner of that contest was Don Boose of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Don won a one-year membership in the Navy Carrier Society.
In the October column I mentioned that Rand McNally listed the aircraft as a shipboard attack aircraft. Although that reference fulfills the documentation requirements for anyone who wants to build a Brigand, I received interesting letters from a few readers who had experience with that aircraft or with other aircraft from Bristol.
None of the correspondents recollected the Brigand serving aboard carriers with the Royal Navy. One was modified for catapult operations, but that seems to have been to validate steam-catapult development rather than to test the aircraft for carrier service. The correspondents unanimously doubted that the Brigand ever made arrested landings.
The Mystery Airplane for this month may stump those who are most consistent in their correct answers. Send me your entry via US Postal Service or E-mail at the addresses at the head of this column. I'll select the winner from among those who correctly identify the aircraft.
I'll give you an extra chance to win if you can describe the circumstances that qualify this airplane as a legal prototype for the Navy Carrier events.
Nationals Coverage (Control Line Navy Carrier Nationals)
Thanks to Ted Kraver for providing the Control Line Navy Carrier Nationals (Nats) coverage in the December issue.
Ted flew some interesting aircraft at the Nats, which are shown this month. His Profile Carrier entry was the General Aircraft Fleet Shadower, or Shipguard. I've described the aircraft in previous columns, so I won't go into the history. Ted used four AS .09 engines for power. Although I can't say it is a thing of beauty, I'm sure it was an interesting model to watch in flight.
The Curtiss biplane, which Ted calls his "Ely Flyer," is modeled after the aircraft with which Eugene Ely demonstrated the first takeoff and landing aboard a US Navy ship. Ted's model included aircraft flotation devices underneath the wing and Eugene's personal flotation devices (bicycle inner tubes wrapped around his torso). The Webra .40 engine was fed from a cylindrical fuel tank mounted under the top wing, modeled after the original. This Curtiss is slightly larger than Ted's original, which many of us have enjoyed watching at past Nationals.
Vintage Plans and Correspondence
I've received interesting correspondence from Iain Neillands, who has been collecting old model magazines through on-line auctions. Iain writes the "Planes" feature of the Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association's (PAMPA's) Stunt News. Iain is interested in scalelike models for Precision Aerobatics, and he noted that the dive-bombers of World War II have good proportions for Stunt. They also are well-proportioned for Navy Carrier modeling, and these types of models have been published in the past. Iain sent me several plans he found for models that are appropriate prototypes for our event.
- Bill Noonan's 35-inch-span Curtiss SB2C Helldiver in the January 1945 Air Trails was an aircraft I had never seen. The interesting article began by describing the aircraft's war service, which was current information at the time. Bill used an Ohlsson .23 ignition engine. The model was appropriately sized, but the Carrier events were still five years away.
- The January 1953 Model Airplane News contained one of the first Navy Carrier models published: Dick Ealy's Curtiss XSO3C prototype Seagull. It had roughly a 37-inch span and 285 square inches of wing area. The model used a Forster .29 ignition engine, with dual points for speed control. The second set of points were set on the ground to a retarded timing, to reduce power. This gave a choice of two engine speeds in flight, via a relay operated by electrical current through the flying wires.
- Roland Bates' Class I Douglas TBD Devastator, from the July 1972 issue, is a classic with which many of you are probably familiar. Roland was one of the great competitors and designers in Navy Carrier, and he did much to further the sport.
Some of the fun is looking at advertisements in the older magazines. Victor Stanzel & Company, JASCO (Junior Aeronautical Supply Co.), Cleveland Model Products, Sig, and Pactra were all represented. Even Charles Atlas had an ad in the older issues.
Call for Volunteers — Nationals Organization
As I write this in early October, the dates for the National Championships this summer have not been set. Nonetheless, I am starting to organize events as the Navy Carrier event director.
We have been fortunate in the past and have had volunteers to provide the manpower needed to run the events. Chief positions of contest judge, tabulators, and pull-testers are needed for each of the two days of official events.
I will consider different people for each day if there are volunteers who would serve as event officials for Class I and II and would like to fly Profile, or vice versa.
We also need timers and turners, but we can be more flexible on times if you'd like to serve for a half-day.
In the past, many of the officials have participated in the unofficial events—Sportsman Profile Carrier, Nostalgia Carrier, .15 Carrier, and Skytray Carrier.
If you are willing to volunteer as an official at the Carrier Nationals, please contact me via mail, E-mail, or telephone—(505) 856-7008.
-DP
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
