CONTROL LINE NAVY CARRIER
Dick Perry 427 Live Oak Ln. NE, Albuquerque NM 87122 E-mail: rlpnscp@earthlink.net
THE MYSTERY
The airplane in the February issue was the Avia B-534. This biplane was designed and produced in Czechoslovakia before World War II. It was one of the last biplane fighter designs in the world, and is credited with the last air-to-air victory by a biplane.
If you can't recall any air actions for the Czechoslovakian Air Force, your memories are correct. The Czechoslovakian B-534s were part of the spoils as the country was divided up during the early stages of what was becoming WWII. By the time WWII began in earnest, Germany had annexed Czechoslovakia along with many of its air force assets—among them some B-534s.
As Germany was preparing to build its first aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, many aircraft designs were modified to include catapult and arresting gear. The airplanes were tested to gain experience in carrierlike operations and to evaluate some of them as potential production carrier aircraft.
Three of the confiscated Avia B-534 biplanes were modified for that purpose. Thus the Avia B-534, designed and built in a landlocked country and nearly obsolete by the time it entered production, is a legal prototype for our Control Line (CL) Navy Carrier events.
I'll announce the winner in the June column. There is no Mystery Airplane this month, so I can devote more space to photographs.
Carrier Nationals
Unofficial events at the Nationals will include Sportsman Profile Carrier, sponsored by the Navy Carrier Society. The event will be flown in conjunction with the regular Profile Carrier competition on Thursday, July 12.
Sportsman is a Profile Carrier event for modelers just getting started in the event or for those who don't care for the all-out competition aspects of carrier flying and who enjoy flying in a less-competitive atmosphere.
The Class I and II events will be flown Friday, as usual. Processing for Profile and Class I and II Carrier events will be the evening prior to the event.
The unofficial Carrier events will be flown Saturday. Processing for these categories will take place on the field before the competition begins.
And we'll all be at the Navy Carrier Society Banquet and Awards Ceremony Friday night!
- Bill Bischoff is sponsoring .15 Carrier, and will include a Sportsman category this year for contestants who score less than 200 points.
- Sig usually sponsors a Skyray Carrier event, although the company had not yet committed to the event as this was written in December.
- I will sponsor Nostalgia Carrier and the Roland Baltes Award again this year. Nostalgia Carrier is flown using the rules from the 1974–1975 rule book. The scoring is the traditional system used before the present method was adopted in 1976; it emphasizes high speed more than the current rules do.
- There are small bonus-point awards for non-Schnuerle engines and for models kitted or published prior to 1978.
- There will be two categories: Class I and II combined, and Profile.
- I will provide rules for anyone interested; just contact me at the address or E-mail address in the header of this column.
- Brodak Manufacturing (www.brodak.com) offers two kits that are eligible for bonus points in Nostalgia Profile Carrier: the Bearcat and Skyraider, originally designed and produced by Bob Smurthwaite.
Carrier Activities
Bill Bischoff sent photos of his new Class II MO-1. It's similar to previous versions, which have been very successful for him and others, but this one includes a K&B .48 engine (www.modelengine.com). The reverse crankshaft from the K&B 7.5 outboard marine engine fits the .48, producing a left-hand-rotation engine. Initial flight tests with the stock carburetor have resulted in high speed times of approximately 19.6 seconds, with more testing scheduled.
The front end of the model consists of 1/8" plywood bulkheads with a 1/16" plywood doubler. The 1/8" balsa fuselage sides are built around the doublers. The assembly appears to be very rigid, which should provide an excellent mount for the engine. Bill uses aluminum pads for the engine mounts, as I described earlier. It all adds to the engine’s ability to provide optimum power.
The landing gear is an aluminum sheet gear available from MVVS (www.mvvs.com). It is produced for its V-Vector RC Pylon racer.
Another product available from MVVS is its .15 engine. Bill tested one as a .15 Carrier engine and found it quite ample for the task. It is available in a reverse-rotation configuration. The carburetor supplied produces adequate power, but Bill has learned that the Perry carburetor for the old-style K&B 40 is easier to adjust for reliable operation.
Bill is also experimenting with solid lines to identify potential advantages in using them. They are stronger than cable and slightly heavier. Reports from the Slow Rat fliers indicate that they picked up a little speed with solid lines. Bill will let us know what he finds out.
Record Performance
At the Phoenix, Arizona contest in November, Pete Mazur’s performance in Class II exceeded the record. It is the first score to top 500 points since the current scoring was adopted in 1976, and it clearly puts Pete at the top of the performance ladder for the year.
We are waiting for a reply from the AMA on the status of the record application. It is currently (in December) in review by the Control Line Contest Board chairman. I expect the new Class II record to be confirmed by the time you read this.
Pete posted a high speed of 108.2 mph and a slow speed of 5.2 mph (348.9 seconds), for a total score of 517.9 points. Well done, Pete!
Pete’s model is one of two new MO-1s he has built specifically for traveling on commercial airlines. The models are packed in a plywood box with everything needed for flight except fuel. It is against Federal Aviation Administration regulations to carry our fuel aboard commercial aircraft.
I’ll be including a complete description of the models and their carrying cases in a future column.
New Profile
Eric Conley of Clovis, California brought his new Bf 109 to Phoenix and performed very well with it. Power is a Nelson with reverse rotation turning an APC 9 x 6P propeller.
The model contains a number of interesting features. You will have to wait for a future column for the details.
MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
