Free Flight: Old-Timers
Bill Baker 1902 Peter Pan Norman, OK 73072
Miss World's Fair — correction and follow-up
Back in the May 1989 edition of my column I featured a photo of a pretty rubber model called Miss World's Fair. It stimulated more letters than any other single item I have used—many people wrote asking where to get plans, and several wrote to correct an error: I had attributed the design to Frank Zaic. I was wrong. Frank Zaic himself wrote to tell me so, and I also heard from Herb Greenberg, who did design this model and several others for Scientific, including the Red Zephyr and the Oriole.
At 73 years of age, Greenberg still flies full-scale sailplanes and is thinking about doing some modeling again. He was a very active indoor competitor and won the Stout Trophy in 1934, among many other big wins.
A nice bit of the mail I received was a letter from James Grant, an old flying buddy of Greenberg's, expressing a wish to locate him. It was my good fortune to be able to get them together again. I’ll try to answer reasonably brief questions—if you enclose the customary SASE with your query.
Art Suhr books (model-engine reprints)
In a recent column I gave a plug for the late Art Suhr's books, which are reprints of Old-Timer–era articles from the model magazines about model engines. I have been informed that some letters of inquiry were returned because Mrs. Suhr has moved. Her new address is:
- Mrs. Suhr
312 Lucille St. Verona, WI 53593
She has no engines for sale—just books. Send a SASE to get a list of the books.
Micro Model Engineering / MECA note
From the MECA newsletter (Model Engine Collectors' Association): Woody Bartelt of Micro Model Engineering has sold his business to Robert Eierman. Contact:
- Robert Eierman
504 Las Posas Ridgecrest, CA 93555
This is good news because Woody's company produced very high-quality replacement parts for old engines, suitable for display or use. Let's hope the new owner gets things operational soon.
Plans, kits, and catalogs
About getting Miss World's Fair plans: John Pond has them—plan No. 10F1—in two sizes: 24- and 50-inch span. Specify which size when you order. My year-old catalog lists the prices as $4 and $5, plus 20% for postage. You should assume a small price increase; give him an extra dollar and get his Rubber Models catalog, or send $4 for his whole set of catalogs.
If you can't find what you're looking for in one of John's catalogs, I’m happy to be of service. Imperfect though it may be, it is a basic reference.
Kits recently produced by Fresno Model Airplane Co.:
- Fresno Model Airplane Co.
4267 N. Charles Fresno, CA 93722
- Small version: $9.95
- 50-inch version: $19.95
- Postage: $2 per kit
Fresno has reissued a number of other old designs as kits, including American Oriole Jr., Flying Cloud Jr., Buccaneer Jr., etc. Send them a SASE for a list.
Campbell's Custom Kits carries the Fresno Model line; try:
- Campbell's / P.O. Box 5996
Lake Worth, FL 33461
Gleason Enterprises — Air Trails and article copying
Another catalog of interest is from Gleason Enterprises. Gleason has most of the old Air Trails and Hobby Helper plans for sale—and many of the old Rubber Scale plans from those magazines. He will also copy magazine articles for a very reasonable fee. Contact:
- Gleason Enterprises
1106 10th Dr. S.E. Austin, MN 55912
Hobby Helper carried full-size plans from Air Trails (beginning with the June 1953 issue) and its successor magazines (Air Trails Hobbies for Young Men, Young Men, American Modeler, and American Aircraft Modeler) through the February 1973 issue. Those plans have not been available for several years, so it’s good to have Gleason’s article-copying service. I will henceforth refer any such requests I receive to Gleason, because I am not able to provide that service myself.
Earl Stahl / P-47 anecdote
If you love Old-Timers and Rubber Scale, you've got to love Earl Stahl. A couple of years ago I mentioned to my friend Mik Mikkelsen that I wanted to put out a special April Fool's Day issue of the Okie Free Flight Flyer (the flyer is no longer published, so don't write for copies). Mik told me he had once drawn up a P-47 in the Earl Stahl style—just for his own amusement—and said he would give it to me for the newsletter if he could find it. He did find it, and it was a thing of beauty. I made up a crazy story to explain why the great Stahl would submit an unpublished design to such a humble newsletter. Only on the flyer's last page (which included some other, more obvious put-ons) did I tell the truth. The plan was really by Mik.
Much later, Tom Arnold, editor of a fine scale newsletter, published the P-47 plan from the Okie Flyer in his April 1989 issue. Tom apparently thought the thing was by Earl Stahl. Contact for Tom Arnold:
- Tom Arnold
Editor, scale newsletter 325 F. Ave. Corona, CA 92118
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
