FREE FLIGHT OLD-TIMERS
Bill Baker, 1902 Peter Pan, Norman OK 73072
Personal history
I love Hand-Launched Gliders (HLGs)! I grew up with Thermic 18s and 20s, and I generally entered HLG events when I went to a contest to fly rubber and gas events. I would put my glider flights late in the day after I had finished flying the "serious" events.
I remember the first time I saw the Stoy brothers in action, and I talked to them. HLG was their serious event, and they got serious results too!
SAM Champs anecdote
The Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) has an HLG event, but I think it is seldom offered except at the annual SAM Champs. I won the event one year almost by accident. It was a windy day, and at times HLG was not high. I had finished my other events and had put most of my HLG flights in, and was standing about fourth in the results—good enough for a trophy because of the large number of entrants.
While standing around talking and waiting for the contest to close, I got a timer and intended to take my last flight. The talking got very interesting and I forgot to fly, until someone said, "the wind just quit." "Timer," I said, "are you still here?" He was, bless him, and I threw the Huguelet into the center of the one big thermal of the day. No attempt was made to chase it, but I won first place.
Fun flying vs. contest flying
I think I have enjoyed HLG more as just fun-flying than contest-flying, though. I often used to take a glider or two out to a nearby athletic field to enjoy the throwing and the running; I used to run after free flights and try to catch them before they landed. I don't do that any more, but I do sometimes take a HLG or a rubber model with me when I go out to fly my RC models, and when winds are light, I still enjoy throwing a HLG. I can't throw as high as when I used to when I was fairly competitive, but I can still get a transition, and sometimes a thermal ride.
The Testors "Endurance Glider"
I had success for years with a design that was a kit produced by the Testors company called "Endurance Glider." It came out in the late '40s; I know I was flying it in contests in 1948. I flew many designs, but I kept coming back to this one, and was still using it some in 1988 when I "retired" from competition.
Recently I made three of them, and it has been real fun re-learning how to trim and throw to get a transition and glide. I went out to fly with my fellow geezers the other day, and I was pulling my stuff out of the car. I heard one of them say, "the thermal is right over us." I quit pulling parts of big airplanes out and got my little Testors Endurance Glider, and threw it.
The wind was very light, so we could watch a long time as the glider flew away. I was remembering the first time that ever happened, my first out-of-sight flight, which every free flighter remembers forever—it was about 50 years ago, with the same design! That time I chased the glider on foot for more than two miles.
I knew nothing of thermals; I thought I flew away because I had made it so incredibly perfect. I was very upset, thinking I could never make another so perfect again. Guess I did. Does anyone know who designed this glider, and when?
Sorta-Korda Bostonian and Mooney
I designed the Sorta-Korda Bostonian back in the early happy days when Walt Mooney was doing sort of "caricature scale" Bostonians as a break from his monthly Peanut Scale feature for Model Builder. Who can forget the Boston Found, the Revere Speedster, or the Back Bay Bellanca?
These plans are still available, by the way, from several suppliers, including Peck-Polymers, who sell plan packets of Mooney's designs—called "Bags of Peanuts." Mooney's Peanuts are easily blown up to larger sizes, and they make great sport flyers at that size.
Not so long ago I learned that Sorta-Korda still stir the air, and in China! A photo shows four students from Sichuan University posing with their stick-and-tissue models in front of a statue of Chairman Mao. The girl with her hand raised is holding a Sorta-Korda! Old model plans can reach people in nice ways across time and space; old plans get built by young people in distant lands. That's nice.
SAM publications and lists
The new 1996 revised SAM Rule Book is now available from SAM Secretary/Treasurer Larry Clark. Also available is a revised and much-improved List of Approved Gas Model Designs, and for the first time a list of Approved Rubber Models.
- SAM Rule Book: $2 plus $0.50 postage
- Lists (Gas and Rubber): $4 plus $1 postage
Order from:
- Larry Clark, Box 528, Lucerne Valley, CA 92356
Airspan, distributors, and Dave Larkin
More on Airspan, which is a non-woven polyester about like Polyspan, but even lighter, and available in colors. I gave the address of the American distributor in the September column. There is also a Canadian distributor:
- Dave Larkin
- 685 Farmington Ave., Ottawa, Ontario K1V 7H4, Canada
- Tel: (613) 523-1533
- Fax: (613) 736-9003
He also imports some interesting kits and engines from the British Isles mostly, and he has a US$ price list available.
Dave is an active modeler and very informative to talk to about his experiences with Airspan. He is the author of a fine article in the March–April issue of SAM Speaks (a magazine that is included with SAM membership). Get an application form from Larry Clark. The article by Larkin compares and contrasts Litespan, Airspan, and Fibrafilm (a.k.a. Micafilm).
Offer
As a service to those who missed out on Larkin's article, I will provide a copy for a buck, or half of a buck if you provide the SASE. I also will send you copies of the Thermic 18 and 20 HLG plans to get you started in Old-Timer HLG for the same deal, and will throw in plans for the Sorta-Korda if you ask for it.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
