Letters to the Editor
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Paul Punch Remembered
What a great letter from Thomas V. Haines in the October issue of Model Aviation! Here is a fellow flier with cancer cheering the rest of us on.
We had a man in a similar situation in our club. While in obvious discomfort and with monumental coordination problems, he came out and flew! Sure, he sat in a chair and had an instructor take off and land. But he sat there and flew the airplane back and forth, "at least two mistakes high." Off the flightline, his conversation was stimulating and eclectic. We discussed airfoil sections, the history of aircraft, Shakespeare's quotations, the Democrats, the Republicans, submarine warfare, and heaven knows what else! We learned.
He did not show off with only two throttle settings (shut and wide open) or with airplanes well beyond his capabilities, grabbing the first pin position and hogging it for two-plus flights (recognize them?). What he did was make each time he was out with us a picnic, a schoolroom, and a relaxation to remember.
Here's to Paul Punch, who died last winter! A middle-range flier and builder, a participant who made our hobby/sport a rewarding experience for the rest of us.
William M. Clark Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Three or Four Channels?
It is interesting to note the difference between three- and four-channel controls. All fliers whom I have asked say that with four channels, they only use rudder for takeoff and landing. The rest of the time (with some exceptions) they just use aileron and elevator. The exception would include electronic mixing. Dihedral is usually zero or very small.
Fliers using three channels fly strictly with rudder and elevator, requiring enough dihedral for yaw stability. When airspeed is reduced—for example, in slow flight or landing—the rudder remains effective long after ailerons would have lost their effectiveness.
The Globe Swift, as I recall, offered a version of their full-scale pleasure aircraft without rudder pedals, using a mechanically connected rudder and ailerons. It simplified flying but was not as satisfactory as independent controls.
At present the flying area I use is overgrown, with tall weeds, and many models have been lost or are hard to find. It took me three hours last time to find what remained of my T-tail, four-channel, no-dihedral model.
While this condition exists, I fly a Kadet Mark II with two inches of dihedral under each wingtip and three-channel control. For this, its self-recovery and slow-flight characteristics lessen the chance of losing it.
Advanced fliers can coordinate rudder and aileron without using electronic mixing, but it is difficult to create a control system that would duplicate the foot-controlled rudder pedals of full-scale aircraft. Perhaps a recessed bar could be designed to fit finger positions on the back of the transmitter to provide an auxiliary rudder control, instead of using the left stick which controls the throttle.
Herbert C. Williams Thousand Oaks, California
Lightning
One Friday night a few years ago, while returning from picking my daughter up at college, my wife and I stopped by our flying field in Rostraver, Pa. The only people there were my friend Lew, his wife, and their son. Lew was flying one of his electric airplanes and was trying to see how long it would fly on one charge.
I went over to talk to Lew; my wife and daughter headed for the small pavilion we have at our field to visit with Lew's wife and son. The winds were light but steady out of the southwest. The sky was a high, light-gray overcast, with one exception: there was a large, very dark cloud approaching, and we were directly in its path. The closer it got to the field, the more menacing it looked. I told Lew that I thought we should get "outta there." He glanced over his shoulder, said he agreed, and set up for an approach and landing.
I called for the families to get in the cars and they joined us just as Lew was closing the trunk. The leading edge of the cloud was just overhead at this point and the wind began to increase. As I started to get into the car I felt a strange sensation—sort of like a breeze coming from all directions. At that very instant, Lew's wife laughed and called everyone's attention to my hair. I didn't realize what she was talking about until I looked in amazement. Both of our wives and my daughter have long hair. The startling feature was that everyone's hair was standing straight out on end. I screamed, "Get in the cars." We beat a hasty retreat from the area.
We stopped about a half-mile away to discuss the situation. We explained to the families what had just happened—everything in the area was polarizing, assuming a charge meant a strike was imminent. We were grateful, darn lucky, to have escaped such a close call. I had heard stories about hair standing on end but wasn't sure it was true. Believe me, it's true. I don't think I'd care to experience it again, however. Lightning doesn't always give warning; in this case there was no activity prior to the charge buildup. Other dark-cloud things looked OK.
George Wilson Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania
Letters
Funny Feeling
I found out about the AMA after I flew my stick-built Control Line Ringmaster into the back of my new Ford Mustang. I tell you, it's one of those funny feelings that's not so funny!
Then a friend at work, J.P. Corley, told me about the RC club here in Nashville. J.P. is the president. I told him I didn't think I could afford RC airplanes; he told me that was just an ugly rumor that some rich guy started. He also advised me that before I took to the sky I should join the AMA for insurance reasons, and that the monthly magazine would help me learn more about RC. So I did, and I'm very glad.
I love to build and work with wood, but after you have built most of the furniture in your house, added a deck and built bookshelves, your shop becomes dormant. All those tools and nothing to build!
Well, RC has changed all of that. In the past year I have built five airplanes. Cal Harding is 25 years older than me and has taught me how to fly and model. Cal is from the old school, where quality must go into every flight and every model built.
I have made so many good friends through the AMA. I would love to hear from other AMA members.
Steve Kilgore 507 Yale Ave. Madison, TN 37115
Flight of the Phoenix
Since you are the principal voice for model airplanes and its history, we wish you could do a piece on that great James Stewart film Flight of the Phoenix. Believe it or not, there are many model airplane fans who are unaware that a Hollywood movie was made where the hero is a model airplane designer and builder. Sure, parts of the movie are corny but there is enough model-airplane speak in the film to make you cheer.
San Francisco Vultures San Bruno, California
Comeback
I've been a modeler for about 50 years on and off, and have recently come back after about a 15-year layoff. Wow! New glues, giant airplanes, huge engines, big money payoffs, and tons of technical advances. I pick up the model magazines and I'm scared to death, totally intimidated, by the "Jets Over DeLand," the giants somewhere or another.
I flew many events in all the contests I could get to, including the Nationals, all through the '60s—so why am I so intimidated? Because I'm older, haven't kept up, and just want to build, fly, and have a lot of fun like so many others my age and young people who want to try a hobby.
I remember one night when Frank Ehling and Phil Harris kept cutting the rudder down and down with each flight on an indoor hand-launched glider at a gym in Indiantown Gap, Pa., just to see how much they could get away with while still gaining air seconds. That is a long way from tuning two twin jet engines in a giant airplane, which brings me to my point.
You have tried, but have been ineffective, at mixing the two in one magazine. So let us have two magazines. One for the pros and one for the beginner, fun-flying, first-time flier. It can be done.
The NRA does have two magazines—one for the hunter and one for the gun enthusiast—and it's really a huge asset to their continued activity as a formidable ally to the gun owner, the hunter, and the collector.
I think when we mention the young people, and why we don't have more young people than we do, it is because we don't have enough mentors to go around, or the mentor is only a Giant or exotic builder who only thinks of radio control and probably has never experienced the thrill of a hand-launched glider doing 50+ seconds in dead air.
E. Charles Rolwing Brandenburg, Kentucky
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
