Letters to the Editor
All letters will be carefully considered; those of general interest will be used. Send to Model Aviation, 815 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
Beyond Seventh Iteration
Enclosed is a photo of the RC Eighth Iteration, a further development of the tandem wing concept for sport flying. (Editor: Seventh Iteration, a CL tandem-wing sport flier, was in the March 1981 issue.)
It flew for the first time in January at the NVRC Winter Fun Fly, and it won both events entered:
- Takeoff and greatest number of loops within 2 minutes (it did 17 loops).
- The "Crap Shoot," where you roll for a number of loops and rolls you must do, then land (it did this in 32 seconds; second place was 42 seconds).
The Eighth Iteration is a small, compact .40 ship. It will climb vertically at takeoff. Yet, because of the tandem-wing configuration and use of full-span flaps, the low end of flight performance compares to the trainer types it flew against in the fun fly. It is rock steady in flight and controls.
John Hunton Annandale, VA
T-3 Triggers Memories
Foam-core board planes would have interested Mr. Rigby, the "paper planes man." In early December 1940, King Features Syndicate printed a paper Airacobra by Rigby in the Sunday funnies.
During WWII, there were several books of fold-around paper airplanes by Rigby. The method was the same as the T-3 foam-core board trainer (May MA).
In 1944, Wheaties breakfast food offered a Jack Armstrong premium of about six different WWII fighter planes in the same style. I don't know if they were by Rigby, as no author was given. But about a dozen years ago, Wheaties repeated the offer. On page 103 of the February 1981 MA is an ad (Saf-Flite Models) for the P-40 and Japanese Zero of that series.
I think I'll scale up some of these on foam-core board and see how they go.
Bud Overn Santa Ana, CA
Correction to Reference Source
Editor: Based upon information from a reader, the Radio Control Scale and Control Line Scale columns of the May issue both reported that drawings of all aircraft ever owned by the U.S. government could be obtained from the Cartographic Division of the National Archives. With this wondrous (but it turns out to be erroneous) information at hand, the Cartographic Division was deluged with requests that it was unable to fill. The following, from Mr. Ronald E. Grim of the Center for Cartographic and Architectural Archives, explains what actually is available.
The Center for Cartographic and Architectural Archives has approximately 3,000 reels of microfilm of aircraft engineering drawings from the records of the Navy Department's Bureau of Aeronautics (Record Group 72). These drawings represent approximately 125 different aircraft constructed for the Navy Department by 18 private aircraft companies, primarily during the 1940s and 1950s. Also included are microfilm copies of drawings of armament, hydraulics, engines, standards and electrical systems. The research of these drawings is limited by the proprietary restrictions imposed by some of the companies. If drawings for individual aircraft are still restricted, permission must be obtained from the company before the microfilm can be examined and/or copied.
An 11-page listing of the aircraft included in this accession can be provided for $2.20. To order, please send a check or money order payable to the National Archives Trust Fund (NTS), and addressed to the Cashier, National Archives (GSA), Washington, DC 20408. Although this microfilm may include items of interest to model builders, the drawings for most aircraft are quite numerous and do not appear to have logical arrangement schemes. Such drawings as three-view diagrams, general arrangements and outboard profiles are not easily located. There is usually a numerical parts list or an index for individual aircraft, but it is not certain that these indicate all drawings that are totally compatible with the microfilm. Because our staff does not have the time or expertise to search this microfilm for individual drawings, the best way to research these records is by personal examination in our Research Room (Room 2W in the National Archives Building) which is open Monday through Friday, 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If a personal search is not possible, it may be necessary for you to hire a private researcher to order duplicate copies of all the microfilm for an individual aircraft (possibly ranging from five to 50 rolls), at an estimated cost of $17.00 per roll.
There is no central repository for drawings of all military and civilian aircraft, but the best place for model builders to begin their research is the Reference Library, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. If that office does not have access to the requested drawings, they will advise the researcher of other possible sources. Another source for general drawings of Navy aircraft is the Historian's Office (AIR-0003), Commandant, Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, D.C. 20361.
There are other offices in the National Archives that have records (mainly administrative as opposed to drawings) pertaining to the design and construction of Air Force, Army, and Navy aircraft. These records are usually highly technical and not easily accessed. They are best researched in person rather than by mail.
P-51 Canopy, Wheel Doors
I have recently purchased a Flite Glass P-51 kit. I am interested in knowing if anyone has found a way to mechanically slide the canopy back and forth. If so, I would appreciate any information, pictures, etc., on the procedure used.
I am also interested in closing the wheel doors on the inner body as the wheels are retracted. I am enclosing a picture to show what I am asking about, with the door area circled. I will be using Rhom retracts, if that has any bearing on the method to be used.
Any information that I could receive on these two items would be greatly appreciated.
Medrick Joubert 680 Washington Ave. Bourbonnais, IL 60914
Anyone who can help, please correspond directly with Mr. Joubert. Incidentally, the picture is from the cover of the British Radio Control Aircraft Plans Handbook which is put out by the Model & Allied Publications people.
Aerobile Follow-Up
With respect to the query on the Aerobile by I. Vance (in the May Letters column) who gave no address: Waldo Waterman's Aerobile is in our San Diego Aero-Space Museum. It has been restored and is on exhibit.
There has always been confusion on Waterman's three designs. The first was the Arrowplane, of which one was built for the CAA. Then six Arrowbiles (note spelling) were built with Studebaker engines (none presently exist), and when the deal flopped, Waterman got what was left of the spare parts and he then took 10 years in building his own Aerobile. This went to the Smithsonian, and the San Diego Aero-Space Museum got it from them.
I did the Waterman biography (or actually, autobiography) from tapes and transcriptions he made. He was alive but sick when I moved to San Diego in 1974, so I worked with him on this for the museum. When the museum burned down, I had a copy of the autobiography and all of Waterman's negatives — and a few blueprints. Now, this is all in the museum.
If you do hear from I. Vance, you might want to make sure it's the Aerobile he wants, not one of the other two. If so, I can supply prints of Waterman's negatives, but we have no drawings. Maybe John Pond has plans from the magazine.
Warren D. Shipp San Diego, CA
We have not heard from Mr. Vance since printing his letter in the May issue. Let us remind everyone once more: please be sure to include your address when you write.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
