Letters to the Editor
All letters will be carefully considered; those of general interest are used. Send to Model Aviation, 815 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
First 150 mph CL?
Consecutive issues of Model Aviation have carried statements that the late Ken Held was the first to break 150 mph with a control-line model, in 1950. While acknowledging Mr. Held’s many contributions to the hobby and the AMA, the following is written in the interest of historical accuracy.
The May 1948 issue of Model Airplane News, page 35, contains an account by West Coast correspondent Johnny Davis of AMA-sanctioned record trials at the “Western and Rosecrans Dust Bowl.” At that meet, Wayne Matthews of Alameda, CA, hit 151 mph with a Hornet-powered speed job. The story mentions the chagrin of the Southern California speed experts, many of whom had all-metal planes, over Matthews’ win and record. The ship was described as mediocre-looking, with a single-blade prop, but faster by 4 mph than the next-fastest contestant, Don Newberger.
In the next month’s edition, the Hornet Motors ad included a photo of Matthews and a hobby shop owner looking at the ship, and repeating the speed of 151, saying it would be “calibrated at AMA Headquarters.”
In November, MAN ran an article on speed flying, showing Matthews and identifying him as holding the Class D record. The photo caption said he was “flying 150 mph.”
It would appear that the 150-mph barrier was topped in 1948. That was, as old-timers will recall, a time when the glow plug was revolutionizing the hobby, particularly in control-line speed. But a great revolution was on the horizon, and correspondent Davis saw it clearly. Describing an impressive RC flight at Los Angeles in the same issue in which he told of Matthews’ feat, Davis wrote: “The future growth of the model hobby will be the best years of all our lives when radio really takes hold.”
Ron Britzke Newburgh, NY
Hey, Get Your FCC License!
It is with great interest and anticipation that I (and many other RC modelers) am kept informed of new and proposed RC channel allocations by the FCC, through Model Aviation. The September 1981 issue of “Radio Technique” was especially informative.
It appears that the FCC may base some of its decisions upon FCC license data, and it was reported that RC licenses have dropped to a 6% growth rate. This may be very deceiving:
- Because of the non-enforcement of FCC regulations, many modelers do not have FCC licenses for their radios. Think I’m wrong? Check your club members by making a mandatory annual check; I’ll bet 10% don’t have licenses. Why? Simple: no one ever went to jail for not having a license.
- Licenses vs. transmitters. That drop to 6% may not reflect actual units in use. I own three transmitters. The actual number could be guesstimated by polling manufacturers on how many units have been sold in the last five or 10 years. This number of transmitters vs. licenses could give RC modelers more clout in FCC decision-making.
The AMA Frequency Committee is to be congratulated on a job well done.
Mark Isenberg Clinton, CT 06413
Super Akro Question
I ordered a plans set for the Super Akro—“Chips” by Brad Shepherd—and am really excited about the design. But I’ve run into a problem and need assistance. The plans and instructions are not clear to me as to joining the two wing halves. Are they joined upside down or right side up (the latter would result in anhedral, I think)? Also, the directions state that an 11/16-in. scrap of 1/4-in. balsa is to be pinned to the jig block, but don’t state where. Brad Shepherd has designed a good-looking airplane.
Charles Freed Danville, VA
Brad Shepherd responds: That paragraph on assembling the wing could have been a lot clearer. I guess I assumed too much about building the wing upside down, or at least assembling it upside down. The fourth sentence in that paragraph on page 114 of the June 1981 issue should read as follows:
Cut a piece of 11/16-in. scrap of 1/4-in. balsa to be pinned to the jig block, and pin it to the short line just drawn. Lay one of the panels upside down with the rear edge of the spar on the long line, and pin down the panel to the door or bench work surface at the rear edge of the spar. Place a piece of 1/4-in. under the trailing edge at Rib No. 9, and pin down. Pin down the center-section trailing edge to the 11/16-in. jig piece.
The rest of the paragraph is okay, but should end with: “Note the picture of the wing halves being assembled.”
Retracting Floats
In the July issue in the “Just For the Fun of It” column, it was mentioned that someone needed information on retractable floats, and the party was unsure of which magazine the scheme was originally presented in. The article “Retractable Floats” by Bob Kendall was in the inaugural issue (April 1975) of the now-defunct RC Sportsman magazine.
Bill Griggs Pine Bluff, AR
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
