Letters to the Editor
All letters will be carefully considered, those of general interest used. Send to Model Aviation, 815 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
Winning SE-5
I am enclosing four photos of an SE-5 which I built from a Top Flite kit (modified for my purpose).
With it, I fulfilled an elusive goal held by myself since I was C.D. of that 1st Rhinebeck Jamboree on Sept. 23, 1967. That goal was to win the WW I Maneuvers event which, to me, has always represented the heart and spirit of Rhinebeck. I like to think it was also a harbinger of Sport Scale.
I first flew the plane in August, then won 1st in Maneuvers on Sept. 11, 1977.
I hope you can use one or more photos in M.A. Good luck to you and your staff.
Dick Allen AMA 9174 Endicott, NY
AMA Plans
I'm writing to you for information as to where I can obtain plans from past issues of American Aircraft Modeler magazine. I would especially like to obtain plans number 0491 and 0992 if available.
Robert Sommerville Chicago, IL
A number of readers have asked this question. R/C Sportsman is the successor to AAM, and has a plan service. We suggest that those who seek old AAM plans write to R/C Sportsman's publisher, Jim Sunday. The magazine's address is: P.O. Box 11247, Reno, NV 89250.
Happy to Oblige
I thought you might print a picture of me and my record holding airplane.
On Sept. 24, 1977 at the Fresno Annual, I set a new record in Class A, Cat. I Free Flight with a time of 52 minutes and 12 seconds. The "450" Satellite is powered by a front intake Rossi "15".
John DeFrees N. Highlands, CA
If at first...
I was distressed with the lack of coverage of the FAI Control-line Team Trials for team-racing and particularly speed at the Riverside Nationals. There also was no mention whatsoever of the FAI Speed event being flown at the Nats in Jim Wade's speed coverage in Model Aviation. What is the excuse for this with all of the paid AMA people at the Nats, not to mention the long-range effects of this neglect?
It is true that these events are not very popular in this country, but this is a reason not to have any report, with pictures, of the selection of a part of the Control-line Team that will represent the U.S. in England at the World Champs. I am not suggesting that the magazine devote the type of coverage that it gave to the RC Team Selection Finals to these Control-line events (because I am sure a greater proportion of magazine subscribers are RC flyers) but I would think that you might consider the poor participation in these events is par- tially resulting from a lack of publicity that could introduce fliers to these events and also help stimulate the existing competition.
The coverage of the Control-line Team Finals for the 1976 Team helped to increase my interest in FAI Speed and gave me a goal to work towards, representing the U.S. at the World Champs, which I attained in California this summer. I hope that you do make this type of inspiration possible for other fliers like myself and that you try to keep these enjoyable international events alive through the publicity that is in your power. Then maybe these once popular events will again flourish as they now do in Europe.
Charles Lieber Moorestown, NJ
The December issue—which included the Team Race Finals—probably relieved Mr. Lieber's distress a bit, although it did not contain a report of the Speed Team Trials. The Nats-related team trials were not included in the November issue because of insufficient space to report both the Nats regular events, and the team trials. And the Speed Team Trials had another scheduling situation, due to two sites and two dates.
Once the second part of the Speed Team Trials was held (without affecting the three top spots), we could get on with a report in the February issue. That report was not received in time for January.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
