VTO Nostalgia
The magic moment: engine screaming, the model lifts straight up into a vertical climb.
Dave "VTO" Linstrum
Remodeling time travelers don't need a DeLorean time machine to travel into the history of free flight or to turn those dreams of times past into reality by building a new rendition of an old model. All they need is nostalgic reverie.
Members of the Old-Timers Free Flight movement have been building prewar designs since John Pond suffered his middle-age crisis. John was one of the founders of SAM—the Society of Antique Modelers—and continues to support and promote the organization internationally as well as in this country. He is also keeper of the world's largest Old-Timer plans collection. You can read of his exploits in his "Plug Sparks" column in Model Builder.
But what of those modelers of the following generation whose dreams of their youth are not filled with Playboys, Zippers, and Comet Clippers, much less Lanzo or Korda rubber jobs? For them, the names that conjure nostalgic memories are Zeek, Lucky Lindy, Civy Boy, Ramrod, Spacer, Wild Goose, and others. Their personal time machines are created from balsa and glue, ready to ride the thermals again, powered by engines that no longer appear in the magazine ads.
What is Nostalgia?
The accompanying cartoon, courtesy of National Free Flight Society (NFFS) cartoon laureate Will Nakashima and the NFFS Digest, tells the story graphically. It shows a NosGas (short for Nostalgia Gas model) San De Hogan powering up over Taft, California, into a booming thermal. The grins on the faces of the flier and the pit crew show the pleasure of Nostalgia flight.
Readers of Harry Murphy's "FF Duration" column in this magazine and Bob Stalick's "Free Flight" column in Model Builder may already know a lot about NosGas. Certainly the "Zeek Chronicles" series by Harry and the Dixielander eligibility detective work by Bob educated a lot of Nostalgia buffs.
Another, more prosaic definition is from the NFFS Nostalgia Free Flight Gas Event Rules, developed by Ralph Prey, Harry Murphy, and Bob Larsh. The purpose of the rules is to "establish universal competition regulations for free flight gas-powered events for model airplane designs of the era from Jan. 1, 1943 thru Dec. 31, 1956." That is a long-winded way of saying FF FUN!
The engine regulations are more complex than those for the models. They allow glow and ignition engines advertised prior to 1957, but also permit plain-bearing, loop-scavenged engines produced until 1963, except Cox front-intake designs. I have an early fifties 1/2A Wild Goose on the building board now, ready for a rear-valve Cox .049 and some nostalgia trips.
The NFFS rules are too complex to go into here. For your very own copy of the rules plus the Official NFFS Nostalgia Model Index, send $1.75 to VTO NFFS Nostalgia, c/o Bob Larsh, 45 South Whitcomb Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46241. Bob also has numerous Nostalgia plans available (so does John Pond), so ask him for his plans list.
VTO: Easy as 1-2-3
The drawing shows common methods of achieving vertical takeoff (VTO) with NosGas models. For high-thrust models, the flier stands or kneels in front of the model; for pylon models, he often kneels at the side where he can reach the timer to release it.
The magic moment, of course, is when the model lifts off vertically, engine revving, into a vertical climb that would make NASA jealous (step 3 in the drawing). If you practice VTO launches, I urge you to take plenty of safety precautions. Launch at least 100 feet downwind of cars and spectators, and always have a good idea of your model's launch stability. Some NosGas designs don't VTO very well, so take care. See the critique of the El En Gone in the section below for one that needs great caution.
NosGas: The Best and the Worst
At the risk of offending a few fliers and a former mentor, I would like to express my opinion of a pair of NosGas models—my personal choices for the best and worst of the class. If you have candidates for this dubious honor, send them to me with the reasons you love or hate them, based on your personal experiences. If you can, send a photo of each model. I hope you will share your thoughts on the winners and losers in this design category. It could prevent someone from making a horrible mistake!
The best? Harry Murphy might say the Zeek, but I can't resist the class B/C San De Hogan by Denny Davis. Denny originally called this the San Diegan, as he flew out of that southern California hotbed of FF. My hometown was Omaha, Nebraska, and the San De Hogan was available as a kit in the Benson Hobby Center where I worked in my early teens. I built it, covered it with yellow Esaki silk, and hung a Greenhead K&B Torpedo .29 on it. It climbed like a homesick angel. Benson Park floated thermals, rising ever higher, the drag tab hanging from the left wing. For me, it was the ultimate—even better than my several Zeeks, which were often frightening with their Dutch roll climb pattern.
The worst? That has to be the El En Gone, a 1/2A FF kit produced in 1952 by OCCO of Omaha, along with a cute quartet of Ukies called the Four Bullets. In the employ of Ukie's "Ollie" Olson, I built the prototype El En Gone, covering it with orange Japanese tissue and adding a Holland Hornet with a timer tank at the front.
Then I handed it over to the designer, the devil himself, the "Olson" of OCCO (Dick Clark was the other partner). "Ollie" had me work in the basement, cutting balsa for those kits long before OSHA rules. I still have balsa dust in my memory, if not in my lungs.
But production trauma aside, what made the El En Gone so very bad as a 1/2A job? It had a multispan wing with undercamber, almost like a Zeek wing without the center section. It was a shoulder-wing design with a triangular-section body and a fin in the stab root. This combination seemed to produce a model that chased its tail all over the sky under power, then glided erratically—and miserably, compared with a pylon job. I often wonder if Ollie had used the fuselage design of his dreams. If he had been content with a Zeek-style flat-top body with low pylon, he might have created a stable, contest-worthy design.
Want to Join Up?
If you're interested in SAM or the NFFS, please contact me with your comments or ideas.
If you have photos of you and your Nostalgia model; close-ups of engines and timer rigs; drawings; or comments about practical or memorable Nostalgia matters (even rules complaints), send them along. I need reader input, feedback, and especially material suitable for publication. Nostalgia rube, glider, and indoor fliers are also welcome—you don't have to be drenched in glow fuel to join this club! On the other hand, that castor oil aroma has a certain charisma.
I hope you have enjoyed this little nostalgia trip and will share your own memories—and current Nostalgia experiences. Send your contribution to VTO Nostalgia, "VTO" Linstrum, 4057 San Luis Drive, Sarasota, FL 34235.
If I get enough response, maybe I can influence MA to run another article on the subject!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
