Control Line: Navy Carrier
PROPER CREDIT. The exhaust duct (for rear-exhaust engines, made from an elbow plumbing fixture) which I described in the August issue was primarily the work of Stan Johnson. He and Orin Humphries, the one who sent me the drawings, have been using them quite extensively with good results. My apologies to Stan for not including his name in the original description. Profile kits. I mentioned two profile kits in the last column which are remakes of the old Sterling P-51 Mustang and Yak-9. I have since had a chance to examine one of the P-51 kits and found it to be of good quality. The parts are sawn, not die-cut. The balsa is straight and light, and the plywood is five-ply aircraft grade, not the three-ply lightweight type found in some kits. Parts fit was generally good with some minor adjustments required to improve the mating of a few parts.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
1988 NATS! It's official. The 1988 Nats will be held in the vicinity of Norfolk, VA. The preliminary plans are for a gathering of all forms of modelers for competition, convention, etc. It should be quite a show if it all materializes as planned. Those of you who read about the Norfolk possibilities in the April issue and brushed them aside as being too far in the future or too uncertain to take action should think again and get out your pens. To refresh your memories, the CL site will be Fentress Naval Aviation Field. Preliminary plans are for the Carrier competition to be flown over grass, and the grass at Fentress will not be good. We need to start now to get the Carrier flying over pavement. The person to write to is Nats Manager Vince Mankowski at AMA HQ. Send your letters through me, and I will forward them.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
THE MYSTERY PLANE from the December issue was the Curtiss XSC-2A Seahawk. The Seahawk was the last Curtiss aircraft to reach full production, ending almost 40 years of aircraft manufacturing. Curtiss built over 30 different aircraft designs for the Navy, including examples of almost every type of aircraft flown by the Navy except helicopters. The Seahawk was also the last shipboard floatplane used by the Navy, and the last scout or observation type as well. Rescue duties were taken over by helicopters, and aircraft carriers became the capital ship of choice, providing attack aircraft capable of assuming the observation and reconnaissance function of the scouts.
Control Line: Navy Carrier
MYSTERY PLANE from the February issue is the Blackburn B-48, unofficially designated Firecrest by the manufacturer. It was to be a follow-on to the Firebrand Mk. 5 with an improved pilot position and a new wing. Its design mission was surface-strike carrying torpedo, bombs, rockets, or externally mounted .50 caliber guns. It did not achieve its first flight until after WW II, at a time when piston engines were losing popularity in favor of jets as the power plant of choice for military aircraft. The design was terminated after the second prototype. As before, I will accept entries in the mystery plane contest at my home address shown at the beginning of this column. The winner of a year's membership in the Navy Carrier Society will be selected from among those who correctly identify the mystery plane. Because of the mail delays around Christmas, I have delayed selecting a winner for the February issue. The results of that contest will be announced in my next column.
