FAVORITE EINDECKER
Larry Manion | larrywm@me.com
LARRY MANION (Ellington, Connecticut, and Tarpon Springs, Florida) is a member of the Pioneer Valley Radio Controlled Club in Westfield, Massachusetts, and a new member of the Wintonbury Flying Club in Bloomfield, Connecticut, in 2020.
In 1971, the second RC airplane that he ever built was a 54-inch wingspan Eindecker with an Enya .46 glow engine. “I don’t remember the kit name, but it was a full build with dope and fabric,” Larry wrote. “I was really proud of that build, but being a low-time pilot, it suffered many mishaps.”
After a couple of years of crashes, repairs, and repainting, the Eindecker hung from Larry’s basement ceiling for the next 30-plus years. “In 2010, I took it down, cleaned it up, and converted it to electric with an E-flite 46 [motor],” he stated. “It looked rough around the edges, but once again, I was excited to get it back in the air.”
Larry wrote that the red Eindecker became a regular at every flying session until it was severely damaged in a basement flood in 2015. “In 2017, I purchased the Balsa USA Eindecker 40 and after more than two years of building, it flew with the same E-flite 46 that was under water for more than a week in 2015, and the same pilot (a Monogram Red Baron head on a G.I. Joe body) that first flew in 1971.”
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