VINTAGE VIEWPOINT
SEPTEMBER 1973 MAGAZINE ARTICLES OF INTEREST
By Bob Noll | bobrc@aol.com
HERE I GO AGAIN to my magazine library to look for September 1973 magazines. This month, I found four: Radio Control Modeler (RCM), Model Airplane News (MAN), Flying Models (FM), and American Aircraft Modeler (AAM). I’ll tell you about articles that might be of interest to those who were flying RC 50 years ago and to those who are interested in what was going on at that time.
I’ll start off with the cover of RCM. Three nicely dressed women would catch anyone’s eye. Toni Wurtzler, Mary Jo Atkins, and Jane Knueven were three World Engines technicians who were a part of the program for a series of construction articles for the RCM-World Proportional Systems.
Kent Nogy was featured in a Carl Goldberg Models Inc. advertisement holding his world record Miss Dara racer. That Formula 1 racer turned the 10-lap course in 1 minute and 23.4 seconds. Kent was featured in the ad because he used DJ’s Multi-Stripe.
A full-page color photo of a Fokker D.VII preceded an article by Chuck Cunningham. Chuck, who was an associate editor for RCM, designed the Fokker for RCM’s World War I Scramble. The design featured a quickly built model that was ideal for a .15 cu. in. engine.
Next up in RCM was another full-page color photo. This one was of a young woman holding a Mach VIII with two other Mach VIIIs on the ground. Joe Utasi designed the Mach VIII, and I suspect that the lady was either Joe’s wife or girlfriend (the text didn’t say). The Mach VIII used a .40 cu. in. engine. Joe said it was fast and groovy to compete with the larger .60-powered airplanes.
Bernie Murphy built the Kavan Jet Ranger model helicopter for an RCM product review. His article took up eight pages and included 36 photos that showed the building sequence in great detail. Bernie’s text ended with, “More about this next month when we will fly the Jet Ranger.”
RCM did an article on the Soarcraft Libelle, a high-performance Scale sail-plane. This 1/6-scale model of the famous full-scale sailplane featured a wing area of 623 sq. in. and an aspect ratio of 20:1. The wingspan was 111.4 inches. Several trial wings were built and attached to the prototype fiberglass fuselage during the development of this sailplane. The article states that the Libelle could be built in one weekend of solid building time.
Lee Renaud published an article titled, “How to Set Up and Use the Hi-Start.” The article started out with the following: “The versatile Hi-Start is the finest sailplane launching system available to the soaring enthusiast and is rapidly replacing the cumbersome and trouble plagued electric winch in contests across the country.”
Another RCM product review was by Bill O’Brien about the Wingmaster. The Wingmaster was a flying wing design produced in kit form by Kraft Systems Inc. Yes, this is the company that was famous for its RC systems. The article stated that the Wingmaster could, in fact, be called a new concept in RC flying because it could be built in 5 hours and flown for less than a $200 total investment, including all of the RC equipment.
An article by Dick Tichenor, another RCM associate editor, was titled “A Man and His Vampire.” It was about an airplane designed by Phil Garrard. Dick wrote that Phil built spectacular Control Line and RC Scale models. The unique Vampire sported a .60 cu. in. engine with an ingenious propeller adapter that used two commercial propellers to make one large enough for the Vampire, which weighed 11 pounds.
MAN had an engine review by Peter Chinn about a new YS-60 RC engine with a unique pressure-regulated fuel system.
Peter wrote that this engine set a new standard in immunity to the effects of tank position.
Mark Frankel had an article in MAN about his Britten-Norman BN-2A Islander. This twin-engine Scale project resulted in a good-looking, stable airplane with model moments that resulted in exciting flights under all conditions. It was powered by two .30 cu. in. engines.
The X-2D Sharpshooter, by William Nielsen Jr., was a Quarter Midget for fun! William wrote, “What’s your bag? 1/4 midget or fun fly, even pattern for contest work? No matter which, here we have the bird that will do all of these for you and do them well!” The Sharpshooter was powered by a side-mounted O.S. .15 RC engine.
Sig Mfg. introduced its Kwik Bilt R/C Super Chipmunk for Sport Scale or Pattern. The kit sold for $39.95 and featured a long list of items, including formed plastic fuselage halves that were attached to a 1/2-inch balsa profile, a rugged plastic cowling, molded wheel pants, a foam wing core, sheeted balsa tail surfaces, and much more. The Chipmunk used a .45 to .61 cu. in. engine and had a wing area of 660 sq. in.
There was a one-page ad about the Quarter Midget Nationals by the Bluegrass Racing Association—two days of racing and recreation in Louisville, Kentucky.
Carl Goldberg Models Inc. introduced its retract power system for four-channel fliers for $29.95. The ad stated, “Powerful new servo, special switching system and 2-cell battery pack—wired up ready to install.”
FM had construction articles about a Douglas A-4D Skyhawk by Stan Hines, and the Northern Eagle by Dave Gierke. FM also had an article about the glider gathering at Torrey Pines near San Diego by Bill Burris, a review of the Du-Bro Hughes 300 by Nick Ziroli, and an article about a Formula Falcon Pylon race at a Pattern contest in Schenectady, New York.
AAM had a construction article about the Spezio Sport Tuholer by Clarence Haught. “PISCES” was a construction article by Dave Hale about his Pattern airplane that had a 710 sq. in. wing area and 54-inch long fuselage. Dave used a 15% symmetrical root section with a 15% semi-symmetrical lifting tip section. The airplane was covered with silk and dope.
I’ll end this month’s column with a comment about the Sparrow RPV by Dave Scully. The Sparrow was built for the U.S. Air Force as a remote pilot vehicle multipurpose research project for carrying movie cameras.
Don’t forget to look up a Vintage Radio Control Society (VRCS) event near you. So long for now!
SOURCES:
