Edition: Model Aviation - 2026/08
Page Numbers: 111
Red-and-white model airplane with a Min-X radio transmitter on the ground

60 YEARS
IN 60
MINUTES

Photos by Joe Hass; email: joehass@gmail.com

ON MAY 26, 2025, my son, Chris Hass, experienced an aeromodeling whirlwind. Chris did the maiden flight on his 33-pound Skywing Falcon turbine jet. With a wingspan of 80 inches and a length of 82 inches, the Falcon is equipped with a Swiwin 190 turbine, a JR PROPO radio, Theta servos, and an Advanced Radio Smooth Flite 16 gyro. With a flip of a switch, flaps are mixed with the ailerons for improved roll rate. It also has smoke and thrust-vectoring for advanced aerobatics and hovering.

After flying the jet, Chris made his first flight of a 1965 vintage, 27 MHz, single-channel Galloping Ghost aircraft. He spanned 60 years of model aviation technology in 60 minutes.

The Galloping Ghost aircraft, a Midwest Products Company Astro-Mite (Kit No. 112), is identical to one that I built in 1965. The molded foam wing spans 44 inches with a flying weight of 2 pounds. Control is provided with a Min-X Pulsemite transmitter and a Min-X SH-1 receiver driving a RAND LR actuator. A single-cell LiPo battery powers the airborne radio system.

AMA Hall of Fame inductee and former District VII Vice President Pete Waters,

Red-and-white model airplane with a Min-X radio transmitter on the ground
Red-and-white model airplane flying against a blue sky
Man kneeling beside a large green-and-white model airplane and a smaller red-and-white airplane
who worked at Min-X in the 1960s, got the radio system working flawlessly. Galloping Ghost was an ingenious mechanical way to get a proportional control system of elevator and rudder from a low-cost (relatively) single-channel system. In flight, the elevator and rudder are moving constantly because they are interconnected in one actuator.

Rather than the original Cox glow engine, the Astro-Mite is equipped with an AXI 2212/26 brushless motor driving a 7 x 7 APC electric propeller with a three-cell 1,300 mAh LiPo. At the suggestion of my great friend, Dennis Adamisin, a Brodak Mfg. BH-1870 Flight Manager and Castle Creations Thunderbird 36 ESC complete the power system. Flight times are ground-adjustable from 105 seconds to 6 minutes.

After the initial arming and a safety delay, the motor goes to full throttle for the duration of the flight. At the preset time, the motor momentarily reduces power to signal that the end of the flight is near before the motor shuts down completely for landing. The Astro-Mite takes off of a paved surface or is hand launched.

The new-in-box, original Astro-Mite kit was purchased from Chris Tucker at ElectroDynamics Inc. in Livonia, Michigan, as part of an estate sale.

During the post-flight debriefing between Chris and me, the comparisons of how we used to fly 60 years ago and current technology were breathtaking. We really have come a long way!

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