PRESIDENT S CORNER Charlie Koustenis

Transcription

1 OCTOBER 2002 PRESIDENT S CORNER Charlie Koustenis I would like to begin the President s Corner this month on a very special note regarding one of our members. Early in September I received a call from Tom McClain of the Northern Virginia Control Line Club informing me that John Hunton was being inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame on September 12, Bill McMullen and I were honored to be present for the induction and found it to be a very moving presentation. Bliss Teague, AMA Area 4 Vice President, presented the award to John. <P>On behalf of all of the members of the FARM club, I would like to pass along our congratulations to John. After all of the years and so many accomplishments in this great hobby, you certainly deserve it! Although there was a small turn out, we held the float and glider fly at St. Leonard s on October 5th. I had my Sportster on floats in additional to another floatplane. Gene Flynn had the winch set up and we ended up with five fliers, but unfortunately the thermals just did not cooperate. A special thanks to Ercil Arbogast for allowing us the use of the pond and field for the float flies! On a personal note, Ercil had a knee replaced on October 4th and in conversations with his employees I understand he is doing well. Take care of yourself Ercil and we look forward to seeing you at the field soon. I received a call from Dale Hubbard regarding the set up tables he built for the club. He said they were working out pretty good and it should assist members in putting their planes together. Please take care when using the tables and talk to Dale or Bill White if you have any questions regarding usage. Please be courteous to the other members and do not keep the table tied up too long. The tables are for everyone s use and if we get some positive feedback for everyone we will have more made. In closing I wanted to send out a reminder to everybody regarding the October meeting. At the upcoming meeting, the floor will officially be open for Board Nominations and will be completed at the November meeting. Our plan is to have December s newsletter, with the list of nominations, sent out early so that members can get the ballot back in time for the vote at our Christmas Party. Remember, you get out what you put in. It s your club, so support it by participating and staying involved. Until next time Charlie

2 SECRETARY S REPORT The September club meeting was held at the Shadow Lawn Center on September 24. Esther Robb was introduced as a new member. Jack Dennis and Jay Tucker were guests at the meeting. Old Business The new wind sock was purchased by the club and installed by Bill McMullen. Tom McCain did a presentation on 9/14 with the Northern Virginia Control Line club that inducted John Hunton into the AMA Hall of Fame. Congratulations John. Our new area VP in district 4 is Bliss Teague. Charlie K. discussed the frequency interference issue with neighboring Flying Circus Bealeton field, and mailed all related information to him. Bliss will research it and get back to us. Jack Forgy noted that there is a control line hobby shop in Springfield on Port Royal Rd. called VA Safe and Hobby. New Business The Glider/Float Fly will be held at St. Leonard s Farm on October 5. Come one, come all. The September Fun Fly was rained out. The next Fun Fly will be on October 19, and Vince Tabacco will be the CD. There will be another Fun Fly on November 10 and Eric Clapp will be the CD. Mike Dale noted that there will be a airshow at the Culpepper Airport on October 12 with several full size WWII planes there including his Provost. Bill McMullen gave a report on the CASA glider fly on Frank Thompson s property the weekend of September 7 and 8. There were 50 flyers and lots of flying. Our Gene Flynn took 3 rd place. Congratualtions Gene. Don Seaborg gave a report on the NETFair electric flyers event in New York. Ron Coen also attended with him. Planes ranged from Some flew as fast as 250 MPH. Flying at night with lights was shown. Lots of multi-engine planes were there. A one-hour flying demo was held each day. Bob Hunt and Keith Hall were inducted into the Hall of Fame. The club plans to support the Crockett Park program again this year; this occurs on October 12 with the 13 th being a rain date. Call Vince Tabacco if you can help. Last year there were 80 kids and 20 adults participating. This event qualifies us for our leader club pin. Nic Burhans is looking for the RCM magazine from 2/92. If anyone has it, please give him a call. Presentations Dale Hubbard gave a talk on his visit to Rhinebeck, NY. He saw a full size Sopwith Camel fly. The oldest flying plane in the US is there, a French Beirot. There are lots of museums and RC plane flying as well. John Hunton did a talk on model aviation pioneers. He also did a comparison of a John Winter design (Mainstream featured in Flying Models in 1997) and the US Aircore 40 trainer that Mike Dale was trying to fly. The Winter design flies much better. Show and Tell John Hunton Pandora s Box a twin K&B 65 model that flies straight up out of a large box. It has an infrared auto-pilot on board. 50/50 Drawing Don Seaborg won the drawing. Board Meeting The following items were discussed: 1. We will look into the cost of having the XMAS Party catered, and also check with Larry K. for a date. 2. Nominations for elections will be held in October and November. 3. Leaf blower will be bought for about $ Two plane benches lumber will be purchased and Bill McMullen will build. 5. Two front wheels on front-rider will need repair. 6. Work on tentative calendar for 2003 begins soon. EDITOR S NOTES Upcoming Events: Club Meeting, Tuesday, October 22, at Shadow Lawn Center, 7:30 PM. Fun Fly #7, October 19, at the field, 1:00 PM NVRC Auction, October 20, at Vienna Community Center, 10:00 AM. Fun Fly #8, November 10, at the field, 1:00 PM

3 TREASURER S REPORT Ron Coen September 2002 RECEIPTS: Member Dues $ /50 Drawing $ $43.00 EXPENSES: Blower for Field Maintenance $ Pilot Benches $61.44 Newsletter (stamps) $44.66 Fun Fly Prizes $30.34 Porta John Pump Out $25.00 Shadow Lawn Rental $ $ Bill White s FORD Dealership ad bus. Card size Cash in Checking 08/31/02 $ Cash in Checking 07/31/02 $ Membership (Renewed + New) 120 Memberships Not Renewed 16 Hours: Mon Sat, 10:00 AM 8:00 PM Jim McKay Chevy Ad from -> Charlie K.

4 Wings of Balsa John Hunton I roomed with Mac. He had the bad habit of never cleaning out his ash tray. He would stuff cigarette after cigarette into the ash tray until the debris got so deep that the next cigarette could not hit bottom and be snuffed out. This would start the whole pile of old cigarettes burning, the ash tray would crack and smoldering, smelly butts would go everywhere. Later on Mac built several nice RC models. He married an airline stewardess. I was flying the Barnstormer on the VPI drill field one day and decided to see how many loops I could do. Of course the lines got wrapped up and the model got stuck on up elevator. I went to switch hands with the U-Reely and it slipped. The U-Reely started bouncing across the field behind the looping Barnstormer which started climbing. Finally the handle got off the ground and the whirling assembly kept going up. The model got so high that we could not hear the motor running any more and the airplane was just an occasional glint in the sun. Soon we saw the model start to come down. It would drop than stop, drop then stop, drop, then stop. What was going on was the U-Reely would bottom out and bounce up. The model would start gliding again then the handle would pass it and bottom out again. The whole mess ended up in the top of a very tall tree. With McCausland's help I build a Rudder Bug with a Lorenz receiver. My first RC flight was on the VPI drill field. The red and yellow Rudder Bug took Mac's hand launch just fine and started climbing. I turned the model to keep it close. It was flying along just fine when it disintegrated. I had flown the model into the flagpole. We had many good flights with the re-built Fox powered Rudder Bug. We would have to run as fast as we could run, throw as hard as we could throw, then sometimes it would make it into the air. Hugh and I flew the control line stunt circuit. At an Andrews field meet an East Coast flier, Hank Spielman, did a loop with his stunt model after the motor quit. Hugh and I thought that this was just the greatest. Hugh started experimenting and found that in a modest wind he could continue to fly with a dead motor. He could do loops and eights on the downwind side of the circle. At a contest in Hagerstown, MD. A storm was brewing up and they stopped the meet. The wind was brisk. I put Hugh up with a short tank and he started stunting dead stick...loops, eights, verticals, etc. Suddenly Hugh came down. I asked why he quit. As the storm approached he was getting electrical shocks through his lines. Good reason. At a meet at Andrews field we saw Hal DeBolt fly. What a treat it was to see him fly. He won trophies in all classes of speed and stunt but refused to take any of them. I never won a trophy in the several years of contests at Andrews field. Many years later my older son John won a nice trophy there flying free flight. One summer vacation from VPI I designed a model intended for full time control line dead stick flying. This model had the same planform as the superb Veco Chief, but construction was to be ultra light since there would be no motor in it. Remembering the strength of geodesic construction from an earlier design, all surfaces: wing, flaps, empennage and fuselage were all built-up using geodesics, very unusual in those days. The finished framework was covered with Japanese tissue. This model just weighed ounces. I had to figure what weight to put in the nose to make the model balance. A dope bottle that could carry various weights was considered, then the obvious came to mind. A motor would be put up front, a Fox.35. Of course this motor could never be run or the model would shake apart...or would it? The ultralight geodesic was flown with the Fox running its first flight. I cannot properly describe just how different this model flew from any other that I had ever flown. The geo would cut a corner with seemingly no radius at all. It would just change direction without slowing down at all. Loops were done in a six to eight foot circle so quickly that it was a challenge to pull out at any predictable spot. You could take this model into a sharp wing over and fly it down the other side and wait until it seemed you were inches from the ground to snap up and level off. Square maneuvers were fantastic. We could do square eights on top of square eights. There were three second generation powered Geos quickly built, one by Bobby Dent, I think one by Hugh, and one other. We had great fun with these great flying models. The concept of wind flying was published in Model Aviation magazine, the basic control line geodesic design was published as the Habu in Model Aviation, the structural concept was manifested in the Geophysical combat design published with Larry Driskill and the ultralight fun fly model Jumpin Geo in Model Aviation. A flying friend, Mr. Albritton, made many Geos for his two sons and many friends. JE Albritton went on to become a legend in model aviation. He set records in speed, won many stunt trophies, got into international team racing and represented the US for many years, and now competes at national competition levels in RC pylon racing.

5 East Coast Contests Many of the Balsa Beetles started going to contests which were frequently held along the East Coast. A dedicated DC speed flier, Andy Oliveri, was at a meet in Chambersburg, PA. He fired up his McCoy.60 powered DeBolt Speed Wagon and started for the center of the circle, halfway out he started back to the plane to make a change in the needle valve setting, then changed his mind and went out for the control handle again. Andy's partner, figuring that Andy was ready to fly by this time, and not bothering to look, started running and launched the speed job. All Andy saw was his control handle jump off of the ground and come toward him. As the handle passed by Andy he grabbed it out of the air and turned around. Fortunately he had gotten the handle right side up so he started flying the model and scrambled back into the center of the circle to start his speed run. A contest was held at Congressional field, MD. It was a combined free-flight and control line affair. I entered one of my super light Geodesics in combat. The standard combat models were much faster than the Geo, but I could turn a very sharp corner. Somehow I made it through some early rounds and got into some hot competition. I got up first and the screaming flying wing came after me. My Fox 35 was putting along. I went into a wing over and the combat model followed. I went straight down the far side of the wing over and pulled sharply out at about two feet. Sure enough my opponent fell for the trap and did not start his pullout until much too late. He flew right into the ground. Most of the time things tend to go wrong, this time everything went right. I placed in several events, including combat and stunt, and tied for the high point trophy. I tied with Roger Barron. On the coin toss I won the trophy. Hopefully Roger got a duplicate trophy some time later. done 127 mph. A very big man had a Dooling powered speed job that had done 126. something. The big man started going to smaller props for succeeding attempts and his speed went slightly down. He never bettered the 127 mph, but that was really close. The trophy was the biggest I ever saw. There is a small store near our Rixeyville home that is owned by a Robin Boggs. Her father visits occasionally. He used to fly speed. He is a very big man, the same one. Things were not going well at school. I had lost motivation. The Korean war was under way. The second quarter of my junior year I flunked out. Needing something productive to do I took a course in aeronautical drafting at Columbia Tech in DC. I finished the six month course in two months. It was really fun to draw airplanes. There was an ad in the paper from General Electric. They needed draftsmen for their jet engine factory in Cincinnati. Upon showing the material from Columbia Tech I was hired on the spot. I became a tool design draftsman for GE. I was productive, had an income and a future, and was enjoying life very much. I got with some local modelers and flew speed. Gene Brown had a beautiful wife and a Mercury convertible coupe with straight pipes. We were building a nine foot Taylorcraft kit together. Then the draft notice came. If I had made six months at GE I would have been exempt from the draft, but no such luck. Roger Barron flew free flight with his dad. We knew that the elder Mr. Barron did most of the building for Roger and he also did all of the engine work. They could afford the best engines and had beautiful models for all classes of free flight. We kids were just jealous of the strong father-son relationship that we saw which few of us had, so it was seen as a real victory to tie Roger for high point. I just remember one time when Roger's father had started his motor and was setting it for him, Roger said, "Shall we scream her this time Father?" Well we really screamed laughing at that. There was a meet outside of Baltimore called the Maryland State Championships. Several of the Balsa Beetles attended. I was flying a McCoy 60 powered speed job, with Charlie Rothstein launching, which had

6 FARM OFFICERS for 2002 President Charlie Koustenis Vice President Larry Kauffman Secretary Treasurer Ron Coen Field Marshall Bill White Safety Officer Bill McMullen Member at Large Dave Rothbart FARM Newsletter Staff Editor Printer: Classic Printing Center Chantilly, VA, (courtesy David Malkin) The FARM Newsletter is published monthly by the Fauquier Aero Recreation Modelers, AMA charter #1654. It is mailed to FARM members and to other clubs on an exchange basis. Articles related to all types of aviation are welcome. Opinions expressed in the newsletter are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect those of FARM Inc. Publishing deadline is the 2 nd Tuesday of the month. Please mail all input to: Woodmont Ct. jeffkillen@erols.com Manassas, VA Our web site is: FAUQUIER AERO RECREATION MODELERS Woodmont Ct. Manassas, VA