ThunderBoat42

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Something off the cuff but fun..... what was your first C/L Plane? Did you stick with it? (guessing if your reading this you did since it's in the CL forum) ... Many moved to RC.

Many of us started on the COX planes that were available everywhere from Hobby shops to Sears or Montgomery Ward.

Mine was a Cox PT-19.. I was hooked! That was 1968 Then I moved quickly to the Cox Shoestring (???) pictured here with my lil-bro's who had no interest other than watching. Purchased from Homewood Toy and Hobby... still open today ... same family owns it.

Notice the 6 volt lantern flashlight? I took the bulb out and soldered the glow plug connector to it so I could just push a switch and light the plug when I was ready.

Cox came out with a Messerchmidt 109 Stunt plane with hollow foam wings and that thing was awesome.

Next came the Stick Built Goldberg (cant remember the name), covered it in silk and added this FOX 36. Notice the price? $12.00 was big money to a kid in '70!! yes, 43 yrs ago? ... Man I'm getting old. Still have the engine ... still has good compression and god only knows how many gallons of fuel went through it!!! Yes, American made. Purchased from SPivey's Hobby... Bubba Spivey's (who started Lanier) Father.

40+ years ago... still love it. It's unfortunate that those Cox CL planes are not still out there in Toy's R Us, Wal-mart etc. so the next generation can get the same enjoyment.

Anyway, its always fun to hear someones story of what was an exciting start to a life-long hobby.

thailazer

I had one of those PT-19s and then I built a Sig Chipmunk with a used motor I can not remember. Full throttle flying until the fuel ran out. Unfortunately, my building skills as a teenager were not that good and the control line bellcrank in the plane let go during a wing over. I still remember the noise all that balsa made when it hit the concrete of the local airport I was flying at.

ThunderBoat42

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, balsa has more of a 'crunch' than the plasic rubber band trainers. learned about that too! I couln't afford that sig chipmunk at that age. I can still see that one on the shelf at Spiveys like it was yesterday.

robotfan

My Feedback: (14)

Very first was a plastic Testor's Cosmic Wind Christmas present. My parents live across the street from a huge park in Long Beach so I put gallons though it. Eventually tried to stunt it. Glued it back together and tried again. It never did stunt but it flew and flew until it was mostly glue.

xby-1

My first was a Scientific American Boy with a spitzy .045 about 1950 or so. First loop was with an AJ Firebaby. I did mostly 1/2A's as a kid, my favorite was the scientific Kingpin, built up wing , very stuntable.

rw Guinn

PT-19, then a Baby Flite Streak.
Bought a couple of McCoy Red-Heads and a full-fuselage Flite Streak (Combat Streak?) for $10 bucks (a LOT of money!) and, knowing no better, flew the thing on 60' lines of braided 50 lb test fishing line, until a castor-soaked mass of paper, Ambroid, and balsa wouldn't fly any more...

ThunderBoat42

My Feedback: (1)

Stepping up from the 049 to that Fox 36 was intimidating!  That 10" prop looked like a 2x4 as a kid

skylark-flier

WOW!What memories you've brought out!!!

First C/Lplane was (of course) the Cox PT-19 - more than 55 years ago, and the plane not only still exists, it still flies with the original engine (and wing #3, elevator #2, glo-head #40-something). Then I had a Spitfire that I can't remember who made and a Cox Stuka. I built a Guillows Fokker DR-I and made it into a C/L plane (didn't fly too awful well though) and I had a Lil Satan (combat ship) that I truly learned to fly C/L with. Yeah, it was learn to fly well or lose the plane in about 1/2 second. Then I went to the larger planes, Midwest P-51 was the first, then a P-82 made from 2 Midwest P-51's (awesome sound on those two UNMUFFLED Fox .35's which both power today's SIGBanshee &a Sterling Skylark - with mufflers, of course). There were others too, P-63, Cosmic Wind, ME-109, an Aerocoupe that was converted to CL from FF. Presently flying a Sig Akromaster, a Shark-45. Banshee, Skylark and a Magician - - - plus a stable full of R/C planes.

Never lost the love of turning those circles.

BTW, all but one of my old Fox &Enya engines from the 1960's, 70's &80's are still operational - and the one that isn't is a Fox .45R/C-type that broke the flywheel-pin.

Geez, thanks for the memories.

Dave

matt13

Cox Fokker DVII was mine, spent most of my time learning how to start the 049, later I got an Enya 09 which I used in numerous Aeroflyte models fron the Couger to their Hurricane.
Starting to build a CL again after years of RC.
Matt

R8893

My Feedback: (20)

Well I guess I have to be an oddball. My first was a WenMac Bonanza. Finally got it flyibng withthe top fuselage removed and a conventional stab/elevator. Got a Berkeley SBD and K&B.15 by selling Christmas cards. It was wrecked on first flight and Dad got me a Ringmaster that a guy who he worked with was knocking off.
Chuck

Bob Mears

Since we had Flite Line Products in our back yard, my brother and I flew baby B's Bombs, and Bats, with Golden Bee's. We never flew a plastic plane. Although we helped many a kid that did have the plastic stuff.

hattend

My Feedback: (20)

Pre-teenager, bought a Goldberg Lil Wizard/Cox Babe Bee .049. Supposed to be crashproof. I disproved that! Never could figure out how to get more than a 1/4 lap without crashing. Moved to Free Flight instead.

Had a wonderful time with Free Flight until I got a summer job that paid enough to buy my first R/C setup (Kraft 5 Channel Sport, AstroFlight Malibu glider was first, then Enya .29 and Top Flight Headmaster was first power)

Never looked back.

Don

BtnFlyGuy

My first was in 1965; a WenMac P-63 with "Firing Rockets!". Igot it from selling Christmas cards...most of them to my father and his fellow construction workers. Never did get that thing to fly, but I'd give my left (*) to have one now. Next was a "Cardboard Cutie" Ibuilt from plans in AAM, followed by a Baby Ringmaster. Up to this point Ihad no succesful flights, but learned to love the smell of airplane fuel and dope.
Ifinally achieved success in '72 with a "Lil Jumping Bean" and then Ibuilt my first "big" plane - a Midwest .15 ME-109. Ifinally rounded out my high school years with a Johnny Casburn "Lucky Sport" with a Fox .35.
Real life, the Navy, submarines and a family all interceded and I'm just now getting back into the fold with a Shoestring and a Ringmaster ready for the season.
I have two great flying buddies who are anxious to get me into the beginner's aerobatic circle, so here goes!

gene6029

Cox 049 powered plastic AD-1 Skyraider. After that it was home built profile slabs of balsa for the fuse & wing. Tons of fun & memories!....Gene

straitnickel

Cox PT19 for me, my first kit was a TF Corsair carrier

THERCAV8R

My Feedback: (283)

My first was a Commet Piper Tri-pacer in 1959 then a Cox PT 19. thank all the Goldberg 049 kits beginning with the Little toot.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

You guys must be from the next generation. I started out with a Jim Walker Firebaby in about 1948 and progressed up to a Barnstormer after counless other CL planes. In 1953 I switched to RC. I tried my hand at CL recently but old age had taken its toll. I just could not last more than two minutes. Luckily the memories of the early days have survived. Dan.

http://www.americanjuniorclassics.co...y/firebaby.htm

larryak

My Feedback: (32)

Thanks for the memories.

ThunderBoat42

My Feedback: (1)

Wow Dan.. awesome pictures The mentioned skyraider and stuka were on my list too. I think I had every cox that came out. A few Testors but, maybe it was me, I just couldnt get Testors engines to run consistently.... and LOTS of time flipping a prop trying to get started.

GallopingGhostler

Scientific 18" span F6F Hellcat built up with .020 Pee Wee in 1965.

Current stable 48 years later: 30" span Ringmaster Jr. with OS Max15FP-S, 20" span Ringmaster Baby Gee Bee Z variant with Gilbert .074 Thunderhead, Goldberg Swordsman 18 with OK Cub-A .049, Goldberg Little Toot Bipe with Testors McCoy Red Head .049, Sterling Beginner's Fokker D-VII with Cox Black Widow .049. Under construction, 29" span OK Models Pilot Cessna 177 with Enya .09-III TV.

flyingagin

Speedy-Gonzales

My Feedback: (202)

Goldberg " l'il Jumpin' Bean" then moved up to a Jr. Ringmaster then went crazy with a Goldberg Jr. Satan (with a Torpedo 19 Greenhead that always caught on fire!) then went combat crazy with numerous VooDoo's ( I love Riley R.I.P.). I now have a Flite Streak with a McCoy 35 and am building a Brodak "Galaxy" with a ST C35. My all time CL engine of choice is the ST G21-35. What a beast. I do not use LG on anything. My 82 year old Dad ( Pit Boy) still launches for me. He got me started in all this with his Wooten "Quicker" with a Johnson 35. I got so dizzy I puked but I flew the whole tank out without crashing. We had 5 guys in the circle one day. That is another story in itself!

My Dad started out with a Consolidated " Aero Puppet" with a Forester 29 on ignition. Now that is old stuff.

Oh yeh..........and a Berkeley "KEY". I have lots of old black and white photos. I'll see if I can copy them with my digital camera and post them.

oh44077

My Feedback: (5)

1948 testors profile plane powered by a forster 29 ignition engine removed ignition and used an arden glow plug still have them both. am 78 and still enjoying the hobby

Lifer

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Cox PT-19, followed by a Golden Bee on a Combat Kitten. From there a bunch of control-line planes to an escapement RC in a Goldberg Jr. Falcon, followed by a pulse-rudder-only plane called a Dicks Dream, to a World Models Expert radio in a Midwest Sweet-Stick. Now, Warbird happy. It all started in 1963.

Strat2003

My Feedback: (1)

My first control line airplane was a Goldberg Ranger 30, powered by a Pee Wee .020 and flown on dacron lines attached to one of those plastic Cox handles with the built-in reel. My dad built it for me when I was about 8 years old, in 1958. We flew control line through the 60's and gradually transitioned to R/C. Some of the planes I remember are the Goldberg Little Toot bipe, Li'l Satan and Voo Doo (Goldberg got a lot of business from us) as well as a couple of my dad's old team racers from the late 40's.

Lots of great memories!