ORIGINAL: CHARLES WINTER
Hi Duane, A few pictures of my DART series. I don't think you ever saw my "Foam Dart". I did a lot of early work with cutting Expanded White Bead Foam. The airplane in the pictures that looks like a yellow finish is actually natural balsa wood with clear dope finish. They were Beautiful airplanes, they showed all the wood grain and quality workmanship to keep all joints and connecting pieces tightly matched together. These "Foam Darts" were built on White Bead Foam that were cut with a hot wire method. I was one of the pioneers in cutting and covering foam, This was in 1964 and i won a first place at the Toledo Conference for "New Engineering Technique". I have too many stories. SORRY ...Col. Chuck Winter
Chuck.......Personally I don't mind the stories at all. I'm interested in the early days of vintage pattern, and basically soak in all I can.
Please answer a couple questions for us.
...Did you fly in the Detroit Invitational, or were you there as a spectator/photographer. I certainly looks like you got a lot of "indise" camera views.
...How well did you know these guys? What were their personalities like. Could you dscribe Ed Kazmirski, De Bolt, Brett etc etc???
...What do you think we should do about the thrust issue on our Simla, (right and down)? I'd like to get the input of a designer. We have different opinions on what is best. We basically have a side-mounted engine 150% scaled up, (102" wingspan)Taurus with a Bosch symmetrical airfoil. Vic Husak's King Altair had 3 degrees down and 2.5* right. Should we use the same thrust figures as the Taurus which flew on a .45 to .56?? Just don't know
Please let us know when you have a DVD, (or two), of the Detroit Invitationals, or other footage of the vintage era. As I said earlier, this would be valuable to see additional footage of these pattern pioneers for historical reasons