I am looking for a Mach 1 Kit. I believe it was designed by Norman Page...not sure. Had one in in the early 70s. Very good pattern ship.
Mike from NJ

Foam core wings, balsa fuse and tail feathers. A rare kit indeed. They fetch top dollar. You might keep your eyes on Ebay. I see them pop up there every once in a while.

This should be posted in the swap "wanted" section.
EXCAP232

Here are a couple of pictures of a Mach One that I am currently flying. I built it in the early 80s, and recently pulled it out of storage for a repaint and some flight time. It has the Webra 10ccm, flow thru muffler (loud), and rhom retracts.

That dosen't look like the Mach 1 I remember but still... I seem to remember the plans being available from one of the US mags' MAN or RCM... check em out.o

I actually flew the 2nd Mach 1 ever built. The wing on that plane is not a Mach 1 wing and the fuse isn't either. The stab looks like a Mach 1. The wing had a signiture huge root chord and the trailing edge was a reverse sweep like an Edge 540. The fuse had a really thin canopy and it extended all the way to the tail. Norm Page was my flying buddy for years. I wish he was still flying today. He was way ahead of the times and a terific pilot and designer. Mike

I see the plans for Norm Page's beautiful 'Mach I' offered at:

http://www.rcstore.com/rs/general/li...d=41&catego=PL

No that's not a Mach 1. Not even close. I have one in a box my wife gave me in the early 70s. May finally build it this year. Retirement helps. Yup the Mach one has a straight leading edge and tapered trailing edge. Canopy is a smallish thing that runs to the tail. This thing was designed when heavy was the norm (penetration). I think I can fix that with a hole saw and some circle blades.

I agree, not a Mach 1. I built 4 of the over several years. I sold a fixed gear version and a retract gear (Goldberg) version a couple of years ago at a swap meet. Mine were always toooo heavy but I loved the way they looked in the air. Nice lines. Hated the thin fuel tank setup.

I would love to have one about 2 pounds lighter than my usual model turned out.

Had two Mach I's in the 70's. Webra Speed .61, Rom-Air Retracts, Kraft radio gear. Came out at the "perfect" weight of 8 pounds. Flew fast and like it was on rails.

Kit was made by MidWest Products.

bax

I built one about 20 years ago with fixed landing gear and covered it with Monokote orange and Monokote white. With the Monokote finish it was quite light and thus it flew great. I think it was 7.5 pounds empty.

The fist one I saw left a great impression. It was painted with K&B red and K&B yellow paint and was flawless. It had Rhom air retract and a Kraft engine with a Kraft radio system. I could hardly stop staring at it because it was so beautiful. It looked great on the ground and looked great in the air.

I have to consider the Norm Page's 'Mach I' the most beautiful of all the planes I have ever seen. What lines. Some day I would like to scale it down to a 40 size engine but part of the beauty of the original was in the SIZE of that plane. Big and yet so beautiful.

I am wanting to get back into rc flying now with an arf trainer. But I do remember one of the local club members in the 70's having built a Norm Page Mach 1. This print is the only Mach 1 I remember.

I didn't think that was a mach one...

My father destroyed his mach one 2 weeks before I was born, Rossi 61, rhoms and a nice paint job. He was flying for an airshow at our state millitary airbase, came across the tarmac inverted, at about 6 feet, flicking the retract switch the whole way, then pulled......


The rossi was ground away to the crank.... Ouchiwowa.

The Mach 1 by Norman Page was kitted by Midwest Products in the early 70's. It is the plan offered by Model Airplane News. I will post an image of the original midwest advertisement showing the kit.

I'm pretty sure this is a Mach 1. The fuselage was just never sanded using the templates. As some of you guys may recall the fuselage was one big heavy block before sanding. The wing threw me for a minute. The Mach 1 wing has a tapered trailing edge with a straight leading edge. It is a little hard to tell in this picture. The canopy is an obvious switch.

A true Mach 1 has a spine running from the canopy to the tail...

Accept no subsitutes.

Mine is almost finished.


Cheers Roger
Australia

Oh man does that look nice! Let us know how it flys please. Mike

My dad used to have one, beautiful lines. Webra Speed 61, Rev-up 11x7, MK retracts, Kraft Signature Series, scary fast.

Adrian

Will keep you informed. I had one as a kid..Webra speed .61 fixed gear. (couldn't afford retracts) This one has an OS .91 in it. Power shouldn't be a problem. Air retract system. Has worked out well although everything is a tight fit.

Cheers Roger

My next project will be a Mach 8. (I see the forum watchers all scratching their heads.) A Mach 8 is a 80% version of the Mach 1 for a .46 Also had one when I was a kid. Nice slick little sportster with fixed gear. I just went down to the local print shop and they reduced Norm Page's original plans down to 80%. Easy.

I built the Mach 1 from the Midwest kit and from the MAN plans. No comparison - Midwest really "fiddled" with the design - as I recall the airfoil and fuse width were different from the original. Norm's original was better, much lighter, and flew better - beautiful airplane. Mine had 40+ coats of Aerogloss in five colors (sort of drifted toward my stunt beginnings), flew it in the '74 Nats in Lake Charles.

Hey Earl you know your Mach 1's. Your right about the kit. I was really lucky to have Norm helping me out when I was a kid. For those who don't know the Mach 2 was a disaster. It had a swept wing and flew terrible. I had the Mach 3. It was never kitted and it too was a radical departure form the original Mach 1.
Mike Mueller

Nice to see a few mach 1 fans come out of the wood work. Sounds like some of you guys knew Norm Page. What ever became of him? Where did he live? Is he still alive? He was a childhood hero of mine and I still admire his forsight in designing such a beautiful model. Has anyone got any other old photos of Norm and his Mach 1's or any Mach 1 pics for that matter. I sure would like any history on the guy.

I was sort of Norm's prodigy when I was a teenager. Yes we were close. We flew at the same local field. Norm pretty much quit pattern in 1976 and moved from Chicago to Pasadena Ca. Last I heard he is alive and flying full scale sailplanes but I have not seen or talked to him since he left Chicago. He was a very quiet private person. His flying talent and design innovations were something to behold and I was very lucky to have known him like I did. I didn't always get along with him but I respected him very much. Mike