FlyerInOKC

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I would worry about adding weight to an already underpowered aircraft.

combatpigg

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That's the problem with ideas...99% of them come with a weight penalty......

combatpigg

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I'm racking my brain right now trying to figure out what RMP is in engineering talk so that I can come up with an intelligent reply...[let's see what Google says].....
OK got it ...
My Risk Management Plan is to always stand behind a large object after launching any plane that I have scratch built for fear that it might go out of control and try to attack me shortly after launch.....
Shortly after learning how to fly RC with a 6 foot span "Genlte Lady" glider I felt that it was time to move up to converting one of my AMA C/L COMBAT PLANES WITH A FOX .36 "COMBAT SPECIAL" TO RC.
It wasn't hard, just hang a pair of elevons off the T.E. and glue a pair of vertical fins on it for stability.
Back then "micro servos" were Fubaba 133s..about 1/2 the weight of standard servos.
So I'm really excited about seeing this little monster fly. Anyone who has ever spent time flying C/L Combat has witnessed some pretty spectacular "FLYAWAYS" where the 100 mph plane is cut loose and goes into a spiral climb way way up until it runs out of gas..then flutters back to Earth in the next town....so here I am in my own mind ready to "make history" with the first RC flight of one of these demons.
The launch was more like a "release" as the model shot out of my grip and the model was flying just great.
I was the only one at the club field which was OK with me just in case something went wrong.
Now I'm really concentrating on keeping this model under control when I hear a couple strange voices behind me OOOOING & AAAAHING and saying they've never seen a radio controlled plane before.
Right at this time the plane stopped obeying my commands..and it was stuck doing consecutive loops as the wind kept drifting the plane back towards us.
I had to yell at the onlookers to get under one of the work benches for protection.
The model eventually drifted back over us and crashed on the other side of the access road in a neighbors field......
Picture having this thing coming at you......

gow589

My Feedback: (1)

HA, whan guys fly the hisgh speed delta darts, I alwasy watched from a concrete table! As far as combat, I always wondered about the risk at our field. We have an interstate behind us!

combatpigg

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LOL...one of the most insane contest venues I've ever see was Portland Oregon Delta Park......it sits right next to the most busy freeway on the west coast.
We had so many "flyaways" one year at a small Eugene Oregon airport that they asked us to never return......
This was back before automatic fuel shut offs were mandatory. Picture a mousetrap type apparatus that uses line tension to keep it from pinching the fuel line shut.
Here's another C/L combat plane converted to RC but with a Super Tigre .15....better grab a lawn chair for protection and have a stiff drink ready after it runs outta gas...!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Watching from under a workbench appears to be prudent from the video. It was fun to watch! Side note, one of recommended videos after it ended was this one. How would you have liked to be flying the chase plane in the wake of this one?

gow589

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I like your landing zone!

combatpigg

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The thought that enters my head when watching those 6 thirsty engines is how did they find enough room for the fuel tanks...?
What an awesome machine.
I don't know how the pilots could ever get used to the enormous responsibility.

gow589

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How about this. The yellow is the hub on your engine. The big red wheel spins from the engine. The blue wheels drive the propellers.Still need a 90°. If you wish to turn left, you slide the engine left. The left prop slows, the right increases due to circle diameter. Your weight also shifts left.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

We used to drive around in circles to flatten out a little spot, then throw a tarp down.
Flying .049 powered RC combat..... most crashes never reached the ground...you could sometimes find your plane hung up in the tall grass with the engine still running..!

combatpigg

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that's very clever..!

gow589

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I did that with one of my ducted fans. Couldn't get it to run right. It kept quitting. Got it too slow and lost it in some tall grass. Back on earth sitting in a field, the %$#@ thing would not shut off!

FlyerInOKC

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Don't forget those B-52 style jets closes to the wingtips! I think she still holds the record for the longest wingspan of any production warbird!

combatpigg

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When they were running up the engines before takeoff you could see the wings straining.

RICKSTUBBZ

While I was looking up something for one of the other threads I stumbled across this in the November 1999 issue of model aviation magazine



This is awesome... Talking about the text...
Some things never change...

gow589

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I remember when using CA was a sin!

gow589

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Was thinking about the Wright flier. When the early air racing events began, other airplanes only had rudder control. With the Write flier having aileron type control, they flew in wind most of the others could not. They used that to their advantage in the very beginning. One pilot would say we cannot fly in this wind. The Wright brothers would say, why not . . . .and take off. Other airplanes would wreck trying to get airborne.

gow589

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Did you know for many years, the Smithsonian museum, because of the Curtis involvement, did not consider the Write flier to be the first airplane to fly. They worked very hard to discredit the Write bothers. Truth is, we believe others may have been before them but none documented like the Wright Brothers.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

I did not know that.
There's also this......during their experimentation with Wright Gliders the Wrights figured out wing warping before they switched from a fixed vertical fin to a rudder. They made a rope system that moved the rudder along with the warping of the wings. So as of 1902 they had 3 axis control mastered with hundreds of successful glides.

mgnostic

It seems like this issue, like many others didn't really get settled until most of the main players had died off. I don't have the book open in front of me but I seem to recall that A.G. Bell and other members of the Aerial Experiment Association had strong connections to the Smithsonian. The Wrights did some significant things, I've seen it argued that their propeller design was their most significant contribution to aviation, but there were several Individuals or groups on the cusp of achieving flight. If the Wrights had failed it was still going to happen. I have wondered how much they set back aviation in the US by threatening to sue anyone who didn't respect their patents.

combatpigg

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Forgotten Aviation Pioneer: California's Own John J. Montgomery (militarymuseum.org)
"In 1905, Montgomery demonstrated his famous "tandem-wing" glider at Santa Clara, California in front of hundreds of onlookers by having pilot Daniel Maloney drop it from a hot air balloon at an unheard of 3,000 foot altitude, and gliding it to safety to the earth below."

This is a good little book.
I think it gives an insider's view of who, how, why..and when........THE AIRPLANE, SPENSER - Pilot Outfitters

gow589

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The Wright brothers certainly cut their own throat fighting for the patent rather then forging on.Of course Wilbur dying in 1912 didn't help. Kind of reminds you of Seldon who tried to patent the Automobile. Everyone was paying him as they produced cars but I think it was Ford who lead the effort not to pay.

gow589

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Did you know in 1910 they had an air race and Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

https://www.loc.gov/item/2007663643/

combatpigg

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I did not know that....
That's a great photo..!!
Once all the people crammed into the stands I wonder how many realized that if one of those flying contraptions went out of control they would be SOL...?
Years earlier when the planes were even less safe they flew at a stadium in France...?
People were more tough back then..getting hit by a airplane wasn't as big a deal as it is nowadays.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I think its more of a case of people back then didn't think it could happen.