First plane to go in circles (NOT CONTROL LINE) was this little electric job.  The handle was like a flashlight, holding 2 D cell batteries.  The motor was actually in the handle and the power was transmitted to the prop by a spiral wire encased in a plastic tube.  Don't remember the name of the plane.  Only control was to raise my arm to make it climb and lower it to make the plane dive.  No elevator control.

My first real CL plane was a Scientific Stunt Master with a Baby Bee .049.  Easy to build and fly, but Would not, Could not stunt.  I tried over and over in vain to make it loop.  No soap.  I think the log fuselage was just too heavy.

My first built up plane was the (drum roll.......) PDQ Flying Clown.  I had acquired a McCoy Redhead .35 by then (on sale for $5.95, remember?)  It was just $1.95 and I could aford it.  So I built the clown, silkspan and dope covering.  Blue and clear if I remember right.  I mounted the engine and somehow, managed to get a tank on that short nose.  Of course it flew.  It had no choice with that McCoy .35 swinging a 10-6 Top Flight nylon prop.  The McCoy was cheaper than a Fox .15 so that is why I had it.  My funding was very low, just a paper route to support my "habit".  That Clown could stunt all right.  My most fun flight was one when I flew combat against a bird that wandered into the flight circle.  I did manage to hit it with my lines and it flew away, minus some feathers.

hey DOC.. think you came up with a good with a way to  test run those little .049s. Never thought about screwin to a  door. Beats holding them in your hand.

O.K.,  I'll finally bite here,

My first wood plane was built by a friend of mine Mr.  Roberts is all I can remember now, but he had a bunch of aluminum that came from a shot down Japanese Zero in WWII.  So, the firewall on my little guillows rubber powered airplane converted to C/L was from said Zero.  Who else has had a model with aluminum parts from a WWII  enemy airplane??

Anyone,

Marvin you??

Jim Pollock   

I started flying very early - went solo at 4 attended my 1st Nats at 8 - nothing was better in those days we seemed to have an endless supply of models - albeit they were not full stunt ships with 20 point finishes, but they were fun to fly - and they taught me the fundamentals of flying.. Like ground = bits..

Alot of water has passed under that bridge from when I was 5 or 6 and basically all of those models we used to fly have since been destroyed - once again due to the ground.  - Sure ive still got my Nats models from around 1994 Not ALL of them but most.. - Nothing like Billys collection, but some of them were'nt worth keeping in flying condition.


So it got me thinking about Billy's collection, about others on here whom have been flying for ALONG time - Do you still have your 1st Model ?
I dont have my VERY first model but I do still have my all time favorite model .
Its an aeroflight Kit - Hurricane - I didnt actually know that until tonight when I spoke to Dad to ask him some information about it - I always called it me " ding HO " I just thought thats what it was called because that was the sticked that came on the side of the model - Looking today you can just BEARLY make it out.. - The only reference I can find is a Bomber squadron called DING HOW, maybe thats what it was meant to read and the W fell off over time.. Weird..

We dont know what engine it originally was designed for but when I flew it Is had an OS .15. According to dad, it was the very 1st model he ever built for me to fly , when I was 5 yrs old.
We think it was crashed 10 + times mostly just ground shaves nothing major but the wing has been recovered - rebuilt and repainted.
I took it out about 5 years ago for a laugh and it still flew just like I remembered !!

The Photo below is of me holding it when I was about 5 or 6 - I also thought it would be funny to snap a photo of me holding it today - just to compare.



Fast Forward 25 Years...

No I wont restore it - I dont feel the need to alter part of my History. If Id do anythign I'd build a new one.

I still have it but thats the only thing I do have aside from my Junior Nats winning model from 1996.

I've got others I've kept but thats the 2nd oldest.

So it got me thinking about Billy's collection, about others on here whom have been flying for ALONG time - Do you still have your 1st Model ?
I dont have my VERY first model but I do still have my all time favorite model .
Its an aeroflight Kit - Hurricane - I didnt actually know that until tonight when I spoke to Dad to ask him some information about it - I always called it me " ding HO " I just thought thats what it was called because that was the sticked that came on the side of the model - Looking today you can just BEARLY make it out.. - The only reference I can find is a Bomber squadron called DING HOW, maybe thats what it was meant to read and the W fell off over time.. Weird..

Nice story PJ!  Here's my first plane, the Smoothie, that I still have.  I have a picture of me posing with it, that Guerry Buyers took of me at my first contest that I'll try to scan and post in a little bit.  Also, attached is a plane I built 5 years later, just to see how far I've come in such a short span of time.

Testors Silver Wind Circa 1972.
Took all of a year and a half to collect 11 blue chip stamp books.
Went to maiden it at Verdugo Woodlands elementary school. We learned 2 important lessons there.
First flight the lines were adjusted wrong. My brother took off into a wingover and that's all she wrote.
Lesson 1, if you can, fly off of grass.
Lesson 2, find out about fiberglass and 5 minute epoxy repair.
Within a month we had a rag tag club of 6th and 7th graders with Cox Stukas, PT-19s, a Miss America P-51 and our Silverwind.
All of us could take off and fly around, none of us could land. We just sort of returned to the grass where the landing gear would just pop off as planned.
Until one afternoon at Verdugo park, I took off the Silverwind and with someone's radio blaring the Token's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" the motor quit, and I whipped it into a perfect 3 point landing. No landing gear pop off. Well, the whole park erupted and I was carried off much like Lindbergh at Le Bourget.
Everytime I hear that song I think of that moment.

(snip)
So it got me thinking about Billy's collection, about others on here whom have been flying for ALONG time - Do you still have your 1st Model ?

Hi PJ,

Missed this, but I come real close to having my first C/L model.  I DO have my first full fuselage stunt plane.  A VECO Smoothie. I recovered/repaired and put one "commemorative" flight on it about 15 years ago.  Originally built it in 1963!  I couldn't find any Metallic Maroon Aero Gloss, but repainted it very close to "original"  So no, while I haven't been building/flying as long as "Billy" Werwage, it is approaching 50 years since I built the Smoothie.  When I repaired it I put a Veco/Allyn .35 in the nose (first series with the exhaust stack out the left when upright like the old K&B Torpedo.)  As soon as I get a new camera I will post a picture of it as it is today.

Big Bear

My first stunt plane was a Top Flite Flite Streak with a Fox 25. I was 13 and used to fly it in the side yard at my parents house.  I had learned to do inside loops and outside loops by starting high and diving at the ground flying 1/2 A's but the Flite Streak was the first airplane I ever flew inverted or did a lazy 8 with.  I didnt fly the pattern I just tried to do the same number of inside loops as outside loops to keep the lines as twist free as possible.  The Streak was covered with transparent blue Monokote on the wing and the fuse and tail were bright red Monokote. The canopy was done in gold Monokote and the wing had a gold stripe.  I didnt use a muffler and we ended up taking the single wheel landing gear off and just hand launching the plane because it didnt want to come up out of the grass very well.  Those days were fun.

Rick

     I started CL Flying with a Cox .049 Baby Bee Powered PT-19 with a box of rubber bands for reassembly after multiple crashes in 1959.   Next that same year came a Cox .049 Powered P-40 Flying Tiger.    The Cox Stuka came in 1960 and after one very poor flight, the plane would hardly get  off the pavement, went hanging from my room ceiling.   My parents believed the Cox Plastic Planes would be less frustating for me to fly, stated the hobbyshop owner?! The next lead sled to dorn my bedroom ceiling was the Cox Curtis Byplane Flyer!   1961 I got the Cox Plane that was fun to fly   it was the .15 Powered Piper Commache   I finally got a balsa wood Ringmaster Kit with a Fox Stunt .35 and in 1962   . In 1963, I got a Voodoo Combat Plane balsa wood kit  . . In 1964 I got a Sterling P-51   and in 1965 I got a Sterling Yak-9  . In 1966 I bought a Sterling Chipmunk, but never built it because the U.S. Army called, and had other ideas on what I should be doing with my free time, and I spent it in Vietnam. When I got out of the Army, I came home. and found out that "all" my toy's I left behind, had been given to GoodWill Store, and were gone for ever!    I didn't get into CL Flying until fourty years later. I've bought most of my old plastic planes and Wood Plane Kits off the inernet, or at estate sales, and flea markets, and I'm very happy with my memories, hanging in my garage     .

Subject: A Modeling history


Here is some of my modeling history:

Control line planes first seen: some local guys flying control line planes at the park in Sedalia, Missouri about 1952 and later at the airport east of Sedalia. I distinctly remember an All American Senior with yellow wings flying several laps before losing the right wheel. What a monsterous airplane that was....a giant. I also remember a profile model sitting outside the circle...either a Sterling Mustang or a Yak-9, I think. Exciting stuff!


My first C/L plane was a Scientific Little Ace team racer with an O.K. Cut .049. It was painted white and trimed in metalic blue.  It was purchased at JOHNNIE'S HOBBY SHOP on Broadway street in Sedalia, Missouri.  This was the source for contact with other control line fliers and all kits, building supplies and flying equipment in my early years in the hobby.  Johnny, the owner, was confined to a wheelchair, but was often at the flying field and even built and flew early radio control planes.  It was the mid-1950's.

First flight: I was 13 or so (1953), on my own in the middle of the circle and scared to death when the Little Ace was released and staggered off the ground. It proved to be a real handful because it was tail heavy. This resulted in a very wild flight, but I kept it in the air for probable 3 minutes and landed it in one piece. And so the saga of Control Line Model Aeronautics became a lifetime hobby.

First large plane: Trixter B-C profile with a K&B Torpedo .29 Greenhead. Had a lot of fun with that plane until I gave it away a few years later.


 I have not been very active at the flying field lately. Haven't flown a plane for about 4 years.  I have been dealing with my severe arthritis of both knees, which makes getting around pretty painful.  I hope to get back out to the field one day soon to try out some of my newer planes and fly again some of my older ones. I have completed over the last 4 years, the rebuilding a Sig Akromaster/Fox .l5 slantplug and construction of a new Top Flite Jr. Flite Streak/Fox .15 steelfin. Both of these are unflown. I am currently working on a Sig Skyray .35 which I plan to power with an O.S. Max .20fp. I would like to get my Bi-Slob kit/1950's vintage Fox .35 stunt, finished by Spring, but that is up in the air at the moment. I also have a Sassy Saucer, Sig Super Chipmunk and a Sterling Yak-9 under construction. My problem is I am a slow builder. The bright side is that I seldom ever tear up sport planes and have accumulated many over the 57 years I have been involved in control line flying. I tore them up in grand style back when I was flying combat in the 1950's and 1960's.  Currently, one of my best planes is a Trixter Barnstormer/Fox .35 combination, which I built in 1987. It is a design by Lou Andrews from around 1947 or so and is still a great flying plane   Thanks to Ebay, I have a fairly extensive collection of kits and engines of many manufacturers, K&B, Fox, Veco, McCoy, Johnson, Enya, O.S. Max, O.K. Cub and Cox........TDurrill        

It never crossed my mind, or my brother's, that we had to "LEARN" to fly! We received a Cox P-51 and Cox Stuka, after some sincere promises were made to our Mom, about how well we would help around the house, not fight with each other, and generally wear our little halos with pride, if she bought us the pair of planes.

Each box was complete with everything we needed to start and begin our flying carrer. We had already built plastic model planes, Centuri and Estes rockets, but WOW! here are real planes with engines, you can REALLY FLY! I was 9 or 10 years old, he was a year-and-a-half older. We weren't messing this up! Read and re-read the instructions for assembly and starting a thousand times, Figured-out how to wrap the string around the peg on the handle, to trim the elevator to neutral. Mostly, that flying starts at your elbow, not one's wrist.

Mom drove us to the school parking lot, that was about 3 blocks away, and helped us fuel and try to start the engines. Sputter, no run. She was a real enthusiast for us, though, and let us decide that it was time to call it a day. We get home, unload the car, and talk to some neighbor kids. Then she comes running through the front door, with my Mustang in her hand, and the thing is screaming full blast! She didn't give up, and was working on it in the dining room, and managed to get it running! Oh Boy, now we are PILOTS! I think it was too dark to resume activities that evening at the school. The next time at the school, I performed the classic PPC- Plastic Plane Crash- Launch, Straight up, and Straight down. Hmmm, no feel of flight, or an airplane at the end of the lines. Minor damage, if any but we decided to not fly Roger's Stuka, anyway. Hey, we have the engines figured out!.

So, now a research project began, and I checked-out a book from that school, which was all about building model airplanes from balsa wood. Now, I become the REAL compliant son, as now I have to convience Mom that I can be an even better kid, when she buys me the list of lumber and Dope that this new wooden plane needs, and mostly... A NEW COX BABE BEE .049 ENGINE, with integral fuel tank. What a cool score! Get this built, and fly it! A few thick planks of wood, deftly shaped by an eager kid, modified the nose of the plane, to accept this new, fuel tank-type engine. Bend the wire for the landing gear, and then remove it for hand launches-over the grass-according to the book! We learned the starting procedure, Roger learned to launch, and it all came together in one afternoon that we actually became pilots on the same day! That flying was going around in circles, now, I'm trying to learn how to get around the circle with some style, and stunts. This story began in 1972, or 1973, and has just started, again. I'm building new airplanes for us to become profiecient with, because flying is so fun!   

My first CL plane was a stand way off scale Walt Musiciano Scientific F6F Hellcat with built up silkspan wing and built up fuselage with that clear plastic turtle deck to be painted. I mounted the Pee Wee Cox I received with the kit as a present. I was around 11 YO at the time. I didn't fly it, but it provided inspiration for other CL half-A kits.   

The first "real" CL plane was a 38 inch span Sterling profile P-51 with Testor McCoy .19 Red Head, unmuffled of course. I think I bought the kit from Pete's Model Hobbycraft Store in Ala Moana Shopping Center in the early 1970's. The McCoy I bought from America Hobby Center's flyer in the model magazine ads. I think I paid $6 for it.   

It was a big difference between the half-A's in the way it flew, with better wind penetration, less rotational speed, heavier pull.    

My first plane was one of the PDQ series, don't remember which one as I built them all in about 7th or 8th grade. The first plane I actually flew for any length of time was a Flight Streak in the late 60's with a ST. .35 on it that I had  bought from a friend in my senior year of high school in 1965.

The plane I was really proud of was a Stills/Ambroid Stuka stunt that I wish I still had, my first built up built in 63 or 64.