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Speed,Combat,Scale,Racing => Carrier => Topic started by: phil c on November 17, 2018, 10:20:44 AM
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Who was the fellow that used a F7F Tigercat at an early 50's NATS? He throttled back for slow flight by killing the engine and just using throttle on the inboard motor. He won and within a year the rules were modified to require all engines to remain running until landing?
Thanx
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The Fred Randell Tigercat was in 1961 and it put an end to the single engine low speed technique.
The "both engines running on low" rule put an end to win-with-a-twin.
According to the article, he didn't even throttle the inboard engine but used 7 ounces of tip weight.
I got pretty deep into building one with two OS25's, but couldn't get them both to idle well enough to complete the job.
NO throttles is A LOT easier that TWO throttles that work all the time, especially on 3-line control.
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Close but not quite:
The Tigercat was by Ray Randall. Fred Randall was a long time Speed guy.
The article is in the 1962 American Modeler Annual. Ray's wife Virginia won the Los Alamitos NATS in 1959 and Ray won the 1960 Dallas NATS. He ran the outboard engine on a 3/4 oz fuel tank and only throttled the inboard. Ray championed this approach as a way around the "big" racing engines that dominated the event. It is a sharp airplane but not exactly easy to build.
Unfortunately, Ray passed away not too long after the article was published, creating a sort of leadership vacuum in Navy Carrier politics. The rule was changed not long after.
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Thanks for the history Bob. The twin has always been a tasty thing to consider. I built a twin Skyrocket a number of years ago with 2 Rossi .15's. Exciting but not very successful. Sold it. Wonder what happened to it? CTS (PRT)
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Thanks for the history Bob. The twin has always been a tasty thing to consider. I built a twin Skyrocket a number of years ago with 2 Rossi .15's. Exciting but not very successful. Sold it. Wonder what happened to it? CTS (PRT)
Tommy, it most likely is hanging up on a wall or ceiling somewhere. The other likely fate would be a disasterous crash by a new pilot.
Phil C
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Since the advent of 2.4 I have built three twins and while they will never be competitive in my hands I find getting both engines to idle near the same speed is not a huge problem. But then who really cares!
Joe
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I started building a Randall Tigercat but never finished it. It was set up for two OS 25's.
The 44" wingspan for Classes I & II makes it hard to get enough wing area to support the weight of two engines with their mounts and fuel tanks.
The article on the original Tigercat said that low speed was flown with inboard engine at full speed (no throttle). That wouldn't be competitive today.