1966 World Championships

[Robby Hunt]

Incredible footage from the 1966 World Championships in Swinderby, England!

[john e. holliday]

Thanks for the video Robby.  I recognized a couple of faces like Lew McFarland and Bill Wiesnewski(spelling on both).  I was still single back then.

[EddyR]

Steve Wooley holding Lews plane.

[Dave_Trible]

Thanks Robby for posting this.  Made me do a little research.  Joseph Gabris won with his  Supermaster and MVVS 5.6.  Steve Wooley 2nd with the Argus in the AMA museum.  I can't find how Lew finished but I learned he used a 10% scaled up Shark 45 with a Veco .45.  Never knew he used anything but a K&B Greenhead 45 in there.  Jim Silhavy was the 3rd USA team member with a red Nobler/ Fox .35.  

[Brett Buck]

Thanks Robbie for posting this.  Made me do a little research.  Joseph Gabris won with his  Supermaster and MVVS 5.6.  Steve Wooley 2nd with the Argus in the AMA museum.  I can't find how Lew finished but I learned he used a 10% scaled up Shark 45 with a Veco .45.  Never knew he used anything but a K&B Greenhead 45 in there.  Jim Silhavy was the 3rd USA team member with a red Nobler/ Fox .35. 

   Oh, no, he used other engines. It had an ST46 in it at one point. I think the other airplane (the NATs winner that he repainted ) ended up with an ST60, which was more-or-less what it needed. I have been down in his basement a few times, he had darn near every airplane he ever built and he had tried just about everything at least once.

    Brett

[Dave_Trible]

A Shark 45 blown up 10% would be a lot of freight to haul with a .45.   I'd heard Lew had four Sharks.  I thought the one was donated to the museum a couple years ago.  I looked for it this past year and it wasn't there.  Anybody know what happened to it?  I know a second was donated to display somewhere else.

Dave

[Bill Little]

Hi Dave,

Don't want sound contrary, but I am sure Steve flew his Cobra at the '66 Worlds.  That is the plane in the rafters in the Museum Hobby Shop.  One of the very nice younger guys put on white gloves and got a ladder to get it down so I could take pictures!  It has the FAI sticker on it.

Steve did fly the Argus at The Worlds but not the published one, the WC Argus was voted the most beautiful model in the World and was slightly bigger, not by much, from the published model.

I really researched the first three WC's  '60, '62, and '64  And have built three of the models flown in them.  I was actually research Mr. Grondal's Nobler (He called it the AMA Special) while he was still alive and had several nice conversations with him!  He won the first two official WC's!!

Bill

[Dave_Trible]

Hello Bill!  I was just reading an account written first hand at the time by an English fellow.  He said Wooley flew the same Argus he flew in 1960 in Budapest.  Perhaps he was incorrect?  Anywho good hearing from you.

Dave

[Brett Buck]

A Shark 45 blown up 10% would be a lot of freight to haul with a .45. 

     Standards are not what they were. The "formula" used for most of the 70's led you to 720 square inches for a ST46. The airplane was in that range, and may have been the inspiration for the "formula" in the first place. Now we have people putting better engines (46LA) in 500 square inch airplanes.

    Brett

[Dave_Trible]

Brett indeed it may have led to 'the formula'.  A few years ago I took the numbers from the Shark and did some comparisons with a few modern airplanes- not too far off other than a smallish stab/elevator.  About all Lew lacked was modern power.  I know of a couple published designs into the 80s that had a Shark wing right out of a kit in them.  I only met and talked to Lew once.  At the 68 Nats my dad and I admired his airplane and I said I'd like to build one.  Strangely he tried to discourage me building one and said to build the Ruffy instead.  (I flew one that year in junior and had three altogether).  Maybe thought it would be too much for a youngster though Dickie Bishop was flying one.

Dave

[pipemakermike]

The pair with the high aspect ratio teamrace model early on are Dick Place(pilot) and Don Howarth(mechanic) Don was a very good engine builder and a toolmaker by trade

[Peter Grabenstein]

found this   

http://controlline.org.uk/microair/F2C60WEB/66WC.htm


Peter    

   

[Brett Buck]

Brett indeed it may have led to 'the formula'.  A few years ago I took the numbers from the Shark and did some comparisons with a few modern airplanes- not too far off other than a smallish stab/elevator.  About all Lew lacked was modern power. 

   That size Shark flew pretty well with an ST46, but of course, getting a strong example that stayed that way was always an issue. As far as I could tell, it was competitive to the end of the line in the mid- 80's, when people started seeing the astonishing performance increases possible with the FSR, etc. The ST60 seemed to solve the power issue but airplanes like the various Ted airplanes, Bad News/Impact, etc, were just a couple of big steps better no matter which engine it had. Likely nothing that an enlarged tai could not solve.

     Brett

[Dallas Hanna]

A Shark 45 blown up 10% would be a lot of freight to haul with a .45.   I'd heard Lew had four Sharks.  I thought the one was donated to the museum a couple years ago.  I looked for it this past year and it wasn't there.  Anybody know what happened to it?  I know a second was donated to display somewhere else.

Dave

Just a thought Dave, was the Shark 45 a 10% increase on the Shark 35?  The Shark 35 and 45 started life as "Humbler 35 and 45" .

HH

[Dave_Trible]

Just a thought Dave, was the Shark 45 a 10% increase on the Shark 35?  The Shark 35 and 45 started life as "Humbler 35 and 45" .

HH

Hi Dallas.  Well I don't know.  I got my info from this same article above.  It sounded to me like it was 45+ but .......

Dave

[Brett Buck]

Just a thought Dave, was the Shark 45 a 10% increase on the Shark 35?  The Shark 35 and 45 started life as "Humbler 35 and 45" .

HH

   I don't think so. The original Shark was about he size of the Jetco kit, but the later versions that Lew flew were about 10% larger. The very first one did have a clear canopy, no detail, and a little strip of paper with "Humbler" typed on it.

    Brett

[john e. holliday]

Is that the one he had to cut the out board wing for shipping over seas?   I also remember him telling me not to build the kit at a contest in Cincinatti Lumpkin(spelling) field many years.   It was great meeting him and hearing the story.  I got a first that day with a kit version of the Stuka Stunt.   

[Greg McCoy]

I found a contemporary story of the event.

Quote,

"On Bill's fast flight Pink Lady circulated for three slow, rich, laps in the dolly, took off and another 5 slow laps at 80 m.p.h. much to the U.S.S.R, and Czechoslovakians short lived, amusement. As it became hot, the pipe started working and Pink Lady accelerated from 80 m.p.h. to 160 m.p.h. in one lap!"

http://controlline.org.uk/microair/F2C60WEB/66WC.htm

[Brett Buck]

Is that the one he had to cut the out board wing for shipping over seas?   I also remember him telling me not to build the kit at a contest in Cincinatti Lumpkin(spelling) field many years.   It was great meeting him and hearing the story.  I got a first that day with a kit version of the Stuka Stunt.   

  Lunkin Field. I don't know about cutting the wing off.

    Brett

[afml]

Like Brett..I don't know about the removable wing, but I have seen his larger Shark with a removable wing tip plus a rib or two for the shipping crate to the Worlds.
"Tight Lines!" 
Wes

[john e. holliday]

He pointed out the seam where he cut the wing so it would fit the crate size allowed.

[EddyR]

This Shark was very old when I photographed it in Tifton Ga in 1985. It was powered with a ST46. I have other pictures of this model from this meet at tifton with other planes. I believe he told me this was the +10% model but time fades some memories. He mentioned he reglued the tip on it after the world contest. That meet had a special memory for me.
Ed

[Brett Buck]

This Shark was very old when I photographed it in Tifton Ga in 1985. It was powered with a ST46. I have other pictures of this model from this meet at tifton with other planes. I believe he told me this was the +10% model but time fades some memories. He mentioned he reglued the tip on it after the world contest. That meet had a special memory for me.
Ed

   I think that's a different airplane than the one at the World Championships, although that one is also the +10% version. That's the NATs winner, refinished, and supposedly the best flier of the bunch. I have seen that one fly a lot of flights.

  I was going to comment on why someone would still be flying an airplane from 1963 in 1983, until I realized that my backup airplane, finished very similarly (as a tribute, and also because it was easy) is closer to 30 years old than 20.

   Brett

[Brent Williams]

Here's a picture from the 1968 Nationals in Olathe, Kan.  Sure looks like the same plane?  Looks like the same sticker on the wingtip.



(Don Schultz photo lifted from flyinglines.org)

[Brett Buck]

Here's a picture from the 1968 Nationals in Olathe, Kan.  Sure looks like the same plane?  Looks like the same sticker on the wingtip.

   The 68 NATs airplane may well have been the same at the 66 WC. The one shown in Red/White/Blue above is, I think, the 61 NATs winner with a refinish job.

    Brett

[Sean McEntee]

   Maybe Dad will jump on here and elaborate, But I believe Jetco shrank the Shark from its original size models that Lew McFarland built.  They did it so all of the parts would fit in the standard kit box of the time.  Modifications such as this were made to many models through the years for similar reasons. 

[Dan McEntee]

  I finally got to meet Lew at a VSC in the mid-1990s. Will have to get pictures out to check. I want to think he flew the red/white/blue model and heard the story about cutting the wing tip off, and it was that model. he cut it right on the trim line it was hardly noticable, and was still in that condition at Tucson that year. The model and Lew still flew great! I don't recall the standings but meeting and getting to talk to Lew and getting his signature on a Shark and Dolphin kit was worth the trip! Chris McMillin knows the whole story and stuff I'm forgetting.
   Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[EddyR]

Kenny Stevens link from a few years ago will help clear up some of this. He has one of the models that had removable wing tips. He did a repair of it after Lew's death.

http://stunthanger.com/smf/classic-planes/lew-mcfarlands-shark-45-from-the-60s/

Also at the time I took the picture above Lew had a RC version that looked almost the same as the CL version.
EddyR