Control Line Endurance?

[frank mccune]

      I was having thoughts about my childhood, when I remembered an event called endurance.  The planes flew for many hours.  This necessitated changing pilots during the event.  The rules nowadays require a max fuel supply of 30cc. This is a far cry from what I remember!

     Does anybody on this site know any details or have participated in this event? It sounds like an event that the Golden Agers could enjoy.  If you have any knowledge about this event, kindly share it here.

     Tia,

     Frank

   

     

[Tony Drago]

Frank. Many years ago, the Knights of The Round Circle did just that. It was a club project.
  The club decided on a model that was built by club members. The plane was The Spirit of St. Louis. I do not know of the where abouts of the plane today.
 K&B donated the engine one of their sportster 60 engines, and I think the fuel also.  Single plug head. A dual plug head would have helped a lot. The plug gave out in the late afternoon in the second day. Like I said it's been a while. This is as close as I can remember.
  The late Ken Smith lived at the field during the event to make sure everything ran smooth. I was one of the pilots as was Dale Long and Dave Braun. We were the only three pilots from sunset to sun rise. Talk about a long A$$ night...
 We had a quart size fuel can strapped to our waist with quick release fuel line set up that ran from the fuel can attached to one of the control lines to the plane. Dave would run out at a predetermined time and switch out the fuel can.  We averaged 2 quarts a flight per pilot. It was grueling to say the least.
  Mabe some of the other Knights will chime in and fill in and make any needed corrections.
Tony

[John McFayden]

Check out this series of videos on a CL Endurance project.

[Trostle]

Control Line Endurance is an official AMA Special Event.  The rules are at:

https://www.modelaircraft.org/sites/default/files/CL%20Special%20Events%202022-2023.pdf

Keith

[Motorman]

The previous rules had a 4oz tank. My dad held the open record at 2hrs 14 min. It was based off of much testing tuning and flying we did over a couple years.  It would have gone longer but he was so happy to break the old record that he crashed the plane. In practice my plane had the numbers to bump that up to about 2:45 but, I didn't want to do it while dad was still with us.

Unless you held a dedicated contest for that event it was pretty much impossible to get an official flight at a stunt/racing/speed contest with those long flight times. If you could find a contest to do it, the weather had to be right so, very hard to get an opportunity.

So, we put in a rules proposal, talked with a few people and got the rule changed to 30cc. Shortly after that I put up a flight with my Clown racer with Fox 15 glow to establish myself as the record holder. I forget how long it went, just a few minutes.

That record stood for some time but I wanted to put it out of the realm of an LA 10 with a Davis diesel head. So, at a Middlesex NJ racing contest there was a storm front rolling in and everyone went for their cars to keep dry. I got out my good enduro plane and bumped the record up over 20 min. in a rainy breezy lightning storm. I like to think my dad was up there somewhere protecting me.

Had to set the engine for more power than I usually need because I was flying off of grass during testing the day before. Worked out good, I needed the power in that wind. I'd like to take another shot at it with a new plane and my re-configured engines and the new prop but good ether is hard to come by.

Many thanks to the Middelsex Modelers for all their help with my project.   

Motorman    

[Mike Hazel]

The Eugene (Oregon) Propspinners did a similar thing in the late fifties which was very well documented.  Of course this was before there were any event rules, it was anything goes.  The flight time was 64 hours plus.  My dad was one of the pilots. 

[John Rist]

Seems like it was with Testers 39 fuel and a Fox 35 back in the 50ies.  Vagally remember adds about a record run of well over 24 hours by all involved.   

[Brett Buck]

WAM used to have both Endurance and Economy at nearly every contest, (which was every other weekend). Figure a McCoy 29 with venturi the size of a TD 049, a Tatone Peace Pipe muffler and a 2 foot long rubber tube on the exhaust.

    Brett

   

[Tony Drago]

The Eugene (Oregon) Propspinners did a similar thing in the late fifties which was very well documented.  Of course this was before there were any event rules, it was anything goes.  The flight time was 64 hours plus.  My dad was one of the pilots.

Mike. I remember reading something like that. There also a picture of the airplane used. It looked just like the first version of the KenHi Cougar.

[Mike Hazel]

Plane was a modified Veco Chief.  Engine and fuel was K&B.  The plane still exists. 

[Scott Richlen]

About 20 years ago we did a one-plane multi-event in our club using our NOVACLone design with a Fox 35.  It included "Endurance".  We had to drop Endurance out of the event after the second year when one of the old timers pulled a trick out of his memory of the 50s.  He put a 12 inch prop on the Fox and carved a wooden plug to block up most of the venturi.  We couldn't finish the event in a day once everyone caught on and started doiing that.

[C.T. Schaefer]

Walt, I was one of the timers for Dad's flight. Tough job sitting there for hours but fun.  As I recall, a bit after he exceeded the record, he 'accidentally' crashed the airplane so that he could make a pit stop for himself!  Ed.  Good guy. Tough competitor.
  One of Larry Scarinzi's storys was when he did an endurance thing. Probably in the 50's. He devised a float bowl in order to maintain a constant fuel head. Worked like a peach!.

[Dan McEntee]

Walt, I was one of the timers for Dad's flight. Tough job sitting there for hours but fun.  As I recall, a bit after he exceeded the record, he 'accidentally' crashed the airplane so that he could make a pit stop for himself!  Ed.  Good guy. Tough competitor.
  One of Larry Scarinzi's storys was when he did an endurance thing. Probably in the 50's. He devised a float bowl in order to maintain a constant fuel head. Worked like a peach!.

   There was a very good article in Model Aviation on the airplane that Maynard Hill used in his autonomous R/C model trans Atlantic flight. It was pretty much the same as almost all of his endurance ships and I think he may still hold those records plus his altitude work. He used a float bowl system that was fed by a big metal tank of a bout a gallon of fuel. It fed the float bowl, and that fed the engine. The float bowl was metered by a small hole in the top of the tank. The float was a cork with the number drill used to drill the hole in the top of the bowl. When the bowl was full, the cork shut off flow. When low enough for fuel to pass down the flutes of the drill, it would fill back up and shut off again. Vibration from the engine kept everything wiggling and functional. I don't think he ever had one fail on him and that is saying something for  KISS ! "Keep It Simple, Stupid".
  Type at you later and HAPPY EASTER !
  Dan McEntee

[FLOYD CARTER]

Mike Hazel is correct.  The endurance model flown by the Eugene Prop Spinners now hangs in Eugene Toy and Hobby store in Eugene.  I think it used a modified K&B engine of some sort.

[Gary Dowler]

I can’t find it right off hand, but there was a Canadian father/son team that set a new CL endurance record, I believe close to 4 hours but cannot recall off hand.  Plane had a single engine, 3 tanks comprising several liters capacity, etc.  they had to switch around 2-1/2 hrs into the flight.

Gary

[Paul Smith]

I've seen Doug Blackwell's airplane.  It has a OS LA 15 with both throttle and needle valve controlled by 2.4 RC.

I don't think he switched tanks, he just connected them all together.

I guess Canada is still using the old 4-pound rule.  Four pounds total weight and you can have all the fuel you can lift within that weight.

His time was no place near what could be done with a diesel. 

The RC needle valve was a great piece of engineering and construction.

[Dwayne Donnelly]

Look under Canadian endurance record and beer can fuel tanks.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BalsaBeaversModelFlyingClubIncCanada/videos

[Mike Hazel]

So, we put in a rules proposal, talked with a few people and got the rule changed to 30cc.

MM, what year was the 30cc tank change?  I just noted that the Jr and Sr age record holders are still listed under the obsolete 4 ounce tank rules.