I'm bringing Dave Slagle's C/L biplane back to Brodak's this year for another demo flight.
For those new to the game, Dave, beginning at thirteen years old, won the Walker Cup three years in a row starting in 1947. He left competition after that but kept building and switched to flying R/C. He designed a biplane he called, 'Bippi'.
He returned to building C/L by creating two C/L Bippis with throttle control about 15 years ago. There were two because his Walker Cup wins were accomplished by flying two planes at once. The two Bippis were built before I knew him and I'm guessing they disappeared because he tried to recreate his youth and got dizzy. He couldn't remember what happened to them. More recently he built two more, both of which I have. Will Davis has graciously posted a couple of videos on Stunthanger of the demo flight at the last Brodak flyin. I converted his down-the-line electric throttle control to R/C.
He built the second and handed it over to me to install the control system. I asked what it had for power and he replied, 'a 120'. See the picture below of what I found when I 'popped the hood'. Haven't had the time to get to it as the blue one took a LOT of work to get airborn and fly properly.
Dave is no longer with us, but his daughter couldn't be more appreciative that he's being remembered and his legacy lives on.
Ara