"I guess they're ok if you want a fairly big tip vortex. If memory serves (and it doesn't always), this tip design was from Jerry Worth's model that inspired Billy's USA-1, copied by Windy for the Cardinal, and then Phil for the Diva."
Steve,
Wing tips and wood flooring, now there’s an odd couple! Since you’ve volunteered an interesting historical perspective on the wing tips, I’ll give you the actual how and why I arrived there.
As for the tips, the real evolution is functional and dates back to late 1967 to 1968. I had just discovered combat and met Jerry Keck, Neal Moore and Frank (don’t remember his last name) one Saturday at Whittier Narrows. It was the same day the late Model Airplane News editor Walt Schroeder was taking photos of Tom Warden and his Continental for the magazine cover.
These guys were flying a variety of high aspect ratio combat planes that clearly outperformed the VooDos with extended booms I was flying. Now let’s cut to the chase. As I developed my version of a high aspect ratio combat plane the general shape and size was simply a means to add functional wing area to an airplane that featured an 8” cord built from standard 36” length balsa sheets. It worked very well.
In those days I was flying both combat and stunt. If you look at the photos of the two stunt planes you will notice the wing tips are different. The sorta square tip plane, Triumph was completed in ’67 and the round tip plane, Diplomat was finished in ’69. Back then I was also experimenting with very long tail moments and crazy airfoils where the high point at the tip was moved forward to about 20% of the tip cord. Anyway, I found with the rounded tips with 2/3 span flaps, long tails and dynamitic airfoil, produced very good corners with no bobble and locked into the flats pretty good.
As the many ideas and theories of vortices, moments, airfoils, et al continue to whirl this combination works for me. So I found something that worked then, it still works and I’m still doing it.
As for the origination of rounded tips, my earliest recollection would be Palmer’s Smoothie and T-Bird also Southwick’s Lark. There are probably more examples but while I’m not 25 anymore, I only old enough to go back to the mid ‘50s with modeling.
Oh yeah, you’ll find no disagreement here on the ink lines.
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