Mine was a Thimble Drome TD-1 What got you started?

[Mark wood]

I was looking around for TD-1 on the forum and ran in to the thread "what got you started" and the last post was a bunch of years ago. I was going to put a new post in but you know me.... I remember flying the TD-1 at a very early age. The first time my dad was holding me in his arms. Then later I was flying by myself that was about 1961-62. My dad built free flight models upstairs and I would hang out. That TD-1 was around for a long time and I don't recall where it went. There has been a bazillian airplanes come and go since then.

[Serge_Krauss]

I flew my friend's Scientific "Stuntmaster" with the BabeBee engine. Then I put a Wen-Mac on a Scientific "Atomic" that I built.  It was not great. Later I got an O&R "Midget" (rear reed) and the "Atomic" really scooted. I jumped to a "big" plane, a $5.98-McCoy powered Yak-9 and loved it.

[Brett Buck]

I was looking around for TD-1 on the forum and ran in to the thread "what got you started" and the last post was a bunch of years ago. I was going to put a new post in but you know me.... I remember flying the TD-1 at a very early age. The first time my dad was holding me in his arms. Then later I was flying by myself that was about 1961-62. My dad built free flight models upstairs and I would hang out. That TD-1 was around for a long time and I don't recall where it went. There has been a bazillian airplanes come and go since then.

   

Mine also involved a Tee Dee. In my case it was a Beginners Ringmaster that my dad built for me. He went to the hobby shop, they didn't have a Golden Bee, so the guy let him have a Tee Dee 049 for the same price. I remember when he decided to test run it in our basement, about 9 o'clock at night, long after bedtime. We were awakened by this incredible high-pitched scream. He tried to fly it on 26 foot dacron lines, it was far too fast even for him, he ended up crashing it into the side of the toolbox. He later modified by adding another wing to make it a biplane to try to slow it down. Didn't help much,  and I crashed it very quickly, and the noise scared me/made my ears hurt*, and didn't fly another model airplane for about 5-6 years, doing rockets instead. This was about 1966, I was 5, it was far too much for me.

   Brett

*for multiple reasons - being "on the spectrum" long before that had been defined with all that entails, and also having audio sensitivity that was much later measured as 40 db above normal, 8-sigma, or something like that.

[Mark wood]

I flew my friend's Scientific "Stuntmaster" with the BabeBee engine. Then I put a Wen-Mac on a Scientific "Atomic" that I built.  It was not great. Later I got an O&R "Midget" (rear reed) and the "Atomic" really scooted. I jumped to a "big" plane, a $5.98-McCoy powered Yak-9 and loved it.

I never had a Yak 9 but I flew one and it was good airplane.

[Dick Byron]

Wen Mack Aeromite, 1951

[Robert Whitley]

Carl Goldberg Cosmic Wind with a Fox35 for Christmas 1971. Learned to fly it in the summer of 1972.
Have a scratch built replica now with the same engine on it.

[Tom McClain]

Testors Wen Mac Bellanca followed by an Enya 29 powered Goldberg Shoestring.

[Mark wood]

   

Mine also involved a Tee Dee.

That's a little different and came later than the Space Bug engine on the TD-1 and other planes. The TD-1 has an aluminum wing. I can relate though. Here's a photo.

[Frank Imbriaco]

 A 1959 Wen-Mac Aqua-Mite Xmas gift led to a donor engine for a Berkeley Buhl Pup in 1961.

[John Park]

This one: https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=1643 (KeilKraft Champ, with an almost-worn-out ED Bee Mk.1).  The Champ flew after a fashion, stable but with near-zero manoeuvrabulity, and fell out of the sky like a plumber's toolbag when the engine cut.  It was flown on stretchy 25ft. Terylene (i.e. Dacron) lines, and in 1955 it was just about the most basic introduction to C/L flying that you could get. 

[Bruce Shipp]

Whatever engine - a McCoy .049 of some type - was in a Testor’s orange Cosmic Wind.  The fuel tank was integral to the engine mount so it never saw balsa plane.  Next was a Cox PT -19.  That engine went on a Joy products Super Stunt Runt biplane kit bought at the 1971 Oshkosh fly in. It next went on a baby Ringmaster.  I cut my teeth on those two airplanes and kept the BR around for over 30 years although it didn’t fly.

I’ve got a laser cut BR kit and plans for the Stunt Runt.  My winter projects are to recreate my youth.  I’ll paint those two like the originals and they will join my Cosmic Wind EBay find above my desk.  Somewhere I have a picture of the original three with my cardboard flight box.  I hope to recreate that picture 50 years later. 



Just typing this I feel all warm and fuzzy thinking about those days. Thanks, Mark.

[EddyR]

 Late 1940’s ,all used home built 1/2A’s . Nothing new just built very small models and we would fly 2-3 guys at same time .  It was quite some time before the first loop. In those days never flew inverted. Around 1952 was given AAsr and learned pattern in a few weeks.
Ed

[Will Hinton]

Cox Thimble Drome Space Bug Jr.  The name was longer than the wingspan of the Scientific carved balsa fuse' ship it went on.  Actually flew the beast for two summers.  Next came an O&R 23 on a makeshift profile.  Long time ago, and many, many, many models ago.  What a great ride it has been!!!!!!!!!!

[john e. holliday]

My first attempt was with a Fire Baby and thimble drome .049.   15 foot dacron lines and you can guess the rest as after 9 laps I was flat on the ground and my brothers laughing at me.

[Scott Richlen]

BabyBee and Scientific Stuntmaster.  My older brother, Mark, and me.  Spent a whole summer just getting to the point of flying a whole flight.

[Gordon Tarbell]

1963 Cox PT-19  then the following year built a Carl Goldberg shoestring powered by a worn out hand me down McCoy 19. I remember thinking "Now I have a big plane with real power" I still like the shoestring design. Pleasant memories of my Dad taking me out to fly.

[Leonard Bourel]

Flew my first flt on a Testors King cobra 1973 Short lines with help from a friend No crash I was hooked 2nd flt full lengh lines Mcoy 0.49 going like stink about 5 laps in EXTENSIVE DAMAGE!!!!! Took it home showed my dad. His exact words were Well thats the end of that. I look back now and realize NO that was just the beginning of that .

[Dennis Toth]

My first ship in 1959, it was a simple box fuse, flat 1/8" sheet wing ship 30" span 6" root cord, 4" tip, with a home made 4" bellcrank (they didn't know this would later be the norm) and a OK Cub 15 engine, hand launched on 50' lines. We called it the Flappy cause the wing would flex in loops. That ship was lots of fun except when I had to do the launching. At 12 years old I would hang on to the fuse for dear life till my uncle gave the launch signal. I learned to do my first loop with it and my uncle could do what is today the Old Time pattern with it.

Best,   DennisT

[John McFayden]

1968 with a Cox Spitfire. First flight crash and several more crashes before the engine was moved to a Beginner Ringmaster. Many crashes on that but learned that balsa was much easier to glue back together than the plastic Cox used which seemed like an early form of Teflon  Never did fly that Spitfire an  entire flight 

[Glenn Quarles]

My first attempt was around 1968-69 with a Cox PT-19… it was one of the red and white ones. Never had success then, but a couple years later tried it again with complete success.

GQ

[Mark wood]

1968 with a Cox Spitfire. First flight crash and several more crashes before the engine was moved to a Beginner Ringmaster. Many crashes on that but learned that balsa was much easier to glue back together than the plastic Cox used which seemed like an early form of Teflon  Never did fly that Spitfire an  entire flight 

I would contend you made many flights on that airplane. Only the quality of the landings improved with practice. As they say take offs are optional, landings are mandatory it's only a question of quality.

  

[Dwayne Donnelly]

1971 or 72, Golden Bee, fit into a Testors Silver Cosmic Wind, first flight it went straight up and straight  down. lol

[Ken Culbertson]

1954 My Dad bought one of those hollowed log Pits and an OK Cub .049.  It's takeoff to landing ratio was not good.  Next there was a Whipsaw and a Fox Rocket .09 that never flew.  I can't remember the first successful flight.   Probably a PT-19. From there it was a steady parade of Stuntman 23's, a couple of Zilches most of the 1/2A Goldberg line, Baby Ringmasters and a bunch of WWII profiles that I can't remember who kitted them.  Then the big move to the huge Fox 15 on a Flight Streak JR and my first Nobler at age 12.

ken

[David Hoover]

Golden Bee in a Scientific hollow log Bird Dog.

[Jim Rhoades]

My first model airplanes were solid scale wooden models and Jim Walker 10 cent gliders and AJ Hornets.  Then some Comet scale models.  My first C/L gas model was a Firebaby with a Wasp .049 in 1951.  I practiced the instructions that were on the box in my bedroom.  That paid off in that my first flight consisted of a couple M and Ws, a mild wingover and a couple loops followed by a landing.  The second flight had a couple consecutive loops and 1 1/2 laps of inverted flight.  It took most of that to climb enough to finish the loop to pull out.  A landing and no crash.  We moved from Burbank CA to Salt Lake City UT and the Firebaby flew on with quite a few replacement wings etc.  I then built a Baby Barnstormer but the near 5000 ft elevation was too much for anything but level flight.  A Mini Zilch followed with considerable less weight and would actually stunt.  I won my first contest with it in Jr. Stunt.  I got farther through the pattern before crashing than the others.  A Sterling Mustang profile with a Fox 35 enabled me to learn the full pattern after gluing the nose back on multiple times.
Sometime around 1954 I won a Cox TD1 like what has been mentioned earlier in this thread.  Too much airplane for the Space Bug at this elevation.  A neat airplane with its aluminum wings and plastic fuselage.  I used the engine in my first Speed model and got a 2nd place in 1/2A Speed Sr. at the 55 Nats with it.  A lot of great memories since in these last 71 years.

Jim Rhoades

[Fredvon4]

Caution long post with not much about Cox until the end

I fussed for a few days on what area to post this long ago memory

Ramblings of an old guy who got into model aircraft like most post WWII, Korea kids.

My dad was young Army Lt in the mid late 50s stationed at Ft Bliss but worked as Nike Hercules range Officer. In 1959 before the camp moved to Fort Bliss McGregor range complex, a young Fred (me) got to go to Red Canyon Range Camp ( far northern area on White Sands Missile Range) to see a Nike Hercules Launch. They shot the missiles at ARCATs (Army Radio Controlled Aerial Target)

Born July 55 and this in 59, I must have been 3 ½ ~4 years old and remember the day vividly. Really stoked by the RED, wood and metal, no landing gear airplane screaming around a race track on a dolly until it got fast enough to lift off then head down range to be shot at.

Later our group of civilians and families huddled in a bunker and watched the Nike launch though periscope binoculars. Of course we never did see the strike or impact, but the crew who shot it got the word they got a kill!

I remember those sad sack soldiers were so happy. (retrospect thought--- this meant they could leave the arm pit of the world and go set up a Nike site near some city with real women and cold beer to complete their two year hitch.

What the hell does this have to do with model aircraft?

My Second most memorable day in my childhood

My young dad also thought the ARCAT was very cool so he built a CL airplane powered by a Red head McCoy 29 that had points and a micro champion spark plug

After building the balsa, silk, and dope model … the day came to fire the bird up and fly it. New to the game dad and eldest son (my brother was 1 year old) headed out to the front yard of our El Paso temporary home and laid out the control lines to a big black reel handle. (Jim Walker U-Reele, which I eventually wore out) We set up the starting area. Dad told me I was going to launch the beast so pay attention cuz the propeller was going to be dangerous.

Hours of flipping later ( seemed like to a little kid) the motor started and dad twisted the needle and the sucker screamed to a pitch that hurt my ears and gained the attention of my mom who was tending my baby brother who was no longer napping by the tone of her snapping at my dad. (How’s that for a long sentence?)

With the plane running, my dad showed me how to hold it and not let go until he waved at me…no way I could have heard him over the motor noise (also spewing hot fuel on my gloved hands)

Remember I am 4, my mom is not pleased, my dad is juiced on adrenalin (I doubt he ever flew any model airplane before this day)

Holding the U-Reele control he tests the lines, making the elevator go up and down then back at center then waves me to let her go!

Did I mention he was an Army junior grade officer living in temporary housing in the 50s? This means the front yard was (this is retrospect cuz a little boy had no concept of size then) maybe 60 foot from front of house to the street. So his circle is maybe 25~30 foot.

The McCoy 29 did its job and propelled the plane straight to the ground as my dad backed and backed and tried desperately to keep it aloft---- I do believe he was trying to fling it around the circle the way he was dancing.

Mom shouting, me awestruck, the damned thing gained altitude and speed then dad figured he had screwed up and needed to be back near the center of our circle.

My dad really was a very intelligent man, he managed to fly it over head in tight circles while trying to get back to our yard…Most of you know the obvious. 30’ was way too short and flying over head made the circle smaller and revolutions even faster. By the time my dad got near the center of our yard the dizzy set in and he fell down.

I saw him look to see where I was and the panic set in as he realized I was still standing exactly where I launched the plane from.

On his butt, he flew to plane over head one more lap and dove it for the ground opposite from me. This resulted in the most spectacular crash that rendered the balsa, glue, and silk into their original molecular beginnings --one with the earth.

Dead silence as the McCoy was an easy foot into the sod and dirt. Mom yelling in terror, dad saw me safe, looked at the balsa pile with small waft of smoke, and started one of those maniacal laughing fits that seemed to just make my mom even more determined to harp and snap at him.

As I approached the crash site, my dad stopped laughing and crawled over to it, and we both just stared at the piled up airplane. Then we both started to laugh very hard…not the funny laugh… the sheer terror “I survived this event” laughing….

The McCoy 29, fuel tank, bell crank, and Jim Walker U-Reele survived.

Later at dinner, dad and I both started the recounting of the “first flight”…Mom not pleased to hear we were going to El Paso the next day to get a new balsa kit (Dad bought a Sterling Ring Master kit)

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

Mid to late 1960s Cox PT-19 trainer w/ Babe Bee tank "flown" by me and my dad in the local school lot.  Quickly followed by a series of Carl Goldberg kits - Lil' Wizard, Swordsman 18, Stuntman 23, etc. flown in cul-de-sac.  Subsequently employed by local hobby shop and acquired several stunters from relocating folks near DC, plus connected with experienced combat fliers competing 1974-1979, 1987-1989.  Didn't really "get" the stunt thing until quite recently, 2018-present.  Only just learned, via this website, that cul-de-sac flying site was long established

[Ken Culbertson]

Mid to late 1960s Cox PT-19 trainer w/ Babe Bee tank "flown" by me and my dad in the local school lot.  Quickly followed by a series of Carl Goldberg kits - Lil' Wizard, Swordsman 18, Stuntman 23, etc. flown in cul-de-sac.  Subsequently employed by local hobby shop and acquired several stunters from relocating folks near DC, plus connected with experienced combat fliers competing 1974-1979, 1987-1989.  Didn't really "get" the stunt thing until quite recently, 2018-present.  Only just learned, via this website, that cul-de-sac flying site was long established

The PT-19 flight in my post here was in that same Cul-de-sac.  1960 I think.  Small World.  The folks in the house on the left used to come out and watch us.  There were three of us that flew there almost every day weather permitting.  When we started building more capable planes we flew over grass in one of the huge back yards along Easton.  The pilot of Marine 1 lived at the bottom of that Cul-de-sac.

Ken

Pix were taken in our backyard 4 houses North of your picture on Easton in 1961 and 62 and thanks to Dan I have FINALLY identified the plane - a Sterling Wildcat!

[Dick Pacini]

OK Cub .049 on a balsa American Boy trainer.

[Robert Zambelli]

Wen Mack Aeromite, 1951

My first model airplane was also an Aeromite, around 1952. Red version with the Wasp .049.
Never could get it to fly.
Turns out, the Aeromite was also John Brodak's first plane.
Around 20 years ago, I found one at a flea market, complete with all paperwork, lines, handle, filler, fuel can, battery and glow plug clip. I paid $25.00.
I restored the little plane to new condition and presented it to John as a birthday gift. Shown in the first two photos.
A year later, I found another one in perfect condition, identical to the first find. I will keep it, along with the accessories from the first find. Shown in the last two photos.

My actual first successful flight was with a Wee Duper Zilch powered by a McCoy .098.

Bob Z.

[Gordon Van Tighem]

Mine was a Firebaby, purchased with gift certificate prizes from the local fair for leatherwork. Many years of enjoyment with several variations of wings. It won in balloon bust and in 1/2A speed.
Still have it with a few replacement parts that survived.

[De Hill]

Monogram Piper Cub powered by a front rotor Ohlsson and Rice .23.

[Carl Cisneros]

Mine was a Wen-Mac Dauntless Dive Bomber that me and my older brother flew (sort of) in our big drive way back in 60 something.

[Shorts,David]

I had a Goldberg .049 Swordsman. I was 5. I crashed so many times it became a lump of hot stuff that couldn't fly anymore. Didn't fly again for a few years till I was about 8. Got into R/c for a dozen years. When I had a son I tried CL again and was a little better at it than when I was five. So far, so good ten years in.

[Dan McEntee]

   I have already told most of my story up in the "As Time Goes By" section and the "How I Got My Start In The Hobby" Section;

    https://stunthanger.com/smf/as-time-goes-bye/beginnings-and-passings/
 
    I spent a lot of time learning to trim free flight models with dime store Guillows and North Pacific airplanes like a lot of you. I still get a kick out of flying those and fly them in the circle by my house under the street light, but they ain't 10,15 and 25 cents any more! The last time I checked on the price of the big  Guillows airplane it was $7.95 at the hobby shop!  I'm glad I stocked up on that kind of stuff when I saw them cheap over the years! Guillows, Jetco, Sterling and other kits were the norm as time went on. My essay above recounts my first gas model, a Cox Stuka and it's short life, I later conquered the air with one that I pieced together from parts and is featured in a YouTube video with over 11,000 views;

 

      The Stuka was followed up by a Sterling Beginners Mustang that I described in my essay. That was the first control line model I was in complete control of when I flew it and eventually got some loops put of it.. The engine was a Babe Bee that originally was in a Cox Curtis Pusher that my Mom got for my Dad when I was very young, I still have the box from that airplane and "refilled" the contents with the parts from another kit. I still have the Curtis Push prop also but the engine is so mixed in with the others I have collected I would be hard pressed to single it out of all the others. Several other Sterling kits, Goldberg and Top Flite kits followed when I had some birthday or Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket.  My cousin Joe gave my little brother Jim and I a half built SIG P-47 Thunderbolt scale model, and we managed to get that sort of airworthy with a McCoy 35 stuck on the nose. It was the first big model I ever flew, but it met it's demise when my brother Jim tried to fly it and a crash after a lap or two finished it off. Later came a .15 sized Midwest ME-109 and a SIG Chipmunk. High school, and technical school followed along with an interest in dirt bikes and model airplanes were put aside.  I was working a full time job at night during my senior year of high school/technical school and after I graduated, I picked up the interest again and built another larger Midwest ME-109 and another SIG Chipmunk . I was exposed to R/C sailplanes at that time also and participated in that for a lot of years but kept collecting C/L stuff. When the R/C side of the hobby got expensive and I kept getting laid off from jobs, I picked the handle back up again because I had all I needed for it. Almost 50 years have passed, marriage, two kids, several jobs later and now retirement and I'm still doing it. Met a lot of great people and made some great friends, some of who have gone west but are still remembered fondly. I would not change a thing in the past and have some great memories and once in a while I wonder if I had not participated in model aviation, what might have changed in my life?  I can't imagine NOT doing this, and feel sorry for people that don't have some kind of hobby or outside activity that they have a passion for. I am grateful for all the friends I have made and all the experiences that I have had and hope I can be around for a while longer to make a few more!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Dave_Trible]

I first flew in 1965 with a Scientific Stuka and Wen Mac .049.  Learned the basic loops, eights and inverted on a Stuntman 23 with a Golden Bee.  Got going with ‘big’ airplanes on a Guillows Rat Racer with McCoy .19,  then a Jim Walker Firecat with Fox .35.  I put that vertically into the Swope Park concrete circle the first outing.

Dave

[Ken Culbertson]

I can't imagine NOT doing this, and feel sorry for people that don't have some kind of hobby or outside activity that they have a passion for.

I think you are expressing what most of us feel.  The years I sat out while building my business and family I refer to as the "Wilderness".  Without a passionate hobby, one that probably means nothing to 99.9999% of the population, you have no place to retreat from the insanity of every day life.   When we retreat to our shops the problems of the outside world are barred from entering.

Back to the point of this thread I need help identifying a plane.  One that really got me hooked on CL as the anchor. FF, Soaring, some RC although really fun never replaced CL.  I think it was what Mark Wood calls the "Meat Servo".  In my post below I am flying a 1/2A Hellcat.  For the life of me I can't remember who kitted it.  It was nearly identical to a Baby Ringmaster.  There were three, maybe 4 planes in the series I built.  The Hellcat, a P-47 Thunderbolt, a Zero and maybe a Mustang which I never built.  They were made for the Baby Bee and had those bolt on metal mounts. My Stepfather was military at the time so it would have been a kit carried by the BX.

While we are on memory lane, does anybody out there remember the name of the club that flew at the Fairfax High School in Virginia in the early 60's (59-62) or the flying site on the Potomac opposite the Lincoln Memorial?

Why, as we get older, do we try so hard to reconstruct our youth?    Interesting.

Ken

[Dan McEntee]

I think you are expressing what most of us feel.  The years I sat out while building my business and family I refer to as the "Wilderness".  Without a passionate hobby, one that probably means nothing to 99.9999% of the population, you have no place to retreat from the insanity of every day life.   When we retreat to our shops the problems of the outside world are barred from entering.

Back to the point of this thread I need help identifying a plane.  One that really got me hooked on CL as the anchor. FF, Soaring, some RC although really fun never replaced CL.  I think it was what Mark Wood calls the "Meat Servo".  In my post below I am flying a 1/2A Hellcat.  For the life of me I can't remember who kitted it.  It was nearly identical to a Baby Ringmaster.  There were three, maybe 4 planes in the series I built.  The Hellcat, a P-47 Thunderbolt, a Zero and maybe a Mustang which I never built.  They were made for the Baby Bee and had those bolt on metal mounts. My Stepfather was military at the time so it would have been a kit carried by the BX.

Why, as we get older, do we try so hard to reconstruct our youth?    Interesting.

Ken

      I need to go check the kit collection, but Top Flite did a Hellcat in it's 1/2A beginner model line, I think. I'm pretty sure I have them all. It had some preformed fuselage parts and formed solid balsa wing. I had the Thunderbolt as a kid. It might have been a Sterling kit if it was all slab balsa, or even and Enterprise model. Midwest did four models that included the ones you mention but those came well after the time you were a kid, probably in the 80's I think and were all slab balsa. A better picture or description would help.
    Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Jim Kraft]

What got me started was watching guys flying ignition planes in Swope Park in KC in the middle 40's. My first control line plane however was a Scientific hollow log with an OK Cub .049. When I was about 9 or 10. The engine had already been well broken in in a Half Pint race car.

I still love the torque and growl of spark engines in large planes. Once you have flown ignition everything else is kind of ho hum. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[Mark wood]

Meat Servo - noun - referring to the component within the aircraft control system situated between the fuselage floor and the flight control interface. See also definition within communications interface problem diagnostics - short between headset. Occasionally referred to as the "Pilot".

[Ken Culbertson]

      I need to go check the kit collection, but Top Flite did a Hellcat in it's 1/2A beginner model line

Thanks! 1/3 of the mystery solved.  It was a Sterling Wildcat.  All I need now is to track down that Thunderbolt.

Ken

[Dan McEntee]

Thanks! 1/3 of the mystery solved.  It was a Sterling Wildcat.  All I need now is to track down that Thunderbolt.

Ken

     Those a a bit more rare than the beginner series, but do show up on eVilBay. They had built up wings and probably flew pretty well with a good engine. I don't think I have any of those kits, will have to look.

   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Ken Culbertson]

     Those a a bit more rare than the beginner series, but do show up on eVilBay. They had built up wings and probably flew pretty well with a good engine. I don't think I have any of those kits, will have to look.

   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

They did fly really well, especially on the rather short lines we had to use.  Several of us them.  Our biggest back yard gave us about a 25' radius and we flew in several so we all used that silly handle with the line spool inside so we could adjust to a standard line length of 1/2 the distance between the trees.  The "Bees" were great at not breaking upon impact with a tree.  One thing I clearly remember is how little damage these planes took in a crash.  Biggest issue was getting the dirt out of the cylinder!

If you run across one, let me know.  My grandson has shown interest and I remember teaching a couple of kids to fly with this one.  Plans are fine too.

Ken

[Robertc]

From what i remember (I was 4) it was a Scientific 1/2a plane with a Baby Bee  049.  Flew in the back yard on short lines.  Had to be around 1960.

[kevin king]

This was sort of control line.

[Don Chandler]

Mine was Wen Mac.049 Bonanza that my dad got me for Christmas when I was about 12