Your first real C/L memory

[Ironbomb]

I still have the images in my head of the first real model airplane I ever saw fly. I had gotten a black Cox Stuka as a Christmas gift from my godfather. But I was to young to fly it my dad told me. Well, one summer, a friend he worked with would fly it for me. He also had brought  his C/L planes to the park for us to see.

I dont rememeber his airplane exactly, I knew nothing of these planes at the time, but from what I rememeber now it could have been a Banshee. It was bright yellow and big. It had metal wires, mine had string, his had a wood handle and was heavy, mine was plastic.  It flew unlike anyhting I had ever seen before. (i had not seen very much, i was a tiny kid) It was fast and graceful It did loops and flew upside down. After he smoothly  landed it, I remember that the gas tank was held on with rubber bands, the big engine sticking out sideways, and the wonderful smell of castor oil. That plane made a huge impression on  me that I still rememeber to this day. It was like magic. It got me hooked. when I build a Banshee, its gonna be yellow too.

The Stuka? oh yea, he flew it. was nothing much, from what I remember.

I ended up flying the Stuka on my own a year or so later, til it broke. It was the Sterling and Goldberg 1/2A kits we had the most fun with. Thats another story.

Tell me some storys.....

Greg

[john e. holliday]

My first control line plane was the A-J Firebaby in which I mounted the Cox Space Bug .049 onto that I had gotten the Christmas before.  Not knowing any better tried to fly on about 20 feet of line.  Nine laps later I am laying on the ground with a broken airplane.  Then it was on to a Scientific Sport Racer and OK Cub 049A.  Also lots of Scientific kits from the local hardware store.   DOC Holliday

[Darrell Mims]

   I can remember back about 1958-60 somewhere along there , There is a park in east Birmingham Al. I was 6-7-or8 .One of the kids in the neighborhood had a Sterling Tri-Pacer and was walking home with it,I stopped him and asked him about it . Also I remember a bet for someone to fly a C/L with the handle attached to the leadout lines. I do remember him going round and round very fast then falling to the ground .

[frank carlisle]

There was a baseball diamond across the street from our house when I was a little kid. Every afternoon guys would show up there and fly U-Control. They let me hang around. Once one of them let me hold the handle - his hand over mine. They had a big box with an electric starter they'd push the nose into to start the motor.
We lived on Fairview in quanset huts that had been converted to temporary housing after world war 2. We were dirt poor. Dad had been wounded and came home totally stressed from the war. No post traumatic stress syndrome back then so he was just labled a nut case. No child abuse laws either, and domestic violence wasn't a word back then. I got treated better at the circle than I did at home. I've been flying U/C ever since.

[Dwayne]

It was in grade seven I was 12 and a friend took me to park where these guys were flying voodoos, I didnt know that then but it didnt take long for me to find out driving these poor guys crazy with a billion questions... 
I've been hooked ever since!! 
Dwayne

[Tom Perry]

The first control line I remember was in 1949 just before the Korean War.  I just remember the speed planes and how loud it seemed to be at the time.  The next I remember fairly clearly was after my family moved to the Philadelphia burbs in the summer of '53 A bunch of kids two blocks away were flying 049s in a lot two blocks away.  I was hooked then.   

[Bill Little]

I got a Wen MAc Bonaza from our next door neighbour in about 1957.  He had been flying it, and the nose had softened rom the heat!  I never did get that one to fly, but a few years later we moved to the area I now live in.  First Sunday afternoon I was here, I heard an engine at the ball field a 1/4 mile away.  I hopped on my bike and took off to see what was going on! 

I met what turned out to be my best friend (we are still good friends), his Dad and his younger brother.  The Dad had a three planes and each son had one of their own.  Dad was flying a CG Cosmic Wind when I got there, McCoy RH 35, but he soon put up a Stuntwagon with a McCoy RH 60!  That thing was "FAST!!!!!!!!!!!"

That got me hooked  so I soent all the money I had saved and I was flying the next weekend...........  The "Dad" taught me to fly in one afternoon holding the handle with me for the first three flights.  Then I was on my own.  Started with a red Cox Mantz Racer (on sale at the local Hardware store) and bought a Scientific King Cobra (also on sale) as my first "big, built up wing" plane.  The Cox plane didn't last too long, but that King Cobra lasted for years!  All on Mcoy 39 fuel...........

Bill <><

[Dennis Moritz]

Flying monoline in the womb. (Messy)

[Chuck Feldman]

Early 50's. Dave's dad comes home with the infamous aeromite. It ran but never flew! Somehow it got up but always crashed. Finally it broke and no one could fix it. My father saw some of this and went to get a model. He came home with a Firebaby/spitzy .049. This flew and taught many of us the ways of U/C. One day we spotted a man flying a big job. Turns out it was a Veco Chief/ fox 35. It was awesome. The man was a navy carrier pilot. We didn't see him very often but when he was around he would fly his Chief. I remember the 4/2/4 run the fox had. I still have a firebaby and a Chief. Kids stuff sticks!!!

Chuck

[bruce malm]

My older brother and Eddie Wyley flying a Firebaby in Eddie's front yard. They would never let me try it or help me in later years. Finally got a PT-19 for Christmas and took my 3 year old baby brother with me to launch. I then taught Jeff to fly and had him flying a Ringmaster with a McCoy 35 on it and performing loops  at the age of 5. He use to hold onto it wth both hands and we didn't use  saftey thongs at that time. It sure seemed like a lot more people would stop on the side of the road  at Kiwanis Park in Lakewood, WA. and watch little Jeffrey fly compared to when Mike, Smotzie, George Lieb, or I were flying.

Bruce

[EddyR]

I remember in 1948 or 49 a couple of guys with  huge models flying in the evening at a Kroeler funiture parking lot near my house in Binghamton NY. They were most likely 40 inch wingspan models but they seemed huge at the time.Houses on all sides of the lot and no one said a word about noise.
Ed Ruane

[Gene Elliott]

I got a Wasp .049 for Christmas around 1950 at the age of 10. I lived in Charleston, SC as a boy. Everybody had airplane motors back then. I put mine on a Scientific model (I can't remember which). On the first flight I opened the NV all the way . . .didn't know what I was doing . . . thought it gave more gas and would really fly-well it barely lifted off and I see-sawed around a few laps before crashing on pavement in the elementary school yard. It was hilarious. While the computer chip is a good thing and has changed our lives, it's sad that today there are no kids with 1/2 A's at the school yard on Saturday mornings!
Gene

[Ironbomb]

All good stuff you guys. I enjoy reading about the times I was not around for. Thanks

Greg

[Dan Labine]

My first experiance was in the late 50's or early 60's I was 6 or 7. There was a shopping plaza nearby and on a Sunday mornings several "men" were flying. When I got there there was a twin engine bomber of some sort flying around. Near the end of the flight the outboard motor caught fire. By the time the plane made one more lap the entire plane was in flames. All of us kids cheered thinking this was supposed to happen. I was hooked. I had to fly these planes just like he did. Now I know better.

My first plane was a Wen-Mac corsair. On the first flight I totally destroyed it. Only got around about 1/4 of a lap.. I was hoked again. Only made my first succesful flight (One complete lap without crashing) when I bought the Cox Me 109 stunter in the 70's. I still have fond memories of that plane. From there to Little Wizards, Sig Akromaster, Sig Fokker D7 and a Veco Mustang. All long departed but the memories are still vivid.

Dan..

[Mike Wada]

My first real control line experience was in the early 60s, I was at a small baseball park in my home town of Lahaina Maui and two grown men drove in.  One was in white Mustang two-door, the other in a black VW Bug.  Out came Super Ringmasters, Goldberg Shoestrings and other planes of the time.  They were all finished in Aero Gloss dope/silk and were Magnificent!  They were fueled up with K&B 100 and had Fox motors on them (lots of Fox Motors in Hawaii at the time).  I got my first whiff of hot castor oil and seeing all those planes gleaming in afternoon sun.  That "spell" has never left my memory and is as intense as it was years ago right now!  I went on to learn to fly with the two men Ben and Pierce as luckily for me, they knew my father.

Aloha, 

Mike Wada:)

[George]

Mid fifties, either a Scientific Little Mustang or Little Devil (can't rememeber which I built/flew first) powered by a Space Bug Jr.

Later but well remembered was when I first met someone else who flew. He was flying a Veco Tom Tom with a McCoy GOLD head .29 (low comp head). He let me fly it. My first larger than 1/2A flight. We are still friends today. He flies electric RC Park Flyers now.

George

[L0U CRANE]

Must have been around 1948-49, cuz I remember the memorable Jane Russell poster for the movie The Outlaw in the same subway station...

Which was the Stillwell Avenue/Coney Island terminus of NYC's BMT subways. The ruins of old Luna Park were still in trash mode, but a parking lot was pretty clear. Some guys were flying what I later figured were PDQ or Sterling profiles, or earlier similar stuff...

First flight, so to speak, a year or so later - Wee Duper Zilch / McCoy 09. Made an entire half-lap! Younger cousin tore the fin off at launch...

Correction: I guess Ms Russell's 'mammaries' stayed in mind longer than one earlier thing.

About 1947, there was a Hobby Exposition at an armory in uptown Manhattan or the Bronx, in which part of the show was a cage, that couldn't be more than 50' across, used to fly - yes, fly! not tethered to a post stuff - several CL models. Noisy. Magical aroma. Preconditioning for the experience at  Luna Park (an amusement park that burnt to the ground sometime from 1939 to 1945. A certain war postponed rebuilding...).

So the saga begins.

[L0U CRANE]

Good Morning
This is jon standingbear, I'm at Lou Cranes useing his confuser, My first look at what was later to become what we call control line flight was in 1947, I had just returned from a stinky war in China, And at our local park I heard a thundering roar, It was a small looking plane with an ignition engine and a set of wires that termininated in a Y with 2 connections to the wing and fuseladge, There was a pole out a bit from the aircraft, and after the two engine starters got it sounding like thay wanted it to thay released it, and it flew in a circle, (Teathered Flight), That was my first experience.
Thanks
Jon Standingbear

[Bill Adair]

I grew up on a farm south of St. Louis MO, where the closest neighbors and friends were miles away. 

The very first C/L flight I ever witnessed, was when flying my own OK Cub powered Firebaby! What an exciting day that was, and I can still vividly recall the sights, sounds, and smells of my first flights.

There was no one to show me how to fly, but I was an avid reader, and in those days the magazines had plenty of "HOW TO" articles.

I seem to recall that Jim Walker included a very detailed instruction sheet with the Firebaby, with very helpful information on how to fill the balloon tank, adjusting the needle valve, and perhaps most importantly, how to fly!

I taught myself, and then taught both of my friends. Flying continued until all my props were broken! 

In my opinion, the Firebaby was the best beginners C/L airplane ever sold, and it's a shame that the re-creation available today is way too expensive for most kids. What the heck were they thinking, when they priced it at $70? 

Bill Adair

[Tom Perry]

snip 

What the heck were they thinking, when they priced it at $70? 

Bill Adair

Possibly that some of us old pharts could be snookered into paying that much?  Look at how much some of the older cox RTF stuff costs.   

[Bill Heher]

The earliest I remember is probably '64 or '65 in Beloit, WI. I was 5 or 6, some of my older brothers friends used to fly Cox / Wen-mac planes in the vacant lot across the street from our house. They used the street to take-off and as part of the circle because the lot was small. I recall being "allowed" to stand Car Watch, if a car was closer than the far corner we had to yell CAR COMING!!! so they would not start and launch into one.

My dad worked for Fairbanks-Morse / Colt Industries at the time and every Christmas they had a company party for employee kids. We got to see a movie and have treats, then we allowed to pick a gift from big stacks of toys on tables, arranged by age group..They had Cox planes one year when I was 7 or 8 and I insisted that I wanted one, the guy said no- you had to be 10. I started to argue but then my Mom gave me "The Look". I shut-up and took the fire truck they handed me. I hated that stupid Fire Truck. I was sure if my Dad had been there he would have convinced them to give me the plane, and a few years later he got me a Cox Mustang for Christmas. What a guy!  Thanks Dad!

[Bill Adair]

Tom,

 

Sure can't blame a person for wanting to make money, but that price seems a bit unreasonable.  I'd love to have a Firebaby for old times sake, and a couple more to teach the granddaughters to fly, but not at that price.  

Bill Adair

[Phil Coopy]

My first successful C/L flight was with OK Cub .049 powered hi wing(slab) plane like a cub...it think it was a Scientific kit from AHC.  Mowed lots of lawns for that OK Cub 049. We flew on the asphhalt circle behind Champlain Central School, Champlain, NY. It was about 1948.  I still have the engine and the flight box that I used along with a bunch of OK's of all different sizes from that era.  Later my brother who was in the Navy at the time brought home a bran new McCoy .19 for me and I built a Ringer for it.  A fella that worked with my father helped us out a lot, and if it hadn't been for him it would have been just a passing fancy, but here I am 58 years later still into it.

One thing that I fondly remember: As I pedaled down the driveway... stuff in my bike basket, father would always say, "Bring a paper bag with you, Flash!".

Phil

[Philip THOMAS]

First memory was being given a cox Cessna skymaster (autocorrect may call it a sky nasty) . It never did fly but looking back we had no expertise to give it a sporting chance. So as a young lad I conclude that the whole control line thing was one giant oxy moron. Then fast forward to school year 7, 1980, a mate at school built a cox 049 powered Fokker biplane ( never did work out out what kit it was) but his old man had some experience with club flying in England, and….it FLEW! We spent an afternoon flying in a field next to his house in country Victoria.
I was hooked! Local hobby shop told dad not to get a cox pt19 as they were crap and put us onto an old chap, Dick Steele, who sold kits from his suburban garage, and put me onto the Knox Model Aero Club. My first flight was with my Enya 15-4 powered stick trainer. Cannot remember which gentleman at KMAC helped me with the first flight. Still have the Enya but not the stick  trainer. However I do have my brothers ST on which I taught my son, who has been flying since 2022. Now junior aerobatic level, but wants to fly C130s!

[Richard Fleming]

My family went on vacation and visited my Uncle in Atlanta Georgia during the summer, around 1969. He  had a wonderful workshop area at the front section of the house with some rc and control line airplanes that he had built. I couldn't take my eyes off  with those planes. He asked me if I would like to go fly a plane and I replied yes right away!  We walked down the street to a small ball field. He fired up Cox engine in the Scientific P-40 Warhawk and soon it was in the air. What a trip! I have loved control line planes and P-40s ever since.

[944_Jim]

Flying monoline in the womb. (Messy)

I'm assuming you landed alright?

[Motorman]

1960, 4 years old helping build a Ringmaster with my dad next to the coal burning furnace in our basement. He would take a break now and then to shovel the coal.

MM

[Ken Culbertson]

Four or five, I hadn't started school yet.  My dad bought one of those 1/2A logs.  Little Stinker.  We built it together - I took credit for painting the base coat but denied spilling the paint on the floor of our dining room.  It had an OK Cub .049.  He was a pilot (Navy flight school but never got his wings) but had never flown a model before.  The crash was spectacular, mom was pleased and I was hooked.  I can't remember much from there except for building just about every Comet kit our drug store carried till I was about 9 when I got a PT-19 Cox.  Actually, learned to fly that one quite well.  My new stepfather recognized my liking for all things airplane and not knowing what he was doing, gave me a Berkley Spitfire kit.  No 9-year-old should be allowed within 100' of a Berkley kit without adult supervision, or for that matter, at all.  I never finished it.  It was supposed to have an 09-15 for power but it would have never gotten off of the ground the wood was so heavy.  The Fox 15 found a home in a Jr. Flight Streak and the rest is history.  I don't think my stepdad ever forgave me for not finishing that plane.

Ken

[Dennis Saydak]

I recall seeing my first control line model fly at 13 years of age in 1957. The location was at Winnipeg Beach. I was curious to see what was causing the noise of something going round & round. It was a black tri-gear stunt model with a couple of red stripes on each wing. The pilot was very good and I nearly "flipped my wig" when the model turned upside down and flew inverted. I later discovered the model was a PDQ Lion Tamer with an Enya .29 for power (no muffler). I was immediately hooked into the hobby because of that experience.

[doug coursey]

LEARNING TO FLY A BLUE AND YELLOW PLASIC PLANE WITH AN .049 ON IT...THE WING WAS HELD ON WITH RUBBER BANDS...I DONT REMEMBER IT BEING BUILT BY MY FATHER..IT WAS IN THE EARLY 50'S,WE WENT ON TO FLY ALMOST EVERY KIND OF CONTROL LINE PLANE AND ENTERED CONTEST.WE LIVED IN MIAMI SO WE FLEW IN THE kING ORANGE EVEY YEAR IT WAS THERE

[John Rist]

I grew up on a farm south of St. Louis MO, where the closest neighbors and friends were miles away. 

The very first C/L flight I ever witnessed, was when flying my own OK Cub powered Firebaby! What an exciting day that was, and I can still vividly recall the sights, sounds, and smells of my first flights.

There was no one to show me how to fly, but I was an avid reader, and in those days the magazines had plenty of "HOW TO" articles.

I seem to recall that Jim Walker included a very detailed instruction sheet with the Firebaby, with very helpful information on how to fill the balloon tank, adjusting the needle valve, and perhaps most importantly, how to fly!

I taught myself, and then taught both of my friends. Flying continued until all my props were broken! 

In my opinion, the Firebaby was the best beginners C/L airplane ever sold, and it's a shame that the re-creation available today is way too expensive for most kids. What the heck were they thinking, when they priced it at $70? 

Bill Adair

Who sells a re-creation Firebaby???

[Dan McEntee]

Who sells a re-creation Firebaby???

    Look at the original date of this thread!! I think Frank Macy was still offering them in limited supply by then. He owned the rights to the AJ Aircraft stuff back then and put out replica Hornet rubber powered planes, Interceptor catapult folding wing gliders, did a limited run of the Fireball, and the Firebaby. Get over to the 1/2A section and pinned to the top I think is a thread on scratch building one. get to it!! Times a wastin'!!
 Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Dan McEntee]

  If you go up to the "How I got My Start in the Hobby section, and scroll down to "Beginnings and Passings" thread I include my first experiences. The Readers Digest version is that I had the failed attempt with a Cox Stuka, and then wizened up and got a Sterling Beginners Mustang. I didn't have money for any dope so it was bare balsa and I sneaked my Mom's black Magic Marker for some checkerboards on the fuselage. I think it took two attempts before I flew the tank out, then did it again. Then went into the house ( we were flying in a electric company right of way field behind our house, exactly where we shouldn't have been!!) and I drug Mom out to watch the next flight. She had told me before she got me the Cox Stuka for Christmas that I wasn't getting one because she had never heard any of the others she got my Dad or my brothers run! She watched a couple flights, congratulated me and went back inside. My brother Jimmy soloed that day also, and I think we used up the entire can of fuel, Once you start you can't stop!!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[John Park]

Failed attempt 1, 11 years old, Spring 1956: KeilKraft 'Champ' with a clapped-out second-hand 1cc. ED Bee diesel.  Wouldn't start.  I over-choked it, got a hydraulic lock that ripped the engine and its plywood mount clean out of the model when I flicked the prop.
Failed attempt 2, Christmas 1956: KeilKraft Phantom Mite with brand new DC Merlin .76cc. diesel.  I don't remember why I was trying to fly it on lines only 20 ft. long, but it must have been doing 2 sec. laps - two or three of them before I got dizzy, lost control and crashed it.  Plane wrecked, engine OK.
Success (sort of), April 1957: another KK Champ, better built than the last one, with the Merlin engine.  Flew OK on 25 ft. lines but, like all Champs, had almost zero control response and a glide like a sack of bricks.
(Later that year, I put the Merlin in a crude own-design with a tissue-covered, symmetrical-section wing.  Amazingly, it flew and I did my first loops with it.  I still have that engine, which runs as well as it ever did.)

[John Rist]

My first U-control airplane was a Ringmaster with a K&B 29.  The whole story is in how I got my start:

https://stunthanger.com/smf/how-i-got-my-start-in-the-hobby/no-pain-learning-to-fly/

[Jim Kraft]

   My first exposure to control line was 1946 in Swope Park, in KC. We went to the park for picnics and from there to the flying field. I was the only one of us that was hooked. All ignition back then. I started with Scientific hollow logs in 1950 with an OK Cub .049. I built them on news papers spread on the living room floor. Does anyone remember fuel proofer? The stuff we brushed over nitrate dope to make it fuel proof. Sort of. 

[Dave Harmon]

   Does anyone remember fuel proofer? The stuff we brushed over nitrate dope to make it fuel proof. Sort of.

Tuff.
Made by Victor Stanzel.
I heard it was liquid vinyl.
I used a LOT of it back then.
Norm has a picture of the bottle.

[Dave Harmon]

Bayside NY.
That's where we lived.
On the way to church one morning...probably driving on Rockaway Blvd....we passed what was probably a park where I remember seeing someone flying counter clockwise.
That was 47' or 48'.....but I never forgot it.

[Larry Renger]

Idiot kid story. I had been building models for years and was OK AT 14. I built a 1/2A Snapper with a Cub .049 power. It looked pretty good and I wish I had a photo.

Anyway. It started was launched and flew just fine for a couple of laps. Dumb me having read all about stunt said, lets try a loop. 3/4 through the loop decided it wasn’t going to make it (it probably would have) and tried to do a figure eight.

That ended my first Snapper. Decades later I did put one through a competitive full AMA pattern to much applause since it was in the wind. I still love that design. Best small 1/2A there ever was. COX TEE DEE .020 power rules.

🤠

[Dave Harmon]

I still love that design. Best small 1/2A there ever was. COX TEE DEE .020 power rules.

🤠

Right on Larry.....
I built a bunch of them from the original kit back in the day.
I built this one more recently and it has been mostly used up.
I used an Atwood Signature Green Head .049 and after getting the correct gaskets it flew great.
Tissue and dope of course....didn't have any Tuff fuel proofer so I shot it with butyrate clear.
No colored dope...just like the old days....lotsa fun!
I have another one to build....this time with a Atwood Shriek I found NIB.

[John Park]

It was 1949.  I was four years old.  In the town's park, the local model aero club was having a C/L session.  I remember the smell of burnt diesel fuel, the noise of the engines (all either Mills 1.3 or ED Comp. Special), and just one model I can picture clearly enough to identify: 'Small Fry', designed by Ron Prentice.  Covered in plain white tissue and well stained with that dirty exhaust muck that all diesels throw out, it didn't look capable of flight: but I can just dimly recall seeing it stagger round a loop or two, the Mills 1.3 buzzing bravely away.  I was hooked on control line from that day on.

[Brett Buck]

I am not sure whether it was the first, but it was the clearest from that era (unfortunately). First thing I remember about CL was some guy flying his Magician with a McCoy 35 using a U-Reely, having it come unlatched, and hitting his 5-year-old daughter in the head. She apparently survived but it was a serious injury. This was in the parking lot of the (brand new, since my father was sent to build and equip it) Westinghouse fluorescent lamp plant in Salina, KS, about 1965-66.

   Another clear memory was my dad crashing his Nobler nose-in to the same parking lot, about the same time. My first CL flight was shortly before that, Baby Ringmaster bipe with a Tee Dee 049.

    Brett

[Steve Helmick]

Sometimes, I wonder how & when my Dad learned to fly CL. When I was in 1st grade, he got my oldest brother to build a Guillows Barnstormer and put an O&R .29 in it. I remember seeing the wings peel off that one at least once, though I know it happened twice.

Dad was kind of a junk collector, and I think when some of the other USAF guys got transferred out, he traded or bought stuff from them, especially guns and model engines. I recall a UC trainer that he or my brother patched together with a wing that was somebody's leftovers from a crash.

And I recall vividly walking out the garage door and almost getting clocked by a large wooden propeller that was doing handsprings across the side-yard and ended up hitting the house. The flying field was the vacant lot nextdoor to our rented house in Winchester, TN on Dogwood Lane. About 1951, I was 5 or 6.

All three of us brothers could fly CL, tho I had to teach myself when I was in Jr. High. Eventually, we flew CL, FF & R/C, but I dropped R/C as soon as I discovered contests. First was a FF contest, and 2nd was a CL contest.  Steve

[FLOYD CARTER]

Well, I watched fellows fly C/L at our city park a couple years before I joined them with a model , which almost flew!

I remember flying activity in 1945.  I joined the group not long after in South Gate CA.

A couple years later, our flying venue was either in Huntington Park, CA, or South Gate, CA.

At the Huntington Park field, we sometimes had visitors, like J C Yates and his "Madman".  At South Gate, I remember a visit from Davy Slagle and his parents.  We were both about 14 years old at that time.

Our club in South Gate was called "Skylarks", organized in 1947.  A couple of our members were Tom Lay Jr. and  Bob Dunham (later of "Orbit" R/C Radio)/