wonwinglo

One of the main reasons why it is difficult to make replicas of pre-1914 aircraft fly properly is the characteristics of to-day's power plants. Though they may develop the same nominal horsepower, modern engines are much smaller, and develop their power at high rotational speeds, using small props. Early engines turned at little more than 1000 rpm, and drove props of 9 or 10 feet in diameter. Because engine torque is directly proportional to cubic capacity, modern engines develop far less torque than ancient ones. Moreover, a 9 foot prop produces far more windage over the control surfaces than a modern five-footer, making the aircraft easier to control - very important, considering how little was known about aerodynamics then. Shuttleworth have a replica of a Bristol boxkite that was built for 'Those magnificent Men'. It has a 100 hp Continental, and is generally considered a pig to fly, whereas the Boxkite with a Gnome rotary was a standard trainer in the early years, as it was felt to be very easy to fly.
So there is the reason why modern powerplants never really look or sound right in replica machines of early vintage.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

Those of you in London today will have probably seen the latest airship performing a media test flight over the city,she was operating from Fairoaks airfield having come from her restoration base at Cardington the day before.
The Airship is the Skyship 600 N605SK which was in fact despite what the press says built in 1984 as G-SKSJ,the 600 series were the HL series,this stood for Heavy Lift airship which the original Airship Industries pioneered and the U.S.Navy were going to purchase a few until Airship Industries went down under.
The reason for the re-incarnation of this particular one is that the Palm Holiday resort in Dubai have leased her for aerial advertising in the next few months,she will fly to Dubai on a record flight within the next few weeks but before will make a few appearances in this country,this includes Birmingham on this Sunday and Monday where Emirates Airways fly to and from Dubai with Boeing 777 aircraft,the route from Fairoaks will fly right over this area so I am looking forward to seeing her and track the airship on my new radar system from my home.
The pilot Peter Buckley says that airships present quite a challenge when taking off and in particular the landing,as they are lighter than air the slightest bit of weight difference can be critical,once the engines are opened up they can climb quite steeply,for landing the guy ropes are caught by the ground crew to hold her down and then to moor the large airship.
Some years ago I had the great pleasure of flying in the Fuji airship when it did a tour of the UK,my first impression was that of flying under a big whale ! as a camera platform they excel being able to literally just hang there in flight.
So keep your eyes peeled,she just might be coming your way before she sets course for the long trip to Dubai.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

There has been a lot written and told about the Airfix company and how it started,it is hard to believe that over 50 years ago, I was witnessing events that were to change the whole concept of scale modelling forever,so how exactly did Airfix get on the route to success offering small scale model kits to the mass modelling market,or better still the small boy in the street ? well here is a little more to how it evolved and something that has not to my knowledge been written about before.
F.W.Woolworth's back in 1946 were a far cry from the same establishment we all know of today,many will remember the rows of counters each selling different wares and staffed by perhaps one young girl,to obtain your purchase you literally picked up the goods in your hands from the small counter trays and waved them frantically in the air if not to get noticed ! they had a section for just about everything,neatly laid out in wood and glass trays,as can be expected as a youngster my favourite counter was the one selling cheap toys,some of those toys are now worth a lot of money,basic shapes depicting ships,aeroplanes,tractors,cars all moulded in a very brittle cheap plastic,a lot different from the material we all know of today called styrene.
Woolworth's ran along the lines of affordable but attractive cheap lines,looking at the boring departments in todays modern shops full of video and CD's it is hard to believe how far removed these places were from then,one has to remember that people had just endured a world war and wanted housing and cheap goods to kit them out,amongst these departments were the plastic buckets,mops and other sundries associated with the domestic scene,and Woolworth's had a supplier for these items,a company called Airfix ! based in a sprawling factory complex at Haldane Place,London and equipped with then state of the art equipment capable of churning out a million buckets a week for Woolworth's,it is true to say that the directors of Airfix were on the cutting edge of moulding technology and knew their stuff,but why the transition from buckets to models ? well at that time a small affordable grey tractor was being sold to farmers all over the globe by a company called Massey Harris Ferguson,the company chairman sought new ways to publicise his products from driving a tractor up the steps at Earls Court to giving away small model tractors,and those small models were designed and produced by that same Airfix company that designed and made the buckets.
From the germ of an idea created by a tractor company Airfix were given permission by Massey Harris to sell some of the kits on the counters at F.W.Woolworth's,these tiny grey models were snapped up avidly by youngsters and those not so young and so the very first Airfix kits were born.
But Airfix were not the first kits ever sold in Woolworth's,the first ever model to come on the market was for a Bell 47 helicopter made by a company called Kleeware,Kleeware made those cheap plastic toys for the store at their UK factory,in fact the crude Bell helicopter design had been around a few years before in America and the company had copied the moulds bringing out the UK edition which sold in a plain blue and white printed box,here is a rare model from my collection showing how basic this model was,only the side stretchers are missing having been played with on the carpet air lifting wounded soldiers to safety.
The Airfix products Spitfire was loosely designed around the Aurora American moulds albeit done in 1=48th scale,these models will be remembered for being moulded in pale blue plastic,the reason being that Airfix had purchased huge quantities of pale blue plastic stock that lasted for years ! when the stock was exhausted they went over to the silver plastic,something that was far more expensive to them,however by that time who cared anyway ? as anyone who had the foresight to invest in the company was now very wealthy.So from these humble beginnings a product known all over the world was known,many many more manufacturers quickly got on the bandwagon and the rest as they say is history.


This insignificent looking model of a Bell 47G helicopter holds more importance than it first appears,this kit made by Kleeware was the first injection moulded plastic model aircraft kit made in the UK even before Airfix kits became an household name,the kit was in fact made from moulds brought over from America.
So this extremely rare model which survives today is an important part of scale modelling history.


During the nineteen fifties a small factory based at Haldane Place,London called Airfix,was making plastic utensils and buckets for F.W.Woolworths,one day a company called Massey Ferguson contracted Airfix to make small scale models of their famous little grey tractors to give away as gifts for publicity purposes,Airfix responded with a super little kit which was to be their very first venture into kit production,shortly afterwards they made a 1=72nd scale kit of a Supermarine Spitfire moulded in pale blue plastic with abnormally thin wings and not representing any particular mark of the machine,this was quickly followed by a Gloster Gladiator,Supermarine S.6B,DH.88 Comet Racer,Sopwith Pup and a Westland Sikorsky S-55 helicopter then some galleon kits,the models were a knockout and sold in their millions at branches of F.W.Woolworths who had a special counter for this product,every weekend thousands of schoolboys would flock to Woolworths clutching 2/- two old shillings for the smaller kits,3/- for the twins,and later 7/6 seven shillings and sixpence for the Lancaster,it is said that if you had invested heavily in Airfix at that time then you would have probably been very wealthy later on,in fact the company went from strength to strength producing an amazing range of model kits which quickly became an household name lilke 'Kodak' and 'Meccano'
As we enter yet another era in the history of Airfix products with the Hornby takeover it is hard to believe what humble beginnings they first came from.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

In honour of Juan De La Cierva,the inventor of the Autogyro.


Cierva was interested in flight as a young lad and experimented with gliders with his friends. After receiving his engineering degree, in 1918 he built the first trimotor airplane. Its crash in 1919 after a stall convinced him that aviation safety called for stall-proof aircraft that could make steep takeoffs and landings at slow speeds. He decided that only the wing and not the fuselage should be used to maintain lift. He began experimenting with rotating-wing aircraft in 1920 and developed the autogiro as a more stable form of aircraft. His first attempts with rigid rotors were unsuccessful. He then applied the idea of mounting the blades to the hub of the rotor on hinges so they could flap. This would equalize lift on advancing and retreating sides of the rotor while in forward flight.
His first successful flight with the autogiro took place on January 9 1923. The craft was equipped with a conventional propeller for forward flight and an articulated, or hinged, air-powered rotor blade that could be adjusted to balance lift. This technical breakthrough was necessary for the successful development of the helicopter, which ironically, replaced the autogiro around the time of World War II.
Cierva moved to England in 1925. His aircraft were further developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company of Great Britain getting companies interested in converting standard aircraft into autogiros such as Comper and Avro, as well as by U.S. and various continental companies. They were used widely in France, Germany, Japan, and the United States until World War II, when the helicopter replaced them.
Cierva died in a Douglas DC-2 crash on December 19, 1936, at Croydon,England leaving behind a legacy of building the first successful autogyro aircraft.
Today the Gyroplane has taken the principles of the autogyro as Cierva invented it,enthusiasts have applied this knowledge into small machines powered with pusher engines,there are some quite sophisticated examples flying some as two seat trainers.


A replica Cerva C.30A Autogiro that was built in Argentina and registered as LV-FBL now lives at Cuetro Ventos where Argentinian aeronautical artifacts are kept.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

The tiny Tipsy B series I G-AISB photographed at Cranfield on the occasion of the PFA Rally in 1989 climbs away steadily,this aircraft was later sold to its land of birth in Belgium as OO-EOT which incidently stands for its designers name E.O.Tips,a really delightful vintage aircraft which epitomised economical pre war flying.

Another Tipsy is G-AISA based at a strip called Coleford Tump,it is a 'B' series 1



The same aeroplane at Badminton on 26.7.87 much cherished by its owner G.A.Cull who has built a replica of a Comper Swift,the owner used to build free flight scale models and had plans published in Aeromodeller magazine of interesting light aircraft.



Popular pre war training and touring aeroplane was the B.A Swallow 2 basically an anglicised German Klemm fitted with the popular and reliable Pobjoy Cataract 3 engine,this one was impressed wartime as BK897 and now flies occasionly from Shobdon airfield in Herefordshire.



This replica DH.5 A9507/E N950JS was caught at Rendcombe RFC on 15.9.91 to celebrate the opening of this unique ex World War one airfield in the Cotswolds,the aircraft was lovingly built from scratch by John Baptist Shively in Florida where it was returned shortly after this photograph was taken,it is certainly one of the finest replica aircraft that I have had the pleasure to see first hand.



The distinctive profile of the JAP 99 engine as fitted in the wonderful little Aeronca C.3,known with affection as the 'Airknocker' or 'Flying Bathtub' it was the epitomy of cheap pre war flying.



Another view of the same aeroplane G-AEVS which was rebuilt at Breighton and uses some parts from G-AEXD,this particular one is a Aeronca 100 pictured at the Popular Flying Association rally 1994.



G-AEFT Aeronca C.3 visiting Badminton here on 26.4.87 whilst on a cross country from Middle Wallop,the aircraft is now lovingly cared for by Nick Chittendon and flys from the airstrip at Combrook in Warwickshire


The late Ben Cooper rebuilt this lovely example at his Hungerford strip,this is also a C3 and was photographed at Badminton on 26.4.87


The distinctive nose profile of the classic Aeronca C3 are shown to good effect in this view of G-AEFT,the aircraft was the subject of a television film called 'Flying for Fun' set in the 1930's



Ryan PT-22 owned by Vic Norman seen here at R.A.F Halton.

G-BPUD Ryan PT-22 is now no more having crashed into a cornfield when the flaps were raised after an overshoot,the aircraft now acts as a spares ship for Old Warden based G-BTBH owned by Peter Holloway.

The PT Formation Vultee Valiant,Ryan PT-22 and Fairchild PT-19.

TBM Grumman Avenger and PBY Catalina G-BLSC.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

tigertc

For some reason i am not able to see the pictures. All i see is a hosted by tripod message. Wos goin on?

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The artist aka GREY WOLF I

Bunkerbarge

Same here I'm afraid.

duncan

No pics here either just Tripod logo.

wonwinglo

Very odd,everything showing this end,are you receiving the ones in the post prior to this ? done with the same software,let me know,meanwhile I will investigate.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/