wonwinglo

J.D.Mc Hard sadly departed us doing what he enjoyed best last year-Flying model aircraft,this craftsman was a legend in his own lifetime producing some of the the most functional and beautiful model subjects.
Doug would always find time to chat and share his knowledge and he certainly had a wealth of the latter.
Serving in the Royal air force as a photographer and very much involved with the RAFMAA ( Model aircraft association ) he will be remembered for his experiments with canard designs called the Swede,Super Swede etc these he flew from Wellesbourne Mountford airfield at weekends and he even developed a twin engined version with fuel cut out via single fuel tank,Model aircraft magazine covered these models in great depth and he left a legacy of knowledge for those wishing to carry on the experiments in this field.
His career started at the famous Dagra Engineering at Eaton Bray,Beds where he served his apprenticeship which was to see him well established in commercial model design in later years,he went on to become editor of Tri-ang magazine and just before the demise of the Meccano concern in Liverpool edited the ailing Meccano magazine and nursed it to life again,after this he set about establishing Somerville models at his new home in Lincoln together with his wife who did the painting,he produced the brass masters for small die-cast cars which are now highly sought after collectors pieces,the Saab company realised his skills and commissioned batches of models for distribution throughout their dealership.
But again Doug was well known for another aspect of aeromodelling,the small scale rubber and Co.2 models which he designed and produced and which he flew all over the country,many of these miniature works of art were recently auctioned off and went into collections all over the world,one of his favourite designs was the Curtiss Hawk flown by Williams the aerobatic ace,finished in orange and black he built more than one of this design successfully.
When he left the R.A.F he left a cache of models behind at Wellesbourne and I bequethed his Super Swede,after a few years I wrote to him and told him how I had restored this airframe,he was delighted and a friendship was struck.
There are inspirational people in this world and Doug Mc Hard was certainly one of them,a true pioneer in every sense.

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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 !'
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