Melton Roadrunners..

Bill Melton told me that he and Jim Young built at least 25 Roadrunners, in various configurations. I thought you might like to see some old photos of a few of his Roadrunners.

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First, if you think Windy Urtnowski invented the spit shine on stunters, take a look at this photo. First difference to notice is the "apple cheek" cowls. (Photo has a developer date of Nov 69.)

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Here are a couple more birds, with cheek cowls. Notice the shape of the stab/elevator changing. Also the sweep on the canopy. I think the tail moment has increased a little too.

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Another big old pretty bird, this one still lives. Dave Carlson has it. It is a light green with yellow and black trim. Notice the longer and skinnier aft fuselage. I believe this had a K&B .40 in it.

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I believe this might be the ship *I* crashed. It was light red, a beautiful thing, and I got it at a club auction (Carlson got the green one..). I was just barely up to the pattern, and I stupidly killed this airplane, after maybe 5 flight. (I know, I should be horse whipped.)

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For comparison, here's Bill's "Uncle Sam", which was an enlarged RR, styled only slightly differently. Although he flew it a couple of times, it mostly hung in his garage while I knew him (Bill was concentrating on carrier). After his death, I cleaned up this ship and took photos (and cardboard templates) of it.

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Finally, here's the man himself, at VSC, with three Roadrunners. Left to right was Gary Marchand's (same yellow/zia red scheme he uses on his big Chaparrel) Lyman Lew's (he and I met on the internet and I talked him into building this ship), and mine. (I wish I could find a photo of Mark Bowen's black Roadrunner, it won the concurs at VSC one year..)

Enjoy.

(Hey, I wonder if a RR with cheek cowls on it would be legal for Classic?)

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"I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing." -Oscar Wilde

Larry Something I noticed many years ago is that the Roadrunner and the Cobra numbers are very close.I have built four Cobras but always thought the Roadrunner was better looking.I may build one yet.
Ed

I remember Bill mentioning the similarities between the RR and Cobra. As to whether one is a chicken and the other is an egg, I wouldn't know.

Bill Melton got his PhD at the University of Chicago, and I think he flew with some of the original Detroiters during that period, which influenced his thinking. I got the distinct impression that the Detroiter designs were almost "top secret" if you weren't in the inner circle.

I'm not sure the Cobra qualifies as a "Detroiter", would we say that about ALL I-beamers?

One thing for sure, the RR and Cobra both have that classic grace about them. No flat bottomed fuselages! Overly large, gorgeous wing shapes. Fine, slender fuselage, and stab. Wheel pants. ART..

I'm happy to see exposure of Bill's own variations on the RR. Although the standard stab was pretty, Bill's stab was enlarged and somehow more exotic! Also, the rudder got smaller and smaller, with a similar shape.

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Here's the original rudder, versus one on a much later model.

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And here's the enlarged stab, versus one on the same later ship. This went with a longer tail moment.

As Bill said, no two of his ships were exactly alike. (The above shapes are from my CAD files, which were plotted from cardboard tracings, these made from the red Roadrunner of Bill's that I crashed and destroyed..)

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"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." -Babe Ruth

>
>(Hey, I wonder if a RR with cheek cowls on it would be legal
>for Classic?)
>
Bill,
Should be legal, as the Classic Rules only require "reasonable proof". These old photos are definitely reasonable proof .

I will be seeing Jim Young saturday.. Can't wait to show all the photos you have been sending!

Hey Tom,
Long time no see..How are you??? Tell John D. I said hello.I really like the Roadrunner...I lived in New Mexico for 7 yrs, "No stunt Zone" Taos, elevation 8.000.ft...I tried to fly W. Midgley's 60 up there and found it impossible..What was the standard weight aim with the "Roadrunner", and I also heard the plane was designed strictly for higher elevation flying..Was that true??? What engine do you use for yours, and was it set-up for a fox????Thanks David

Not to horn in here, David.. but

Bill Melton told me about flying a stunt contest at Los Alamos. He said the Roadrunner flew tolerably, but several conventional stunt ships "were falling out of the sky"..

He commented on an opposite effect flying the RR at sea level. He said it was so light he kept decreasing prop size and richening the engine, until the Fox .35 was just popping along in a 4/8 break, slobbering rich..

The M.A.N. construction article calls the RR a "high-altitude stunter".

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"Managers who are skilled communicators may also be good at covering up real problems." -Chris Argyris

Thanks Larry,
I know you from N.M.--We have spoke before--Real quick--Didn't you or another New Mexican get that 60 stunter I onced owned???? Thanks David

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>
>First, if you think Windy Urtnowski invented the spit shine
>on stunters, take a look at this photo.

Look at that... that is a lot of spit.

Dave,
Yes, long time no see.. A great big HELLO.

Jim Young had also told me that there were several different airfoils used on the Roadrunner series due to altitude concerns and NM air. I will talk to him more on this tommorrow.

According to Jim, Bill had built many of the original airplane variations, and Jim ended up with one of them. Bill and Jim became friends and then decided to work on a version together.. this ended up in M.A.N.. Jim is still flying variations of the design that are larger with a pipe.

Jim also says that the traditional "Roadrunner paint scheme" was by Bill.

Hi Guys,
I was lucky enough to go to the 1967 Nats at Los Alamitos with my dad. He took this picture of Bill Melton's Roadrunner.
Chris...

Larry,
Saw Jim Young yesterday at the Gleason's annual fish fry.

First, the group photo in the other RR thread was apparently at a contest. He only recognized a few in the photo. Jim is NOT in the photo. He thinks that the guy on the right with the hat was from El Paso, but he is not sure.

It is interesting that you show the rudder layouts. Jim actually brought that subject up.

Jim said that when they were working on the RR that was in the M.A.N. article, they argued for days about the rudder shape. (They both wanted to have it look less Ares-like.) They finally drew a line between their individual rudder sketches and that is where it ended up! In short, they compromised!

Tom Niebuhr