Two Unique OTS ships

A good friend gave me some "Model Craftsman" magazines from the mid to later 40"s. Included in the issues are two very unusual OTS designs.
One, a winner in stunt at a contest in Cleveland in 1945 is a plane called the Pirate. It is really uinique in that it resemblies a Stuka somewhat in the front and an Ercoupe in the aft end. The plans show it set up for spark of course, and it has a very unique bellcrank called a "control plate" that is made from soldering wire in a typical bellcrank shape. The Pirate also has some dihedrial , 30" span, landing lights and wing mounted landing gear.

The second plane is REALLY different.It is called the Thunderwin and can actually do slow or snap rolls in either direction as well as the normal CL functions. It was designed by Fran McElwee, a ex P-51 pilot. It has about a 35 " span, is full bodied, and is designed around a sparkie. There is a full page plan for the devise one needs to build to get this plane to do rolls. It sems to me that one would have to be an expierenced machinist or have one as a good friend to build this devise. From a picture and the plans, it looks like the flying lines do not go through the wing, but into a section in front of the wing which when activated allows the plane to roll while still maintaining line tension.

I have no ability at this time to scan these articles and pass them on through this forum, but would be more than happy to make copies of the articles and then pass them along to interested parties for the cost of mailing,let's say $1.00 for stamps and large envelope.
If you are interested or want to show up at a VSC with something REALLY UNUSUAL give me a jingle via e-mail.

Oh, almost forgot, have an article and plans from another issue for a speed job called The Atomic which is also available.

Joe Just
<[email protected]>

I love looking at those old magazines! I came across a very early Berkeley "The Atomic" kit about a year ago. One of Berkeleys first kits. I wonder if its the same one. If I remember right it was a .60 sized maybe 32" wing speed/sport plane. Ya Right! Its just fun to see the go cart plans, back yard garden bench that rolls and other plans in those mags. Wayyyyyy to much fun! Bruce H

I have one of the early Berkley kits The BAT neet model even has tube Berkley cement in it {when was the last time you saw a tube of cement
given in a kit} not stunt but speed & get this featuring AUTOTROL rudder & elevator control too compsate for wind & wind gusts maybe I should check it out & instal on my next OTS model anyway interesting stuff

Albert

fishnfly

LAST EDITED ON Nov-08-03 AT 00:11 AM (CST)
 
"Autotrol" appeared on a few Berkeley kits in the immediate post-WW-2 era, I had a couple P-51 kits that featured it. They also had retractable landing gear!
The Pirate was kitted by Consolidated (as I recall, may have been Enterprise tho). A modernized descendant was published in Flying Models in the early '60s.

The Pirate was a Don McGovern design, he was the former editor of F.M now deceased. This gentelman made some of the most unique, interesting models of the time. He also did most of the plans for Berkley in the late 40's and 50's. He had plans for the Pirate published in F.M in 1966.
As a footnote Nick Ziroli did a large R/C rendition of the plane in the early 90's, I don't think the plan was a commercial success but I have a copy of it around somewhere.
Dennis