Mystery Ships

After seeing Randy's old photos and supplying a few myself, I started looking through my box of old pics and came up with a few I thought I'd have some fun with. There are four pictures below that were all taken within a day or so of each other. Can anyone identify the plane and the flyer. All are well known PA contestants. There are a few people out there who know exactly who they all belong to but let's see what guesses come in. Also take a guess at what competition they were all at.
I'll post the answers in a few days along with some specs on the planes and powerplants as I know them.

>After seeing Randy's old photos and supplying a few myself,
>I started looking through my box of old pics and came up
>with a few I thought I'd have some fun with. There are four
>pictures below that were all taken within a day or so of
>each other. Can anyone identify the plane and the flyer.
>All are well known PA contestants. There are a few people
>out there who know exactly who they all belong to but let's
>see what guesses come in. Also take a guess at what
>competition they were all at.

Last two are easy. Last one particularly so - since his initials are on the tail!

Yea, Anatoly Kolesnikov (sp?) for the last. Don't know the contest.

The second to the bottom looks like a Claus Maikus plane, but I don't remember the name.

I've seen both the top two, but have no idea where.

snip Also take a guess at what
>competition they were all at.
snip

Yes....They all WERE from the same competition.

Yes....The ladies were dressed nicely there, except on Sunday, weren't they Al!

The first ship looks like a Gene Schaeffer Statesman. It was probably not built by Gene as Gene used to use alot of white paint jobs. He also used as I called it; "Miami Vice" colors back when that was popular in New York.

Second to bottom is Claus Maiks' Messershmitt ME-35.

I have not a clue but I wish one of them was in my hanger.
Thanks
Paul

LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-04 AT 07:49 AM (CDT)
 
Second plane is Zhang Xiandong's Skywriter. It looks like the one that flew (and crashed!) at the Worlds in Chicopee in '84.

The top one ... I'm pretty sure that's Bill Werwage's infamous "Hungarian Bull".

That top one looks a lot like the "USA" that Billy built around 1984, but I never did see the "BULL".
It has a definite Werwage look to it (w/Bob Hunt Genesis overtones)!
Must be the last time the Worlds were in the US.
Bill <><

LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-04 AT 08:56 AM (CDT)
 
1986, at least for most of these planes. World Champs were in Hungary that year (hence, "Hungarian Bull" ...)

I got to see the "Bull" fly right before the 1986 WCs - Bill came out to NJ for a few days and both he and Jim Casale put in some practice flights at the old Bradlees' flying site. Jim actually had a real nice smaller plane, but the foam wing of the plane folded right before the WCs and he had to switch to his previous year's plane as a back-up for actual competition.

The Skywriter was the only one I thought was 1984 - at least the version of it that's in the picture - but I'm probably wrong on that one (especially since Alan said the pictures were taken within 1-2 days of each other!!). Either way, it's Zhang Xiandong's plane.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-04 AT 11:00 AM (CDT)
 
Mike,
Actually the Skywriter that most are familiar with surfaced in 1988 in Kiev. Arden won the Worlds that year and followed it up with another victory two years later in France. We spent quite a bit of time together in Kiev so I was able to get a very good look at the inner workings of his model. My own "Journey" design was a direct copy of the Chinese method of take-apart construction. I built the "Journey" for the 1990 WC in France and I still have it in its specially made carring case.
I guess he did call it's predecessors "Skywriter". In our conversations that name was never mentioned before 1988 but I now notice that the name is on the vertical stab.
Tom Dixon imported a few of the planes he built for sale prior to his moving to North America. They had a pretty hefty price tag as they were take-apart that fit in a suitcase sized box and could include one of his home-built engines.
Alan

LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-04 AT 08:56 AM (CDT)
 
The competition was the World Championships in 1986, in Pecs, Hungary.
Congrats to all the PA experts. I really figured that the first photo might be the stumper. It is indeed the plane used by Bill Werwage and I hope Bill doesn't find out that I actually posted a picture of it. I'm pretty sure that it might be the low point of Bill's wonderful design tradition. Check out the rudder. The plane did fly fairly well as it was very light as all of Bill's planes are. Powered by a ST 60 with a tongue muffler, the wing wasn't much larger than that of a USA-1.

Number 2 is the predecessor to the Skywrighter by Zhang Xiang Dong (Arden Zhang, now living in Canada). This plane was quite a bit different than its 2 time WC winning successor. More of a high AR type model with the same home-made 10cc motor. These motors were RE and were almost direct copies of the ST 60. Had about the same power and runing characteristics. The Chinese used and mostly still use laminated three blade props made of wood that looks like bamboo. The control system on his models were set up very fast. When he first came to Canada, he spent several days with me and I saw that the bellcranks in his models had a line spacing of around 2.5 inches. PW flew the 4 stroke model he had with him and admitted that it was a very honest flying plane.

Number 3 is indeed one of Claus Maikis' beautiful designs. I've always admired his wonderful use of suttle color changes in his paint schemes. Anyone who hasn't read his 2 part article that was in Stunt News some years ago, and wants to design some better paint layouts, should get reprints or borow someones copies. The plane was powered by a ST 46 as was the second model he had with him that year.

Nuber 4 is the wonderful model of Anatoly Kolesnikov. Powered by a home made 9.5 cc RE design engine. This was a really wonderful model that would sit in the first row in appearance at any US Nats. Very light in weight with meticulous workmanship and a wonderful paint scheme. Anatoly was somewhat of an unknown when he arrived in Pecs but quickly showed his mastery of the event. He walked away with the championship that year.

Alan,

Hey, this was pretty fun. Do you have more pictures?

>Yes....They all WERE from the same competition.

>Yes....The ladies were dressed nicely there, except on Sunday, weren't they Al!

>P Walker

Now that the pictures have been covered nicely (thanks, Al), what in the heck is PW talking about?

I can probably find out this weekend at a favorite practice site. But don't any of you out there want to know what this oblique message refers to?

Dan,
I hate to say it but I'm sworn to secrecy. You might be able to talk Paul into telling you. See if he remembers Kolesnikov's victory celebration at the banquet and the wonderful 110 octain liquor that Zawada served up.
Alan

Alan,

And I hate to say it, but you are not known to have standards high enough to preclude spilling all the beans next time we get together. Very much looking forward to the tale...

As to Russian booze, impress me if you can. But be forewarned: I have swilled down vodka which was home-brewed by Russians. I am not much of a drinker and if it had not been for the Red Menace I'd still be wandering the 'burbs of St. Pete.

They might not have much nitromethane over there, but the vodka, at least the kind made under conditions we probably would not want to know much about, is incredibly powerful stuff!

(Where are the smiley faces which look like they are retching when we really need them?)

What ya gonna be flying this year? And when are you going to furnish me with a copy of your super-trick pitch gauge?

Dan,
I don't think the stuff Piotr had was vodka in the pure sense but it was sorta clear. I was 5 feet away when he opened the bottle and was sure the hall we were in was going to be cleared for the explosion hazard. Good times were had by all and I mean all. There was a giant FAI flag draped over the balcony that the Canadians thought would be cool to have and everyone was having so much fun we just went up the stairs and in front of several hundred people just rolled the thing up and took it back to the hotel.
I found Anatoly wedged in a corner of the room as it was the only way he could remain standing. A bottle of Canadian Club convinced him to come and join us for a few more.
Oh, by the way here is picture of the new ship. Saito 72 and 62 oz.

Gee Alan, it's a cool looking plane. You should smile more.