Pathfinder flyin today.

A great day for flying here in the high country. 4 pilots, and 3 different versions of Pathfinders.

Ron showed up with his much repaired Brodak ARF version. Ron is a returning pilot and re learning the pattern.

Norm Whittle, a contender at any contest, designer of the Playboy, and the Sultans, brought out his Pathfinder twin.

Gordan making the first flights on his latest Pathfinder, and myself flying and getting used to mine.

I took pictures of Gordy's and mine together, as well as prep and initial flight preperation for his new plane.

His comes in at 59 oz's and flew real well right off the board. He has a few trim issues he wants to work out, but still flew a full pattern on the second flight. A Super Tiger .51 powers the beast.

Mine has gassed off a little, and weighs in at 65.2 oz's. I'm really getting into this plane. It flies quite well even at this altitude.

The first pic is Gordy and Norm discussing last minute prep.


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Getting ready to start the engine.




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The engine is running.




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The justifiably proud pilot




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Gordy's and my Pathfinder LE's




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Gordan....what prop and spinner and muffler are you running on your
Tigre .51 ?
Thanks,
Geno (Gene O'Keefe)

Geno,
I`m running a Brian Eather Three blade 11 3\4x4.8,and the spinner is a Randy Smith. The Muffler is a Scott Dinger. Muffler tube is only 25grams. Randy`s spinners are very nice.This one was just under 1 ounce. Hope this helps.

Gordy

Nice bunch of airplanes! However,Jim Mayfield designed the original Playboy!

Bart

Bart
Thanks for clarifying that Jim Mayfield designed the original elliptical wing Playboy. I think John meant the '68 Olathe NATS Playboy that most folks know about today, which in relative stunt terms I designed. Just as we commonly regard you as the designer of the Tempest, of course it is also common knowledge, the Tempest has the same moments and layout as Dick Williams Electra. I just happen to to name my airplane (numbers wise not even close to the original) the same as Jim's, yes Jim Mayfield came over to my house and helped me layout the 68 Playboy. The ’68 Playboy is a completely different design then his original Playboy. It is actually based more on the Adonis design then the Playboy. There are countless examples of “original design” that have the same numbers or where drawn over another designer plans - this is not one of them.
No one holds Jim Mayfield in higher regards then I do; it is unfortunate that Bill Sawyer did not copy the “designed by” block of the AutoCAD plans that I sent him when he kitted the Playboy. It should be noted that someone else redrew the plans and put his name on them. It clearly delineated that the basic layout was done by Jim Mayfield and the shapes were by Norman Whittle. I have never tried to take credit for someone else’s work and I hope that is not what you were implying. I have included pictures of the Rodger Barrett build “original elliptical Playboy” my ’68 Playboy and the original Minado designed by Tom Warden.
Norm


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I just absalutly love classic beamers!!!
Dwayne


Keep a handle on em!