What did you fly today?

[Elbee]

Today, I completed the 100th successful flight of my E Flite 1.5 M P-51D.

I'm hoping something new and appealing will be coming down the line from Motion or Anybody that I'd like to buy one of their new models. I have been very active in this hobby for 25 years, and am slowly moving away from the hobby, unless something new revitalizes it. We'll see. It's been a great run, anyway, for me.

Cheers

Davegee

Congrats on the 100th flight.

Quite an accomplishment or would be for me.

I get your "hobby malaise" feeling.

Good to take a break now and then and like f4u ausie, I can't imagine you not chiming in or posting a build.

I don't know about any new scale aircraft releases from any manufacturer.

It would be nice to have something new, fresh, and exciting from someone.


I'd like a P-51 B with the Malcolm Hood in 1600-1700mm, but figure I'll have to build that from scratch.

Similarly to jetfool, I have a Brian Taylor kit (Tempest short kit) if things get too dull building foamies .

Hang in there, Dave, we've all been there, heck I was thinking about 3D printing a submarine.

Best, Steve

[davegee]

Congratulations on the 100th flight. The plane still looks great. Hoping like you that something new comes out soon, Hellcat, SBD, P-51 anything. I have been slowly building a Brian Taylor Japanese 64" George and cutting parts for a BT ME-109F 61", both will be electric. It's nice building with wood again.
I hope you don't leave the R/C sport

Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. I hope like you and many others do that they come up with something really cool that will get me back on the bandwagon. I like planes like the SR-71 and others that they have come out with, but it's just not practical on our short and very rough runway. The prop planes work best for me up here, anyway. But even those suffer from the rough conditions of our field. At 100 flights, my P-51 was really pretty worn out. My FMS F-86 and Freewing F9F Cougar can operate out of this field, alhough it is a challenge.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that they are working on something that will really be a great addition to our RC fleets!

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Great job Dave and as always. Great story to go with it!!! Mine has similar maybe few more flights.. finally converted it to spectrum.. just waiting for a retract.. needs new paint.. red tail ime sure.... They have talked bout a new single prop bird... But the tarrifs may change that..... I'm liking the jets.. but could b cohersed into a f6f or p47. 1600..

B safe have fun and if U quit. Keep in contact with the team

Hi F4u aussie: I totally agree with you. A really good F6F Hellcat or bubbletop P-47 would put me in the groove again. I'm just worried that guys like you and me might be gradually swept away as younger modelers with different interests start to flex their power and influence in the hobby. Nothing wrong with that, but I hope our generation of modelers can still have a voice to get some of our favorite models produced before we are too old and few to justify the cost of building them.

I might have told this story somewhere in a previous entry, but if not, there is a humorous story that goes with the pilot of that Hun Hunter from Texas. The pilot, Henry Brown, had about 14 air kills and 14 ground kills during his time before he was captured by the Germans. He was a real nemesis and by that time of the war, I'm sure inexperienced German pilots that flew against Americans probably were watching for him and try to survive by tucking tail and running instead of trying to fight him. I think in October 1944, Brown voluntarily landed his airplane next to his commander's plane who had to make a forced landing in a field. He probably hoped to grab his commander and squeeze him in the cockpit with him and fly to safety (this was done on a number of times by other pilots! ) He ended up getting stuck in the mud and they were soon rounded up by the Germans and off to one of the stalags.

Enter my friend, Bill Getz. Bill had finished his 31 mission combat tour flying B-24s. He wanted to stay in the fight, though, since his brother, a medical doctor on the front lines with Patton, was fighting over there. The Scouting Forces were just starting, recruiting former bomber pilots willing to check out in new P-51Ds and fly ahead of the bomber streams, radioing back to report important info like weather ahead over the target, enemy fighters, flak,etc.

You might notice that the call letters on the fuselage are WR*Z. When Bill got his new plane in October 1944 to start his work with the Scouts, Brown had just recently been captured. Oddly enough, Bill's new plane had the same markings as Brown's plane (which was no longer) had. Bill found on some of his combat sorties, keeping in mind he and the other Scouts were not trained as fighter pilots but were bomber pilots flying fighters, he noticed that on several occasions, when he encountered a German fighter, they would suddenly break off their attack and quickly leave the area. Bill got to thinking that maybe, they saw those call letters and not knowing that Brown was now in a German POW camp, thought Bill was Brown, and they wanted nothing to do with him!

Bill got in contact with Henry Brown after the war and they had some laughs over it.

Brown's nickname among his fighter buddies was "Baby" probably because he looked like a little kid, even though he as 21 years old! I like that he and my mom shared the same birthday of January 25, 1923. Bill Getz passed away in 2023 at the age of 99.

Cheers


Davegee

[f4u ausie]

Great job Dave and as always. Great story to go with it!!! Mine has similar maybe few more flights.. finally converted it to spectrum.. just waiting for a retract.. needs new paint.. red tail ime sure.... They have talked bout a new single prop bird... But the tarrifs may change that..... I'm liking the jets.. but could b cohersed into a f6f or p47. 1600..

B safe have fun and if U quit. Keep in contact with the team

[jetfool]

Congratulations on the 100th flight. The plane still looks great. Hoping like you that something new comes out soon, Hellcat, SBD, P-51 anything. I have been slowly building a Brian Taylor Japanese 64" George and cutting parts for a BT ME-109F 61", both will be electric. It's nice building with wood again.
I hope you don't leave the R/C sport

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Today, I completed the 100th successful flight of my E Flite 1.5 M P-51D. I decided with the very rough treatment it has gotten through the years on our runway, it is worn out enough to hang up in the rafters in the garage in retirement. My other P-51D just made it out to the East coast this week to a collector for his private display. He wrote a book on the pilot of LOU IV, and his forebears who go back to the Confederate general in the Civil War, Thomas J. Jackson. Fascinating history. The pilot of LOU IV was killed on a dive bombing mission in northern France in the summer of 1944. He was the great grandson of Jackson, a West Point graduate and brave airman and commander of the 361st Fighter Group "Yellow Jackets" out of England during that war.

The pilot of the plane retired today was Captain Henry Brown, one of the top USAAF aces in the war until he was forced down and captured by the Germans for the duration of the war.

I'm hoping something new and appealing will be coming down the line from Motion or Anybody that I'd like to buy one of their new models. I have been very active in this hobby for 25 years, and am slowly moving away from the hobby, unless something new revitalizes it. We'll see. It's been a great run, anyway, for me.

Cheers

Davegee

[F106DeltaDart]

F106DeltaDart

Love the Typhoon, I have a short kit of Brian Taylor's .60 sized model that needs my attention (bucket list).

I want the B-1B badly, just can't seem to fit one in yet. So awesomely cool, Sir.

Best, LB

Very cool! A .60 size model would be the perfect size for one. The B-1B flies quite nicely, the Version 2 with the new gyro was really the trick.

[Elbee]

F106DeltaDart

Love the Typhoon, I have a short kit of Brian Taylor's .60 sized model that needs my attention (bucket list).

I want the B-1B badly, just can't seem to fit one in yet. So awesomely cool, Sir.

Best, LB

[f4u ausie]

The b1 is so interesting. Had bad vibes early... Great pics overall

[F106DeltaDart]

Had an excellent day of flying. Brought out the Xfly B-1B, 500 Huey, and FMS Typhoon. Still getting used to how floaty the B-1B gets on landing.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out yesterday with a few, especially one of my F18'S that I just put an 8S fan in. Our grass runway has been getting plenty of rain/sun and even cut short, the F18 started to get difficult to get in the air. On the verge of stalling after hitting top speed on the thick grass runway. Cure: install the 1375 kv 8S 12 blade!!

Starting to become an 8S power junkie! For grass runways, the only way to go, not to mention how much better these edf's fly with more power, 25-35% going to 8S. May never get a 6S 90mm again. Now have on 8S, 2 F4's, Eurofighter, F16 V1 and 1 F18. The 2nd will follow soon. Easy installation, but the bank account hurts something awful!

Put together a short video of primarily the take-offs of the F18 and F4 (upgraded a year ago). All 8S fly on either a SMC 8S HiV 5900 or 4900.

You can see in the first photo our resident lawn mowers just ain't living up to expectations.
Would make sweet BBQ though.

[Elbee]

Now that is funny.

[f4u ausie]

Hugh not to mention Lotsa planes to transport in just one Kenworth

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out again last Friday for a great, but HOT day of flying a few favorites. All flew great as usual but the summer grass is making the F18 difficult to get off. In late fall/winter/early spring, the grass (bermuda) is not as thick and F18 gets off fine. In summer, though cut to the same length, it's much lusher and thick, seriously inhibiting the take off run. Just gets off, but very near stall speed, causing a violent roll usually left but occasionally right. Just barely able to save it, but always need to change my shorts. Both my F18'S have the older 6S 12 blade, but just ordered one 8S setup that's in my 2 F4's and F16 V1 to try in the F18. The extra weight won't be welcomed, but the additional thrust may help summer flights. On 6S using a HiV SMC 5900, get over 5 minutes, but now with the extra long take off run that sure ate into that. Will try an 8S HiV SMC 4900 (use in my 8S Euro fighter) and maybe get 31/2 to 4, or it will be a total disaster.

[davegee]

Great story Dave, always nice to hear about personal encounters with those we loved watching fly. Was deeply saddened when he went down, but at least it was when doing something he loved.

Yes, it was definitely a passion for him and his girlfriend that I knew through a training trip. It was dangerous, though, and they knew and appreciated that the worst could and did happen, more often than they liked to think about it. They lost several friends who did aerobatic perfomances on the circuit.

Bryan loved the airplane that you have the rc model of. In the short period of time I had to visit with him on the flight deck of a 747-400 parked at the gate, he showed me a photo book of his beautiful "The Beast" that he had taken at various times of the day, including the "golden hour" early in the morning and right after the sun set, which is arguably the best time of the day to photograph things, including aircraft. I was impressed by his photography and his incredible aerobatic flying. He's been gone for 14 years now, and I still think of him sometimes. I know he would have loved that you have a beautiful aerobatic RC model of his plane.

Davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Great looking airplane, Hugh. I always get a slight twinge when I see one, after its pilot was killed in what might have been the only type of this aircraft in an airshow in Kansas City back in 2011. I did not know the owner and pilot Bryan Jensen very well, but was checking out his girlfriend as a new first officer on the 747-400 aircraft not long before his unfortunate mishap (she was also an accomplished aerobatic pilot.). I got to talk to him briefly and answer a few questions for him about his upcoming checkout on the 747-400 as a captain, and that was the only time I met him. He was a very capable pilot and really wrung out his "The Beast" with impressive aerobatics. We were all saddened to hear of his passing. I'm glad you are flying an r/c replica of his airplane. I think of him every time I see a picture of it.

Cheers

Davegee

Great story Dave, always nice to hear about personal encounters with those we loved watching fly. Was deeply saddened when he went down, but at least it was when doing something he loved.

[davegee]

Got out the other day with an odd collection of aircraft and had a nice day, minimal winds and only 92 degree temps , quite cool for our summer! As always, the Corsair is just so much fun to fly, 12 minutes on an SMC HiV 5900! It has a sound card and speakers in it giving the double wasp engine sound and the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun sounds that give observing members a chuckle. Occasionally someone always asks me if it is really an electric. Also got my long ago discontinued Beast BiPlane out. Don't get to fly it as much as I like since I do not take the wings off and it takes up a lot of space that way in the truck, but it is a blast to fly and performs aerobatics and hovers as easily as any of my other 3D planes. This was the 3rd aircraft I bough years ago as I was completely enamored with it (at the time way out of my league), and today still one of the few that's never crashed. It too has a sound system in it with a radial engine sound!

Great looking airplane, Hugh. I always get a slight twinge when I see one, after its pilot was killed in what might have been the only type of this aircraft in an airshow in Kansas City back in 2011. I did not know the owner and pilot Bryan Jensen very well, but was checking out his girlfriend as a new first officer on the 747-400 aircraft not long before his unfortunate mishap (she was also an accomplished aerobatic pilot.). I got to talk to him briefly and answer a few questions for him about his upcoming checkout on the 747-400 as a captain, and that was the only time I met him. He was a very capable pilot and really wrung out his "The Beast" with impressive aerobatics. We were all saddened to hear of his passing. I'm glad you are flying an r/c replica of his airplane. I think of him every time I see a picture of it.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Took my FMS F-86F and Freewing F/A-18C up again today. Yesterday, I took my F-18 up for the first time since last spring, so I was a bit rusty. The flight went pretty well, except one of the main gear would not come up all the way, but flew pretty well for that extra drag on it. On landing, it came down ok touched down on the left side of the runway, but I messed up a bit trying to keep it from going off the side of the runway rolling out. That didn't go so well, and it departed the runway and damaged the plastic nose gear mount. Other than that, it was remarkably free of damage, and I got a bonus in that the nose gear retract was not damaged and I didn't have to replace that! But I did spend serveral hours with it in the shop to try to fly it again today.

This morning, I took up both the FMS F-86 and the F-18 Hornet. This morning's flight went much better with the Hornet, and it flew very well (and quickly!) around the field doing a few aerobatic maneuvers, and this time actually staying on and stopping on the runway with the electronic wheel brakes that I have installed. My later airplanes all have reversible speed controllers for reverse thrust. Although not realistic with fighter jet aircraft, I do find the reverse thrust is very effective on keeping the airplane stopped before the end of our relatively short runway at 5,300 feet MSL. There is nasty sagebrush and rocks all around the runway so you do NOT want to go into the weeds with a foam airplane, if at all possible!!

This airplane has several 3D printed improvements courtesy of Elbee for extra details which are awesome, amd I think I got the STL files for the removable Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips from Thinigverse or Cults online programs. I"ve had those for a couple of years.


Cheers, Davegee

e

[Elbee]

Hugh Wiedman

Good lookin' bipe.

Best, LB

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out the other day with an odd collection of aircraft and had a nice day, minimal winds and only 92 degree temps , quite cool for our summer! As always, the Corsair is just so much fun to fly, 12 minutes on an SMC HiV 5900! It has a sound card and speakers in it giving the double wasp engine sound and the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun sounds that give observing members a chuckle. Occasionally someone always asks me if it is really an electric. Also got my long ago discontinued Beast BiPlane out. Don't get to fly it as much as I like since I do not take the wings off and it takes up a lot of space that way in the truck, but it is a blast to fly and performs aerobatics and hovers as easily as any of my other 3D planes. This was the 3rd aircraft I bough years ago as I was completely enamored with it (at the time way out of my league), and today still one of the few that's never crashed. It too has a sound system in it with a radial engine sound!