What did you fly today?

[davegee]

Had a gorgeous day to fly today in northwest WY. Brought my LOU IV P-51D for four flights and my B-25J Cactus Kitten for 5 flights.

I did a parafrag bomb drop with the B-25 on one of the flights, dropping 5 "bombs" which landed in a line about 10 feet long from first to last pattern on the ground. They were released roughly15- 20 feet above the ground. The real planes carried as many as 50 to 75 of these light (23 pounds each) but very destructive and deadly bombs that exploded on contact like hand grenades, blowing apart into hundreds of shrapnel pieces that would wreck vehicles, airplanes, runways, ships, or personnel.

The P-51 LOU IV was just flawless today. I've had issues with its twin Hun Hunter, which I think has a problem with the tailwheel strut not staying screwed down with the set screw, causing it to make some gyrations on the landing rollout, usually at very low speeds but dragging a wingtip sometimes when it ground loops. I have ordered a whole new tailwheel retract and strut and hopefully that will allow for more straightforward takeoffs and landings like LOU IV did today.

[davegee]

Don't normally fly thru the week.been waiting for a light winds window .. for 90mm Avanti maiden. 2 flights good.. trimmed and got a feel now..very easy to fly.. love the slow flight my f4 definitely cannot do that

True on the F4, F4uaussie!. Mine had a hard landing that I decided not to fly it anymore, and harvested all the usable parts from it. I haven't given up on buying a ARF+ and flying that around someday, but I have too many planes in my fleet right now. But I loved how it streaked by when I fliew it! It needed to fly fast.

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

Don't normally fly thru the week.been waiting for a light winds window .. for 90mm Avanti maiden. 2 flights good.. trimmed and got a feel now..very easy to fly.. love the slow flight my f4 definitely cannot do that

[davegee]

Davegee,
Beautiful aircraft and panoramic background.

Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, great morning to fly!

d

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Beautiful aircraft and panoramic background.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

I took out my FMS P-47D Penrod and Sam for some flights this morning. That makes it 42 successful flights for me on the jug, and the other plane I took out today was the E Flite P-51D Hun Hunter from Texas and it logged its 52nd successful flight. I still have some tailwheel issues with the P-51, so I am going to change out the whole retract/wheel unit that I think is sorta worn out. Just can't tighten the strut in the retract enough to keep it from moving if a turning load is put on it. I think this will probably fix that problem. I don't think I have the same issue with my LOU IV P-51D.

[davegee]

Got two more great flights on my Freewing F9F Panther this morning. These flights today tested out the printed nose gear doors and the detail on the tail end, the tail hook and the tail skid, both printed pieces that survived, literally without a scratch, which is good.

So, the plane has 7 flights on it so far, and I'm starting to get in the groove with it now. Even with our rough runway, the airplane seems to do well negotiating those pitfalls. Gear and doors retract great, and it really has presence in the air, even for its diminutive size. I think Freewing did a really good job with this one!

[davegee]

Hey Dave, Beautiful Birds!

I'm no aerodynamic guru, far from it, but I believe the ground loop on landing appears on several tail dragging warbirds, always counter clockwise when slowing down. It's my opinion this is from either the prop wash circling the plane counter clockwise (similar to that effect on take-off) going around the top of the front of the fuselage, under the mid section and then coming up and around on the left side of the rudder, thus pushing it into a left circling loop. Before slowing down, the rudder still has enough air flow traveling down the centerline keeping it relatively straight, but on slowing that air flow is diminished and the prop wash takes over. Or from the centrifugal force of the prop slowing down, either, both or neither. But then I still believe in Santa! Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it instead of blaming my inferior piloting skills whose had way too many drinks!

Hi Hugh: I agree with your analysis. Most of my ground loops are counter clockwise, usually near the end of the landing roll. But I have some that are clockwise, too. Sometimes, I think the problem lies with the Robart replacement tires rub on the gear strut, slowing down that side momentarily, making the plane turn in the direction of the rubbing wheel. It doesn't do that all the time, but I can see rubber dust on the strut coming from the tire where it rubbed after taking a look at it after landing.

On my Corsair and FMS P-47 aircraft, they land straight as a dime almost every time. On takeoffs I have to use a lot of right rudder to keep them straight, and it is much easier to do on those aircraft than the P-51s. Still, all in all, especially in flight, the P-51s are marvelous fliers and are capable of all the scale maneuvers you'd expect of a warbird. I have fun with all these airplanes, although a little heartburn, sometimes!

Glad to hear your weather in Florida has gotten better for you to fly some more. Funny, I always think of Florida as being one of the best places in the world to fly RC airplanes, but I know that there are a lot of systems that come through, not to mention hurricanes!, but good to see you have a window of opportunity to fly your beautiful brids again.

Cheers

Dave

[F106DeltaDart]

Redemption! Completed the maiden flight, plus another 2 on the V2 twin 70mm Xfly B-1B. I was surprised at how well it flew. No trim required at all, and was solid with plenty of control margin in both wing positions. Thanks to Jeremy for all the help on the setup and Tom for taking the sticks so I could shoot some photos!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got my Flightline 1.6m Corsair up for a few flights today. One flight I flew with no ordanance on the belly, and the other flights I added the specially designed Elbee Brewster bomb mount and 500 lb. pound bomb. Most, if not all, of the airplanes in the squadron VMF-215 "The Corsairs" in WWII were air to air sorties and some ground targeting. I'm not sure if they attached a bomb on the plane like this for some missions, but it is possible. At any rate, this scale bomb shackle flies great with no discernible effect on performance on the airplane. Flies beautifullly, as usual.

Also flew my Hun Hunter for 4 flights. Still having some issues with the tailwheel, and the fact that it performs an uncommanded ground loop sometimes when it slows down, scraping a wingtip doing a minor amount of damage to the underneath of the wingtip. I have to do some minor repairs on both wingtips today.

Still was a lot of fun. Both airplanes fly well, although the E Flite Mustangs are tougher for good straight takeoffs and landing rollouts for me. The rest goes great,.

Cheers

Davegee

Hey Dave, Beautiful Birds!

I'm no aerodynamic guru, far from it, but I believe the ground loop on landing appears on several tail dragging warbirds, always counter clockwise when slowing down. It's my opinion this is from either the prop wash circling the plane counter clockwise (similar to that effect on take-off) going around the top of the front of the fuselage, under the mid section and then coming up and around on the left side of the rudder, thus pushing it into a left circling loop. Before slowing down, the rudder still has enough air flow traveling down the centerline keeping it relatively straight, but on slowing that air flow is diminished and the prop wash takes over. Or from the centrifugal force of the prop slowing down, either, both or neither. But then I still believe in Santa! Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it instead of blaming my inferior piloting skills whose had way too many drinks!

[Grossman56]

Good for you Dave, perfect day, I'm envious! See what the weekend brings.

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Got my Flightline 1.6m Corsair up for a few flights today. One flight I flew with no ordanance on the belly, and the other flights I added the specially designed Elbee Brewster bomb mount and 500 lb. pound bomb. Most, if not all, of the airplanes in the squadron VMF-215 "The Corsairs" in WWII were air to air sorties and some ground targeting. I'm not sure if they attached a bomb on the plane like this for some missions, but it is possible. At any rate, this scale bomb shackle flies great with no discernible effect on performance on the airplane. Flies beautifullly, as usual.

Also flew my Hun Hunter for 4 flights. Still having some issues with the tailwheel, and the fact that it performs an uncommanded ground loop sometimes when it slows down, scraping a wingtip doing a minor amount of damage to the underneath of the wingtip. I have to do some minor repairs on both wingtips today.

Still was a lot of fun. Both airplanes fly well, although the E Flite Mustangs are tougher for good straight takeoffs and landing rollouts for me. The rest goes great,.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Glad to see you got her back in flyable condition! Looks like a sweetheart!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

A pretty stable airplane especialy for its rather small size (41inches by 41 inches). Just a lot of fun to fly!

davegee

[Grossman56]

Glad to see you got her back in flyable condition! Looks like a sweetheart!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

I was finally able to get out and fly this morning (due to snow, cold, and wind) to fly my F9F 70mm Panther after repairs from the last flight where I lost signal to the airplane or whatever happened. This flight went great, and the Panther was a real "sweetheart" as I checked out all the control inputs and some minor arobatics. It lands well, too, and I think I'll use this plane as my warmup and "weather ship" before flying my bigger jets like the F-22, F-18C, B-2, and F-15C. Also flew my Beech 18, which has I don't know how many flights on it, but it is hanging in there and a pleasure to fly, too.

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally got out today after 4 weeks of no flying. Our winds have been unusually robust, 20-25, and when not, massive rain storms. I was going through "piloting withdrawal " and definitely not handling it well. My CO had to move me out to a derelict tree house the kids built years ago!

Winds today 90 degree cross but only 5-8mph so no effect. Fronts coming through tomorrow (reason for the calm winds) so next week or longer looks like again.

8S F4, twin 70 SU, 90mm Avanti with TV and my new favorite flyer 90mm F18:

[davegee]

Took my E Flite P-51D Hun Hunter up for 4 flights today. Have some tweaks I need to do to the tailwheel steering, but otherwise some good flights. Also got a practice "bombing" mission with the Flightline B-25J Cactus Kitten. I loaded 5 scale parafragmentary bombs in the bomb bays and dropped them from about 20 feet altitude as it flew past the "target" off to the side of the runway. The "bombs" fell in a line about 10 feet long. Had this been a real plane and bombs, it would have pretty much taken out the target, in most cases aimed at ships and/or runways, airplanes, machinery, and personnel.

[davegee]

Had another chilly but sunny morning without too much wind for another couple of flights today. I took my EFlite P-51D LOU IV and my Freewing F/A-18C up for some flights. Went well, although with a little quartering headwind, I overcontrolled the elevator on both airplanes slightly in the flare but made safe landings, nonetheless. Always good to leave the field with no extra, missing, or loose parts!

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Weather much better this morning for the maiden on my 70mm Panther jet. Again, I got a few flights in with my "weather ship" E Flite Beech 18 first, and all looked good for a flight or two.

No problems with the aircraft, in general. I did have the low rate on the ailerons dialed down some from book values, but it was still too much for my tastes, so after the first flight I dialed the low aileron rate to 50 percent, which was much more scale and comfortable, for me. I can always use higher rates later, if I want.

Landings, as others have reported are relatively easy and comfortable. I used the reverse thrust but probably didn't need to do that, it would have easily stopped on its own well before the end of our rough runway.

So, very happy with yet another great plane from MRC. I would have preferred the bigger size as their Cougar, but I understand MRC's decision on this. Hopefully a bigger, more detailed Panther will come around someday. But for now, this is good. A very solid performer.

Cheers

davegee

[Elbee]

How silly of me, of course it is. LOL