The AM Forum

WOW! Now these are older than me - OK - some of then   ;D

KOOL SCHTUFF! ! ! ! !  Well worth a lookie!  ;)

TOTAL AIR CONDITIONING  ;D NOW THAT IS KOOL

I love old stuff.....

Great pictures!

Awesome photo spread. Thanks!

Thanks for the great memories...built models of a lot of those old warbirds as a kid, and again when my two boys were growing up.  I especially enjoyed the pictures of the Catalina, and the AT-6s/SNJ trainers.  Flew in a Catalina (before I was born) when my mother worked at Remmert-Werner Aircraft near St. Louis.  She was given a ride in a Cat that was being converted to an executive aircraft for Arthur Godfrey.  My next ride after that was in a privately owned SNJ when I was in high school.

WOW, thanks Al.

Now how about IDing them!  I know some but there are way to many for me, especially the Europeans beyond the Spitfire and the Red Baron

The L-1 could be the same age as me if made late in the war.

Very nice group of pictures.

The R-390A is the ultimate vacuum tube receiver. Nothing else even close. In a class all by itself.

The North American P-51D is the ultimate piston engine/propeller airplane. Nothing else comes close in either performance or sheer airframe beauty. In a class unto itself.

Kindred spirits.

I saw a lot of Tiger Moths in those pictures.

Here's the one I'm working on right now.

1/4 scale, 88" span, to be powered by a 26cc gas/ignition engine.

This is my "other" hobby

2roc,
Wow, very nice r/c model- what, half scale? You could almost get your kid in as a pilot.

My favorite of the craft shown is the PBY Catalina....   Goes along with the teenage dreams of having a whole island, Grand banks two master, mansion, blond girl of dreams, 12 inch brass Clark refractor on island hilltop observatory, gold dust twins, RCA BTA, garage full of MG's, etc. 

Yeah, many of us built balsa models, most of the simpler, boxier and true to real construction bi-planes, just using shellacked tissue paper rather than canvas.  In my day they were mechanically wire guided.   ...big circle and every landinfg a crash.  The ultimate moth in a flame...   A lot of work and time expended in a second, and we never learned.
...gotta build another one.   Save up the money, Lantern batteries, ether, cracked fingers, spills, fires..
Ah , to be young again.

Boy, I hope your moth has long life and very few crashes

Consider this a dumb question: When it's time to take this pretty moth out of the construction area.  How're you going to do that?  Take off the wings?

Al

It's actually 1/4 scale.

The wings do come off in 4 sections.  Easily transportable in my trailer.

I'd rather not build boats in basements...

The others in the background are 1/3 scale Bowers Fly Babies, one monoplane and one biplane, plus a 1/4 scale Piper Pawnee.

Part of this particular hobby is that I write product reviews on large scale models that are published in several nationally published magazines. 

To date I have built, flown and reviewed more than 250 model airplanes.

No, I don't have them all, and No they all didn't crash (one or two did)

I use the proceeds from their sale to fund upcoming projects.

Just think, how many guys felt "saved at last" when a PBY touched down for them!  Thanks for posting the photos.

I've wondered about that also.  Reading the acounts of the Battle of Midway, I remember this guy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Gay,_Jr.

One interesting thing - he was the only reliable witness to the sinking of most of the Jap carriers.

klc

The first plane I was allowed to handle the controls was a J2F which was the featured plane at the Island Park, LI, NY seaplane pier; they had 4 of them in the mid to late 50's. They were built by Grumman and Columbia, the latter in my home town.

The only one Ive seen since is a USAF OA-12 version at the museum in Dayton.

Carl