In 1964 the local hobby shop sponsored a contest for Jasco Thermic 50 gliders using the new Kraft and Controlaire transistorized receivers and powered by a Cox Peewee 02 reed valve engine. The rules were simple. It was a thermal soaring event where the time started when the engine quit with a 10-minute max. Flight s were worth a point a second up to 10 minutes while landings were scored with 100 points for a landing in a 25 ft diameter circle, 50 points for landing inside a 50 ft diameter circle, and 25 points for landing in a 100 foot diameter circle. The event proved so popular that the club relaxed the rules about using Thermic 50 models and allowed any reed valve engine up to 049.
I had become enamored with a beautiful 02 power pod sailplane that appeared in a model magazine. Trouble was that it was directionally unstable and would occasionally drop off into an unrecoverable spin. The local expert said, "Let me show you how to fly." When he spun into the ground he handed the transmitter back to me and walked away without saying a word. I decided that I could design a better power pod model. My nephew saw the it fly and wanted to build one so I drew up a set of plans. In 1965 Radio Control Modeler ran a contest for best original design so I entered a copy of the plans along with a photograph. I didn't win anything in the contest but two years later I got a letter from RCM at a most awkward time. The night before I left for a two-week trip to Viet Nam with the Air National Guard, I received a letter from Don Dewey saying they wanted to publish my power pod glider and would I please rush an article within 2 weeks. I sat down and wrote a quick letter saying that I would be unable to write the article until I got back from Vietnam. I included a few notes on construction of the model and mailed it on the way to Nashville the next morning. I later decided that I should have called the notes a construction article since someone at RCM took the notes, smoothed it up a little, and published it as the building instructions. According to the article that appeared in the May, 1967 issue of RCM, Don Dewey build a model from the plan and actually flew it from his house in the hills. Don did one more thing. He named the model the Tern. In 1973, I spent three days in Van Nuys California for C130 simulator training. Since simulator training only required half a day, I had four hours free for other adventures. One Tuesday morning, I decided to visit the offices of RCM. After getting lost and taking an unplanned tour of the Hollywood Freeway in the morning rush hour, I finally got to Sierra Madre. After a tour of the RCM offices, I bought a copy of the RCM Tern plans. The original Tern is still hanging from my shop ceiling. Chuck Anderson RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
