H5606

Not sure about others like Testors or Wen Mac but Cox had a - perhaps little known feature - on most all their airplanes: the bellcrank had a hook just behind the "up" hole which allowed "solo" trips to go flying... A little formed piece of music wire was included in the baggie with the control handle and Dacron line spool that I imagine made some wonder: "what's that for?"

When you were experienced and knew how to fly well and your buddies either broke up their airplanes or lost interest in the hobby, you could keep going flying without assistance - not as much fun without the social interaction - but still possible.

You either staked/nailed the free end of the line to the ground or tied it to an immovable or heavy object. Required startup then hook up to the bellcrank - engine thrust pulling on the line kept the airplane immobilized - a scramble to pick up the control handle, A quick flick of the wrist down would shed the clip thus releasing the model as if you commanded an assistant to let go of your airplane and off you went.

Yasbush

Cox 049 PT 19. I slung it just as much as flew it. Cox P-40. That plastic was strong.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Bet a "Firebaby" with some sort of little electric..............??????? Then again I would miss that greasy little screaming, finger biting 049. Boy did we have fun?

cardinalflyer

My Feedback: (11)

I did not know they had this feature. It was pretty cool for solo flying.

Yasbush

I remember that and used it. Also the spring loaded starter.

jayseas

Carl Goldberg Stuntman.

Tom Nied

My first kit built CL plane was the Goldberg Stuntman 21. Wasn't a great 'stunter' with a Golden Bee on it, but I had fun doing the basics.

robert waldo

My Feedback: (1)

Wasp 049. Scorpion from M.A.N pullout plans. Guillows Trainer 3 with a Torp 29 dual exhaust. Ringmaster, Torp 29 GRN head. Built scale airplanes drawn on butcher paper from 3 views at age 13. Won WAM junior scale 2 years. Viet Nam. Marriage, kids, grandkids, divorce, lost everything. Back to flying Ringmaster with the Torp 9. Full circle. And it all happened just that fast.

Tom Nied

Wow. Not to hijack the thread, but that is one thing I learned in my 63 years, my love and enjoyment for model aircraft flying would never leave me.

THERCAV8R

My Feedback: (283)

My First Control line plane was a Comet Piper Tri-Pacer. got it for Christmas in 1959 when I was 4 years old. Dad flew it for me. the First plane I flew was A Cox PT 19 when I was 6 years old. Learned in a field in my back yard.

Desertlakesflying

My Feedback: (28)

Goldberg Lil Wizard with a Cox Black Widow .049 about 10 years old

old4570

Cox PT-19
Late mid 70's . 14yo perhaps (?) .. It was a short adventure until the early 80's when I really got my feet wet .
My first engines were Enya 15's . Super Tigre G20/15D and the Cox TD09 ...

oliveDrab

I had a Cox PT19 with an .049 in the early 1960's and a red jet-looking plane with a Wen Mac pusher motor. I could start the Wen Mac motor then run to pick up the control line and fly it. Wow. Flying around in circles. Wow.

In the early 1970's I bought and built a Guillow's Spitfire. The kit specified rubber-band power or an .020. Well ... I didn't have an .020 but I did have an .049 so I stuck the .049 in my beautiful, freshly built Guillow's Spitfire. I started the motor, tuned it full throttle, and threw it into the sky freeflight style. The thing hauled-ass into the sky looped around and almost (almost) hit me in the butt. But it flew real good for a few seconds!!

donnyman

Those balsa blocks did fly! I never thought I'd see another. mine back in th mid 1950s was the mustang with a sheet metal cowl I never learned to mount. the Spitzy .045 seemed at the time to be a screeming demon that got hot as hell (lean running) because I knew nothing but max RPM's I still have it! the cub .045's were a little better but he cox engines blew everything away. my biggest problem was keeping the wings and firewall on (no fuel proofing) live and learn

I read some of the Walt Musciano biography he grew up in my nieghborhood of Brooklyn before I was born (1941) Brooklyn is and was alive with model aviation. the engine in the upper left is the original .045 spitzy and in picture two the plane is of the Fubar free flight like the one I had in Brooklyn many years ago. Yea I am still at it!

mazpr

I had the opportunity to admire this kind of hobby at a public park. It may sound simple deal, but at closer look it sure was very intimidating, the sound, smell of fuel, very cool stuff. Learn to find out they met every weekend and I made it a habit to go jog on those days and go watch them fly.

Tom Nied

For me as a kid, the sound of a model airplane engine two blocks away was like the Sirens in Mythology. I was out the door so fast my folks didn't have time to tell me to be home before sunset.

Hobbyhorse

In 1956 I had a Keil Craft Champ trainer powered by a 1cc ED Bee which survived a surprising amount of abuse from myself and others who learned to fly on it. I recently came across a 1.5cc Webra Rekord which I had had lying in a box for 55 years and managed to start it with an old bottle of fuel I had bought at some time in the last 10 years or so. On the strength of that I found the Champ plans on the internet and built a slightly scaled up version of it, for the larger engine, which I have yet to attempt to fly .... currently awaiting the delivery of some control lines.

Flypast111

Model Hobbies are addicting ... while MODEL AVIATION is an obsession ...
1963 ... age 5 ... first u-control line plane was a Cox P-51B olive drab green with red/white checkerboard decals ...
rubber-band-on wings with red rubber nose cone & 3-blade propeller ... nylon control handle & strings .... smelled
like VICTORY! ... wind-up spring self start engine that stung when it bit ... my father and I both started the engine ...
but he did the flying .... it lasted no more than two seasons ... a stroll down memory lane ... Flypast111

GallopingGhostler

1965, 11 YO, Scientific 18" wingspan Grumman F6F Hellcat with built up fuselage and wing, power Cox .020 Pee Wee.

[email protected]

About 1944, Miss America controline w/Rocket 46 up front. Spark ignition. White gasoline w/70 weight motor oil for fuel. Spent more time repairing than flying.
Army Air Corp in 1946, retired 14,000 flying hours later. First RC in 1953. Career in RC industry and RC magazine followed.
Interesting fact. Now ancient, to the point where my memories have to be kick started to work. However, I still remember the tail numbers of B-17's that I flew in. And if I close my eyes and concentrate, I still remember the music those four Pratt & Whitneys out on the wing made. Eloy Marez

downunder

1957 and 13YO, an old guy (must have been at least early 20's) down the street from me gave me a second hand ETA 29 and taught me how to mix my own fuel and start the engine (the engine actually came in a shiny black class B speed model called a Speedwagon). He then taught me how to build a trainer which used flat sheet balsa wing and tail with a flat pine fuselage and then helped me learn how to fly it. My best memories from those days was that two of my school friends also got interested so we all had very similar models and in fact similar types of engines. One had a McCoy 29 RR and the other had a Dooling 29! So 3 of the best racing engines of the day were being used by 13YO kids learning to fly .

Many many years later my son wanted to learn to fly CL so I built him the model in the photo that was almost exactly the same as what I used as a kid except I added small flaps and an adjustable lead out guide.

qazimoto

My Feedback: (1)

Nice memories, however B-17's had four Wright Cyclone R1820's.

qazimoto

My Feedback: (1)

I built my Keil Kraft Champ in mid 1958 at about 12 y/o . It was the cheapest kit in the local hobby/toy shop. Also bought a new Taipan 1.5cc diesel. It took about three whole months to save enough money to buy the lot. It flew very nicely with some help from the members of a local c/l club after we discarded the dodgy wooden prop and the thread lines. The Champ was a good design, easy to build it straight and strong.

karolh

My introduction to the hobby and C/L was in 55 and I was 14. My first plane that actually flew was a scratch built plank wing and fuse model with a ED Comp Special diesel engine which I used to carry to the local soccer field tied to the bar of my bicycle. After being out of the hobby for several years due to marriage and kids I discovered R/C in 78 and for me it was simply the rekindling of an old fire stick.

j.duncker

My Feedback: (2)

Another beginner who learned on a KK Champ I added so much weight in the painting process that the phrase ' brick on a string was most apt ' I then overpowered it with a Frog 149 Vibromatic and to MAKE LIFE EVEN MORE INTERESTING I flew it on the thread lines that came with the kit. 1 was 12 years old and it was 1959.

Went to compete in stunt and combat in the 60s then defected to RC.

But I never forgot how much fun you could have and built a Peacemaker when I was 59. Got dizzy the first time I flew it and was reduced to flying figures of 8 until the tank ran dry.