Aeroplane Magazine 06/2013

The much-missed former Fighter Collection North American P-51C Mustang43-25147 Princess Elizabeth is being shipped back to Duxford from its home with the Friedkin Family Warbirds at their ranch near Houston, Texas. The Mustang was operated by The Fighter Collection from Duxford between 1997-2006, and is the only C model to have flown in Britain since the end of the war. The fighter will be one of the stars of the Remembering the Mighty Eighth Spring Air Show at Duxford on May 26, which will celebrate the 70th anniversary of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visiting the Cambridgeshire base to welcome the 78th Fighter Group of the USAAF's 8th Air Force to British shores. The P-51C will be flown in a first-ever, four-ship display by the Eagle Squadron, alongside a Mk I Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and Republic P-47G Thunderbolt.

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Aero Modeller No.921

Davis Diesel Development introduced their head for converting Cox TD and Medallion .049’s in late 1976 and is still available. Cox International also sells an almost identical head of this type. They has a loosely fitted contra-piston and compression adjusting screw with a coil spring for retaining the desired compression setting. To seal against leaks, the system uses a disc punched from thin fluorocarbon plastic sheet between the head and cylinder. Compression is adjusted in the usual way, as the disc conforms to the slight changes in combustion chamber volume. This arrangement always backs off when desired – no sticking contra-piston here. However, the plastic disc will fail if the engine runs too hot and must then be replaced. An alternative diesel head uses a rubber O-ring fitted to a groove in the aluminium contra-piston to make a gas tight seal.

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Aero Modeller No.920

It is often said, that our teenage years, represent the most formative times of our lives. We take on board many such things, that stay with us, forever, into our dotage. From the aeromodelling standpoint, that is certainly true of me. I built, and flew, model aeroplanes from an early age, but it was not until I was in my late teens, at the tail end of the 1950’s, that I discovered control line. I was fortunate enough, back then, to fly with an enthusiastic group of young guys on the Three Kings Piece, in South London, later to spawn the Three Kings Model Club, which, at the time, was one of the definitive C/L clubs in the country. One of my mentors was H.C. Queck, whose profile scale, WWII, warbird-based, stunters featured as plans in AeroModeller, back then, and whose designs are still valid, today. Oddly, mine always came out looking like Hurricanes, but Quecky left an indelible mark on my thinking, which I have re-visited on several occasions, since, witness my variety of “designs”, published in AeroModeller, and elsewhere, since.

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Aero Modeller No.919

The Douglas A-26 “Invader” was one of the worlds most widely recognised and respected aircraft of World War II attack bomber types. The A-26 was an unusual design for an attack bomber of the early 1940s period and was originally designed as a single-pilot aircraft very similar to the RAF’s de Havilland Mosquito. One of the major advancements engineered into the Invader
was making use of the then-new NACA 65-215 laminar flow airfoil.The Douglas XA-26 prototype first flew on 10 July 1942 at Mines Field, El Segundo, California with test pilot Benny Howard (of 1930s air racing fame and founder of the Howard Aircraft Company) at the controls. Initial flight tests revealed excellent performance and handling. The A-26 was produced in many different variants and proved to be quite versatile for many different combat roles. The Model A-26B was first pressed into service in August 1943 with the new bomber first seeing action with the Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific Theater on 23 June 1944 where it quickly racked up an impressive combat record. The A-26 began arriving in Europe in late September 1944 for assignment to the Ninth Air Force and flew its first mission on September 6.

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