(WS editor's note: This article is taken from WWI Aero and depicts the author's experience in flying this primitive machine on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of flight, December 17, 2003, at Old Warden Aerodrome, United Kingdom.)

At about 200' I commence a turn. As expected, roll control is extremely sluggish, and turns need to be balanced with rudder. Control forces in roll are also high, and after a while the aircraft becomes fairly tiring to fly. Today is perfectly calm, but I can imagine that any turbulence would be quite alarming, as there is little roll power to return the machine to an even keel after a disturbance. As such, I keep turns to about 10 degrees of bank and make a mental note never to fly this aircraft on a turbulent day.

By now I am getting a feel for the Boxkite. The rudder control is reasonable and it is easy to make the small inputs required to maintain balanced flight due to the wide rudder bar. There are no trimming devices, but at 35 mph she is in trim in pitch and just a small amount of left rudder is required to maintain balanced flight. There is no dihedral effect, and hence it is very important that the pilot does not try to augment the low roll power with rudder. This will only serve to put the machine out of balance and increase drag. Early reports of fledgling Boxkite pilots sideslipping their machines into the ground are not unfounded. At about 600' I throttle back slightly to maintain 35 mph in level flight. I also select carburetor heating, mindful of the fact that the engine is prone to icing. I experiment within the limited speed range of 30-45 mph but am careful not to go outside this safety zone. As 45 mph is approached, the tendency for PIO (Pitch-Induced Oscillation, according to Windy Sock's consultant, Al Cleave) in pitch becomes increasingly apparent, and I have been told that at low speed the aircraft can require large amounts of forward stick to prevent a pitch-up, a sure sign that the boundaries of controllability are being reached. However, I do slow to 30 mph and check the controllability at this speed to insure that I have some margin for error in hand for landing (which I plan to do at just less than 35 mph). Now that I have gained a reasonable amount of height, I throttle back and start a descent. Due to the high drag and low density of the aircraft, it is immediately obvious that low power settings will require an extremely high rate of descent to maintain 35 mph, and that the approach will have to be flown at a relatively high power setting.

Before it is time to land, I decide to steal just another couple of minutes enjoying the wonderful sensation of flying the aircraft. By now the sun is setting and the light is fading.. I also notice for the first time that I am extremely cold! However, I am suddenly brought back to reality with a large jolt. The aircraft bucks violently in pitch and a small PIO has developed as I attempt to control it. In a few seconds I am back in control, and the cause of the upset is immediately apparent. Having made a complete circuit of the airfield, I have flown back through my own wake which has moved little in the calm conditions. Once again I make a note to treat this aircraft with extreme respect if there is a hint of turbulence around.

And so to landing, really quite a simple affair. I select carburetor heat to Warm, take off a small amount of power, and after a leisurely descent merely dive the aircraft into the ground at 35 mph. It's a bit like beaching a boat, but the high seating position means that care is required to level out at the correct height above the ground before making the final (hopefully) smooth touchdown. I have landed up the hill on RW30, and once on the ground the Boxkite slows rapidly, giving a very short landing roll. I taxi up to the waiting ground crew, mindful that for myself the 100th Anniversary of Powered Flight has been celebrated in a very special way.

So that is the Boxkite. She really is a wonderful machine, and she provides a great insight into the skills of the early pioneers of aviation. I did not find the Boxkite easy to fly, yet I had the benefit of 25 years' flying experience, perfect weather conditions, and twice the power of the original Gnome-powered version. I conclude that the film for which this precious replica was built was definitely correctly titled. ("Those Wonderful Men in Their Flying Machines")

"WINGNUT AERO WORKS, LTD." IDENTIFIED

November 2007 Windy Sock carried the Monomail plan by Rich Weber of "Wingnut Aero Works, Ltd." We explained that we were unable to contact Rich through Wingnut because we could find no information regarding it. So now comes an e-mail from Rich himself: "I was talking to Russ Brown last week and he showed me the copy of the Monomail plan in your newsletter. The unknown source of the plan was our Crosswinds newsletter. Amazing how these things get around. I got my version of the little Boeing flying pretty well, but not consistently so. It will put in some near-max flights and then start spiraling in when the power runs out. Drives me nuts. Maybe next summer I'll figure it out. Meanwhile, Steve Griebling built one from the same plan and it flies like a champ, usually taking the kanone for the day. I have no problem with the thing appearing in Windy Sock. I've enjoyed reading your newsletter for a long time....By the way, the 'Wingnut Aero Works' thing is just a shtick I use on my drawings. Hope to have a Cleveland Free Flight Web page up in the near future, but nothing related to the Aero Works."

Your editor thinks the Monomail will prove itself in competition. Without implying we know the reason for the erratic behavior of Rich Weber's model, it does seem a reliable rule that a low-winger should not be permitted to turn right. If memory serves, either Rottensox or the Glue Guru explained this in aerodynamic terms in an FAC News issue of ten or more years ago. It seems that the model is at the edge of stability when trimmed for right turning so that if a gust from the left pushes the right wing down, recovery is not possible. Keep it turning left, we say, if it's a low-winger. And please folks, there's an exception to every rule; don't remind us of your P-51 that flies great right-right.

SCOTCH ON THE RAF (Continued from February)

(This continues the series on Joe Fergusson's RAF service in World War II....Editor)

I spoke earlier of the Hawker biplanes which were the aircraft of the No. 8 Flight Training School when I joined it at Montrose in December 1939, having been posted there after training school. L:ittle did I realize it then but Montrose was to be the key to a whole new life. - which I enjoy to this day. I met and made so many life-long friends there and even met a great girl who became my beloved wife.

The Harts, Audaxes, Furies, Demons and Hart T's, all Hawker types, formed the workhorses of the Flying School in those days. These were old second-hand aircraft passed on to the training schools as training aircraft, and a great job they did. Of course these veteran aircraft had all done years of flying in the squadrons here and overseas in Egypt, the Middle East, Indian Frontier, etc. Some of the ground staff from these squadrons followed the aircraft to Montrose, and I for one was very grateful for that. All of these old Regular Air Force worthies came with the aircraft and gentlemen they were to a man. I quote their names with pride and thanks: Flight Sergeant Hawtin, the owner of the little monkey (mentioned last month); Sgt. Tong, administrator of our flight; and finally, Sergeant Bell, who can only be described as the epitome of the "Old Bill" of cartoon fame. He was an ancient aircraft fitter (I swear he must have worked for the Wright brothers in their heyday) All three of these stalwarts were very kind to me and taught me so much. Sgt. Bell was the first to go. He was posted to a squadron in the south of England; unfortunately he was killed in a German raid shortly after leaving us. Sgt. Hawtin was NCO in charge of maintenance work in the hangars, and woe betide any erk who did not come up to his standards. I worked in these hangars on my own personal Hart. It was RAF practice that each rigger and engine mechanic was assigned to an individual aircraft and was responsible for the condition of that aircraft. The fact that we were fully responsible for the condition of a specific aircraft bred a unique camaraderie between flying crews and their ground personnel. I will write much more of our air crews later and of the heavy action against the "Doodlebug Threat." Montrose was a very happy airfield but I was to experience the opposite at other stations later in the war which I will narrate later.

Life in the early days of the war was relatively stress free (US news media, as usually happens, exaggerated the situation of the moment by referring to the 1939 conditions as "the phony war"...editor) .But we did get a few interruptions from Jerry squadrons based in Norway, mainly at Stavangar. In those early war days convoys would regularly sail out of Rosyth on the Firth of Forth heading for Scapa Flow, an important naval base (a Scottish "Pearl Harbor"). The convoys would sail out one week heading north and then the following week heading south back to Rosyth. Of course our Nazi pals in Norway knew about this regular routine and equally regularly took the opportunity to rub us up the wrong way with attacks on these convoys. As of course it had to happen, one night the usual convoy was passing offshore on its way to Rosyth when a force of Jerries was up to the usual antics of strafing it. The merchant navy gunners let fly with everything at the attackers but also hit a defending Blenheim fighter doing its best to defend the convoy. It was the normal risk taken by any friendly fighter or bomber flying near a convoy. The gunners couldn't tell whether it was one of our own or not so the Blenheim caught a volley of gunfire which stitched a line of holes starting at the trailing edge of the right wing and moving diagonally forward and up over the fuselage. Must have missed the top gunner's ass by a thousandth but took out the hydraulic system. The poor crew and their Blenheim staggered to our drome and belly-flopped in the middle of our field. ( There follows a happy/unhappy ending to the incident continued next month.)

(More next month)

YOU THINK WE HAVE WEATHER PROBLEMS?

Ever wonder why modelers in Great Britain do so much indoor flying? Why they build on the stout side? Joe Fergusson gives a weather report from Scotland:

"Today we have had the worst weather in the last year. Eighty mph gales which are doing their best to shift the Atlantic Ocean ashore with massive waves.....I do not recall seeing waves of such intensity in my whole life. The whole damn planet is falling apart....This is the day I go up to my old home town by train to meet and lunch with my old club mates and the train journey too was horrendous...I thought we were going to get blown off the track as the railway line runs parallel to the sea coast....20 mile stretch has no shelter at all so we got the full force of the storm broadside on. Ah well, I am still here to tell the tale.....(later)....a goods train was traveling north from England....that night a train was traveling north when those same winds caught the whole train side on and blew most of the lot over on their sides along the track tearing down the overhead power lines and their supporting pylons....By luck, it was a goods train of empty vans so no people were injured in the event but all the cargo vans were smashed. If the vans had been full no doubt they might have got away with it. But empty vans, no way.....In the same week there has been an earthquake in central east England with the epicentre situated in Lincolnshire but the tremors were felt as far north as my old home town of Dumfries in SCOTLAND which is only 30 miles from the border. It has been 38 years since last an earthquake affected Britain. Just a little news bulletin to keep you informed of the state of things these days. Regards to all the gang, Joe. From the Scots Joe."

THE SPAD A.2 AGAIN

We couldn't pass up the photo of the SPAD A.2 when we saw it in the Nov.2007 issue of WWI Aero. (Incidentally, the magazine has greatly improved the quality of its photographs, not a small task because so many of the pictures are very old. See their ad in the paper issue.). The picture of the Russian mechanics working on it confirms that the plane did indeed see active service, although mainly by the Russians. Although the French made it, the flying experience went to the Russians. The photo on the right is repeated from the November 2006 issue of Windy Sock. Joe Fergusson's full-size construction plan (two 18"x24" sheets) was offered in June 2007 Windy Sock for $4, postpaid ($5 foreign).

STEAM POWER? WOW!

Your editor had just finished extolling the merits of the old Stanley Steamer auto to friends when Steve Riley referred me to the web site of Geoff Wolfe (www.flysteam.co.uk), the remarkable story of adapting steam power to model airplanes. It had to happen in the United Kingdom; a market study would have killed such an idea cold in the U.S. Geoff Wolfe has produced a lightweight boiler, shown as the perforated cylinder in the photos below, calling it a "flash steam" system. The boiler is actually coiled tubing against which the flame is directed, resulting in almost instantaneous production of steam. Windy Sock's entire staff is amazed at this successful project. Here we are, intimidated by the problems of CO2 plumbing. Geoff says his model is a floater, getting twenty-minute glides out of a two-minute engine run. Fuel is wood alcohol and propane.

SODA STRAW ENGINE and WHEEL PAINT