Flying Ohm
Wing panels are trimmed for the dihedral joint (above left) and the dihedral braces are installed and clamped in place until the glue dries. The
know that Ray went on to other endeavors, such as archery and full size sail boats. Ray became an expert with whatever interested him. I stopped by in Patterson whenever I happened to be in the area to say hello and chit chat a bit. It was in the summer of 1983 that my Dad told me of Ray’s passing. He went much too young.
A thought occurred in 2009 For the last several years my wife and I
have become snowbirds, wintering in Tuc- son, Arizona. I have been in and out of R/C over the years and had always kept an in- terest in controline models which is where I started so many years ago in Patterson, Cal- ifornia. The fifteen hundred mile drive be- tween Tucson and Vancouver gives one a lot to time to think, especially in the desert ar- eas. For some reason, the Flying Ohm popped into my mind. I thought about the two models I had kept over half a century and that I had a set of original plans. It then occurred to me that I could easily build a new Flying Ohm and with the new radios available, I could actually create the fanta- sy that I had back in 1956. “If someday there
center rib is then installed. Four wing panels (above right) are completed to allow one “stock” and one modern wing with ailerons.
is a radio that will give control inputs like a real airplane”… Hmmmm. Then I thought it would be nice to do an
article about my good friend, Ray Morgan and his Flying Ohm. If you would like to take a model to one of those vintage R/C events, you can do no better than with the Flying Ohm. Actually, I would have liked to do that myself, but as near as I can tell, most of the vintage meets are back in the Penn- sylvania area. Way too far for me to travel these days. I would like to tell one last Ray Morgan
story and then finish up with some con- struction notes and suggestions. In the sum- mer of 1955, Ray, and his lovely wife, Do- lores, took me along to the 1955 Nationals at Los Alamitos, California. Ray had built a five-channel ship for the Nationals, but the new radio had a few problems, so Ray was unable to enter the multi-channel event. He did fly the single-channel event with a Ther- mic glow powered glider. Ray knew all the modelers in the Los An-
geles area, so I had the time of my life. I saw Mr. Howard Bonner’s workshop and enjoyed listening to the discussions of several mod-
elers that were there. I saw the first Smog Hog. I slept in the Bonner’s living room and Mrs. Bonner made a great breakfast the next morning. At the motel where we stayed, our next
door neighbors were Ray and Eddie Downs. Mr. Downs had a J-3 Piper Cub powered with an Elf Twin. We spent an evening at the home of William S. Deans and watched home movies of Mrs. Deans ice skating. On the flight line I met Vic Nelson, manufac- turer of the Deltron radios. I watched mod- elers such as Dean Kenney flying his CYCO, Dale Root with his Ascender, Alex Schneider with his five-channel Cub and many others. Two fellows, whose names I didn’t get, ar-
rived later in the week with two large Piper Cubs that had ailerons. These were the first models that I ever saw with ailerons. I saw one do a roll and crash. In the hangar I dis- covered that K&B Manufacturing had a re- pair station for K&B Torpedo engines. I be- came very smitten with a young lady named Ginny Brodbeck! One afternoon I boarded one of the Navy
trams to go from the hangar back to the R/C area and two young fellows about my age
Bottom side of wing showing plywood insert (above left) for aileron horn and balsa sheeting for the aileron pushrod exit. Top side of wing (above right) showing plywood for control horn and plywood mount for the 90-
22
degree aileron bellcrank. The servo pushrods are ³⁄₁₆-inch wood dowel and ¹⁄₁₆-inch music wire. The barn door style ailerons are patterned after full scale aircraft ailerons as was standard practice in early R/C models.
MAY 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68