F/FSport
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”—SIR ISAAC NEWTON
cause of the loss of two giants in our hobby, late this past year. Beginning in the late 1930s and early 1940s, these two individu- als began shaping the direction and manner in which freeflight would grow through their published designs and their insights into the hobby.
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In the late 1930s, Sal Taibi’s name began surfacing in freeflight competition on the East Coast, and with the publication of his Powerhouse gas model in Model Airplane News in 1940, Sal became legendary in the freeflight community and remained so until his passing at age 91 in December of last year. Sal had been an aeromodeler since 1933, and after the publication of his Powerhouse was credited with such seminal designs as the Brooklyn Dodger, the Hornet, the Pacer, the Spacer, the Zephyr, and his last design, the Perris Special. Probably his most popular and most trend-setting design was the Star- duster, kitted in several sizes by his compa- ny, Competition Models, beginning in 1959. In the minds of many modelers, the high- thrust Starduster helped set the direction for competition freeflight designs for at least the next decade and can still be found at contests as a competitive airplane yet today. Needless to say, his older Society of Antique Modelers (SAM) eligible models also dominate the com- petition for planes of that era.
Modelers also knew Sal as the supplier of excellent balsa through his company, Supe- rior Balsa, run for a number of years by Sal and his son, Mike, until it was sold in 2004 or thereabouts. The linkage between the two companies guaranteed that any of the Com- petition Models kit line which expanded over the years would have the best die-cutting and best balsa available, thanks to Sal’s pro- fession as a machinist and his experience as a top freeflight competitor and National Champion.
Recognition came to Sal, not only at every contest by modelers eager to meet him and share his wisdom, but by the honors he re- ceived from the organizations that recog- nized his contributions. In 1974 he was named to the Model Aviation Hall of Fame; in 1975 he was named an AMA Fellow; in 1978 he was inducted into the National Free Flight Hall of Fame; and in 1989 he became a member of the Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame.
The second freeflight icon, Earl Stahl, who passed away at age 94 in mid-October, did not have an appreciation of his status in the freeflight community until late in his life. Earl’s association with the hobby began in 1927 with his first ROG (rise-off-ground) model in the aftermath of Charles Lind- bergh’s epic flight across the Atlantic.
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s we peer into the New Year with all of its anticipated possibilities, triumphs, and tragedies, a retro- spective is in order simply be-
by larry kruse You can reach Larry Kruseat 18 NW Heatherstone Drive, Lawton, Oklahoma 73505, or via e-mail at
aircats@att.net
PHOTO: SCAMPS MODEL CLUB
Sal Taibi launches his last design, the Perris Special, in this 2006 photo. Sal was famous for getting his first three maxes in at every contest almost before others were set up to fly by using the layer of lift that usually occurs in the morning. He remained an intense and successful competitor his entire life.
He continued advancing his skills into the 1930s and earned a place on the Ameri can Wakefield Team in 1939, although his proxy-flown plane was destroyed in a cata- strophic rubber motor failure before it could make its first flight. His interest shifted primarily to scale air- craft and he began designing his own models “applying some to the knowledge acquired from contest type models.” A picture of his first scale ship, a Rearwin Speedster, was sent to Model Airplane News which brought an invitation from the editor, Charles Hampson Grant, to produce a construction article and plans.
Beginning at that point in 1940, Earl de- signed and published 39 rubber and gas scale aircraft, two scale gliders, and five non-scale duration and sport models over the next 20 years, according to the late Jim Alaback, who cataloged the designs for the KAPA Kollector. That did not include one fi- nal rubber scale offering, a Piper Pawnee Brave, published in Model Aviation in 1996.
Earl’s designs were published in five dif- ferent magazines, but much to his chagrin he felt that his models had been received with indifference by readers since he re- ceived very little feedback. He wrote in 1997, “For decades after I stopped submit- ting them, it was my belief the models had been forgotten, but in recent years I have learned that was not true. As many have reached retirement and have reflected on early pleasures, it has been revealed that there were large numbers of youngsters who built and enjoyed success with the published
subjects.
...Many have responded with a word of thanks.”
In recent years, particularly with the ad- vent of the Internet and the wide availabili- ty of plans, there have been large numbers of contests staged for Earl Stahl designs and he has become internationally known for creating these great-flying models. In recog - nition of his role in shaping the hobby, Earl was honored late in life for his achieve- ments. In 1985 he was inducted into the Na- tional Free Flight Society Hall of Fame; in 1989, the AMA Hall of Fame; in 1990, the Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame; in 1995, Kits and Plans Antiquitous (KAPA) Hall of Fame; and in 1996, the Flying Aces Club Hall of Fame.
As a personal footnote, it was my honor and pleasure to have known both of these icons personally, and to have developed an appreciation and sense of gratitude for all of their contributions to the hobby. As actor Rod Taylor once said of his mentors in the acting profession, “I am a poor student sit- ting at the feet of giants...”
An interesting historical correction
Speaking of icons, Jim Newman recently dropped me a note about a sub-head I had used in connection with a segment about Vance Gilbert’s Short S.6 Golden Hind fly- ing boat featured in this past July’s issue. I had labeled the segment “A floater from Ire- land”, because it was my understanding that Short Brothers Aircraft was located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
While that may be the case, Jim could JANUARY 2013
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