SANTA CRUZ Mk. III
Easy building, light weight and a spectacular climb make for a perfect homecoming back to freeflight!
By Ray Boyd PHOTOGRAPHY: RAY BOYD
re you returning to freeflight af- ter years of absence and need a boost to get going again? Are you an active flier who wants to add a little spice to your flying? In either case, Santa Cruz may be the freeflight to bring you home.
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Some of the design highlights and fea- tures of Santa Cruz are as follows: • Up-thrust for spectacular climb. • Warren Truss wing/stab construction giving excellent anti-flutter and anti- warping properties.
• Linder-type fuselage construction, very easy to build, light weight and few parts.
• Fixed rudder (sub) so no moving parts and issues with stab keys.
After being inactive for over 40 years, I happened to see a car parked outside church with a NFFS license plate holder. When the owner, Bill Lovins approached, I asked him “Does anyone still fly freeflight”? He said yes and invited me to come to the Magnificent Mountain Men’s flying site outside Denver and get reintroduced to flying. That I did and was overwhelmed with the increase in technology being used in ½As from my old flying days. Screaming Cyclon engines with
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30,000+ rpm, electric starters, chase bikes, radio tracking systems, and pressure fuel system was the norm. No way could I jump in cold turkey in this scene. Yet the sound and sight of free- flights screaming as they climbed skyward and rubber powered models inching their way into the clear Colorado skies, brought back happy memories of yesteryear. I hurried home and opened up an old Ra- dio Plane Corp. SD-1 fuselage box which I had been storing my models in all these years. It was like opening an ancient Egypt- ian tomb! There, packed away in excellent condition, was an A-1 tow line glider and two freeflights. They were designed in 1959 when I was stationed at the remote Army Electronic Proving Ground, Ft. Huachuca, in southeast Arizona, to introduce freeflight to a very ac- tive control line club. Santa Cruz Mk. I was the second in a two-plane series designed to intro fliers in freeflight and progressively move them along. The first, Pulque (MAN, Sept 1961), was a conventional pylon model easy to build with some unique features that represented itself well in the 1960 South West Regionals (SWR). The second plane, Santa Cruz Mk. I, which one was supposed
AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Wing area: Length: Weight:
Wing loading: Motor:
freeflight endurance balsa
48 inches 275 sq. in. 29 inches 7.5 ounces
3.94 oz./sq.ft. 1 A gas⁄2
to “graduate to”, was a very pleasant sur- prise in that it was easier to build, a red-hot performer and even more fun to fly. Santa Cruz has some good structural fea- tures providing strength, lightness and sim- plicity and a higher aspect ratio (longer wings) for a more floating glide. Possibly the most important feature is the engine mount position in a semi-high thrust manner, which allows it to safely handle more powerful en- gines for greater speed and higher climb.
JANUARY 2013
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