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ast week’s hangar session with the builders group I host twice a month resulted in a trip to my rogues gallery. This led to a discussion of the Pattern plane photos hanging on the wall and there was my article on my Yankee, which was published in the September 1974 issue of American Aircraft Modeler. That sparked my interest to check my library to see what other Pattern planes were being pub- lished that year. Photos, especially colored ones, are more exciting than a lot of text. So I scanned my library for those construction ar- ticles that had at least one color photo. The following list is a result of that exploration. The design of my Yankee was the result of having flown a Jet Star Mk 7 by Ed Keck and a Cutlass Supreme by Don Coleman, both top notch Pattern pilots in those days. I built two Yankees and both were powered by Webra .61 Blackheads and used Pro Line Competition Series radios. In rereading my article I was reminded that I had to reduce the wing dihedral in order to eliminate rud- der roll effect, an unwanted characteristic. The Sundowner was a design by Bob Vio- lett and was possibly the first Pattern plane to be designed around a ducted fan. It was designed around the Turb-Ax 1 and a K&B 40s cubic inch engine. Bob said he chose the .40 over the more common .60 engines being used for Pattern planes because of the horsepower that could be developed at very high rpm required for a ducted fan. The 5- inch fan had to turn much faster than a typ- ical 11-inch prop to gain comparable effi- ciency. Furthermore, by using a .40, the overall mass of the power unit is held to an acceptable level, so that it adapts well to the airframe sizes to which all were accustomed at that time.


The Japanese team had won the 1973 World Pattern Championships held in Go- rizia, Italy and the new World Champion was Tsugutaka Yoshioka of Japan. The winning plane designed by Masahiro Kato was the


PHOTOGRAPHY: BOB NOLL


The Blue Angelwon the 1973 World Pattern Championships for pilot Tsugutaka Yoshioka of Japan. It was designed by Masahiro Kato and kitted by MK in 1974.


beautiful Blue Angel kitted by MK in 1974. American Aircraft Modeler published it as a construction article in October of that year. In 1974 Model Airplane News published


the Compensator by Rhett Miller. The Com- pensator was designed and developed by Miller who was the youngest ever to win the prestigious R/C Pattern event at the Nats. Rhett was 15 years old when he won his first Nats and I think he repeated that achieve- ment again in 1974. Rhett used a Pro-Line radio with single stick transmitter, Pro-Line retracts and a SuperTigre .60. The Shrike was another design by Bob Violett and the construction article was pub- lished in the January 1974 issue of Ameri- can Aircraft Modeler. In the article Bob con- fesses to stealing some design features from Tony Bonnetti’s Trouble Maker and the Su- per Star, a popular design in Europe. Two significant features of the Shrike are a very


low thrust line and a flying stab. Bob chose the flying stab for its aerodynamic advan- tages of decalage trim available at your transmitter, minimum drag, smooth transi- tion from slow to fast flight and soft but pos- itive control response. The Trouble Maker, made famous by its designer Tony Bonnetti, was kitted by J&J Products and a review by Frank Tiano was published by FLYING MODELS in its April 1974 issue. Tony and his black Trouble Mak- er were frequent competitors at Northeast Pattern contests and several Nats. I came across a picture in the February 1974 issue of Model Airplane News that I have to show you. Formula I pylon racing, conceived by Jerry Nelson in the early ’70s, had grown immensely in those days. The NMPRA (National Miniature Pylon Racing Association) was a very active organization and acted as the Special Interest Group for


by bob noll You can reach Bob Nollvia e-mail at bobrc@aol.com


Bob Noll designed the Yankee (above) and it was a familiar sight on the contest trail in the Northeast. The Air Force Thunderbird scheme was a favorite of Bob’s and used on several of his Pattern planes. The Compensator(at right) was designed by Rhett Miller and helped Rhett become the youngest pilot at 15 to win the prestigious Pattern class at the Nats.


38 APRIL 2013


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