C/LStunt M
y teaching background came in handy when several local school kids wanted to fly model air- planes. Some twenty years ago, I started a class of control line modelers from Pope County Elementary School located in Pope Co. Illinois, just west of Golconda, IL where I live. The ages of the kids ranged from the 4th to the 8th grades. That group and the groups that followed consisted of those who wanted to learn how to build, fin- ish, and fly control line models. I would have perhaps 3 to 8 in a class, and we would meet each Thursday after school in my music room at the elementary school. These ses- sions would consist of learning the basics of flight and help in building a 1⁄2A balsa model. The goal for the kids was to build the mod- el, paint it with polyurethane, and have it ready to fly. I would then teach them to fly on a Grassroots trainer designed by my friends, the late Byron Barker and Ken Grasser. The plan for the Grassroots was published in FLYING MODELS in July 1989 (CF807). I later switched to the 1⁄2A Grass- roots that I designed and published in the April 2004 FLYING MODELS (CD221). Call 973-383-3355 to order plans and copies of the articles. Both are easy to build and rugged enough for a long learning curve on the part of the novice flyers.
For this class of students, I intended to re- duce the cost even further by beginning with paper hand launch gliders. Since I retired we have continued to meet each Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. at my house. Most of the kids lived or had relatives on Patton Street, and the school mascot is the Pirate. The kids wanted to become control line pilots; thus they chose to be called the Patton Street Pirate Pilots. I developed a Founding Member Certifi- cate for the first five kids and subsequent Member Certificates for those who joined later. They each got their own certificate signed by me, the Instructor Pilot. I tried to
by allen brickhaus You can reach Allen Brickhausat PO Box 206, Golconda, Illinois 62938, or via e-mail at
abkb801@shawneelink.net
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALLEN BRICKHAUS
Here are the Patton Street Pirate Pilots with the hand launch gliders they found on their own at their first competition in our neighborhood. Left to right are: Azlynn Jones, Brandt Garrison, Samuel Jones, TJ Hubbard, Spencer Hubbard, and Cole Fisher.
set this up as grown-up as possible. I even have small competitions each week, and the winner receives a First Place Certificate for their respective win. So far only one student has received two First Place Certificates. The first meeting included handing out member certificates and talking about fold- ed paper hand launch gliders. I also handed them a paper which demonstrated to them the four forces of flight and the rules of yaw, roll, and pitch. Since the Internet is now readily available to them, I asked them to
investigate the best folded paper hand launch glider they could find, and we would fly them the following week.
When they returned the following Tues- day, I engaged them in a timed event. They took turns throwing their design, and I recorded the time in the air. They got four flights each. The total flight time for the four flights determined the winner for that week. The next week, I challenged them to a spot landing competition. I had a yellow dot and a line sprayed on the grass with a dis-
Samuel Jones is so excited in his launch that he either lost his flip-flop (above) or is attempting to gain an advantage in his throw. Samuel’s sister Azlynn Jones (at right) puts all her effort into the timed event throw on Patton Street.
26 JANUARY 2014
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