Lincoln Beachey (oz10425)

About this Plan

Lincoln Beachey. Radio control scale model.

Quote: "An R/C Stand-Off Scale Lincoln Beachey, by Al Wolsky.

The Beachey Monoplane can probably be called one of this country's first homebuilt aircraft. At the time of its construction there were few people in the country with experience in the building of airplanes. It is amazing what a beautiful little ship they ended up with, considering it was a departure from the pusher types that were flying.

No copy of the plans were kept after the death of Lincoln Beachey so working from known dimensions supplied by a Mr Hud Weeks and using photographic data from the HP Christoferson collection, the late Willis L Nye developed a fine 3-view which was published in the spring of 1964 in the American Aviation Historical Society Journal. Willis was well known for his excellent aircraft drafting which appeared in model and aircraft magazines throughout his life.

The model is approximately 1/5 scale. Specifications of the real plane were: Wing Span 26 feet; length 18 feet; weight 735 lbs loaded.

I have enjoyed doing this Beachey model as it is a part of our early aviation history in this country. If you do build it I wish you success, and if you don't, reading the history of Beachey will have enlightened you to our early aviation.

The airplane. In the year 1910 the Wright Brothers sold to the US Government the first military airplane. Thereafter, experimenters fought to develop better aircraft to either sell to the government, or to individuals. The same year, 1910, fairs and exhibitions all across the country sought the services of aviators to simply prove to the crowd that man could fly. From this period a rare breed of men developed. Traveling the country by train with their plane, a mechanic, and spare parts these daredevils would perform before thousands of people. One such flyer was Lincoln Beachey.

Lincoln Beachey at the age of 17 set out to earn his living as a balloonist, having served a brief apprenticeship in the operation of balloons. For 5 years he earned a good living along with fame. In 1910 he became an aviator and was off to a new career. By early 1911 he was giving airplane flying exhibitions and was paid as much as $5,000 for a single performance. He was born showman with nerves of steel combined with an acrobats sense of balance. He was a star who was in constant demand. After 2 years he was being copied by many imitators hoping to cash in on the growing interest in flying. Many did not possess Beachey's abilities and paid with their lives... "

Lincoln Beachey, Flying Models, November 1980.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 14/09/2018: added missing article page 4, thanks to spitfireflyby.

Supplementary file notes

Article, thanks to RFJ & spitfireflyby.

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