Hayseed B (oz12654)

About this Plan

Hayseed B. Free flight power model. Wingspan 46 in, wing area 340 sq in.

Originally designed circa 1941, this is a later nostaglias feature from MB in 1980.

Quote: "Don't be surprised if you've never heard of the 'Hayseed' before. Even though it was never published in a magazine or kitted, the SAM committee in charge of authenticating old designs has just recently put its stamp of approval on the Hayseed as an authentic, bona fide Old Timer, making it completely legal for SAM OT events. The model is a very clean design that sports, of all things, an auto-rudder operated by the Austin ignition timer - a very advanced feature for its time. The version of the Hayseed presented here was aimed at the Ohlsson .23, but those lucky enough to own both an O&R .19 and .23 today could fly classes A and B with the same ship, just by switching engines at the field.

We were fortunate to have the designer, Carl Hermes, on hand to give us a few words about his model. Here's what he has to say:

Hayseed was the name given to a series of gas jobs that were designed while I was growing up in Fairfield, Connecticut. They were all of the same basic design and came in various sizes. The biggest Hayseed used the Ohlsson .60 Custom or the Super Cyclone, since they were the hottest engines of that size at the time.

Chester Kowalkowski of Bridgeport won the Connecticut State Champion-ships at New Haven in 1940 with one of the big ships. Carl Cappozi, Bill Wargo, and I also flew the model at contests all over the East Coast just before the war. Frank Bushey (the ex-AMA President) and Jim Grant from Hartford picked up the design around 1947 and proceeded to do fairly well with it. Jim made the longest official flight with the design to date by clocking over 57 minutes at Hicksville, Long Island, in 1947. A slightly smaller 'C' version, developed for the .49 engines after the war, is shown in Zaic's 1951-52 Yearbook.

With the low aspect ratio, this ship was not a fantastic glider in dead air. However, it seemed to have an ability to utilize to its best advantage any thermal activity. It had what Frank Zaic used to call 'thermal bounce,' which l attribute partially to the smallish stab. T

There were two Hayseeds designed for the Ohlsson .23 and of the two, the one shown turned out to be the best. it was flown throughout the summer of 1941, placing fairly well in several of the smaller contests that were on the East Coast at that time. The auto-rudder idea shown on the plane was picked up from the Norwalk, Connecticut group, who were using it on Comet Clippers at that time.

In a Christmas card from Bill Wargo came the following news: I finally lost my big 'C' job (Hayseed) last July 1979. It caught the only thermal of the day at the contest. When it was last seen it was at about 2,000 feet heading toward Windsor Locks from Rocky Hill Meadows. I suppose they can't last more than forty years.

Bill had been flying this ship steadily at Old Timer contests for most of that time. "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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