Whirlaway (oz14008)

About this Plan

Whirlaway. Control line sport model.

Also reprinted in AT Classic, Summer 1977.

Quote: "A minority of control-line builders want nothing but speed. Most builders prefer semi-scale - something that looks like an airplane but which has speed, durability, and beauty. Some speed must be sacrificed for strength (for fast landings) and appearance.

I spent nine months finding the weak points of construction, trying different airfoils and wings until I found the best one, and eliminating as much parasite drag as possible by smoothing out the lines.

Because of its weight and sturdiness it is able to make upwind holdings, without slackening the control lines. It responds to finger-tip control. This model incorporates an automatic flap-and-ignition control attached to a third control line, which eliminates those high landings which knock your ship to pieces. You fly the ship as close as possible to the ground, then pull the third line to cut the ignition and let down the flaps.

The control lines should be 60 to 75 lb test, preferably the latter. Try different types of propellers until you get maximum speed."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 15/8/2022: Added (later) article from MA April 1988, thanks to Pit.

Quote: "From 1944: Whirlaway Revisited. It was receiving an old ignition engine as a gift that 'sparked' this re-creation of a 1940s Control Line model. By Dick Miner.

SOME TIME BACK a friend gave me a Vivelle .35 model airplane engine. For those of you too young to remember, the Vivelle is an old gasoline-and-ignition engine that was popular during the 1940s. The engine I received from my friend was basically OK but needed same tender loving care.

To make a long story short, it needed a spark plug, timer arm, new set of points, gasket - and of course the usual coil, condenser, and battery. With the resurging interest in ignition engines, these components can be found today at many hobby shops and through the ads in modeling magazines.

To keep in the spirit of things, I decided that the only proper airplane in which to mount my refurbished Vivelle would have to be an airplane from its own era. With that in mind, I went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Library in Washington, DC to pick through the back issues of Air Trails magazine dating from 1940 to 1950. The Air and Space Museum Library has many periodicals on model aviation, some current. some no longer published. In the May 1944 issue, I finally found a tethered (what we now call Control Line) racer called the Whirlaway that was designed by Alfred Pardocchi.

In 1944 Control Line racing was popular. but the still-to-come Stunt ships were only on the drawing board. The Whirlaway was designed for an Ohlsson and Rice .60 gasoline engine. I sealed the plans down from the magazine article to fit an old plastic anti-freeze bottle which I planned to use as a cowling and the .35-size Vivelle. I always have trouble forming cowls, and thought the shape of the plastic jug would make a nice one just as it was.

My intentions were to recreate the Whirlaway to my own dimensions. I had to use my own judgment on pans of the design, as some modern techniques offered better results..."

Supplementary file notes

Article.
Article (MA 1988).

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