Tucker Special (oz1528)

About this Plan

Tucker Special. Control line stunt model.

Quote: "For a note of realism, reminiscent of the Schneider Cup racers, the control-line acrobatic Tucker Special was designed with the Macchi MC-72 Italian plane in mind.

Since fall 1958 when I began flight testing it, the stunter has always received much attention from flyer and spectator. It has even appeared on television here in St. Louis. The Tucker Special has won or placed in every contest entered. There are lots more who fly the design than pictured here, but even so just count the trophies [see more pics 003]... from left to right, 22 belong to Gary Zeller, 1961 AYSC Missouri winner; (author in center); 26 won by Ron O'Toole who was 1959 and 1960 Air Youth camp. Ron also placed 6th with his Tucker Special at the 1959 California Nationals.

At the 1960 Nationals in Dallas, Texas, the design and its flyers did an outstanding job in the acrobatic circles. There were 130 contestants in Junior, Senior or Open class stunt. By Friday evening when the finalists were known, 3 of the 10 had flown a Tucker Special airplane. This is a rare impressive point because these represented each age class: Ron O'Toole in Senior, Art Schaefer in Open, Gary Zeller in Junior-3rd, 6th, and 8th place respectively.

During the winter following the '60 Nationals, I tried to improve the plane's landing characteristics. So the next models sported LG gear in the wing. Other changes included varying moment arms, greater wing area and chord thickness - but the one tremendous advantage over the original was the new Special's ability to land smoothly without a bounce. It still looked like a Tucker Special and still continued to win.

Presented here is that final version. The size is ideal for a 35-powered stunter with a weight of 40 ounces. Although 46 ounces and over will go through the pattern, it definitely is not to your ad-vantage. So pick light balsa; 4 to 8 pound contest wood. Of course, all the winning copies were beautifully finished to gain maximum appearance points. However, I caution that too much paint can really pile on the ounces. This latest airfoil will groove better and give reliable performance under all weather conditions. It has a chord thickness of 18.5 per cent at the wing root..."

Update 24/11/2017: added article, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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