Draggin By (oz5876)

About this Plan

Draggin By. Radio control sport model.

Quote: "A slow flying fun bipe for .09 to .15 engines and great for fun-flys.

The advice that a mother is supposed to have given her son, who had just become a pilot - fly low and slow - has an application in Draggin-By, for it is an airplane that can be flown in just that manner and not only survive, but thrive.

We older flyers need two things in an airplane: first, it must be easy to fly and, second, it should be visible. Draggin-By is both. It is a very gentle airplane to fly, in fact, it is almost too gentle to be called a trainer for it will take care of itself so well there is no need for the pilot to acquire anything other than basic skill. By being a rather large biplane (span nearly 5 ft) it is quite visible, especially so when flown slow and close.

The fuselage-wing configuration helps a great deal to eliminate disorientation at reasonable distances. Add to the above the fact that Draggin-By is a very thrifty plane to fly. A 4 oz tank will fly it for almost 20 minutes at half throttle and nearly a half hour when power is reduced to the minimum to keep it airborne. Others on your frequency will hate you.

Hanging from my shop ceiling are ten airplanes, all of them in flying condition, but since its completion Draggin-By has gotten the call every time the wind is less than 15 mph. It will handle more wind than that, but landings become a problem. About landings - touch and goes are so graceful that I have spent whole sessions doing nothing but that and enjoying each one.

Unfortunately, Draggin-By is not an aerobatic airplane. It will snap, but it won't spin. It will loop, but it won't roll; it will fly inverted quite well for a flat bottomed wing, but without the roll ability, it will stay well above the split-S altitude. Do not try to over-power it, a little Schnuerle ported Speedy .10 flys it just fine, and a sport .15 would be okay but please, no more.

Construction. This is an easy airplane to build: it has one extra wing to build but no aileron hardware to fool with so it about balances out. Build it light, it is strong just the way it is; in fact, it has survived a straight down full power crash with only the loss of the firewall and some wing tip damage. It took longer to find the broken wire in the radio than to repair the damage to the airplane.

Wings: Make templates for the ribs and, while you are at it, make one for the stab as well. If you are careful with placement you can cut all the ribs from four sheets of 1/16 x 3 x 36 in balsa sheet with some left over for sheeting. When the ribs are cut, stack each group together and gang sand them to the same outline..."

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction