Desire (oz5966)

About this Plan

FAI competition R/C pattern model airplane design, uses enclosed tuned pipe, has foam surfaces.

Quote: "Here's one man's quest for the perfect Pattern machine, constructed from balsa, foam, or optional fiberglass. Desire! By Mike McConville

What did the Reds have that allowed them to sweep the highly favored Oakland Athletics in the 1990 World Series? Answer: They had the drive to win; the Desire. Or, this airplane is just so sexy you gotta have one. Now that you understand the reason for the name, let me explain what it is.

I'll start by telling you a little about myself. I guess I could have been described as a R/C brat. My father was into R/C before I was born, so I was practically born with a transmitter in my hand. I have been flying in pattern competition since 1978, and flying FAI class since 1983. I was US Alternate in the 1984 Tournament of Champions. and have done very well in national competition. Well that's enough horn blowing about myself, so on to the airplane.

In FAI competition today, it is impossible to deny that there are many excellent pilots, and often the difference between winning or not, comes down to almost hundredths of a percent. For example, at the 1989 Masters Tournament in Pensacola, the cutoff for the finals was twelfth place. As it turned out, when the smoke cleared I was the lucky one who placed thirteenth. On the long, long drive home I had time to think about the scores, and as I looked at them I realized that I missed twelfth place by one tenth of a point out of three thousand. This equated to one half of a point better score on just one 2k factor maneuver, on just one flight, and I would have been in the finals instead of cry ing in my beer.

That is really when I started contemplating the Desire. It became obvious that to win you certainly need every advantage you can get over the other guy. The biggest advantage I could see was to fly an airplane that I was completely happy with, not one which did some things well, but had other bad tendencies which you had to live with.

When I set out to design the Desire I said that I was incorporating everything I thought would make the 'perfect' pattern airplane, so if it didn't fly well, then I knew nothing about airplanes or design. Well in one season of competition the Desire has already achieved quite a list of wins, and has almost surpassed my expectations, so I guess I can still respect myself as El credible modeler.

My goal in this design was to come up with a very honest airplane that you could just pick up and fly, without worrying about any quirks or bad tendencies, and let you concentrate on the maneuver you are flying and not on correcting for the airplane you are flying. Then wrap this around an attractive, easy to construct airfranr that would make every-one want one.

To start the process at designing this airplane I compiled a list of every flying attribute I desired in a pattern airplane, and what design feature would accomplish this goal.

The first goal was to get the airplane to be very honest with rudder, ie. not pitch couple, and furthermore, track straight on vertical lines. This was accomplished by moving the wing down from the typical mid-wing configuration of most 'modern' pattern planes, and running the to pipe over the wing, a la Dick Hanson's Debut. Due to this, the Desire may seem a bit unorthodox at first glance..."

Quote: "Hi Steve; Here are some files of the Desire Pattern Airplane designed by Mike McConville and published in Flying Models in August 1991. This a great looking model and one I hope to build soon. These files were found on the Internet, and I have the magazine as well. A 120 size model was also marketed by R/C City. It appears to be an enlargement of the 60 size by increasing the wingspan scale from 64in to 66in. I have sent you compressed files, but could send non compressed files if that would be better. You're doing great work on this site, preserving many great old designs."

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Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

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