Goose (oz6550)

About this Plan

Goose. Radio control sport model.

Quote: "An unusual, compact, one-piece, swept-forward 'thing' for a change of pace. By Brent Reusch.

The first flight of the 'Thing' (as it was then called) took place on a chilly 10 degree December day. Garry, my eleven year old son, hand-launched it on its maiden flight. The 'Thing' pulled straight out of his hand and continued to climb at a fairly steep angle. When I finally lifted my dropped jaw long enough to get 'with it' on the controls, the ship responded in a normal manner. After some very minor trim changes on the pitch and roll levers, a cautious loop and a few low passes were attempted and the 'Thing' was brought into a normal landing on the snow covered field. Further attempts to fly the model on that day proved fruitless. Not because of the model, but simply because neither Garry or I could get up a launching head of steam on the slippery, icy road we were using for an airfield!

A week later, this 'swept-forward job' went into its second flight, with anonymity, but landed with a name. Bob Mathews, my flying partner, who launched the model on its second flight, was so struck by the fact that it looked like a goose in flight, that we called it the Goose.

The first flights of the Goose were made without a landing gear and it would sustain a fantastic climb angle with an ST 23. With the tricycle gear added, the climb and speed have been reduced, but it is still greater than a conventional model of the same size and power, as there are no tail surfaces and less fuselage to cause drag.

I am glad to say that the Goose is NOT the result of many and varied test models to find the right configura-tion for good flight and stability. The airplane you see in the pictures is the first one ever built and no need for modifications has been found necessary so far. This design configuration has been in my mind for almost 25 years, ever since it was tried as a fuel-carrying glider to tow behind bombers in the Second World War.

The advent of proportional radio, with its instant trim feature and my subsequent two years of experience on this type of radio gave we the confidence to try something different. As it turns out, the airplane is as easy to fly as any good multi ship and will give few problems to anyone with some proportional time.

Elevon type of control is used and is recommended, but the elevators and the ailerons could be separated similar to those used on the Hustler Delta. A suggested elevator and aileron division is shown on the plans, but this has not been tested, no you are strictly on your own. The elevon set-up works well, as only two pushrods are required from the aileron servo - these provide both roll and pitch control. The aileron servo is moved back and forth on a sliding plate by the elevator servo, the latter being fastened firmly to the fuselage in the usual manner. Micro Avionics servos are shown on the plans, but Bonner and Kraft servos could be adapted by using an 'Ailer-Rand' on the aileron servo.

Construction is conventional, so no special building instructions will be given. One note however: The inside of the fuselage where the 'aileron-servo plate' slides back and forth, should be lined with 1/32 plywood. This keeps the sliding plywood plate from eating into the balsa sides and jamming the elevator action.

The original was built with foam wings and weighs 3-3/4 lb. AST 23 proved to be plenty of power and any .19 to .40 motor would be more than adequate. One added feature - this is a compact, one-piece model that fits inside even a compact car with room to spare..."

Update 05/09/2016: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy, thanks to davidterrell80.

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