Headwind B (oz6775)

About this Plan

Headwind B. Radio control scale model, for .61 power.

Quote: "The Headwind, designed by airline pilot Don Stewart, was the first VW engine powered home-built in the United States. Granted, planes such as the Jodel Bebe, the Turbulent and the Fournier, built in Europe, were flown with VW engines prior to 1961 when the first Headwind was built. In 1962 the Headwind was saluted-with EAA's Best Auto Powered Aircraft award. By 1973 thousands of sets of plans had been sold and at least 30 planes were already airborne.

It was in the February 1972 Sports Aviation', the journal of the Experimental Aircraft Association, that the Headwind first came to my attention. I really fell for that stubby nosed offspring of the Aeronca C-3 and it became my scale RC dream. I ordered the information literature mentioned in the Steward Aircraft Co advertisement in the magazine. When the literature, pictures and three views arrived they were for the new Headwind 'B' which sported - among other things - four extra feet of wingspan, a new airfoil, nine more inches of landing clearance and a rounded fin and rudder. In fact the 'B' had lost its C-3 look and has become a right pretty airplane on its own. This information was put aside for more pressing tasks but was never completely out of mind.

In 1975, the Headwind (oz3654) appeared in Flying Models as a construction article by Al Wolsky. Here was my chance to build one without all the design headaches. My .15 powered Headwind flew fantastically, but my dreams were not really fulfilled, it was too small and didn't have ailerons. Again the plans were put aside.

Then the Quarter Scale thing started hitting the market. Well, let us say it began getting publicity because, to my knowledge, 5 years ago at the LSF National Championship contest, Quarter Scale was thoroughly discussed during the interminable time spent between rounds waiting to fly. It was felt that Quarter Scale would be the up and coming thing. It kinda took a temporary back seat to helicopters, but it is now on its own and 'out in front' part of modeling. Let's take the dream out of the hip pocket & do something with it, build a Quarter Scale Headwind.

Back there a few years ago, I did build a Quarter Scale Longster and the construction methods I acquired from a tattered copy of the 1932 Handbook of Homebuilts and from another model builder, Lou Proctor, have helped time and time again with the Headwind. I cannot fail to credit Lou for the many construction methods I acquired while building his kits which he, in turn, learned while building full size planes and numerous models. If you have ever built one of his Antics, you will immediately recognize these techniques used in the Headwind.

Quarter Scale is extremely popular because the larger the plane, the more realistic the flight. The Headwind weighs 7-1/2 pounds and has a wing area of 1/16 square inches which gives a respectable 15 oz/sq ft. Most of the mass is concentrated well under the Center of Gravity which will make this plane the most stable configuration you could build short of a parasol. A .60 really isn't necessary - a .40 would be adequate - but the .60's run and idle so well and slow speed is where you will do most of your flying. Except for take-off and emergencies you will probably not fly above half throttle. The weight of the .60 up front on this short moment arm will keep you from having to add weight to get the Center of Gravity right.

A big advantage of Quarter Scale is the ease by which detail is added, things are big enough so you don't have to work with a 10x magnifying glass and tweezers..."

Update 18/10/2016: article pages, text & pics added, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text & pics.

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