Oily Bird 6 (oz8055)

About this Plan

Oily Bird 6. Radio control sport model. 640 sq in wing area, for .45 to .61 power.

Quote: "Looking for that class 1 machine that can bring home all the marbles for you? If you are, look no further, as our OB #6, if built with loving care and tenderness, is the machine to do it.

The City of Port Arthur, Texas, is billed by the local Chamber of Commerce as The City That Oils The World. The reason for this is that two of the world's largest oil refineries are located here. In addition, there are ten other oil and chemical plants in this vicinity.

In 1965 the Port Arthur Radio Control Club had a contest to find a suitable nickname. Mr Bob Follette came up with the most appropriate name, The Oily Birds. As publicity chairman of this group for the past three years, I have naturally used any and all gimmicks to put the club's name before the public. That is why I chose to name this ship the Oily Bird.

Late in the '65 contest season, the idea of a new Class I design was born. Most Class I craft at that time were of the high wing variety; which were designed with flat bottom wings, very high wing loadings, and relatively high power loadings. Most of these had several distinguishing characteristics which we were tired of fighting. One was the ballooning effects after almost every maneuver; another the rapid descent on landing approaches which were accomplished satisfactorily only after many hours of practice. However, there was one plane that flew as we wanted a Class I model to perform, but every time it made a hard landing its nose would break off.

After 27 years of model building, I had never tried designing a model of my own. Not really knowing where to start, I set the Bird with the same wing and stab incidence as the above-mentioned ship. I am an addict at building models. Sometimes I'll build as many as four at one time. In the last five years, I have built more than fifty models of all kinds and classes. With the experience gained from this, I incorporated what I considered the best construction steps from these other ships.

The No.1 resembled a Stormer (oz5794) and was finished late in November. The finished flying weight was five pounds. It was flown for the first time at a fund-raising fly-in for a local Boys Home. After waiting all day to get my courage up, the maiden flight was forced upon me by the tauntings of club members.

I started the old trusty with an .45 engine and gave the signal to let her go. It rolled straight down the runway to the best Class I takeoff I had ever made..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 23/09/2016: article pages, text & pics added, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text & pics.

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