UFO (oz8299)

About this Plan

UFO. Free flight IC ducted fan model.

Quote: "Are there travellers from space? We think so. Here's a scale model of their ship! UFP, by Paul Del Gatto.

It had been a weary, hot contest day. A real scorcher. It was good to be home! Puffy cumulus clouds filled the sky, remnants of the violent thermals which had stolen two free-flight models from us during the model meet. The vertical rise of the models had been too fast - they were up in the clouds when the dethermalizers popped.

Ah, well, we sighed, as we dropped into our hammock. Inside the house, the air was muggy and hot. Out in the yard, though, a cool breeze sprang up as the sun dropped below the horizon. We leaned back and thought how close we had been to winning a place, and how the lost ships had spoiled our chances. Our thoughts settled on plans for a fool-proof dethermalizer. Maybe a spring-loaded hammer? We'd think about it tomorrow. Now we'd rest.

Peace was shattered by a high-pitched pulsing hum, filling the air. The eerie sound grew louder as we turned, looking for its source. It was quite high up. We looked up toward the dusk-filled sky and noticed a faint blue-orange glow.

As we watched, the object came nearer. Within a few minutes, it zoomed between the trees and came to rest at the hack of the yard. Darn fool radio flyers, we thought. The ship still pulsed with light as we scanned its eight-foot length. Just as we decided to get up from our hammock, a door popped open. We stopped, stunned.

Nothing came out, but we decided to stay put and see what else was going to happen. The ship was certainly not a model plane. It has to be a space-
ship, we thought. But so small? We always thought that spaceships were big. The idea excited us. A close-up view of a landed Unidentified Flying Object!

From our vantage point we could see the general structure and design clearly. Obviously the configuration was ad-vanced beyond those of our atmospheric aircraft. The engine, whatever type it was, seemed to be contained in a bulky, cylindrical container. This must have been a space drive, since it was not working when the ship flew into our yard. Small rocket-type exhausts jutted from the rear of the ship. These were still glowing as we watched.

Slowly we eased from our hammock to take a closer look. We edged past some bushes toward the ship, trying to remain unnoticed..."

Quote: "And it's a strange one, a tri-plane in disguise. This is from Flying Models, December 1955. Free Flight ducted fan novelty are the best tags I can come up with. I think Paul was trying to 'out-weird' Mr Roy Clough! Dave"

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 04/01/2017: Added complete article, thanks to Newtmagick.

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