Miles Atwood Special (oz8761)

About this Plan

Miles Atwood Special. Scale model racer.

Quote: "THIS IS A CLASSIC RACER from the Golden Age of Air Racing. Clean lines and streamlining made it competitive with other racers of its day that had twice the power. At one-fifth scale this still is a small model, and it is designed for .20-.25 cu. in. engines.

To many of us, the building and flying of model airplanes is a way of studying and preserving aviation history. There were many aircraft and people involved in pioneer aviation that are not well known, but they still contributed to modern aviation. The bravery of the pilots who strapped themselves into machines that were just chalk lines on the floor three months earlier needs to be remembered. Air racing quickly changed the military airplanes from biplanes to all-metal monoplanes that were double the speed. This technology became very important, as we were thrown into World War II shortly thereafter.

We have all heard of the Gee Bee racers, the Mr Mulligan, and some of the other planes that won the Thompson and Bendix at the National Air Races. These unlimited air races were equal in stature to today's Indianapolis 500 in auto racing. Also at the national event were at least a dozen other races for smaller displacement classes. These races included straight line, city-to-city dashes, and pylon races. Some of these early racer-builders were Ben Howard, Art Chester, Steve Wittman, Clayton Folkerts, Keith Rider, Eldon Cessna, Gordon Israel, and Lawrence Brown.

Lawrence Brown, famous for his B-2, Miss Los Angeles, built his first racer for another pilot, Lee Miles. The Miles-Atwood Special, named for its pilot and its sponsor, was built and first raced in 1933. The petite plane had a wingspan of only 16-1/2 feet! The fuselage was built of conventional welded steel tubing covered with wood stringers and fabric. The wing was made with spruce spars and plywood ribs. It was covered with fabric and braced with wire for support. Power was a Menasco C45 four-cylinder engine of 363 cu in displacement, producing 185 hp...."

Miles Atwood Special, Model Aviation, September 1985.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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