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RC airplanes on TV


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2 hours ago, Phil Green said:

There is, but thats the wrong Stanford Hall Geoff!  ?

Its still there, according to their website, but its the Stanford Hall between Rugby & Market Harborough.

https://stanfordhall.co.uk/family-history/collections    (about half-way down the page, after the boring paintings...   )

 

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Anyone planning a visit (its a great day out) make sure you go to the right Stanford Hall, dont go to Loughborough   ?  ?  ? 

Cheers

Phil

 

That's odd because I pass Stanford Hall on my way to Melton Mowbray to my brother's home (and Buckminster) and I'm sure that's where the VMCC used to have Founder's Day events but it's nearly 50 years ago so I could be confused (not for the first time!).  It's much better displayed in the photo than it was when I saw it in quite a dark barn.  I'm already depressed enough with my birthday coming up tomorrow ?

 

Geoff

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23 minutes ago, J D 8 said:

The Wright flyer on its first take off did not use any sort of catapultSee the source image

 

I have a copy of that photo on my workshop wall - I bought it when we visited Kitty Hawk in 1996.  I think my wife and I are probably the only couple to ride a tandem up Kill Devil Hill to the Wright memorial -  we probably weren't supposed to but there was no-one about.  It's well worth a visit if you get the chance - it's very modest and run mostly by volunteers, which took me quite by surprise.  The photograph was the first ever taken by the photographer using a camera set up by the brothers.  Certainly no catapult was involved but there was a strong breeze which gave a fair bit of airspeed even before the taxi run.

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3 hours ago, Geoff S said:

That's odd because I pass Stanford Hall on my way to Melton Mowbray

You do Geoff, but thats not the Stanford Hall where the Percy Pilcher met his maker.

Its just east of where the M6/A14 crosses the M1.  Theres a Percy Pilcher monument there too.

Google maps link

The Loughborough Stanford Hall is the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre

Cheers  & have a happy birthday tomorrow!

Phil

Edited by Phil Green
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4 hours ago, J D 8 said:

The Wright flyer on its first take off did not use any sort of catapultSee the source image

You're quite (W)right JD 8, my mistake. ?

I've seen & read a lot about their early flights & often there was reference &/or the tower used for their catapult system was either in the background or actually in use. Some how I came believe it had been used right from the earliest flight. I've just found this site's explanation of why it wasn't needed on the day & how it's construction & use did come about nearly a year later.

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20 hours ago, PatMc said:

You're quite (W)right JD 8, my mistake. ?

I've seen & read a lot about their early flights & often there was reference &/or the tower used for their catapult system was either in the background or actually in use. Some how I came believe it had been used right from the earliest flight. I've just found this site's explanation of why it wasn't needed on the day & how it's construction & use did come about nearly a year later.

A really good book on the Wright Brothers, if you haven't read it, is David McCullough's "The Wright Brothers".

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/01/2022 at 09:25, Cuban8 said:

BoB Model Squadron was a travesty and did our hobby very little good IMHO. Yes, it was all there, smashed up models, political correctness and a lot of pure silliness. As for FPV racing as a spectator sport - I'm afraid I can't think of anything more boring and repetitive.

There was a programme broadcast quite a few years ago about R/C aerobatics and followed the preparations of a competitor, I think for the UK or world champs. Don't remember the details, but recall it being very good and showing that part of our hobby/sport in a positive way that's usually reserved for much higher profile and £ swamped popular sports. Not sure if it's on YouTube, will have to check.

In what way was Bob model squadron politically correct? I watched an interesting attempt to do an alternative take on popular history TV that was derailed by bad production decisions such as the mass take off. 

Edited by Lima Hotel Foxtrot
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  • 1 year later...

   Thanks for that trevor, sounds interesting  Going back to the OP I have a former TV star model from the 70's and keep it in flying condition [ only when calm]

   It is Bleriot XI built and flown by Dave Boddington and his team for the Yorkshire TV series "Flambards"  It was one of several flying models and full size ground runners used in the filming and claims to have been the first time that air to air filming was done with a model and helicopter.

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On 11/01/2022 at 16:58, PatMc said:

It's a common misconception that the Wright's were the first to fly a powered aircraft. In 1894 at Balwyn's Park, Bexley Hiram Maxim demonstrated his "flying machine" that managed to leave the ground under it's own power albeit unintentionally. Maxim's aircraft weighed 3.5 tons & was powered by two steam engines.

In France in 1890 Clement Ader experimented with a steam powered aircraft tethered to a central point. (First to attempt RTP flying !!?) During one sortie the machine broke the tether & flew briefly for about 50 or 60 ft.   

The Wright's achievement was to fly a powered aircraft under full control but unlike Maxim & Ader their aircraft relied on a catapult launch to assist take off, even the ones demonstrated in Europe several years after the success at Kitty Hawk.  

Interesting stuff, but I think the Wright Brothers were the first to fly. Maxim so little wanted to fly (he was worried about control) that he actually tethered his plane and lost interest afterwards:The Pioneers : An Anthology : Sir Hiram Maxim (1840 - 1916) (monash.edu)

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             It was Bleriot and Morane-Saulnier and their engineers who came up with the now classic configuration for propeller aircraft.  At the time word "propeller" was only given to the airscrew of a pusher type aircraft Like the Farman . On a Bleriot type it was known as a Tractor.  After a couple of years the term propeller came to mean either even though "airscrew" is the correct term.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited by J D 8
just another pic
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The Wright's were the first to succeed in demonstrating their ability to perform powered and controlled flight and at a stroke, swept away all the tinkerers and unscientific dreamers who didn't really understand what they were doing.

Otto Lilienthal and Percy Pilcher being the exceptions who may well have succeeded given better luck.

The Wright's rival in the US, Prof. Samuel Langley also seemed to be leading himself down a blind alley in terms of design and control, despite being funded generously by The Smithsonian. Easy for us to be critical now, I suppose.

Yes, Bleriot in Europe and Glenn Curtiss in the US really picked up the pace and pushed the Wrights into the background and had them mired in legal actions over their patents and their focus mainly  on building an aeroplane for the US military. To me, they got bogged down and missed what others were doing in a fast moving and developing technology, and  therefore began to be left behind. Wilbur's untimely death finalised matters. 

 

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