Jon Harper

Whoops I meant to upload this photo just as covering with the corrugated art board had started.

Historically accurate landing position

And the camo pattern on top…

Thanks David, it was a challenging build with corrugated art board. Another nice flight photo….on an overcast day.

Thought I would post this corrected flight video link for my Junkers J1 that we flew this fall and is included in the Feb 2022 Parting shot. I must have made a typo for the link. Apologies. The Junkers J.1 (actually manufacturers # J4) was a ground support and reconnaissance biplane. Nicknamed the Mobelwagen “furniture van", or “Moving Van” or the “flying tank”. The J.I was very rugged and well liked by its crews despite its clumsy handling, entering front line service in August 1917 with the official name of “Junk 1”. The J.I was the first almost all metal mass produced “in service” aircraft with a cantilevered sesquiplane wing configuration sheeted in 2mm thick corrugated duraluminum. The front of the fuselage was wrapped in a 1/4” steel armour plate tub (weighting 470kg, 1,040 lbs) protecting the engine, fuel tanks, radio gear, and crew - making it almost invulnerable to ground fire. The rear fuselage was formed with a duraluminum tubular frame covered in fabric. Flying surfaces were controlled by pushrods rather than flying wire to resist ground fire. Most losses occurred during landings and takeoffs. A weight comparison: the Junkers J1 weighed 4700lbs, a Sopwith Camel weighed around 1450 lbs, and a DR1 weighed about 1290lbs. Our local aviation museum (CASM) kindly allowed my friend Chuck and me to bring my J1 model for comparison photos with the actual J1 serial 586/18 which I have also included. 2nd flight link here: https://youtu.be/Sp3NyVGBPc4 Long flight with wheels off landing https://youtu.be/pu8spy1-crE Part flight and landing https://youtu.be/QW_e2NtTQqs The Build thread here: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php...

If some one is interested in trying to scratch build one of these, attached are my “design” drawing scribbles I used to build it. Yes they are messy but it is most of what you need to know how to build it. I think you will need high intermediate to craftsman building skills. If you have built 4 larger balsa kits you probably have the skills to do this. First I enlarged the 3 view below to the scale I wanted. Then figured out the structure for the wing and fuselage pod. The last photo is the drawing where I drew out the fuselage former profiles. If you do try to build it you can follow my build thread on RCG. I did have to fix some mistakes here and there along the way. Finding the right size carbon fibre tubes for the fuselage booms is critical. If you can’t find those, I don’t think anything else would be light and strong enough not to break or bend on takeoff and landing. https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3318791-Research-Build-of-1916-Blackburn-Triplane-Zeppelin-Hunter-FLIES

Thanks also to RCM&E for printing the Blackburn Zeppelin Hunter article in the October 2021 issue. I really learn a lot from other peoples build articles. Such skilled craftsmen. Great magazine. We are lucky to have it.

And these…

pics….

Since snow has arrived here, this is the last flight video and flight photos of the season! Time to break out the skis! This old crate is a dreamboat to fly. So easy it should be a trainer. Going to miss flying it until spring. Video and pics by my friend Chuck, some pics by Hal. Jon last flight of the season vid link

Wow fantastic, had not seen this one. Photo attached of his pilot licence signed by a Wright brother. thanks for posting the clip of 90 year old Wittman! appreciated, Jon

Pete, Signed plans! Wow, that is really cool! I built Chief OshKosh to 1/4 scale so the 16ft wingspan became a 4ft scale model. Over the years, Wittman kept reducing the wingspan until is was 12ft in 1937 when it crashed (can you say “not enough lift!”). Undeterred, Wittman took the Chief’s wreckage and created another successful pylon racer called Buster. To answer your question if you do 1/3rd scale, you probably only need 1/4 of the ribs structurally, but one of the characteristics of Bonzo’s wings is the ridiculous number of ribs. As a result, you could consider reducing the number of ribs by 1/3 since the spacing would still look tight, laser or CNC cut from 1/16” balsa sheet with lightening holes, and wing tube holes. Include 1/8” or 3/32” ply ribs at connection points. Rather than a wing tube, have you considered carbon fibre tubes? Super light. The Chief OshKosh wings is way more rigid that necessary, so I would reduce the structure if I built another. Shockingly the 4ft wing weighed 1lb….I am sure I could build another doing in under 3/4lb with no struc compromise. The pic of my over structured Chief OshKosh wing below should be significantly reduced. Really only needed 1 carbon fibre tube with one built up spar. The leading and trailing edges provide a lot of stiffness as well. I would have more lightening holes cut too. Enjoy your build.

I found this scale drawing of Bonzo a few years ago. Has everything needed for a scratch build own design. Hope it is useful.

Robert, It is great that you are building Bonzo. Steve W built Bonzo after he built Chief OshKosh. It is very easy to see the tail, rear fuse and wing similarities. When you fly Bonzo, consider flying it a full throttle. It took me two years to realize that is how Chief OshKosh needs to be flown….it’s a pylon racer after all. Assuming it flies the same - you will really enjoy flying Bonzo! The pics are all of Chief OshKosh for comparison with Bonzo. If I built the wing again, I would use half the number of ribs compared to scale to reduce weight. Good luck with the build! Jon

Model of a model? You made me look! Great idea. Then I found a few more nice and ugly aircraft. Oh the temptation! D. Stanger and his models appeared frequently in flight magazine from 1910 to 1916. What a great looking model. Yours looks fantastic!

They are 5ft up to 6ft wingspan. You are correct in that I pick a scale that will just fit up the basement stairs and into the car in one piece. The American Army bomber is the six engined 1922 Barling long range Bomber XBNL-l. That one is huge in one piece with a 72” wingspan standing 24” tall. Very interesting history: It bankrupted the manufacturer, had a crew of 7 or 6, was larger and taller that the B17, had 10 landing wheels plus 2 training nose wheels to start, and with six engines could not fly over the Appalachian mountains. All that remains are two enormous wheels in a museum in the US. Let me see if I have some flight video from my friend Chuck. The model is an evil thing to fly for someone like me with medium flying skills. Link to Barling flight with my friend Dave on the sticks.

Don, you are on to something there. That is exactly how I decide what to model next. It is never a mainline aircraft, always something a little ugly at first glance, but it draws you back. When I am nearing completion of a build I often find myself surfing the net for some ugly duckling and after an hour or so I have often found 10 or 15 aircraft I have never seen before. A little more research on Wikipedia and I find 2 or 3 with interesting stories on top of the ugly beautiful looks. Invariably one of these knows away in the back of my mind challenging me to devise a way to build it. At that point the deed is done and I have my next build. I think I have finished about 8 ugly own design scratch builds in the last 5 years. Always amazes me when the balsa sticks and covering end up flying! At this point I feel like we could make a frying pan fly! jon p.s., some of my uglies attached.

Paul, I did that 45 years ago on my bikes…sounded great! Look closely at the attached photo that shows the excessive amount of guy wires, control wires and rigging….;—) jon

JD, The Blackburn was extraordinarily unsuccessful. One was built and sent for testing in 1916. It performed poorly and was struck off charge a month later. The model is the exact opposite- a wonderful flyer and very maneuverable like the DR1 but lands and takes off with not complications….contrary to the DR1.

It is true that more power is not needed, but there is no excess power. It has sufficient power to climb slowly, and can loop….but not enough power to “get you out of trouble”. The power it has definitely allows for scale flying which is great….and fun for touch and goes. Jon

And this is a short flight video where I was flying it like a DR1 inclose to the camera. It is really fun to fly! Could use a touch more power. The pusher prop makes an unholy racket that sounds better than it does in the videos. Jon

I thought people might like to see flight video of my 50” wingspan 1916 Blackburn Triplane Zeppelin Hunter which turned out to be a very sweet flier. Amazingly it flies like your second plane after a trainer. Anyway, here are some supplementary photos of the model. It really is an excellent example of a bunch of airplane parts flying in formation. The detailed build article is in the October 2021 RCM&E issue. My friend Chuck took the video and the photos. Jon

Thanks Pete, good ideas. Will investigate by moving the CoG slightly forward. The rudder aileron mix is a good idea. I have been trying to remember to to this manually but it usually takes the model tail drooping for me to remember to feed in some rudder.