Brian Taylor AT6 Harvard, the 68" version.

[David Davis 2]

It is probably about fifteen or twenty years ago that I bought a model from an old boy in Somerset in the South West of England. The model was a Brian Taylor T6 or Harvard in RAF parlance. It was beautifully made and finished in post war RAF colours, two pilots, retracts the lot. The transaction was carried out over tea and buns (of course!) and during the conversation he told me that although he was from Somerset, his wife was a Londoner and they had met during the war when they were both in the army. He also said that he thought that all aeromodellers were hoarders! At the time he must have been in his Seventies. I have not weighed it but it seems rather heavy and I've been too scared to fly it. I've been waiting for my landings to improve!

 

Well they have improved. I can now land my models on the ten-metre wide tarmac runway most of the time but I'm unsure whether to fly it or sell it. I don't fancy repairing retracts!

 

Has anyone any experience of flying this model?
 

[Denis Watkins]

Can't leave this any longer David, though having no retracts and 2" less wingspan, my Flair Harvard is all wood and Solartex covered, flying at 7 lb.

Must be a similar power plant to the Brian Taylor kit, and it flys a 60 4 stroke.

Flys beautifully, but must be kept moving like most intermediate models. Where a Wot4, may give you a moment to recover on a downwind turn, flown a tad too slow, these big bodied low wingers slow down quickly, so just be aware to keep it moving until you get used to flying it.

Landing is a doddle as the wide chord wing has loads of lift, but do fly to the ground, then cut the motor.

[David Davis 2]

Thanks Denis. I'll weigh mine tomorrow.

[Jon H]

I do not have experience with this one but Harvards in my experience are trickier than most warbirds for some reason. Perhaps their status as a trainer in full size form offers a false sense of security? Not sure. That said, most BT models fly very well so it will probably be fine. At near 70 inch i would be fine even at 12lbs i suspect. 

 

When it comes landing a warbird elevator flap mix is your friend. You will likely need up elevator with gear and flaps down as the drag pulls the nose down. Most of my warbirds want to bury themselves nose first without the mix. 

 

The way to set it up may require a helper as it needs to be done in the air. My approach is to get it all set up and add maybe 2% to the mix just to prove its all working. I then get in the air but leave the menu open on the tx screen. With the gear and flaps down i throttle back and keep adding more and more to the mix (helper might be needed to beep the buttons) until the model stalls or it starts to get really wobbly. I then knock a bit off that setting and we are done. Also for reference, my DB Hurricane elevator flap mix offset for landing (just the trimmed offset in the mix) exceeds my full up elevator deflection at my flying rate such is its desire to dive into the ground. I then have a high rate setting so that my touchdown elevator deflection with the stick hard back is probably 3 times my flying rate maximum deflection. Put simply, using only my flying rate the model would be impossible to land as it would just nose dive into the floor.

 

Anyway what you are left with after setting the mix is effectively a trim setting that will hold the model at a given speed close to the stall but slightly above it. This means you can completely ignore (more or less) the elevator during approach as its all set for you. All you do to control the rate of descent is change throttle. More power to reduce it, less to increase it. 

 

Done this way it is impossible to stall the model as its trimmed for a speed and will naturally drop its nose if it gets too slow. If you dont use the mix and try to hold the nose up you risk overdoing it and stalling the model. 

 

The part that takes practice is leaving the elevator alone, and you need a clear procedure for your downwind and approach to land as dropping flaps too early/at to high a speed will result in the model doing a loop all on its own. This was the exact situation presented by a club mate when i was helping him set up his spitfire as he was rushing the approach. A few more practice approaches at a slower pace (not doing gear flaps and rates all that the same time) had it sorted out. The thing that really caught him out was trusting that the model would not stall in this flap mix configuration as it seemed to be going way too slowly for his liking! 

 

As a guide, if landing right to left my approach would start with a final low fly by/barrel roll etc right to left followed by throttling back and starting a gentle climbing turn to start the landing circuit. Approx 5 seconds later, at the 10 ish o clock position gear down, another 3-4 seconds at 12 o clock flaps half, rates high (or as required for your model). Another 4 or 5 seconds, 1-2 o clock position full flap as i roll into my final turn, using the trim change to aid in the turn and forward (down) elevator pressure as needed to prevent ballooning while the last bit of speed bleeds off. Line up, ailerons and rudder as needed for wings level/cross wind, throttle control for rate of descent, and a slight flare just before touchdown. You have to follow the same procedure each time. Too many just throw it at the ground and hope for the best with no plan. Not recommended, follow full size practice and take the guess work out. Breaking it down into smaller chunks over a longer period of time is also helpful for the brain. Only one thing to worry about at a time, you know the order and what come next. Leaves the thinking meat available for dealing the the wind, checking the runway is clear and so on and a full approach circuit being nearly a minute long if you take it in its entirety. 

 

Hope that helps.