Flight Brings Back Memories
Howard Moore
Round Rock, Texas
Goldberg Jr. Falcon takes to the skies again
I built a Carl Goldberg Jr Falcon in 1973 as a teenager.(I have had an AMA membership continuously since then, AMA #60513) It gave me some of my first R/C experiences with a Cox Golden Bee and 2 channels of an MRC proportional radio. Over 30 years later I found this mostly built Jr Falcon on E-bay. Whomever built this airplane was going to fly it with a single channel radio as it had been built with only a rudder and no elevator.
The mounting blocks inside the fuselage were configured for an escapement type rudder control. This airplane had obviously been collecting dust for quite some time before finding its way to E-bay. The plane had been sitting on my shelf for a few months when I read the article about Carl Goldberg in the November issue and Jay Smith's challenge to fly a Goldberg airplane on the Carl's 100th birthday. I pulled the plane off the shelf and got to work getting it ready to fly. With a 100 watt outrunner and 8x6 folding prop on 3 cells it flies substantially better than I remember it with a Cox engine.(Not to mention quieter and cleaner) Flights of 10 minutes are very relaxing with a 1300 mah battery. The maiden flight took place on Carl's 100th birthday and every pass up and down the runway brought back memories of my youth and a large dose of goosebumps. Thank you Model Aviation for helping us remember where this hobby has come from and leading us into the next era of the hobby.
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I built a Carl Goldberg Jr Falcon in 1973 as a teenager.(I have had an AMA membership continuously since then, AMA #60513) It gave me some of my first R/C experiences with a Cox Golden Bee and 2 channels of an MRC proportional radio. Over 30 years later I found this mostly built Jr Falcon on E-bay. Whomever built this airplane was going to fly it with a single channel radio as it had been built with only a rudder and no elevator.
The mounting blocks inside the fuselage were configured for an escapement type rudder control. This airplane had obviously been collecting dust for quite some time before finding its way to E-bay. The plane had been sitting on my shelf for a few months when I read the article about Carl Goldberg in the November issue and Jay Smith's challenge to fly a Goldberg airplane on the Carl's 100th birthday. I pulled the plane off the shelf and got to work getting it ready to fly. With a 100 watt outrunner and 8x6 folding prop on 3 cells it flies substantially better than I remember it with a Cox engine.(Not to mention quieter and cleaner) Flights of 10 minutes are very relaxing with a 1300 mah battery. The maiden flight took place on Carl's 100th birthday and every pass up and down the runway brought back memories of my youth and a large dose of goosebumps. Thank you Model Aviation for helping us remember where this hobby has come from and leading us into the next era of the hobby.
Click here to read other Plane Talk submissions
Or Submit a Story of Your Own
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Flight Brings Back Memories
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