Viewing page 60 of 83
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
Soaring Readers Write (The opinions expressed under this heading are those of the writers, and are not, necessarily, the opinions of The Soaring Society of America, Inc., or of the Editor.) Hinsdale, Illinois "I got a big bang out of 'Soaring Readers Write' in the last issue. Whatever you do, don't discontinue this section—it is most interesting. "I appreciate the treatment you gave the 'Nucleon' article—it was nicely arranged. Also, my daughter Marilyn was thrilled seeing her picture on the 'Soaring Personalities' page. "An automobile accident January 21 brought on a heart attack which has confined me to my bed. However, by the time you receive this I will be at home. After a month of gradual rehabilitation I'll be back in the harness. "One thing I'd like to see in SOARING is more news from abroad—statistical data on how many sailplanes, pilots, amount of government assistance, etc., may be of help in goading our own government to put a little incentive into our national glider movement." Art Shultz c/o Hinsdale Hospital 120 North Oak Street (SOARING Readers will join me in wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.—Ed.) Mill Valley, California "In the latest issue, Mr. Fauvel saw fit to cast some aspersions on the AV-36 that was taken (late) to the Elsinore Nationals. In justice to both the plane, and to ourselves, a not of several items might be of interest to all readers, and might serve to clear up some questions. "Fred Jukich, the owner, and I, the builder (who intended to be half owner until two considerations, one financial and the other the enormous bulk of the one piece contraption, and I might ass, my interest in the 25' span machine now building fiberglas) were under great pressure to complete the wing in time to show it. "Since the contest, it has been in the shop for considerable rebuilding, and will be flying in a few weeks. Much more successfully, I might add. "1/ The linkage on the rudders was such that there was not sufficient rudder travel. This because the arm came up against the drag spar. Clearance has been provided now, but since this required carving, it was flown without this alteration. The two pilots who flew the AV-36 were appraised of this, and it is regrettable that they did not see fit to mention their criticism. "2/ Ailerons are differential, contrary to Mr. Fauvel. "3/ The nose of the plane, as all other parts, are as designed, except that we did not cut the 'casarole' off as Mr. Fauvel suggested since even with this 'casarole' removed it is too big to trail safely on our highways in a horizontal position, even with tails folded. We have resorted to expedient of tilting the plane on its trailers to bring it within the minimums, but it still is an awful lump. "4/ The 'extremely long wings balanced by vertical profiles, whose surfaces are very important', to quote from Mr. Fauvel's letter are plates of the same area as the skids designed by Mr. Fauvel. Evidently Mr. Fauvel saw a picture taken from the wing tip, and did not take into account the distortion that is so well known as a phenomenon. "5/ The overweight of the AV-36 may be accounted for by the fact that there is a great deal of extra equipment built in for radio , oxygen, etc., as well as because we had to substitute the next heavier equivalent weight of plywood available in 1/16" & 1/8" for the metric thickness specified by Mr. Fauvel. Great care was taken in the construction to retain the robust quality of the machine as designed by Mr. Fauvel, and we did not deviate from his design, contrary from his impressions. "6/ The pod was made of fiberglas over a form of the exact shape of plywood pod, because splinters are thus avoided. This in no way changed the aerodynamics of the plane however." Syd M. Hall Las Cruces, New Mexico "It was rather interesting to read the bit of criticism in the recent issue of SOARING by one Alan H. Schmid, concerning the article, 'The Low-Drag Sailplane'. I do not feel that it was fair to Dr. Raspet or Ray Parker, although I do recall re-reading several parts of it in order to fully appreciate to ideas. There are not many articles of a technical nature that do not require 'study' rather than simple reading. "I for one, would like to see more articles of the type that come from the Aerophysics Department. Most of us appreciate a good treatment on the technical aspects of soaring flight, because we know that the state of the art can be improved in this way: CHEESECAKE. PERSONALITIES, and BOASTING ABOUT TEXAS WEATHER contribute nothing. "While on the subject of technical articles, I think that this fellow, Henry R. Jex, also does a good job. Perhaps, if he were assigned to the Scientific Committee of the SSA, his interest in viscous flow might be spotlighted across sub- critical Reynolds Number region to the sailplane realm. John L. Martz 1404 Montana Street Apartment No. 2 Pasadena, California "....someplace you should mention the technique used by Raspet, of sealing spoiler gaps with modeling clay instead of tape (tape is dangerous-sometimes it cannot be broken). Clay should also be useful for sealing canopies while still permitting egress." Paul B. MacCready, Jr. 1202 E. Green St. Northern California Soaring Association "We wish to acknowledge receipt of the extra copies of SOARING. We decided at our last meeting to give these to prospective sailplane enthusiasts, either at the Field or at our meetings, on an individual basis. In this way we hope to stimulate interest and gain new members for our group and the S.S.A WE feel that such a project is worthwhile, and wish to thank you for sending the copies to us. John B. Sawyer, M.D President, N.C.S.A. Azusa, California "We would like to report on the distribution of the complimentary copies of SOARING. We offer them for sale at our regular meetings. Enclosed with each copy is an SSA application form. We feel that everyone who attends our meetings is a potential member of the SSA but that we should not give them away because there is the possibility that some persons would take advantage of this situation. Any copies that are not sold are then mailed to the local libraries of high schools, junior colleges, etc. We stamp our name and address on a few pages so that interested students will be able to easily contact us. "We believe that this method will help both SCSA and SSA. "Since many pilots cannot for one reason or another, attend the National contests even though they would like to enter into the fun of the National competition, why not another form of nation-wide competition as well as the regular National Contest. It seems to me that it would not be too hard to hold a year-round competition on a nation wide basis. Both the shop and site would be handicapped. We have used a couple of systems of the ship handicapping here on the coast with some degree of success. The site handicapping could be based on the best distance ever flown out of that spot. In this manner, the competition should show the result of pilot skill. The work for a contest committee would not be too great. If this idea has any merit, I would be happy to help work it out." John C. Wolfe, 127 No. San Gabriel Avenue North Parramatta, New South Wales "It is very encouraging to learn that 'Australian Gliding' is well received in America. I think it is good for the gliding movements of the various countries to be familiar with one another. "On January 2nd the Australian distance record was raised from 259 miles to 303 miles by Mervyn Waghorn of the Sydney Soaring Club. He flew the Club's Olympia from Marromine, NSW, to Wangratta, Victoria. He was attempting a 325 miles goal flight to Benalla but did not quite make it. Several days earlier Waghorn gained his Goal Diamond with 206 miles goal flight from Narromine to Wagga. On January 5th another Sydney Soaring Club pilot raised the National out-and-return record from 144 miles to 207 miles in the Olympia. Owen was Austrailia's representative at the 1954 World Soaring Championships in England. Waghorn was one of the Australian pilots at Mardrid in 1952." Allan Ash Editor, "Australian Gliding: 3 Bowden Road MARCH-APRIL, 1955 25
Transcription Notes:
I transcribed the whole thing but I'm burnt out now, so all this needs is edits and checking to see if i missed something.
