SEN 1001 - 4 Apr 2006
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SEN 1001 4 April 2006
Table of Contents
=================
Talking to Rudi Lindner - RL << Featured Article
In August it's Oregon
Search for documents on CCCP or USSR if you prefer - Vol Libre
Bob White in AMA Hall of Fame - Progress
Easy Fix to Palm M100 and M105 capacitor problem, addition - F1AinNY
Finding Roy - Dukie
One year.....05 - Segrave
SEN 1000 - My Teacher
Congratulations, Roger - Montes
Model Diesel fuel source
Talking to Rudi Lindner
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Talking to Rudi Lindner
by Rene Limberger
I was encouraged to share some recent events with my fellow
freeflighters, so here it goes:
I recently became interested in nostalgia A/2 gliders (also known as
antique or oldtimer A/2 in Europe). To compete against my buddy Lee
Hines (and others) in the newly created NFFS "Classic Towline Glider
Cup" here in the US, I was scanning some of the vintage A/2 designs
that we are all so familiar with. Czepa, Hacklinger, Thomann, you
name it, I looked at it. All of those share a certain "magic" but in
the end, my heart was lost to the "Spinne" designs by the well known
Rudi Lindner.
Being born in Germany and sharing the same initials with Rudi (R.L.)
sealed the deal - i wanted to build a Spinne. Lee provided an old
Graupner plan of the 54 Spinne, so I employed the good old Internet
to find out more. While browsing some of the pages Google turned up,
i came across a page of a German full scale Sailplane company named
"Rudi Lindner". Comparing their location to Rudi's old aeroclub from
54, I thought this might not be a coincidence. I decided to mail the
owner of the sailplane company, Mr. Helmut Lindner to see if there is
any connection. To my surprise, the next morning, I had an e-mail
back from Mr. Lindner confirming that his father is indeed the famous
A/2 Rudi Lindner. After a couple of back and forths with Helmut, I
was able to acquire Rudi Lindner's phone number. I was quite excited.
So last Saturday I gave Rudi a ring and it turned out to be much more
than I had hoped for. Rudi was extremely nice and open, we had a
great conversation which lasted well over 2hrs. As it turned out,
Rudi lives with his wife in a small village not far from the Bodensee
in southern Germany. He is now 75 and in good health. Rudi explained
to me that he got lured into full scale sailplane design and
production by Dr. Eppler in 57 and also became a sailplane pilot
where he met his wife, who is also a pilot. Rudi and his wife enjoy
sailplane flying even today, btw. Later on Rudi founded a small
company which focuses on the repair and tuning of some of the planes
he helped design. Rudi has just recently stepped down from leading
the company which is now run by his oldest son, Helmut. Rudi also has
another son who is a quite successful RC pilot. Now that he is
retired, Rudi has re-discovered his love for Freeflight and is
starting to get back into it.
As the conversation went on, I eventually asked quite a few questions
about Spinne. Rudi began by telling me that the 54 Spinne was in fact
NOT the original Spinne. In 53, Rudi build a (for the time) very high
aspect ratio plane, which had only 122mm root chord. This would make
the span well over 2m which was quite long for the time . When he
flew this plane in Yugoslavia as well as in the Bavarian
Championship, people looked at the plane in the air and called it
"Spinne" (german word for spider) due to the thin and long wings and
fuselage which resembled the legs of a spider - thats how the name
was born. The original Spinne was quite the performer, being on the
leading edge for still air time for that aera. However, because of
the high aspect ratio, the original Spinne was a bit fragile, so Rudi
decided to build a shorter, more robust version of the plane. Also,
since the cross-section rule had been dropped, Rudi decided to build
the fuselage as small as possible - a pencil pod. This is what became
the 54 WC model, the one we all know.
After the 54 WC winning flight, at the EC (in germany), that Spinne
had another almost fatal flight. In one of the rounds, Rudi reports,
the plane would glide in about 2m altitude, hitting a cyclist in the
head. Although the pencil-like fuselage had a bullet-like aluminum
tip, the cyclist remained unharmed (only his glasses broke).
Nevertheless, this event made Rudi reconsider the pointed pencil type
tip and for 55 he build a new plane, the 3rd Spinne if you so will.
This new Spinne had a rounder nose tip, almost resembling the pods we
fly today. In addition to that, Rudi also added solid balsa sheet
across the entire upper surface of the wings, while the bottom
remained to be jap-tissue covered. Because the wings where basically
identical except for the balsa sheeting, the wings of the 54 Spinne
were flown on the 55 big nosed body. This was the glider used to win
WC 55.
The 54 and 55 Spinnes are now in the German Aero Museum in Munich.
However, the original high aspect ratio Spinne from 53 is still in
Rudi's possession. In fact, some weeks ago he pulled it out of a box
and it turned out to be in great shape, except for a broken stab.
Rudi is currently in the process of repairing and restoring this
original Spinne with plans to fly it very soon. In addition to these
restoration efforts, Rudi is also in the process of building a copy
of the 54 Spinne, as he plans on giving the 53 and copy of 54 Spinnes
to a new museum.
It was quite interesting to hear that Rudi still has a large
stockpile of balsa from his past efforts. He even offered me some of
this balsa as well as tissue and hand drawn plans of his 3 Spinnes.
If I am able to obtain these plans from Rudi as he promised, I will
make sure that these will be shared with the freeflight community.
After all, i might find myself building a Spinne from original hand
drawn Linder plans, Linder wood and Linder tissue - i wonder if i
could ever get myself to actually put such a plane in the air and see
it scratched up by the rough Los Hills ground on landing?
After all this amazing historical information, our conversation went
on to discuss modern A/2 designs and current technology. I was
amused to hear Rudi's enthusiastic reaction when I explained
"bunting" to him. He immediately regretted not being able to run that
fast anymore - i could feel the sportsman in him resurfacing. He made
it very clear that he is very interested in modern technology and I
will work on getting Rudi in contact with some active A/2 flyers in
his area of souther Germany.
Once one is infected with the spirit of freeflight, it will never let
go. Vintage or carbon, A/2 is magic. Rudi and I have pledged to stay
in contact on a regular basis, and so, on my next visit to Germany, I
will be sure to stop by and give him a launch.
regards,
Rene Limberger
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In August it's Oregon
=====================
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You will want to get these dates on your calendar and start your planning for
your lovely trip to Oregon. A great opportunity to take Americas Cup points
from those backwoods flyers in the northwest who rarely get to fly locally
and may be rusty from the wet winter.
The Tangent Classic will be Friday, August 18th for F1 ABC&P and Saturday,
August 19th for F1 GHJ. So if you don't have enough of our points by then
you can continue to get more at the Northwest FAI Challenge on Sunday, August
20th for F1 ABC&P and Monday, August 21st for F1 GHJ. By that time you should
be leading and ready for a tour of the wine country with a stop at the
Evergreen Aviation museum. We will send more details as we make them up,
but pencil in those dates as Ron promises sun with no drift so just max and
pick up your model.
Hope to see everyone.
Ron McBurnett
Pierre Brun
Mike Roberts
Search for documents on CCCP or USSR if you prefer
==================================================
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OT lovers, and others too : "Vol Libre", the French newspaper with English
pages, issue #167, presents 30 pages on Emmanuel Fillon. The next issue #138
will give 30 pages, too, on our old champion.
Again, "Vol Libre" is searching for reports and comments on the period
1970-90 of the Soviet upsurge in model competition and the "CCCP" fliers.
Focus on classes F1A, F1B, F1C. Thank you in advance. 180 pages are foreseen
for a special issue, plans, photos and text.
Andre Schandel
16 chemin du Beulenwoerth -- F.67000 STRASBOURG -- France
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Bob White in AMA Hall of Fame - Progress
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Hi Roger,
I just received an email from Joyce Hager, AMA Executive Director
stating that Bob White has been nominated for the HoF and the nomination
was recieved before the current deadline. I will continue to monitor the
progress.
Rex Hinson
NFFS President
Easy Fix to Palm M100 and M105 capacitor problem, addition
==========================================================
Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
An addition to Easy Fix to Palm M100 and M105 capacitor problem explained in
Scat issue 1000.
Due to the working of batteries connected in parallel, for the healthy life
of the batteries being used, it may be a better idea to use the same kind of
battery (same size and same brand) in the external and internal battery
compartments if you plan on using both battery compartments at the same
time. If you plan on using one of the compartments only during a battery
change then it doesn't matter.
Omer
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Finding Roy
==========================
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Roy Summersby e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
One year.....05
===============
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Hello, folks.
Finally, after a long marathon(they are long) in pregnancy, my book will be
availble on Friday, 24th., March, 2005. 48 pages with over a dozen
sketches/landscapes, 30 plans, 5 contest reports and much more all for the
measly price of 10 Euros/$10 or £7.00. with a wonderful haunting view of the
centre of Zulpich on the cover, a collectors item.
If you thought thhat 'One year....04' last year was good, this is at least
twice that standard.
Send email or letter to:
M.Segrave
34 Joohn Quinn Court
New Basford
Nottingham
NG7 7GT
UK
SEN 1000
========
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Hi Roger,
1000 issues, wow, now , that is a real achievement and being one that has
sometimes watched you working away either late ( and I mean late) in the nights
or very early in the mornings, whilst I slip quietly off to sleep I would
like you to know that I, and I am sure many other modellers offer our
sincere congratualtions and thanks for all the work you have done to make
the SCAT Electronic News a banner Modelling newsletter.
I sincerely thank you very much.
John M.
Congratulations, Roger
======================
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Roger,
A well earned congratulation for having steered SEN to its 1000th issue.
It is a very interesting and lively forum and contest FF would much the
poorer without it. There is good opinion, controversy, the odd
fight...as it should!
Thanks also for publishing my notice on the coming Coupe issue of FFQ,
which is now being mailed.
regards
Sergio
Model Diesel fuel source
========================
Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Omer...
Good diesel fuel is not real easy to get in the USA, but this would probably
be my first choice:
http://www.cafes.net/doctordiesel/default.htm
I ordered a pound of ether from the drugstore in 1960, but the illegal drug
makers have put an end to that. Sadly...
Thermals, Steve Helmick
....................................
Roger Morrell
