What makes a Combat plane a Combat plane ?

[wamsy55]

Are there characteristics that make a plane a Combat plane.

And do clubs normally have Combat ?

[jwjohnson]

Scroll down a few threads to the Un Civil War (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1050383) . Our club does combat twice a week. For us a combat plane is an EPP rear motor electric powered plane from 36 to 48 inch wingspan. We do full contact combat, so the plane has to survive contact with other planes and the inevitable contact with the ground. Combat is what keeps our group together - then we all do additional stuff as we have interests.

Check out our club site at www.utahflyers.org or or club area on RC Groups at http://www.rcgroups.com/utah-flyers-organization-241/

[Clamb]

I'm in the same club as Jeff above that just posted. The type of combat we run is full contact, no streamers, so the planes need to be able to take a beating and be repairable in the field from most types of damage. A box of spare parts, three or four different types of tape, and a 12V hot glue gun are nice to have in your flight box.

All our combat planes are pusher configured. This is for safety. Many of us have been struck by a stray plane while retrieving our downed combat plane from the combat field. No one has been hurt in this way. It would be a different story if the prop was in the front. The pusher configuration also holds up better to the combat hits and the inevitable earth strikes.

Other than that basic restriction the remaining design elements are free to be changed however we generally see planes as Jeff has stated running from 36 to 48-inch wing span. Most of the wings in our club are cut by local club members. We have three that cut and sell the wing cores. Two of them generally use EPP on one uses Bluecor foam. I have also purchased the Stryker spare body for $20 from my LHS and made a very agile combat plane however it does not seem to be as robust to hits as the cut wings.

Many of us started with the 48-inch unicorn. Great flying machine and excellent for combat if not underpowered.

[Dr. Sandy Frank]

Are there characteristics that make a plane a Combat plane.

And do clubs normally have Combat ?


check this out.............


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ww2ecombat/

they limit to 2 lipos only...

[mbowns]

I got in to combat planes about 8 month ago at Baylands park down in Sunnyvale CA. They were using 30" cut down version of Wild Wings with 2C lipo, 10a ESC and small rewound motors with total weight @ 6 to 7oz. They like to fly close at 30-40ft instead of high in the sky like the full size strykers videos that I've seen doing combat. Since the Wild Wings were no longer being manufactured I started cutting my own wings and called it a BattleWing.

You can see pictures here at www.battlewing.net

EPP 1.3lbs is the best material for combat due to its ability to flex, ability to take an impact and return back its shape. But don’t get if confused with EPS which is the foam that holds or suspends your brand new computer in a box during shipping. If you bend it, it will snap. EPS is lightweight but not made for Combat. With the BattleWings, light weight is key so we try to stay away from 3cell lipos.

I agree with “Clamb” that the styker can be used but they are not as resilient to hits as the cut EPP foam wings. Some guys here have used the Full size stryker as well as cut it down to 30” (Cutting out the middle section).

[gsjames]

There are numerous types of combat planes. The Official events and classes are covered by the AMA Special Interest Group (SIG) the "Radio Control Combat Association" www.rccombat.com There is an all-electric event within the RCCA called 3696 because of the rules formula, semi-scale, 36" wingspan max, swinging a 9-6 prop. However, several pilots within the RCCA use electric power EXCLUSIVELY in all of the events, SSC, Limited B, Open B and Scale 2548. There are some restrictions on the type of electric motor/battery to keep the performance in the same range as their IC counterparts. The electric pilots have been very successful. They give up nothing to the IC guys and frequently win the contests.

On the other hand there are many unofficial "club-level" type combat events flown in various areas around the country. The "Light" electric events tend to be profile WWII foamys or other simple, light models with wingspans less than 32". Some clubs fly with streamers, some go full-contact and just try to knock each other out of the air :)

The unofficial events vary widely depending on where you are in the country. Let us know where you are and perhaps we can hook you up with some combat activity in your area.

Have Fun!