R/C VTOL article in Oct '93 Model Airplane News

[speleopower]

In the October 1993 issue of Model Airplane News there is an articla named "R/C VTOL Makes History from hover to horizontal flight and back" written by John A. Gorham. Does anyone know of this article. They are using glow powered fans. It looks deceptively simple.

Scott

[v22chap]

Yep ,,I have that mag yet and John Gorham ,,,who could fly anything and make it look easy did a super job on a twin ducted fan proto type as reaserch for the Grumman aircraft ,,,I think this was the research for the Grumman design 698.Then Tom Hunt got in on it and used the ducted prop idea that they used on this bird and made the vertigo ,,that is the only VTOL sold as a scracth built kit.

These two pages are the only ones that I have saved in my computer ,,,as I remember there were more ..... I am getting ready to go to IRCHA and don't have time now ,,but if I remember I will look for the mag and scan the whole article if you want.
Larry

[speleopower]

I've got the magazine. Thanks. It was an interesting article and I'm sure it could be done with electric fans now using that same proven
design.

bye-Scott

[v22chap]

Actually Bob Kress did reasearch for Grumman back a few yrs ago using electric fans ,all-flying wingtips,roll control vanes,fences and other such devices to control the VTOL. I don't have this small article scaned but it was only a hover test model that was 20 lbs and could only hover for 3 mins. on a 2000 MAH cell ... now maybe with lypo's and better AXI motors it could do more.They also didn't do conversion ,,,just hover test.
Larry

[michaelgorham]

I too have a copy of that mag - but as John Gorham's son I would!

I have only recently moved to America from England (all the Gorhams were English)

Here's a link to dad's career.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/museum/bio/Gorham.pdf

Michael

[rctiltwing]

Hey that thing looks like it´s got the slipstream vanes for pitch control that I suggested the other day :-). Seems like a pretty simple VTOL concept. Just slap a couple of big off-the-shelf turbofans on a small fuselage and off you go. No cross-shafting though so you´ll have to bail when an engine fails. But I guess you can´t have everything. Oh, and the turbofans will obviously have to work vertically which might be a problem...

[v22chap]

Michael
Hey glad to meet up with the son of John ... he was a very impressive man indeed and you I sure am very proud of him and right fully so . I never got to meet him personally ,but always followed his work very closely and admired what he did and how he could fly so good .I saw vids of him do things that normal pilots would never even dream of doing back then .For a few yrs I owned several of his helicopters and probably helped pay your way through college !! :)

My family was originally English too (Chapman ) ,,but they moved over in the early 1800's or so .

Welcome to America and much more so ...to Indiana ... I too live in In ... well almost ....clear up in the north east corner ... 4 miles from the Michigan border and 10 miles from the Ohio line .

You will have to go to the IRCHA meet this next yr or so when you can and we can hook up for awhile if you are close enough to Muncie ,IN .

[v22flyer]

Hello Michael. I guess it was your brother Michael that visited Australia about 1990. I still have three GMP Legend/Elite models. Two still flying. I am about to rebiuld the third to use in a Scale Equreuil. Robert visited Adelaide and Melbourne to I think. My flying improved dramatically after meeting him. I am now in the process of building a small electric V22 type Osprey that I hope to start flying in a couple of months. I too have a copy of that mag - but as John Gorham's son I would!

I have only recently moved to America from England (all the Gorhams were English)

Here's a link to dad's career.

http://www.modelaircraft.org/museum/bio/Gorham.pdf

Michael

[v22chap]

V22flyer ... good luck on your v-22 build ... please keep us posted on your build ...we all love watching other builds and sharing in the build experience and pains and problems .. and from time to time can offer helps here and there .
Larry

[michaelgorham]

Out of interest I was looking for reference to the old fixed wing planes my father designed and flew to 2 British championships in the 1950's when Google directed me here!

One was the original vertigo - a diesel engined free flight model that took off from 3 points on its tail rather than the traditional fixed undercarriage.

He sent it to America to be proxy flown by Bill Dean in the '54 World championships only to be placed 4th due to oil on the Elmic timer reducing the 3rd flight to a 4 second engine run.

He also designed the Ghost, one of the first wakefields to have a feathering prop (he carved it) and a geared rubber drive.

Michael