8 pellets, 7 into the 2 holes on the left.

They Flew HurricanesAdrian Stewart
Chapter 4 THEIR FINEST HOUR

Twenty years later books and magazine articles began to appear decrying the merits of the Hurricane in the Battle of Britain, suggesting that is was inferior, outmoded and of such low performance as to somehow have contributed to the hazards of the time. How different were the true facts, for the Hurricane not only bore the brunt of the fighting but was exceptionally well fitted to do so.

The Hurricane, which was the first of the monoplane fighters to enter the (RAF) Service, resulted from a brilliant esign by Hawkers under Sydney Camm in 1934, and when it arrived in 111 Squadron in 1938, it was the fastest fighter of all at about 330 mph at its maximum power altitude.

By the outbreak of war in 1939 the Hurricane had been overtaken in this sense by the Spitfire and the ME 109 with maximum speeds of about 350 mph, but to imply that a speed differential of 20mph constituted operational inferiority would be to completely misunderstand the circumstances. The Hurricane had an altogether exceptional combination of maneuverability, rugged strength, stability, ease of control and gun aiming, and vice-less landing characteristics which went far toward offsetting the fact that its climb, level and altitude performance were slightly lower than the Spitfire and the ME 109. Hurricane pilots knew that once in combat they could outmaneuver any enemy and that with their eight Browning machine-guns and the aiming accuracy...Continue Reading

An update to my earlier bog about BIG RED - the Aviator Pro .60 from Valuehobby.com

I re-tested amps and found that I had reported the draw incorrectly, and really looked at the batteries - those are 4400 rather than 4000mah.

I went to the field and paid very close attention to my testing process this time.

38 amps at WOT
9. amps at 50% throttle +/- 210 watts

4.4*60=264 amp minutes
264*.8 (for lipo longevity) = 211 amp minutes

211/10= 21 minutes fly time expected on a 4400 battery

Same math on a 6ah battery shows ~29 minutes. Granted a little reduction due to higher battery weight - but not much.


96 degrees with 7 mph cross wind
29.99 inches on the barometer
43 degree dew point
17% humidity
Clear skies
3800 feet ASL

So much for theory - here is live results...
I set the timer to 10 minutes and walked the plane to the middle of the lot. I would not waste any battery with the taxi today.

Take off and control check at about 75% throttle, establish fly-ability at 50% then settled in for a good 10 minute flight. The plane handles very well at 50% throttle, but there will be no aerobatics done at that power level. At five minutes in, I pushed to WOT and did a few loops and a few rolls for about a minute (my attention span needed a break ). Then for the next 4 minutes it was back to lazy race track and figure 8's. Climbing at times to 250 feet and descending at times to 20 feet. At 9:20 seconds, the timer warning started and told me it was time to setup a landing. One long circuit and I was on final and touched down at 10:04 seconds.

Will update the blog when the charger is done feeding the mah back into the battery (I project around 1900 mah)

EDIT... 1380 mah for 10 minutes of flight. Holy amps Batman!. 138mah per minute average. Must keep tabs on how this comes out. The battery is quite old and not well taken care of. .

At this draw, I project 25 minutes on a 4400mah battery.

Howzat sound to you?

...

I have flown the latest addition to my hanger, the Aviator Pro .60 from valuehobby.com. I used on hand gear so the project was a mere 140.00. I recycled the motor and battery from my used LX P40 that died an early and ugly death.

The prop is a 17x10x4 from FMS Coursair parts. I only use 2 blades in the hub. 4x HK standard servos. 60 amp eflight esc.

7.04 lbs loaded, 850 watts out of a tired unloved battery. Half throttle is around 25 amps. I figured 8-10 minutes on 4000mah. I taxied and flew mixed throttle for 10 mins and have 3.8 volts per cel at the end. Some down trim and ~35% aileron to rudder and BIG RED is dang near perfect after one trip to the field.

I love it when a Plane comes together from assorted parts

Video to follow soon.

"A" ship of CA squadron made her first public appearance at the field on Monday.

Retracts are keyed to landing lights (not shown in this photo).

Low speed taxi tests show good ground manners. Engine tuned to sing sweetly. We did find the wheels rub on the struts at high speed taxi ... So back to the shop for a little more tuning and a new set of prop blades

Soon, soon my love will fly.

Ready for engine tune and balance.

92" Hurricane
55cc DLE
20x14x3 prop


Only lacking insignia and squadron.

The 92" VAILLANCOURT Hurrican project is nearing completion. We are waiting on the solartex to arrive. Here are some incentive

The 92" VAILLANCOURT Hurrican project is nearing completion. We are waiting on the solartex to arrive. Here are some incentive

Working along. size of Vaillancourt Hurricane keeps me in awe. Working on landing lights before we close up the rest of the wing.

Paul Harvey " Policeman " One of His Best Narrations (2 min 10 sec)

Thank you, brothers and Mr. Harvey for speaking out for them. There is honor in service to others and no "Thank you " is ever expected.

Future

Video links

http://vimeo.com/m/69773777

http://vimeo.com/m/69200408

Here is an older version of windmap - uses local reported windspeeds.
http://hint.fm/wind/

Here is a new version that covers the whole earth, not just the contiguous US.
http://earth.nullschool.net/#current...8.63,31.96,512

A few good, many that are not so good

Got the big one flown today. Elegant 700 from RCM/Pelikan that has been on my build bench for 13 months. 42 degrees with winds 8-10 mph on the leading edge of a massive winter storm. It was today or not for the next month or so.

Scorpion 3026 on a 13x7 graupner
4000 mah 3s battery
6x HS81
A9 radio and 7 channel rx

Effortless climb on ~600 watts. Single 14 minute flight due to weather. Some minor trim issues not worth working on in these conditions and a loose flap servo. 4 channel control for me today. It is not a fast handler but it should thermal dang nicely. Landing took almost the whole field thanks to 90 degree cross wind and sunken field with plane eating trees all around.

Jim's Launch Video (3 min 15 sec)

This is the re-re-maiden of my PasserX. Broken prop on the first maiden and an esc overheat on the second has made this plane a pain to get dialed in.

I am turning the 11x7 prop a little over the max rpm at full throttle (7000 rpm max) and I have had trouble with the set screw attachment. Half Throttle launch to about 100 feet for trim.

Passer X launch (0 min 26 sec)

Here are two more flights on the P40 from today. I found how to make the head can record at 125 degrees rather than at 175 degrees of view. The trade off is that it costs me more band width and I have the basic vimeo. Short videos...

Both flights were on same pack. Loose motor mount cut the day short. I broke a hinge on the flap, so flying flapless for now. Back to stock prop, 7 mins or so on a 4000 pack. My field is at 4000 feet ASL, so I am about %12 down in performance compared to our sea level friends.
http://vimeo.com/m/69773777

Number 2
http://vimeo.com/m/69773776