...one reason for choosing an 8 foot wingspan for 'Orange Julius' was simply because sheet balsa came in 4 foot lengths? Jack Headley said so in his article in the March 1971 issue of Radio Control Modeler. The second reason was that he had previously not built a model at that size of wingspan.

There are several things about this article I like. Jack's sense of humor pops out in the beginning of the article and near the end. My favorite picture of Jack Headley is in this article also. In all his geekiness he is seen kneeling in the lawn, probably outside his house, holding two versions of the 'OJ'. It must have been a cool day in Rancho Palos Verde as he is wearing long sleeves. An overturned wheel barow is seen in the background, a clear indication someone there liked to garden. He is smiling at the camera, likely being operated by Kevin Flynn, holding the 'OJ-002' in his left hand. No 'missing body arm' pictures are seen in this article. J.W.H. must have been around 41 or so when the photo was taken (he passed away at 53 in 1983). With the lead time of magazines in those days, the picture was probably taken in the fall of 1970.

I disassembled my copy of RCM and scanned the pages at 600 dpi before Gimping the pages together. As usual, there is a bit of data lost in the 'fold' but, if you wish you should be able to continue with the effort to make a full size sheet. I actually scaled it to full size and tried to save by pdf but, Gimp tossed a error and refused to...Continue Reading

...that the 'Spiteful' by Jack Headley might be one of the best candidates to modify to our modern electric drive systems? Jack did see the early days of electric power models but, the energy that can be delivered today wasn't even a dream back then. The Spiteful was designed for slope soaring aerobatics and has many features that could see a modern electric conversion.

Spiteful was published in the May 1976 issue of RCM. Lisa Headley again does us the honor of displaying her dad's yellow wing version with RCM decals on each wing for accents. This is also one of the more brief articles written by J.W.H. The bonus plans page shows three other models that could be built from the basic design.

The attachments have been processed and are full size png files. I did these before figuring out that I could save Gimp projects as pdf format (love that tile print with cut line feature in Adobe Reader!). With our 9G servos of today, two could sit side by side inside the fuselage. Rudder could then be added rather than just elevator and aileron as in the original layout. Make the mods needed for a motor/ESC and Spiteful could be a super belly lander at your favorite flying place.

Happy Holidays!

-=Doug

...the Skylark, by Jack Headley (previously mentioned in Blog #15), was one of the largest wingspan models he designed? If you read the attached RCM article, Jack claims a bottle of glue won at the Northrop Flying Wing Contest (NFWC) was the motivation of the Skylark. I am not so sure that is totally accurate. The opening section of this article, published in the March 1973 issue of RCM, is pure Headley humor at its best.

The RCM&E article takes a totally different approach to the story and reveals the sailplanes Orange Julius and the (never seen in print) Blue Max. This 12ft span beauty is probably not for everyone and is typical for the size of sailplane that could squeeze out the most from even the slightest breezes along the California coast. The wing disassembles (I was going to say 'breaks down' – bad karma!) into three section for easier transport. The fuselage is based off the lines of the Slingsby Skylark. Headley really enjoyed scale airplanes but, as we have read in other articles, didn't enjoy compeating in scale competitions due to the large amount of documentation required for the model.

The Gimp processed files attached show some missing information in the center where I joined the two sheets together. This is common with a disassembled magazine scan (300 x 300). The plans as inked are not always complete and sometime, if you are lucky, they actually overlap. It varies from issue to issue (even the same month/year!) and (publication) name to name....Continue Reading

...that Jack Headley was involved in Autogiros (autogyro?)? You will find in the attachments my listing of all known articles by/about J.W.H. on this subject. He published 'Rotoruta' in the January 1978 issue of RCM. There is another photo of the aircraft, with him holding another version, in the November 1981 issue of Model Aviation. In that article, he continues to discuss the aspects of making such a thing fly. I did not obtain premission to republish from Model Aviation so, that picture is left out of our attachment but, if you are an AMA member and have the November 1981 issue, check it out. If not in hand and an AMA member, you can view it online in their scanned library. The link is: https://library.modelaviation.com/.

While researching Jack Headley, I have been able to contact Kevin Flynn due to his involvement with the same kind of aircraft. Albeit many many years later, Kevin had posted to a autogiro build thread at the UK site. Pictures are posted in Kevin's profile here: http://www.modelflying.co.uk/albums/...um.asp?a=25609
It was through that site that contact with Kevin was made and a little more information about Jack Headley was obtained. (Kevin – Did you get the second email I sent to the address you gave me?)

Autogiros seem to come in and out of interest over the years. They are unique and definitely an eye-catcher for those times at the field when everyone has stopped looking at yet-another-3D-foamie as it attempts to break the laws of physics and...Continue Reading