I dug this up from my old website- long gone but I found it on the waybackmachine -this one from 2009
This second installment will cover my middle school and high school years, ending with my graduation from high school at the turn of the century. When I left off in the first part, I was writing about my trusty Gentle Lady glider. Shortly after starting middle school, my Gentle Lady met its fate when the radio was shut off in flight while flying at Mary S. Young State park. I had the switch mounted on the hatch, just below the propeller for the pod-mounted .049. My little Cox engine had the really old sping starter which hooked around the prop, newer versions used a plastic cam, but mine actually grabbed the prop itself. I had so many flights on it the spring cut through the prop, and the loose blade hit the switch, damaging it and shutting off power to the glider in the middle of a nose down turn. My Gentle Lady hit the ground and just crumpled after all the repairs I had done.
Stepping Up
Early in middle school I received another model from my cousin Leon, scratch built from a pull out plan construction article in Model Airplane News. The low wing Be-Tween (plan number X07912, still available from Model Airplane News!) was typical of Leon’s builds. It was built straight, strong, and lightweight, and I felt mine was even better looking than the one in the magazine! Although the Be-Tween was a great little plane, it wasn’t until a year later when he sent me a
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