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Flair Puppeteer 35 years to first flight

                                                                                 

 Due to a long time friend just a Few of weeks ago given  8 weeks  and with luck a little longer,   Dick a former member of our flying club  had started a Flair Puppeteer 35 years  ago, and due to life's pressures  never got it finished,    Through a friend  & former club mate  Brian Wright, he asked if I would be able to complete  so he could see it fly;


I collected it  a nicely made airframe complete with many years of loft grime,  model was almost complete except for ailerons and the  connecting  of servos to flying surfaces  the  fitted  "new at the time" Skyleader equipment still worked  fine so I changed the  Skyleader servo  plugs  for futaba plugs  & radio to 2.4 so that I had  failsafe function ..  The OS 52 fs  engine I degummed fitted a 12.5 X 5 propellor  & got it  bench running again after all those years,  changed out the fuel tank too, fitted baffles in the cowling to aid cooling , Dick had not made the ailerons so  after finding  a plan on tinternet   those I made,  and used olive green solartex to finish,  My artist  Neighbour Jim,  painted the  roundels on the topwing.. I  balanced  the cg as per plan..


 First test flight Brian & I  went to the flying field  some 3 weeks of receiving  the model  early evening  alone,  because  if things didn't work out Dick would not be a witness  to it,  & repairs done if needed ..There was  more breeze than  we had wanted, anyhow  got the engine running    into wind  takeoff was in in almost Zero feet,  the "puppeteer"   emulating a drowning person clutching for the sky rose into the air    ( BOB you was right re cg ) anyhow I managed to keep in the air and completed the circuit and landed still in one piece..


Adding more stick on weights  tried again, this time more success & i was able to do some trimming   landed back altogether in a more stately manner,back home I turned up a brass nose cone  this added a further 2oz nose weight ..


On the  30th July   We managed to get Dick  up to the flying site, so he could see ( to him) the maiden flight..  The conditions were perfect and with engine running a near perfect take off, i needed bit  more down trim than i could get via trim  but the model flew for 10 mins and  nice touch down  much to Dicks delight,


                                                                                                         




 

Adjusting the clevis for more down trim on elevator, the puppeteer  again rose into the air ,   a purring engine a few wing overs  a nice  graceful landing  magic . .

                                                                               

After 2 more flights  we called it a day  as we could see Dick was quite drained,  but he  went home a happy man having seen the model he started all those  years ago  finally take flight ..  in the Photo with the three of us  Brian Wright, Richard (Dick) Cobden & Pete Fullard   we are the founding members of the Worthing & littlehampton flying club started Circa 1973/4 ..

                                                                        



                             Photos by Paul Brewer club secretary seen below with Dick

                                                                                  

                                                                                      


 In conversation with Dick, I said; Old age it's a bugger getting there,   "Yes But  least we made it" he replied.. how true.... many don't..

It was really good to get Dick up to the patch for one last time  to see his plane fly, even if at the same time it was sad.. 

                                   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Update on Richard (Dick) Cobden  Has since passed away,His funeral was on  the 18th September 2020..

Comments

  1. Roy15 May 2021 at 20:53

    Beautifully done. Great job on the colors and markings. Got a technical question for you. Where did you get the Rotol part numbers for the stencilling on the prop blades? I am actively searching for this information.

    ReplyDelete

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