MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

General Meeting:

The meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm at the SKP Clubhouse. Attending were: Cooks, Kampmann, Davis, Hanke, Calkins, Tolpin, Oaks, McIntyre, Maupin, Berson, Marken, Dantzler, Anliker, Fitch, Benjamin.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The Treasurer's report showed the following: $1100.25 in the checking account, $225 (15 gals.) in fuel inventory and $4068.94 in a CD for a total of $5394.19. Four gallons of fuel was given at the Fun-Fly and $.21 interest was gained in our account. The Treasurer's report was approved.

Old Business

1. Fun-fly - Chuck Dantzler described his unfortunate flight and received his free crash trophy certificate. Dick Benjamin also described his impressive landing. It was agreed that the fun-fly event was a success.

New Business

1. Swap meet will be at the October 10 meeting. It will be announced to the ORCA & Sequim flying clubs. The board meeting will be held at 6:30 pm, the general meeting at 7:00-7:30 and the swap meet will be from 7:30 to 8:30.

2. Officers - Pete Hanke says we need most positions. Pete & Roy are encouraging members to call & volunteer.

Discussions -

-Planes being worked on: Pete Hanke is working on a P-51.

-Stan is flying a Funtana 90 & described his Quickie crash. He also described a pylon race at Shelton airfield. Stan recommended Al Watson as a potential speaker for the club - he flies jets and might bring one to display.

-Purchasing our flying field. It was recommended we discuss it at the next board meeting.

-Safety note: Greg Marken noted that a friend had a motor mount break on a Hangar 9 Twist. Then the motor came over the cowling & seriously damaged the hand holding the plane back. Bill Anliker said to get a high powered starter; Bill Berson said use a leather glove. Greg said his friend built a board with straps to hold the plane in place. (Preflight your plane carefully; keep your eyes on everything!)

Congratulations to Stan Davis for the Crash of the Month Trophy. It crashed not because of something he did, but because of something he didn't do (didn't turn the radio on) - oops!

Our presentation was by Jim Tolpin. He gave us a professional explanation and history of the discus hand launch (DHL). A lot of details were mentioned that most of us wouldn't have noticed otherwise. He thinks our flying field is one of the best in the area for this type of flying.

Submitted by Cindy Cook, Secretary

AROUND THE CLUB

>Last month I reported that Mike McIntyre’s lost airplane had been found and returned to him. I wish I could remember who told me that because I recently got this from Mike:

Nobody has called me or returned my lost sailplane to me. I thought maybe it would show up at the last meeting, but it did not.

Mike McIntyre

360.373.4133

If you know anything about Mike’s plane, please contact him right away.

HINTS, KINKS, AND STUFF

Jim got a little busy. Let’s hope we have him back next month.

I am very pleased to introduce Bill Berson as another contributor to the Tale Spinner. I hope you will find his writing as amusing and enlightening as I did. I asked Bill what his experience was and got this in return:

I was the production manager for Arctic Aircraft Company back in the 70's where we built a two seat bush plane called the Arctic Tern. Later I owned an aircraft paint shop and maintenance business near Anchorage, Alaska. I have rebuilt/restored several small aircraft and am currently working on my Grob 109 Motorglider.

The Box
We have all heard many times that we need to think outside the box. I 
try to think outside the box quite a bit but the reality is, most 
things are done by thinking inside the box, the old ideas are still 
valid. But this story is not about thinking inside or outside the 
box, it is just a story about the box itself. The box is a basic 
building block of most model and full scale aircraft structures and a 
good understanding of how the box provides a stiff structure can be 
useful for model builders. First, some history.

The beginnings of box structures probably started with the invention 
of the box kite by Australian Lawrence Hargrave. The box kite 
structure was used by early experimenters such as Otto Lilienthal and 
Octave Chanute. The Wright Brothers knew that Lilienthal had 
successfully flown biplane hang gliders and they decided the biplane 
box design would work for them as well. But the Wright's wanted to 
use their new invention of wing warping for lateral control of their 
gliders instead of weight shifting as used by Lilienthal. The Wrights 
considered the wing warping idea to be a major part of their 
invention of the airplane. To make the normally rigid box kite able 
to twist for wing warping the Wrights simply removed the brace wires 
at both ends of the frame. This idea, as the story is told, came to 
Wilbur as he was holding an empty bicycle inner tube box. He noticed 
that the box twisted easily when the ends were removed yet retained 
the spanwise strength needed. It was just one of many insights made 
by the Wrights that eventually resulted in the first powered and 
controlled flights.

Unlike the early Wright airplanes, modern wings need to be stiff in 
torsion to maintain control with ailerons. The box is one of the best 
structural shapes for torsional stiffness. Wings and fuselages and 
control surfaces can all be box structures. Boeing even refers to the 
main central wing structure as the "Wing Box". For small aircraft and 
models the wing box  can be the entire wing or just the leading edge 
"D" tube. Any closed structure such as a rectangular box (with six 
sides) or a round tube will be more rigid than any open design. A box 
beam is self supporting. An "I" beam, for example, is an open 
structure and would need additional support because it lacks the 
closed design of the box beam.

When building an airplane box structure such as a fuselage, remember 
that the last side of the box to be installed is the side that locks 
in the torsional rigidity. The box can be twisted somewhat as needed 
if the top skin is off, but not after it's glued or pinned in place.
A good way to learn about the box is to take an empty cereal box or a 
quart size milk box and twist it with your hands. Then cut one side 
on the end with a razor blade a little at a time and watch the shape 
change as it twists. It will twist easily with the ends removed. It 
worked for Wilbur and it might work for you.

JUST PLANE FUN

SPARKS

Sorry, no new electric equipment or experiences for the last month. Traveling sure cuts into my modeling time!

EDITORIAL

I’m sorry that the newsletter is so short this month. I am having trouble getting on the internet during my travels. Also, we have been so busy I have not had time to write much of anything.

Speaking of travels, we are presently in an RV park that has a large, grassy field just a few steps from our bus. It would be perfect for either of the electrics I brought along, but I have been so busy or tired that I have not even charged a battery!

FOR SALE OR TRADE

If you want to list an item, just send me the details including your name, phone number, and asking price or trade-for item. Low pixel count digital (JPEG) pictures are also acceptable.

MONTHLY MEETING—October 10, 7:00 at the SKP Clubhouse

This is the night to get rid of all the treasures that are cluttering up your workshop and perhaps acquire some new goodies. Cash is the usual medium of exchange, but checks are usually OK as well. We may even get a report from our fearless nominating committee describing their trials.

Pete Granger

granger@olypen.com