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Old 08-23-2013, 11:34 PM
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BEC BEC is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
The American Junior "Army Interceptor" folding wing balsa catapult gliders were also used as very cheap gunnery targets during World War II (see: http://www.google.com/#fp=8fd259d59...rmy+interceptor ). Also, speaking of North Pacific:

They made two swept-wing balsa chuck gliders (that I saw in stores back then--they made more than those two). One was the common chuck glider size (having a 9" or so wing span), while the other--which flew amazingly well--was *tiny*, with wings that spanned only five or six inches. This was the Strato (see: http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/north_pacific.htm ). Its moderately-swept wings had a (nearly) constant chord, and they had red ink "scalloped" patterns printed on them. If someone here still has one, it would make a great "minimum material" glider to clone, perhaps using laser-cut parts to enable quantity production.


When I was a grade schooler (early 1960s) the North Pacific Strato was a favorite. They were bigger than five or six inches and cost a nickel! They flew very very well. As balsa prices went up, North Pacific made all their models (the Strato, the 10 cent Stunt Flyer glider, the 15 cent Skeeter rubber powered plane, the 25 cent Sleek Streek rubber powered plane with wheels and the seemingly gigantic and expensive 49 cent Star Flyer) all smaller and smaller until their flying qualities diminished noticeably. Only then - many years later - did the prices start to go up.

I always liked the North Pacific models better than their competitors and, as a child in Denver, and later Santa Fe, if there really was a place called "Bend, Oregon" where these planes said they were from. Of course I can now say yes, and I've been there....but this was long after North Pacific as I remember it was gone.

I did occasionally manage to get a folding wing AJ Interceptor....a truly amazing model. I may have, somewhere, a remade AJ Interceptor from when the late Frank Macy tried to revive American Junior....he used to come to the now defunct Northwest Model Expo in Puyallup, Washington in February.....

Ah the memories....
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