This summer the National Model Aviation Museum is hosting an on-line event titled “#FantasyFreeFlight” based off of the 1915 National Model Aeroplane Competition. (Learn more about the structure of the competition here). • Each week, we’re going to post the competitors that competed in each of the three events in […]
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#FantasyFreeFlight: 1915 National Competition Structure
Sponsored by the Aero Club of America in 1915, the first National Model Aeroplane Competition was formatted for maximum participation without the hassle of travel or shipping models to be proxy flown. Instead, the national contest was actually a series of local events. It worked like this: Each club held […]
Continue reading#FantasyFreeFlight: A 1915 Aeromodeling Conversation
Here’s a snippet of what modeling was like for the model airplane pioneers 100 years ago, in poem form. Hopefully, this puts you in the mood for #FantasyFreeFlight, starting next week! “A Conversation Between A Model Boy and a Passing Old Lady” By Arthur Elton Nealy Lady- Little Boy, what […]
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The earliest small scale flying model
What do you know about the history of early Free Flight models? The museum is looking for the earliest advertised kit or published plan of a scale model with a wingspan of 13″ or less. There’s some history below to jog your memory. If you have anything to share, please […]
Continue readingNew Addition: Airco DH-2 Peanut Scale FF model
Larry Kruse called Tom Hallman’s Peanut Scale FF model of an Airco DH-2 “arguably the most perfect Peanut Scale model ever produced.” Extensively researched and detailed, the model won the Walt Mooney Award for the best Peanut Scale model at the 2000 Flying Aces Club Nationals. Since 2000, the model […]
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Help Identify an Old Model Airplane
Do you know what this model is? The man in this picture is Bill McCoy and the photo was taken around 1943 in Ingram, PA. Bill’s son Jim is hoping someone out there can identify the model airplane in the picture, as Jim would like to build an RC version […]
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New Addition: Restored Bleriot XI
Wings ripped and drooping, this Bleriot XI, probably built from an Ideal kit in the mid-1920s, was pulled out of someone’s attic and put on the auction block in the mid-1990s. There the wife of John J. Phillips saw it, purchased it, and brought it home to her husband as […]
Continue readingThe Free Flight Gas Model Big Crate III
Carl V. Carlson was an early pioneer in gas-powered Free Flight models. From 1993-1996 Carl worked with a group of family and friends to reproduce his Big Crate III. In 1934, the original Big Crate III set a national record for gas-powered FF planes in the open division with a […]
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Help Identify Old Modeling Photos
A visitor recently brought these photographs to the National Model Aviation Museum and asked if we had any information on the men, the models, or the event they were flying at. We don’t – but maybe somebody out there does! Take a look! If you have any knowledge to share, […]
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Bing Autoplan Conservation, pt. 8
Conservators at the ICA – Art Conservation shared some pictures of the progress on the Bing Autoplan. Thanks to Lou C. Holt, Anne Hinebaugh, and Mark Erdmann, all from the ICA, who have been doing the work, sharing pictures and keeping us updated!
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