Obscure Old Roucraft Sparks Inquiry

A recent e-mail discussion brought up a question about an obscure roucraft.  With a little detective work (searching through musty photo albums and early victory records), I was able shed some light on the subject and perhaps provide a little lesson in memory for all of us.  The question involved a stick-and-tissue Guillow kit Sopwith Camel gerper, originally constructed by John Dana and later sold to (Donald) Macy Hallock, probably in 1961.  Hallock promptly turned the airplane over to Macy Aircraft Works, which then (for reasons known only to Douglas Dash) converted it to a low-wing monoplane.  Under Jungolian law, the modification was sufficiently extensive to qualify the airplane for a Jungolian designation, and it was dubbed the Macy M-2.  The M-2 then went into service as a rouer.  In the recent e-mail discussion mentioned above, Col. Macy Hallock (JAC, retired) described the aircraft as "pure agony.......a defeat just waiting to happen."  Hallock said he remembers Dale Wingard (a.k.a. Michael Howard, his preferred nom de guerre) flying the M-2 as a guest rouer and that Howard suffered a defeat while using it.  This may be at least partly correct, but it's not the whole story.

It must be remembered that this was in the very early days of rouing.  By the end of 1961, only nine victories had been recorded.  The next three vics occurred on New Year's Day, 1962.  The first two vics of that day were scored by David Smii with his new AJ-2 Pursuit, which he had just received as a Christmas gift.  These were only his third and fourth vics (he wasn't even an ace yet).  The third and final vic of that day was scored by Macy Hallock over Pin Croft, who was flying an NP-3 Sleek Streek.  This was Hallock's first vic, and he achieved it flying none other than the one-and-only Macy M-2 Converted Sopwith Thingy!  The vic occurred at The Regular Rouing Corner at 5:25 P.M. (so it must have been nearly dark).

The M-2 went on to make at least one other appearance in the record book.  On January 15, 1962, John Dana, flying an NP-4 Star Flyer, finally vanquished the until-then undefeated M-2 flown by -- yes -- Macy Hallock.  This was Dana's fourth vic, and it occurred at Hillman, site of his first vic.  John's jumbled memory of this incident may have been what led him to later misremember (in the latest e-mail discussion) obtaining his very first vic over the M-2.

About Macy Hallock's insistence that Michael Howard flew the M-2 to inglorious defeat, we must remain somewhat uncertain -- but it certainly could have happened.  Rouing vics accumulated so fast in early 1962 that the official record keeper (that would be me) was unable to keep up.  I remember hastily writing down notes on scraps of paper and stuffing them in my rou box to be transcribed later into the official record.  For many of these vics, I neglected to note the aircraft involved.  However, the persons were always noted, and the name of Howard appears twice, both times in the defeated column.  David Smii's AJ-2 (dubbed the Fluged Nose) treated him to his first defeat as he flew an NP-2.  The documentation of Howard's second defeat, also delivered by Smii, is more sparse, as neither airplane is noted.  It's a safe bet that Smii was again flying his famed Fluged Nose.  And there's a good chance that Howard was flying the notorious Macy M-2.  Aside from Macy Hallock's memory, we also have this tantalizing evidence (see photo below):

Dale Wingard (aka Michael Howard) with the Macy M-2 in 1962.

Moral of the story: Always keep good records!
~Lloyd Bruce

Time Traveler Snaps Pic of First Vic

Well, it's the last day of November, and the 50th anniversary of the first JAC victory (which occurred sometime in November of 1961) almost passed without incident.  But with just a few hours left in the month, I received this photo from renown time traveler Curly Spatano.  He claims to have just visited "The Hill" on the date in question and snapped the photo using one of John's old cameras (hence the sluggish shutter speed).  The photo semi-clearly shows John Dana's DA-2 Taub (note distinctive wing tabs) headed for its fateful encounter with Macy Hallock's NP-2b (essentially a North Pacific Skeeter fitted with tricycle landing gear).  The ensuing tango resulted in the defeat of Hallock's NP-2b and life-long glory for John Dana.  Thanks, Curley, for having the hindsight to nab this (now) historic photo!

Click on photo to enlarge.

North Pacific Advertisement Inspires Wonder

I promise this will be my next-to-the-last post about North Pacific -- for a while.  (I still have one more NP-related post in mind.)  Anyway, I found this on the RC Groups' "Sleek Streek" discussion thread without much accompanying explanation:

Click on image to enlarge.

It appears to be from a hobby catalog or some such.  It's dated 1966.  I clearly remember all the planes in the right column, as well as the Space Flyer, but the others I can't say I ever saw in the flesh.  That 21-inch span ROG'r looks especially interesting.  Also curious is the 10¢ Space Flyer (12" wingspan) vs. the 10¢ Stunt Flyer (13½" span).  I clearly remember both of these nearly identical gliders, but I didn't realize they'd been marketed simultaneously for the same price.
~Austin Bruce Hallock

Zombie Sleek Streeks and Corporate Vampires

The story of the North Pacific company is one of triumph and tragedy. The triumph was the well-deserved commercial success of their best products. The tragedy was the downward spiral in the quality of those brilliant products, brought on by changing social and economic conditions.

Over the years, NP offered a wide array of flying toys, some more successful than others. But the company was probably best known for its premier line of little gliders and stick gerpers -- the ones with the red plastic wing clips -- the Strato, the Skeeter, the Sleek Streek, and the Star Flyer, plus a few variations on these basic themes. What began as inexpensive, simple, well-crafted, good-performing model planes morphed, over the decades, into perverted caricatures of themselves.

The company founders apparently knew and loved model airplanes and cared about quality. But when the company fell on hard times in the 1980s, it was sold -- more than once. The airplanes continued to be produced under other brand names, but the manufacturing was sent overseas. Poor materials were used. The die cutting and plastic parts were faulty. The day the words "BEND OREGON" disappeared from the tails of these planes was the day the Sleek Streek died.  Although the Korean-made Zombie Streeks managed to glide for a while, buoyed only by NP's former reputation, they soon fell from the scene completely. No one wanted a warped-winged, soft-fuselaged ghost of a gerper with a backwards (this is true!) freewheeling ratchet. The corporate vampires who had acquired the original NP designs had sucked the life out of line.

The NP story has more twists and turns than I've described here, but that's the gist of it. For an interesting visual comparison between the original Sleek Streek and the later Comet (Korean-made) version, see this RC Group's discussion post [LINK]. Warning -- it's not pretty! (Click on his individual thumbnails to view them enlarged.)

Desperately Seeking Sleek Streeks

Google "Sleek Streek" and you'll find legions of old guys pining away for the good old days of simple, reliable stick gerpers with real balsa wings. Sadly the little clip-together models can no longer be found at corner stores, and we must now either build our own or pay eBay sellers huge sums to satisfy our longings. Even good information about these planes and the North Pacific Products Company that originally produced the Sleek Streek, the Skeeter, the Star Flier, and the Strato is hard to come by. That’s why I was delighted to run across this blog post. More interesting than the post itself is the accompanying November 13, 2009, comment by Nancy Cleveland, daughter of one of the NP Company's founders. She talks about her father, NP co-founder Charles H. Cleveland, and provides some interesting details on the history of the company and the manufacturing techniques that helped make the planes so special.

American Junior Aircraft Remembered

Gary Stokes started an e-mail conversation the other day by drawing attention to this website: American Junior Classics.

The site contains a wealth of history and information on legendary aeromodeler Jim Walker and his creations and exploits.  Of course anyone who flew model planes in the 50s and 60s was aware of Walker's American Junior Aircraft Company.  His influence was pervasive.  AJ products ranged from simple gliders and gerpers to sophisticated u-cons.  But the two AJ planes with which rougers were most intimate were the Junior Hornet and the Pursuit (respectively designated by the JAC as the AJ-1 and the AJ-2).  These were formidable machines in their day.  In the early 1960s, Dave Smith was the first to use a Pursuit as a rouer, and many of us remember the victory spree that ensued as he chewed through dozens of his Sleek Streek class opponents.  AJ parts were also widely cannibalized and used on Jungolian designs.

The AJ Pursuit went through a series of design changes over its long production run.  This photo shows the version most familiar to rougers of the 1960s.  I think we typically loaded at least twice the amount of gerp shown here on these things when we roued with them.  Looking at this photo, I can almost smell the treated balsa and gerp.  It had a very distinctive odor as it came fresh out of the box.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

As for the smaller AJ-1 Junior Hornet, I have a long history with this plane.

This studio portrait of me was taken in 1952 when I was 5 years old.  Note itchy winding finger.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

I grew up with a Junior Hornet in my hands.  Within a couple of years of this photo, I was modifying Hornets into biplanes, Tri-Pacers, and canards.  I'd love to hear about more Hornet and Pursuit memories.  Comments welcome.

~ Austin Bruce Hallock

Spatano Water Pop

John Dana submitted an old photo of his that brought back a flood of memories:

I remember well the airplane I'm launching in this photo. It was an early-1970s Spatano stick gerper on styrofoam floats (hand-carved, I think -- or maybe cannibalized). It had double rudders and a short solid-wood wing pylon. It was a poor performer -- never came close to ROWing. I later rigged it with a "helicopter assist" (i.e., a small, short-duration, gerp-powered prop pointing almost straight up but tilted slightly forward). The idea was for this device to give it enough upward umph to break the surface tension so it could get off the water and then fly normally using only the power of its main gerp moter. Didn't work. In my enthusiasm for the scheme, I dubbed it the "Water Pop" -- should have been the "Water Flop." I conducted my water tests in Buda, Texas, (before Don moved there) where some friends lived on a ranch with a stock pond.  I think the wings for this plane had a later successful career on a Spatano rouer (sans pylon) -- Victory Harvester or Brutal or some such.  I can't tell where this picture was taken.  Thanks for the memories, John.
~ Lloyd Bruce

Lloyd Bruce Auditions for Rou Opera

Back in the 1970s, Maj. G.Mac (a.k.a. Gary Hallock) began writing an opera with rouing as its subject. Although he has yet to complete the project, he made the fortuitous mistake of revealing certain lines of the libretto to a fellow JAC officer, one Col. Lloyd Bruce, who has been rehearsing said lines ever since in the hope of eventually landing a leading role in the premier production, whenever that may come to pass. Now, Col. Bruce, being at the top of his game and believing he is ready to perform the lead role, offers this audition, which should land him the part (provided his landing gear holds up).

Rou-Relevant Captcha

Gary Hallock captured this rou-relevant captcha when he commented on the Rou Review's first blog post. What are the odds of this oddity?

Spooky!

JAC Airshow, 1963

I can think of no more fitting way to inaugurate the Rou Review online than with this fascinating pictorial retrospective of the seminal 1963 JAC airshow.  The show was held on a lovely summer day at the Regular Rouing Corner (intersection of Bentwood and Elwood) in Austin, Texas.  This was less than two years after rouing's glorious beginning.  The event included demonstration rouing, displays of exotic weaponry (bomb dropping & rocket firing), special exhibits, and awards.

I believe all these photos were all taken by Pete Dana, father of John Dana.  John handed over the original slides to me a few years ago, and I recently had them digitized.  I cropped and enhanced some of the shots for better presentation here.

A huge crowd of neighbors and relatives gathered on the lush SmiiCrof lawn in anticipation of the event.  Roucraft and other models were exhibited.

Above: Seated from left to right are Ted Cloer, Rex Smith, Virginia Dana, Ruth MacPherson, Ira Lauderdale, Dick Lauderdale, at least one unidentified scalp behind Dick Lauderdale, Don Lauderdale, Enid Hallock, two unidentified females behind Enid, and Verna Greenshields.  Standing behind Ted Cloer is Carl Happel.  Boppo's (Eugene MacPherson's) hat can be seen behind Virginia Dana's head.  The head behind Ruth MacPherson may be Dorothy Hardaway or Pauline Greenshields.  The man standing in the far background with a camera is Sidney Hardaway. It's sad to note that most of these folks are no longer among the living.

Here's another view of the crowd with virtually the same lineup of spectators.  The walking kid in the red cap is Jimmy Duncan.  Chris Happel is squatted in the left foreground.  B.K. Hallock stands in the background behind Ted Cloer.  Carl Happle has moved over near the curb and is holding his daughter Carla.

Things got off to an exciting start with a rouing exhibition.

Left: John Dana in the lineup.  Right: Demo of a roucraft launching a rocket.

Plane in tree!  B.K. Hallock uses his Rickshaw to fetch a pole.

During the intermission, attendees examined the exhibits.  Standing behind the wheelchair is Boppo (Eugene MacPherson).  Seated in the wheelchair is Dorothy Hardaway.  Standing in the background behind Dorothy is Virginia Dana.  On the other side of the table are Ann Smith in the blue dress and Enid Hallock in the white sundress.  Verna Greenshields is in the background behind the camera on the tripod.

Ann Smith scrutinizes the exhibits.

Art exhibited by Don Hallock.

After the intermission, the awarding of medals.  Left to right: Jimmy Duncan, Pin Croft (Larry Smith), Lloyd Bruce (Austin Bruce Hallock), Macy (Don) Hallock, Chris Happel, John Dana, Dave Smii (Domelsmith).

Another view of the medalists.

And some close-ups.

Meanwhile the older generation attempts to rou.  On the field are Rex Smith, Ted Cloer, and B.K. Hallock.

B. K. Hallock observes a mishap.