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