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Fokker in Flight 
There are only two kinds of model airplanes:
those that have crashed, and those that will crash.
    -- The Ever Humble Rittmeister Freiherr Richard Von Zapf

Free Flight

Free flight, rubber powered, balsa stick-and-tissue, scale model airplanes: "free flight" means no RC, "rubber powered" means power comes from twisted strands of rubber, "balsa stick-and-tissue" means models are constructed from a frame of balsa wood covered in tissue paper, and "scale" means these ships are miniature replicas of real planes. The premier group for free flight scale is the Flying Aces Club (FAC).

  Articles   
Tips, tricks, insights, and ramblings about free flight
published on the Stealth Squadron website

  Plans   
I decided to draw some plans once.

  Pictures   
Pretty shots of planes I've built

  Videos   
Watch some free flight ships carving ozone.

  Websites   
Where to look for more FAC Content, info, and the Kanone List

  Carnage   
The quote at the top says it all.
These are pictures of planes after they're no longer pretty...

Articles:

Mechanics of the Leading Edge

Diagram of Broken Leading Edge

Ever wondered if scientific and engineering principles could help design a stronger leading edge? Look no further for a foray into math, physics, and balsa wood -- with an intriguing outcome.

Material Properties of Balsa

Balsa Cantilever Beam

Ever wondered what the Young's modulus of balsa is? Your mechanics professor wasn't kidding when he said everything is a spring...

Retractable Landing Gear RB-1

Retractable Gear FFS Model

I once made a free flight scale ship with automatic retractable landing gear. The tailskid hooks up to a mechanism that pops the gear up when the plane takes off. The system worked pretty well, and the plane flew, too. Be sure to check out the operating instructions linked in the publication. Alas, the ship was lost on a 6min+ out of sight flight at Durham...

Plans:

Laird Solution

Pixelated render of Laird construction plans

I once decided to try drawing plans "from scratch". I went to the New England Air Museum in CT with a tape measure and a camera, then spent a lot of time at the drawing board. After a bit of time with graph paper, a compass, and a french curve, I had a 3-view. Then I drew the plans with the same implements based on the 3-view. Then, I built the plane from the plans. The resulting ship flew pretty well, but suffered a serious stooge accident (see "Carnage").

Scale Spandau Guns

Teeny weeny spandaus

For my Fokker DVII, I needed scale models of the spandau guns. Here are plans to make your own. They are just right for a 20" span Fokker DVII.

Pictures:

Fokker DVII view 1
Fokker DVII view 2
Caliban view 1
Caliban view 2
F-22 Glider
P47 Thunderbolt
Potez Dimer
FAC Pusher

Videos:

Lockheed Vega Flight

16" wingspan Lockheed Vega in the colors of the ship Amelia Earhart flew solo accross the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart was the first woman and second human (after lindbergh) to accomplish this feat. This flight was at Woodsum Farm in Amesbury.

 

Want more videos?

Here's a Youtube channel with lots of videos of FAC49 activity:
 
  https://www.youtube.com/@tomnallen2  

Websites:

The Stealth Squadron (FAC49) is the Massachusetts chapter of the FAC. The main FAC website has the Kanone list.
 
  https://stealthsquadron-fac49.com/  

 
  https://flyingacesclub.com/  

Carnage:

Busted Hurricane
Busted Laird
Wading river, Fokker in-hand
FFS ship after stepped on by dog