By Randy Powell, Port Orchard, Wash.
The plane is 680-square-inch elliptical wing layout of my own design. The wing shape is based loosely on the Novi IV, but that's about where the similarity ends. This is the second plane in the series: Tango Red. It was orignally designed for a Saito .56 4 Stroke and went pretty well with that engine. It's become something of a test bed of late. The plane originally suffered from insufficient side area aft of the CG. In combination with a forward tapered trailing edge, caused some pretty wicked yaw, particualrly on hard outside corners. A new, much bigger fin and rudder was installed along with a new nose block. In that process, a new modified clamp engine mounting system was also installed that lets me use different engines pretty easily. Rabe style rudder control was also installed in this process. The modification fixed the yaw problem and the plane currently sports a RO-Jett .65 on a muffler. Had some problems with that at the end of last season, but a new fuel tank seems to have fixed this and it is now probably my main PA plane. At least until the new killer is in the air and trimmed.
Tom Strom of Seattle,
Wash, will use this Brodak P-40 ARC in the Northwest P-40 Stunt event, naturally!
Tom says: "I covered it as the COX P-40 I had as a kid, in the African
Desert Tan. Brodak .40, Tetra tank, APC 11x4, Flies better than I do."
Don McClave of Portland, Ore., campaigned this PT-19 in Classic Stunt in 2001. Flying Lines photo.
In 2003, Paul Walker, of Kent, Wash., introduced the Miss America, caught here high in the sky at a contest. Flying Lines photo.
OK, it's not really my "favorite" plane but this is a great shot of it in flight, Mike "ZZ" Hazel at the controls. It's always a crowd pleaser. My policy is that the person who laughs the loudest when I fly it has to be the next one to fly it. --jt
This page was upated July 23, 2007