In 1964 Kraft and Controlaire began offering transistorized receiver
kits. They were small, light, and, best of all, cheap. They were
superrregenative receivers so only one could be flown at a time but
that didn't stop us from using them in local contests.
The local hobby shop sponsored a contest for Jasco Thermic 50 gliders
using the new receivers and powered by a Cox Peewee 02 reed valve
engine. The rules were simple. It was a thermal soaring event where
the time started when the engine quit with a 10-minute max. Flights
were worth a point a second up to 10 minutes while landings were
scored with 100 points for a landing in a 25 ft diameter circle, 50
points for landing inside a 50 ft diameter circle, and 25 points for
landing in a 100 foot diameter circle.
The event proved so popular that the club relaxed the rules about
using Thermic 50 models and allowed any reed valve engine up to
049. I had become enamored with a beautiful gull wing 02 power pod
sailplane that appeared in a model magazine and built one. Trouble
was that it was directionally unstable and would occasionally drop
off into an unrecoverable spin. The local expert said, "Let me show
you how to fly." When he spun into the ground he handed the
transmitter back to me and walked away without saying a word. I
decided that I could design a better power pod model and built the
first Tern.
My nephew saw the Tern fly and wanted to build one so I drew up a set
of plans. In 1965 Radio Control Modeler ran a contest for best
original design so I entered the Tern plans along with a
photograph. I didn't win anything in the contest but two years later
I got a letter from RCM at a most awkward time.
The night before I left for a two-week trip to Vietnam with the Air
National Guard, I received a letter from Don Dewey saying they wanted
to publish my power pod glider and would I please rush an article
within 2 weeks. I sat down and wrote a quick letter saying that I
would be unable to write the article until I got back from
Vietnam. I included a few notes on construction of the model and
mailed it on the way to Nashville the next morning. I later decided
that I should have called the notes a construction article since
someone at RCM took the notes, smoothed them up a little, and
published them as the building instructions.
According to the article that appeared in the May, 1967 issue of RCM,
Don Dewey build a model from the plan and actually flew it from his
house in the hills. Don did one more thing. He named the model the
Tern. The materials, engine, receiver, escapement, and nicads all
cost less than $25 and I received $50 from RCM. The original Tern is
still hanging from the ceiling of my shop
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