SEN 2981
- Fundamentals
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- Appreciating others … Bill Bogart and more
Fundamentals
From:Gilbert Morris
Things a bit slow right now? Now might be a good time to brush up on
fundamentals. Check this out:
Airfoil Design – YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fk2J5LtdSg>
Editor’s comment : when checking out there above item , You Tube came up with other suggestions on to further broaden my understanding in aerodynamics.
Auto
We have had a number emails following up on the autonomous article in the last issue. One of them recounted historical events such as those by Dr Good that were not really FF based but more on R/C technology of the day. These were an indication of how much our world had changed. Another recounted how in his country they were having significant difficulty in working with the civil aviation authorities. Finally, some were “are you out of your (expletive removed) mind “. Don’t say anything that could be misinterpreted by some govt official. I know from talking with people from various model aviation NACs that they have a continual job educating the employees of the various civil aviation about all aspects of our hobby to say nothing of the politicians too. So probably not a good idea to have news items that could easily be mis-interpreted.
Appreciating others … Bill Bogart and more
At a recent California model club meeting (not SCAT) one member was complaining that there were no contests at after the San Valeers annual a couple of weeks ago in April until probably some time September when the USFFC will be held. For our International readers the reason why events like the Lost Hills World Champs are held in October is because in the normal Norther Hemisphere summer months of June, July and August the temperature at Lost Hills can be 40 C plus during the day. In spite of this up until now there has always been events in May and perhaps June and September. I was tempted to suggest to this person that he could always organize one, I do not remember him being a CD.
But it made me appreciate those who do organize our contests and somehow my mind drifted back to Bill Bogart. I remember Bill running many SCAT events in the 1980s and 1990s. I’m not sure that people appreciated at the time what a service Bill was providing. Also at this time of the year there is always a search for article and money for the NFFS Sympo. Bill edited some of these. Bill was a senior aero nautical engineer at Northrop Grumman working on the B2. Sometimes the Sympo articles contained lots of complicate formulae. Bill worked through all of those and found a few errors that he got fixed. Who could do that? Bill and Bob White would have lunch once a week, the theoretical guy with the practical and very determined contest flyer. Bill said that his work with the B2 did not help much on a Wakefield. But I got a page of airfoils that Bill did for Bob in the 1980s, some looked just like the latest LDA sections Hmmm. When Bill retired he got to ride on a B2, I think that’s supposed to be a secret. Not sure how many noted designers of military aircraft got to ride on their masterpiece. For example did Kelly Johnson at the Skunk Works ride on the U-2 or SR-71? After he retired Bill had some health issues and kind of drifted away and eventually passed away without us really knowing about it. Looking back I regret that we did not have the opportunity to properly thank Bill for what he to support us and make Free Flight more enjoyable for us.
So don’t forget to thank those who organize the events and maybe even run one yourself.