5 think that there is enough activity in the northwest to have city chapters, but thinks a regional chapter might work out. Any interested person in the Washington state, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana areas should contact him. Pete, along with Rex Richards and Carole Gillespie, bought the Sorrell "Special" biplane, which
was illustrated in the November, 1954 issue. A 65 hp. Continental
has replaced the 37 hp. engine, and a few other changes have been effected. Perhaps they aren't as inactive as Peter suggests! There are two "Knight Twisters" flying in Washington, plus several other home-
builts in the works. Several homebuilts are also flying in Oregon. There are too, half a dozen gliders being built in that area, with three or four undergoing major rebuilding. O———————
Our old friend, John Scherer, formerly with Mechanix Illustrated, tells us that he and two other -cllows plan to build a Jodel Club D-ll two place ship from plans. John is very anxious to hear
from other home-builders down his way, who might want to start a chapter in the Moultrie, Albany, Thomasville and other areas in ( southeast Georgia. He can bn reached at the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics at Spence Air Base, Moultrie, Georgia. O——————
Lead Rons S. J. Dzik INTRODUCTION
The term "LEAD-RONS" is new and can be described as auxiliary equipment for aircraft adoption. The advantages and practical use of Lead-Rons can be highly accepted to render positive results where thin airfoil sections do not create suitable lift efficiency due to its characteristic design for sonic speed performance. Thus the aircraft take-off performance is penalized because of its design. It has already been established that aircraft with thin wing design airfoil section, plus the fact the chord datum line is zero and
in most cases negative up to two or more degrees from horizontal center line of the aircraft. This design criteria however, results with understandable aerodynamic efficiency at take-off and requires the aircraft to use long run-ways and speed. Most jet powered aircraft can carry greater payloads, but are penalized because of prementioned facts. Substantially heavier payloads can be added to the aircraft and lifted into the air on initial takeoff with the adoption of quick attach and jettisonable Lead-Rons. Lead-Rons can be aerodynami?ally designed and adopted to any thin wing airfoil section as described further in this report.
Sam Urahan of Box 4332 N. P. San Diego 4, California has sent
us a little more information on his one-man helicopter project. The "Air Chair" (N-20K) is still under development. At present, it is undergoing some engineering changes and progress is slow due to the fact that it is a spare time project. Less propulsion units and fuel tank, it weighs less than fifty pounds. It is collapsible for easy portability. The idea evolved during the Korean fracas when Urshan was flying B-29s over North Korea. He became impressed with the acute need for a means of emergency transportation in case of bail-out or crash landing. The "Air Chair" could be dropped in packaged form just prior to bailout and be quickly assembled on the ground. Then it could be used for escape, orientation, or as a means of gathering the crew together to increase the chances for survival. The "Air Chair" is merely a vertical 24ST tube with the rotor at one end and the seat and tripod landing gear on the other end.
Robert E. Rust of 3835 Collier Drive, N.W. in Atlanta, Georgia is
reconstructing a Pfalz, German World War I fighter plane, for
Frank Tallman, and it is progressing fine. He expects to have the fuselage shell finished before winter. He also has a SPAD to re-
construct for Tallman, but has not done any work on it yet. . O——————— Word reaches us that the two 'Tailwinds", one each being built by Dan Dudash and Rex La Breche are coming along fine. The fuselages have already been completed.
Dan and Rex are both members of the Los Angeles Chapter. O—————— Because of the time spent on Chapter and other outside matters, Alton L. Novotney, president of the Los Angeles Chapter No. 11, is finding the program on his project slow going.
