I received this awesome letter from Arun Prasad, Cessna Aircraft Company in Bangalore. It was entitled “Superstar Squirrel”.
Hi Darcy.
I am Arun Prasad from Bangalore, India. I work as a Manufacturing Engineer for Cessna Aircraft Company in Bangalore. Our company organised an Indoor free flight competition last week. We had 5 categories to compete in. Our team was called Silverwings. The 5 categories were
1. Longest Flight (Time Measured in Seconds)
2. Furthest Flight (Displacement measured in Meters)
3. Best overall Design as rated by judges
4. Most accurate flight. (The flight must land in circle of dia 1m when launched from 20 meters distance)
5. Most attractive Design as voted by audience.
As a engineer working in Cessna, I was smitten by Squirrel and I read the extremely good reviews and I got a clear picture of why Squirrel is the world`s most loved model plane. I decided to build Squirrel for the competition and I am very much proud to say that Squirrel was the superstar of the competition. There were 17 teams with more than 40 different airplanes and Squirrel was the numero uno at the competition. It won in 4 categories out of 5 categories. It came 1st place in longest duration with a flight time of 10.59 secs. It was 1st in the best overall design as rated by judges. It was most attractive design as rated by audience. It came 2nd in the most accurate flight (we missed it by 0.03meters) and it was 4th in the furthest flight. Squirrel just swept all the awards. It conquered many hearts. It was a pleasure to watch Squirrel. I posted some pics. Have a look at it.
I am sure Squirrel can do a flight better than 10.59 secs and It can go further. We used a 5 inch propeller (due to non availabilities of a 6in prop) and our balsa that we used, wasn’t good enough. It was too soft and was breaking everytime we launched. The only category Squirrel didn’t win was the furthest flight. It was basically taking left or right turn, where as it was supposed to do a straight flight to cover the distance. We had our competition in a gymnasium. So, we basically used a underpowered propeller and a undersized rubber band with too soft balsa wod. Still we managed to win over all the other model by a huge margin. It would be really grateful if you could send us the original squirrel with the right rubber band and right 6″ prop. We as aircraft engineers would love to have a original version of the squirrel. In Fact, I have modelled the Squirrel in CATIA V5 Environment (I’ll send you some screen shots) and we are trying to learn the aerodynamics of Squirrel and why it flies so well. I have sat with the aerodynamics team and we are trying to figure out some basic aerodynamics such as L/D ratio, Wing aspect ratio, Lift equations, etc etc.
But Darcy: You are one fine aircraft designer. I am really amazed the the Squirrel`s easy construction technique, and how well it flies. All credit to you. During the field test, I went to a nearby cricket ground (cricket is equivalent to American baseball). The moment I started to launch my Squirrel, I was surrounded by many kids and they all wanted to get a peek of how Squirrel flies. I could see how happy they were. Overall, Squirrel has impressed everyone around and its the new superstar. Along with Squirrel , I too got fame and name. But, you are the one who actually deserves these accolades.
Thanks
Arun Prasad
Cessna Aircraft Company
Bangalore, India
Squirrel entered a contest with 30 different model plane.
“That’s the best simplistic design I’ve ever seen. The only way it could get simpler would be to make a flying wing which would’nt be as easy to fly. It looks like success is guaranteed with your design. Your trick with the tiplets is a great anti-dihedral solution. This is the same principal the FACers utilize to get our biplanes to fly with NO dihedral. We take celluloid and mount it against the vertical interplane struts. Works just like having dihedral! KUDOS!…” — Duker
Duke Horn, Dallas, Texas
AMA Member since 1954
Flying Aces Club
Here’s an awesome picture of a Squirrel from Adam from Montreal, Quebec. Adam made this Squirrel from local material after following the video instructions!
Here are his comments:
The wind came to Montreal. It was very windy on tuesday. I finaly tried my squirrel yesterday and it was awesome. There was still a bit of wind so I didn’t twist the rubber band too much. I could enjoy a couple of nice flights. I was very impressed of the smoothness of the flights. Here is an inflight photo. Has you can see I added some decorations to the plane.
I just noticed the Squirrel was mentioned in an old MAAC magazine. It was in April 2008.
Our great hobby teeters on the edge of disinterest by youth that has, for the most part grown complacent about anything more challenging than a computer mouse or game controller. However, the good fight is not lost and the proof is in a demonstration I gave at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton. The occasion was a fantastic overnight youth program called, “Night Ops” for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. At this event, we had about 60 youth and 35 leaders watch awestruck as my troop flew six flying Squirrels amongst the Spitfires, Mitchells and Starfighters for nice 45-60 second flights. Not bad for a little plane that a beginner can build in under an hour!
The truth is that what is holding young people back from model aviation is more about an easy entry into the hobby than it is about computers and video games. At the museum, we gave away three planes to some attentive youth, handed out some building instructions and built three more Squirrels by flashlight with some excited leaders, after the kids went to bed.
It can be done! It does not take a lot of money or effort, just some simple planning and youthful enthusiasm on the part of the mentor; and that mentor should be you!
Here is the sales pitch. MAAC needs you, your club needs you and this hobby needs you! We need you to help plant the seeds of aeromodeling into the youth of today. The best part is that doing so will not only help the hobby; it will put some zest into the soul of many modelers who have forgotten the joy that came from building and flying their first model. It does not matter if the project is an ARF or traditional balsa kit; the experience will thrill you while adding some youthful spirit into a hobby that sometimes we take much seriously.
There are many easy ways to get started as a mentor:
· Introduce your son/daughter, grandchild or neighbour to a simple project
· Contact your local school or youth group to offer your expertise in building some simple models
· Forward your name and contact information to the Youth/Beginner Committee for inclusion in a new database of MAAC members willing to be mentors to youth groups in their area.
All these methods are very effective. However, I would like to make a special plea to every MAAC member and club to consider adding their names to a database of people willing to be mentors in a brand new MAAC initiative. Joining the new database will allow MAAC to connect you with local youth groups looking for someone to help them with a youth aviation program.
If you are looking for a traditional balsa model as a first model, I highly recommend a little flying rodent called the Squirrel, designed by Darcy Whyte specifically for youth groups. The model is inexpensive and simple enough that it can be built in less than one hour from a set of instructions that can be downloaded from www.Rubber-Power.com. While you are there, check out the videos of this durable little model in action.
The WRAMPAGER from the Westchester Radio AeroModelers is another excellent model designed specifically for youth programs. This model is a little more difficult than the Squirrel, so it works well as a second model. The plans can be downloaded from www.wram.org/ wrampager.html.
Go ahead and get involved with a local youth program, plant the seeds of the hobby’s future and become a local hero to the next generation of modelers.
