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Vintage FAI Power Event

Background: 

The basic concept of this Vintage FAI Power Event is to promote the flying of vintage FAI Power designs and their engines that were being flown inclusive of the years 1951-1979.  We made the cut off for this event based on several items.  At the 1977 WC's Eugene Verbitsky had aluminum wings for the first time along with 1979 USA team member Carl Bogart at the Taft World Championships.  Also, kevlar and carbon were starting to be used by the flyers in Europe at the end of the 70's.  Bunting power models were used at the 1981 World Champs for the first time.  By picking 1979 as the cut off for the event we felt that only a few aluminum wing models would be eliminated by the rules stipulation of no aluminum wing / carbon D-box models.  In this manner we would keep all the models flown in a low-tech format as compared to today’s high-tech models.

Within the time frame of 1951 to 1979, there are 7 distinct Eras, each corresponding to the evolution of the rules for FAI Power.  As the technology grew,  the rules changed, for example the engine runs were shortened, but the flight performance remained more or less constant.  The idea is that models from each of the 7 distinct Eras can compete equally in the single Vintage FAI Power Event, each flying to it's own Era's rules.  It is permitted to compete in the event by flying models from more than one Era as your time permits, each as a separate entry.  This should promote flying!

For more information on the rules, see the detailed rules in the link below.

Rules:

As per the rules above, the Vintage FAI Power event covers a time frame where there were distinct eras of rules involved.  Below is a presentation of some of the models that we have information on to date, they are arranged by era.  

There are also many more models, from these Vintage Eras, in the "Models" section that have yet to be incorporated into this presentation.  All of the plans and 3-views presented in this section are however also contained in the "Models" section.  Eventually these presentations will evolve to the point where the all the models are presented in both this "Vintage FAI Power" section and in the more general "Models" area

Era 1 - 1951-1955:   20 Second engine run with older lighter power and surface area loadings, a cross section rule and requirement to ROG. (see rules above for more details)

Model or subject	type of information source	Pictures:
Zoot Suit by George Fuller Great Britain predecessor to the Dixielander 2nd place - 1953  World Championships (1953)	mini-plan unknown source - June 1954
Frisco Kid by John Tatone USA (1955)	construction article Flying Models - April 1955.

Era 2 - 1956-1957:   20 Second engine run with older lighter power and surface area loadings and requirement to ROG. No cross section rule  (see rules above for more details)

Era 3 - 1958-1960:   15 Second engine run with current heavier power and surface area loadings, beginning of hand launching (see rules above for more details)

Model or subject	type of information source	Pictures:
Saturn by Howard Timlin USA (1960)	construction article Air Trails Model Annual - 1960

Era 4 - 1961-1965:   10 Second engine run  (see rules above for more details)

Model or subject	type of information source	Pictures:
Taltos-II by Eron Frigyes Hungary (1963)	construction article Aero Modeller - January 1964
Orbiteer by Bob Cherney USA (1964)	3-view Aero Modeller  - October 1964 The additional photos are from the 1964-1965 time frame at various contests in California USA. Photographer is Doug Galbreath, except the second one which is of Doug himself, which was taken by Walt Ghio.

Era 5 - 1966-1970:   10 Second engine run, beginning of  80/20 fuel, tuned pipes allowed. (see rules above for more details)

Model or subject	type of information source	Pictures:
FAI Power Model by Bruno Fiegl Italy 3rd Place - 1967 World Championships (1967)	3-view   Aero Modeller - March 1968
Night Train MK-VII by George French Great Britain 2rd Place - 1967 World Championships (1967)	3-view   Aero Modeller - March 1968
RS-3 by Reid Simpson USA (1970)	construction article Model Airplane News - April 1970

Era 6 - 1971-1975:   10 Second engine run, tuned pipes banned. (see rules above for more details)

Model or subject	type of information source	Pictures:
Big Boy II by Vaclav Horcicka Austria World Champion - 1973 (1973)	3-view   Aero Modeller Annual - 1974
Cathexis by Dave Parsons USA (1973)	construction article Model Aviation - November 1975 This model design published in 1975, but was developed in late1972.  It has been documented to have flown in the USA FAI Team Selection Program in the Sept 1973 Semis in Taft.  Later also having been documented to have flown in an won the Tenth Annual International Challenge, held at Taft Nov. 9, 10, 1974.

Era 7 (Part 1) - 1976-1979*:   7 Second engine run. (see rules above for more details)

*  the FAI rules for this Era remained more or less constant for many years to follow through 1994.  During this time, the 7 second engine run remained in effect, with only changes to the fly-off procedures and the addition of an extended first round max.  We have broken this time frame into 2 parts, based on the reasoning stated in the Background section (above).  We chose to cap the Vintage FAI Power event with models of the low tech nature by ending Part 1 in 1979.  The remainder of the time frame of the 7 second engine runs is covered in the "Modern FAI Power" section as Era 7 (Part 2) - 1980 -1994.  In 1995, the final Era 8 - 1995 - present began with the advent of 5 second engine runs.

Model or subject	type of information source	Pictures:
Korla Plankton by Lars Olofsson Further development of the 1975 World Champion model Uncle Remus Sweden (1976)	construction article Model Builder - January 1977

  Some Engines of the Vintage FAI Power Eras:

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