Kenny's Old Time Model Airplane Magazine: October 2001

Editorial

This is the first edition of what I hope will be an ongoing enterprise. As I stated on the home page, my hopes for this site is to bring the entire scope of these golden age of model magazines to the public. This is the format that each issue will hold, at least for a while. There will be at least one story, a flying and a solid model, and an advertisement. I may add gas models later, though this is an area of which I know nearly nothing...we'll see. Currently, my hopes are to publish an issue either monthly or bi-monthly, depending on how it all comes together. I also hope to keep this a small site, and will be deleting the previous issue to make room for the new. If you want to keep any of the documents, print and or download them. Maybe keep a binder. I'd love to think that other's enjoy all of this enough to keep these articles, and perhaps share them with friends who are not online.

I would like to dedicate this issue to the Heroes of September 11: to those men and women in the air and on the ground who were willing to put themselves in the face of danger to help those around them. God bless.

The Story

This month's tale, Code on the Keyboard, a mystery/adventure story starring Kerry Keen as the Griffon, was published in the July, 1941 issue of Flying Aces. There were many recurring characters from the old Flying Aces magazines. Probably the most famous was Phineas Pinkham, a comical character from the World War (first that is). And though I should have perhaps started there, I'll start with instead, one of the most famous writers. Arch Whitehouse wrote every type of article for every magazine. So with no further adieu, please enjoy

The Rubber Powered Model Airplane Plan

This month's plan is, like the story, picked because of who designed it. The name of the model is The Biplane Sportster, the designer is Louis Garami. This little 16 7/16" wingspan gem is typical of the work of Garami. Although he worked with all types of models, his sport, or schoolyard, types may be the most fondly remembered. Interestingly, this model comes from Model Airplane News, May of 1939. M.A.N. was always the more serious of the big three magazines. More than likely, a plan such as this would be found within the pages of Flying Aces. But ... there you go.

The Solid Model Airplane Plan

This month's solid plan is a beginning of sorts...fits right in with this first month of publication. The subject is the Curtiss P-40E. It was published in the May, 1942 issue of Model Airplane News as an introduction to the building of "Identification Models." The plan was to have thousands of school children to carve out these models of different aircraft to aid in identification training of the forces pilots, sailors, and soldiers. The results must have been suspect as industry was given the task of doing a better job, which they did, using that wonder material plastic. Not much of a stretch, then, to see this model as both a beginning and an end to the solid balsa "shelf" models. Don't despair, I've enough to keep everyone happy.

The Advertisement

This month's ad is taken from the back cover of the May 1936 issue of Model Airplane News. The Cleveland Model and Supply Co. had great ad writers and graphic designers. There would have been no way that I could have resisted spending a bit more money to get my hands on one of their kits. The company still exists, though I believe that only the plans are still available. Heck, wood is easy to find...

Many of the documents I will be sharing will be in .pdf format