Remember the Cox control-line airplane days ?

Ah, yes!  Half A was a great boon to school age kids in the fifties!  My first gas Ukie was a Goldberg Nifty with an OK 29 in it, but that was a fairly expensive model and engine. Got it as a Christmas present.  But, when the half A engines came out the kits were cheap and so were the engines.  I could afford them on allowance, and then from my paper route.

I began to fly half A free-flight competitively, and jumped ship from the Cox engines to the Atwood Wasps.  There was quite a horsepower race in the fifties between Cox and Atwood.  Both brands began to overpower the planes of the era.  I had one going straight up in the climb (with a slight corkscrew path) when the wings folded backward (exceeded red line!)  Thing nosed over and went ballistic- literally.  Fortunately the ground at the field was a bit wet and the engine survived- only broke the prop.

Clenaing out my parents house, I found parts to my brothers old WenMec P-47 and the MK XII .049.  The .049 still fires up. Also the old Honda 3 wheeler tether bike.  I had a Cox Spitefire.  I remember spending time in the toy section of KMart and Woothworths looking at all the different types of Cox planes and cars.  

Yep, like many, they were my gateway into RC and balsa scratch building.

Tried one, when my kids were young, mostly for their enjoyment.  Control line models are hard to control, as I soon learned.  After a few revolutions, I would get dizzy and fall down before the gas ran out, so I never really did a  controlled and successful landing!  First, old Dad would crash, followed soon by the airplane!  But we all had fun with it, while it lasted.

 I had quite a few of them.  Every one dug a hole in the parking lot.  They were a lot of fun though.  That's why I switched to the Ringmaster and SuperRingmaster.  They flew a lot better than those plastic bricks.  Got tired of getting dizzy so I switched to Free Flight and then to R/C.  Those were the good times.  Just sold a Top Flight P-40 Stand-Off Scale kit that I still had down in the basement a few months ago.  Didn't think I'd ever get around to building it.

Jim  

I had a P-40 but I never could get the darn thing fired up and running; let alone fly it. I was deathly afraid of getting my fingers caught by the props every time I tried to start it. Eventually I gave up on it. Never could remember what I did with it.

Those engines were machined to some very tight tolerances. No piston rings.

Later in life I became involved in motorcycle mechanics. Two cycle engines with carburetors connected to the crankcase, no big deal.

I had a Cox P-51 that came in a blister pack.  It was made and flew like a plastic model.  The sound of the .049 engine suddenly screaming to life scared the crap out of me!  I never really like the whole control-line concept.  Even as a sixth grader, I felt it was a lawsuit waiting to happen.  Like Kabonkers - glass bolos in the hands of elementary school kids...

Ryan PT 20 with the 020. The blue and white one. Had the home made plywood box with fuel, battery and glo plug wire.

The failure mode there was that unlike the PT-19 which had wire landing gear, the 20 had cast plastic fairing legs and spats with plasic wheels on them on plastic axles. One "carrier" landing and it was all over, baby blue.

Those were fun.

Want to get me in deep weeds, bring up slot cars on hobby shop tracks.