Type : slope glider (PSS)
Wing span : 45 in.
Airfoil : SD6060
Surface : 300 sq. in.
Wing loading: probably over 22 oz./sq. ft.
Weight : a bit over 2 pounds (68 oz?)
Channels : 2
Materials : plywood, balsa, four dowels, blue foam... and a superball in the nose!
Source : Scratchbuilt from photos and 3-views
Comments : I built this glider from 3-views. My father flew as a navigator in Royal Canadian Air Force squadron 423 "Eagle", 2 Wing, Grostenquin (Alsace-Lorraine), France, in 1961 and 1962. The eagle insignia below the cockpit and the white and red stripes are indicative of that particular squadron.
Serial number on the model 18372. Avro Canada (also builder of the ill-fated Avro Arrow) assigned serial numbers right up to the 18700's. Total production of the CF-100 "Canuck" (through five marks) was almost 800. My father's log book contains some entries for 18372 in which he flew a few missions.
Gilbert DesBecquets et his pilot, Eric Saunders (now pilot in command of Pratt and Whitney Canada's Boeing 747), were among those who flew these "Canucks" to their last resting, a junkyard somewhere in Belgium, in December 1962. 423 squadron, along with the other Canadian units, were dismantled and its members sent back home to Canada.
After much thinking, I decided not to fly this airplane and keep it as a souvenir of the RCAF's golden era. Why? Because it turned out a bit heavier, though fragile for its intended slope missions. It is only a pleasure deferred : I intend on building another one but this time, I will be more generous with its wing area and I will scale up the plane to a wingspan 60 inches... but I will get around to this after some other projects (to build up my confidence in scratchbuilding). I encourage everyone to try scratchbuilding a plane; every building hour is preceded by two hours thinking about the following steps : let's just say it builds character!
©, Jacques Des Becquets (aeroplane@primus.ca)
02-12-13
