The Ryan ST went on to become the first low wing primary trainer for the United States military and many foreign nations as well.
Featuring Press Release photos from the Len Wieczorek collection
T. Claude Ryan gained substantial name recognition when Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in 1927 in his Ryan Mailplane-based “Spirit of St. Louis”. In 1934, he formed the Ryan Aeronautical Company and introduced a sleek low winged, metal-fuselaged, sport and training aircraft that would revolutionize the industry. The Ryan S-T went on to become the first low wing primary trainer for the United States military and many foreign nations as well. One of the most beautiful designs of aviation’s golden age, the Ryan ST remains a coveted classic aircraft today.
Stearman Aircraft played a key role in America’s transition out of aviation’s golden age and into a modern aviation powerhouse
1929 Stearman Aircraft Co. sales brochure cover
Featuring Press Release photos from the Len Wieczorek collection
The name Stearman was in the forefront of the go-go aviation years following Charles Lindbergh’s milestone transatlantic flight in 1927. The Stearman Aircraft Company played a key role in America’s transition out of aviation’s golden age and into the modern industrial powerhouse that helped turn the tide in WW2 and set the stage for the jet age.
Designer Howell “Pete” Miller shares his story of the final flight of the MAC-1
Military Aircraft Corporation test pilot Earl Ortman and the MAC-1. Note the large elevator trim tabs.
The story attached is as transcribed from a tape recorded conversation between Mr. Howell (Pete) Miller, Ron Harrison and Tom Nallen on January 28, 1978. The events described are those concerned with and related to the last flight of the MAC-1 aircraft.
Recently, I met a few guys who fly free flight models off the water in Southern Vermont. They spoke of 2 minute flights with rubber powered models on floats. One of them, Jim Woolnough, had developed a spring loaded pivoting float that enabled his rubber models to ROW consistently at less than max winds.
While the Gee Bee’s were setting speed records around the pylons, the Puss Moth was setting transcontinental long-distance records
Jim Mollison’s “The Heart’s Content” completed the first East-West transatlantic crossing in August 1932
Featuring Press Release photos from the Len Wieczorek collection
The Great Depression started in the U.S. with the market crash in October, 1929 and the economic impact was felt around the world. Despite this, aviation technology advanced by leaps and bounds. The D.H. 80A Puss Moth was part of that revolution in the sky.
A short photo essay with commentary on the Q.E.D. wing rebuild
Q.E.D. at Geneseo 2009
I recall the anticipation of the first test glides of my Gee Bee Q.E.D. model more than 20yrs ago in the back yard of our first house. In the time between then and now, this model – I know, it’s not really a Gee Bee (see post) – has been flown hard in fair weather and poor, placing in its share of contests and even winning a few. And I must admit to a crash or two along the way.
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I’m excited to let you know about our new site www.thegeebee.com . Tom1 and I talked about doing this for a number of years, but with work & kids it never happened. Now it has.
We (Tom Nallen’s) have been designing model airplane plans for nearly 50 years. From early years drawing on paper with an Engineer’s rule and No. 2 pencil, to later years with a computer and CAD software, model aircraft design has been a constant. It continues today, and while Tom Sr. has sadly passed, Tom2 will carry forward.
For us, aviation history, scale modeling, and design are equal parts in a creative process. By making our work available, we hope to help others discover this rewarding form of creative expression and consider designing plans of their own.
A little about the plans on The Gee Bee.com website. You may notice that some of them are available elsewhere on the Internet free. This is true – those plans were originally published in various newsletters and then posted to the Internet. We’ve included some of these plans to offer a complete design series – Gee Bee and related aircraft, for example. We will not offer any Nallen designs that are currently for sale by other vendors.
We hope to continue to publish construction plans in modeling newsletters and magazines, although few magazines today publish traditional “stick and tissue” designs (topic of a future post). Many of the plans offered on thegeebee.com are large format and not easily published in newsletters which prefer to include full-sized printed plans in 11 x 17 inch format.
Digital Plan Downloads
We are particularly excited about the PDF plan download option for Nallen plans on thegeebee.com. With a lower price, no shipping charges and immediate delivery anywhere in the world, we’re figuring many customers will choose this option. In addition, PDF plan files are much more efficiently stored and the digital plan can be scaled up or down at the time of printing to meet specific needs – smaller versions to be flown indoors or on smaller fields, for example. Adjustments may be required for structural components specified on the plan, but this usually manageable. As the digital plan download option is reasonably priced, we ask customers NOT to share the file with others. Please refer them to www.thegeebee.com so they can purchase their own download. More information can be found in the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on the website.
