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Balsa USA Stick #1

This is the first airplane I ever built. It is an original Balsa USA "Swizzle Stick", the predecessor to the Stick 40. The Swizzle Stick differs from the Stick 40 in at least two aspects: the tail fin and rudder are both round (as you can see in the picture), and the trailing edge sheeting on the wing is wider (which makes for a much stronger wing in my experience).

According to an old journal entry I dug up once, I built this plane in 1982, completing construction sometime in early to mid August of that year. It is kind of like an old friend, and has developed a lot of character over the years. It has flown countless flights, and was actually the first plane I ever flew at night (sometime in the early to middle '90s). The control surfaces on the tail have been replaced on a couple of occasions, and the wing, as you can see, has been patched many times. The transparent red patch is its newest addition to cover yet another hangar rash scar. This plane has seen a lot of action (out in the field and at home).

I thought I lost this plane, once, in a horrific crash that left the main fuselage sticks in many pieces. The plane was originally constructed using epoxy cement, exclusively, but it was the wood that had become old and not quite as strong as it once was. Most all of the joints remained intact. I could not bear the thought of putting this plane to rest, for I had become quite attached to it. So I put it back together. And I did so with over 90% of its original parts. Many of the breaks were so clean that the parts fit invisibly back together like a jigsaw puzzle made of water. It was weird. I also added some reinforcements (and I believe I replaced a couple of ribs in the wing) and it was back in the air again.

Not too long after that fateful crash, the plane took another spill. It didn't look too bad, but wound up being the most difficult and extensive reconstruction effort to date. I wound up having to replace a portion of both fuselage sides to provide the necessary strength to consider it airworthy again.

All told, this airplane retains probably 85% of all its original material. I have done my best to preserve it. It has been through a couple of engines (and probably a set of wheels or two), and now even sports an early prototype generator for providing on-board electrical power, plus a few LEDs on the face and tail for night flying. I built a separate wing specifically for flying this plane at night, but the wing had far too much dihedral, making it too unstable to have any fun with it. Therefore, my next task is to add some GloWire or RC Neon lights to the original wing to make it an official night flyer.

I often wonder how many original Balsa USA Swizzle Sticks are still around, and if any of those are flying at night. Could I have the only one?

Back when I built this plane, I was still a youngster, filled with imagination. I had a pension for dropping things from high altitudes. Therefore, it was a natural extension (in my mind) to rig up a mechanism to allow me to drop things from my model airplanes.

One item of interest that I dropped from this plane was an old TI-30 calculator. It was the type of calculator you just don't see anymore - with the red 7-segment LED display. My objective was to see how many times I could drop the calculator from my airplane before it stopped working. I know, it was a senseless thing to do, but I got a lot of use out of the calculator in math classes, and besides - I had another one just like it. I don't remember how many times I dropped that calculator, but I still have the pieces to this day. I think there are a couple of LED segments that still light up.

I had fun dropping other things from that plane, including these toy paratroopers called "Poopa-Troopers" (although, I swear I have seen them listed as "Plooper Troopers" in the past). I think it was during one of the drops from this plane (or maybe it was my second plane) when I first learned the power of the thermals in the desert in the summer. After I dropped two Poopa-Troopers, I never saw them again. They went straight up!

The drop mechanism has since been removed from this airplane, as I now have other members of my fleet to perform this important function.

I actually learned to fly on a Swizzle Stick that belonged to a friend of mine. And I learned to land on the second plane that I built. I had a fear of landing, so I always handed my controls over to my friend to land my plane for me. I looked up to him as some kind of flying god, since he always managed to get my airplane out of whatever trouble I managed to get it into. Eventually, I got over my fear of landing (to the extent that my favorite maneuver, now, is landing). In fact, it became a challenge between my friend and me about who could make the smoothest landing.

During the early years of learning to fly (and land), I became disgruntled about the landing gear on my airplane. I kept breaking it off. About every picture ever taken of me at the flying field - or wherever I happened to be flying - showed me working on my landing gear. I finally got tired of that and added a custom plywood landing gear mount that solved the problem once and for all. No more nylon or metal gear straps or screws ripped from the fuselage booms. There were so many holes in the bottom, I simply ran out of places to mount the gear. Now I don't have to worry about it.

This plane has not flown for many years, but it is now once again deemed airworthy, and I am anxious to fly it. Its Super Tigre S-40 engine has been converted to diesel (thanks to a diesel head from Davis Diesel) and I have installed new servos. All that is left to do now is find a place to fly, and pick a day to fly it.

Copyright 2002
11/20/2002