Aero Modeller

730

CIBCULAB,

TOW

- Partl

an outlino of th dvelopments, andan explanation of th various systems used by the leading A/2 glider flirs dtailod by Elton Drew
limiiations if .ll lho conbstants omploy circulsriow andsdoprths i6cticl A funhar bonu8 ls pfovidod by lh6 capacity lhrt circular tow can ofl6r, of a Bignitic6nl car6puhhsight boosl on roloaie; invalu.bla in gaining pr8cioussocondsin Fronchhld . sylt6m in widospr8d usosso aroond 1967, pe.haps rrlier. Th6ir v6ry eimplo 3y!16m,re3unec!6da d3vic usod m.ny yoars6arli6r(.nd fejctod6s virlually usole8s)- ths offsor lowhook. O.igin.lly ahi3was inlend6das, hcans olobraining a straighi iow followod by 6 circling glido; thi3 bing bfor6th6 univ6rs.l adoptionot Ths olt3sl hook'ooriginaldomisoi3 6asy to unduslsnd: In lhgory th momont impossd by ths lino lonsion .ciing on rhs olts6! towhook b.lancd iha mom.nt du to th. lixsd ruddor dstleclion.This is t.ue at th 3!art ol tho row and fo. a parliculo. aispod,bur rh6 situaiion rapidlychangsl As lho modl approachos rhe top ol !h6 l i ns i ho s6i up changesas show n i n tOUn 1. Now lh3 lino i6nsion will bs so6n to producor rolling momsnrrarhorthan tho pt6vious yawing rnom.nl. H6nce tho couniaraction tho rudd6.turningmom6nt io ha3di3app66r6d; indc6dth6 rolling momonr t.nd! l o rol l thsmodol i nl hssam6 rocri on di sstho rudd6ri sl urni ngth6 mod6l snd ths , pooling olf sffoct iB thus sggravaiod. Combinothis wilh lhc va.iablo slfoct of changing windsp66d 6nd it is roadily applrsnt why tho ldvnt ot th. Auro Ruddor had b6n wclcomod with opn

Ti X.Rt t, x+Rt

F to u iE I Oth.t tov hook.orlaln.llr Int nd.d .. . n..d ofobt l.l.t..taltht tor.

,<f....-4
WHAT lS chcolariow? Simplyth. cpicity to allow a glldar to covor ! conirollsd circular flighr parh ai witl wirh rowtin ailachsd, as ooool6d to convoniional Why circulsriow, whsn in tho 66rlydrys ol glidsr flying th6 gr6.tost problm oncountorad w.B lho achiovom.n! ot a srr.lghr tow ro full towlin hoight followed by 5 circular glld6 p!th? Tho rmwor, or rllhr answrs, bocomo mor6 readily apparsnt if con3lderationis givon to rho probloms ncountsred whon llying in calm Firut,a36nyonowho hastowcd ! srgging modal in a tl.l c6lm w.ll lnows, th6 boundaryf6nc. and/or orhaostion tsnd to ar.ivo much mor rspidly ihan r thormal and th6 flysr is ofton conlronr6dwilh ths choico of attompting ro b.ing ths model down on ths line, ilsslf a chancyopdrstion, or roleasing modlin desporltion,whh th. lh rssuliing flight time v6ry much in tho lap ol th6 god3.Circuls.tow cln obviously ovorcoma this problom. Scondly, ckcul6r tow c6n bc a d6cidsd aid to tho|maldorocti.n in rhos. condiiions, in t ha to n ec a n g o t t w o o r m o r s' b it6 8 t th a chsrry', b6cau3o in doubt 6s to whothef if or not a thermalhas beon encountorod, on6 can samply go round 6gain' and r6check rhal o.nicular o6lchofai.. Thirdly, circular low may bo amployod as a tacricElllying 6id in that, s8suminga dollnits wind dircctlon, ons can drllt th6 mod6ldownwind 6nd i6t uD a l.vour8blo po8llionto asse!6which olihe opDo3ition's modsl3 is hopotully going to m.rt llfi; a lavourite ploy ot tho Russi.n oxponsnts. Thl3ls c t i c o b v i o u 6 l yps r ticu la r lyu 3 6 lu lin ia compslitions having slaning lin6i from whlch orhsr comptitoas are nsiurally roluciant lo iow uDvvind.lt h63 obvious Clrc$lai tow ayrLm. 1. fh.'F..nch Sw..n' lhs inr6ntlonal ws of circular low flisht p!!h lor glidsrs is by no nons now. Ths

F IGUiE I

//

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i

CIBCI]LAR

TOW

coktinuedfrom page 731

for uss ol the hook and iho anticipaled low usoage would 6pp6ar to lead mosi British llisrs to rh conclusion rhat rhe efforr nsedsd to producs thess hooks would be

reslored by applying light iodsion to th lin6. Reloaso the model is accomplished ol bv a lu t t h ri n c r a s on l i n s to n sio n . h is i T compfsses spring to stop B" thereby th6 introducing a slighi amount ot rudder offset just prior to th6 roleaseof tho latch, and hnc6release iho iow lin6 from ths of mod6l.Thisoffsst,combin6dwith incroa$d air sp6d dus to the high lin insion, fesultsin a calEpulld climbing turn with a us s lul 3 i ni n a l t i t u d . 9 Lpp at tho '1971 Championships, and again in 1973 demonstraieda vafiation pon wing iip omploying5n ailercn on ihs acriv6tod in coniuncrion with rh6 tow rudder olfser (left-hand turn). This, I gather,6nhancd the model'sbshaviourin lh6 cifcular tow mode, pemilting tightor ' on t h6 l i n e t u r n s t o b e a tia in d a n d elim ina t i na n ys p i r ad i v i n gte n d o n cie s. q l Th6 main deterents to th mor6 widsproadadoption ol these hooks in Britain ars undoubtedly our capficious climate, coupledwith ths complxityoftha hooksmachininglscilities were widoly smployed on lh o r i g i n a l s . T hv a g a f i ss to u r clim a ts e o resuli in very few occasionsideallv suited Fit ur. S - S . . t r d i n . v i . n ' r i n r .n d r !.in s'

3. The Scandinavitn

'Spt ing and Ring'

(.)

Until rec6nrly, lho Frnch syslem appsarcd lo h8vs bssn lalqely supeGeded by variar ions on r ho ' Eussian H ook ' them e. A revival ol inrerest has b6en triggercd off by the adoption ol a new line releas syslem or iginaling fr om Sc.nd i nav i ans Buc hw al d and Pydso, apparently d6rived from the rather complicaled nd cumbsfsomo Scan' dinavian spr ing.loaded c l aw dv i c o des ctibgd in tha 1 97 3 / 7 4 Ae rc M o dele, A nn u at. Bri6fly, rhis involvsd rplacing ths convsntionallowhook wilh a fi ng to w hi c h the claw is clipped, se f&u/e 4. Tho rleass of th claw is activaiod by an impulse from tho spring provided by tha s!ddn fsleaso of a sm all am ount of s l ac k i n the l oaded r owlin6. lt cannor r elea s s w hi l s t the l i ne i s slack, and rhus provides an absolutly positivsline lock on. Buchwald 6nd Pydso's development was simply lo feplaca this claw by a hook 3s shown in Ftgula 5a. Ths hookjust hanss in the ring and is virtually impossibl to dislodga in llighi, olher than by a s udden impuls as doscribed above - a brilliantly simplo, but stfeclivs, idea. A similar Daoish davice (Figute 5b, w6s illusrsled by Bon Colman in his Technical Repon on th 1973 World Championships (AercMod. eL Novembsr 1973, and stated, in thal repoft, io hav ba6n judged il l s gal . Si nc e r hon al was stated lhatir s use w as al l ow d i n l hos e (b) D i.t' devic.

FiaurG 6 -

Pivoted off.Gt

c ham pi ons hi ps . l r i s di l ti c ul o s ee on w hat qr ounds i t c oul d hs v e been di s al l ow ed s i nc e ths s pr i ns ex r ens i on is l i m i r ed by a slop i he spring extension limired s top provid 's mor andcannot any inJiishrri.e lst pull. Admiltedlv the device has a .ather'suspicious' appearanc6, but remembf that ths spring merely providss lhe i m pul s oto di s l odger h hook , and does nol i m par r any s nr gy r o th6 m odel , T hi s 'R i ng and Spr i ng dev i c e w as enlhusiasticallv intfoduced ro me bv Petet Al l nutt at r hs 1974 Br i ti s h N ati onal s , he having pickd up lhe idea on one of his ffsquont oxcufsaons ro conrinenral contests. H h8d adapted itlo the Ffench offset hook system and thsrsby inrroduced a new di m ens i on toi r s us e i n thatatw as no l onger es s enti all o m ai ntai n l i netens i on;r h m odel now being lree lo circle wiih slack line, as w i l htho R us s i ans y s l em . Thas syslem has been used wilh some success by steve Mariotr who has added a relinemsnt, ss shown in f49u.e 6. This Drovides rhe laciliN ro reduce ruddr oftser as towline lension increass, and pfovides, it is claimed, sreaier control ovef the r el eas eopefai i on w hi l s l r oi ai nj ng r ho abi l i ty r o c i r c l eti ghtl y w i th s tac k l i ne. lnlerestingly boih Poter's and Stevos hook s ur i l i s s pr i ngs hav i ns m uc h s r eal er exlension than those shown in rhe 74eroMode et Annual &awinss, and in a skelch of Buc hw al ds and Py ds os hook w hi c h appearcd in Frca Flight News, March, 1974 s c c om pany i ng a dr aw i ns of an A/2 des i gn, 'Styk by Prydso and Konsgard.

:- .- - _' . (EiBg?E

gxrension than pominedby rhe 2kg lino

oFasa)

Aero Modeller

784
l oi r i nt.h. h.ppy b.nd of.i r .l ..tow c n do.. not r .qui r . work.hop f..iliai.r -. ..l..tion .rt.n.iv. of n..dl. fild, no. l0 and 55 drillrr S.rd l0 BA t.p. and . t.p wr.nch r.prc..nt th. only tool. rcq!ir.d .ddition.l to tho.cfoond in mo.t mod.ller"

Elton Drew continues his fascinating account of the latest . techniquesemployedin A/2 gliders with an account of his personal experiences

OIBOT]LAB TOW
Following my rctum lrom the Swedish World Champs, I de.ided to try circular tow for myself. This led to a very protracted series of experiments.Protractedin time span rather than in efiort I might add and it must be said that, besidesa lack of spare time, the weather was certainly responsible for slowing qown progrss. FiSure 7a Aisembly Initially, the main attribute which attracted me to the Russian system was the posilive line lock-up pro. vided. The carapult height gain was also regarded as desirable bonus, whilst. at that time. the circular tow facility was considered as of less importanc in view of the scarcity ofcalm conditions in this couDf{y. Having no machiring facil ies of my own, the first requirefieD ,vasto devise a hook which coold be produced with limited tools, All my hooks have been Droducedwith the usual range of adromodelling tools supplemented with 8 and l0 BA taps, tap holder, appropriate tapping size drills (No. 50 and 55 respectively), a selection of files and, of course, a good vice, The fundarnental constructional difference from the Russian desigo was the replacement of the piston and cylinder arrangement with a

Part 2

main body fashioned from 0.2in. thick dural plate, the moving hook beingsituatedin adrilled hole. The first attempt unfortunately was a failure. I had tried to oversimplify the system by doing away with the latch, the hook simply bottoming into a slotted projection on the hook body. This proved virtually impossible to releasefrom the line, everything working perfectly up until this point. As soon as the releasing tension (applied to compress the spring and bring the hook clear of the slotted stop) was released, the hook snapped back keeping the tow ring 6rmly trapped. Filing away the slop projection
Group of ahr.G hoot.. At top rirht it Elto.'. !n.ucc...ful fir.t .tt.mot whl<h w.. .up.rce.d.d br th. c.ntrc hook.l.in . rari.tion on th. Rq..i.n hook th.mc. lt f..tu r.. . hovini l.t.t tor linc lock.on, bst 1..k. fr.ili.r for .isht.r'onli.e'ci..l.r th.nfr.c-rlld. cir.l... Syrt.m It dfr w n i n F i r ur c . 7. .nd 7b. At l ow 6r l.ft it a furth.r d.v.loDm^t trilor.d t6 .uit 'Lc.dina L.drr Init.ll.tio. - l.t.r r.pl.c.d by rina-.nd-.prid8 dvic. rhown

@-

...,.".,,""

ti
a2!:_,,..fr
Author .tion ion with tor alld. i!..i.n hook vrri. ".l6plilicd" nott hook op.r.t.. in .onisnd. convlntion.l Aqtorudd.r.toD. turn .dju.tm.nt,

oo @/

hD4

FlSure tb Details

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. r,..1 '*''^''1" /--\ \/ | ,/- -\ | *l_ ,,.", \4- :irt":*,.

Further flying highlighted the major disadvantage with Russian hooks as far as I was concerned.

S-"\

i\

+e]

i_/'

Arthor'.

h.thod

of providinS

r.1....

followed by climbing catapulted, and smooth, easy release.With the light spring load necessary to achieve thr's happy state of affairs trouble was immediatelvexoerienced in the lightest of breezds;ai soon as the hook comDresseddue to the increased line - tension unwanted rudder offset would come in on the straight tow, and in some casesthe Iatch released unknowingly, allowing the line to slip ofr as soon as the tension was reduced. Increasinethe rute to combat this is an rssolution but this can only be so far beforc one encounters problemswith releasing model in the calm conditions-

Everything workedwell in verycalm ,_, conditions:srraisht row. circular; *:i .:"'kl" ) tow (albeii in wide circlei) at will. :";':"jl::"'Jft J. c'

improved the situation to the extent that a releasecould occasionallybe obtained,but it was obvious that the moving latch was a necessity, Hence hook No. 2 shown in the Frgrle 7, which illustrates the constructional details. This had a spring loaded Iatch and functioned exactly as the Russian hooks, with one exception; it lacked the facility to provide increased rudder offsetin the circular tow mode. The installation utilized an existingfuslageand retained the existing rudder stop for both glide and circular tow - as mentioned previously, the circular tow facility was initially not consideredto be of great importance. It was some time before the folly of this approach was realised! Indeed initial results with the new hook were sumciently encouragrng to prompt a start on a rather exotic model designed around such a hook and detailsofthis model Leadihg Lady will l^ter , ^ppet Attempts at circular towing with these models soon rcvealed the desimbility for increased rudder offset io this mode, as I found that for a given oflst the circle with line attached was apparently wider than the free gliding circle. Hence, one was forced to covel an enomous amount oi ground if the tow circle was to be followed, a necessityif control is to be maintained.Feasible in flat calm on a flat site, but not entirely satisfaatory:flat calm condi. tions lreing rather rare.
Author'! ..cond iu.ri.n-typc hook (c.ntr. hook ot photo on opporit. p.s) in . h.c*'Llv.lr inrt.ll.d L.dr'fu..h8, .howin! thc towlin. in thr.c dii.r.nt mod... At top i. rhown th. rtr.irht tow D6ition. b.low th.t i. th. .i"Gol.r tow mod.. .nd .t bottoh i. .hown th. ..1.r.. Not. th.t th. timcr ha h.d to b. rcoo.ltlon.d f u.th.. torw.rd.

Aero Modeller

786

't

ss.z

\
.lTh.. on th. l.i! i. brcd on Ar f.r ri.ht."....n . coupl. of'.prina.nd d .mo n i trrt.d b y P.ac. Allnltt 'itrr'hook ir in.t.d by S..ndi n.v i .n.. On r .d.. .n.x.mDl. or th. risht ir th. .sthor'. l.t.r, .i n plili.d, .d.ttion-a d..wn in Fitur. t. Aboy. ir rn oi... towhook, or morG co...ctly, towrina. F..hion.d tro6 dur.l pl.t.. lirhint lan. dc v i c . i ..how n . wl v . l . n d rl n r-l i tt.d to rt.nd..d' llv.lr L.dy' fu..l.t. - r .l.r r .

The Russians and Cze.hs had obviously ncountered these conditions, in fact many flyers employed a subsidary pennant, retained by the latch. to indicatc if the latch had been sprung inadvertently. This condition is not always evident by if 'fel'alone,and is very embarassing undetected.as one can conturue to tow with the lalchopen,only lo have lhe line slip off the moment tension is released.Presumably their sophisticated hooks, which enable the spring pre-loadto be readily adjusted on the field, can alleviate the problem, and this, combined with perhaps more gcnerally calm condilions make them a more practical proposition than would appear the case in Britain, Even so. Ivan Hordjsi states lhat the scret for is success lo use the highestpossible spling loading consistentwith releasc teoulrements. Gary Burroughs oi New Zealand also produced a very well thought out valiation specifically designcd to overcome the problem of unwanted tum coming on during straight tow in gusly conditions (F/"e Flight News Aoril 197!). Here the rudder offst foi the catipult tum was induced by releaseof the latch rather lhan by of compression thc spring. I did have intentions of producing a similarly functioDing hook to my 'Rled plate' method for lhe Leading Lady model. However, before I got around to it, a collagu, Ray Inke., a machinist by profession,ploduced a beautifully engineeredadaptation incorporated of BurroughsdcsiSnand
tor d.vi.. l||rtdl.tion of th..lrcul.r lllcrtr.t.d on p.a. 788 (rnd to b. drrwn pr.vioq.lt n.tt month), Fitt In .D.rtur. hook cxp.rierovid.d tor Ru..hn.Vt. m..tr-r.. .lio ..rld ol thr@ Dhoto. o. p.a. 715. tn9h.

it in a model of similar'layoutand features. His experienceswere not sufficiently ncouraginSto persuade me to proceedwilh my version!The main problem was again the unwanled rcleaseof the latch in gusty conditions, though this was a considerableimprovement on the original system.Ray also found that tlrc desired catapult turn with smooth release was not as easy to achive as with a convenlional Russiao hook due to the activation of the rudder offst occurring only after release of the latch. Thus, so far, the hooks did not met the main rcquirements I was seeking, in particular an absolutely positive line lock-on facility, and my interest in circular low considerably waneduntil revivedby PetrAllnutt's previously described revelation of the '-Rirg .rrd Sp.rhg' hook system. I inunediately made up a spring hook device based on Peter's and equipped a model with a simple offst ring attachedvia a swivel. The first flight revealed an inunediale problem. Never having seen thc systemin action I relied on the verbal description of th rcleas technique -

'Hold a yard of slack line antl tfter opplyhg re sio to the lhv release the slack su,lde ly'.'fhis I did and the hook, which on the ground appears to perch so precariouslyin the ring, stayed firmly in place. Seemingly the nothing I could do would release model and it had to b brought down, line still attached.Thc size and ra(e of spring was at first suspectand a whole range of springs were experi Only mented with without success. knowlcdgpthat others were using thc systempreventedme abandoningthc idca. However, just as I was getting vcry despo[dent, the 'secret' was discoveredby accidcnt wherl the linc snaggedon the winch. Thc resultant 'ping'when it slippedoff the winch releasedthe model. obviously 'suddenly'meant verl suddenlyl I later learnt that the Amcricans had iagged the system'lhe Danish l*a g hook', obviorlslyvery apt. This lesson learned, I deviscd a system for inducing this suddcn impulseeasily and without too much wear and tear on the fingers.A small thumb Dlate was altached to the winch hlndle and thc lower part of continued o page 788

CIISOULAR TOW
l .t.rt .i r.u l .r to w d.v.lopm.nt. Th . . u t h o r ' r utilir i.a r pr itr t- .^d- r ina r .1...6. Yhi r h o o k o v . r c om.. l i d l t.ti o n i o l .h. of,..t hook...d unlike th. Rutr i.n hook ...n b. q.Gd in turtint conditlon. wl.hout utrw.nt.d G.r.Cslr turn cominr in und.r hirh aorliD. t.n.ion, or itr.dvcrt nt l.t.h r.l..G-.cG S.ot.mb.r i..u. for d...ilt.

continuedtom page 786

the towline knotted at intervals,This enabled the necessaryline slack to be trappcd and held easily by thumb Dressute and instantaneous release easily achieved(seeFigrre 8). lt was at this time that a considerable simplification of the spring hook construction was introduced. The spring extension limil was now simply achievedby tying the towline to either end of the spring with the required slack passing through the spring, lhus doing away with the necessityof the wire extension for the stop - seeFigrrre9. Subsequentflying with the offset tow ring systemleft some doubts as to whether it was the best approach to circular tow. Simple,undoubtedly; but it had. for me. three limitations. First; releaseby the helper could be

unfo.tunrrely ..oD.d unch.cl.<|, Th... refefu.d b Fisur 2. whcre th. fo.mul. w.itlen R:Gd.3r hould hzver .r dR :C d4, AND AN D T .nd !pr in8 1..!th3 3hould h.v. r e.d l i n., nor lin. ADoloti.r for th. < onlu.i on c .ur ed,

somewhat hairy and a potential hazard as initially the model yaws rather violently. Secondly; when flying in a fluctualing breezeI found the behaviour at the too of the line somewhateratic and uiroredictable. Last and perhaps most important, towing in a straight line with thc model at or near the top of lhe line, whilst not impossible, was not altogether easy. This is a decided limitation as one often dcsires to make off for some more desirable patch ofsky, usually at high specd. to be co tinuell tn p".t t ot iiilTiiii.lliipr. or er.or!