Thanks Ernie for your nice comments. I am very interested in the pre-war aircraft, they were the forerunners to the fighting machines and they paved the way for the development of more advanced types. Many very inventive people experimented with the early machines, they were flimsy to say the least and not having enough power from the engines was a real hinderance. I love the wood and wire early planes, the very basic construction, low speed, and the men who flew them, they must have been real guts men back then.
You have probably noticed the Spinne has no seat belts, it has no rudder bar, turning was purely by rudder through the control wheel, there were no ailerons or wing warping, there was elevator warping but no instruments at all, the fuel gauge was the old tried and true glass tube on the side of the fuel tank. The engine only produced 50hp, this was enough to lift the aircraft plus two people, the poor passenger had to sit between the two radiators and directly behind the engine which had no exhaust pipes, there were no windscreens either.
Here is a great photo of the very young Anthony Fokker sitting in his Spinne which is the type I am trying to reproduce with my model. Notice that Anthony has an instrument strapped to his leg, the throttle lever is beside his left leg, this is what I call basic flying.
Click the photo for a much larger and clearer image.
Des.
