Back in 1989 I did an internship at NASA Langley, and I got to participate in a project exactly like this. We were researching stall-prevention devices on a sailplane, and the senior engineer I worked with was tasked with making an exact 1/8 scale replica of a Schweizer 1-36 sailplane, out of solid balsa wood, and he also modified a second plane almost exactly like yours as a carrier. Up they flew, looking very Space-Shuttle-on-747, then using a flap servo, detached to sail back down by itself - but doing specific tests of the wing shape on the way down. Perhaps the most fascinating thing he did, however, was using a second radio control set as telemetry. He disassembled the transmitter/controller and used the potentiometers to measure the airflow and pitch and roll rates, then rigged the receiver to move pens to draw lines on a scrolling paper roll (a rudimentary "strip chart," in data-monitoring language). So this fairly small model airplane (about 6' wingspan) actually was able to measure the flight characteristics. So we had a total of three radios - one for controlling each airplane, and a third for transmitting data back to the ground.
This is the airplane we modeled - notice how the T-tail is flipped up and the streamers show a very high angle of attack. The airplane tail was specially modified with a hinge to allow this crazy maneuver. The airplane would descend at up to 70 deg AOA, and the stall modification devices we tested allowed it to be perfectly stable. www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_feature/public/images/335027main_ECN-26845_full.jpg
Back in 1989 I did an internship at NASA Langley, and I got to participate in a project exactly like this. We were researching stall-prevention devices on a sailplane, and the senior engineer I worked with was tasked with making an exact 1/8 scale replica of a Schweizer 1-36 sailplane, out of solid balsa wood, and he also modified a second plane almost exactly like yours as a carrier. Up they flew, looking very Space-Shuttle-on-747, then using a flap servo, detached to sail back down by itself - but doing specific tests of the wing shape on the way down.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing he did, however, was using a second radio control set as telemetry. He disassembled the transmitter/controller and used the potentiometers to measure the airflow and pitch and roll rates, then rigged the receiver to move pens to draw lines on a scrolling paper roll (a rudimentary "strip chart," in data-monitoring language). So this fairly small model airplane (about 6' wingspan) actually was able to measure the flight characteristics.
So we had a total of three radios - one for controlling each airplane, and a third for transmitting data back to the ground.
More info, if you're curious. www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/Schweizer-1-36/Schweizer-1-36_proj_desc.html
Somewhere I have a photo of this dual-model rig, but I can't find it at the moment.
Cool
Still waiting for that "tow"..........
😂
very cool!
Thanks 👍
This is the airplane we modeled - notice how the T-tail is flipped up and the streamers show a very high angle of attack. The airplane tail was specially modified with a hinge to allow this crazy maneuver. The airplane would descend at up to 70 deg AOA, and the stall modification devices we tested allowed it to be perfectly stable. www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_feature/public/images/335027main_ECN-26845_full.jpg