The Planes

Over the years Dale has built and flown many different planes. Here is a collection of just some of them.

(Click on images for a larger image)

1948: At the age of eighteen Dale built this control line Piper Cub made from a kit. Dale took first place in the junior flying scale event at the 1948 National Model Airplane Championships held in at the Olathe Naval Air Station, Olathe, Kansas. This plane had a thirty-six inch wingspan and was powered with a Madewell .49 (glow plug type). 

1948: Dale designed and built this two line stunt plane for a Atwood .61 "Glo-Devil" engine. The plane had a fifty-four inch wingspan. He was a freshman at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas when this plane was made.

1949: Dale made this Stinson Station Wagon control line scale plane from a Berkley Kit. The plane had a thirty-six inch wingspan and was powered by a Madewell .49 (glow plug type). It was painted with Stinson green with cream trim. Dope was Aero gloss. Dale entered and flew it in the 1949 Plymouth International Championships held in Detroit, Michigan. Age 19.

1949: Dale's first jet engine (Dyna Jet), in a speed plane made from plans in Air Trails. Dale flew this plane for many years. The speed averaged between 130 and 135 mph. Fuel was white gas, and flew on seventy feet by 0.016 diameter steel lines.

1949 - 1950: This Belfrey Bound control line stunt plane was designed and built by Dale in late 1949. The plane had a fifty-six inch wingspan and was powered with a Atwood .61 "Glo-Devil" engine. This plane lasted half of the contest season in 1950. Dale crashed it in flight while flying in a control line meet in Hays, Kansas. The wingtips were twenty-two inches long!!

1950: Two more views of the "Belfrey Bound". These photos taken in Kenwood Park in Salina, Kansas. Age 19.

1950: Dale's first V-tail control line stunt plane. The plane had a thirty-six inch wingspan and powered with a McCoy .19 glow engine.

1952: The first mono-line speed plane in the world. Vic Stanzel installed a control unit in Dale's plane. Mr. Stanzel flew the jet at a golf course in Weimar, Texas on Labor Day weekend.