June 11 Meeting Recap

Our June speaker was Tim Talen from the Oregon Aviation Historical Society. Tim talked about one of the museum’s stars, Wimpy, which has a remarkable place in the history of experimental aircraft. The Wimpy design was modified several times to create an entire lineage of early homebuilt aircraft and inspired Pete Bowers, a local Seattle designer, to create his popular Fly Baby design. You can read more about Wimpy and other historical aircraft at https://oregonaviation.org/

Please also join us if you can at 5:30 pm for a burger burn and social hour at the chapter hangar (at the end of the row of hangars past Skydive Snohomish). $5 donation suggested.

April 9 Meeting Recap

Our April speaker was Lawrence Doan, owner and designer of Whistle Pig Toys. Lawrence is a UW grad in Aeronautical Engineering with years of experience in aviation and competitive glider competition. Lawrence, along with his daughter, decided to start a boutique toy company selling balsa gliders that he has designed. Wrapped up in all of this fun is a great learning experience for both youth and adults including construction techniques, weight and balance and trimming for flight characteristics. Lawrence gave a very interesting talk about the details of the engineering process involved in the design of his gliders. Currently Whistle Pig Toys has almost a dozen different designs available for purchase and more coming. Go to whistlepigtoys.com to check them out.