R/C Sets in the 1940s
Posted: 22 Jan 2021, 17:15
Seeing a recent post by Jonathan (Wavemeter) of a book he'd recently bought, ‘Radio Control for Models’ by George Honnest-Redlich, published in 1950 by one of the renowned experts of the day (viewtopic.php?f=61&t=1201&p=10139#p10139). I realise I have many of the sets featured in the book, I thought some of you may be interested.
The set in the centre is a Good Brothers set, manufactured under licence by Beacon Electronics in the USA and was the first commercially produced R/C set for the hobbyist and not for the military or aviation industry. They were produced from 1946 to early 1949. My set apparently is an early version, because it only has four mounting screws near each corner, later ones had six. If you want to read more about them see the excellent R/C Hall of Fame site: http://www.rchalloffame.org/Exhibits/Ex ... index.html
On the right is a Mercury Cossor, the first UK manufactured R/C set for the hobby. They were first advertised in Aeromodeller in Nov 1948 and went on sale at Christmas 1949, but were very short-lived and were withdrawn early 1950 due to reliability issues. Henry J Nichols of 308 Holloway Road fame commissioned Cossor to manufacture them, similar to how Graupner got Grundig to manufacture their sets. Cossor at the time were one of the largest electronic manufacturers in the UK and produced domestic radios, early TVs, military radio and radars and electronic components. Unfortunately, the sets had intermittent problems and it wasn't traced until later that it was the Cossor manufactured valve (vacuum tube) in the receiver that was the problem. It was found if they were replaced with US war surplus valves they were as reliable as any other set of the period. They never went back into production as Henry J successfully sued Cossor and by the time it was all resolved, ED and ECC had already established themselves. In some ways, it was ahead of its times as it had rudder, elevator and throttle cut, via a rotary knob on the top with eight positions, right, neutral, up, neutral, left, neutral (or throttle cut), down and neutral, similar to early "ruddervator" control and I don't mean v-tail, but the rotating vane at the back type.
And on the left of the top photo is an ED MK3 from 1950, so not quite a '40s set, but it is basically the same as the 1949 MK1 set. The ED sets were first advertised in the Feb 1949 Aeromodeller and went on sale around April 49. They were developed by George Honnest-Redlich who wrote Jonathan's book. They were undoubtedly one of the most popular sets in the early 1950s in the UK and there are many still surviving, at the last count I had an MK1 and four MK3 single channel sets and I think Shaun has a few too. This one was bought recently from eBay and I've done is touch up some of the paint. My MK1 is on loan to the BMFA for display when covid restrictions allow.
Finally, if anybody ever has an ECC 950 R/C set from the same era that they want to part with, I'd love to buy it.
Cheers Mike
The set in the centre is a Good Brothers set, manufactured under licence by Beacon Electronics in the USA and was the first commercially produced R/C set for the hobbyist and not for the military or aviation industry. They were produced from 1946 to early 1949. My set apparently is an early version, because it only has four mounting screws near each corner, later ones had six. If you want to read more about them see the excellent R/C Hall of Fame site: http://www.rchalloffame.org/Exhibits/Ex ... index.html
On the right is a Mercury Cossor, the first UK manufactured R/C set for the hobby. They were first advertised in Aeromodeller in Nov 1948 and went on sale at Christmas 1949, but were very short-lived and were withdrawn early 1950 due to reliability issues. Henry J Nichols of 308 Holloway Road fame commissioned Cossor to manufacture them, similar to how Graupner got Grundig to manufacture their sets. Cossor at the time were one of the largest electronic manufacturers in the UK and produced domestic radios, early TVs, military radio and radars and electronic components. Unfortunately, the sets had intermittent problems and it wasn't traced until later that it was the Cossor manufactured valve (vacuum tube) in the receiver that was the problem. It was found if they were replaced with US war surplus valves they were as reliable as any other set of the period. They never went back into production as Henry J successfully sued Cossor and by the time it was all resolved, ED and ECC had already established themselves. In some ways, it was ahead of its times as it had rudder, elevator and throttle cut, via a rotary knob on the top with eight positions, right, neutral, up, neutral, left, neutral (or throttle cut), down and neutral, similar to early "ruddervator" control and I don't mean v-tail, but the rotating vane at the back type.
And on the left of the top photo is an ED MK3 from 1950, so not quite a '40s set, but it is basically the same as the 1949 MK1 set. The ED sets were first advertised in the Feb 1949 Aeromodeller and went on sale around April 49. They were developed by George Honnest-Redlich who wrote Jonathan's book. They were undoubtedly one of the most popular sets in the early 1950s in the UK and there are many still surviving, at the last count I had an MK1 and four MK3 single channel sets and I think Shaun has a few too. This one was bought recently from eBay and I've done is touch up some of the paint. My MK1 is on loan to the BMFA for display when covid restrictions allow.
Finally, if anybody ever has an ECC 950 R/C set from the same era that they want to part with, I'd love to buy it.
Cheers Mike