Maybe Pete Christy may be able to shed some more light of it's history when in John's possession?
John Haytree Sprengbrook 6
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stuart mackay
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John Haytree Sprengbrook 6
Bought this nice Sprengbrook 6 a few days ago from a Lynda Penaligon in Dawlish and when it arrived, it has John Haytree's name on it and also switched frequencies.
Maybe Pete Christy may be able to shed some more light of it's history when in John's possession?
Maybe Pete Christy may be able to shed some more light of it's history when in John's possession?
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Pchristy
- Posts: 494
- Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 13:57
- Location: South Devon, UK
Re: John Haytree Sprengbrook 6
All I can really tell you is that Sprengbrook sets were very popular down in the South-West at that time. I still have mine, complete with two flight packs, in pristine condition.
The main reason for their popularity was a chap called Don Williams, a well known flyer in Plymouth. Formerly a TV repair man, he'd been flying RC for years, and was well known as a "go to" man for radio issues. Don left the TV repair business and went to work at Runway SouthWest, a model shop in Plymouth. They were appointed a Sprengbrook service centre because of Don's experience. Indeed, if you talked to Don nicely, he would build you an HB Precision set from the kit, thus avoiding the Purchase Tax (pre-VAT sales tax). Essentially, you got a Sprengbrook set for a lot less money, and didn't have to build it yourself!
John Haytree and Don were good friends, so its no surprise that John had a top-of-the-range set. Sprengbrook had an excellent reputation, and mine (built by Don) never let me down.
Sadly, both John and Don are no longer with us.
As an aside, and I have no way of verifying this tale, but this is how it was told to me: Doug Spreng and Don Mathes were the "inventors" of the modern digital RC systems. Doug was the electronics wizard, whereas Don was more on the mechanical side. Both worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California, and had access to all the latest transistors and other goodies. Doug was also a top class aerobatic pilot - what would now be called F3A. At some point he and his wife divorced, and as the tale has it, she was extremely litigious! And this was California!
Doug bumped in to Harry Brooks at a big international contest (World Champs?) where Harry offered him a way out. "Come to England until the heat dies down, and design radio gear for me."
Doug duly arrived in England, and good to his word designed the Sprengbrook system - hence the name.
He was a regular competitor at Britsh aerobatic contests, and was usually to be found in the top places at the Nats.
After a while, he left Harry Brooks and is credited with designing the Staveley and Swan digital systems.
Eventually he got fed up with England's cold and wet climate and returned to the US. I believe he died fairly recently - certainly post covid.
My own HB Precision set still works, though the flight-packs need new batteries. One set uses the earlier servos that require a centre-tapped pack, so not a simple plug in swap! I don't want to convert it to 2.4GHz. I'd rather leave it as a working museum piece, to show how we were back in the day.
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Pete
The main reason for their popularity was a chap called Don Williams, a well known flyer in Plymouth. Formerly a TV repair man, he'd been flying RC for years, and was well known as a "go to" man for radio issues. Don left the TV repair business and went to work at Runway SouthWest, a model shop in Plymouth. They were appointed a Sprengbrook service centre because of Don's experience. Indeed, if you talked to Don nicely, he would build you an HB Precision set from the kit, thus avoiding the Purchase Tax (pre-VAT sales tax). Essentially, you got a Sprengbrook set for a lot less money, and didn't have to build it yourself!
John Haytree and Don were good friends, so its no surprise that John had a top-of-the-range set. Sprengbrook had an excellent reputation, and mine (built by Don) never let me down.
Sadly, both John and Don are no longer with us.
As an aside, and I have no way of verifying this tale, but this is how it was told to me: Doug Spreng and Don Mathes were the "inventors" of the modern digital RC systems. Doug was the electronics wizard, whereas Don was more on the mechanical side. Both worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California, and had access to all the latest transistors and other goodies. Doug was also a top class aerobatic pilot - what would now be called F3A. At some point he and his wife divorced, and as the tale has it, she was extremely litigious! And this was California!
Doug bumped in to Harry Brooks at a big international contest (World Champs?) where Harry offered him a way out. "Come to England until the heat dies down, and design radio gear for me."
Doug duly arrived in England, and good to his word designed the Sprengbrook system - hence the name.
He was a regular competitor at Britsh aerobatic contests, and was usually to be found in the top places at the Nats.
After a while, he left Harry Brooks and is credited with designing the Staveley and Swan digital systems.
Eventually he got fed up with England's cold and wet climate and returned to the US. I believe he died fairly recently - certainly post covid.
My own HB Precision set still works, though the flight-packs need new batteries. One set uses the earlier servos that require a centre-tapped pack, so not a simple plug in swap! I don't want to convert it to 2.4GHz. I'd rather leave it as a working museum piece, to show how we were back in the day.
--
Pete
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stuart mackay
- Posts: 615
- Joined: 01 Mar 2018, 10:38
- Location: Swaffham, Norfolk
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Re: John Haytree Sprengbrook 6
It turns out that the lady I bought the transmitter from was John Haytree's Grand-daughter, so that explains the provenance and the Dymo label on the transmitter!!
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Pchristy
- Posts: 494
- Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 13:57
- Location: South Devon, UK
Re: John Haytree Sprengbrook 6
Yes, quite a lot of his stuff ended up spread through the family. I got my HueyCobra from his daughter, who owns a fish&chip shop in Dawlish Warren. Here's it is in the foreground, following a lot of restoration work, alongside Martin Briggs' example - both now converted to electric:
In case anyone is wondering why mine looks relatively plain, I'm told that the crews in VietNam removed the "Star & Stripes" badges, as their circular nature made them tempting targets for the VietCong...!
It took me several days of sanding to remove all the layers of paint it had acquired over the years - not to mention the grease it had accumulated after being displayed in the roof of the chip shop for ages! Eventually, I got down to glass fibre and filled in all the holes for the tank and silencer with balsa plugs. I'd decided to convert it to electric, on the advice of Martin Briggs, as the internal woodwork was looking quite fragile, and I doubt it would have survived an IC engine!
It only comes out on special occasions, but I did fly it at Ponty a few years back.
It took me several days of sanding to remove all the layers of paint it had acquired over the years - not to mention the grease it had accumulated after being displayed in the roof of the chip shop for ages! Eventually, I got down to glass fibre and filled in all the holes for the tank and silencer with balsa plugs. I'd decided to convert it to electric, on the advice of Martin Briggs, as the internal woodwork was looking quite fragile, and I doubt it would have survived an IC engine!
It only comes out on special occasions, but I did fly it at Ponty a few years back.