Those who know me know that one of my passions is the building and flying of radio-controlled model airplanes.
I began this hobby in 1972, and joined the State College Radio Control Club in 1981.
It was in that club that I met one of the hobby’s true pioneers, Bill Brown, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 91.
Brown was born on May 30, 1911, to upper-middle-class parents, as his father was a respected mechanical engineer. As the first son in the family, he became the fourth generation to have the name William Likens Brown. Brown’s father made sure that he had a good understanding of mechanics as a child.
In first grade, one of Brown’s classmates had a rubber-powered model airplane, which fascinated him. Rubber-powered means the plane’s propeller was powered by a twisted elastic material such as a rubber band. Later, his dad bought him a book titled “Model Flying Machines.” At age seven, Brown tried to make his first model from the book, but it did not fly. Years later, he made another one from the same plan. This time, it did fly. He and his Philadelphia neighborhood flying buddy, Maxwell Bassett, built and flew many rubber-powered models, including some that Bassett had designed.
In the 1920s, Brown built a 3-foot span Jenny biplane model. Later, he had a dream that his model had a tiny working engine in it, just like the original Jenny. This started him thinking about building a model airplane engine.
His dad had a twin-cylinder outboard motor that fascinated Brown. He figured out how it worked, and eventually used it as a basis for his model engine. In 1926, he started drawing up sketches for the model engine. For several years, he kept thinking and drawing up his ideas.
In high school, Brown finally started fabricating parts for his engine while, in his words, “just monkeying around.” All the work on it was done in his father’s machine shop, including the spark plug, which was made just like big aircraft plugs, with a built-up mica insulator.
Brown carried the parts of his engine around in a briefcase. One day in shop class, he showed it to some of the students, who asked him to run it, so he did. The instructor investigated the noise because he thought something had flown off the wood lathe. When he discovered it was Brown running a little gas engine for other students, Brown was thrown out of class.
As soon as Brown had an engine ready, Bassett had a model plane designed and built for it. With Brown’s engine at full power, the plane struggled into the air, but never got over 4 feet off the ground. It needed more power, so Brown started all over again, but this time he doubled the size to 0.60 cubic inches, and made the first Brown Model A.
He and Bassett put the new engine in the same plane and this time it leaped off the ground, did a couple of loops, went over a house and landed in some bushes. Bassett experimented and practiced all summer long and started getting better results with the new model design.
In 1932, Brown and Bassett took their model, named “Miss Philadelphia,” to the National Championships in Atlantic City and entered it in the powered-models class. In that class, in order to encourage contestants to be innovative, any power source could be used. Almost all contestants used rubber power, and a few used compressed air with limited success. Miss Philadelphia came in fourth. Some perceptive people realized they had witnessed the dawn of a new era that day. To others, including the rule makers, Brown’s engine was just a passing fancy that would create little further interest.
The next year, Brown and Bassett showed up at the New York’s Roosevelt Field for the 1933 National Championships with several different models and engines. They swept first place in all three powered contests. The judges finally woke up and made new rules for gas models.
Brown and his father formed Brown Junior Motors, and began manufacturing and selling the engines in 1934. The Brown Junior engine was an immediate success, even at $21.50. It was the first practical gasoline-powered model aircraft engine ever made. In the first two years of business, Brown’s company sold 5,000 engines. The company made gas engines until 1940.
Brown later turned his attention to making tiny engines powered by compressed carbon dioxide gas. These engines displaced just .005 cubic inches, and could fly small (12- to about 20-inch wingspans) stick and tissue planes that were normally rubber-powered. He formed a company called Campus Industries, which manufactured the engines.
After graduating from Frankford High School in Philadelphia in 1932, Brown studied mechanical engineering at the Pennsylvania State College, now Penn State University, for the next two years. He was working on a mechanical engineering degree. He liked the Centre County area, and so he moved Campus Industries to Pine Grove Mills, and resided in State College.
Brown was a member of the State College Radio Control Club and, for many years, donated one of his engines and charging cartridges as a prize in that club’s annual Delta Dart indoor contest held for youngsters up to 16 years of age. His flying demonstrations were a well-received highlight of those events. He was passionate about the field of model aviation and encouraged young people to develop an interest in it.
Brown received numerous awards and accolades for his work. Several of his early engines are included in the collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany. He was elected to the Academy of Model Aeronautics Model Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974, the Free Flight Hall of Fame of the National Free Flight Society in 1979, and the Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame in 1990. He was known and recognized internationally for his achievements.
Not bad for a kid “just monkeying around” in his dad’s machine shop.
Popular Stories:
THON 2015: 46 Hours and $13 Million Later
Brutal Winter Taking a Toll on Wildlife, Clinic Stuggling to Keep Up
The Rainmaker is You, Navigating the Hazy Maze of Health Care Coverage
Eli Sidler: Even In Passing, His Impact Lives On
Winds & Snow to Drop Off As Temperatures Begin to Improve
Football Team Hosts THON Families in Lasch Building
Penn State Football: How Its Few Veterans Will Lead a Young Squad
Penn State Hockey: Nittany Lions Knock Off No. 15 Minnesota In Overtime Thriller 4-3
PennState Basketball: Nittany Lions Stumble To 60-39 Loss To Northwestern
Penn State Football: Schedules, Evaluations And Testing Results From NFL Combine
