Bob Scott has been unearthing some fine pictures of the European modeling scene at the middle of the old century and posting them on the SAM talks board.  I have his permission to post some. And from time to time I will.

These pictures show a world that seems to have been completely forgotten, at least to  provincial Americans like me.  Like many I discovered Old Timers by way of library book  twin pushers and Dick Korda. Then I learnt about the fine British streamliners. But then, aside from things like the Fillion Wake, the rest of the world is a great unknown. This shouldn't be.
 

 This is my favorite. What are these airplanes? ? I want one. Why don't we know more about them. Did they vanish without a trace leaving nothing but this puzzling picture to tantalize future generations.

Bob writes...
This is a photo of the Italian National Championships of 1933 - almost certainly in Rome.

The first Brown Junior obviously hadn't arrived yet as they were all rubber jobs.

Interesting  that on the wings of one of the models the word "Aperol" appears. This is an aperitif that is still being marketed under the same name here today. Just shows how soon sponsoring started (unless the modeler was Aperol's bosses son).

The menswear was semi-elegant and no really funny hats. Those models look really nice and the modelers are clearly having a really good time.
Ciao
Bob

My thoughts..
The planes are very odd. No fins. Are most of them pusher/canards?  P-5 seems a truly odd twin pusher. Do plans for these exist? They must have been something to see in the air. Is this a class or is that how they built model airplanes in Italy in 1933? (Like all the twin pushers in, say, 1925 in the US.).

I'm dreaming of 7 ft rubber powered canards lazily circling in a fine summer sky and I want to build one. If anyone can tell me more.. Please please do.

Sean O'Connor sent me this.. He found it in  the March 1989 Aero Modeller. I think it's the one on the left on the grass of the top picture and it appears below.
There is a caption to the 3vu that reads "Borgo is an Italian canard project from 1933, recently aired by Conin Pierluigi and featured in Modellistica"

"Borgo" means village in Italian. I don't know why one would name a such a model "Village". Mysteries abound.

Will somebody please take pity and help me find the issue of Modellistica

More Giant Italian Canards

Bob scott published some more Ninetto pics. He writes

Barthel  from Florence
1) 1934 Nats - his model might have been the winner - writing on photo unclear

2)  Undated - Barthel half-hidden by model. Guess early to mid '30s.

Gentleman with air-conditioned headgear is - Wait for it!   His Highness the Duke Borea D'Olmo, Great Court Chamberlain to Her Majesty the Queen Elena of Savoia!    The officer standing beside him is General Valle, Chief of the Italian Air Force General Staff.    Note the young modeler standing in the middle, stiffly at attention, with his eyes closed.

  They knew how to take modeling seriously!

But note the casual bystanders are all carrying these strange canards. So they must have been a fairly common type.. And by the way,  check the hairdo on the canard carrying fellow in the top pic. Is that what is called a Zazarra?

Please!!!  I must know more. (about the models that is)

Graham Knight and I had the following exchange

            Graham  wrote
Having another look at those old Italian models, the single pushers are very reminiscent of the Clarke Flyers available from 1908 onwards. The Clarkes had a slightly different fuselage arrangement, rather than a single stick it was two bows joined at the nose and tail, and the wing and foreplane were solid sheet, the Italian models obviously have built up surfaces, butotherwise the layout and proportions are almost identical. The very largest Clarke Flyers would have been almost as large as some of these, there is a very big one in the Science Museum in London. I built a couple of small ones a few years ago and they fly very well despite the lack of a fin, the pusher prop is obviously providing some stability.

The Clarke factory was very close to here in Kingston-upon-Thames but I'm not sure if the building still exists, the Flyers were sold in their thousands and must have been one of the first successful RTF models.

Graham in London, England.
SAM35&1066, MECA,
Raynes Park MAC Secretary.
graham@studioseven.freeserve.co.uk
http://website.lineone.net/~raynes.pk.mac/

         And I replied
I've built a good flying single pusher with no fins. A Jr. Birdman model I think. It had more dihedral than the ones in the picture. I have a tailess biplane that is stabilized by the prop.

I don't remember reading about Clarke Flyers. Does someone with a scanner have a pic.

What blows me away about the picture is that there are fifteen of them. And we don't know anything about it. Is this an event driven by rules?  Has the gentleman on the right put a wood working class to work in pursuit of some recondite branch of amateur aerodynamics? Is it the pursuit of beauty? Is it a fad?

I'd love to see one in the air.
d/s

It does seem to be a real type. Doesn't it?

mybeasts