PROJECT CATAPULT GLIDER LAUNCHER

Catapult Glider Launcher

Fling your Rocket Glider or other toy aircraft 150 feet into the sky!

Written and photographed by Rick Schertle

For many years, the U.S. military has enjoyed playing with “toys.” Today that includes unmanned drone aircraft, but in the past, it was toy balsa wood airplanes. Thousands of folding-wing balsa gliders were shot out of the sky in the early 1940s for World War II artillery practice. High in the air, these toy airplanes had the scale effect of a full-sized plane. Developed and patented in 1939 by Jim Walker, founder of the American Junior Aircraft Company, the folding-wing Army Interceptor glider bore the brunt of the action.

My folding-wing Rocket Glider, based on the Interceptor, ...

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