History

The Franklin PS-2 (Primary/Secondary trainer, Model 2) was conceived by the brothers R.E. and W. H. Franklin in Ypsilanti, Michigan as an improvement upon the Zögling “Truss-Glider” that was then widely used for primary gliding training. The PS-2 was first shown publicly at the August 1929 Cleveland Air Races. At this event, Captain Frank Hawks, Superintendent of Texaco’s Aviation division, conceived the idea of flying a glider, on-tow, coast-to-coast. Texaco purchased the prototype PS-2 and the Franklins modified it per Hawk’s directions for the flight. These modifications included more comfortable seating, a fully enclosed cockpit, a closed circuit telephone – via the 500’ tow line – to the tow plane, a small broadcast-band radio for Hawk’s in-flight entertainment and the Special Eagle-like red, white and blue paint job. Texaco’s Waco ASO was adapted to be the tow plane flown by “Duke” Jernigin.

The Eaglet was shipped to Los Angeles for assembly and towed to San Diego for the start of the cross-country flight, which took off at 07:45 Sunday March 30, 1930 and landed in Courtland Park in New York City at 16:15, April 6, having flown 2,800 miles in eight days and spent 44 hours, 10 minutes in the air, of which 36 hours, 42 minutes were on-tow. They had stopped at 20 airports, flown across 11 states and exposed thousands of people to the sport of gliding.

On the flight, the plane bore only the name “Eaglet” on the fuselage sides. After the flight the name was changed to “Texaco Eaglet”. On December 8, 1930 the plane was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. For many years it hung in the Rotunda of the Smithsonian. It now hangs, in a very decayed condition, at the NASM’s Storage and Restoration facility at Silver Hill in Suitland, Maryland. I hope that Texaco will find it in their publicity interests to fund restoration of this historic vehicle before it is irretrievably lost to neglect.

The Kit

This is a little fellow comprising just 12 parts; 11 in pale cream colored resin and one in “clear” resin, which isn’t. The decal sheet, as you can see, is impressive and is what makes this kit so very attractive. The quality of the parts is typical of current CMR kits, which is very good. I’ve two quibbles with the kit: 1. The use of a “clear” resin casting to simplify assembly for less skilled modelers is not a good idea in my opinion. I’ve never seen a usably clear resin casting; a vac part would be better. 2. The casting of the four wing struts in resin is a waste of time. I will replace them with flat brass bar stock of the proper dimensions from the Detail Associates line of supplies sold in model railroad shops. The instructions include four pages of history with 11 photos of the Eaglet to help the detailists.

Even with the extensive decal sheet, finishing this model will require your very best, very careful efforts – don’t rush it. The end result will justify the time you spend.

Conclusion

This is a good kit of an unusual and most interesting airplane. Kudos to CMR for selecting it as a subject. CMR also offer a kit of the production standard, open cockpit, Franklin PS-2 glider with both civil and US Navy markings as shown here by examples built by Martin Decali. The model of the Eaglet shown here was built by Chuck Holte.

Thanks to Czech Master Resin for providing the review sample.

Reference

Skyways 76, October 2005: a 15 page article by Robert F. Pauley including 14 photos, one map and five drawings by Warren Eberspacher. Skyways 76 was reviewed in the November 2005 issue of this magazine.