For me, the Minnie Mambo brings back the fondest memories! Back in 1973 I bought a second hand World Engines single channel "Digit Midget" brick style radio for $25.00. It worked most of the time. I found an old Minnie Mambo kit at a local hobby shop for $3.95. Cox hobbies sold a bunch of their factory second Black Widows out of customer service for $2.00 each! I built the kit in about 3 days, covered it with tissue paper and slapped on 2 or 3 coats of clear dope cause I really didn't think the thing would last very long. Used a pair of 1-5/8" Perfect streamline wheels on the mains.

Out to the field, I put pencell batteries in the radio,range checked it, started the engine and launched. Wonder of wonders, the thing really flew! Climb and stall, climb and stall...I soon learned to lead the stall with a touch of rudder to sort of smooth things out. When the engine quit, (didn't know I could hold my breath that long!) The glide was great, smooth and flat. Upon landing some 100 yards from the launch point, one of the tires escaped from the wheel and took some time to find. That was the only damage! There was no CA back then, used rubber cement to reinstall the tire! About 5 degrees of downthrust and a larger prop (7x3) tamed the raw power of the Black Widow and I proceeded to put over 300 flights on the old girl. It used to do fine take-offs from the pavement, looped and rolled too. All on rudder only! With practice I got to the point I could almost always land right at my feet! Finally just plain wore her out, a fuel soaked mess. I have another kit aquired on ebay and someday I plan to duplicate her with a modern radio, and electric power. I still have the landing gear, but those wheels have got to go! Randy Wrisley

My first R/C airplane (late '69) was actually a single channel, galloping ghost rudder only ARF made by Testors (the model paint company!). This airplane had an .049 glow engine, was low wing (sorta Piper Cherokee looking), and spanned about 44 inches, If I remember coorectly. Success was not great! My second airplane was a second hand Mambo Special (MS) with OS-35 (baffle only, no muffler!)(very early '70s). Initially, I had an EK Logictrol, then an Orbit 4 channel, with the small PS-4D servos (I still have one!). I flew the MS using three channels only, that was plenty for me since I was about 15! Yeah, I know that 15 yr olds fly helis inverted now days, but that was then... In any event, I loved the MS and often think about it! All of my early flying was in Puerto Rico, I now live in ATL and an ready to get back in! One thing to keep in mind... Less than a year ago, I was doing an ebay search for different things, including MS, and guess what... There was a new in the box MS! No, I didn't buy it. I have a room full of "stuff", since I've taken a 10 yr break from flying, but not from buying! Do yourself a favor, search ebay for any of the varieties of Mambos, every so often you will find a jewel!

C. Perez