Jaques Morriset's “New Look I” could hardly have been more different from the mainstream Vintage Wakefields of the same era. Following a line of development starting in 1948 this version appeared in 1950 to compete in the 8oz Wakefield class. It featured a single leg retracting U/C below a long diamond fuselage with rear peg well aft, allowing for a very long motors. It sported a tall pylon supporting a high aspect ratio poly-dihedral wing with ultra thin under-cambered airfoil. In addition it utilised a generous nineteen inch diameter, twenty-four inch pitch, wide, single blade folding propeller and a twin finned, under-cambered tailplane with positive angle of attack. The CG was just forward of the wing trailing edge at 85%. On paper the model looked awesome. In reality even more so as these images testify.

These four images taken at various stages in the quite extraordinary life of the model. It behaved very erratically for the first two years before it was transformed by radically altering its aerodynamic characteristics. It later fell out of favour for a few years before making a comback to rival the other 8 oz Wakefields in my squadron. It has never failed to excite and was even partly responsible for a near death experience affecting yours truly. Read all about the model here and of its malevolent character here.