BOB  CLABAUGH'S  FISHER  DAKOTA  HAWK

The ultimate reward is to proudly fly your airplane wherever the spirit moves you. In this case to Bob's winter residence in Arizona where this beautiful airplane gets a real workout.

Dakota Hawk over Arizona Ready to take to the airport
Click on the above images for an enlarged view.
Chapter member Bob Clabaugh (on the left in this picture and proudly displaying a wing further down this page) and two friends, John Adams and chapter member Bill Godfrey are shown here about half-way through construction of their beautiful Fisher Dakota Hawk you see below ready to fly in early August 2002.

The building site is an amazing structure they simply refer to as a "barn" on Bill's property in Whittier, NC some 50 miles from Asheville. Chapter members who made a project visit in the late summer of 2001 instead encountered a virtual cathedral featuring over 60 laminated arches, a massive floor supporting literally tons of teak planks and doors for resale, with stables and the aircraft shop underneath.

Bob began flying as a teenager in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and earned his licence at age 22. Although not able to fly much after that, he became interested in building aircraft through an association with a fellow Atlas missle site engineer. After fabricating metal parts and welding several assemblies for a Smith "Mini-Plane", Bob moved his family and the project to Plattsburg, New York but was never able to complete the airplane.

Years later after a rewarding career in the space industry including years at Cape Kennedy, Bob renewed his pursuit of flying and building aircraft.  Partner John Adams and Bob looked at the Dakota Hawk at Oshkosh, and after a demo flight were convinced the airplane's relatively straightforward and strong design were just what these RC modelers were looking for in a first project. Through a website called "Fishnet" Bob became acquainted with Tom Marson who built one of the first Dakotas to fly.  Having gotten good assistance from the designer, Tom put together a booklet on his building experience which Bob purchased and has found to be quite helpful.

While building the Hawk, Bob built tail-drgger time around the mountains flying his purchsed Flybaby whose engine now powers the Hawk.
The shop contains all sorts of flying model aircraft the partners have built over the years including a DC-3 in Eastern Airlines livery featuring air-cylinder operated retractable gear!
Workmanship on this aircraft is outstanding, stemming from this crew's years of experience building dozens of beautiful model aircraft.
Contact Bob Clabaugh for more information.