Drake Flight bow

[raghorn]

The other post about the Drake Flight Bow reminded me about this bow that was given to me several years ago.
The bow is 38" end to end and 44" nock to nock   along the belly. It is marked as 50# with a 19 3/8" arrow. Made in 1965.
The riser has two cracks in it. One is split starting at the shelf. Both have been repaired.
If you notice the bottom limb limb has green glass on both the back and belly. The top limb is green glass on the back and white glass on the belly. There is a large glass splinter on the lower back side of limb that had glue(Urac?) in it at one time. The limb tip curves are different materials in the lams,dark/light. The limb lams are also different materials. I believe the top limb delaminated and was rebuilt leaving the original green glass on the back.    

[kuch]

someone Really liked that bow to go thru that.Very cool . thanks for sharing a pic.Was 50# a "class " in flight  or just coincidence ?

[raghorn]

Flight bows were somewhat a "one shot deal". Lots stress in these, plus it is pretty much of a dry fire condition with the arrows used. This one was for a 19 3/8" arrow. I just grabbed, at random, one of about a dozen flight arrows I have here. It is 28" and weighs 262 gr. There were classes for hand held, foot held, over draw, and weight, and probably more.

[oldbohntr]

Ron,
I saw some flight bows at Sterling Jensen's that might have been his, or his buddy Harry Drake's, and maybe someone else's as well, that were "refurbished this way.  Flight bows sometimes had no finish because they might only last one shot! (but, if it was a GOOD shot, then what the heck!!!) Each was a unique build, and if a guy had faith in his bow design, and one limb failed.....why not build only one limb again?  So, the glass didn't match...meant nothing!  I think these old flight bowyers were the "Bush Pilots" of bowbuilders. Not that they didn't have incredible talent and engineering ability, but convention, or thinking inside the box had little meaning to them.

[raghorn]

Morning Tom,
Recognize it do you?

[dkard]

They were the bush pilots of archery. My friend used to do flight shooting with Harry.  

His flight arrows are 75 grains, They were using carbon graphite arrows a decade or more before everyone else.

If they thought they were close to a record they would use skinny strings to get the few fps. If the string broke on the shot you knew you did good  

[oldbohntr]

By Gosh, Ron, I thought that bow looked familiar!  Wow, getting old is sure a two edged sword. It's great to rediscover the neat stuff I forgot I had!  On the other hand, sometimes it's stuff I just had yesterday!(might have been yesterday.....)   :confused: