Block Brake

There are many highly anticipated roller coasters opening for the 2009 operating season: Diamondback at Kings Island, Manta at SeaWorld Orlando, Prowler at Worlds of Fun, just to name a few. However, there is one coaster opening in 2009 that has been under construction for two years, and may just be the most important and influential roller coaster opening this decade.

“Flying Turns,” the newest roller coaster at Knoebels Amusement Park & Resort in Elysburg Pennsylvania, will be the first wooden bobsled coaster, known as a ‘flying turns’ coaster, to operate in 35 years. Even though you can construct a flying turns coaster in the popular Roller Coaster Tycoon game series, according to the Roller Coaster Database (rcdb.com) the last wooden bobsled coaster, “Bobsled” at Coney Island New York, was demolished in 1974.

A flying turns coaster is a version of a bobsled roller coaster, built with a wooden half-chute instead of a track. This design allows the cars or train to glide freely through the course rather than being constrained to a track and gives a different ride every time because of this freedom. They are called bobsled coasters because they are based off the design of a bobsled track. Traditional flying turns coasters did not have any restraint mechanisms in the cars and riders were seated two to a car, with the front rider sitting in the lap of the rear passenger. They usually used trains of five or six cars in tandem, designed to look similar to open-air airplane cockpits.

Modern steel bobsled coasters usually run single cars or two tandem cars instead of full trains and seat anywhere from two to six passengers per car. There are only a handful of steel bobsled coasters remaining, including well-known “Disaster Transport” at Cedar Point. Steel bobsled coasters were somewhat popular in the 70’s and 80’s, but were often removed to make way for more thrilling steel tracked coasters, which allow for higher speeds and G-forces than the untracked bobsled design can handle.

The first flying turns coaster was the brainchild of John Norman Bartlett, a pilot with the British military during World War I. He teamed up with famed wooden coaster designer John Miller to make his vision a reality. The first flying turns model was built at Lakeside Park in Dayton, Ohio in 1929. It is unclear exactly when this coaster was closed, but it was probably torn down when the park was closed in 1962. Bartlett was credited as the designer for all eight of the flying turns coasters built. The largest and most well-known Flying Turns coaster was built at Euclid Beach in Cleveland Ohio and operated from 1930 to 1969.

Knoebels is a park that seems to specialize in reviving coaster history. They became well known when they relocated the Herbert Schmeck designed “Rocket” wooden coaster from defunct Playland Park in San Antonio Texas in 1985. The coaster, originally built in 1948, is now known as “Phoenix” and is rated as one of the top wooden coasters in the world. They are currently in the process of moving the rare John C. Allen steel coaster “Golden Nugget” from Morey’s Piers but have not decided where or when they will assemble it.

“Flying Turns” is their latest addition to coaster history. Though outside the enthusiast world, few realize what an important event the opening of this coaster means, it is sure to be a ride that will stir old memories, create new ones, and leave a lasting legacy in the coaster world.

Sources:

“Flying Turns (roller coaster).” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 15 Apr. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Turns_(roller_coaster)>.

“Lakeside Park.” Southwest Ohio Amusement Park Historical, Inc. 15 Apr. 2009 <http://www.soaphs.com/lakeside.htm>.

Roller Coaster DataBase. 15 Apr. 2009 <http://www.rcdb.com>.