June 2009 165
WESTFAC II is coming to Texas from
California. Back in the good old 1980s, a
fantastic engineer and FF modeler named
Walt Mooney formed the 41st Flying Aces
Squadron in San Diego, California. It was
named the Scale Staffel. Staffel is the
German word for squadron.
Walt and a group of builders and fliers
who enjoyed FF rubber Scale, began an
effort in California that has blossomed into
four—count them, four—Flying Aces
Squadrons. These squadrons have grown as
the years have passed. Today’s members are
some of the most active FF contest fliers in
Southern California.
Today, the Scale Staffel members fly on a
large three-minute field at Otay Mesa near
the border in the San Diego area and have
regular FF events during the year.
This growth in scale building and flying
has been going on across the Western states.
Since the 1980s, many clubs and Flying
Aces Club (FAC) squadrons have formed
and are active in their immediate locales.
This growth has shown the need for a new
western states FAC event. Other than the
current Southern California flying fields that
are still pretty much available, you need to
convince certain farmers and local politicians
of the need to facilitate a wonderful hobby
that requires a lot of space.
A new regional FAC event, now in its
second season, is scheduled for September
25-27 in Gainesville, Texas. The Flying
Aces have been growing by leaps and
bounds. More than 32% of all FAC
squadrons are now in the West and the event
schedule will draw many scale builders and
fliers from the western states to practice their
craft.
This FAC regional event was created by
Roger Willis, a member of Scale Staffel
FAC-41 in California, in 2006. Roger’s
objective was to help expand the FAC in the
western states by bringing together builders
and fliers from across the West.
One of Roger’s flying buddies and a
fellow FACer, Phil Thomas in New Mexico,
named the event WESTFAC. Lin Riechel,
the late Commanding Officer of the Flying
Aces, was very supportive of this idea and
much support was provided from Flying
Aces Headquarters in Eire, Pennsylvania.
Ross Mayo, the new Commanding Officer,
has been helping to keep this event growing.
The first WESTFAC was held in May of
2007 at Perris, California, at the SCAMPS
flying field. It was attended by fliers from
nine western states, and more than 200 Scale
rubber and Power models were flown in 10
events. The odd-numbered year was chosen
so not to conflict with the Flying Aces
Nationals in Geneseo, New York, that is held
in even-numbered years.
This year a new Web site was constructed
by Clint Brooks who is a member of the
WESTFAC Working Committee. You can
visit the site at www.westernfac.com.
Several pictures from WESTFAC I are
featured in this article for you to see some of
the fantastic Scale models flown at Perris. I
bet you might recognize some of the fliers.
WESTFAC II, in Gainesville, Texas, will
grow to 15 events with Scale judging on
Friday, September 25, and competition flown
on a beautiful grass field near the Gainesville
Municipal Airport. Gainesville is roughly a
one-hour drive from Dallas on Interstate 35,
and that makes life easy for those who wish
to fly to the event.
It’s a rare thing in modeling today to see
a new FF event, but leave it up to the Flying
Aces Club to do just that! The plan is to
rotate this event every odd year from
Gainesville to Denver, Colorado, and then
back to Perris.
The 15 events at Gainesville include:
FAC Rubber Scale, FAC Power Scale, FAC
Giant/Jumbo Scale, WW II Combat, WW I
Combat, Military Trainer Mass Launch,
Golden Age Scale, Jimmie Allen, Old-Time
Cabin and Old-Time Stick, Dime Scale,
Embryo, Thompson Trophy, and Greve
Trophy Races. This will provide not only fun
for the fliers, but fun for a lot of folks in and
around Gainesville to watch.
Some of the nation’s top fliers have
announced their expected attendance at
WESTFAC II. We hope many AMA
members will roll out their building boards
for this one and tour the new Web site to get
a look at their competition.
A new e-mail distribution list has been
created for WESTFAC. If you want timely
updates on all WESTFAC actions, just email
Roger at [email protected] and ask to
be added to the list.
We wish WESTFAC II much success as
September draws near. If you would like
more information, you can e-mail Roger or
visit the new Web site at www.western
fac.com.
This is a 5-foot-long Giant Scale rubberpowered
Sweet Pea. Nice!
A SAIA Savoia-Marchetti SM.79.
A determined Tom Arnold holds his rubberpowered,
counter-rotating propeller model
for the WESTFAC II event.
District X
Jim Giffin, District X Vice President; [email protected]
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
Jim Giffin
Vice President
Box 494688,
Redding CA 96049
Tel. (916) 760-8291
[email protected]
www.ama10.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA
(619) 427-6392
Darwin Barrie, Chandler AZ
(480) 946-8955
Mike Brown, Bella Vista CA
(530) 549-3005
Greg Clemensen, Las Vegas NV
(702) 870-6242
Wayne Hamada, Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7733
Marc Karpowich, Logan UT
(435) 232-1873
John Lockwood, Clovis CA
(559) 298-1606
Rick Maida, Morgan Hill CA
(408) 778-6885
Scott Malta, Merced CA
(209) 723-4202
Bill Malvey, Ladera Ranch CA
(949) 481-8624
Jerry Neuberger, Santee CA
(619) 258-4477
Bob Reynolds, Tucson AZ
(520) 296-8183
Jon Wilson, Ryde CA
(916) 776-2797
Frequency Coordinators
George Steiner, Sacramento CA
(916) 362-1962
Eloy Marez, Santa Ana CA
(714) 540-4935
District X Volunteers
06amanews:11amanews.qxd 4/21/2009 12:12 PM Page 165
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/06
Page Numbers: 165