RC Combat North American
Championship Series
by Lou Melancon
North American Championship
Series Events
• Lone Star Nationals (Paris TX) in
March
• Havoc Over Hamilton (Hamilton OH)
in April
• Southern Fried Combat (Andersonville
GA) in May
• Wild Wings Over Wausau (Wausau
WI) in June
• Marathon Before Muncie (Richmond
IN) in July
• AMA Nats (Muncie IN) in July
• Mid West Championship (Waverly NE)
in September
• Houston Texas Jetero Field (Houston
TX) in November
• Pearl Harbor Classic (Palomar CA) in
December MA
—Lou Melancon
WHEN YOU ARE involved in a new event in modeling, you
normally look for ways to promote your sport. The North American
Championship Series (NACS) was designed to attract the largest
number of competitors and showcase RC Combat to the largest
audiences possible.
Early in 2004, a survey of the Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) membership revealed which manufacturers’ equipment the
pilots used and what they planned to purchase in the upcoming year.
Armed with this data, the RCCA contacted potential sponsors and
showed them the impact that Combat fliers had on their product
sales.
O.S. Engines, Powermaster Fuels, Hitec RCD, and Windsor
Propeller Corporation (Master Airscrew) agreed to fund the
advertising campaign to promote the contest series. Their support
has been vital in making it a resounding success.
How It All Started: According to RCCA Hall of Fame member
Doug Haacke, RC Combat began as follows.
“The first organized form of RC Combat traces its formal roots
back to 1988, when a Norwegian gentleman named Helge Oerboe
helped found the International Dogfighters Association with the
intention of gaining interest in the new, untested, and untried sport
of dogfighting 1/12th scale radio controlled WW II warbirds.
“Without the benefit of experience, and armed only with good
intentions, this ambitious Norwegian, along with several others
from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany, drafted the first set
of dogfighting rules. These rules quickly found their way into the
hands of some equally enthusiastic fellow US modelers such as
Dave Platt and Greg Rose, and before long AMA had a set of
provisional rules for RC Combat.
Andy Panoncillo won Scale at the Dixie Nationals, flying his
Japanese B5N Kates. Nice collection of streamers!
Dynamic action shot of a Japanese Ki-61 vividly shows the
streamers it has cut off of other models during a match.
Scale Combat action at the Nats. This is a thrilling event to watch.
February 2005 47
Lee Liddle’s Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) has two Russianmanufactured
Cyclon PC3 engines—the same type used in CL
Combat.
Lee Liddle with the SSC version of his awesome Cobra design.
There’s ample room in this event for originality.
Mark LaBoyteaux at the Paris, Texas, contest with the Grumman
F7F Tigercat that he designed and built.
Joe Thompson hand launches Lou Melancon’s Boeing XF8B in
Scale Combat competition at the Dixie Nationals.
Bert Dodson (left) and his son Randy prepare their Ki-61 for
launch in Scale at Dixie Nationals. Notice the helmets!
What Is RC Combat?
• An airplane trails a 30-foot crepe-paper streamer and tries to
“cut” other models’ streamers while saving its own in a match
that lasts five minutes.
• Four to 12 airplanes fly against each other at one time.
• The pilot with the most “cuts” wins the match. At North
American Championship Series events, pilots fly six to eight
times each day, and the one with the highest score, based on the
number of cuts, wins.
Contestants’ scores are entered into the RCCA’s National
Points Standings. Point totals are kept annually for national
rankings.
• There are two types of Combat models: World War II Scale
fighters and “Open” designs. There are two popular engine
classes: .15 and .25-.30.
• Because of the stringent regulations, a safe environment for
pilots and spectators is maintained. MA
—Lou Melancon
A lineup of some of the Scale Combat aircraft at the Dixie
Championships—a wide variety of types for sure!
Eric Wenger won the 2004 Nats with a TEAMseaholm Avenger 72.
John LaBarre prepares for a match. He’s a pilot for Delta Airlines
and is the organizing force behind Havoc Over Hamilton.
Lee Liddle shows some fluid form in this launch photo.
RC Combat Myths
• Combat airplanes have to be fast. To fly effectively
in this event, your model has to fly at similar speeds to
the competition. Combat aircraft are also large for
their engine sizes. The wings—not the propeller—are
used to cut the streamers.
• Combat airplanes are skittish. These are among the
most stable models in the sport. They have to be easy
to fly and completely trustworthy to use them
effectively in Combat.
• You need great aerobatic skills to fly Combat.
Successful Combat fliers’ most important
characteristics are patience and planning pursuit.
Good piloting abilities help, but most fliers have
average aerobatic skills and an above-average ability
to process visual data quickly. MA
—Lou Melancon
Mark LaBoyteaux and Bob Leone’s co-designed P-38 Scale
fighter. Five twins flew in the same heat at Paris, Texas!
February 2005 49
Rick Bohlman designed and scratch-built his Focke-Wulf Ta 152.
He even made the molds to produce the fiberglass fuselage.
From the looks of it, A.J. Seaholm has just landed after a
successful round of Scale Combat with his Ki-64 at the Nats.
RCCA President Lou Melancon where you normally find him:
behind the bullhorn, here at the 2004 Nats awards ceremony.
Petr Bachan did extensive research before designing the
successful, fast, elusive, and uncommon Horten X1 for Scale.
Eric Wenger looks happy. He should because he won SSC at the
Paris, Texas, championships in March 2004.
“The Internet has played a pivotal role in
bringing Scale Combat pilots together from all
over the globe in a startlingly short time
period. The Scale Combat Web site
(www.rccombat.com), started in 1995,
provided a forum for novice and experienced
RC pilots to share their tremendous wealth of
widely varied experiences and publicly
displayed the trials and tribulations of this new
and exciting sport for all to see, to comment
on, and to learn from.
“A short time later, the American Scale
Dogfighters Association was formed.”
Evolution of Classes: In the late 1990s a
second Combat classification called “Open”
was created. It is a nonscale division in which
a designer’s imagination is limited only by the
maximum engine displacement of .30 cid and
the maximum model weight of 3.5 pounds.
Open Combat has grown at a prodigious rate
since its beginnings and is now the dominant
category.
Late in 2002, Combat fliers realized that
the Open Combat models’ speeds and kinetic
energy had reached a point of diminishing
return. Airframes were being damaged in
midair collisions at a rate that was
unacceptable to even the most prolific
builders.
A new Open class called Slow Survivable
Combat (SSC) was developed to slow the
airplanes down, reduce the battle damage, and
lessen the technological advances, all in an
attempt to make the competition a battle of
pilots rather than machines. SSC has
succeeded beyond all expectations and was the
most-contested class in 2004.
The NACS features nine large regional
Combat events in many areas of the country,
to provide the pilots venues for competition
and to introduce the RC community to this
new and exciting event.
This year’s nine-event series began in March
in the teeming metropolis of Paris—Texas,
that is. After waging verbal war on the Internet
forums during the winter months, the Combat
fliers’ pent-up energy was ready for release.
The competitors came from across the
country, arriving from Virginia, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, California, and
Arizona. There were more than 70 pilots. As
the cars, trailers, vans, and motor homes rolled
into the flying site, the trash talking and chest
pounding started in earnest. Combat fliers like
to talk almost as much as they like to fly.
Saturday morning, 52 pilots signed up for
the .25-size event: Open B. This is the fastest
Open category and is hotly contested. The
computer-generated matrix determined which
heat of the five each pilot would fly in for the
six rounds. There were 30 matches of 10
airplanes or more that day. After an epic battle
in which the lead switched hands many times,
Texan Lee Liddle came out on top, averaging
more than three cuts per round.
Scale Combat (Class 2610 was contested
throughout the series) had 20 participants. For
the first time there were five Scale twin-engine
aircraft entered: an F7F Tigercat, a P-38, a
MiG-5, an Me 110, and an Fw 189. It was
exciting to see twin fighters mixing it up with
other World War II fighters.
At the end of four hard-fought rounds,
Maryland’s Kirk Adams won in a close race
with Oklahoma’s Don Howard. Kirk flew
Blackburn Firebrands, and Don campaigned
TBD Devastators.
SSC—the RCCA’s provisional class (not
in the AMA rule book)—had 61 entrants. It
was decided to fly six-airplane heats with 10
heats for six rounds. The winds had come up
and were gusting to 25 mph for these big
models powered by .15 engines.
Gaining revenge for his second-place
finish in Open B the day before, Oklahoman
Eric Wenger won SSC with Lee Liddle
finishing second. The stage was set for
competition in the events to come.
Next on the NACS trail was Havoc Over
Hamilton outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, hosted by the HAWKS RC club.
Many of the fliers who competed at Paris
made the trek to the Midwest.
Kirk Adams successfully defended his
Scale Combat status by winning after six
rounds. Tennesseean Chris Quinn prevailed
after 10 rounds of SSC and jumped to the top
of the standings. In Open B, Wisconsin’s
Mike “Dr. Evil” Fredricks cleaned everyone’s
clock. The next stop would be the deep South.
Southern Fried Combat at the Dixie
Championships was held in late May at Mac
Hodges Field, which he built. This was the
fourth annual Dixie Championships, and fliers
came from across the country to compete in it.
Lee Liddle was dominant in SSC, taking a
win and the series lead. Texan Mike Willcox,
who was the reigning CL Combat World
Champion at that time, won Open B. Coming
all the way from Muncie, Indiana, Andy
Panoncillo won Scale. (He won Open B at the
first Dixie Championships in 2001.) Kirk
Adams was right behind Andy, managing to
hold onto his lead in the series Scale
standings.
At this point it was time to move the NACS
to the heart of America’s cheese country—
Wausau, Wisconsin—where the Wausau R/C
Sportsmen hosted the fourth contest of the
series. Many of the competitors were flying in
their first NACS contest of the year.
Mike Fredericks put up his first win in
SSC and added to his scores from Paris and
Hamilton. Mike Bohlman won it all in Open
B, flying some extraordinarily goodperforming
airplanes.
In July the series moved to the middle of
America and was contested at the National
Flying Site at the AMA Nats. SSC was flown
first. Chris Quinn put a severe hurt on all
other competitors, taking his second event of
the series and the lead.
Ten rounds of Open B and Scale were
flown during the three-day schedule. The lead
position changed several times, but Eric
Wenger eventually rose to the top of Open B
and became the new series leader. Lee Liddle
won Scale and was locked in a close race with
Kirk Adams going to the next event.
In early September the series moved to its
farthest point west to date: Waverly,
Nebraska, home of the Mid West
Championship. The driving distance was out
of range for SSC leader Chris Quinn, Scale
leader Kirk Adams, and contender in all
classes Mike Fredricks. It was the perfect
opportunity for the Texans and Oklahomans
to jump out in front.
Don Howard was on fire and won Open
B and Scale. Combined with his finishes at
Paris and Muncie, he rocketed into the top
echelon of the National Points Standings, or
NPS. Lee Liddle won SSC and took a clear
lead in the series.
The RCCA used its NPS system to
determine the 2004 NACS winners.
Congratulations to Lee Liddle for his victories
in SSC and Open B and to Kirk Adams for
winning Scale. It was an exciting year that
featured many improvements in technology
and advances in piloting skills.
RC Combat is one of the fastest-growing
disciplines in modeling, and 2005 promises
to be another banner year. For more
information about this event, visit
www.rccombat.com to learn the rules, see the
models, and read about all aspects of building
and flying Combat airplanes. MA
Lou Melancon
105 Morton Walk Dr.
Alpharetta GA 30022
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 47,48,49,50,52,55
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 47,48,49,50,52,55
RC Combat North American
Championship Series
by Lou Melancon
North American Championship
Series Events
• Lone Star Nationals (Paris TX) in
March
• Havoc Over Hamilton (Hamilton OH)
in April
• Southern Fried Combat (Andersonville
GA) in May
• Wild Wings Over Wausau (Wausau
WI) in June
• Marathon Before Muncie (Richmond
IN) in July
• AMA Nats (Muncie IN) in July
• Mid West Championship (Waverly NE)
in September
• Houston Texas Jetero Field (Houston
TX) in November
• Pearl Harbor Classic (Palomar CA) in
December MA
—Lou Melancon
WHEN YOU ARE involved in a new event in modeling, you
normally look for ways to promote your sport. The North American
Championship Series (NACS) was designed to attract the largest
number of competitors and showcase RC Combat to the largest
audiences possible.
Early in 2004, a survey of the Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) membership revealed which manufacturers’ equipment the
pilots used and what they planned to purchase in the upcoming year.
Armed with this data, the RCCA contacted potential sponsors and
showed them the impact that Combat fliers had on their product
sales.
O.S. Engines, Powermaster Fuels, Hitec RCD, and Windsor
Propeller Corporation (Master Airscrew) agreed to fund the
advertising campaign to promote the contest series. Their support
has been vital in making it a resounding success.
How It All Started: According to RCCA Hall of Fame member
Doug Haacke, RC Combat began as follows.
“The first organized form of RC Combat traces its formal roots
back to 1988, when a Norwegian gentleman named Helge Oerboe
helped found the International Dogfighters Association with the
intention of gaining interest in the new, untested, and untried sport
of dogfighting 1/12th scale radio controlled WW II warbirds.
“Without the benefit of experience, and armed only with good
intentions, this ambitious Norwegian, along with several others
from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany, drafted the first set
of dogfighting rules. These rules quickly found their way into the
hands of some equally enthusiastic fellow US modelers such as
Dave Platt and Greg Rose, and before long AMA had a set of
provisional rules for RC Combat.
Andy Panoncillo won Scale at the Dixie Nationals, flying his
Japanese B5N Kates. Nice collection of streamers!
Dynamic action shot of a Japanese Ki-61 vividly shows the
streamers it has cut off of other models during a match.
Scale Combat action at the Nats. This is a thrilling event to watch.
February 2005 47
Lee Liddle’s Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) has two Russianmanufactured
Cyclon PC3 engines—the same type used in CL
Combat.
Lee Liddle with the SSC version of his awesome Cobra design.
There’s ample room in this event for originality.
Mark LaBoyteaux at the Paris, Texas, contest with the Grumman
F7F Tigercat that he designed and built.
Joe Thompson hand launches Lou Melancon’s Boeing XF8B in
Scale Combat competition at the Dixie Nationals.
Bert Dodson (left) and his son Randy prepare their Ki-61 for
launch in Scale at Dixie Nationals. Notice the helmets!
What Is RC Combat?
• An airplane trails a 30-foot crepe-paper streamer and tries to
“cut” other models’ streamers while saving its own in a match
that lasts five minutes.
• Four to 12 airplanes fly against each other at one time.
• The pilot with the most “cuts” wins the match. At North
American Championship Series events, pilots fly six to eight
times each day, and the one with the highest score, based on the
number of cuts, wins.
Contestants’ scores are entered into the RCCA’s National
Points Standings. Point totals are kept annually for national
rankings.
• There are two types of Combat models: World War II Scale
fighters and “Open” designs. There are two popular engine
classes: .15 and .25-.30.
• Because of the stringent regulations, a safe environment for
pilots and spectators is maintained. MA
—Lou Melancon
A lineup of some of the Scale Combat aircraft at the Dixie
Championships—a wide variety of types for sure!
Eric Wenger won the 2004 Nats with a TEAMseaholm Avenger 72.
John LaBarre prepares for a match. He’s a pilot for Delta Airlines
and is the organizing force behind Havoc Over Hamilton.
Lee Liddle shows some fluid form in this launch photo.
RC Combat Myths
• Combat airplanes have to be fast. To fly effectively
in this event, your model has to fly at similar speeds to
the competition. Combat aircraft are also large for
their engine sizes. The wings—not the propeller—are
used to cut the streamers.
• Combat airplanes are skittish. These are among the
most stable models in the sport. They have to be easy
to fly and completely trustworthy to use them
effectively in Combat.
• You need great aerobatic skills to fly Combat.
Successful Combat fliers’ most important
characteristics are patience and planning pursuit.
Good piloting abilities help, but most fliers have
average aerobatic skills and an above-average ability
to process visual data quickly. MA
—Lou Melancon
Mark LaBoyteaux and Bob Leone’s co-designed P-38 Scale
fighter. Five twins flew in the same heat at Paris, Texas!
February 2005 49
Rick Bohlman designed and scratch-built his Focke-Wulf Ta 152.
He even made the molds to produce the fiberglass fuselage.
From the looks of it, A.J. Seaholm has just landed after a
successful round of Scale Combat with his Ki-64 at the Nats.
RCCA President Lou Melancon where you normally find him:
behind the bullhorn, here at the 2004 Nats awards ceremony.
Petr Bachan did extensive research before designing the
successful, fast, elusive, and uncommon Horten X1 for Scale.
Eric Wenger looks happy. He should because he won SSC at the
Paris, Texas, championships in March 2004.
“The Internet has played a pivotal role in
bringing Scale Combat pilots together from all
over the globe in a startlingly short time
period. The Scale Combat Web site
(www.rccombat.com), started in 1995,
provided a forum for novice and experienced
RC pilots to share their tremendous wealth of
widely varied experiences and publicly
displayed the trials and tribulations of this new
and exciting sport for all to see, to comment
on, and to learn from.
“A short time later, the American Scale
Dogfighters Association was formed.”
Evolution of Classes: In the late 1990s a
second Combat classification called “Open”
was created. It is a nonscale division in which
a designer’s imagination is limited only by the
maximum engine displacement of .30 cid and
the maximum model weight of 3.5 pounds.
Open Combat has grown at a prodigious rate
since its beginnings and is now the dominant
category.
Late in 2002, Combat fliers realized that
the Open Combat models’ speeds and kinetic
energy had reached a point of diminishing
return. Airframes were being damaged in
midair collisions at a rate that was
unacceptable to even the most prolific
builders.
A new Open class called Slow Survivable
Combat (SSC) was developed to slow the
airplanes down, reduce the battle damage, and
lessen the technological advances, all in an
attempt to make the competition a battle of
pilots rather than machines. SSC has
succeeded beyond all expectations and was the
most-contested class in 2004.
The NACS features nine large regional
Combat events in many areas of the country,
to provide the pilots venues for competition
and to introduce the RC community to this
new and exciting event.
This year’s nine-event series began in March
in the teeming metropolis of Paris—Texas,
that is. After waging verbal war on the Internet
forums during the winter months, the Combat
fliers’ pent-up energy was ready for release.
The competitors came from across the
country, arriving from Virginia, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, California, and
Arizona. There were more than 70 pilots. As
the cars, trailers, vans, and motor homes rolled
into the flying site, the trash talking and chest
pounding started in earnest. Combat fliers like
to talk almost as much as they like to fly.
Saturday morning, 52 pilots signed up for
the .25-size event: Open B. This is the fastest
Open category and is hotly contested. The
computer-generated matrix determined which
heat of the five each pilot would fly in for the
six rounds. There were 30 matches of 10
airplanes or more that day. After an epic battle
in which the lead switched hands many times,
Texan Lee Liddle came out on top, averaging
more than three cuts per round.
Scale Combat (Class 2610 was contested
throughout the series) had 20 participants. For
the first time there were five Scale twin-engine
aircraft entered: an F7F Tigercat, a P-38, a
MiG-5, an Me 110, and an Fw 189. It was
exciting to see twin fighters mixing it up with
other World War II fighters.
At the end of four hard-fought rounds,
Maryland’s Kirk Adams won in a close race
with Oklahoma’s Don Howard. Kirk flew
Blackburn Firebrands, and Don campaigned
TBD Devastators.
SSC—the RCCA’s provisional class (not
in the AMA rule book)—had 61 entrants. It
was decided to fly six-airplane heats with 10
heats for six rounds. The winds had come up
and were gusting to 25 mph for these big
models powered by .15 engines.
Gaining revenge for his second-place
finish in Open B the day before, Oklahoman
Eric Wenger won SSC with Lee Liddle
finishing second. The stage was set for
competition in the events to come.
Next on the NACS trail was Havoc Over
Hamilton outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, hosted by the HAWKS RC club.
Many of the fliers who competed at Paris
made the trek to the Midwest.
Kirk Adams successfully defended his
Scale Combat status by winning after six
rounds. Tennesseean Chris Quinn prevailed
after 10 rounds of SSC and jumped to the top
of the standings. In Open B, Wisconsin’s
Mike “Dr. Evil” Fredricks cleaned everyone’s
clock. The next stop would be the deep South.
Southern Fried Combat at the Dixie
Championships was held in late May at Mac
Hodges Field, which he built. This was the
fourth annual Dixie Championships, and fliers
came from across the country to compete in it.
Lee Liddle was dominant in SSC, taking a
win and the series lead. Texan Mike Willcox,
who was the reigning CL Combat World
Champion at that time, won Open B. Coming
all the way from Muncie, Indiana, Andy
Panoncillo won Scale. (He won Open B at the
first Dixie Championships in 2001.) Kirk
Adams was right behind Andy, managing to
hold onto his lead in the series Scale
standings.
At this point it was time to move the NACS
to the heart of America’s cheese country—
Wausau, Wisconsin—where the Wausau R/C
Sportsmen hosted the fourth contest of the
series. Many of the competitors were flying in
their first NACS contest of the year.
Mike Fredericks put up his first win in
SSC and added to his scores from Paris and
Hamilton. Mike Bohlman won it all in Open
B, flying some extraordinarily goodperforming
airplanes.
In July the series moved to the middle of
America and was contested at the National
Flying Site at the AMA Nats. SSC was flown
first. Chris Quinn put a severe hurt on all
other competitors, taking his second event of
the series and the lead.
Ten rounds of Open B and Scale were
flown during the three-day schedule. The lead
position changed several times, but Eric
Wenger eventually rose to the top of Open B
and became the new series leader. Lee Liddle
won Scale and was locked in a close race with
Kirk Adams going to the next event.
In early September the series moved to its
farthest point west to date: Waverly,
Nebraska, home of the Mid West
Championship. The driving distance was out
of range for SSC leader Chris Quinn, Scale
leader Kirk Adams, and contender in all
classes Mike Fredricks. It was the perfect
opportunity for the Texans and Oklahomans
to jump out in front.
Don Howard was on fire and won Open
B and Scale. Combined with his finishes at
Paris and Muncie, he rocketed into the top
echelon of the National Points Standings, or
NPS. Lee Liddle won SSC and took a clear
lead in the series.
The RCCA used its NPS system to
determine the 2004 NACS winners.
Congratulations to Lee Liddle for his victories
in SSC and Open B and to Kirk Adams for
winning Scale. It was an exciting year that
featured many improvements in technology
and advances in piloting skills.
RC Combat is one of the fastest-growing
disciplines in modeling, and 2005 promises
to be another banner year. For more
information about this event, visit
www.rccombat.com to learn the rules, see the
models, and read about all aspects of building
and flying Combat airplanes. MA
Lou Melancon
105 Morton Walk Dr.
Alpharetta GA 30022
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 47,48,49,50,52,55
RC Combat North American
Championship Series
by Lou Melancon
North American Championship
Series Events
• Lone Star Nationals (Paris TX) in
March
• Havoc Over Hamilton (Hamilton OH)
in April
• Southern Fried Combat (Andersonville
GA) in May
• Wild Wings Over Wausau (Wausau
WI) in June
• Marathon Before Muncie (Richmond
IN) in July
• AMA Nats (Muncie IN) in July
• Mid West Championship (Waverly NE)
in September
• Houston Texas Jetero Field (Houston
TX) in November
• Pearl Harbor Classic (Palomar CA) in
December MA
—Lou Melancon
WHEN YOU ARE involved in a new event in modeling, you
normally look for ways to promote your sport. The North American
Championship Series (NACS) was designed to attract the largest
number of competitors and showcase RC Combat to the largest
audiences possible.
Early in 2004, a survey of the Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) membership revealed which manufacturers’ equipment the
pilots used and what they planned to purchase in the upcoming year.
Armed with this data, the RCCA contacted potential sponsors and
showed them the impact that Combat fliers had on their product
sales.
O.S. Engines, Powermaster Fuels, Hitec RCD, and Windsor
Propeller Corporation (Master Airscrew) agreed to fund the
advertising campaign to promote the contest series. Their support
has been vital in making it a resounding success.
How It All Started: According to RCCA Hall of Fame member
Doug Haacke, RC Combat began as follows.
“The first organized form of RC Combat traces its formal roots
back to 1988, when a Norwegian gentleman named Helge Oerboe
helped found the International Dogfighters Association with the
intention of gaining interest in the new, untested, and untried sport
of dogfighting 1/12th scale radio controlled WW II warbirds.
“Without the benefit of experience, and armed only with good
intentions, this ambitious Norwegian, along with several others
from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany, drafted the first set
of dogfighting rules. These rules quickly found their way into the
hands of some equally enthusiastic fellow US modelers such as
Dave Platt and Greg Rose, and before long AMA had a set of
provisional rules for RC Combat.
Andy Panoncillo won Scale at the Dixie Nationals, flying his
Japanese B5N Kates. Nice collection of streamers!
Dynamic action shot of a Japanese Ki-61 vividly shows the
streamers it has cut off of other models during a match.
Scale Combat action at the Nats. This is a thrilling event to watch.
February 2005 47
Lee Liddle’s Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) has two Russianmanufactured
Cyclon PC3 engines—the same type used in CL
Combat.
Lee Liddle with the SSC version of his awesome Cobra design.
There’s ample room in this event for originality.
Mark LaBoyteaux at the Paris, Texas, contest with the Grumman
F7F Tigercat that he designed and built.
Joe Thompson hand launches Lou Melancon’s Boeing XF8B in
Scale Combat competition at the Dixie Nationals.
Bert Dodson (left) and his son Randy prepare their Ki-61 for
launch in Scale at Dixie Nationals. Notice the helmets!
What Is RC Combat?
• An airplane trails a 30-foot crepe-paper streamer and tries to
“cut” other models’ streamers while saving its own in a match
that lasts five minutes.
• Four to 12 airplanes fly against each other at one time.
• The pilot with the most “cuts” wins the match. At North
American Championship Series events, pilots fly six to eight
times each day, and the one with the highest score, based on the
number of cuts, wins.
Contestants’ scores are entered into the RCCA’s National
Points Standings. Point totals are kept annually for national
rankings.
• There are two types of Combat models: World War II Scale
fighters and “Open” designs. There are two popular engine
classes: .15 and .25-.30.
• Because of the stringent regulations, a safe environment for
pilots and spectators is maintained. MA
—Lou Melancon
A lineup of some of the Scale Combat aircraft at the Dixie
Championships—a wide variety of types for sure!
Eric Wenger won the 2004 Nats with a TEAMseaholm Avenger 72.
John LaBarre prepares for a match. He’s a pilot for Delta Airlines
and is the organizing force behind Havoc Over Hamilton.
Lee Liddle shows some fluid form in this launch photo.
RC Combat Myths
• Combat airplanes have to be fast. To fly effectively
in this event, your model has to fly at similar speeds to
the competition. Combat aircraft are also large for
their engine sizes. The wings—not the propeller—are
used to cut the streamers.
• Combat airplanes are skittish. These are among the
most stable models in the sport. They have to be easy
to fly and completely trustworthy to use them
effectively in Combat.
• You need great aerobatic skills to fly Combat.
Successful Combat fliers’ most important
characteristics are patience and planning pursuit.
Good piloting abilities help, but most fliers have
average aerobatic skills and an above-average ability
to process visual data quickly. MA
—Lou Melancon
Mark LaBoyteaux and Bob Leone’s co-designed P-38 Scale
fighter. Five twins flew in the same heat at Paris, Texas!
February 2005 49
Rick Bohlman designed and scratch-built his Focke-Wulf Ta 152.
He even made the molds to produce the fiberglass fuselage.
From the looks of it, A.J. Seaholm has just landed after a
successful round of Scale Combat with his Ki-64 at the Nats.
RCCA President Lou Melancon where you normally find him:
behind the bullhorn, here at the 2004 Nats awards ceremony.
Petr Bachan did extensive research before designing the
successful, fast, elusive, and uncommon Horten X1 for Scale.
Eric Wenger looks happy. He should because he won SSC at the
Paris, Texas, championships in March 2004.
“The Internet has played a pivotal role in
bringing Scale Combat pilots together from all
over the globe in a startlingly short time
period. The Scale Combat Web site
(www.rccombat.com), started in 1995,
provided a forum for novice and experienced
RC pilots to share their tremendous wealth of
widely varied experiences and publicly
displayed the trials and tribulations of this new
and exciting sport for all to see, to comment
on, and to learn from.
“A short time later, the American Scale
Dogfighters Association was formed.”
Evolution of Classes: In the late 1990s a
second Combat classification called “Open”
was created. It is a nonscale division in which
a designer’s imagination is limited only by the
maximum engine displacement of .30 cid and
the maximum model weight of 3.5 pounds.
Open Combat has grown at a prodigious rate
since its beginnings and is now the dominant
category.
Late in 2002, Combat fliers realized that
the Open Combat models’ speeds and kinetic
energy had reached a point of diminishing
return. Airframes were being damaged in
midair collisions at a rate that was
unacceptable to even the most prolific
builders.
A new Open class called Slow Survivable
Combat (SSC) was developed to slow the
airplanes down, reduce the battle damage, and
lessen the technological advances, all in an
attempt to make the competition a battle of
pilots rather than machines. SSC has
succeeded beyond all expectations and was the
most-contested class in 2004.
The NACS features nine large regional
Combat events in many areas of the country,
to provide the pilots venues for competition
and to introduce the RC community to this
new and exciting event.
This year’s nine-event series began in March
in the teeming metropolis of Paris—Texas,
that is. After waging verbal war on the Internet
forums during the winter months, the Combat
fliers’ pent-up energy was ready for release.
The competitors came from across the
country, arriving from Virginia, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, California, and
Arizona. There were more than 70 pilots. As
the cars, trailers, vans, and motor homes rolled
into the flying site, the trash talking and chest
pounding started in earnest. Combat fliers like
to talk almost as much as they like to fly.
Saturday morning, 52 pilots signed up for
the .25-size event: Open B. This is the fastest
Open category and is hotly contested. The
computer-generated matrix determined which
heat of the five each pilot would fly in for the
six rounds. There were 30 matches of 10
airplanes or more that day. After an epic battle
in which the lead switched hands many times,
Texan Lee Liddle came out on top, averaging
more than three cuts per round.
Scale Combat (Class 2610 was contested
throughout the series) had 20 participants. For
the first time there were five Scale twin-engine
aircraft entered: an F7F Tigercat, a P-38, a
MiG-5, an Me 110, and an Fw 189. It was
exciting to see twin fighters mixing it up with
other World War II fighters.
At the end of four hard-fought rounds,
Maryland’s Kirk Adams won in a close race
with Oklahoma’s Don Howard. Kirk flew
Blackburn Firebrands, and Don campaigned
TBD Devastators.
SSC—the RCCA’s provisional class (not
in the AMA rule book)—had 61 entrants. It
was decided to fly six-airplane heats with 10
heats for six rounds. The winds had come up
and were gusting to 25 mph for these big
models powered by .15 engines.
Gaining revenge for his second-place
finish in Open B the day before, Oklahoman
Eric Wenger won SSC with Lee Liddle
finishing second. The stage was set for
competition in the events to come.
Next on the NACS trail was Havoc Over
Hamilton outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, hosted by the HAWKS RC club.
Many of the fliers who competed at Paris
made the trek to the Midwest.
Kirk Adams successfully defended his
Scale Combat status by winning after six
rounds. Tennesseean Chris Quinn prevailed
after 10 rounds of SSC and jumped to the top
of the standings. In Open B, Wisconsin’s
Mike “Dr. Evil” Fredricks cleaned everyone’s
clock. The next stop would be the deep South.
Southern Fried Combat at the Dixie
Championships was held in late May at Mac
Hodges Field, which he built. This was the
fourth annual Dixie Championships, and fliers
came from across the country to compete in it.
Lee Liddle was dominant in SSC, taking a
win and the series lead. Texan Mike Willcox,
who was the reigning CL Combat World
Champion at that time, won Open B. Coming
all the way from Muncie, Indiana, Andy
Panoncillo won Scale. (He won Open B at the
first Dixie Championships in 2001.) Kirk
Adams was right behind Andy, managing to
hold onto his lead in the series Scale
standings.
At this point it was time to move the NACS
to the heart of America’s cheese country—
Wausau, Wisconsin—where the Wausau R/C
Sportsmen hosted the fourth contest of the
series. Many of the competitors were flying in
their first NACS contest of the year.
Mike Fredericks put up his first win in
SSC and added to his scores from Paris and
Hamilton. Mike Bohlman won it all in Open
B, flying some extraordinarily goodperforming
airplanes.
In July the series moved to the middle of
America and was contested at the National
Flying Site at the AMA Nats. SSC was flown
first. Chris Quinn put a severe hurt on all
other competitors, taking his second event of
the series and the lead.
Ten rounds of Open B and Scale were
flown during the three-day schedule. The lead
position changed several times, but Eric
Wenger eventually rose to the top of Open B
and became the new series leader. Lee Liddle
won Scale and was locked in a close race with
Kirk Adams going to the next event.
In early September the series moved to its
farthest point west to date: Waverly,
Nebraska, home of the Mid West
Championship. The driving distance was out
of range for SSC leader Chris Quinn, Scale
leader Kirk Adams, and contender in all
classes Mike Fredricks. It was the perfect
opportunity for the Texans and Oklahomans
to jump out in front.
Don Howard was on fire and won Open
B and Scale. Combined with his finishes at
Paris and Muncie, he rocketed into the top
echelon of the National Points Standings, or
NPS. Lee Liddle won SSC and took a clear
lead in the series.
The RCCA used its NPS system to
determine the 2004 NACS winners.
Congratulations to Lee Liddle for his victories
in SSC and Open B and to Kirk Adams for
winning Scale. It was an exciting year that
featured many improvements in technology
and advances in piloting skills.
RC Combat is one of the fastest-growing
disciplines in modeling, and 2005 promises
to be another banner year. For more
information about this event, visit
www.rccombat.com to learn the rules, see the
models, and read about all aspects of building
and flying Combat airplanes. MA
Lou Melancon
105 Morton Walk Dr.
Alpharetta GA 30022
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 47,48,49,50,52,55
RC Combat North American
Championship Series
by Lou Melancon
North American Championship
Series Events
• Lone Star Nationals (Paris TX) in
March
• Havoc Over Hamilton (Hamilton OH)
in April
• Southern Fried Combat (Andersonville
GA) in May
• Wild Wings Over Wausau (Wausau
WI) in June
• Marathon Before Muncie (Richmond
IN) in July
• AMA Nats (Muncie IN) in July
• Mid West Championship (Waverly NE)
in September
• Houston Texas Jetero Field (Houston
TX) in November
• Pearl Harbor Classic (Palomar CA) in
December MA
—Lou Melancon
WHEN YOU ARE involved in a new event in modeling, you
normally look for ways to promote your sport. The North American
Championship Series (NACS) was designed to attract the largest
number of competitors and showcase RC Combat to the largest
audiences possible.
Early in 2004, a survey of the Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) membership revealed which manufacturers’ equipment the
pilots used and what they planned to purchase in the upcoming year.
Armed with this data, the RCCA contacted potential sponsors and
showed them the impact that Combat fliers had on their product
sales.
O.S. Engines, Powermaster Fuels, Hitec RCD, and Windsor
Propeller Corporation (Master Airscrew) agreed to fund the
advertising campaign to promote the contest series. Their support
has been vital in making it a resounding success.
How It All Started: According to RCCA Hall of Fame member
Doug Haacke, RC Combat began as follows.
“The first organized form of RC Combat traces its formal roots
back to 1988, when a Norwegian gentleman named Helge Oerboe
helped found the International Dogfighters Association with the
intention of gaining interest in the new, untested, and untried sport
of dogfighting 1/12th scale radio controlled WW II warbirds.
“Without the benefit of experience, and armed only with good
intentions, this ambitious Norwegian, along with several others
from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany, drafted the first set
of dogfighting rules. These rules quickly found their way into the
hands of some equally enthusiastic fellow US modelers such as
Dave Platt and Greg Rose, and before long AMA had a set of
provisional rules for RC Combat.
Andy Panoncillo won Scale at the Dixie Nationals, flying his
Japanese B5N Kates. Nice collection of streamers!
Dynamic action shot of a Japanese Ki-61 vividly shows the
streamers it has cut off of other models during a match.
Scale Combat action at the Nats. This is a thrilling event to watch.
February 2005 47
Lee Liddle’s Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) has two Russianmanufactured
Cyclon PC3 engines—the same type used in CL
Combat.
Lee Liddle with the SSC version of his awesome Cobra design.
There’s ample room in this event for originality.
Mark LaBoyteaux at the Paris, Texas, contest with the Grumman
F7F Tigercat that he designed and built.
Joe Thompson hand launches Lou Melancon’s Boeing XF8B in
Scale Combat competition at the Dixie Nationals.
Bert Dodson (left) and his son Randy prepare their Ki-61 for
launch in Scale at Dixie Nationals. Notice the helmets!
What Is RC Combat?
• An airplane trails a 30-foot crepe-paper streamer and tries to
“cut” other models’ streamers while saving its own in a match
that lasts five minutes.
• Four to 12 airplanes fly against each other at one time.
• The pilot with the most “cuts” wins the match. At North
American Championship Series events, pilots fly six to eight
times each day, and the one with the highest score, based on the
number of cuts, wins.
Contestants’ scores are entered into the RCCA’s National
Points Standings. Point totals are kept annually for national
rankings.
• There are two types of Combat models: World War II Scale
fighters and “Open” designs. There are two popular engine
classes: .15 and .25-.30.
• Because of the stringent regulations, a safe environment for
pilots and spectators is maintained. MA
—Lou Melancon
A lineup of some of the Scale Combat aircraft at the Dixie
Championships—a wide variety of types for sure!
Eric Wenger won the 2004 Nats with a TEAMseaholm Avenger 72.
John LaBarre prepares for a match. He’s a pilot for Delta Airlines
and is the organizing force behind Havoc Over Hamilton.
Lee Liddle shows some fluid form in this launch photo.
RC Combat Myths
• Combat airplanes have to be fast. To fly effectively
in this event, your model has to fly at similar speeds to
the competition. Combat aircraft are also large for
their engine sizes. The wings—not the propeller—are
used to cut the streamers.
• Combat airplanes are skittish. These are among the
most stable models in the sport. They have to be easy
to fly and completely trustworthy to use them
effectively in Combat.
• You need great aerobatic skills to fly Combat.
Successful Combat fliers’ most important
characteristics are patience and planning pursuit.
Good piloting abilities help, but most fliers have
average aerobatic skills and an above-average ability
to process visual data quickly. MA
—Lou Melancon
Mark LaBoyteaux and Bob Leone’s co-designed P-38 Scale
fighter. Five twins flew in the same heat at Paris, Texas!
February 2005 49
Rick Bohlman designed and scratch-built his Focke-Wulf Ta 152.
He even made the molds to produce the fiberglass fuselage.
From the looks of it, A.J. Seaholm has just landed after a
successful round of Scale Combat with his Ki-64 at the Nats.
RCCA President Lou Melancon where you normally find him:
behind the bullhorn, here at the 2004 Nats awards ceremony.
Petr Bachan did extensive research before designing the
successful, fast, elusive, and uncommon Horten X1 for Scale.
Eric Wenger looks happy. He should because he won SSC at the
Paris, Texas, championships in March 2004.
“The Internet has played a pivotal role in
bringing Scale Combat pilots together from all
over the globe in a startlingly short time
period. The Scale Combat Web site
(www.rccombat.com), started in 1995,
provided a forum for novice and experienced
RC pilots to share their tremendous wealth of
widely varied experiences and publicly
displayed the trials and tribulations of this new
and exciting sport for all to see, to comment
on, and to learn from.
“A short time later, the American Scale
Dogfighters Association was formed.”
Evolution of Classes: In the late 1990s a
second Combat classification called “Open”
was created. It is a nonscale division in which
a designer’s imagination is limited only by the
maximum engine displacement of .30 cid and
the maximum model weight of 3.5 pounds.
Open Combat has grown at a prodigious rate
since its beginnings and is now the dominant
category.
Late in 2002, Combat fliers realized that
the Open Combat models’ speeds and kinetic
energy had reached a point of diminishing
return. Airframes were being damaged in
midair collisions at a rate that was
unacceptable to even the most prolific
builders.
A new Open class called Slow Survivable
Combat (SSC) was developed to slow the
airplanes down, reduce the battle damage, and
lessen the technological advances, all in an
attempt to make the competition a battle of
pilots rather than machines. SSC has
succeeded beyond all expectations and was the
most-contested class in 2004.
The NACS features nine large regional
Combat events in many areas of the country,
to provide the pilots venues for competition
and to introduce the RC community to this
new and exciting event.
This year’s nine-event series began in March
in the teeming metropolis of Paris—Texas,
that is. After waging verbal war on the Internet
forums during the winter months, the Combat
fliers’ pent-up energy was ready for release.
The competitors came from across the
country, arriving from Virginia, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, California, and
Arizona. There were more than 70 pilots. As
the cars, trailers, vans, and motor homes rolled
into the flying site, the trash talking and chest
pounding started in earnest. Combat fliers like
to talk almost as much as they like to fly.
Saturday morning, 52 pilots signed up for
the .25-size event: Open B. This is the fastest
Open category and is hotly contested. The
computer-generated matrix determined which
heat of the five each pilot would fly in for the
six rounds. There were 30 matches of 10
airplanes or more that day. After an epic battle
in which the lead switched hands many times,
Texan Lee Liddle came out on top, averaging
more than three cuts per round.
Scale Combat (Class 2610 was contested
throughout the series) had 20 participants. For
the first time there were five Scale twin-engine
aircraft entered: an F7F Tigercat, a P-38, a
MiG-5, an Me 110, and an Fw 189. It was
exciting to see twin fighters mixing it up with
other World War II fighters.
At the end of four hard-fought rounds,
Maryland’s Kirk Adams won in a close race
with Oklahoma’s Don Howard. Kirk flew
Blackburn Firebrands, and Don campaigned
TBD Devastators.
SSC—the RCCA’s provisional class (not
in the AMA rule book)—had 61 entrants. It
was decided to fly six-airplane heats with 10
heats for six rounds. The winds had come up
and were gusting to 25 mph for these big
models powered by .15 engines.
Gaining revenge for his second-place
finish in Open B the day before, Oklahoman
Eric Wenger won SSC with Lee Liddle
finishing second. The stage was set for
competition in the events to come.
Next on the NACS trail was Havoc Over
Hamilton outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, hosted by the HAWKS RC club.
Many of the fliers who competed at Paris
made the trek to the Midwest.
Kirk Adams successfully defended his
Scale Combat status by winning after six
rounds. Tennesseean Chris Quinn prevailed
after 10 rounds of SSC and jumped to the top
of the standings. In Open B, Wisconsin’s
Mike “Dr. Evil” Fredricks cleaned everyone’s
clock. The next stop would be the deep South.
Southern Fried Combat at the Dixie
Championships was held in late May at Mac
Hodges Field, which he built. This was the
fourth annual Dixie Championships, and fliers
came from across the country to compete in it.
Lee Liddle was dominant in SSC, taking a
win and the series lead. Texan Mike Willcox,
who was the reigning CL Combat World
Champion at that time, won Open B. Coming
all the way from Muncie, Indiana, Andy
Panoncillo won Scale. (He won Open B at the
first Dixie Championships in 2001.) Kirk
Adams was right behind Andy, managing to
hold onto his lead in the series Scale
standings.
At this point it was time to move the NACS
to the heart of America’s cheese country—
Wausau, Wisconsin—where the Wausau R/C
Sportsmen hosted the fourth contest of the
series. Many of the competitors were flying in
their first NACS contest of the year.
Mike Fredericks put up his first win in
SSC and added to his scores from Paris and
Hamilton. Mike Bohlman won it all in Open
B, flying some extraordinarily goodperforming
airplanes.
In July the series moved to the middle of
America and was contested at the National
Flying Site at the AMA Nats. SSC was flown
first. Chris Quinn put a severe hurt on all
other competitors, taking his second event of
the series and the lead.
Ten rounds of Open B and Scale were
flown during the three-day schedule. The lead
position changed several times, but Eric
Wenger eventually rose to the top of Open B
and became the new series leader. Lee Liddle
won Scale and was locked in a close race with
Kirk Adams going to the next event.
In early September the series moved to its
farthest point west to date: Waverly,
Nebraska, home of the Mid West
Championship. The driving distance was out
of range for SSC leader Chris Quinn, Scale
leader Kirk Adams, and contender in all
classes Mike Fredricks. It was the perfect
opportunity for the Texans and Oklahomans
to jump out in front.
Don Howard was on fire and won Open
B and Scale. Combined with his finishes at
Paris and Muncie, he rocketed into the top
echelon of the National Points Standings, or
NPS. Lee Liddle won SSC and took a clear
lead in the series.
The RCCA used its NPS system to
determine the 2004 NACS winners.
Congratulations to Lee Liddle for his victories
in SSC and Open B and to Kirk Adams for
winning Scale. It was an exciting year that
featured many improvements in technology
and advances in piloting skills.
RC Combat is one of the fastest-growing
disciplines in modeling, and 2005 promises
to be another banner year. For more
information about this event, visit
www.rccombat.com to learn the rules, see the
models, and read about all aspects of building
and flying Combat airplanes. MA
Lou Melancon
105 Morton Walk Dr.
Alpharetta GA 30022
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 47,48,49,50,52,55
RC Combat North American
Championship Series
by Lou Melancon
North American Championship
Series Events
• Lone Star Nationals (Paris TX) in
March
• Havoc Over Hamilton (Hamilton OH)
in April
• Southern Fried Combat (Andersonville
GA) in May
• Wild Wings Over Wausau (Wausau
WI) in June
• Marathon Before Muncie (Richmond
IN) in July
• AMA Nats (Muncie IN) in July
• Mid West Championship (Waverly NE)
in September
• Houston Texas Jetero Field (Houston
TX) in November
• Pearl Harbor Classic (Palomar CA) in
December MA
—Lou Melancon
WHEN YOU ARE involved in a new event in modeling, you
normally look for ways to promote your sport. The North American
Championship Series (NACS) was designed to attract the largest
number of competitors and showcase RC Combat to the largest
audiences possible.
Early in 2004, a survey of the Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) membership revealed which manufacturers’ equipment the
pilots used and what they planned to purchase in the upcoming year.
Armed with this data, the RCCA contacted potential sponsors and
showed them the impact that Combat fliers had on their product
sales.
O.S. Engines, Powermaster Fuels, Hitec RCD, and Windsor
Propeller Corporation (Master Airscrew) agreed to fund the
advertising campaign to promote the contest series. Their support
has been vital in making it a resounding success.
How It All Started: According to RCCA Hall of Fame member
Doug Haacke, RC Combat began as follows.
“The first organized form of RC Combat traces its formal roots
back to 1988, when a Norwegian gentleman named Helge Oerboe
helped found the International Dogfighters Association with the
intention of gaining interest in the new, untested, and untried sport
of dogfighting 1/12th scale radio controlled WW II warbirds.
“Without the benefit of experience, and armed only with good
intentions, this ambitious Norwegian, along with several others
from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany, drafted the first set
of dogfighting rules. These rules quickly found their way into the
hands of some equally enthusiastic fellow US modelers such as
Dave Platt and Greg Rose, and before long AMA had a set of
provisional rules for RC Combat.
Andy Panoncillo won Scale at the Dixie Nationals, flying his
Japanese B5N Kates. Nice collection of streamers!
Dynamic action shot of a Japanese Ki-61 vividly shows the
streamers it has cut off of other models during a match.
Scale Combat action at the Nats. This is a thrilling event to watch.
February 2005 47
Lee Liddle’s Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) has two Russianmanufactured
Cyclon PC3 engines—the same type used in CL
Combat.
Lee Liddle with the SSC version of his awesome Cobra design.
There’s ample room in this event for originality.
Mark LaBoyteaux at the Paris, Texas, contest with the Grumman
F7F Tigercat that he designed and built.
Joe Thompson hand launches Lou Melancon’s Boeing XF8B in
Scale Combat competition at the Dixie Nationals.
Bert Dodson (left) and his son Randy prepare their Ki-61 for
launch in Scale at Dixie Nationals. Notice the helmets!
What Is RC Combat?
• An airplane trails a 30-foot crepe-paper streamer and tries to
“cut” other models’ streamers while saving its own in a match
that lasts five minutes.
• Four to 12 airplanes fly against each other at one time.
• The pilot with the most “cuts” wins the match. At North
American Championship Series events, pilots fly six to eight
times each day, and the one with the highest score, based on the
number of cuts, wins.
Contestants’ scores are entered into the RCCA’s National
Points Standings. Point totals are kept annually for national
rankings.
• There are two types of Combat models: World War II Scale
fighters and “Open” designs. There are two popular engine
classes: .15 and .25-.30.
• Because of the stringent regulations, a safe environment for
pilots and spectators is maintained. MA
—Lou Melancon
A lineup of some of the Scale Combat aircraft at the Dixie
Championships—a wide variety of types for sure!
Eric Wenger won the 2004 Nats with a TEAMseaholm Avenger 72.
John LaBarre prepares for a match. He’s a pilot for Delta Airlines
and is the organizing force behind Havoc Over Hamilton.
Lee Liddle shows some fluid form in this launch photo.
RC Combat Myths
• Combat airplanes have to be fast. To fly effectively
in this event, your model has to fly at similar speeds to
the competition. Combat aircraft are also large for
their engine sizes. The wings—not the propeller—are
used to cut the streamers.
• Combat airplanes are skittish. These are among the
most stable models in the sport. They have to be easy
to fly and completely trustworthy to use them
effectively in Combat.
• You need great aerobatic skills to fly Combat.
Successful Combat fliers’ most important
characteristics are patience and planning pursuit.
Good piloting abilities help, but most fliers have
average aerobatic skills and an above-average ability
to process visual data quickly. MA
—Lou Melancon
Mark LaBoyteaux and Bob Leone’s co-designed P-38 Scale
fighter. Five twins flew in the same heat at Paris, Texas!
February 2005 49
Rick Bohlman designed and scratch-built his Focke-Wulf Ta 152.
He even made the molds to produce the fiberglass fuselage.
From the looks of it, A.J. Seaholm has just landed after a
successful round of Scale Combat with his Ki-64 at the Nats.
RCCA President Lou Melancon where you normally find him:
behind the bullhorn, here at the 2004 Nats awards ceremony.
Petr Bachan did extensive research before designing the
successful, fast, elusive, and uncommon Horten X1 for Scale.
Eric Wenger looks happy. He should because he won SSC at the
Paris, Texas, championships in March 2004.
“The Internet has played a pivotal role in
bringing Scale Combat pilots together from all
over the globe in a startlingly short time
period. The Scale Combat Web site
(www.rccombat.com), started in 1995,
provided a forum for novice and experienced
RC pilots to share their tremendous wealth of
widely varied experiences and publicly
displayed the trials and tribulations of this new
and exciting sport for all to see, to comment
on, and to learn from.
“A short time later, the American Scale
Dogfighters Association was formed.”
Evolution of Classes: In the late 1990s a
second Combat classification called “Open”
was created. It is a nonscale division in which
a designer’s imagination is limited only by the
maximum engine displacement of .30 cid and
the maximum model weight of 3.5 pounds.
Open Combat has grown at a prodigious rate
since its beginnings and is now the dominant
category.
Late in 2002, Combat fliers realized that
the Open Combat models’ speeds and kinetic
energy had reached a point of diminishing
return. Airframes were being damaged in
midair collisions at a rate that was
unacceptable to even the most prolific
builders.
A new Open class called Slow Survivable
Combat (SSC) was developed to slow the
airplanes down, reduce the battle damage, and
lessen the technological advances, all in an
attempt to make the competition a battle of
pilots rather than machines. SSC has
succeeded beyond all expectations and was the
most-contested class in 2004.
The NACS features nine large regional
Combat events in many areas of the country,
to provide the pilots venues for competition
and to introduce the RC community to this
new and exciting event.
This year’s nine-event series began in March
in the teeming metropolis of Paris—Texas,
that is. After waging verbal war on the Internet
forums during the winter months, the Combat
fliers’ pent-up energy was ready for release.
The competitors came from across the
country, arriving from Virginia, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, California, and
Arizona. There were more than 70 pilots. As
the cars, trailers, vans, and motor homes rolled
into the flying site, the trash talking and chest
pounding started in earnest. Combat fliers like
to talk almost as much as they like to fly.
Saturday morning, 52 pilots signed up for
the .25-size event: Open B. This is the fastest
Open category and is hotly contested. The
computer-generated matrix determined which
heat of the five each pilot would fly in for the
six rounds. There were 30 matches of 10
airplanes or more that day. After an epic battle
in which the lead switched hands many times,
Texan Lee Liddle came out on top, averaging
more than three cuts per round.
Scale Combat (Class 2610 was contested
throughout the series) had 20 participants. For
the first time there were five Scale twin-engine
aircraft entered: an F7F Tigercat, a P-38, a
MiG-5, an Me 110, and an Fw 189. It was
exciting to see twin fighters mixing it up with
other World War II fighters.
At the end of four hard-fought rounds,
Maryland’s Kirk Adams won in a close race
with Oklahoma’s Don Howard. Kirk flew
Blackburn Firebrands, and Don campaigned
TBD Devastators.
SSC—the RCCA’s provisional class (not
in the AMA rule book)—had 61 entrants. It
was decided to fly six-airplane heats with 10
heats for six rounds. The winds had come up
and were gusting to 25 mph for these big
models powered by .15 engines.
Gaining revenge for his second-place
finish in Open B the day before, Oklahoman
Eric Wenger won SSC with Lee Liddle
finishing second. The stage was set for
competition in the events to come.
Next on the NACS trail was Havoc Over
Hamilton outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, hosted by the HAWKS RC club.
Many of the fliers who competed at Paris
made the trek to the Midwest.
Kirk Adams successfully defended his
Scale Combat status by winning after six
rounds. Tennesseean Chris Quinn prevailed
after 10 rounds of SSC and jumped to the top
of the standings. In Open B, Wisconsin’s
Mike “Dr. Evil” Fredricks cleaned everyone’s
clock. The next stop would be the deep South.
Southern Fried Combat at the Dixie
Championships was held in late May at Mac
Hodges Field, which he built. This was the
fourth annual Dixie Championships, and fliers
came from across the country to compete in it.
Lee Liddle was dominant in SSC, taking a
win and the series lead. Texan Mike Willcox,
who was the reigning CL Combat World
Champion at that time, won Open B. Coming
all the way from Muncie, Indiana, Andy
Panoncillo won Scale. (He won Open B at the
first Dixie Championships in 2001.) Kirk
Adams was right behind Andy, managing to
hold onto his lead in the series Scale
standings.
At this point it was time to move the NACS
to the heart of America’s cheese country—
Wausau, Wisconsin—where the Wausau R/C
Sportsmen hosted the fourth contest of the
series. Many of the competitors were flying in
their first NACS contest of the year.
Mike Fredericks put up his first win in
SSC and added to his scores from Paris and
Hamilton. Mike Bohlman won it all in Open
B, flying some extraordinarily goodperforming
airplanes.
In July the series moved to the middle of
America and was contested at the National
Flying Site at the AMA Nats. SSC was flown
first. Chris Quinn put a severe hurt on all
other competitors, taking his second event of
the series and the lead.
Ten rounds of Open B and Scale were
flown during the three-day schedule. The lead
position changed several times, but Eric
Wenger eventually rose to the top of Open B
and became the new series leader. Lee Liddle
won Scale and was locked in a close race with
Kirk Adams going to the next event.
In early September the series moved to its
farthest point west to date: Waverly,
Nebraska, home of the Mid West
Championship. The driving distance was out
of range for SSC leader Chris Quinn, Scale
leader Kirk Adams, and contender in all
classes Mike Fredricks. It was the perfect
opportunity for the Texans and Oklahomans
to jump out in front.
Don Howard was on fire and won Open
B and Scale. Combined with his finishes at
Paris and Muncie, he rocketed into the top
echelon of the National Points Standings, or
NPS. Lee Liddle won SSC and took a clear
lead in the series.
The RCCA used its NPS system to
determine the 2004 NACS winners.
Congratulations to Lee Liddle for his victories
in SSC and Open B and to Kirk Adams for
winning Scale. It was an exciting year that
featured many improvements in technology
and advances in piloting skills.
RC Combat is one of the fastest-growing
disciplines in modeling, and 2005 promises
to be another banner year. For more
information about this event, visit
www.rccombat.com to learn the rules, see the
models, and read about all aspects of building
and flying Combat airplanes. MA
Lou Melancon
105 Morton Walk Dr.
Alpharetta GA 30022
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/02
Page Numbers: 47,48,49,50,52,55
RC Combat North American
Championship Series
by Lou Melancon
North American Championship
Series Events
• Lone Star Nationals (Paris TX) in
March
• Havoc Over Hamilton (Hamilton OH)
in April
• Southern Fried Combat (Andersonville
GA) in May
• Wild Wings Over Wausau (Wausau
WI) in June
• Marathon Before Muncie (Richmond
IN) in July
• AMA Nats (Muncie IN) in July
• Mid West Championship (Waverly NE)
in September
• Houston Texas Jetero Field (Houston
TX) in November
• Pearl Harbor Classic (Palomar CA) in
December MA
—Lou Melancon
WHEN YOU ARE involved in a new event in modeling, you
normally look for ways to promote your sport. The North American
Championship Series (NACS) was designed to attract the largest
number of competitors and showcase RC Combat to the largest
audiences possible.
Early in 2004, a survey of the Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) membership revealed which manufacturers’ equipment the
pilots used and what they planned to purchase in the upcoming year.
Armed with this data, the RCCA contacted potential sponsors and
showed them the impact that Combat fliers had on their product
sales.
O.S. Engines, Powermaster Fuels, Hitec RCD, and Windsor
Propeller Corporation (Master Airscrew) agreed to fund the
advertising campaign to promote the contest series. Their support
has been vital in making it a resounding success.
How It All Started: According to RCCA Hall of Fame member
Doug Haacke, RC Combat began as follows.
“The first organized form of RC Combat traces its formal roots
back to 1988, when a Norwegian gentleman named Helge Oerboe
helped found the International Dogfighters Association with the
intention of gaining interest in the new, untested, and untried sport
of dogfighting 1/12th scale radio controlled WW II warbirds.
“Without the benefit of experience, and armed only with good
intentions, this ambitious Norwegian, along with several others
from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Germany, drafted the first set
of dogfighting rules. These rules quickly found their way into the
hands of some equally enthusiastic fellow US modelers such as
Dave Platt and Greg Rose, and before long AMA had a set of
provisional rules for RC Combat.
Andy Panoncillo won Scale at the Dixie Nationals, flying his
Japanese B5N Kates. Nice collection of streamers!
Dynamic action shot of a Japanese Ki-61 vividly shows the
streamers it has cut off of other models during a match.
Scale Combat action at the Nats. This is a thrilling event to watch.
February 2005 47
Lee Liddle’s Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) has two Russianmanufactured
Cyclon PC3 engines—the same type used in CL
Combat.
Lee Liddle with the SSC version of his awesome Cobra design.
There’s ample room in this event for originality.
Mark LaBoyteaux at the Paris, Texas, contest with the Grumman
F7F Tigercat that he designed and built.
Joe Thompson hand launches Lou Melancon’s Boeing XF8B in
Scale Combat competition at the Dixie Nationals.
Bert Dodson (left) and his son Randy prepare their Ki-61 for
launch in Scale at Dixie Nationals. Notice the helmets!
What Is RC Combat?
• An airplane trails a 30-foot crepe-paper streamer and tries to
“cut” other models’ streamers while saving its own in a match
that lasts five minutes.
• Four to 12 airplanes fly against each other at one time.
• The pilot with the most “cuts” wins the match. At North
American Championship Series events, pilots fly six to eight
times each day, and the one with the highest score, based on the
number of cuts, wins.
Contestants’ scores are entered into the RCCA’s National
Points Standings. Point totals are kept annually for national
rankings.
• There are two types of Combat models: World War II Scale
fighters and “Open” designs. There are two popular engine
classes: .15 and .25-.30.
• Because of the stringent regulations, a safe environment for
pilots and spectators is maintained. MA
—Lou Melancon
A lineup of some of the Scale Combat aircraft at the Dixie
Championships—a wide variety of types for sure!
Eric Wenger won the 2004 Nats with a TEAMseaholm Avenger 72.
John LaBarre prepares for a match. He’s a pilot for Delta Airlines
and is the organizing force behind Havoc Over Hamilton.
Lee Liddle shows some fluid form in this launch photo.
RC Combat Myths
• Combat airplanes have to be fast. To fly effectively
in this event, your model has to fly at similar speeds to
the competition. Combat aircraft are also large for
their engine sizes. The wings—not the propeller—are
used to cut the streamers.
• Combat airplanes are skittish. These are among the
most stable models in the sport. They have to be easy
to fly and completely trustworthy to use them
effectively in Combat.
• You need great aerobatic skills to fly Combat.
Successful Combat fliers’ most important
characteristics are patience and planning pursuit.
Good piloting abilities help, but most fliers have
average aerobatic skills and an above-average ability
to process visual data quickly. MA
—Lou Melancon
Mark LaBoyteaux and Bob Leone’s co-designed P-38 Scale
fighter. Five twins flew in the same heat at Paris, Texas!
February 2005 49
Rick Bohlman designed and scratch-built his Focke-Wulf Ta 152.
He even made the molds to produce the fiberglass fuselage.
From the looks of it, A.J. Seaholm has just landed after a
successful round of Scale Combat with his Ki-64 at the Nats.
RCCA President Lou Melancon where you normally find him:
behind the bullhorn, here at the 2004 Nats awards ceremony.
Petr Bachan did extensive research before designing the
successful, fast, elusive, and uncommon Horten X1 for Scale.
Eric Wenger looks happy. He should because he won SSC at the
Paris, Texas, championships in March 2004.
“The Internet has played a pivotal role in
bringing Scale Combat pilots together from all
over the globe in a startlingly short time
period. The Scale Combat Web site
(www.rccombat.com), started in 1995,
provided a forum for novice and experienced
RC pilots to share their tremendous wealth of
widely varied experiences and publicly
displayed the trials and tribulations of this new
and exciting sport for all to see, to comment
on, and to learn from.
“A short time later, the American Scale
Dogfighters Association was formed.”
Evolution of Classes: In the late 1990s a
second Combat classification called “Open”
was created. It is a nonscale division in which
a designer’s imagination is limited only by the
maximum engine displacement of .30 cid and
the maximum model weight of 3.5 pounds.
Open Combat has grown at a prodigious rate
since its beginnings and is now the dominant
category.
Late in 2002, Combat fliers realized that
the Open Combat models’ speeds and kinetic
energy had reached a point of diminishing
return. Airframes were being damaged in
midair collisions at a rate that was
unacceptable to even the most prolific
builders.
A new Open class called Slow Survivable
Combat (SSC) was developed to slow the
airplanes down, reduce the battle damage, and
lessen the technological advances, all in an
attempt to make the competition a battle of
pilots rather than machines. SSC has
succeeded beyond all expectations and was the
most-contested class in 2004.
The NACS features nine large regional
Combat events in many areas of the country,
to provide the pilots venues for competition
and to introduce the RC community to this
new and exciting event.
This year’s nine-event series began in March
in the teeming metropolis of Paris—Texas,
that is. After waging verbal war on the Internet
forums during the winter months, the Combat
fliers’ pent-up energy was ready for release.
The competitors came from across the
country, arriving from Virginia, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, California, and
Arizona. There were more than 70 pilots. As
the cars, trailers, vans, and motor homes rolled
into the flying site, the trash talking and chest
pounding started in earnest. Combat fliers like
to talk almost as much as they like to fly.
Saturday morning, 52 pilots signed up for
the .25-size event: Open B. This is the fastest
Open category and is hotly contested. The
computer-generated matrix determined which
heat of the five each pilot would fly in for the
six rounds. There were 30 matches of 10
airplanes or more that day. After an epic battle
in which the lead switched hands many times,
Texan Lee Liddle came out on top, averaging
more than three cuts per round.
Scale Combat (Class 2610 was contested
throughout the series) had 20 participants. For
the first time there were five Scale twin-engine
aircraft entered: an F7F Tigercat, a P-38, a
MiG-5, an Me 110, and an Fw 189. It was
exciting to see twin fighters mixing it up with
other World War II fighters.
At the end of four hard-fought rounds,
Maryland’s Kirk Adams won in a close race
with Oklahoma’s Don Howard. Kirk flew
Blackburn Firebrands, and Don campaigned
TBD Devastators.
SSC—the RCCA’s provisional class (not
in the AMA rule book)—had 61 entrants. It
was decided to fly six-airplane heats with 10
heats for six rounds. The winds had come up
and were gusting to 25 mph for these big
models powered by .15 engines.
Gaining revenge for his second-place
finish in Open B the day before, Oklahoman
Eric Wenger won SSC with Lee Liddle
finishing second. The stage was set for
competition in the events to come.
Next on the NACS trail was Havoc Over
Hamilton outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, hosted by the HAWKS RC club.
Many of the fliers who competed at Paris
made the trek to the Midwest.
Kirk Adams successfully defended his
Scale Combat status by winning after six
rounds. Tennesseean Chris Quinn prevailed
after 10 rounds of SSC and jumped to the top
of the standings. In Open B, Wisconsin’s
Mike “Dr. Evil” Fredricks cleaned everyone’s
clock. The next stop would be the deep South.
Southern Fried Combat at the Dixie
Championships was held in late May at Mac
Hodges Field, which he built. This was the
fourth annual Dixie Championships, and fliers
came from across the country to compete in it.
Lee Liddle was dominant in SSC, taking a
win and the series lead. Texan Mike Willcox,
who was the reigning CL Combat World
Champion at that time, won Open B. Coming
all the way from Muncie, Indiana, Andy
Panoncillo won Scale. (He won Open B at the
first Dixie Championships in 2001.) Kirk
Adams was right behind Andy, managing to
hold onto his lead in the series Scale
standings.
At this point it was time to move the NACS
to the heart of America’s cheese country—
Wausau, Wisconsin—where the Wausau R/C
Sportsmen hosted the fourth contest of the
series. Many of the competitors were flying in
their first NACS contest of the year.
Mike Fredericks put up his first win in
SSC and added to his scores from Paris and
Hamilton. Mike Bohlman won it all in Open
B, flying some extraordinarily goodperforming
airplanes.
In July the series moved to the middle of
America and was contested at the National
Flying Site at the AMA Nats. SSC was flown
first. Chris Quinn put a severe hurt on all
other competitors, taking his second event of
the series and the lead.
Ten rounds of Open B and Scale were
flown during the three-day schedule. The lead
position changed several times, but Eric
Wenger eventually rose to the top of Open B
and became the new series leader. Lee Liddle
won Scale and was locked in a close race with
Kirk Adams going to the next event.
In early September the series moved to its
farthest point west to date: Waverly,
Nebraska, home of the Mid West
Championship. The driving distance was out
of range for SSC leader Chris Quinn, Scale
leader Kirk Adams, and contender in all
classes Mike Fredricks. It was the perfect
opportunity for the Texans and Oklahomans
to jump out in front.
Don Howard was on fire and won Open
B and Scale. Combined with his finishes at
Paris and Muncie, he rocketed into the top
echelon of the National Points Standings, or
NPS. Lee Liddle won SSC and took a clear
lead in the series.
The RCCA used its NPS system to
determine the 2004 NACS winners.
Congratulations to Lee Liddle for his victories
in SSC and Open B and to Kirk Adams for
winning Scale. It was an exciting year that
featured many improvements in technology
and advances in piloting skills.
RC Combat is one of the fastest-growing
disciplines in modeling, and 2005 promises
to be another banner year. For more
information about this event, visit
www.rccombat.com to learn the rules, see the
models, and read about all aspects of building
and flying Combat airplanes. MA
Lou Melancon
105 Morton Walk Dr.
Alpharetta GA 30022