Aero Mail
Mitsubishi Masterpiece
Tom Hallman's photography is just irresistible, isn't it? Great cover!
Don DeLoach Colorado Springs, Colorado
Simple, yet perfect.
TJ Rohyans Mobile, Alabama
Simla Design
Check this out. Here's the "miracle" image that helped us find the original measurements to come up with the fuselage (and wing) for the Simla. In the article "Ed Kazmirski's Simla" in the March 2011 issue I wrote that it was the "key to the puzzle."
To me the actual "construction" and building is not as important as the story behind the construction - how it came to be. To that end, I've included a photo of the desk where much of the Simla research was conducted. Bringing this project to life, and working and getting to know so many great people, is what made the project truly rewarding.
Thanks for giving me the challenge back in the fall of 2007, and the chance to have the project published.
Duane Wilson via e-mail
Bring Back RC Combat!
I'm attaching a photo of the Air Combat America Show Team seen here posing at Top Gun 2010 with Dave Mathewson (wearing a yellow shirt) and Frank Tiano (wearing a black shirt). Other than the occasional combat column by good friend Don Grissom, RC Combat isn't getting much publicity these days in print. I'd be happy to provide you with more history and detail on the team if you like.
As seems to be the case with every area of our beloved hobby, except maybe park fliers, there seems to be a pervasive lack of enthusiasm and new growth in RC Combat. I, and my sponsored team, have been trying to promote combat (real combat at sanctioned contests) by flying demonstrations at events in South Florida for four years now. They're a great bunch of guys and could use any additional exposure you might have for them to further our cause. Numbers of competitors at this year's (2010) Nats were appalling, to say the least.
Adding insult to injury comes when a club that has hosted an annual combat contest for five years decides, by way of formal vote (at a carefully chosen meeting I could not attend), not to have any more combat events due to low turnout at one contest. Surrendering use of the field to a handful of pilots for the weekend is a surefire way to draw the wrath of those who chafe at the very notion of an activity other than the usual: fly around in a circle, crash, rinse, repeat.
Sadly, those complaining the loudest are also those who fly the least and in some cases not at all - a club priding itself on being the "largest" in the USA with 400+ members no less. I have a feeling you know exactly what I'm talking about.
I'm fighting an uphill battle in both directions with declining numbers of competition pilots and club opposition to sanctioned events that "close" the field. Sorry, but I am old school, and without sanctioned competition I think we're all just a bunch of park fliers in a sense.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
