AMA News: District X-2011/12

NAPA, CALIFORNIA: The Napa Bunch
put on a CL Speed contest September 11 and
12 at the Jim Tichy Memorial Flying Field.
Through the efforts of Jim Tichy and other
modelers in the area, city officials replaced the
old field when it was closed for a floodcontrol
project. The field has been renamed in
the late Mr. Tichy’s honor.
The new field, at Napa’s John F. Kennedy
Park, is a beautiful facility with a 180-foot
diameter blacktop circle surrounded by a
protective fence. The city’s park system
handles the basic maintenance work. Local
CL fliers do the extra labor to keep the field
ready for contests. It is one of the best flying
fields in California.
There were 11 contestants and total of 25
flights. The results are as follows. All speeds
are in miles per hour:
½A Proto: First, Randy Bush, 103.228;
second, Jerry Rocha, 98.899; third, Karl
Caldwell, 90.212; fourth, Jim Rhoades,
80.386.
A Speed: First, Brad Anderson, 180.564.
B Speed: First, Glen Dye, 130.666.
C Speed: First, Karl Caldwell, 147.445.
D Speed: First, Karl Caldwell, 160.078.
.21 Sport Speed: First, Brad Anderson,
146.128; second, Karl Caldwell, 144.811.
F2A: First, Jim Rhoades, attempt.
Perky Speed: First, Phil Heller, 97.785;
second, Jerry Rocha, 93.039; third, Kurt
Kerner, 89.753; fourth, Ed Solenberger,
84.340; average, Kurt Kerner, 89.753.
CD Jerry Rocha did the lion’s share of the
work getting the field ready for the contest.
Arnold Nelson did the paperwork and Luke
Roy provided a hand. Winners received a
bottle of wine. Jerry and his wife, Sue, hosted
a barbecue at their home on Saturday evening
for all the contestants. Thanks to the Rochas.
CL flying has a rich history in California,
peaking in the mid-1940s. The Western
Associated Modelers (WAM), led by “Pop
and Mom” Roberts, was formed to provide
rules for all forms of CL flying in the
California area.
The old days bring to mind the Hells
Angels of Napa club, formed in 1947/1948 by
a young group of mostly Speed fliers. Among
them were Mr. and Mrs. McGowan and their
three sons, Ray, Stanley, and Eddy. Others
included Phil Green, Floyd Bradford, Arnold
Nelson, Karl Caldwell, Gordon Wheeler, Ed
Smuts, Bob Wakerly, and Donnie Glaser.
This club dominated the Speed circles in the
late 1940s through the 1960s.
The club’s name first showed up in the
1930 Howard Hughes movie and was later
picked up by the 303 Bombardment Group in
World War II. The Napa club copyrighted the
name.
In the late 1950s or early 1960s, the Hells
Angels Motorcycle Club came to Bob
Wakerly’s front door in Napa with about 50
members on their bikes. They asked for the
copyright to the name. By that time, the model
club had mostly disbanded and the remaining
members were not opposed to releasing the
copyright.
Five members of the former Hells Angels
of Napa model club showed up at the Napa
meet. Karl Caldwell came as a contestant,
Arnold Nelson was an official, and Ray and
Eddy McGowan and Gordon Wheeler were
visitors.
Today there are 10 AMA Speed classes.
The engine size classes range from the .049
½A class all the way up to the .65 D class.
There is also a jet class. The aircraft are all
flown on either one or two lines. The singlewire
CL has the least drag, resulting in higher
speeds. Five of the classes can be flown on
either one or two lines, and the rest must be
flown on two lines.
When an official AMA contest such as
Napa’s is flown, a steel pylon must be affixed
in the center of the flying circle. The
contestant must run around the pylon while
flying the model in level flight, with speeds
reaching more than 200 mph.
The contestants are getting older so rule
changes now allow proxy fliers for fliers who
can no longer run around the pylon. If not for
this proxy rule, there would be little Speed-
Flying in the US.
Thanks to Arnold Nelson for covering the
seventh annual Napa CL Speed Bash and
telling us about a group of fliers who first met
in the late 1940s and more than 60 years later
still get together to enjoy modeling.
To read an expanded version of this
column and see more pictures, visit
www.ama10.org and click on the blog link at
the top of the page. There you’ll find the last
10 blog postings and under the archive link at
the top center of the page all of the district
coverage.
Happy landings.
The Napa Hells Angels in the 1940s: Carl
Caldwell, front right; Ed McGowan, front,
third from right; Gordon Wheeler, front, third
from left; Arnie Nelson, back, second from
left; Ray McGowan, back, fifth from left.
The Napa Hells Angels today (L-R) Carl
Caldwell, Ed McGowan, Gordon Wheeler,
Arnie Nelson, and Ray McGowan.
CD Jerry Rocha and Randy Bush.