CONTROL LINE NAVY CARRIER
Dick Perry, 427 Live Oak Ln. NE, Albuquerque NM 87122; E-mail: [email protected]
THE NAVY-CARRIER community lost another one of its own October 10, 2001, with the passing of Gerry Deneau. Gerry had been active in modeling since before I came to know him some 20 years ago.
Gerry promoted the Navy Carrier event as well as Scale events, and flew and judged in both regularly. Those who flew at the Nationals (Nats) in the 1980s saw him regularly as a contestant, a willing helper, and even an event director.
In 1982 Gerry was a prime mover in the development of the .15 Carrier event as a club activity for the Rocky Mountain Aeromodelers. The “Denver Rules” that we still use were largely his doing.
Gerry was an avid designer, particularly for the .15 Carrier event. His SBD-3 model for .15 Carrier introduced the event to the rest of the modeling community when it was published as a construction article in the November 1984 Model Aviation.
He also assisted Melvin Schuette in publishing Melvin’s XF-13C.
Gerry’s passing is yet another significant loss this year, not only to Control Line (CL) Navy Carrier, but to the sport of aeromodeling as a whole. We’ll miss you, Gerry.
Carrier at the Nats: It has been my tradition to use the February issue to discuss the models and other equipment used at the Nats, so those who did not attend can see what was being used and how well it worked.
The complete results and summary of equipment are published in the High-Low Landings newsletter of the Navy Carrier Society (NCS). If you are not a member, join by sending $6 to the NCS treasurer, Bill Bischoff, at 2609 Harris Dr., Garland TX 75041.
This was an interesting year for performance, in general, with excellent flight conditions the mornings of both competition days. The conditions allowed a number of “personal best” performances and three national records.
Pete Mazur set the Open Profile Carrier record at 391.5 with his MO-1 design that he has used very successfully in the past. His high speed of 93.7 mph combined with a low speed of 5 mph (six minutes) to produce the record performance.
The model has a wing area of 380 square inches and a weight of 46 ounces, for the lightest wing loading of any Profile model at the Nats. Wing loading is a significant contributor to low-speed performance, and Pete’s results certainly support that conclusion.
Pete used a Tune Hill conversion of the O.S. .40 FSR engine driving a Grish 9 x 7 propeller. The throttle was a standard O.S. 4B coupled to Pete’s original exhaust slide.
Andy Westerheim set two Senior records: 435.8 in Class I and 409.3 in Class II. Both models were Bill Bischoff MO-1s with foam wings and 345 square inches of wing area.
In Class I, Andy used a Wiley .40 on suction to produce a top speed of 91.1 mph and a low speed of 6.3 mph (285 seconds). In Class II, Andy’s choice was a K&B .48, also on suction, for 90.6 mph and 7.6 mph (235 seconds).
As in the past, the MO-1 was the dominant model; Bill Bischoff’s design was the most numerous on the field. It is the standard model for the Texan contingent. It occupied the top two places in Class I and the top four places in Class II.
The innovation this year was a new line-slider that used an arrow shaft with a longitudinal slot as the guide for the slide. It is a very clean installation.
MO-1s by other designers filled out all the trophy slots in both events except for Bill Calkins’ Zero, which placed fifth in Class I.
Kelly Hite was the best high-speed performer in all three events. He managed 111.0 mph in Class I and 101.9 in Class II — the only one exceeding 100 mph. Both of his models used suction fuel systems with OS .46 carburetors on the engines.
Kelly’s Class I model used a Fox Mk7 engine with an APC 9 x 6 propeller, and his Class II model used an MVVS .61 turning an APC 10 x 8. His Profile speed was 99.1 with another Fox Mk7.
The only model faster in Profile was Mike Greb’s MO-1 powered by a Nelson engine. Mike posted 91.9 mph high speed.
In Profile Carrier, there were the three Wiley engines, the two Foxes, three Nelsons, three OS .32s, two Webras, two OS conversions, a couple of K&Bs, and a SuperTigre .35 conversion.
The variety in Class I and Class II was equally diverse. In Class II, the top four places and the top five high speeds all more than 100 mph were large engines of .61 or .65 cubic-inch displacement.
A new wrinkle in the event this year was that for all of the Class II models that posted a low speed score, the final ranking was identical to the ranking of high speeds. It was almost like being back in the 1960s or 1970s.
It wasn’t much different in Class I except for the tight grouping of Bill Bischoff, Marc Warashina, and Pete Mazur between 93.4 and 96.1 mph, where low speed was the determining factor.
In Class I and Class II, Bill Calkins (his Zero) and Ted Kraver (Supermarine Seafire and Douglas SBD Dauntless) entered the only really new models. All three were derived from Radio Control (RC) kits intended for the 1/2-scale RC Combat event.
Because of the scale requirement, most of the kits for this event should be within our 5% scale outline requirement. That is not always the case, and you should check to make sure the model matches the three-view drawing you use for documentation.
Almost all of these models are World War II-era aircraft, and the sizes at 1/2 scale are small by the standards of today’s Class I and II models — ranging from 240 to 320 square inches.
Of all the potential models from this source, the largest that would likely be available are the Douglas SBD Dauntless (335 square inches) and the Grumman F6F Hellcat (325 square inches).
In Profile Carrier, the Sportsman event provided a good variety of models without a single MO-1.
There were 11 MO-1s in the official Profile Carrier event, but there were also a few other designs. Bill Calkins flew his Guardian, which has been kitted by Brodak, John Ulna and Gary Hullifew Consolidated XBY-1s.
The XBY-1s were roughly the same size as the MO-1, and like the MO-1, the XBY-1 is a high-wing monoplane. Also like the MO-1, the XBY-1 was an insignificant aircraft in the history of full-scale carrier operations.
Based on the configuration and size, the Consolidated XBY-1 should be competitive with the MO-1 design, but it is going to be hard to beat the decades of combined experience with the MO-1. Those who fly the MO-1 have developed the design very thoroughly.
I’ve reached the end of my allotted space for this month. I hope this information is helpful in inspiring you to produce a new model for the coming year.
There are many ways to be competitive, and there is a lot of fun to be had in flying Carrier. I’ll look forward to seeing a flock of new models at the Nats next summer! MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
