CONTROL LINE COMBAT - 2003/06

142 MODEL AVIATION
THOSE OF US who fly Control Line
Combat do so because it is fun and we derive
a tremendous amount of satisfaction from it.
It fulfills our needs to create something with
our hands, make things work to the highest
levels, socialize with people from different
backgrounds who share our interests, and
compete in an aggressive sport (without
getting hurt). That last item will no doubt
generate a good deal of conversation, pro and
con.
We do not normally get hurt while
engaged in practice-flying or in competition.
However, there have been many instances of
fuel being sprayed into eyes, cuts on fingers,
line abrasions, dislocation of a shoulder, and
some people being hit by models and
requiring trips to the emergency room. Dr.
Chuck Rudner has been summoned to give
first aid on many occasions in the 29 years I
have known him. These injuries are few and
far between, and many could have been
prevented.
Part of the thrill of Combat is that one’s
models are always at risk of getting damaged
or even totally destroyed. In years past, when
I built all of my models, I took it personally
when one of my airplanes was rekitted. I
thought of it as 12-15 hours of my labor
going down the drain.
The satisfaction of having flown a wellfought
match, regardless of the outcome, is
why we enter Combat competitions. Some
fliers tell of their exploits again and again and
say, “Do you remember the time when we
flew against each other up in San Jose back in
’77 and we just dropped from exhaustion
afterward?”
Although Combat pilots turn into dire
enemies when they are matched up in the
circle, they return to being friends when the
match is finished. Yes, there are cases of
Hatfields-and-McCoys types of feuds, but
they are few. Combat continues to be fun as
long as you remember that that is why we fly
the event.
We Combat fliers have probably been
holding our annual Beach Brunch and 1⁄2A
Combat session for some 15 years. It started
with me, Steve Hills, and Pete Athans
wanting to get in some end-of-the-year tailchasing.
December 31, 2002, was the sixth
year that I made a “Last Kill of the Year”
trophy, but we had been flying long before
that.
We limit the engines to Tee Dee .049s or
.051s and fly on 35-foot lines. Almost
everyone is evenly matched, making the
Combat bouts exciting. The day starts at
approximately 9:30 a.m. with a full-on brunch
at my house, sans the champagne, with a lot
of good conversation among old friends.
Chuck Rudner, Mark Rudner, Don Repp,
Pete Athans, Charlie Johnson, and I had our
eyes on claiming the Last Kill of the Year
trophy. We made the six-minute ride to the
“Beach Flying Site” at roughly 11 a.m.
At the site, the streamers are attached and
we have at it until we have had enough or it
gets cold. The first person to get a kill gets to
hold onto the trophy until the next person gets
a kill. The trophy is passed on that way until
the end of the day.
Charlie Johnson, who once wrote this
column, got to hold the trophy first. I ended
up keeping it when the drizzle chased us to
our cars at approximately 3 p.m.
It is amazing how much fun you can have
with small-bore equipment. We know that the
Tee Dees are way past their prime and cannot
compete against the Cyclons and Foras.
However, having the meanest 1⁄2A in town is
not the point of this gathering; it’s about the
fun.
Don Repp is a December 31 beach regular
and probably the best Tee Dee tuner in the
country. He is not into going to many
CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
Choose your weapon! All three types of models are available
from George Cleveland at GRS Models. They fly well.
The FAI Junior World Champion in 1994, Mark Rudner (R) does
battle with 50-year-old Pete Athans on December 31, 2002.
These two senior citizens can still fly with
the best of them. Charlie Johnson and
Don Repp mix it up at the beach site.
competitions across the country. Most
weekends he can be found tinkering with a
recently built Tee Dee to see if he can make it
work well. He must have a drawer full of
killer Tee Dees that go out for a run once in a
great while.
It takes a good eye for details and a
sensitive bunch of fingers to make certain
that the parts feel just right. Tee Dees can
start quickly, run fast, and stay together with
a little care and lots of practice.
The writing is on the wall for the demise of
35-foot-line Combat with the vintage 1960sdesigned
Cox Tee Dee engines. It is hard to
believe that the Cox engines were so
dominant for so long. I first saw 1⁄2A Combat
flown in the early 1960s at Frank Yuell Field
in Oakland, California—the same place
where the now-famous Oakland Raiders
national football team first started playing.
Some pilots could get the little engines to
make some real power.
The models of the time left a great deal to
be desired. They were usually converted
Baby Flite Streaks, Baby Ringmasters,
Combat Kittens, or an occasional Li’l Satan
thrown in to round out the field. The pilots
used Hot Rock E-Z Just handles that allowed
for way too much control. It took us a long
time to use closer spacing on the handle to
make the models more controllable.
I worked up my Li’l Snip design that was
user-friendly compared to what was on the
market in those days. Dirty Dan Rutherford
(the old grizzly bear) worked on his Golly
Gee-Whiz and Dirty Beaver designs that
changed the way 1⁄2A performance models
were looked at. “Da Dirt” was never shy
about trying to get a good laugh at someone
else’s expense.
I recall an informal gathering after the
1977 Riverside, California, Nationals
when we all went down to San Diego to
fly at Charlie Johnson’s Mission Bay site.
Dan had a couple of his Hot Rod 1⁄2As
ready for everyone to test-fly.
Pilot after pilot said that the model was
fast and turned tight but was a bit touchy. I
gave it a go and ended up planting it in the
soft San Diego beach real estate. Dan and the
rest of the guys could not stop laughing. I
can laugh about it now. It’s fun to think
about the past, but it is time to move on.
I hear that “Da Dirt” can still be found in
the Pacific Northwest, munching on
homemade sauerkraut from his cabbage
patch while admiring his Precision
Aerobatics models that are still under
construction. I also hear that he is in the
market for some Combat pilots who can
catch the lines on big Stunters when they
quit running inverted.
The new Cyclons and Foras are so good
that none of even the best pilots in the
country can fly decent Combat on 35-foot
lines. The modern 1⁄2A models are sweet and
quite controllable on 42-foot lines.
Electric starters are permitted in most of
the modern 1⁄2A events to hasten the pilots
into actual combat. The Cyclons’ and Foras’
starting characteristics are so good that the
starters are not really necessary. I guess this
is progress, and we just have to adapt.
The first major contest of the year—the
Top Gun event in Tucson, Arizona, in
March—will feature a 1⁄2A contest on Friday
before the main event: AMA Fast Combat. I
am looking forward to getting away from
work to spend some time with the best
Combat pilots in the country.
George Cleveland will no doubt be on
hand to sell propellers, models, and engines.
If you want to fly with top-of-the-line
equipment, all you have to do is send a check
to GRS Models, and all of the stuff you need
will arrive at your doorstep. Within an hour
you can have two or three models all set up
and ready for test flights. It’s almost like
instant gratification.
Visit GRS Models on the Internet at
http://pages.prodigy.net/gcleveland_grsmode
ls/ or call George at (504) 443-4640. MA
June 2003 143