CONTROL LINE COMBAT - 2003/10

142 MODEL AVIATION
EVERYONE WHO PAYS attention to Control Line Combat
probably knew long ago that Mike Willcox became the Control Line
World Champion in 2002 in Sebnitz, Germany. Since the World
Championships (WC) is held during even-numbered years, Mike
will remain the champion until the next WC in 2004.
This next WC is scheduled to be held in our own back yard, in
Muncie, Indiana. If you have never been to a WC event, this will be
a wonderful opportunity to experience the highest level of
competition for four types of Control Line models. In addition to
Combat there will be Speed, Team Racing, and Precision
Aerobatics, or Stunt.
Control Line Combat was added to the World Championships in
1978. Mick Tiernan of the United Kingdom was the first pilot to lay
claim to the title of World Champion, and in an event that was held
in his home country.
In 1980 Oleg Doroshenko of the USSR won the second title in
Poland. The third World Champion was American Tom Fluker in
1982 in Sweden; it took the United States 20 years to return to the
top podium spot. And I must not forget that Mark Rudner did win
the 1994 Junior World Championships title.
Mark was scheduled to graduate from the California Technical
Institute in June 2003 and will be continuing his graduate studies at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). That should put
an end to the notion that Combat pilots are barbaric, destructionseeking
oafs. Greg Wornell (the Wicked) of the “Dreaded Canadian
Combat Contingent” is a professor at MIT.
I have been asking Mike Willcox some questions about his
background and what it takes to become a World Champion.
Contrary to what most people think, Mike is not a native Texan. He
was born in New Jersey to Pat and Doris Willcox. Pat is an airline
pilot who was on the World Championships Combat team in 1992.
Doris teaches school in the Houston area.
Mike currently lives in Redondo Beach, California, and seems to
thrive on the warm weather, sunshine, and a beach lifestyle. When
CONTROL LINE COMBAT
Rich von Lopez, 8334 Colegio Dr., Los Angeles CA 90045
World Champ Mike Willcox (L), Lee Liddle, Don Cranfill. Lee and
Mike have 1⁄2A versions of their foam Fast design.
Jari Valo of Finland is the distributor for Zorro engines. That is a
strange Combat model he is holding.
MIT-bound Mark Rudner was the 1994 Junior World Champion
and a key element to Mike Willcox’s pit crew.
October 2003 143
Mike is not flying models, he can be found
on his motorcycle cruising the Southern
California roads. He lists his occupation as
television film editor. Anyone who has seen
some of his Combat videos knows that he
has quite a talent.
I did get Mike to tell me that he started
flying in 1978 when he was 7 years old.
What a coincidence! That is the same year
Combat was first flown at the World
Championships. Mike attended the WC in
the USSR 10 years later. The venue at Kiev,
Ukraine, was quite impressive for me as an
adult; I wonder what Mike was thinking as a
17-year-old traveling with a bunch of rowdy
American Combat pilots while his parents
were nine time zones away.
Mike said that that was where he really
got hooked on international competitions.
Perhaps he remembers the posh
accommodations nestled in the woods, the
magnitude of the competition facility, the
opening ceremony with the incredible air
show, or all of these factors put together as
something that he wanted to experience
again and again.
Mike has been on the US Combat team
several times as a pit-crew member and as a
pilot. He was part of the pit crew for his
father’s effort in Czechoslovakia in 1992.
Mike’s first time on the team as a pilot was
in 1994 in Shanghai, China. He was on the
team in 1998 for another Kiev, Ukraine,
experience and on the 2000 team for the
rain-soaked French WC.
As you can see, it took several tries
before Mike made it to the top. He has been
overseas on many other occasions to gain
experience and to get to know the best
pilots well. He just returned from a contest
in Ukraine in June, where he managed a
third-place finish without his regular pit
crew.
Mike is not just an F2D Combat pilot;
he competes in all forms of Control Line
Combat, such as Fast, Slow, speed limit,
and 1⁄2A. He has won all of the major
contests at least once, including the Top
Gun, the Bladder Grabber, the Houston
Combat Classic, the Howe Slow Contest,
and the AMA Nationals. He is currently
dabbling in RC Combat and getting quite
good at it.
Although it is nice to have trophies from
all of the aforementioned contests, and in
some cases the cash that goes along with
the win, but having acquired the title of
World Champion is Mike’s most valued
accomplishment.
He devotes a tremendous amount of
time, energy, and resources to keeping his
skills at a high level. That means practicing
Combat more than just on weekends; it
means that he is constantly building models
and trying new techniques. If Mike is not at
Whittier Narrows, California, flying
practice matches, he can be found in San
Diego flying models with Darrin Albert and
Greg Hill.
Mike does go through a great deal of
equipment and fuel in the course of a
month’s flying. This is the price that anyone
who wants to rise to the top must pay. Mike
uses only the best equipment available,
which to him means the Zholnerkevitchbuilt
Zorro engines that he gets through Jari
Valo.
Jari is a Finnish Speed flier and Combat
pilot. He knows engines and has super
sensitivity in his fingers, so he is able to
detect anomalies in a power plant. Jari
knows how weather can affect an engine’s
performance and how to adjust the head
clearance to compensate for atmospheric
changes. These engines are strong and
reliable. The AKMs are also good, but they
can be hard to obtain and to get to run at
peak performance.
Mike’s models are not much different
from the ones other top pilots are using. The
builder from which he gets his aircraft is
meticulous about the details of each model,
and, as a result, they are stronger and fly a
bit better than the models other pilots use.
There is no need to worry about the balance
or if a model yaws coming out of a turn. His
equipment is fast and as good as the best at
any competition.
For Fast Combat Mike prefers the
Nelson engine when it is mounted on
models that he and Lee Liddle developed in
the Dallas area. They are super-lightweight,
all-foam designs that build very quickly.
It will be interesting to see how many of
the Europeans and those from other
continents will try to dethrone Mike on his
home turf in 2004. We are hoping to get a
money contest together before the WC that
will be open to all pilots. We want to give
those pilots from the United States who
have never had the opportunity to fly
against the best a shot. If you have a bunch
of extra cash that you want to donate to this
cause, step up. We will put it to good use.
The Europeans and other non-Americans
are used to going to contests where they can
buy beer and camp adjacent to the contest
site and circles. I guess they will have to
stay dry while they are at the 2004 WC.
However, this will be a real happening for
Muncie and the United States.
Many of us Combat pilots are a little
worried about transporting models to and
from competitions when we have to take
airliners to get there. There are two known
ways of sending models ahead of time.
The US Postal Service is reliable and
will charge you $14.50 for a box that
contains eight to 10 models, uninsured. You
can expect to pay double that price with
insurance. Priority Mail will get your
models to their destination within a few
days.
The United Parcel Service is also
reliable, but I do not know how much it will
charge you for a similar-size box. I have
used the same box George Cleveland used
to send his models. It is advisable to take
the models’ tails off so that the box is as
small as possible. I have purchased a batch
of models from George Cleveland’s GRS
Models, set them up, test-flown them, then
repacked them to go to another destination.
The engines travel with me in checked
baggage along with a model magazine,
photographs, and a note explaining what
they are so that the baggage screeners will
have an idea of what they are looking at and
can determine that they are harmless.
I used to travel with a large box, and
from time to time I got nicked with the
oversized-baggage charge of $75 each way.
That was a $150 learning experience for me
going to the 2001 Team Trials in Houston. I
also found out about fire ants, but that’s
another story. I will share how it went with
the engines in the suitcase in my next
column. MA
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