CONTROL LINE COMBAT - 2003/12
Combat
Wayne McDaniel 5009 W. Preakness Ct., Muncie IN 47304 E-mail: [email protected]
It's Nationals (Nats) coverage time again! The thing most people will remember about this event is that it rained, and rained, and rained. I have only missed one Muncie Nats, and I can't remember there being weather like this.
In the past I have set my tent up on the first day and taken it down the last day. This year it was up and down three or four times a day. Then, on top of the rain, there was lightning and static electricity in the air, and the wind howled. Stub and George (Richard Stubblefield and George Cleveland) lost their tent on Monday. But enough about the weather; let's get into the competition, held July 7–10.
The first thing I want to mention are four young fliers: Tom Skinner, Holden Hill, Alex Kopka, and Nick Mears. I met Tom and Holden at this Nats. I did not get a chance to fly against them, but I watched some of their matches, and they are good!
In 75 mph, one of the best matches was between Alex and Bob Mears. They flew the full five minutes with many cuts, no line tangles, and no collisions. Nick is the young gun of the Mears gang. I have known him for a number of years; in fact, I was at the first contest he flew in, and I beat him. I haven't beaten him since!
All four young men are courteous, respectful, and outstanding competitors. I hope they will be the future of Control Line Combat in years to come. Congratulations to Holden Hill on being the Junior member of our F2D (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Combat) world team.
75 MPH Combat
This double-elimination event had 36 entries. Equipment used was varied, including F2D models with .25 engines, F2D models with detuned F2D .15s, special-built airplanes such as the Roy Glenn and Louis Lopez specials, Alex Kopka's Big Hacker, Glenn and Neil Simpson with their models—which were probably the best-looking ones there—other combinations of Fast airplanes with detuned .36s, and I believe somebody even flew a Voodoo. This class was flown first this year because the F2D Team Trials were held the weekend before the Nats started, and it was thought that we would have a carryover from that event to 75 mph. Judging by the number of entries, it worked.
This is the only event in which there is an Open and a Sportsman class. The best match of the day that I saw was between Richard Stubblefield and Ivan McKenzie, which happened to be the battle for first and second places in Open. Richard used an F2D airplane with a .15 engine, and Ivan used an F2D model with a .25. Richard emerged the winner.
- Open results:
- 1st: Richard Stubblefield
- 2nd: Ivan McKenzie
- 3rd: Bob Mears
- 4th: George Cleveland
- 5th: Nick Mears
- Sportsman results:
- 1st: Alex Kopka
- 2nd: Joe Duda
- 3rd: Tom Skinner
1/2A Combat
There were 26 entries in this event. We were running a day behind because of the weather, so in the pilots' meeting it was decided that there would be a double-elimination first round because of the large number of contestants. The format worked as follows: the first round is flown, then all of the losers go into a losers' bracket. A losers' round is flown, and after that there is a normal draw. That way everybody gets to fly at least twice.
A wide variety of equipment was used in 1/2A. The airplanes were roughly half foamies and half store-bought. Most of the foamies were based on Larry Driskill, Don Cranfill, or Lee Liddle designs. The store-bought models were a number of designs purchased through George Cleveland and Aleksey Topunov. Cyclon, GRS, and VA engines were used.
Roy Glenn and Darrin Albert flew extremely well early in the contest. There was one big surprise: Larry Driskill (Mr. 1/2A) did not win, place, or show, but his equipment did. Roy won using Larry’s gear, on loan for the Nats, so technically he was a ringer.
- Results:
- 1st: Roy Glenn
- 2nd: Richard Stubblefield
- 3rd: Don Cranfill
- 4th: Darrin Albert
- 5th: Bobby Mears
Fast Combat
There were 20 entrants in this double-elimination event. James Mears volunteered to be the Fast Combat event director the night before it was to be contested. We were running a full day behind at that point, and he was going to whip us into shape.
It was decided in the pilots’ meeting to run this event in a double-elimination format. It is normally run at the Nats as a triple-elimination event, but there are usually two days in which to work.
The only pilot who seemed to be against this was Bill Maywald. He traveled from California to the Nats just to fly Fast Combat. However, with the trophy in his hand at the end of the day, he was extremely happy.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
