I had the pleasure of attending the Heart of America Float Fly, held May 31-June 1, at Lake Miola, in Paola, Kansas. This event is spearheaded by Darrell Watts and was hosted by the R/C Barnstormers. The club’s president, Pat McGee, was the CD and he and his crew produced a fun and well-organized event.
The more than 30 pilots made good use of their water flying field during the two days of flying. A little wind kept some of the more delicate aircraft from the airways, but there was no shortage of airplanes in the air.
The retrieval boat had a light workout and there were only a couple of major mishaps.
On Saturday night, Darrell gave me a quick tour of some of the local clubs and their flying fields.
Many thanks go to all of the R/C Barnstormers for a great time that included some great barbecue. I can’t wait for next year.
Warbirds Over Denver, held June 6-8 in Chatsfield State Park, is a longtime annual production of the Jefco AeroMod’lers RC Club. I put the event on my calendar after receiving an invitation from Lora Knowlton, the event CD. Unfortunately, I broke my PT-22 while doing some testing a couple of days before the event and was forced to be a spectator.
Lora and club members have this event down to a science. Each of the 84 registered attendees received a Warbirds Over Denver 2014 T-shirt and a big bag of goodies.
The flightline was busy all day. The crew did a great job of orchestrating the constant requests for airspace for anything from World War I gas-powered biplanes to small, electric Mosquitoes to Hawk turbine jets.
Lora’s new Japanese Kate torpedo bomber was a big attraction. Her husband, Doug, did the piloting. All eyes turned as it made a low run, dropping the torpedo in front of the crowd.
Doug and his buddies also put on plenty of multi-airplane shows with their other WWII fighters. What a treat! I can’t wait to sign up again next year.
This year’s District IX Fun Fly was hosted by the Omahawks RC Club, of Omaha, and held at the Western R/C Flyers’ field in Mead, Nebraska. The torrential rain in the Midwest and a forecast for rain and wind kept some people away, but the event turned out great. The rain was brief, the wind was light, and plenty of good flying took place. What more, could you ask? Well, the bratwursts, hotdogs, and homemade red cake were the icing on the event.
I was delighted to meet Team Sucha at the June 28 event. According to Thaddeus Sucha, his grandfather, Don, gave him is first RC stick time while holding him on his lap at age three. Now 12, Thaddeus is a competent pilot and the grandfather-grandson team flew several airplanes at our fun-fly, including a big Cub, an AT-6, and his 3D Yak. I’m sure we will hear more about this dynamic duo in the future.
For more pictures or information about these events, go to the District IX Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AMADISTRICTIX.
Captions:
[Heart of America]
Darrell Watts; AMA District VI Vice President (VP) Randy Cameron; Barnstormers President Pat McGee; and District IX VP Jim Tiller at the Heart of America Float Fly.
[4945]
Doug Knowlton, CD Lora Knowlton, and Jim Tiller with Doug’s new Kate dive bomber at the Warbirds Over Denver.
[4983]
Western R/C Flyers President Jim Henly; Omahawks RC Club President Rick Wheeler; host Ed Pasch, District IX Nebraska associate vice president; and Jim Tiller at the District IX Fun Fly.
[4992]
Team Sucha—grandfather and mentor Don Sucha and grandson Thaddeus Sucha—at the District IX Fun Fly with Jim Tiller.
I have a new logo for District IX. I am including it with this info. I am pretty proud of it and would like to show it off. Is there any way it could appear somewhere here? Leave it up to your consistent good judgement.
