Author: Russ Miller
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/10
Page Numbers: 169

District IX Report

Colorado / Kansas / Nebraska / North Dakota / South Dakota / Wyoming

Vice President

Russ Miller 980 N. 3rd St. Carrington, ND 58421 Tel.: (701) 652-2321 Fax: (701) 652-2994 E-mail: [email protected]

Associate Vice Presidents

  • Max Hansen — 1909 Wisconsin SW, Huron, SD 57350
  • H. Michael Harrington — 6112 Ashton Ct., Fort Collins, CO 80525
  • Fred Hildebrand — 4015 Somerset Circle, Casper, WY 82609-3161
  • Nathan Lancaster — 3597 S. Kendall Street, Denver, CO 80235
  • Troy Lapp — 1619 Wichita Dr., Bismarck, ND 58504
  • Travis McGinnis — 8027 W. 81st Circle, Arvada, CO 80005
  • Don Moden — 410 Hart St., Salina, KS 67401
  • Jim Ricketts — 4921 Fernwood Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57103-5573
  • Jack L. Sibert — 3611 Kimberly Circle, Lincoln, NE 68506-4524
  • Mark T. Smith — 14632 W. 50th Street, Shawnee, KS 66216

Frequency Coordinator

Steve Mangles — c/o Radio Service Center, 918 S. Sheridan St., Denver, CO 80226

NEWS FROM COLORADO

George Kerr of the Mile Hi club submitted the following:

Mile Hi Madness II, the Radio Control Combat Association (RCCA) Open B Combat meet, was held on May 1, 2004. Following are a few photos of the field before we started flying. Remember this is springtime in the Rockies and it is May 1.

The good news was by 11 a.m., when we called “start combat,” most of the snow had melted and we had an absolutely gorgeous day for flying a little combat. Nine pilots showed up for Open B and only three for 2610, so Scale got canceled. That was too bad, because Marv Ferdig brought as many Scale airplanes as he had Open aircraft.

We only had six judges at any one time, so we flew six at a time and did a rotation whereby three rotated in and out for each heat. That way we could fly nine heats to get the six rounds in. It worked out very well. Thanks to John "JJ" Jaugilas for the suggestion.

We had 10 members of the club help, so I want to take this opportunity to recognize and thank them. Thank you for your excellent help:

  • Chuck Brant
  • John Corliss
  • Rich Dix
  • Denny Edwardson
  • Phil Kenney (great lunch, Phil)
  • Joe Ortiz (line marshal)
  • Larry Ott
  • Bill Sorrells
  • Walt Stroessner

We could not have done this without you!

As mentioned, we flew six rounds of intense combat. Cuts were tough to come by. The furballs were pretty loose with a fair amount of pursuit, but no one got a lot of cuts all day.

Rich Perry had some bad luck with three hard midairs that knocked him out of three rounds. Adam Bryant was plagued with problems all day but persevered and finally got one good round in before the day was over. Andy Taylor had his Slashers flying well once he got them in the air.

JJ is always a tough competitor, and this day was no exception. He flew his Skull Bandits and Go Devils and used up all of the sky to get his cuts. JJ is an old CL pilot and uses a lot of his unique CL style in RC combat. Tom Neff is always a terror in the sky, and he brought out his game face today.

Randy Hodges proved that SPADs are not dead yet. Randy flew two of his own-design SPADs to victory at Mile Hi Madness II. Congratulations to all the winners. I think all the participants were winners, and I know the helpers had a great time too.

Standings at the end of the day:

  1. Randy Hodges — 1380
  2. Tom Neff — 1228
  3. John Jaugilas — 1200
  4. Rich Perry — 780
  5. George Kerr — 768
  6. Marv Ferdig — 662
  7. Andy Taylor — 380
  8. Adam Bryant — 180
  9. Bill Messner — (I won't mention it, Bill.)

Thanks to everyone who drove in from Colorado Springs, Sterling, and Evergreen. Thanks to everyone for a good, safe combat meet! What a blast it was!

The Grand Junction Modelers from Grand Junction, Colorado, held the club’s annual mall show in April at the Mesa Mall. There were 21 models on display and some super craftsmanship and talent was in evidence. The people’s choice and pilots’ choice awards went to Jack Richardson for his Antic Bipe, powered by a Saito 100. Best of show recognition went to Bill Wright for his giant Weeks Special biplane powered by a Zenoah twin.

The Saturday mall show was followed by a demonstration event at the club’s field on Sunday. A good spectator turnout witnessed some awesome flights by the club pilots. Helicopter pilot Cliff Bradford drew crowd approval for his helicopter routine. Club members managed a few buddy-box flights with some nervous but eager newcomers.

Thanks to Bob Cicero for this article and the photos.

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.