I am honored to have Dave Wenzel of Savannah, Georgia, as an associate vice president. His devotion and commitment to the hobby is by far more than required. He works endlessly, helping at various events including this year’s Nats, and teaching people what the hobby is about. Thank you, Dave, for all you do for the hobby.
Dave contributed the following report on this year’s Nats in Muncie, Indiana.
I was Pit Boss at the CL Aerobatics Nats again this year. After letting the contestants know how I worked the circles last year, we all completed our duties in great fashion with no complaints. I hope to do it again next year.
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Here are five of six U.S. CL Aerobatics World Champions. Left to right are David Fitzgerald, Bob Gieseke, Bill Werwage, Bob Hunt, and Paul Walker. The missing one is Les McDonald.
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The flying rose to a higher level than last year, and when the dust settled, the Top 5 were (L-R) Brett Buck, Paul Walker, Howard Rush, Doug Moon, and kneeling is Nats Champion and Walker Trophy winner, David Fitzgerald.
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Here are the Advanced, Expert, and Junior Champions: Don Ogren, Chris Rud, and Samantha Hines.
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Samantha lost to David for the Walker Trophy but put up a great battle and gave no quarters to David. She has excellent poise and skill and will be a force to watch in the future. A note of interest—when the top five were battling for the Open Championship on Circle 4, everyone was watching Sam fly on Circle 3 in her battle with Ben Mills for the Junior Championship.
Rob Hobbins, secretary of the Village E-Fliers Club in The Villages in Lady Lake, Florida sent this photo of Walter Steckenreiter receiving a plaque in recognition of his 70 years of service to AMA. Walter is the club president and has been flying model airplanes since before radio control!
Walter quickly adapted to the new technology and commented in a recent newspaper article, “This industry’s come a long way. Now you have jet engines, retractable landing gears, just about everything a regular airplane has.”[dingbat]
(L-R) Rob Hobbins, secretary; Harry McClary, vice president; Walter Steckenreiter, president; and Mike Smucker, head instructor.
