District XI - 2012/12

District XI has seen another fine modeler
take his last flight. Nigel “Doug” Francis
left us after a long illness. Doug was
a former Navy pilot, many-time club
officer, and AMA Leader Member. Doug
was also active in numerous community
organizations and will be remembered
with a brick in the AMA Walk of Fame.
Gerry Becker from Bellingham,
Washington, reported that 29 US
and Canadian pilots with 63 airplanes
registered for the Bell Air RC Flyers 7th
Annual Warbirds Over Whatcom, held
Saturday, July 27, followed by an All
Bird Fun-Fly on the 28th. The weather
was exceptionally nice and during the
weekend 300-plus spectators contributed
139 pounds of food and $346 to the
local food bank.
George Eckhart, the club’s events
and public relations coordinator, did
an outstanding job of honoring one of
only two living World War II Tuskegee
Airman living in the state of Washington
at the event, George Hickman, as well as
our own local WW II P-38 pilot, Capt.
Joe Moser. Our condolences to George’s
family because he passed away two
weeks after the event.
On display, complements of the local
WW II museum, was a large selection
of WW I and WW II artifacts. The
Heritage Air Museum of Bellingam
gave the spectators and RC pilots a
great thrill Saturday by making three
low passes over the field with the only
operational AD Sky Raider on the West
Coast. Wow! I love to hear those pistonpowered
airplanes!
The Saturday Warbird Event halftime
show excited the spectators with a
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron dogfight,
flown by Jerry McLean, AKA Snoopy,
and Gerry Becker, AKA the Red Baron.
Jay Schoening and Jerry Mclean also
demonstrated a WW II Waco Glider
tow and a C-47 parachute drop. Pat
and Michael Belisle got the crowd’s
attention with their 1/3-scale Balsa
USA dogfight between a Fokker VII
and Sopwith Pup. Marv Benson and
Jay Schoening demonstrated a radiocontrolled
parachute jumper, and this
time everything worked.
Winners were Best of Show, Pat
Belisle-Fokker D.VII; Best WW I,
Michael Belisle-Sopwith Pup; Best WW
II, Jay Schoening-Curtiss Hawk P6E; and
Best Military Trainer, Renny Stefani-
PT-19.
On Sunday, July 29, the pilots kept
the air filled with a mix of aircraft
types. Dave Boyd and Jeff Mullen put
on a great demonstration flight with an
AgWagon powered by a five-cylinder
Moki engine. They got rid of our bug
problem with a generous supply of
smoke. Kevin Klocke put on a great
show demonstrating how to mow the
grass inverted with his helicopter.
Thanks to the following for their
support and donations: Performance
RC of Burlington, Hobbytown of
Bellingham, Hannegans Seafood of
Bellingham, The Heritage Air Museum
of Bellingham, Tower Hobbies/Hobbico,
Balsa USA, Troybuilt Models, and above
all John Vanderhage for his professional
photography of the event and the Bell
Air RC Flyers Club members who
devoted many hours of their time and
money to support this event. Great job,
everyone!