Flying for Fun
D.B. Mathews
909 N. Maize Rd., Townhouse 734, Wichita KS 67212
How About That?
Sharp-eyed reader Sam Phillips wrote to ask if the signature of Rear Admiral J.S. McCain on the Navy certificate for Brad Harrington's identification-model work (in the July 2003 column) might be related to Senator John McCain of Arizona. Frankly, I had paid no attention to the signatures, and a fun story line almost got away. Yes, Rear Admiral (later four-star) John Sidney McCain is indeed John McCain's father. Not only that, but the senator's grandfather was also a four-star admiral. Even more, the senator was well on his way to becoming the third-generation admiral in his family, but he had been so badly injured by his captors in Vietnam that he was declared physically unfit for further service after his release.
The Center of the RC Universe?
That's a hyperbole, but the Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In held in western South Carolina might come pretty close for a few days each year. Other writers in the magazines are going to describe this year's event in terms of entries, flightline activities, commercial exhibits, full-scale aerobatics demonstrations, visiting world-level RC pilots, the Friday-evening barbecue, and so forth. I thought you might like to hear what I found of interest instead.
The field is totally different from the Muncie, Indiana, flying site in that it is designed only for radio control (RC) and full-scale flying; therefore it is smaller while providing much more parking space for spectators.
The venue is a new facility that replaces the previous park-like site, which has become a golf course. The 460-acre site has been cleared of trees and brush. It is contoured so that one enters at the top of the elevation, and the flying field itself is down in a leveled valley on the opposite perimeter of the field.
The entry road descends in a series of loops and switchbacks to create parking lots that are in a clever terraced arrangement. Each parking lot, the concession area, the commercial exhibits, and the administration gazebo are stair-stepped above the flying field, providing nearly unobstructed lines of sight from almost any position.
To accommodate more than 600 entries—and who knows how many models—the pits nearly extend from one end of the 4,000-foot sod runway to the other. The full-scale aerobatic aircraft are parked on the end farthest from the pilot stations. Those airplanes are not just static demonstrators or for doing flyovers. The width and length of the runway are sufficient for the Federal Aviation Administration to allow full-scale unlimited aerobatics to be performed over it. How would you like to see four AT-6s performing formation acrobatics or a CAP and an Extra flying up a storm every day? It's little wonder that the Joe Nall fly-in has grown to be the world's largest RC modeling event.
As one would expect, large numbers of the big Extra models and clones were put through their 3-D paces. However, between these look-alike flights were several out-of-the-rut models. I've included photos of some that caught my eye, but not shown are incredible projects such as a gorgeous (and huge) Lancaster bomber, a fully aerobatic B-29, an excellent-flying B-36, a lovely Grumman Wildcat, and more. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
