RADIO CONTROL COMBAT - 2003/09

146 MODEL AVIATION
THERE IS NOTHING like Paris in the
springtime—Paris, Texas, that is! Every
spring the Paris R/C Association hosts the
first event in the North Texas Round Robin
series of Combat meets. Paris, Texas, bills
itself as being the second largest Paris in
the world. The town even has its own
version of the Eiffel Tower—although the
65-foot-tall version is topped off in true
Texan style sporting a 10-foot-wide
cowboy hat!
This year the Paris R/C Association
hosted a great event that deserves to be
referred to as the premier event in the round
robin. Contest director (CD) Kelvin
McFadden did Texas proud by hosting the
largest Radio Control (RC) Combat meet in
Radio Control Combat Association
(RCCA) history.
The weather cooperated—if you ignored
the winds during the meet and the rains that
soaked the field a few days before the
weekend. The Texas clay, which can bake
rock hard under the right conditions, was
mercifully soft and spared several engines,
including one of mine.
A total of 69 pilots registered for the
event; that is more than twice as many as
last year’s Paris event, surpassing even the
2002 RC Combat Nationals in Muncie,
Indiana! Most of the pilots—56 to be
exact—flew in Open Class B which was
flown with five heats in each of the six
rounds. With 11-12 pilots flying in each
heat, the meet produced a target-rich
environment that resulted in some of the
highest scoring rounds ever and an
incredible level of midair carnage.
The tight safety control enforced by the
Paris R/C Association members helped
make it a safe event with all of the 60-plus
midairs occurring well out over the flying
field and far from the flightline.
Not only was there a record for the
number of pilots participating in an RC
Combat event, but a record for high score
in a single round was set by Don Howard of
Ponca City, Oklahoma, when he cut 10
streamers in the first round! Within minutes
of the first round he had a new handle,
becoming Don “Ten-Man” Howard.
Competition at the meet was fierce, with
several big-name Combat fliers attending,
including A.J. Seaholm, Daniel Vaught,
Ben Morrow, Andy Panoncillo, and Mike
Fredricks to name a few. In all, 12 states—
Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Nebraska, Tennessee, and of
course Texas, the Lone Star Combat
State—were represented.
Greg Rose, 1312 NW 196th St., Edmond OK 73003
RADIO CONTROL COMBAT
Don “Ten-Man” Howard launches his model for another round of Open B Combat in
Paris, Texas. He earned his nickname by cutting 10 streamers in the first round.
Lee Little’s Douglas Skyraiders are fast and smooth fliers in 2610 Scale Combat. Lee
garnered a third-place finish with 1,474 points.
These SSC Scale models await some Combat action. SSC stands for “Slow, Survivable
Combat”: a provisional RCCA event making its debut this season
Ten-Man Howard took the lead after his
phenomenal first round, showing (you
might think) that he had a firm grasp on
first place in the event. However, the other
pilots were not about to call it quits;
several other fliers posted eight- and ninecut
rounds.
When the dust settled (figuratively) and
the final scores were tallied, Ben Morrow
came out on top with 2,876 points. A.J.
Seaholm took the second-place trophy with
2,760 points. Don “Ten-Man” Howard had
to use every one of his 2,624 points to hold
off an attack by fourth-place finisher Eric
Wenger, who needed only four more points
to tie for third or five more to pull ahead.
Daniel Vaught placed fifth in the event
with 2,592 points.
The second day of Combat in Paris
featured a new set of airplanes but many of
the same pilots who had battled it out on
Saturday. Two events—2610 Scale RC
Combat and the new provisional SSC, or
Slow, Survivable Combat—were flown.
In Scale, 14 pilots fought it out—more
than triple the amount that showed up in
the inaugural 2610 event held in the North
Texas Round Robin in Paris the previous
year. Flying his well-known Fairey
Fulmars, Mike Fredricks used the aircraft’s
long wingspan to grab first place in Scale
with 2,024 points. Less than 100 points
behind Mike was Andy Panoncillo from
Indiana with his B5N Kates.
Local Combat flier Lee Little took third
place with 1,474 points flying his dark-blue
Skyraiders. Don Howard flew his own
Fulmars, and Neal Rohrke used his Il-2s to
take fourth place and fifth place
respectively.
Making its first appearance at Paris, and
making an impressive entrance at that, was
the provisional RCCA event for SSC,
which drew 37 pilots. Mike Fuller walked
away with the event, scoring 2,888
points—900 more than Mike Fredricks
who was his nearest competitor! In third,
fourth, and fifth places were Bert Dodson,
George Cleveland, and Don Howard. By
placing fifth in SSC, Ten-Man became the
only flier to place in the top five in all three
events in Paris.
One interesting fact about SSC Combat
is that the movement has attracted a Scale
component, but unlike 2610 Scale and
Open B Combat, SSC Scale models are
designed to mix it up with the SSC “open”
designs. The joining of the two interests,
scale and nonscale, is made possible
because the SSC rules do not require a
scale outline, as does 2610 Scale Combat.
For “SSC Scale” the wings are
enlarged, the fuselages are thinned and
simplified, and with some effort, a
reasonable facsimile of the prototype
airplane can be made that still fits all of the
requirements for SSC Combat. The
“survivable” part of the SSC rules does
seem to work. Midairs in SSC aren’t the
“final flight” for the model; they usually
result in a slow spin into the ground after
much of the speed is bled off by the
collision.
Additionally, in SSC one does not have
to have the lightning-fast eye-hand
coordination that the Open classes and
2610 Scale seem to demand. We will be
seeing more of this class of RC Combat as
it grows in popularity.
The Paris event was fantastic, but as
good as it was, it could be just a glimpse of
things to come as RC Combat continues to
grow in popularity.
That’s all I have room for this time. Until
next time, fly safely, fly RC Combat
(everyone else is!), and don’t forget to
check your six! MA