RC Combat - 2012/03

We are only a few months into the New Year, but a number of
Combat events have already been held. That is one advantage
of living in the South; the weather is great for flying year-round.
But, before I get into this year, let’s look back at 2011 and see how
everyone did.
A look back at 2011
by Don Grissom
[email protected]
124 Model Aviation March 2012 www.ModelAviation.com
rc fcfo smcbaalte
A Good Year for RC Combat
Although it was a slower year for Combat, it was still a great one. More than 40
contests were held from California to South Florida. Once again, the top state in
the scoring category is Wisconsin. That’s no surprise because William Drumm III
is from there. He even put Bob “Long Haul” Loescher to shame with some trips to
South Florida.
Texas was strong, although its Combat pilots did not leave the state often this
year. I guess they are scared of the Northern pilots. (I may hear it for the statement!)
Hopefully we will see some of them this year at
the Nationals.
SSC Combat is still
the top event with
88% of the pilots
flying that form of
Combat. In Open
Combat this past year,
the top pilot was William Drumm III. After his
2011 Nats performance, he is going to be hard
to beat. He dominated both SSC and Open B
throughout the year with an average round of
more than 386 points.
In second place was Andy Runte. Andy
flew more than 100 rounds of Combat this
year with an average of 302. Third place for
the year went to Kirk Adams. Kirk only flew
30 rounds of Combat, but had highscoring
rounds.
Once again, Bob Loescher flew the
most rounds this past year with more
than 205 rounds of Open. He had a slow
end of the year because he had to have
surgery, but hopes to be back to full
strength in the next few months.
Scale Combat has become a contest
between the South and the Northwest—
or you could say a contest between
2610 and 2948. In the Northwest,
they have been flying 2610 for many
years, although most of the country has
changed to 2948.
Leading the way has been Wayne
Mayo, flying more than 40 rounds of
2610 this past year, with a 7,100 point
total. Jerry Haines also had a good year
in Scale, with 40 rounds and a 6,294
point total.
In Florida, Craig Buttery and Chris
Handegard have been leading the way
by not only putting on an event, but
by also creating some of the Combat
airplanes that are flown across the
country.
These fliers better start watching in
the future for William Drumm III. He
flew one of his first 2948 contests this
past year and I think we will see more of
him this next year.
Combat Thrives in the South
Although I did not make it to some
of the last contests of the year in South
Florida, I received a report from Chris
Handegard that shows just how active
Combat is in the South, with a one-day,
two-class event.
PLUS:
> Combat is active
in the South
Chris Handegard displays his twin-engine Gekko before the aileron servo
was stripped. Chris designed and built the model.
These dedicated SSC Combat pilots gathered and flew all day in bad weather at the
Mayhem Over Markham one-day contest.“Mayhem Over Markham was the
first Combat event in anyone’s memory
to be held at the Markham Park Pilots
Association. It is an active site shared
by several big clubs in a public park
located close to the large populations of
Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, so hopefully
there is much growth potential. The club
was enthusiastic about the event. Club
officers and others showed much interest
in continuing with future events. It looks
very promising.
“It was definitely a challenging day in
terms of the weather; there were gusty
headwinds in the 20-25 mph range all
day and a low, threatening overcast sky.
Occasionally you could feel the mist in
the air, but the rain itself held off until
we were finished and packed. The site
is ideal for Combat and we were able
to drive out on the field to pit close to
the flightline.
“Sunday was the day of the ‘Dog’ and
the ‘Dominator,’ with Craig ‘Big Dog’
Buttery winning top honors in SSC and
William ‘Dominator’ Drumm taking the
first-place trophy in Scale home to his
native Wisconsin. It was great of him to
drive so far for a local event; I wish we
all could do more of that!
“We flew all-up all day, starting with
nine SSC pilots, which dwindled as the
day wore on because of attrition and
lack of backup models. All five Scale
pilots flew start to finish, with much
less carnage.
“Sadly, I must report yet another
demise of my Twin Gekko prototype
indirectly at the hands of Big Dog.
After a midair that he crashed out
of (ha!), I kept flying the Twin in
search of the elusive cut, until a few
minutes later an apparent aileron
servo strippage reared its ugly head.
I could easily repair the damage and
fly it again, but I will probably build a
fresh one for a contest here in January.
They fly better before they have been
shredded, spindled, and mutilated.
“Cuts were hard to come by, in large
part because of the windy conditions.
You had to be on your toes and fly the
airplane first and look for targets second.
It seemed as though each time I turned
around, William was getting midaired.
“The point spread in Scale in
particular was so narrow that first
through third place could have been
reshuffled with less than one cut.
William Drumm III finished the day
with his first win in Scale Combat with
a score of 1,816. In second place was
Craig Buttery, with a score of 1,776.
In SSC Combat, Craig came out on
top with a score of 2,304. I (Chris
Handegard) came in second with a
score of 2,012. This was a very good
competition for limited targets.”
Well done, people, and
congratulations to all. Winners
everyone!
SourceS:
rc combat Association
www.rccombat.com
Markham Park Pilots Association
www.mppaonline.ne