A look back at 2011
by Don Grissom [email protected]
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 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 about it for that 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 high-scoring 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 events, but by also creating some of the Combat airplanes that are flown across the country.
These fliers better start watching for William Drumm III in the future. He flew one of his first 2948 contests this past year and I think we will see more of him 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.
“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 stripping 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 2,304.1. 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 every one!
SOURCES
- RC Combat Association — www.rccombat.com
- Markham Park Pilots Association — www.mppaonline.net
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
