Researching the history of CL Combat
by Rich Lopez [email protected]
It is unfortunate that the early pioneers of CL Combat are now senior citizens or have passed away. I don’t know of any documents, books, or magazines that tell what it was like in those early years.
In 2000, while in Landres, France, Jean-Bernard Morelle presented me with a spiral-bound book titled Le Combat en Vol Circulaire: Histoire de 1889 à 1995. I regret that I never learned to read French, so most of the book is undecipherable to me. There are, however, some parts that are copies from English model aviation magazines.
From an issue of Model Airplane News, there is an article about Shirley Austin beating the boys in the Senior class using a model called the Half Fast, which pulled a streamer at 76.8 mph.
Larry Scarinzi’s Greased Lightning design appeared in the June 1956 issue of Flying Models. Larry is pictured in full military uniform holding his creation. He also designed the Blitz and the Super Satan in collaboration with Carl Goldberg.
Jean-Bernard’s book contains the plans for “Wild” Bill Netzeband’s FAI Splinter design, which was powered by a Cox Tee Dee .15 engine.
P.S. Richardson wrote extensively for Aero Modeller magazine in the United Kingdom, and Jean-Bernard includes an excerpt which states that Combat in the UK began in approximately the mid-1950s.
A tremendous amount of time and effort went into this book, which includes articles from a variety of sources and engine and model advertisements of the time period. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how to obtain a copy.
Message Received
Marvin Denny from Wichita, Kansas, spoke with me about my column on fuel-delivery systems. I remember seeing Marvin fly models at many AMA Nats, along with Mike Tallman, Greg Hissem, and Marvin’s son, David.
In 1979, Marvin was the AMA National Champion for Fast Combat at the age of 48. He was flying a design called the Stinger, which used a boxed-in tail section. This Kansas group always had fast, reliable equipment, indicating that club members spent many hours tuning engines and trimming models.
Marvin told me that the first time he saw Combat was during intermission at a 1946 stock car race in Childress, Texas. The models used were called Flying Box Cars and were powered by ignition engines. He said Pat Massey was one of the pilots.
Marvin began flying Combat in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1952, using Fox and K&B engines and a crankcase pressure system. He also spent time in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas. Marvin was a contemporary of Riley Wooten and the 6-foot 8-inch Carl Berryman. Carl’s Oklahoma Twister design was published in the October 1960 issue of American Modeler. His elliptical Phantasy design was published years later.
Riley is the designer of the Demon (Model Airplane News, August 1964), Sneeker, VooDoo, and several others — including early foam-wing designs such as his Vampire. When either Riley or Carl entered the competition, all Marvin could hope for was to finish in third place.
Marvin designed something called the Flat Iron and the Big Iron in roughly 1973. The Big Iron was eventually offered as a kit by VECO Models or possibly Dumas. I remember seeing those kits in hobby shops. I hope that someone close to these Combat legends will take the time to interview them and write down some of the history before it is gone.
Although I have had the opportunity to speak with Riley Wooten on many occasions and listen to his stories, I did not write them down. I will make it a point to start collecting some of this information in the future.
It would be interesting to list all of the AMA Nats winners from the inaugural event. The next time I am in Muncie, Indiana, I will see if I can go through the archives in search of this information.
Combat at the World Championships
The first time Combat was included in a CL World Championships was at Woodvale in the United Kingdom in 1978. The first world champion was Mick Tiernan of the UK. In second place was Dave Wood, also of the UK. In third place was Jean-Michel Fraisse of France.
The United States was represented by Gary Frost, Chuck Rudner, and George Cleveland. Paul Smith traveled to Woodvale with the Combat team as well. Team USSR (the former Soviet Union) was not present at this inaugural event, but would certainly be heard from in the years that followed.
I will have to go through my collection of magazines to find the complete list of first- through third-place finishers from 1980 to the present, along with the names of the US team members. Our 2012 Combat Team of Andrey Nadein, Allen DeVeuve, and Cary Minor will be tuned up and ready to travel to Bulgaria.
I expect that they will all be at this year’s Nats. I will be there to support the team any way I can.
Bibliography
It would be nice to see someone create a compilation of all the Combat-related articles ever published, if it has not yet been done.
I occasionally visit eBay and see that Combat design plans on CD are frequently for sale.
Compiling Combat information would be no easy task since it would require reading through all of the magazines, books, and annuals — both domestic and foreign. The magazines and journals written in languages other than English would require translations.
The bibliography could also include photos of the models and the authors. If the compilation were published electronically, it could include links to entire articles.
MACA
I have mentioned in previous columns that the Miniature Aircraft Combat...
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
