Vintage Stunt Championships
By
- Mike Keville
Perfect weather, gorgeous models, and friendly people (including 212 at the dinner banquet)—it just doesn't get much better than the 12th annual Vintage Stunt Championships (VSC). Held at Tucson, Arizona's Christopher Columbus Park, 167 entries preregistered for the yearly celebration of Control Line Stunt "the way it used to be."
A highlight this year was the return of Al (Sea Fury) Rabe, after a long layoff. Al treated the crowd to demonstration flights with the latest version of his Bearcat—a performance best summed up as, "he's back."
There's something for everyone at these meets, from spark-ignition antiques of the 1940s and 1950s to the sleekest stunt machines of the 1960s and 1970s.
The inaugural VSC in 1989 drew only 17 entries in Old-Time and 19 in Classic (then called Nostalgia); but the word spread rapidly and we were asked to host another one.
I moved to Arizona later that year; thus the second and successive VSCs have been held in Tucson the third or fourth weekend each March—thanks to excellent support and help from the local CL (Control Line) club, the Cholla Choppers.
Little did we realize how much the event would grow! Current entries average 75 in each of the two main events, and 12–18 in the spark-ignition category. To date, participants have arrived from 27 states and seven nations outside the U.S.
Switzerland's Rene and Monique Berger became so enamored of the area and its modeling activities that they purchased a second home in Tucson.
This year we welcomed contestants from Germany and Canada, and a spectator from Australia.
Through the years, the VSC has been subject to varying weather conditions—mostly excellent, although it does tend to get windy in the afternoon. The exception was 1998—a heartbreaking four days of rain, wind, hail, and snow, as a result of El Niño. Nonetheless, all managed to enjoy themselves with "hangar flying" and various indoor demonstrations of building skills. Yes, that's right—four days.
Several years ago, entries at the VSC became so overwhelming that each of its two days was a dawn-to-dusk affair. While presenting awards on the field in near-darkness in 1995, the decision was made to expand the meet to three days.
Two years later, we expanded again to four days—Thursday through Sunday. This allows official flying to be completed by early afternoon, leaving ample time to view the many historic models and socialize with the other participants.
Adding to the enjoyment are numerous displays of kits, engines, and accessories offered by cottage-industry manufacturers. First-time visitors and those who have been away from the hobby for a while are often amazed by the presence of so many items produced specifically for Control Line.
A number of foreign contestants build "take-apart" models, fit them into custom carrying cases, then put a large dent in their budget to travel several thousand miles to fly them. It's particularly amazing in the case of the VSC, since the pilots do so in order to fly designs that are obsolete at best. I suspect they do it more for the fun involved and for the common bond we share in "trailing edge technology" than for the actual competition.
This year, 1998 German F2B team members Angelika Moebius and Christoph Holtermann attended.
Although the VSC is a competition event, the real focus is on fun—the main celebration of vintage Control Line stunt flying.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
