Control Line: World Championships
The US team and most of its supporters left San Francisco on Saturday, October 15 and arrived in Shanghai late Sunday evening after a long, tiring 13 1/2-hour flight on an Air China 747. We were met at the Shanghai airport by Mr. Huang of the Aero Sports Federation of China, the host organization for the Control Line World Championships. Mr. Huang had arranged with the local authorities to get us quickly through customs and into waiting buses to carry us to our hotel. Imagine a normal-size bus being skillfully driven down a street closely likened to an alley in most US cities. Even at 1 a.m., the streets were occupied by people, bicycles, and construction crews. There were very few street lights, and virtually no traffic-control devices (and those were generally ignored). Other vehicles, most without headlights turned on, all seemed to aim at the same small piece of the narrow road now occupied by our bus. For this group of tired-but-excited Americans the ride to the hotel was wild, yet we arrived safely and without incident.
U.S. Fliers Win at '92 Control Line World Championships
HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ, Czechoslovakia, was the site of the 1992 Control Line World Championships, held July 20-26, 1992. Two major items stand out. First: Spell it P-A-U-L, as in Walker-1992 was Paul's year, and he is the World Champion for F2B Aerobatics. It wasn't even close-Paul totally blew away the competition. After the problems of losing his model (temporarily) in New York's Kennedy airport in 1986, the bad mix of fuel in Kiev in 1988, and the total collapse of judging sanity in France in 1990, 1992 just had to be Paul's year. And it was! A big "Congratulations! Well done!" goes to Paul.
Control Line: Racing
WELL, first off, there is this badly sunburned nose. And then the lips that are so chapped you really do want to keep your mouth shut (no mean feat!). And all this just from a simple weekend of flying model airplanes. Yup, flying in January! In Arizona! At Buckeye, the Southwestern Regionals, where else? I had the chance to go again this year. And it was as last year, one of the most enjoyable meets around. This year the competition was even better than last in nearly all the events with a lot better AMA event competition. This meet is of such stature that it is attracting many of the big name fliers. Gillott, Ballard, and Garner to name three that are really into AMA events, plus those who live in the area who you would expect to be in Buckeye: Shew/Pardue from Albuquerque, Klause and Charlie Johnson from So. California, Russ Brown and Mike Gale from Colorado. Of course, there were a couple of Texas fliers that "showed up," too.
Control Line: Racing
I HOPE you have read the report published a couple of months ago in Model Aviation about the CL World Championships held this past summer in Czestochowa, Poland. I attended this contest, and feel some additional comments are in order. First, the flying site in Poland was a competitor's dream, but was a nightmare for practice, there was no place to practice where flying could be done in safety, either for the modelers and their equipment or the spectators. As Doc Jackson mentioned in his general report on the Champs, the practice circles for TR were on a paved area near a high-rise housing development. The paved area was not quite large enough to put in a circle, so the organizers moved the curb back about four feet in an arc and laid in a little temporary paving.
Control Line: Racing
THE last couple of months have been very busy for me, and while the "busy" has been associated with model airplanes, it hasn't been just racing, my real first choice. As most of you know, every two years the Control Line World Championships are held somewhere in the world. This year, 1980, they will be held in Czestochowa, Poland, in July. The World Champs has four events: Speed, Aerobatics, Team Race, and Combat. Many countries all around the world send teams there, including the United States.
