Free Flight: Scale Sport
READING about a contest is about as interesting as watching paint dry. To say that you had to be there would be an understatement. For those who have never attended a free-flight scale contest, I should point out that the number of planes in the air at any one time is not limited by the number of frequencies available, everyone being on his own personal "frequency." The adjustments built into the plane are all that it has, and no corrections can be made while the plane is in the air, although some modelers seem to think yelling helps change things. In any case, anyone can fly whenever they feel like it, and it is not a bit unusual to have a dozen or so ships with various forms of power, such as rubber, CO2, gas or electric cruising around together. This makes for a three-ring circus for contestants and spectators alike.
Free Flight: Scale Sport
THIS month's T.W.A. (Thermal-Worthy Aircraft) Award goes to Abe Gallas of Los Angeles for his 18-minute flight at the Flightmasters Stahl vs. Lindberg contest last summer. A duplicate award goes to Andy Faykun who put the twin brother to Andy's Interstate Cadet O.O.S. the same day! Abe's ship was just about per plan (available from John Pond Old Time Plan Service, P.O. Box 3215, San Jose, CA 95156-plan #18-E-5 Interstate O-63 Cadet, Earl Stahl, 1/41 MAN for $2) except that it required a tremendous amount of down-thrust (about 1/4" shim!) We have learned that the 1980 Flying Aces Nats are to be held at Wright Field in Dayton, back-to-back with the AMA Nats. This has to be the Mecca for FF Scalers this year! Expect about 11 action-packed events, all outdoor, all the way from AMA and FAC scale events to Embryo. Frank Scott is the C.D. Phone: (513) 890-5989.
Free Flight: Scale Sport
RESULTS are in from the Jacques Pouliquen Memorial Peanut Meet held recently in Nice, France, which show that scale is certainly alive and well on the Riviera. Christian Frugoli of Marseille topped the field of 42 entries with a beautiful Farman Moustique, which was also pushing a 11/2-minute average flight! Perhaps the most interesting ship at the contest was Emmanuel Fillon's Gossamer Condor, which used the 9 in. fuselage rule to good effect and placed fourth with flights near one minute. A sterling field of fliers did justice to the famous Salle des Eucalyptus with some of the finest Peanuts ever assembled under one roof, not so much just to try and win one of the fantastic cups offered by the Model Air Club de Nice et du Sud-Est (MACNSE), but to do homage to the man who brought this very popular event to France, Jacques Pouliquen.
Free Flight: Scale Sport
THE 1980 Flying Aces Nationals are on for Wright Field in Dayton for the three days preceding the AMA Nats, and missing it would be like missing Halley's Comet or a Roadrunner cartoon! A full program consisting of WW I and WW II, as well as Air Race mass-launch event, four Peanut events, FAC (Flying Aces Club) Rubber and Power Scale, Jumbo Scale, No-Cal and Schneider Profile events, Catapult Jet Scale, Junior ROG, Junior National Reliability Tour, and Embryo Endurance. For more information, contact CD Frank Scott, 4283 Honeybrook Ave., Dayton, OH 45415. His phone is (513) 890-5989. Dormitory accommodations are available at the University of Dayton, and a big Saturday night banquet should be the high point of the FF Scale year.
Free Flight: Scale Sport
CLOSE your eyes and imagine a 38 in. wingspan rubber-powered biplane against a cumulus-cluttered blue sky with the huge 16 in. free-wheeler up front flashing in the sun on each climbing circle until the ship was so high you couldn't even see it with binoculars! Sound like a dream? Well, I had to pinch myself a time or two to make sure I was awake during the great 24 minute OOS flight of Bill McConachie's Douglas O-38 at Taft over Memorial Day at the U.S. FF Champs. Weighing in at a hefty 13 ounces with a 70-gram rubber motor included, the Douglas was not your run-of-the-mill floater, and biplanes have never been noted for their potential to fly out of sight. Bill didn't even bother to put his name and phone number on it! Thirty years of wakefield experience, however, may have had something to do with it, as did the fine weather on scale day following rain the preceding night, which made for some super lift. I know how Bill feels, having done one like it myself a few years ago with a BE2E diesel model and a seven-minute overrun that was gone for two years lying out in the wastes around Taft.
