Control Line: Combat
TRAVELING? The World Championships was more than hot rod airplanes and interesting flying styles. It was also an exercise in logistics: getting a dozen or more fragile models many thousands of miles through airport terminals, cargo holds, inspectors, and automobiles. The days of sticking a couple of models in a raincoat are over. Giant, special-purpose boxes were the order of the day. Unfortunately, the excess baggage charge was so great that many competitors sold their models rather than take them home. Cardboard boxes make wonderful containers. They're cheap, light, and very nearly as strong as some of the plywood containers. The bicycle-size boxes are marginal because of their dimensions. Avoiding excess baggage charges is becoming impossible.
Control Line: Combat
TOPS. It looks like the top two spots in the MACA Top Twenty will go right down to the wire. Tom Fluker is leading the field with 191 points followed by Larry Driskell who has 185. Larry still has a chance to pull out the number one spot because he's flying in the King Orange Internationals, which is the last meet of 1984. Richard Stubblefield has a lock on third spot with over 150 points. All three totally wiped out the winning score from last year (137). By next column we should have the official word on the Top Twenty for 1984. This could be a return to an era of a few dominant fliers, something not seen since the days of Riley Wooten and Carl Berryman. The 1970s found a big improvement in equipment and many skilled pilots, but the top fliers still seemed unable to consistently dominate the field.
Control Line: Combat
DARE I even mention that there is a proposal for another Combat event? The basic proposal was made by Combat legend Riley Wooten, mainly as an event for the local level. The planes would be limited to a reasonable size (like 360 sq. in.) and a minimum weight, plus a few other basic restrictions. The engines would also be limited to a design like the Fox .35 Stunt in stock form, and it could be run on a bladder-type fuel system. Think about the early Sixties and Voodoo and Sneeker models powered by rather tame engines. Also think about how many people used to fly back in those days and the percentage of fliers who could actually keep up with their model.
Control Line: Combat
THE LATEST Combat event featuring stock Voodoos and Fox .35 Stunt engines is well underway. The basic rules for the event state that a stock Voodoo (or an exact reproduction) must be used. Minimum weight has been set at 17 ounces, and .015 lines are used instead of the .018s used in regular AMA Combat. In an attempt to keep speeds down and engines together, the nitro content of the fuel is limited to a maximum of 15%, and the venturi must remain the stock size and a standard spraybar must be used. The contests that have been run so far have been at least double-elimination ones, run by either Slow or Fast Combat rules (cuts or kills). The event we're having in Southern California will have a one-minute starting period and then a four-minute match, with mid-airs not ending the match.
I985 NATS: CL Combat
IT WAS AFTER 8:00 p.m. by the time we dragged into the dorms at Elms College. Everyone else had finished dinner and was taking it easy. We were hungry, dirty, and tired. A voice called out, "How come you guys always finish so late?" After years of doing this, I should have had an answer, but any sense of reason escaped me during those weakened periods. We spent more time out at the flying field than any othear group, and by Saturday we were ready to go back home and rest up for another Nationals. Despite all the good intentions of the officials involved, it seems that Combat events almost always run on and on. Rich Lopez did a good job in Reno in spite of the difficult conditions, but the general pace of recent Nationals has been very slow. The slow pace means more time out on the field for both officials and contestants, and more opportunities to miss a call or get crabby as we all do when worn out. The tendency is to just "try and get it over with."
