Radio Control: Soaring
IF YOU'VE BEEN keeping score, you might like to know there were six gents who met their LSF Level V achievements in 1981. Keith Kindrick from California was the first, followed by Gerry Zeigenfuse, then Don Goughnour, both from Pennsylvania, Don Clark from Maryland, Jim Porter from Iowa, and Don Patterson from Michigan. The honor of being the first in 1982 goes to Bill Meleske of Baldwin, NY. Needing only the 10-kilometer Goal and Return-a task which has postponed those same honors for many over the years-Bill stopped fighting the odds and did it his way.
Radio Control: Soaring
IF YOU THOUGHT the bikini-clad lovelies which paraded about the F3B World Championships in Sacramento last summer were the most photographed forms, you were wrong. They came in second. First place honors went to the 12 winged beauties belonging to the Swiss team-12 beauties with the identical name of Spartakus. Three-views of this model appeared in the April 1981 issue of Model Aviation, and photos were in the October 1981 issue. This month the which you don't see at your average Saturday afternoon fun fly and, for that matter, weren't seen on any other ships at the World Championships.
Radio Control: Soaring
IF COMPETITION does nothing else, it does breed new ideas. While some of them might be suitable only for the top-notch competitor, some ideas do rub off and make Sunday afternoons more enjoyable for us hackers. Those ideas might be a simple gadget like Chuck Anderson's modified cotter pin which he uses to hold wings tightly to the fuselage (as was seen at the AMA Nationals). Or it might be the sophisticated wing construction the Swiss use in their Spartakus models.
1983 LSF Tournament
THE LONGEST-RUNNING annual Sailplane contest is the tournament sponsored by the League of Silent Flight. Starting in 1970, the first event had nearly the complete LSF membership show up, but that wasn't such an amazing feat. Membership was less than 100, and the majority of the members were Contest Board back in 1970 came from the LSF. Those rules included three types of tasks: duration, distance, and speed. The Italian aero club picked up on that theme a year or so later, modified the tasks slightly, and sent them to the FAI/CIAM in Paris. The result was F3B.
Radio Control: Soaring
A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO all of the different Two-Meter designs wouldn't have filled an LSF Level Two landing circle. Things have changed. Looking at the current listing one wonders if they could all fit in a large airport. The current roster of kits looks like this: Bird of Time-Mark's Models (also available as Three-Meter version); Challenger-Great Planes Model Mfg. Co.; Easy Breezy-Tower Hobby; Gentle Lady-Carl Goldberg Models; Habu-Pacific Sailplanes; Icarus-Midnite Models; Metrick-Top Flite Models, Inc.; Prophet-Joe Ruth; Riser-Sig Manufacturing Co.; Sagitta 600-Airtronics (also available in 100-in. version); Soar Birdy-Great Planes Model Mfg. Co.; Soarer-Midwest Products Co. Chances are by the time you read this a few more will have been added.
