Control Line: Speed
C'MON, let's fly .21 Sport Speed! It's fun, it's easy, and it's great competition. So, get off the couch, quit talking about it, and do it! If you have been looking for an event that you and your kids or grandkids can compete in together, this is it. It is easy to be competitive in this event. One of the easiest, as a matter of fact. The airplanes are not difficult to build, they are easy to fly, and good engines are readily available relatively inexpensively. If you are going to get a youngster flying, then help him build a profile job as a starter. They are allowed in competition. And don't come up with the old excuse that you need a machine shop to fly Speed! These .21 engines are usually ready to go, you don't need to make, modify, or chrome parts, and you don't need any big "secrets." You've been talking about getting back into Speed flying or thinking about starting long enough. Let's do it! (If you aren't interested in Speed, then why are you reading this column?)
Control Line: Speed
Who says Control Line Speed is dead? Go back and read the '89 Nats Speed write-up in the November 1989 issue of Model Aviation if you think we have faded away! Most types of Control Line flying are booming all over the country, with many new fliers as well as previous modelers coming back into competition. There have been too many negative comments, negative attitudes, and negative people who would like to see us Control Liners go away! With this column we will try to reverse this trend and bring you up-to-date information on Speed flying, Speed equipment, and state-of-the-art techniques. I expect to receive data from various individuals, so if you want some specific tips or have questions, do not hesitate to write to me. Speed certainly wasn't dead at the Cold Cash Speed Bash in Dayton, OH last September. There were 25 of us entrants who fielded 55 airplanes and made about 130 flights/attempts during the two days of hot and heavy competition. This traditional contest has been sponsored by the Dayton Buzzin Buzzards for many years, and continues to be the best Speed contest in the Midwest. The weather report was threatening, so we put up 90 flights on Saturday!
AMA Nats: CL Speed
SPEED turnout at the '88 Nats was quite good with 128 event entries. Junior and Senior entrants were scarce, but this was true in all events. The site was far from perfect, but filling the holes with plaster made it usable. Flying began on Monday-not with a roar, but with the screech of hot 1/2A engines. Turnout was excellent with 40 entrants in 1/2A Speed and 1/2A Profile Proto. Forty-three official flights were completed, and flying continued right up to 5:00 p.m.
Control Line Nationals: Speed
WHAT do we call the CL Speed events at the Nationals this year? Stupendous? Colossal? Fantastic? Almost-with a total of 131 entrants, 199 flights, and 83 attempts during four days of competition, despite nasty weather and new, restrictive rules. Longer lines were required in 1/2A and B, fuel was limited to 10% nitro in all engine classes except 1/2A, and Jet fuel was limited to an 80/20 mixture of methanol and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). Early contests had indicated problems with this Jet fuel. Little information was available as to the kind of props we should use in the other classes, so it looked as if this contest would be primarily test flights!
Control Line: Speed
THE NATS IS MUCH MORE than just a contest-especially to us diehards who keep attending year after year. Sure, we come to fly and try to win, but it's no big disaster if we haven't worked hard enough to get our stuff going well or if trouble hits and we don't place first. To me, the best part of the Nats is meeting old friends again-friends from such faraway places as Massachusetts, Florida, California, Minnesota, Canada, and even Texas! It's sitting in the shade and swapping stories, tall tales of long-ago Nats, good flights, the good times we had then, and new tricks we are working on now to try to reach that magic "record flight." A few of the old boys show up at every Nats-guys who competed years ago and still like the sound of a high-revving Speed engine or jet. This year, it was Don Blackburn, Keith Storey, and Henry Mullen who showed up. Henry was famous years ago for his Dooling-powered Dust Devil design; the Dooling was bored out to a .65 and had a flat-top piston with a Dykes ring. This modification raised the speeds from around 150 mph for a stock Dooling .61, up to the 170s and near 180-top speeds before the ABC engines appeared.
