General
BEHIND THE SCENES: This was the year of the 63rd National Model Airplane Championships. The first one was held in St. Louis in 1923. Except for three years during World War II, the Nationals has been held annually ever since. In 63 years it's been located in a large variety of places in the U.S.A., but not until 1989 was there a Nats in the Pacific Northwest. That wasn't for lack of modelers in this part of the country. Quite the contrary, the Northwest is a hotbed of model aviation. It wasn't until this year that the right combination of ingredients came together: a specific proposal involving sites suitable for the various forms of competition that take place at the National Championships, backed by area modelers ready and willing to provide the physical effort and technical expertise necessary to staff most of the events.
Pics from the Past
DURING MANY of the years of U.S. Navy hosted National Model Airplane Championships (which ended in 1972 after about 25 years), there was a great photographer on the scene. John Schneider is his name. Originally from New York, John is now retired in Spring Hill, Florida. Upon his retirement John donated to AMA his Nationals photo file covering the years 1954 through 1966. Many of these photos were published when they were current, providing some of the best Nats photo coverage of those years.
AMA Nats: General
IT WAS A SCORCHER! Almost anywhere in the country it's very hot in July, and the AMA National Model Airplane Championships are typically high temperature affairs, but the 1988 event in Tidewater, Virginia was even hotter than usual. Those who have been to many Nationals tend to rate the one held in Lake Charles, LA as the hottest. However, this year the Virginia Nationals is getting the credit as the all-time pressure cooker. Regardless, it was a great Nats, with mostly light and variable winds. Flying generally did not suffer, except for a shutdown of a few hours on one day of the RC Soaring events when a thunderstorm passed through that site-which was located many miles away from the other activities.
AMA News
Each year committees of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) meet to make decisions concerning world championships, other international competitions, and world records. For model aircraft the FAI's Committee for International Aero Modeling (CIAM; pronounced see-om) does this job and the 1975 meeting was held in Paris, France on December 4 and 5. Some years ago, back in the sixties, AMA was able to send about a half dozen representatives to the annual CIAM meetings. This was possible because the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), the official U.S. representative to the FAI for all categories of sport aviation, had a generous free transportation arrangement to get people across the ocean.
AMA Nats: General
AN OVERVIEW. Returning the Nats to Lincoln, NE for the third time was generally a very successful experience. Every National Championships involves compromises, and this was the case for Lincoln in 1987-but less so than for many other Nats. Overall, therefore, Lincoln this year was a generally happy Nats, with far more positive aspects than negative. Weather ranged from great (cool in the beginning) to tolerable (with the last several days windy in addition to being hot). Only a short burst of rain on one day dampened the activity-not enough to completely shut down any event.
