1982 AMA Nats: FF Outdoor Glider
WEATHER for Glider fliers ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime in a chronologically-ascending order as the thermal god. Hung, took note of proceedings at the Mead FF site. Tuesday, A-1 Towline day, was as Winnie-the-Pooh once said, "a blustery, blustery day." The wind was directly from the south at a steady 15 knots, with gusts up to absurdity. As a native Midwesterner, I personally feared that we were in for an entire week of watching ships blown downwind faster than they could ascend vertically. About noon, however, the breeze relented a bit, and conditions improved for most of the afternoon. Later, though, a wind-driven rain set in and shut down the bulk of the activity.
1982 AMA Nats: FF Outdoor Rubber
FF RUBBER at Mead was someplace between silly and serious this year. Before somebody takes me to task for that comment, let me hasten to add that's the most positive thing that can ever be said about any event at any contest. Someplace between silly and serious is how modeling ought to be. The competitive spirit should never get in the way of the camaraderie that grows out of sharing the same interests. Good fellowship and good humor should be inherent in all modeling activities.
1982 AMA Nats: FF Power
THESE EVENTS got underway a bit belatedly on Tuesday, the first day of Outdoor events at the Mead auxiliary Nats site for FF, because of a switch from the originally-intended flying field to one which was designated as a back-up. Both locations terminated in vast cornfields less than a half-mile downwind from Tuesday's launch area, though the back-up site about a mile north was more flexible. Now, folks, with any wind at all, these things travel a long ways, and to count on every flight ending in a field of 7-ft.-tall corn was more than most fliers could handle. The original FF site obviously just wasn't gonna work, gang.
Witch Hawk 500
WANTING a small, hot-climbing 1/2 A job that would have a glide comparable to larger ships, Jim Clem designed the 237 sq. in. Witch Hawk in 1978 for Category II and III work. Since then, its contest record has been phenomenal, winning scores of local and regional meets, and the Nationals in 1979. At the same time it was winning contests, the little Witch Hawk was setting national records in the hands of Bill Jenkins. It received NFFS Top Ten Design recognition for Jim in 1981.
Sport Cassutt
OVER 25 YEARS AGO, then-airline-pilot Capt. Tom Cassutt built a tiny monoplane racer that captured the hearts and minds of air racing fans throughout the country. Entered in competition in 1958, the Cassutt Special I first flew to victory in the 1958 National Air Racing Championships, which prompted literally hundreds of air racing aficionados to request plans and information about Cassutt's clean machine.
