Control Line: World Championships
The US team and most of its supporters left San Francisco on Saturday, October 15 and arrived in Shanghai late Sunday evening after a long, tiring 13 1/2-hour flight on an Air China 747. We were met at the Shanghai airport by Mr. Huang of the Aero Sports Federation of China, the host organization for the Control Line World Championships. Mr. Huang had arranged with the local authorities to get us quickly through customs and into waiting buses to carry us to our hotel. Imagine a normal-size bus being skillfully driven down a street closely likened to an alley in most US cities. Even at 1 a.m., the streets were occupied by people, bicycles, and construction crews. There were very few street lights, and virtually no traffic-control devices (and those were generally ignored). Other vehicles, most without headlights turned on, all seemed to aim at the same small piece of the narrow road now occupied by our bus. For this group of tired-but-excited Americans the ride to the hotel was wild, yet we arrived safely and without incident.
Control Line: Combat
THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR participation in Combat competition has greatly diminished from what it was during its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s. We used to see throngs of young people building and flying their own creations at weekend practice fields and at formal contests. Some of the Juniors and Seniors of that era are still flying-us. We had plenty of support for our activities, even if we were not fortunate enough to have a father or close relative who could supply technical advice and financial help. This help came in the form of local clubs that could usually be found just by walking into a hobby shop. It was easy to join, especially if you could talk a friend or a neighbor into accompanying you.
Control Line: Combat
AMA'S 1994 NATS AT LUBBOCK, TEXAS had one of the largest Control Line Combat turnouts in recent years. Slow Combat had 29 entries; FAI had 13; 1/2A had 21; and Fast had 32. All events were flown with a full double-elimination format. Combat Event Director Larry Driskill must be given lots of credit for the pre-contest field preparation that entailed watering the field months in advance to achieve an acceptable level of growth and firmness. The adjacent fields were quite hard and were strewn with rocks. Lubbock (which boasts an international airport and the famous Texas Tech University) is about 3,000 feet above sea level. It can be quite hot, with little or no humidity-although it did rain briefly on Thursday for the finish of 1/2A Combat. The winds can blow hard: 15-20 mph.
Combat Odyssey
1982 WAS THE YEAR for a European vacation-not one of those whirlwind 10-countries-in-10-days deals, but a leisurely stay with modelers in England, a visit with an uncle in Germany, and then a trip to Sweden for the Control Line World Championships. For many years I have read England's Aero Modeller magazine. I have always been very interested in their Combat reports-not so much the blow-by-blow contest accounts, but the design trends. The British, for many years, have dominated Combat competitions throughout Europe. The British pilots often travel to the Netherlands and Belgium for European championships. It had been my ambition to see and participate in such competitions. I had made up my mind prior to the 1982 U.S.A. Combat Team Trials to go to Sweden.
