Control Line: Scale
IT WAS an unusually cool morning for July. The parking lot was filled with cars, trailers, and trucks bearing license plates from all over the US and Canada. Contestants were busy assembling their models and carrying them, or, if they were too large, taxiing them into the building's auditorium. They pulled their airplanes along like pets on leashes. Spectators filled the building to see these classic miniatures. They squatted low to peer into cockpits; they asked about the type of airplane, or engaged the builders in in-depth conversation of moment or wing area. Three panels of judges quietly viewed the airplanes from the top, side, and front. Airplanes of every description and size stood in neat lines: military, civilian, and sport. The judges marked their ballots and conferred quietly. Rows of aircraft lined the hardwood floor waiting for review, their owners nearby keeping guard.
Brodak's Fly-In '97
And so heaven settled on Earth for two beautiful days June 14-15, when 30 pilots with 90 entries competed, played, and reminisced at the first annual Brodak Fly-In, Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, sponsored by Brodak Manufacturing and Distributing. This all-Control Line AMA-sanctioned event featured some of the best of the old and new. It was truly breathtaking. The event was hosted by John Brodak, president of the company that bears his family name. Brodak, 58, was born and raised in this small mining town in the hills of southwest Pennsylvania. His family business not only includes the Control Line company, but three grocery stores, three video stores, a print shop, mobile home park, electric company, and a DJ company (Brodak has been spinning platters at parties for 40 years under the name of Johnny Lee).
