Viacheslav Beliaev

DURING AN EARLY 1990 trip to visit modeling friends in Leningrad I was pleased to meet Viacheslav (Slava) Beliaev, widely regarded as the best FAI CL Combat flier in the world. Knowing of American interest in Soviet modelers and their equipment, we struck an agreement whereby Slava and his compatriot, CL Combat pilot Svetlana Filippova would begin work toward publication of Slava's F2D model-draw plans, take pictures, write a rough outline of the text and then somehow get all the stuff to Seattle.