Free Flight: Duration
GOLLYWOCKS GALORE: Alabama resident Tom Hepler sent me the photo of the "Gollywock Gang" taken at last summer's MACH (Model Airplane Club of Huntsville) meet. He says that the event was run as a mass flyoff, with the winner being O.C. Stewart. Carl Loehle sponsored the event with some nice merchandise obtained from Midwest Products Co., which once produced the fine Wally Simmers design in kit form. Check the photo caption for the names of the Gang members. The site for this particular contest was the Old Huntsville, AL Airport, but future events are to be relocated to the larger Old Courtland Air Base, which is about 55 miles distant.
Free Flight: Duration
USOC NOTES: The final bell has just tolled to mark the end of the July 5-9 United States Outdoor Championships (USOC). The affair was a great success, as was a first-time event: Early 1/2A Nostalgia Gas. Not since Hand-Held Catapult Glider popped onto the field has a new event made such an initial splash in a national competition. Would you believe 43 entrants? The event sports the same rules as 1/2A Nostalgia Gas, with the following exceptions: Only five of the early 1/2A glow engines are currently eligible: the K&B Torpedo, Wasp, Spitfire, Spitzy, and the OK Cubs; scaling of designs is not permitted; and glow heads and flat coil glow plugs are nixed. That's it! The idea is to utilize the comparatively weak power plants in the 150-200 square inch models for which they were originally designed. Some of the combinations seen at USOC were OK Cub-powered Zeeks and Spacers, a Wasp-powered Wanderlust, a Mini-Hogan, and numerous Frank Ehling designs.
Free Flight: Duration
FF NATS OF '88: It has been no secret that the Free Flight community has been dealt a succession of subpar AMA Nats flying sites in recent years. Also, it has been quite a few years since we have seen exclamations of "The best Nats ever!" or the like comments being reported in the various Free Flight columns in the aftermath of this once-distinctive annual contest which bore many former champions of lasting prestige. Unfortunately, it is a fact that the failure or success of any large Free Flight competition can often be measured solely by the facilities offered at the selected site. In general, competition Free Flighters are a hardy lot, and most will sacrifice personal comfort-or travel many miles-to be able to compete on a field of adequate expanse which is relatively free of major obstructions. However, it is difficult to absorb these hardships when it is known beforehand that the selected site for National competition may be more of a challenge than the competition itself.
Free Flight: Duration
BASIC YELLER: The best of the Pee Wee-30 designs of the 1987 Midwest contest circuit was undoubtedly Bill ("Ole Yeller") Hale's diminutive yellow bird. His was the first and only PW-30 model to max out in area contests throughout the year. Using the transparent body of a small hypodermic syringe for a fuel tank, he logged consistent engine runs of between 14 and 15 sec. Bill's lifelong passion for the color yellow has earned him the handle of "Ole Yeller," and since the finishes of all of his models (and most everything else he owns) are located in that same color spectrum, it is most appropriate that we label his simple little model, "Basic Yeller."
1988 Free Flight Nats
THE 1988 AMA NATIONAL Model Airplane Championships will enter the history books, if for no other reason, as the "longest Nats ever." The championships began on July 23rd in the State of Virginia and didn't see the final curtain drawn until mid-October on the plains of southern Illinois. Especially for those Free Flighters who had arranged their vacation time around attendance at the Tidewater Nats in July, the last-minute cancellation of all the Outdoor Free Flight events (except Scale) came as a severe disappointment, at least initially.
