Free Flight: Duration
UPDATE on the U.S. Outdoor Champs (USOC)-1990! If you were planning to attend the 1990 USOC at Lawrenceville during the third week of June-hold on a minute! You now have an extra three months to prepare: The new dates are October 1-5, 1990. Now, you know there's got to be a good reason for this, right? Here 'tis: The fields bordering the flying site were planted in potatoes in 1989, but they are scheduled for planting in corn in `90-and they get sprayed in June with herbicide. That bug juice is apparently bad news for humans as well as bugs, and we can't have contestants trying to retrieve models amidst potentially dangerous chemicals. Jim O'Reilly will replace Tony Italiano as contest honcho for the 1990 edition of Free Flight Week, and Jim is currently rounding up a staff.
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
NEW FF CLUB: I should like to welcome the "new kid on the block"-literally speaking, that is. The new "kid" is the West Michigan Free Flight Club, and its membership roster shows that about half are young people. The accompanying photo shows most of the members, and I'll introduce them beginning in the front row (left to right): Chris Mauw, Joel Postma, Tim Leugs, Mike Holtz, Chris Tanas, and Lisa Sarber. The middle row has Joe Kresnak, Tim Anderson, Steve Baker, Rayon Wanble, and Rodnee Shank. The ones in the back row are Bob Pattison, Bob Hoffman, Tim Sarber, Dave Shank, Bill Butenhius, Jim Tanas, and Bill Schottey. One of the group's kingpins is missing from the photo, namely "Krazy Karl" Spielmaker, who we shall assume is the photographer.
Free Flight: Duration
NEWS FLASH! Whereas there is to be a detailed report on these pages in an upcoming issue, please be advised that the NFFS Free Flight Week held June 19-23 near Lawrenceville, IL was a huge success. Unofficially, there was a total of 405 entrants representing 31 states and Canada. Most precontest guesstimates had topped at around 250 contestants, so the organizers were a little aghast (to say the least!) by the tremendous turnout. The 165 folks who attended the Tuesday evening SAM 57 dinner represented a sellout for that event. Thursday's NFFS dinner meeting sold 190 tickets!
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."
