CL Navy Carrier
Dick Perry, <REDACTED>
I WANT TO start this month with some apologies. First, I apologize to you readers who missed the Control Line (CL) Navy Carrier column in the April issue. When the column was coming due in December, my office became involved in some studies related to the airline accident in New York a month earlier. I missed the column deadline. Although the Model Aviation staff was quite gracious in allowing me extra time, the time simply wasn't there.
Second, I'd like to correct an error in the February column. I mistakenly listed Mike Greb as the Profile Carrier contestant at the Nationals who had the best high-speed performance. It was Bill Bischoff who achieved the highest speed in Profile at 99.3 mph. Bill obtained that speed with a Wiley engine equipped with an O.S. 5B carburetor and turning an APC 9 x 6P propeller. Pete Mazur was only one-tenth of a second behind at 99.1 mph.
Since my last column was published, my E-mail address has changed. Now you can reach me at <REDACTED>. I'd love to hear from you about your winter building project.
If you send photos, the most usable method for publication is still a glossy photograph. If you have electronic images, we can try them, but most digital cameras are not capable of the required resolution, especially with electronic zoom or cropping necessary for publication.
As you read this, the Nationals is just around the corner. There's still time to enter before the late fees kick in. Even more important for a well-run event, there is still time to volunteer to help officiate. John Vilna will be the event director this year. We still need timers and other judges and support personnel to fill out the ranks.
With three days of competition, there is ample opportunity to fly two days and volunteer your services for the third day. If you'd like to have one of the best views on the field for all the action, you can call, write, or E-mail Bill Calkins, the Navy Carrier Society (NCS) president, at (630) 466-1531; 317 Snow St., Sugar Grove IL 60554; or clflyer@tchonet.com.
The CL Navy Carrier events this year will be flown Thursday through Saturday, July 18-20, with model processing the evening preceding each day of official flying. The unofficial events will process models the morning of each event to allow time for the annual NCS banquet, awards presentations, and annual meeting on Friday evening, July 19.
The fun begins with Profile Carrier on Thursday. As it was last year, Sportsman Profile Carrier will be flown in conjunction with the official event Thursday. The NCS sponsors the Sportsman Profile Carrier event. Friday is reserved for Class I and Class II. The unofficial events—15D Carrier, Skyay Carrier, and Nostalgia Carrier—will be flown on Saturday.
As of February, when this column is being written, we are still awaiting confirmation of the sponsors for the .15 and Skyay events. I will sponsor the Nostalgia Carrier events with separate Class I, Class II, and Profile categories this year. If you plan on flying the Nostalgia events, I would appreciate hearing from you before the Nationals.
If you would like to have the rules for any of the unofficial events, contact me at the street address or E-mail address shown at the top of this column.
The photos this month are from the Mesilla Valley Model Airplane Club contest in Las Cruces, New Mexico in the fall. Bill Melton was a very active member of the club for his many years of flying in Las Cruces, and he ran the contest for years. He was sorely missed, but the club put on a great contest in his memory. It included Stunt, Racing, and Combat events, and, of course, Navy Carrier.
One of the highlights of the contest for me was meeting and watching the Womack family. Johnny Womack (son) beat John (father) in Profile Carrier, and Jonathan (grandson) competed in Balloon Bust. Jonathan indicated that he would be flying Carrier this year.
The new rules cycle began in January of this year that will be effective starting in January 2005. If you have any thoughts on improvements to any of the AMA events—Trojus Carrier—you have until October 1 this year to submit proposals for changes in the rules.
There will be discussions of Carrier proposals at the annual meeting of the NCS in Muncie IN this summer. If you will not be attending the Nationals and would like your ideas to be heard at the meeting, you may contact me or any of the NCS officers, or send word through one of your friends who will be going to Muncie.
Some of the issues mentioned at the last meeting were allowing mufflers and limiting fuel to 10% nitromethane content. I expect to see proposals for each of these ideas in this cycle.
Starting this year there is a separate CL Navy Carrier Contest Board. The old Control Line Contest Board has been disbanded and replaced with five separate boards for Carrier, Combat, Precision Aerobatics, Racing, and Speed. You can find the names of the representatives for your AMA district in the "Focus on Competition" section near the back of each issue of Model Aviation.
I hope to see many of you at the Nationals in July.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
