District X—Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
ama.district10@gmail.com
Box 276, Fairfield CA 94533
Tel.: (707) 480-2053; www.ama10.org
The Vintage Stunt Championships (VSC) are held in Tucson, Arizona, every March. It is the largest Control Line (CL) contest in the Southwest. This year’s 27th annual event drew contestants from across the US, as well as Japan and Great Britain.
The contest focuses on CL Aerobatics (Stunt) models, which were designed and flown in the past. The Old-Time Stunt event requires a model designed in 1952 or earlier; Classic Stunt requires a model designed in 1969 or earlier; and Super 70s requires a model designed between 1970 and 1980. There is also an event for older models powered by ignition engines and a popular new event limited to Ringmasters.
CL Stunt has become a hallmark for exceptional craftsmanship, and the VSC is no exception. Many beautiful
The week also included two evening open houses, hosted by individuals from the Tucson area, as well as a Saturday night awards banquet. At the award banquet, organizers took the opportunity to make special awards for the international travelers: Masaru
Hiki, Masahiro Matsui, and Kaz Minato from Japan, and Ian Russell from Britain.
They also inducted John Brodak, Bart Klapinski, Rollie MacDonald, and Warren Tiahrt into the Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association (PAMPA) Hall of Fame. Three additional PAMPA Hall of Fame members were inducted at separate events. They are Dave Cook from Connecticut; Bill Rich from Florida; and Randy Smith from Georgia.
John Brodak is a past PAMPA president, AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, and for years has supported CL modeling by producing and distributing an extensive selection of CL products.
Bart Klapinski competed in the Nats, winning the Walker Cup as an Open pilot in 1967. He is an active and hard worker, helping at the Nats as assistant event director for three years and once as the event director. He also flew in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland from 1961 to 1965 as a member of the Cox Show Team. He mastered the art of flying three models at the same time—one handle in each hand and the third in his mouth.
Warren Tiahrt is the current PAMPA president and was Nats event director from 1996 to 2007. He was the 2004 F2B CL Aerobatics event director at the World Championships and the FAI Team Trials event director from 1991 to 2009.
Rollie MacDonald was posthumously inducted for his work popularizing the I-beam spar style of wing construction for CL models. It was a light, strong, and easy-to-build design made famous by his Detroit Stunter of 1954. Rollie’s son, Robert, accepted the award on his behalf.
Do yourself a favor and make a point of visiting the VSC next year. It is a great event full of wonderful folks. My thanks go to VSC Contest Director Jim Hoffman for his contributions to this month’s column.
Until next month, may you have nothing but happy landings.
