District V
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Andrew Griffith
Vice President
barracudahockey@aol.com
12258 Vuks Harbor Dr. N.
Jacksonville FL 32225
(904) 993-4956
www.amadistrict-v.org
Welcome back, District V members and visitors!
I hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving and holiday season and you found a new airplane, heli, or quadcopter under your tree!
I want to share a story about how proud I am to be involved in a community of awesome people. My friend, Bret Becker, lives in Dayton, Ohio, and scratch-built a U-2 Dragonlady that he intended to campaign at Top Gun in Florida at Lakeland Linder Airport. Chatting with Bret about the project, I mentioned that one is hanging in the Air Force Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base near Macon, Georgia.
It turned out that it was exactly the one that he was modeling! I thought I had some archived pictures of that U-2, but I was photographing as a tourist at the time and not documenting a Top Gun build. I reached out to another friend, John Wolfe, who lives in Warner Robins, Georgia, and flies International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC) aircraft among other things. I mentioned that if he went to the museum, I needed a bunch of pictures of the U-2 that is on display there.
Being a modeler, John knew what was required and rose to the occasion with nearly 200 photos that I put on Dropbox to surprise Bret, who was blown away. He joked that they were both extremely helpful, but it also showed him how much work he had ahead in less than three months before the competition.
I am on the left, photobombing Bret and Wency Becker of Dayton OH, the big winner at Top Gun 2020. Bret scratch-built this U2 Dragonlady that received a perfect 100 static score. His wife, Wency, was his flight caller. The U2 has a 120-inch wingspan and is powered by a 120 mm Schuebeler fan that climbs and sounds like the real thing.
Chris Stellas (top L) with Dino DiGiorgio, Bub Scott, and Kimberlie DiGiorgio at Mac Hodges Field. They are behind the November 5-8, 2020, Dino DiGiorgio Sr. Memorial fly-in.
David Hart shoots a CARF Corsair owned by Marc Shepard of Tucke GA, for a beautiful sunset photo.
Rod Gier, from Cocoa Beach FL, at the Ocala Model Flying Club Salute to Vets event. This 33% Hangar 9 Pawnee was re-covered in a scale Brazilian military scheme and qualifies for warbird events.
Fast forward to the end of October. Bret joined a couple of groups that are in rarefied air in modeling competition—an astounding perfect 100 score during static judging. I believe there have only been four or five perfect scores ever awarded. The judges noted, “There is nothing we can find that could have been done better on this model.”
At the end of the competition, Bret’s static score, combined with three flight scores in the mid-90s, earned him the distinction of being Mr. Top Gun 2020. It is a pair of huge accomplishments in which I’m proud to have played a minor part. Congratulations, Bret. It was well deserved!
Until next month, keep ’em flyin’ and stay safe!
