Author: Bill Maywald

Edition: Model Aviation - 2026/03
Page Numbers: 84, 85, 86
Control Line Combat

CL Combat Takeover

By Bill Maywald bill_maywald@yahoo.com

In F2D Fast at the F2D Money Nats in October 2025, Leonardo Silva (Mexico) won first place, with Don Jensen in second, and Alex Dementiev in third. Alex also placed first as a Junior, with Travis Machen as the second-place Junior. Photo by Patrick O’Halloran.

Hi! My name is Bill Maywald, and I am your new Model Aviation “Control Line (CL) Combat” columnist! I want to thank Mark Rudner for his many years of service in this column, the great work that he did, and his recommendation for me to take over. Mark is a new and first-time daddy now! I’m sure he will be plenty busy!

I have flown CL since 1970 when I was 10 years old and have flown Combat since I was 14 years old. I have taken a few small breaks throughout the years, but I’ve pretty much stayed involved and have competed for almost 55 years now!

I grew up in the Chicago area flying with my uncle, Jordan Segal, who introduced me to CL Combat. I remember that he took my brother and sister and me to the Glenview, Illinois, Navy Nats around 1970 to 1972. I was so impressed with all of the models. Later, we drove to contests all around the Midwest. We went to the Lake Charles, Louisiana, Nats in 1974, 1975, and 1978. Combat was a big part of my childhood.

In 1982, I moved to California and started flying with the Southern California Combat guys—legends such as Chuck Rudner, Rich Lopez, Mike Hoffelt, and Steve Hills. AMA Fast was all we really flew back then, although Chuck and Rich were also competing in F2D. There was so much innovation! Steve had developed foam wing airplanes with arrow-shaft construction, while Mike and the San Diego guys were flying monobooms. It was an exciting time for me!

I married in 1986, but I was able to stay involved in the hobby while I raised my family. I was the Miniature Aircraft Combat Association (MACA) newsletter editor for most of the 1990s. I remember sitting around the kitchen table with a little assembly line, folding, stapling, labeling, and stamping newsletters. MACA had approximately 200 members back then.

For the last 10 years, I have been very busy with the hobby, competing all over the US and in Europe. Combat is still very popular in Eastern and Western Europe, and I intend to share results from competitions there as well as in the US. Juniors are well represented in Europe, and I am happy that you will see Junior winners in some of this column’s pictures from competitions here in the US.

During the COVID years, I developed a relationship with Adriano Molteni and Antonio Griandini of Team A&A in Italy. They are distributors of F2D Combat equipment in Western Europe and have partnered with me to maintain an inventory of Combat airplanes and equipment in the US. I believe that this has had a great impact on Combat in the US because most all of the equipment that is needed to compete is now available without the currency exchange, payment, and international shipping issues.

Team A&A has a great relationship with FORA, which is the primary manufacturer of F2D engines worldwide. Unfortunately, FORA is located in Ukraine and is not producing any model engines at this time because of the war. F2D Combat is also very popular in Russia. My hope is that someday this war will end and we can all enjoy the hobby together again.

My intention for the column is to focus primarily on contest reporting, with a lot of pictures of the winners. Please send me photos of your local contests, with the names, dates, and locations of them, as well as photos of the winners, identifying them and their placings. I have three columns per year, with a maximum of seven pictures for each column, so that’s a total of 21 pictures per year. I might not be able to publish all of the pictures that I receive, but I will try. There is not a lot of equipment innovation in Combat anymore, but I will also try to cover what there is.

I am also an advocate for MACA. If you haven’t joined, please do so. MACA supports the AMA Nats in Muncie, Indiana, and the F2D World Championship teams. It is the glue that holds the US Combat community together. MACA is $50 per year, with family members being an additional $10 each. There is a drawing for a FORA F2D engine each year in March for all dues that are paid by that month. Payments can be made by PayPal or by mailing a check payable to MACA. The links for doing so are listed in “Sources.”

This column will be in the March 2026 edition of Model Aviation, just before the 2026 FAI F2 World Championships for Control Line Model Aircraft in Perth, Australia. This year’s F2D USA team is Dave Fischer, Andy Minor, Anna Minor, and Mark Rudner, with Sam Londke as the Junior entrant and Austin Minor returning as the current Junior World Champion. I believe Cary Minor will be the official mechanic for the Minor family.

From the October 2025 Great Britain/Spanish F2D Double World Cup in Valladolid, Spain: Bill Maywald (USA), first place; Pepe Lopex (Spain), second place; and Kostiantyn Maksymenko (Portugal), third place. Photo by Arlene Mears.
From the October 2025 Great Britain/Spanish F2D Double World Cup in Valladolid, Spain: Bill Maywald (USA), first place; Pepe Lopex (Spain), second place; and Kostiantyn Maksymenko (Portugal), third place. Photo by Arlene Mears.
In the F2D Single Airplane competition at the CL Speed Flyers of Southern California contest in December 2025, (L-R) Emil Opfer placed second, Lee Letchworth placed first, and Carlos Aloise placed third. O’Halloran photo.
In the F2D Single Airplane competition at the CL Speed Flyers of Southern California contest in December 2025, (L-R) Emil Opfer placed second, Lee Letchworth placed first, and Carlos Aloise placed third. O’Halloran photo.
A 14-year-old Bill Maywald is shown at the 1974 AMA Nats in Lake Charles, La. Source: AMA, #0001 AMA Collection, National Model Aviation Museum.
A 14-year-old Bill Maywald is shown at the 1974 AMA Nats in Lake Charles, La. Source: AMA, #0001 AMA Collection, National Model Aviation Museum.
Control Line Combat figure 4
In F2D at the F2D Money Nats in October 2025, the first place winner was David Fischer, second place was Darrin Albert, and third place was Leonardo Silva. The first-place Junior was Alex Dementiev, the second-place Junior was Mason Willcox, and the third-place Junior was Travis Machen. O’Halloran photo.
In F2D at the F2D Money Nats in October 2025, the first place winner was David Fischer, second place was Darrin Albert, and third place was Leonardo Silva. The first-place Junior was Alex Dementiev, the second-place Junior was Mason Willcox, and the third-place Junior was Travis Machen. O’Halloran photo.

Photo captions

(L-R): Chuck Rudner (second place), Lee Letchworth (first place), and Carlos Aloise (third place) competed in the December 2025 CL Speed Flyers of Southern California 80 mph Speed Limit competition. O’Halloran photo.

SOURCES

  • MACA
  • macasite.org
  • MACA Dues Payments by PayPal
  • macacombat@gmail.com
  • MACA Dues Payments by Check
    MACA
    c/o Arlene Mears
    6711 Quincy Ave.
  • Lubbock TX 79424
  • 2026 FAI F2 World Championships for Control Line Model Aircraft
  • 2026clwc.org