CL Aerobatics
Wynn Paul
The annual gathering of the Stunt crowd (the Nationals) was held in Lincoln, NE. After blasting the Juniors and Seniors with 25 mph winds on Tuesday, the weather abruptly changed to much calmer conditions, giving everyone else a chance to really show their stuff. The best show was put on by Ted Fancher (Foster City, CA), who was virtually in the driver's seat all week. His much-patched and repaired two-year-old Intimidation airplane (with an ST .46 engine) carried him to victory with a final score of 1061.67, beating second-place Bob Gieseke, who scored 1047.34.
Event organization and facilities
Event Director Arlie Preszler had the official Precision Aerobatics circles in outstanding condition: clean, holes filled with spackling paste, and eight CL practice circles already marked off on the runway for stunt practice. This preparation smoothed operations and eliminated the usual site-searching problems for Nats officials.
The judging staff included:
- Art Adamisin
- Allen Brickhaus
- Bill Fitzgerald
- Jim Hoffman
- Lee Lorio
- Bill Kipp
- Dan McClellan
- Joe Reinhard
- Mark Overmier
- Bill Zimmer
There were 47 Open fliers who showed up to fly.
Junior and Senior events
Tuesday's Junior/Senior flying produced a three-way battle among the Seniors, reminiscent of the Fitzgerald/Musumeci shootouts of the mid-1970s. Ken Purzycki was the first flier in a field of six Seniors (and one Junior) and crashed on his first flight, looking at first like a total wreck. Jim McClellan moved into first with a 403.00, but his second-round score dropped as the winds picked up.
Rich Siefert then put in a beautiful flight in extremely windy conditions, drawing applause from Open pilots who were watching. Ken Purzycki repaired his plane and returned to the air; he ultimately took the Senior win with 413.50 to Siefert's 408.50.
After the crash, a combined effort rebuilt Ken's plane in 57 minutes. The damage repaired included:
- foam wing broken at the center wing joint
- stab broken in half
- broken tank
- engine case and crank broken
- severely splintered fuselage
Despite being a Junior at the Nationals, Sean Elliott flew with spirit and enthusiasm; he and model-flying protege Mike Ditrich (Erie, PA) were an example of the family tradition in the sport.
Because windy conditions suggested holding appearance judging at 2:00 p.m. would allow some practice before the traditional 7:00 p.m. judging, Event Director Arlie Preszler ruled it a very good idea and may try those times again. Appearance judging in the Nationals entry form was officially from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., however.
Appearance-judging results:
- Stan Powell — 19 points (his new Dove with his own foam wing; white-and-green finish)
- Windy Urtnowski — 18 points
- Frank McMillan — 17 points
- Ed Prohaska — 17 points
Stan Powell was later awarded the PAMPA Concours d'Elegance Trophy as voted by the pilots for the "Most Beautiful Stunt Plane at the 1982 Nationals."
Open division qualifying and incidents
We were all expecting the worst for Open qualifications after the 25-mph winds earlier in the week, but the weather turned out fine for the Nationals.
A dramatic incident occurred to Bob Whitely at the start of his second flight on Thursday: he got off rich, tried a wingover, lost line tension, pulled the lines taut, and a line connector broke. The plane crashed with the entire nose broken off, the tank ruptured, and wing damage. Bob was already in second place on the circle and thus had a qualifying spot, so he, John Poynter, and Chuck Walter returned to the motel to rebuild the plane.
To check the engine and tank, Bob's Max .45 was mounted in Poynter's damaged plane and flown for one checkout flight. Bob and John then built a new cowling from scratch in 46 minutes, and by 3:30 a.m. Friday the plane was painted and ready. Bob flew on Friday and finished 10th—on a plane that had originally been built in four days the week before the Nats after an earlier crash.
Friday's semi-finals featured outstanding flying. After adding the first two flights, only 21 points separated 5th through 13th places. Three rookies made Friday: Lou Dudka (7th), Glen Meador (12th), and Dennis Harkai (13th).
Semi-final qualifiers (top 20 listed):
- (positions 1–4 summarized earlier in Open finals; detailed ranks follow for qualifiers)
- Frank McMillan — 6th
- Lou Dudka — 7th
- Stan Powell — 8th
- Dennis Adamisin — 9th
- Paul Walker — 11th
- Glen Meador — 12th
- Dennis Harkai — 13th
- Remel Cooper — 14th
- David Fitzgerald — 15th
- Bob McDonald — 16th
- Jim Armour — 17th
- Gary McClellan — 18th
- Roger Barrett — 19th
- Fred Miles — 20th
Notable non-qualifiers and equipment
Two very interesting planes flew at the Nationals but didn't qualify:
- Frank Williams (Houston, TX): a profile Bearcat with a full-size wing (57 in. span, 60 sq. in.), K&B Superpro finish, an ST.60 mounted on the inside (center-circle side) of the fuselage, and a Pylon 8-oz. clunk tank set up for muffler-pressure glow. Swinging a Top Flite 14 x 6 prop, this 59-oz. airplane handled practice winds as if they were a mild 4 mph breeze and could out-turn corners without mushing.
- Dave Cooper (Milwaukee, WI): flying a 43-oz. Nobler kit with an OS Max .40 four-cycle engine that used only about 2 oz. of fuel for the entire pattern. Several fliers admired the power and consistency of this engine.
Unofficial events
Old-Time (O.T.) Stunt
- Thirteen entries battled Tuesday winds.
- Glow division winner: Windy Urtnowski (Little Ferry, NJ) — Ringmaster (Fox .35) — 269.00 points
- Second: Jim Renkar (Justice, IL) — Ringmaster — 245.50 points
- Third: Karl Siebert — Curtis Swift
- Other entries: El Diablo, Trixter Barnstormer, All American Senior and Junior, Sterling P-51
Ignition division (O.T. Stunt)
- 1st: Jim Lee (Topeka, KS) — Go-Devil with OK Super .60
- 2nd: John Pond — Dragon (J.C. "Madman" Yates design) with Orwick .64
- 3rd: Doug Dahlke — Super Duper Zilch with Super Cyclone .60
Half-A Stunt
- Only seven entries this year.
- Open winner: Wynn Paul — miniature Bob Gialdini Olympic Mark V (third year in a row)
- 2nd: Richard Byron
- 3rd: Jim Lee
- Senior winner: Jim McClellan
- Junior winner: Pete Lee
Finals
The Big Finals featured four fliers from World Champion Teams plus first-timer Jim Casale. Saturday's weather was nearly perfect.
Ted Fancher's winning plane was his 1981 model:
- 59.5 in. span
- built-up wing
- 56 oz.
- Garner-ringed ST.46
- Rev-Up .12-6 prop trimmed to 1 1/8 in.
- Finish: acrylic enamel and lacquer (the finish had cracked along the chord of both wing panels about three inches from the fuselage; Pascal was used liberally to repair the rips and keep the plane flying)
As usual under Arlie Preszler's direction, the entire week of Precision Aerobatics ran smoothly and professionally. Assistant Event Director was former World and National Champion Bob Hunt (editor of Flying Models). Shareen Fancher and Marie Adamisin tabulated the 261 flight scores—multiplied by three to five judges per flight, producing roughly 900 score sheets over the five-day period.
Control Line Precision Aerobatics continues to have the most professional and classy-looking scorecards and name tags of any event, thanks to Arlie and his sign-making prowess. The only hiccup in his organization was that he ran out of gas about 100 miles outside of Lincoln on the way home.
Awards banquet
At the eighth PAMPA awards banquet:
- The George Aldrich–sponsored Rene Mechin Trophy (a perpetual trophy featuring an exact replica of George's first Nobler constructed by Arlie Preszler) was awarded to Senior winner Ken Purzycki.
- Jack Sheeks presented his Technical Achievement Award to Dennis Adamisin for his very-high-aspect-ratio airplane.
- Thespians Jeff Anderson and Ken Purzycki provided an entertaining presentation of imitations of some of the fliers and judges.
- The banquet closed with presentation of the Walker Cup to new Champion Ted Fancher.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
