FF Outdoor Rubber
Larry Kruse
FF Rubber at Mead was someplace between silly and serious this year.
Before somebody takes me to task for that comment, let me hasten to add that's the most positive thing that can ever be said about any event at any contest. Someplace between silly and serious is how modeling ought to be. The competitive spirit should never get in the way of the camaraderie that grows out of sharing the same interests. Good fellowship and good humor should be inherent in all modeling activities.
That particular mix was in evidence at Mead mostly due to the unofficial events being interspersed with the official AMA schedule. As an example, Unlimited Biplane, an unofficial event, brought out some strange-looking beasts, which not only provided comic relief to the previous day's intense Wakefield competition, but flew amazingly well. George Perryman strapped a second wing to his Old-Timer California Champ, and Bill Baker had the temerity to add a cradle and a second wing to his Korda.
Amidst guffaws and shaking heads, the ships were launched simultaneously. Both climbed like crazy and hooked into lift. In fact, Jim O'Reilly was so impressed he launched his Coupe d'Hiver into the same air, but was unable to get enough altitude to latch onto the Perryman/Baker boomer.
Part of the same cast also played roles in the unofficial Unlimited-Unlimited (or, as Bob Meuser calls it, the "Mulvihill-Mulvihill") event. For the uninitiated, the event consists of one go-for-broke flight launched at dawn into what is hoped to be non-thermal air.
George Perryman outdid himself on this one. When George brought the Giant Speckled Bird out of the trunk of his car, he shut down everything on the field. Recognizing the magnitude of the moment, everyone became awestruck and hid their eyes from the sight.
Nats FF Rubber / Kruse
Continued from page 58
The GSB was overwhelming with its 70-in. span, 12½-in. root chord, 810 sq. in. of wing area, and two (yes, two) 35-in. motors geared to a 32-in. diameter prop. The beast was featherlight at 7 oz. George said the motor run was 3 3/5 minutes.
Notice that the previous description was all in past tense. Yep, that's right. The fuselage collapsed under the winding load, so we'll never know. Hopefully, George will rebuild and present us next year with the Giant Speckled Phoenix, risen out of the ashes of the cratered GSB. A tremendous effort, George. It deserved a better fate.
To continue the zany saga of the Unlimited-Unlimited, several folks did fly — well, sorta. Jim O'Reilly launched at the appointed hour, and his long, skinny ship headed heavenward. But then, for some inexplicable reason, in rapid sequence the prop fell off, the noseblock parted company with the fuselage, and the motor fell right out of the plane! Not to worry. All of this happening at once left the airframe in trim. It glided on majestically for 2:09. Lewis Groebe won the event, but by this time everyone was too busy rolling on the ground in disbelief to notice.
Other unofficial Rubber events included:
- Embryo
- 7-11 Distance
- Sig Mini-Maxer
- Speed
- and others
The NFFS's unofficial event guru, Terry Rimer, and good ol' boy George Perryman deserve a note of thanks for running the unofficial events and creating a fun atmosphere for Rubber fliers.
Even though the same atmosphere permeated the official events, competition was intense, particularly in Wakefield, flown on Wednesday under excellent conditions during the morning hours. Marty Richardson was pushed to the limit by Chris Matsuno before eking out a 1,146 sec. to 1,145 win. Both of those positions were seriously challenged most of the day by Jim O'Reilly until he DT'd his number one ship into a cornfield when the wind shifted while he was aloft. Jim finished in third place with his back-up ship at 1,078.
Total Junior and Senior Wakefield entries consisted of three, but Junior Landon Morris had a very respectable 425 for first place. John Renken and Bryan Fulmer were one and two in Senior.
P-30
P-30, John Oldenkamp's progeny, was a nifty event with lots of interest and participation. Scores in all three divisions — Junior, Senior, and Open — were more closely bunched than probably any other event. The basic design parameters let even beginning modelers be as competitive as the experts. The simplicity of construction will do much to ensure the continued popularity of the P-30 event.
Junior:
- Melissa Groebe — 288 sec.
- Joel Watson — 249 sec.
- Aaron Markos — 240 sec.
Senior:
- Susan Brown — 206 sec.
- Tom Bailey — 192 sec.
Open:
- Lewis Groebe — 360 sec.
- Mel Hoffman — 306 sec.
- R. J. Dunham — 304 sec.
Dunham had a nice little twin-finned design which appeared to be a miniature clone of his Mulvihill, decked out in the same color scheme as its big brother.
Coupe d'Hiver
Coupe d'Hiver winner Chuck Markos did an excellent job of picking air to amass a total of 730 seconds. His ship seemed to climb more quickly than some of his competitors, but at times it appeared to be almost on the verge of hanging on its prop. Nonetheless, he bested Howard Hill by 47 seconds and Lewis Groebe by 149 seconds.
Brad and Bryan Fulmer flew consistent flights to amass 462 seconds and 444 seconds, respectively, in Senior. Susan Brown had 383 for third place, and Melanie Sanford won Junior as the only entry at 231.
Mulvihill (Unofficial/Unlimited-Unlimited)
I wasn't able to stay to see the conclusion of Mulvihill and report all of the scores here. (Editor: Winners are listed in the Competition Newsletter section of this issue.) Friend Jim O'Reilly was kind enough to call to say that George Perryman came out on top at 1,080 sec. He (O'Reilly) was second with 964 sec., and Bill Baker came in third with 775 sec.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
