'81 AMA Texas Nats: FF Power
Jerry Barnette
Monday — Electric Power
POWER! Free Flight Power conjures visions of high-powered, screaming engines pulling the models skyward at a breathtaking rate. Sometimes, but not always. On Monday the first Power event was Electric, with 1/2A-sized models humming gently upwards; "struggling" was a more apt description. Even with the 25-second motor run, the altitude achieved was not that great. Many flights, when launched without good thermal help, merely cruised around at low altitudes. A good thermal was absolutely necessary to achieve a max with these relatively heavy models.
This was the third year for Electric Power as an official Nats event; this was the third year Bill Jenkins won Electric Power at the Nats. Not bad. Bill's model, with which he also set the current national record, is a 1/4A Country Boy scaled down from the normal 270 sq. in. to 240 sq. in. and weighing about nine ounces. (Editor: construction plans will be featured in a future issue.)
Tuesday — C Gas; Rocket and Payload
With the early light came the screaming and howling of C Gas. For most of the leaders the strategy was to max out before the second cup of coffee, taking advantage of the quasi-neutral air. A max for all of the Power events was three minutes, Category II.
Clearly the class of the day was Randy Archer, flying a K&B 6.5-powered Satellite derivative (800 sq. in. wing, stretched for a slightly higher aspect ratio, lengthened tail moment, lowered pylon). Randy's modified Satellite had a very impressive climb, getting quite high even on the 5-second engine runs. Randy missed his ninth max due to poor transitions on the short engine runs. On the 5-second runs, the model (having an auto-stab but no auto-rudder to aid the power-to-glide transition) would stall from the near-vertical climb, losing considerable altitude. The air on the ninth flight was not as helpful as on previous flights. Still, a fine performance. Next best was Gene Simpson with five maxes.
In contrast to the big C jobs were the Rocket and Payload events. The Jetex-powered models were interesting. When a good burn was combined with a passing thermal, the result was very good. However, there were several poor burns and poorly trimmed power patterns. The last portion of the rocket burn really shows up any maladjustment. Charlie Sotich outclassed the rocket field with his Zip-Zip design, maxing out, then making an attack on the national record (but falling 42 seconds short). Sotich used the same airplane as featured in the 1959–61 Zaic yearbook; the tissue was a little faded. Bill Rogers, who drove down to Seguin with Sotich, placed second.
Payload, an event whose origin dates back to the days of Pan American Airways sponsorship, has many built-in performance restrictions, such as the ROG requirement, weight limits, and size limits. Ed Turner won the closely contested event over "Dirty Harry" Murphy.
In the evening, Payload's alter ego, Cargo, was flown. Although an official AMA event, Cargo was conducted as an unofficial event with National Free Flight Society sponsorship. Mike Fedor was the Open winner, lifting a three-flight total of 35.5 ounces. The expected competition from Doug Joyce and his twin-engined canard did not materialize due to mechanical problems.
Wednesday — 1/2A Power and Sympo
The Power feature was 1/2A, an instance where the National Free Flight Society's Sympo was made to look good (and there are more instances to come). Gil Morris presented at the symposium his latest 1/2A design, Matchsticks (sequel to Toothpicks), and a paper entitled "Some Thoughts On Designing & Trimming a Power Model for Competition." Apparently Gil practices what he preaches—he again won the event. Gil used a timer modified from a Tomy toy (from K‑Mart) to help keep the weight down to 5.2 ounces. A poor man's auto-stab, with no moving parts, was incorporated using fixed wedges on top of the stab trailing edge. Mr. Starduster, Sal Talbi, was runner-up with four maxes.
Thursday — D Gas and FAI Power
Thursday started very early. Randy Archer, for example, maxed out before 7:30, half an hour before the start of the first round of FAI Power. Other D Gas fliers also took advantage of the good morning air, with quite a few good scores being posted. And a few almosts: Dave Wineland missed his fourth max by one second; second placer "Buckets" Johnson missed his fifth max by four seconds. The eventual D Gas winner, Meredith Chamberlain, flew an English-style Woodpecker design and, having so much fun, attempted another max even after the victory was assured.
Meanwhile, FAI Power got underway, with nine of the twelve Open fliers making the first-round max. The good morning air persisted into round two, which helped six fliers continue with a second max. By round three the air was more active, both up and down, making lift-picking a little more tricky. The full houses were reduced in this round to three—Hardy Brodersen, C. C. Johnson, and Tom McLaughlan.
By round four the afternoon pattern was established: waiting, watching, first one engine firing up, then a gang of Rossi, Cox, and AD engines climbing up through a blizzard of bubbles. Pack flying had its hazards—Hardy dropped this round. His comment: "I went with the pack, like an ... " McLaughlan, flying his traditional clear Mylar-covered twin-pylon model with a folding crankshaft to streamline the prop during the glide, also missed his max this time. Tom's innovative airplane also included a jack assembly from a surplus B-25.
C. C. Johnson, with six straight maxes, launched first in round seven. The launch was a little premature as the flight failed to max, whereas the pack which followed did max. The damage to the score was not that great, however, as C. C. still finished first ahead of Wallace "Buckets" Johnson. Chuck Markos, twice a winner of the McNeill Trophy in this event, was third. The victory was even more satisfying for C. C. as his last Nats win was 40 years ago—the day his beautifully crafted high-aspect-ratio streamliner was Cox-powered with a pacifier for pressure.
Friday — A Gas
The A Gas event was the most popular in terms of numbers of entrants. The most successful approach was a VIT-equipped K&B 19-powered system. The winner with seven maxes was Dave Wineland, flying his Bad News Ghost (BNG). BNG incorporated Duster 600 flying surfaces on a Mattes-class tube fuselage in a Parrish configuration, but with a stretched tail moment, and (of course) VIT and K&B. Perhaps the fastest airplane among the entrants was runner-up Toby Blizzard's Satellite 450, powered by a K&B 19. Toby picked a good day to wear his "Beat Randy" shirt. John Houtenbrink II and Mike Clem both maxed out, winning Junior and Senior, respectively.
The Power finale was B Gas, which was held on the only windy day of the Nats. As usual, many flew early and had maxed out by 8:30. Randy Archer started early but encountered trouble when the auto-stab hold-down line broke during the power phase. Randy's 600-sq.-in. stretched modified Satellite was really moving when the stab popped. The model seemed to explode. Sad, but impressive.
Nats FF Power / Barnette — Continued from page 53
Robert Dunham switched a K&B 21 into his A ship (as did many) and was doing nicely until he overran on his sixth max attempt, eventually placing fourth behind Mark Heller, who finished third. Heller also sported a VIT, K&B-equipped model. The battle for first place continued well into the afternoon between Gil Morris and Chuck Markos, both of them taking their time to cautiously pick good lift out of the wind. It all ended when Morris made his seventh max and Markos missed. Gil was flying his Toothpicks 520 (featured in the July Model Aviation) which he had very nearly lost on A Gas day.
It was a good contest. It was held on a good field with good weather. There were no retrieval problems to speak of, since the only concern was on the PA system. Speaking of which, the officials should be commended for a superbly managed contest. The following people deserve the appreciation of all for the service and sacrifice they made; they spent a week sitting in a hot field so that a lot of other people could enjoy a nice, trouble-free contest:
- Murray Frank
- Sandy Frank
- Bert Pond
- E. J. Hartmann
- Homer Smith
- Terry Rimer
- and many others
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
