CL Aerobatics
Wynn Paul
A bunch of us packed up and went to New England for the 57th National Model Airplane Championships held at Westover Air Force Base near Chicopee, MA. Many of us felt a little trepidation about the site, but we found a fantastic location: I've been to every Nats since 1971, and Westover is the best site I've yet seen. Not only did we have great official Control Line circles, but there were also about eight practice circles very near the official circles. Everything was level, clean, and there were very few "line walkers."
Concours D'Elegance
The contestants voted Joe Reinhard (Columbus, OH) Cycle II the most beautiful stunter at the Nats, making it the winner of the PAMPA Concours D'Elegance trophy. The model has OS .35 power and is finished with Sig paint.
Organization and Atmosphere
Many thanks go especially to Control Line category director Bev Wisniewski and to District I Vice-President Ed Izzo, who saw to it that CL had the best competition circles I've ever seen. A person could be watching the CL circles and look up to see RC pylon, scale, or pattern as well as free flight within a quarter of a mile. To cap it off, to the far right of our site there were full-scale operations including fighters, trainers, cargo planes, and other miscellaneous aircraft.
The idea of having a "convention" along with the Nationals this year was also a great success. At the AMA HQ hotel there were many exhibits by manufacturers, and the halls were always crowded with modelers. It was a great atmosphere for a Nationals.
Entrants and Notables
We expected a strong turnout of Eastern fliers for this Nationals, and we got it: 22 of the 53 Open Stunt entrants were from the East; eight of the top 20 finishers were from the East, and seven of them were from the Garden State Circle Burners. Another first was that we had not one, but two lady competitors: Karen Meador (New Jersey) and Mary Figgs (New York City), who finished 43rd and 45th respectively; both had husbands who also competed in Open Stunt.
When it was all over, the Grand Champion was Jim Casale (Paterson, NJ), competing in only his sixth Nationals, flying a Supertigre .60-powered, foam-wing Spectrum which, in his words, "...is pretty much a copy of Bob Baron's Avanti." Jim finished 26 points ahead of first-time "Top Five" participant Paul Walker (Kent, WA), who significantly improved over last year's eleventh-place finish.
Senior and Junior Stunt
- Senior Stunt: 16-year-old Jim McClellan (Burlingame, CA) won using a basic kit Sig Chipmunk with a .46 engine. Second was Richard Seifert (Philadelphia). Third was first-time Nats competitor Robert Jongeleen (Avenel, NJ).
- Junior Stunt: Only two entries. 11-year-old Justin Sparr (Bergen County, NJ) won, flying a Top Flite Tutor.
Judging and Appearance Contest
On Tuesday of Nationals week, event director Lanny Shorts and assistant George Higgins put the 12 judges through several practice judging sessions. The judges were:
- Bill Zimmer
- Ken Stout
- Jim Parsons
- Wynn Paul
- George McArthur
- Dan McClellan
- Lee Lorio
- David Fitzgerald
- Waldo Cargill
- Leon Bowen
- David Adelman
- Art Adamisin
Appearance judging was performed in the courtyard of the AMA Nats HQ hotel, with Stan Powell coming out on top with 19 points for his Dove.
Open Qualifying and Semifinals
Wednesday and Thursday were the days for Open qualifying, and the weather was just great. Four circles were used for qualifications, which kept scorers Shareen Fancher and Joyce Shorts very busy—the scores were posted minutes after the flights. Four first-time qualifiers made it into the top 20: Marty Cwiakala, Ken Purzycki, Don McClave, and David Cook.
The semifinals on Friday brought brisk 10 mph winds, but the 20 qualifiers (split over two circles) put up very good flights. A notable problem occurred when defending champion Ted Fancher went directly from his Square Eight into the start of his Overhead Eights during his first flight. After completing one loop of the Overhead Eight, he realized his mistake, cut the plane back into level flight, and then proceeded to complete the pattern in the prescribed order. This led to about three hours of decision-making involving AMA HQ and an inappropriate protest signed by several competitors who wanted Ted out of the finals. The ultimate decision was that Ted had attempted (and not completed) the pattern: the Overhead Eights out of sequence resulted in a minimum score of "10," and he then lost pattern points for attempting the remainder of the pattern out of sequence.
After Friday's flying, places 11–20 were:
- Remel Cooper
- Robert McDonald
- Tom Dixon
- Ken Purzycki
- Lou Wolgast
- Don McClave
- David Cook
- Glen Meador
- Gene Martine
- Lew McFarland
Marty Cwiakala, at number nine, was the "Rookie of the Year."
Open Finals
Saturday had perfect flying weather, and the top five Open contestants were ready. The first round showed that Jim Casale was dominant: he scored 550.50 to the second-highest score for the round of 532.50. The other fliers were within 12 points of the second place, but nobody was going to catch Jim. He put together second- and third-round scores of 553.25 and 554.00 to overpower the field. Final top finishers included:
- Jim Casale (Grand Champion)
- Paul Walker
- Gieseke
- Dennis Adamisin
- Windy Urtnowski
Unofficial Events
- Old-Time Stunt: 15 entries, including AMA President John Grigg with his Secret Weapon of Leon Shuman with a Drone .29 diesel. John finished fifteenth despite help from Art and Dennis Adamisin. Lou Wolgast came in first with a Sterling Mustang at 289.00, followed by Tom Dixon (Barnstormer) and Bob Jongeleen (All American Senior).
- Half-A Stunt: Low turnout. Marty Cwiakala won over Richard Byron, 421.33 to 404.67. Only two Seniors flew Half-A; Bob Jongeleen beat Jim McClellan.
PAMPA Banquet and Business Meeting
Saturday night saw the largest PAMPA awards banquet in history, with about 120 people at the Chateau Provost. The meal was outstanding and plentiful. A rather heated business meeting of PAMPA followed the meal; much discussion was held regarding officers' terms, whether to split the Secretary/Treasurer/Newsletter post, how to change director elections, updating the Constitution and Bylaws, the future of PAMPA, and ways to help sagging juniors and seniors in Control Line. One positive outcome was that nominations for officers had more than one candidate for Vice-President and for Secretary/Treasurer, and there were seven nominations for the four director positions.
PAMPA Awards Presentation
The PAMPA Concours D'Elegance award for "the most beautiful stunt plane at the Nationals" (as voted upon by the pilots) went to Joe Reinhard (Columbus, OH) for his Cycle II. Joe was tied for second in official appearance points with 18 but was voted by the pilots as the Concours winner. His plane features outstanding wood craftsmanship, a flawless silver finish, intricate trim and lettering, several innovative and neatly done access hatches, and an overall beautiful appearance.
Jack Shecks presented the Rene Mechin trophy for engineering innovation to Windy Urtnowski for his 900 sq. in. airplane which weighed only 61 oz.
As the banquet concluded with all the various trophies being given out, the last presentation was the traditional award of the Walker Cup to 1983 champion Jim Casale.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
