Nats Overview/Convention
John Worth
A GREAT ONE. Some said it was the greatest Nats ever. Many said it was their best Nats. It wasn't the biggest, but it was bigger than many. It was obviously a happy one—a constant comment heard during the week had to do with how much people were enjoying themselves.
A big fact was the closeness of all events. Everything was within a 5-mile radius of Nats HQ. Once again, as in 1981, Free Flight was on the same airfield with Control Line and RC events, and so, once again, Free Flight was largely a happy event. Especially enjoyed was a good indoor site on the same airfield—a rare and welcome situation which added considerably to the feeling of togetherness.
As usual, RC Soaring and Helicopters had to be flown at a separate site, but it was a good one and only 15 minutes away from the other events. The beautiful grass field—almost like a golf course—had more contestants and flights in both events than had ever been seen at a Nats before. A fantastic total of 780 sailplane flights on the first day was almost matched on the second—an incredible performance.
RC Pattern got lots of flying too, a full six rounds in less time than it took to run five last year. This was due to the use of three flight circles instead of two. RC Scale used the extra time to close out the Nats, flying until the final Sunday evening to handle the large entry.
Standing at the entrance to Westover airfield events provided a great panorama. To the left, on the grass, could be seen Control Line Combat flying, with Free Flight in the field beyond. Straight ahead were Control Line Speed flights, with Free Flight Scale on a taxiway about a hundred yards beyond, and RC Pattern on the runway beyond, and also to the right of FF Scale. Close in to the right were the Control Line Racing events. Farther to the right was the Control Line Precision Aerobatics event. It was more than a three-ring circus—the sky was full of planes. For many, it was modelers' heaven.
Back at the ranch. Building on a concept that was tried for the first time at the 1981 Nats in Seguin, Texas, the Nats HQ for 1983 was off the main airfield. This year it was at the large Quality Inn complex in Chicopee, about 5 miles away. The modern hotel was excellently suited to the Nats operation. In addition to housing hundreds of contestants and officials, the hotel provided rooms for the AMA PR operation, manufacturer displays, tabulation, trophies, the basic HQ administration office, the usual hobby shop, meeting rooms, and a large ballroom for model processing and displays.
In addition it provided some luxury touches unusual for a Nats. Most outstanding was the large poolside patio which served as a model processing site, lunch area, bull-session site, and the outdoor location for the officials' party on Saturday night. The hotel also had a good restaurant, bar, and a large room for special meetings such as the National Free Flight Symposium, the Model Engine Collectors' get-together, the swap shop, officials' briefing, and seminars involving such personalities as Charles Hampson Grant, Maxwell Bassett, Joe Kovel, and Carl Goldberg.
The ballroom provided for RC transmitter processing, RC Sailplane and Helicopter processing, the annual Open AMA Membership Meeting, a District One AMA meeting, the first Nats static (non-flying) model contest, and various other meetings. Some Scale models were judged in the ballroom, and CL Carrier models were processed there. It was a good all-purpose room. It even accommodated two wedding parties! It was a strange sight to see the wedding parties, all dressed up in tuxes and gowns, threading their way through lobby crowds of modelers and models.
The hotel people were exceptionally helpful. They provided all the extra rooms at no charge, since the Nats group had booked all the bedrooms. They helped with decorations, the hanging of models in the lobby, and the setting up of manufacturer booths in the lobby and corridors. It was a festive site: Nats scoreboards, bulletin boards, souvenir stands, and modeling posters were everywhere.
The convention. The hotel was also the location for AMA's First Annual Convention. It featured seminars, demonstrations, displays, and meetings which were independent of the Nats contest. One lesson was learned: scheduling of these activities during the day was not very successful. Most everyone agreed that evening schedules would be better. In general, however, the convention idea was well-liked, so it will be expanded next year. The convention helped bring many AMA members to the Nats who were not entered in competition.
Our hosts. The impact of our Nats was felt dramatically in the Chicopee area. Besides the hotels, restaurants were filled regularly. Many townspeople remarked at the surge of business which affected stores, service stations, and supermarkets. The Chamber of Commerce was delighted, as was the Air Force—which combined the Nats with the Westover AFB annual Open House and Air Show. It was somewhat like the old-time Navy-hosted Nats, with military flights and static displays sharing the airfield with the model activity.
We were the biggest thing in town. The Nats was a real shot in the arm for the local economy, and the community responded with friendliness and cooperation everywhere. The city golf course, for example, provided golf carts for the retrieval of RC sailplane launch cables. This made a perennial problem almost a pleasure.
The Air Force was outstanding. Under the leadership of Base Commander Col. Roy E. Ayers, we had the use of many facilities, and Air Force personnel helped in ways too numerous to describe. A super example was the indoor site: the base hangar was emptied, the overhead lights were raised, and the huge floor was cleaned and painted. A building for field operations was provided, along with special antennas for radio communication with the HQ hotel, first-aid facilities, and food and refreshment concessions. The AMA–Air Force teamwork even extended to model retrieving, when Free Flights got caught in trees or in out-of-the-way places.
The community provided good food and lodging at reasonable prices and hospitality that made us feel welcome. We also enjoyed the scenic beauty of the area, with mountains nearby, the Connecticut River, and pretty New England farms, homes, and churches. It was a nice area to be in, and we enjoyed exceptionally good weather—less hot and humid than was typical of most of the rest of the country during Nats week, with no rain (aside from the first day, when there was only Indoor flying) and less wind than usual.
Great PR
Both before and during the Nats, we enjoyed exceptional press, radio, and TV coverage, the latter from as far away as Boston. Local modeler Don Foster was particularly helpful to the AMA PR Department in making arrangements for, and participating in, interviews and model flying demonstrations. One interesting operation was several hours of local radio broadcasting right from Westover at the contest site.
National Geographic magazine was on the scene, as well as other publications, in addition to the usual model press. Nats posters all over the area generated much interest and a week of phone calls to Nats HQ. The net result of this was a great daily crowd of general public spectators.
Starting on the first day of the Nats at the indoor site (where an exceptionally large and enthusiastic, but orderly, crowd applauded outstanding flights) the number of spectators was higher than typical, especially during the early days of Nats week when it would be expected that most people would be at work.
It's safe to say, particularly because this was the first time ever for a New England Nats, that thousands of people are now much more knowledgeable concerning what modeling and the Nats are all about. We can expect that many will get involved in, or at least be more understanding and accommodating to, model activities in their area—we heard from many visitors to the Nats that they liked what we were doing and they would encourage it wherever they could.
Tremendous support
Close to 400 volunteer workers made the Nats run successfully. They came from everywhere, including California.
Nats Overview/Worth
One, Mike Sutton, rode his motorbike clear across the country and did such chores as repairing AMA vehicles. Another, Bob Mathar from New York State, did everything and anything asked of him; so did Ed Warren from Texas. These people, and hundreds of others, came at their own expense and worked for no more than the cost of a dorm room and a free AMA membership.
Many clubs were involved as were various special interest groups, including:
- National Soaring Society
- National Free Flight Society
- Precision Aerobatic Model Pilots Association
- Unified Scale & Pattern Judges Association
- National Association for Scale Aeromodelers
Another club joined the ranks of super groups who have become legends in Nats history, such as the Lake Charles (Louisiana) LARKS and the Lincoln (Nebraska) Skylights. This club, the Pioneer Valley RC Club, provided a fantastic number of workers for more than a week of support. The biggest crowd of workers ever, 36, turned out for the unloading of the Nats trailer during the week before the Nats, and many turned out again—after a week of working—to load the trailer after the Nats were over.
The leader of the Pioneer Valley Club was its president, who was also the Nats manpower coordinator, Roman Polaski. He did a superb job of quiet and efficient assignment of workers to do the thousand-and-one odd jobs a Nats requires. As a result he has been invited to join the permanent Nats staff so that his expertise can be used to help other manpower coordinators wherever the Nats takes place.
The Air Force praised AMA for outstanding organization of the Nats, with particular credit to the Nats Executive Committee and the Pioneer Valley Club. It was a great tribute to the annual Nats miracle whereby hundreds of workers who had never been involved before are blended with the "regulars" who show up year after year to work behind the scenes with little or no mention.
Behind the scenes
This happy Nats was not without its crises. There are always situations which threaten disaster but which get solved without a lot of public attention. This year's fantastically successful RC Soaring and Helicopter events almost got transferred to a much less desirable location when the owner of the preferred site decided at the last minute to require far more insurance protection than anyone had ever asked for. It took about a week of scrambling to come up with the extra coverage, at a cost of $700, to solve the problem.
AMA's so-called "motor home," really more of a truck, almost didn't make it to the Nats with its load of critical supplies and equipment. A fuel pump problem was solved en route by jury-rigging a large-scale version of a model-type "chicken-hopper" tank to keep the engine running. Then an electrical short circuit required scavenging before proceeding. These repairs were made at night in the middle of a rainstorm by a team of HQ personnel. The father-and-son team of Murry and Sandy Frank, and also AMA VP Chuck Forrest, who were accompanying the vehicle to the Nats after visiting AMA's new home in Reston, Va., were truly a case of modeler ingenuity making it possible for the show to go on.
Some of the Nats equipment was outdated and in need of repair and replacement; compressors that had not previously been a problem during pre-Nats monitoring were a weekly problem. Solving the problem necessitated many people changing from the two troublesome frequencies, but this was accomplished by great cooperation from all concerned. A happy note: many contestants were on the new RC frequencies, and they had no interference problems.
One last crisis almost marred the officials' party on the night before the Nats ended. The hotel public address system did not function properly, and the approximately 400 people present did not know what was happening. Once again, modelers solved the problem: the Cape Ann RC Club members went to their motor home, got out their club PA system, rigged it up in 10 minutes, and we had excellent communications to direct the party. This incident typified what made this a great Nats—a "can-do" attitude and a togetherness which solved problems to keep things under control and operating as intended.
Summary
A lot of things have to come together to make a great Nats. They did for the 1983 Nats, so much so that we have been invited back as soon as possible. We had great weather, great people, great sites, and great luck. Everybody wants more of the same, so we are already planning to go back, in either 1985 or 1986. It's been a long time since we had an eastern Nats (1969 was the last previously), but it won't be so long again if the Westover Air Force Base continues to be available.
Next year
It's Reno, Nevada for 1984. The dates are August 5–12. The airfield site is the former Stead Air Force Base (now civilian), where we held the 1982 Scale World Championships. Headquarters will be the Convention Center, downtown, much like the 1981 Nats in Texas but in a much larger building which will enable us to operate similar to the way we did for the 1983 Nats. Another great Nats is in the making. We are announcing it early enough for family vacation planning. Reno is great for families—economical food and lodging, with lots to interest everyone.
For once, Free Flight will have all the room it can use. It's shaping up rapidly. Make your commitment now—Easterners will find a whole new world out there, well worth a two-week vacation (three days of driving each way from the East Coast through great country, plus a great Nats week of modeling and the fascinating areas of Reno and Lake Tahoe).
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
