CL Aerobatics
Ted Fancher
Summary
A nutshell summary of the Precision Aerobatic National Championships at Lincoln, Nebraska (July 12–19) could be reduced to less than a dozen words: wind, intense competition, nostalgia, innovation — and Paul Walker. Although the persistent winds dominated the meet, they were not the whole story. This was one of the most competitive Nats in history, with former champions returning, promising rookies emerging, and an experimental Advanced Class making its debut.
Notable competitors and highlights
- Bob Gialdini (Walker Cup winner in 1963 and 1965) returned and was a welcome addition.
- Bart Klapinski (Los Angeles) made his first Nats appearance since winning in 1967. Flying an ST .46-powered version of the original Tempest design, Bart finished a solid tenth. Midway through competition he trimmed over a half-inch off the trailing edge of both flaps to improve cornering — Tempest and wind worked.
- Mike Rogers (New York) earned Rookie of the Year after finishing thirteenth — his first time qualifying in the top 20.
- Wynn Paul returned, flying a new version of his trademark Pampawagon to an eleventh-place finish. He attended with his wife Helen.
- International entrants included Kazuharu (“Kaz”) Minato (former Japanese World Championship team) and Jeff Reeves (former Australian team). Mieko Minato and Jenny Reeves accompanied them; Jenny served as a judge for the second year in a row.
- The entry roster included eight former national champions (15 total victories) plus many others pushing to break into the top ranks.
Organization and format
- Event Director: George Higgins; Assistant ED: Lon Robinson; Head tabulator: Sharon Fancher. They seeded competitors into four qualifying circles of roughly equal competitiveness — a seeding that drew no complaints.
- For the first time there were more than 20 fliers competing during Friday's semifinals due to the inaugural Advanced Class competition, championed by Jack Sheeks and Rolland McDonald. This experimental, unofficial Advanced Class will be held for two more years, after which PAMPA will decide whether to propose a rules change to make it official.
- Fourteen fliers entered the Advanced Class. Participation disqualified them from Walker Cup competition; instead, the top two Advanced fliers from each qualifying circle advanced to a final held concurrently with the Top 20 flyoff on Friday.
Qualifying rounds
- Competition began Tuesday afternoon with appearance, grading, and the pilots' meeting, which was kept short by George Higgins. The main topic was how the Advanced Class would be slipped into the four days of Open Class competition.
- Appearance scores: no perfects, but five 19s; the lowest appearance score was 12.
- Models receiving 19 points:
- Paul Walker — Bad News
- Jimmy Casale — Spectrum
- Windy Urtnowski — Tradition
- Ted Fancher — Citation V
- Mike Rogers — Patternmaster (designed by Jim Greenaway)
- Two stiff days of windy qualifying narrowed the field to the top 20 plus the top eight Advanced fliers. Top flyers in each circle were Whiteley, Fancher, Walker, and Casale.
- Notables who narrowly missed qualifying included Gary McClellan, Randy Schultz, James Lee, Dave Trible, Allan Birchhaus, Bill Suarez, and Bill Rich.
- First-time qualifiers (and Rookie of the Year contenders): Gid Adkins, Mike Rogers, and Kaz Minato.
Memorable moments in qualifying
- Jim Cochran, flying his Foxfire design, flew all four official qualifying flights without changing trim or making corrections. He inadvertently repeated his Horizontal and Square Eights on one flight, sacrificing pattern points; those 50 points would have moved him into the top 20. He received the meet’s annual “Pachyderm” award for the memory lapse.
Friday: semifinals and flyoff setup
- Friday again brought strong winds. The Top 20, the top eight Advanced fliers, and the Juniors and Seniors were all challenged; only one major crash occurred (Kaz Minato, who had a backup ship).
- Friday format: each Top 20 pilot flew one flight on each of two circles before different judges; the two scores were summed with no throwaway. The top five advanced to Saturday’s Walker Cup flyoff.
- Jimmy Casale had a blown Four-Leaf Clover in one flight but preserved enough pattern points to advance (scores 490.25 and 511.75).
- Windy Urtnowski and Frank McMillan each flew two consistent flights to move into the final five.
- Bob ("Bear") Gieseke found himself on the bubble in fifth after Friday; Ted Fancher’s final 511-point flight bumped Gieseke into sixth for the third year in a row.
- Paul Walker: after a 516-point first flight, Walker’s second flight was widely hailed as possibly the finest single flight under adverse conditions many attendees had seen. The audience spontaneously rose to give him an ovation.
Juniors, Seniors, and Advanced classes
- Senior competition: Nat Gifford won the Senior title and also placed second in the Advanced class.
- The Gifford family donated a perpetual trophy for the Junior class. Thus, Stunt now has:
- Walker Cup — National Champion
- Mother Mechin Cup — Senior Champion
- Gifford perpetual trophy — National Junior Champion
- Junior results: Todd Lee won the new junior trophy flying a lightened Sig Mustang powered by an unmuffled Fox .35. Second and third were Archie Adamisin (son of Archie) and David Gieseke (nephew of Bob).
- Advanced class (despite windy conditions): top finishers were
- Dick Boucher (Top Gun)
- Nat Gifford
- Jim Renkar
- Mike Pratt (Magnum)
- Note: five Magnums were entered.
Saturday: Walker Cup flyoff and results
- The Top Five flyoff largely followed expectations. Conditions were tough, but Paul Walker again showed himself best able to handle the wind and won the Walker Cup. Congratulations to Paul.
Awards and odds and ends
- Rookie of the Year: Mike Rogers (13th place).
- Old-Time Stunt (unofficial): 18 entries; won by Lou Wolgast for a record third time. This event featured a wide variety of designs and numerous ignition engines.
- Concours d'Elegance and Jack Sheeks Technical Achievement awards: both won by Windy Urtnowski’s red, classic-styled LJ design, Tradition.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
