CL Aerobatics
Ted Fancher
DATE: Saturday, July 22, 1989 Place: Richland Airport, Richland, WA
Today the sun rose in the east and set in the west; the tides of the world's oceans responded to the moon's come‑hither flirtations; and Jimmy Casale won the Walker Cup. Rest easy, America — all is right with the natural order of things!
Let there be no doubt about the credentials of Jimmy Casale as a true master of the stunt arts. I'd call him a legend, but he's too young and appears certain to continue to embellish his nearly unparalleled record of dominance in Control Line (CL) Stunt. Since his first victory in Chicopee in 1983, Jimmy has won a total of four Walker Cups, placing him second only to Bob Gieseke's five. His back‑to‑back victories the past two years make him the first to do so since Gieseke in 1974/75. Stunt fliers' hats around the country are off in admiration of Jimmy's talents, hard work, and perseverance. Congratulations.
Victory did not come easy this year. At the end of Saturday's flyoff of the top five qualifiers, only 15 points out of nearly 1,100 separated first from fifth place!
The Finalists
The credentials of the finalists were formidable. Four of the finalists shared the honor of having won the Walker Cup a total of ten times — including every cup since 1981. They were:
- 1st — Jimmy Casale (Walker Cup champion)
- 2nd — Bill Werwage (Berea, OH)
- 3rd — Paul Walker
- 4th — Windy Urtnowski
- 5th — Ted Fancher
Windy Urtnowski takes no back seat to anyone; his record is unequaled — seven consecutive appearances in the final five. Senior Champion and Walker Cup flyoff contender Nat Gifford brought an incredible record of six consecutive Junior and Senior National Championships into Saturday's fray.
As an historical aside, Bill Werwage came within a whisker — about five points — of celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of his first Walker Cup victory in 1959 by winning it for a fourth time. This level of competitiveness certainly didn't end with the top five. Kaz Minato, a Walker Cup flyoff participant last year, missed the top five this year by only one‑quarter point. Frank McMillian (fifth at Lincoln, NE in 1987) finished a close seventh. Former Walker Cup winners Bob Gieseke and Bob Whitley acquitted themselves well with 11th and 9th place finishes, respectively.
Rising Talent
The new breed was well represented. Former Rookie of the Year Mike Rogers made his best showing with a strong 10th place flying a refinished Greenaway‑designed Patternmaster. Several first‑time Top Twenty qualifiers were led by Rookie Bill Rich's very impressive 12th place. Jim Tate and Chuck Hoplitz came from Pennsylvania, and Oregon's Jack Pitcher pleased spectators with his Top Twenty performance. Congratulations to them all.
Based on their performances at this year's Nats, I wouldn't mind predicting that any or all of Mike Rogers, Bill Rich, or Gid Adkisson may someday be found on the Walker Cup. All three show the skills, talent, and dedication of purpose that such a goal demands.
Standout Performances
One of the talkers of the meet was Gid Adkisson (Colvis, CA) and his "can't be missed" ST‑60‑powered Laser. Throughout the week it was common to hear comments like, "This guy could sneak into the final five," and "Wow! This guy is good. He could be a sleeper!" Well, he isn't a sleeper anymore.
Advanced, Junior and Senior Events
Once again, the Advanced class in Open Stunt proved its value. Seventeen entries chose to compete for the Advanced title. Mike Pratt bested a quality field while gaining his first‑ever national victory. He now must compete in the Expert division, as have previous Advanced victors. Mike was closely pursued by other top flyers, and the competition was keen throughout.
Junior and Senior events continue to show poor attendance. Only one Junior — Sharon Garrison of San Mateo, CA — was entered. She flew a 1/2A trainer‑type airplane and clearly enjoyed her moment in the spotlight as photographers and spectators gathered around and cheered her efforts. She has a little way to go before she will bump Casale off his pedestal, but she is clearly headed in the right direction.
Two extremely talented young men locked horns in the Senior event. Nat Gifford (New Bedford, MA) continued his winning tradition by edging out Archie Adkison, who was flying his first year as a Senior after winning last year's Junior event. Both are perfectly capable of competing with the best of the adult fliers, as Nat proved with a very respectable showing in the Walker Cup flyoff.
International Guests and Notable Appearances
Glasnost raised its lovely (and talented) head! The Stunt event was honored to welcome one of a group of nine fliers from the Soviet Union who competed in the Nats as guests of the AMA. While all were good modelers, the Soviet Stunt representative was a favorite of both the photographers and the (largely male) U.S. competitors. Beautiful Svetlana Pilipova provided proof positive that flying Stunt is not a skill restricted to the male of the species. While the initial attraction might have been largely hormonal, it was her skills with the handle that impressed everyone.
If not for an unfortunate control failure at the conclusion of an early qualifying flight — which resulted in the complete destruction of her unusual and attractive airplane — Svetlana would clearly have been a high qualifier. Because she had no backup airplane, a special exemption was made to allow her to complete her qualifying flights on an unofficial basis using Windy Urtnowski's backup Relentless. She flew it well after only a few practice flights — awesome!
Concours and Equipment
The annual gathering of magnificent Stunt birds convened for appearance judging and Concours balloting on Tuesday, and this year's flock was no disappointment. Although none received a perfect 20‑point score, both Windy Urtnowski's excellent Patternmaster (disguised as the racing 51 named Red Baron) and Bob Whitley's gorgeous Laser garnered well‑deserved 19s. At the Saturday evening banquet Whitley received the coveted Concours d'Elegance award voted by the competitors for the most beautiful airplane.
A number of notable models and designers were on display, including:
- Lou Andrews' Barnstormer
- Hal DeBolt's American Sr.
- Jim Saftig's Super Zilch (Saftig's Zilch used a Super Cyclone 60)
The Model Aviation crowd also gathered for the first‑ever LM Cox Barber Pole Convention, an unofficial event directed by Flying Models magazine editor Bob Hunt. Cox Co. donated 26 of its new Super Chipmunk IAA ready‑to‑fly planes for Nats workers and others who wanted to compete; pilots' first flights were often their one‑and‑only official flight too — lots of fun.
PAMPA Notes
A very productive PAMPA (Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots' Association) business meeting was held on Thursday night, at which three important subjects were addressed. President Tom Dixon appointed two committees to review the rules:
- Committee on Nats format and division structure — chaired by Vice President Bob McDonald. This committee will review the current Nats format and develop alternatives to address the Junior/Senior issues and the possible implementation of skill classes instead of the long‑standing Jr., Sr., and Open divisions. Appropriate recognition for high‑placing youngsters would be part of any such plan. Many issues are involved besides the dwindling numbers of Juniors and Seniors, and it will not be a simple task to resolve all competing points of view. Anyone with constructive opinions is encouraged to forward them to Bob McDonald, 28746 Westfield, Livonia, MI 48150.
- Committee on Nats procedures and staff continuity — to be chaired by perennial Nats head tabulator Sabrehan Fancher. This committee will review Nats procedures and the judicious use of future Nats staff members so that future Nats run better. Running a Nats event is a complicated job with many tasks taking place behind the scenes which are not apparent to the casual competitor or even most Nats workers. Recent directors have found themselves reinventing the wheel year after year because of a lack of written history to guide them. PAMPA hopes to develop a permanent and valuable aid useful to future Nats committees.
PAMPA, and probably the AMA, would like to commend the Nats management for its continuing support of Stunt with generous allocation of the CL facilities and personnel. Tom Dixon is to be commended for having the foresight to establish these committees, and those who serve on them deserve our thanks and support. In addition, PAMPA members owe Tom a big "thanks a lot" for his stewardship of our organization during the last two years. Tom has chosen not to run for reelection.
Thanks and Closing
Thanks to event director Bob Parker, his assistant Dave Gardner, head tabulator Sabrehan Fancher (for the 13th time in the last 15 years) and her constant helpmate Vicky Adkisson, head judge Bob Emmett and his assistant team, pit boss Gerald Schamp and his great crew, and all the others who worked hard so we could play.
SAFE FLYING IS NO ACCIDENT.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
