Control Line: Aerobatics
Wynn Paul
AT LAST, a California Nationals... visions of perfect weather, 5- to 10-mph winds from sunup to sundown, surfing in the afternoons, Disney Land, and sunshine. At least that's what Whitely and Fancher keep writing us while they look out the window at the rain. The big bash will be at March AFB, near Riverside, August 7-14. Look for Junior and Senior stunt to be held on Tuesday, August 9 this year; Open qualifications to take place on Wednesday and Thursday; Open finals to be on Friday; the Walker Cup flyoffs and Half-A stunt will probably be flown on Saturday, August 13, with the PAMPA banquet a "must" that night. This format and the days of competition are only probable at this writing and subject to some change as the PAMPA officers and Nats management finalize plans.
The event director for Precision Aerobatics at the 1977 Nationals will be Arlie Preszler, an architect by vocation, and a popular WAM contest director. Arlie has a fantastic reputation for running great contests in the California area; having attended and flown in the Nationals at Lake Charles and Dayton he is familiar with the many problems and the magnitude of the Nats; certainly some of the WAM contests have more contestants than the Nationals in stunt. Arlie CD'ed the Half-A event at the '76 Nats and did a fine job. He has published The Headwind, the bulletin of the Lodi Model Association, for the past nine years and is strong in organization and administration. PAMPA is very fortunate to have a seasoned event director such as Arlie volunteer for the job.
Arlie has persuaded, or is it inveigled, Lanny Shorts to serve as assistant event director. Lanny is the owner of Standard Hobbies, Lodi, California, and has worked with Arlie many times in contests.
Three stunt judges have already been tentatively selected from applicants. Other qualified stunt judges interested in serving at the Nationals should write Arlie at 221 West Oak Street, Lodi, California, 95240; telephone: 209-368-7538. Give a brief resume of qualifications, plus some references, and state availability during Nationals week. Eight to 12 judges are needed for Open qualifications Wednesday and Thursday, with the most consistent judges being retained for finals and Walker Cup flyoffs. Six to eight judges will be needed for Junior and Senior stunt on Tuesday. Open judges should plan to be at the Nats for training and practice warmups on Monday, August 8. A travel allowance for judges only is furnished by AMA as well as lodging in the dorms.
Volunteers for backup workers are needed for the entire week: recorders for each judge, runners, tabulations clerks, pull-test workers, flight-line supervisors, scoreboard operators, clean up persons, and "go-fers." Fliers, families of fliers, and other interested persons should write to Arlie Preszler and give specific days and times that they can help; i.e. Wednesday morning or Friday afternoon. In the past three years PAMPA has created an instant tradition of everyone pitching in and helping during the week, so let's keep it up.
According to last year's FAI team manager Doc Jackson, there will most probably be three different sites for FAI team selections this coming summer. Combat most likely will fly at St. Louis in July; Speed and Team Race most likely will select their representatives at the Nationals. Precision Aerobatics most likely will have the team selection over the Labor Day weekend. At this writing the number one site appears to be Atlanta, Georgia. This flying site is at an abandoned airstrip with room for about eight to ten circles. The site conditions are excellent with only one of the circles being close to a hangar. Atlanta has a large number of stunt enthusiasts who can help to run the tryouts. Other site possibilities are St. Louis, Dallas, and Cleveland. Direct correspondence about the FAI team tryouts to PAMPA President Keith Trostle, 10900 Phillips Dr., Upper Marlboro, Md., 20870.
Removable Tip: As another fine example of Joe Reinhard's building techniques take a look at the accompanying picture of Joe's method of setting up the adjustable.
CL Aerobatics/Paul
tip weight on his 1976 airplane. He has a completely removable right wing tip held on by one 4-40 screw. Two pegs help to locate the tip and it's very difficult to see the separation line between the tip and wing. This Columbus, Ohio resident always has one of the slickest finished planes at the Nationals. The writer had the good fortune to fly Joe's 38-oz. Max-powered light-weight last summer and it was quite a thrilling experience to feel the bantam-weight on the lines after the Pampawagon 60-oz. beasts. Let me tell you, a light plane can really change your attitude toward how to do the pattern.
High-Power Engine: Control-line Carrier event National Champion Carlos Aloise's recent entry into the stunt special products field has caused a ripple of inquiry and speculation. Carlos claims he has a 5.8-oz. .40 engine which is more powerful than a ST 46 and also has a 9.2-oz. .50 engine more powerful than the ST .60. World Champion Les McDonald will soon test the .50 and states that this engine is basically a ST 46 that has been stroked and reported. More on this later. Hope they work.
Special Interest Groups: Control-line now has five special interest groups: PAMPA, MACA, FAI Control-Line Society, North American Speed Association, and CL-RPM, and associated monthly publica- publications for each group. As long as dedicated individuals choose to work for these organizations each will flourish and promote the event. However, wouldn't it help to insure a continuing existence of these groups if AMA would undertake to print, address and mail out the newsletters or a combined "Control-Line Newsletter" with a short lead time. Right away we get into expenses. The special interest groups' dues would offset actual postage costs, but then AMA would have to absorb mimeo or offset printing costs and office help time. However, in many control-line fliers' minds, this would be a justifiable expense. How about some comments.
Wynn Paul, 1640 Maywick Dr., Lexington, KY 40504.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
