CONTROL LINE AEROBATICS
Curt Contrata
Curt Contrata, 6783 Nightwind Cir., Orlando FL 32818; E-mail: RyanSV@aol.com
Charles Mackey on J.C. "Madman" Yates
Charles Mackey contributed the following about J.C. "Madman" Yates, who was born July 8, 1915, and passed away September 7, 2002.
"We have lost a 'true legend,'" wrote David Brown (AMA President) and Richard Hanson (Vice President, District X). "We have lost our childhood hero," said Don Hutchinson (PAMPA [Precision Aerobatics Model Pilots Association] District VII Rep.) and Charles Mackey (author).
"Don and I were teenagers when J.C. Yates won our admiration. Now we qualify for discounted coffee at McDonald's, but our hero is still J.C. Yates. We believe Mr. Yates started the trend to beautiful, high-performance stunt ships—the kind we fly today. We think of him as the father of modern-day Control Line Precision Aerobatics. Mr. Yates was the inspiration for the book Pioneers of Control Line Flying.
"To understand the impact that Jay (he liked to be called Jay) had on the model airplane community, try to imagine a time when most control-line contests could be won by flying a loop or a wingover. The airplanes were mostly converted free flights or solid-wing box fuselages.
"Imagine you open a copy of Air World magazine and find an article titled 'Control-Line Stunt Flying' by Charles Yates (his later articles were signed J.C. Yates). You see a photograph of a beautiful control-line stunt ship with a backdrop of eight trophies. When you turn the page you find a diagram of maneuvers that look impossible. There is no name for the airplane and no construction details. What would you do? You would probably do what I did and immediately start construction.
"When the airplane is 95% complete, a chance to attend the 1947 Nationals is offered and accepted. I was completely blown away when I saw Jay fly his new airplane, the 'Madman.' It was even better looking than the one in the magazine and the maneuvers were faster than I could have possibly imagined.
"Bob Arnett, a teenage boy from Kansas, witnessed one of Jay's practice flights in 1947. Later Bob would become a national control-line stunt champion, and he would write of his encounter with Jay: 'The damn fool was doing things that I was afraid to think about.' My boss at the hobby shop, Clarence Idoux, used to say that Yates' airplanes were ten years ahead of the rest of the country, and we all agreed.
"If Mr. Yates had turned out to be a despicable human being, he still would have achieved hero status for his contribution to the hobby; however, he wasn't a despicable person. In fact, Mr. Yates could have made hero status for his character alone without the model airplanes. He was a gentleman—kind, patient, neat, knowledgeable, caring—and had time for all of our dumb questions. He was the Gary Cooper type, the kind of man we wanted to be when we grew up.
"I could not complete the book about pioneers without writing about J.C. Yates and he was nowhere to be found. Bart Klapinski and Bob Whitely had been flying a Madman Jay built in the Old-Time event at the Nationals (they won). That airplane is now in the AMA museum. Bob had met Jay at a hobby shop. Their mutual interest in control-line stunt expanded to include R/C and Bob was Jay's R/C instructor.
"It was 1981 when I interviewed Jay in Hemet, California. Jay was a prominent member of the Hemet Model Masters R/C Club. He helped raise funds to build a new R/C flying site by building highly desirable models and auctioning them off. The club's favorite airplane was the 'Yellow Bird' that he designed, an easy-to-build aerobatic trainer that became popular in the area.
"The interview with Jay brought to light the close relationship he had with Bob Palmer. Bob had lost fingers on his right hand while operating a punch press making parts for the Madman, and also lost his home, his wife, his daughter, and his job. Jay insisted that Bob and Bob's mother move in with him and his wife until Bob could recuperate.
"It was at this time that Bob built the Sammy Mason Biplane that Jay had designed. Jay took the airplane to the 1948 Nationals, entered it as a team Yates-Palmer. Jay won first place in the Scale event by flying the complete AMA stunt pattern.
"The Yates-Palmer team was well known for their spectacular team flying. They flew Madman airplanes with Orwick engines at speeds approaching 90 mph. Bob would fly the lead plane with a ten-inch streamer mounted on the canopy. Jay would drop down from behind and cut the streamer while avoiding taking off Bob's rudder. They never chewed up a rudder and they never missed a streamer cut. There were many more thrilling parts in their routine, but they are not so dangerous to write about!
"Jay dropped out of modeling, but Bob Palmer became more active. Bob toured many countries. He designed the Smoothie and the Thunderbird and became world famous. Bob Palmer may be one of the best-known names in the history of control-line stunt. Bob planned to speak at Jay's funeral service, but was too distraught.
"The recognition of J.C. Yates' contribution to model aviation would not come until late in his life, but it was appreciated by him as well as his family. The first recognition came at a luncheon in Hemet, California. All who attended presented Jay with a copy of the book Pioneers of Control Line Flying that he had signed.
"The second recognition was a dinner held in Hemet, California, and attended by the Hemet Model Masters, Knights of the Round Circle, and Jay's family. The first presentation was a painting of a Lockheed Hudson, the airplane Jay helped build during the war.
"The second award was a beautiful plaque made by De Hill. It had an Orwick engine complete with a working spark ignition and an XO prop. Jay had a partnership with Henry Orwick and helped in the development of the first specially built control-line stunt engine. Tom Lay, Bill Netzeband and Charles Mackey contributed the Orwick engine.
"The next award was a beautiful laser-cut plaque that inducted Jay into the PAMPA Hall of Fame. The presentation was by Keith Trostle, a charter member of the PAMPA Hall of Fame. You can see photographs of the evening's presentation on the Internet at www.ivc.net/~spider, which is the Hemet Model Masters' club web site.
"Jay was awarded a Pioneer Award in 1998 at a regular club meeting. The next award Jay received was the Model Aviation Hall of Fame Award. This was presented at the Hemet Model Masters' club meeting. Rick Hanson presented the award. Jay's family attended, along with many members of the Knights of the Round Circle. Jerry Neuberger gave a talk about the Hall of Fame. It was a great evening and everyone enjoyed themselves.
"As it turned out, that would be the last club meeting Jay attended. Jay had planned to attend one other meeting. He was going to be presented with the first laser-cut kit of his 1946 design Dragon, but Jay was unable to attend the meeting so the presentation was made at his home by Eric Rule of RSM Distribution.
"Mr. Yates is survived by two daughters, two sisters, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. There are no words to express our loss."
Awards and Recognitions
- Signed copy of Pioneers of Control Line Flying presented at a luncheon in Hemet, CA.
- Painting of a Lockheed Hudson presented at a Hemet dinner.
- Plaque by De Hill featuring an Orwick engine with working spark ignition and XO prop.
- Induction into the PAMPA Hall of Fame (laser-cut plaque); presentation by Keith Trostle. Photographs: www.ivc.net/~spider.
- Pioneer Award (1998) at a Hemet Model Masters meeting.
- Model Aviation Hall of Fame Award; presentation at Hemet Model Masters meeting by Rick Hanson.
Construction and Equipment Advice
I hear from many modelers about all the different trick devices and exotic materials they are going to use on their next killer models. Believe me, I understand how easy it is to get carried away with technology and modifications during construction. It does not matter whether you are flying sport models or trying to win the Nationals: a proven design built light and straight with lots of power is going to fly best.
We used to say that if you made it cool, it was going to be heavy. Adding carbon reinforcement to a successful and structurally sound design just because it seems cool only adds weight. This is much like an adjustable feature designed to correct building misalignments; if you build it straight in the first place, you can save the weight of the device and possibly eliminate an additional failure point.
Think "simple and straight" throughout the construction process, and weigh every component along the way. Doing this and recording the information will force you to be weight conscious on the entire project.
Good equipment never hurt anybody, and the fastest way to become a better flier is to start flying better equipment. Many of my bad habits can be traced back to flying poorly built and out-of-trim airplanes. A good model will go exactly where you point it and will seem to fly perfectly round loops all by itself. This is what we will be working toward in the next few columns.
Address Change
We have moved to Orlando, so please make note of the address change if you are planning on sending in photos.
Shop Odds and Ends
Have you ever wondered where all those 2-56 blind nuts, eyelets, and line thimbles go when they fall on the floor and roll out of sight in your shop? How many times have you gotten on your hands and knees, and after all your searching concluded that they somehow just vanished? In my entire shop I found one set of yellow goggles for a 1/10-scale plastic pilot and one #6 washer.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
