F2B
by Curt Contrata
Overview
There were 61 modelers from 23 countries competing for the F2B world title. This was only the second time the CLWC has been held in the US; the US hosted its first World Championship in 1984, after an uninterrupted streak of seven consecutive F2B wins spanning 14 years. China won in 1984 and—with the exceptions of 1986 and 1992—has won ever since. Going into this competition, the US and China were tied at eight wins apiece, and only three other countries had also won: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Russia, each twice.
Contest format
The contest involved two rounds of qualifying held over four days; each round took two days to complete. At the end of qualifying, each flier’s best score determined the 15 fliers who advanced to the finals.
Weather and qualifying
The first day of qualifying began with cool air and a gentle breeze—but only for the first couple of fliers. The wind slowly increased throughout the day and continued for the next two days of qualifications. The winds subsided for the second half of the second round, on Day Four. With the better conditions, those who flew that day had a much better chance of advancing; in fact, 10 of the 15 finalists had flights on Day Four.
In spite of the winds, US team members Ted Fancher, Paul Walker, Bill Werwage, and Rob Gruber had great qualifying flights.
US team performances
Ted Fancher flew first in the first round and had terrific air, but the early flight draw hurt his first-round scoring chances. He flew his beautiful, original Final Edition design powered by a RoJett .61.
The rest of the US team faced difficult conditions and each flew as though the wind was not a factor. Their flying and their models’ performances were extremely impressive. Paul Walker flew a Saito 72–powered Miss America Mustang of his own design. Bill Werwage flew a piped PA .61–powered P-47 Razorback, and Rob Gruber flew a Randy Smith–designed Dreadnought with a piped PA .61.
Equipment and flying styles
The diversity of models, engines, and flying styles was the talk of the contest. There were a fair number of piped models, long two-strokes, and four-strokes. There were good and bad examples of each approach, and it was a great opportunity to see them all in action under the same conditions. They all seemed to work fine in perfect air, but some performed better than others in the wind.
When the winds blew, equipment and flying ability were put to the test. The Americans never hurt for power, which helped in the wind because models that were down on power were pushed around and struggled to get through the pattern. It was impressive how well fliers dealt with aircraft slowing down and speeding up throughout maneuvers. It was common to see models wind up extremely fast on consecutive rounds and have each leg of the Square Eights flown at different speeds.
In good air, the Discovery Retro .60–powered models have a pleasant, smooth sound and present well, giving the impression of a slow, smooth pattern. The downside is weaker vertical performance: they tend to slow when climbing and speed up rapidly downhill. The longer-stroke engines also have difficulty penetrating the wind, especially in the overheads; even in a light breeze, models drifted on vertical portions of square maneuvers. These attributes were common among all engines of this type, including hand-built ones. Of the models using this type of power, those produced by Andrai Yatsenko of Ukraine seemed most competitive. Several of his airplanes were flown in the competition, and all were take-apart models that assembled in just 10 minutes from a 10 x 17 x 32–inch box.
Four-stroke approaches
With four-strokes there were three general approaches:
- Paul Walker ran a Saito 72 that muscled its way around with an impressive growl. His model was fast and his style aggressive as he powered through the wind.
- Rémi Beringer’s Saito 56–powered models (French) flew fast in level flight and slowed dramatically in parts of some maneuvers. With the combination of model design and the running characteristics of a four-stroke, their models appeared to rotate on their propellers.
- The French models had exceptionally long tails and gave the impression of sliding through turns as the tail followed the nose. To visualize it: hold a pen by its center and fly it through a loop; now hold it by the nose and pull it through a loop as if it is rotating on the nose, letting the tail drag behind. Do a few squares and let the tail wag as it follows the nose.
Defending, five-time World Champion Xinping Han of China and his teammate Anlin Niu ran Saito 56 engines. There was nothing remarkable about their designs or approach—everything in their program was conservative and consistent.
Finals and results
In the finals it was a fight to the finish between Bill Werwage, Rémi Beringer, and Xinping Han. Rémi led after the first final round and flew third in the last round. Bill flew next and posted the highest score of the contest, taking the lead. Xinping flew 14th in the final round and put up his best flight of the week.
After a long wait as the scores were tallied, there were big smiles on the American team members' faces. In the end, Rémi Beringer was third, Xinping Han was second, and Bill Werwage finished in first place. Rob Gruber flew to a well-deserved first place in Junior. With strong performances from Paul Walker and Ted Fancher, the US team finished in first place, sweeping all of the gold medals in this category. Congratulations to all, including US Team Manager Keith Trostle.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
