Free Flight: Sport & Scale
Bill Warner 423-C San Vicente Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90402
Flying Aces Nats — The Home Movie!
If all of the coverage of the fantastic 1988 FAC Nats in Geneseo, NY has you eager and ready to get into the air, get a copy of Dean McGinnes' Flying Aces Swamp Squadron coverage of the biggest Flying Scale event in history. I just finished watching it for the second time, and despite the usual home-movie problems (an occasional rear end blocking a model shot, overlong trophy coverage, etc.), I thoroughly enjoyed it. For those who weren't there, it's a great souvenir. For those who were—what a gold mine!
Dean has "atmosphere" shots, close-ups of models, mass launches, and clips of most of the modeling greats of the movement. You can see Don Srull's incredible 12-prop Dornier DO-X electric-powered flying boat in the air, Dennis Norman launch his superb rubber-powered Lancaster, Gordon Roberts competing with his legendary Chambermaid, Bob Thompson in his Captain Midnight getup, Walt Mooney, Allan Schanzle, Fernando Ramos, and many others.
The nice part about a film (in this case a VHS cassette) is that you can see things that don't show up in magazine pictures. You can watch rubber being wound, perfect launches turn to spiral dives and end in disaster, hear shouts, see launching techniques in their entirety, hear Vance Gilbert talking to his models, and see Earl Stahl in person.
The film is rough in places, so don't expect perfection. Still, it is the finest document presently available capturing the spirit of this magnificent movement, and I highly recommend it.
Ordering note (fragmentary): Dale Ln., Lakeland, FL 33801. Add 6% for tax if you live in Florida, or $5 for Canadian residents.
Promotional tape and Flying Aces history
Dean also made a "promotional" tape at the Flying Aces Nats. It starts with highlights from the main tape and concludes with interviews with Flying Aces Club founders Dave Stott and Bob Thompson, Dave Smith of the Cactus Squadron, and Allan Schanzle, CD of the 1988 meet and editor of the D.C. Maxecuters newsletter.
Bob Thompson recalls that Flying Aces magazine gave a kid growing up in the penniless Thirties the chance to imagine himself at the airport fence — a new world of adventure and fantasy where you could picture yourself as an aviation hero. Today's silver-haired Flying Aces Club members have recaptured some of that adventure, becoming kids again for a couple of hours a month flying models with the gang. Life, according to Bob, is a "zoo," and playing, having fun, and relaxing in a manner reminiscent of a simpler time helps keep your sanity.
The spirit seems to get passed on from one modeler to another. Way back in the Depression, the famous designer Louis Garami used to show up at the magazine with drawings on shirt-back cardboard. He taught Henry Struck, Henry helped Stott and Thompson, and they in turn passed on their enthusiasm by sponsoring Flying Scale meets and distributing the Flying Aces Club newsletter at their twice-yearly Bridgeport meets.
Stott and Thompson later mailed the newsletter to key people in modeling to propagate their "back to real modeling" brand of laid-back modeling. It caught on, and since the early Sixties the FAC has gone international. Peanut Scale, largely the club's invention, is now a standard event in many countries (England, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, to name a few).
Dave Stott relates one reason for the popularity of Flying Aces' emphasis on Rubber Scale and "nonscoring" competition: a rubber competitor, after repeatedly working hard for max flights, said, "I'm working too hard!" and went to Rubber Scale. That about sums it up: it is play, not work.
Clubs, newsletters, and contacts
There are a number of Flying Aces–oriented clubs around the country. The national focus is on Richfield, which holds the loose confederation together and publishes the official national newsletter. If you'd like to join, send $9 for a year's membership to:
- Flying Aces News, 3301 Cindy Lane, Erie, PA 16506.
A few notable local clubs and newsletters:
- D.C. Maxecuters — $10/yr for the newsletter: Allan Schanzle, 20008 Spur Hill Dr., Gaithersburg, MD 20879.
- Flightmasters (southern California) — Membership $15/yr (newsletter only $12): Flightmasters, c/o Byron Calamis, 3406 Fela Ave., Long Beach, CA 90808.
- Cactus Squadron (Arizona) — $10/yr: Dave Smith, Cactus Squadron GHQ, 1041 East Rawhide, Gilbert, AZ 85234.
- San Diego Scale Staffel — $10/yr: Scale Staffel / Dave Kemp, 8905 Idylwild Lane, San Diego, CA 92119. (FAC member Tom Arnold does the newsletter.)
- MIAMI Hangar Pilot (indoor orientation) — $10/yr: Dr. John Martin, 2180 Tigertail Ave., Miami, FL 33133.
Other newsletters that often contain free-flight scale items:
- Michigan Antique Modeler Newsletter — four issues/yr for $2.75: Karl Spielmaker, Editor, 4690 Burlingame S.W., Wyoming, MI 49509.
- The Winding Stooge — $10 for eight issues: Tom Winter, 1010 Eastridge Dr., Lincoln, NE 68510 (Nebraska Free Flighters).
- Wiggly Wings — $7/yr: Scott Smith, R.D. 1, Box 290, Athens, NY 12115.
- NMFF Newsletter (New Mexico Free Flighters) — $7/yr: Ann Eckerson, 2402 Baird Circle, Aztec, NM 87410.
Several newsletters are relatively dormant, and I may have inadvertently omitted some groups. If there is action in your area, please let me know — I frequently get letters from modelers wanting to find like-minded fliers nearby. Most newsletters are excellent sources of plans, hints and tips, news of upcoming events, and information-wanted requests. Support them — they are keeping real modeling alive.
Murphy alive and well in Africa
From the latest MIAMI Hangar Pilot, excerpted from Goldfein's World:
Mathieu Boya, who lives in the small West African country of Benin, was practicing golf adjacent to the country's prime military airfield. One of his drives hit a bird, which then smashed into the windshield of a jet in mid-takeoff. The pilot lost control of the plane, which careened off the runway and crashed into the remaining four planes in Benin's air force.
The Benin government held Boya responsible to the tune of 44 million bucks, and charged him with "hooliganism," an offense punishable by a six-month prison term.
Good news: Boya received only a seven-day suspended jail sentence. His fine was reduced to $45. Bad news: Boya makes only $325 a year. More bad news: Benin still doesn't have an air force.
If some fellow can do that much damage with a golf ball, imagine what you could do with a 55-lb. model airplane. Stay away from birds and air bases when flying under legal altitude limits.
The Unofficial Peanut World Championships — Flemalle, Belgium (1988)
Here are some of the Peanut Scale models that flew at the unofficial Peanut World Championships held at Flemalle, Belgium in 1988. Lubomir Koutny of Czechoslovakia sent the report and photos.
The contest attracted more than 100 contestants from many countries. Lubomir had to start months in advance and make two trips from Brno to get through the red tape; contestants could take only $20 per day out of the country, which hardly paid hotel and meals. The Belgian hall had a low, 8–11 meter ceiling with exposed wooden ribs on the sides and ceiling — a shock to those used to 40-meter-high ceilings in Brno.
Peanut Scale was divided into two events: one favoring scale and one favoring duration. Highlights:
Peanut Scale (top scores)
- Nikos (Greece), Avro F — 512 points (first).
- Tonda Alfrey, vacu-formed Spitfire (sprayed with Humbrol) — 503 points (second).
- Tonda Alfrey, BF-109 (same construction) — 501 points (third).
- Lubomir Koutny, Albatross floatplane (camouflage and markings) — 499 points (fourth).
- Bruno Sabel (Germany), 1910 Deperdussin — 484.5 points (fifth).
Sub-Peanut Pistachio class (wingspan eight inches and under)
- Jurgen Weill (Germany), Cloudbuster ultralight — won with a 60-sec flight.
- Tonda Alfrey — second with flights of 52 and 56 seconds.
- Hannan's SR-7B (semisymmetrical wings) had top scale points but was hard to trim; proxy flier Siegfried Glockner managed only 17 seconds.
- Koutny's tandem model, normally 80 sec, produced 48 sec at this meet (seventh place).
Peanut Duration (given the small hall and turbulent air, times were impressive)
- Jacques Delacroix — Lacey M-10, 112 sec (first).
- Jurgen Weill — Cloudbuster, 97 sec (second).
- Tonda Alfrey — HE-70, 86 sec (third).
- Lubomir Koutny — Kalinin K-5, 106 sec (fourth). (Koutny used the same model to set the Czech Peanut record of 162 sec. in Brno.)
The Flemalle meet in August is definitely worth the effort, judging by Lubomir's struggles to get there over financial and bureaucratic obstacles. He also invites all Peanut modelers to the big Czech meet on July 2 in Brno.
Until next time, build light, strong — and often!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
