Free Flight: Sport & Scale
Bill Warner
Togetherness
The Flying Aces Nats was definitely the biggie of 1986, no doubt about it. Thousands of years of modeling experience gathered on green grass with favorable winds is a hard act to follow. In August, however, in the rather obscure all‑American town of Tangent, OR, a budding Scale event at the Northwest Free Flight Champs provided an interesting counterpoint.
Can you picture a Scale meet where Rubber and Power fly together, where the Scale judge makes house calls to check out your models, and where the camaraderie and level of Scale endeavor is unsurpassed? That is exactly what happens at Tangent.
The Grell Farm
I first heard of the Oregon bash from Bill Giffen, part of the Canadian contingent that descends on Tangent yearly to do battle with the Yanks. Giffen, CD of the Canadian Nats last summer, painted such a glowing picture of the event that we decided to see if it could be that great. It was better.
The focus of the meet is the Grell Farm, home of the legendary Al and Dee Grell, hosts to some of the finest free‑flighters who drive hundreds of miles to share airspace, expertise, and stories. Friday night before the meet tents go up on the Grell lawn; preparation of models, testing, and meeting new friends and greeting old ones is the order of the day.
Included in the festivities is a tour of Al’s hangar, which houses an assortment of planes ranging from Culver to Falconair, from Commonwealth to Aeronca. He’s building a Pietenpol in another shed, too — the dream of every red‑blooded American Junior Birdman: your very own airstrip and hangar right outside your door. We get to bed late.
The Meet
Dawn Saturday. Cars and campers head for the flying field a couple of miles down the road. The ground is covered with straw awaiting the torch of the “rapid‑burn” trucks when the weather is right. Sometimes the meet is not so lucky, and flying takes place on the scorched earth, but this year the annual conflagration which kills the “rust” fungus had not happened yet. Free Flight endurance models were in the majority, and the air was still and the weather magnificent for the weekend. The presence of a water truck underlined the need for care with dethermalizer fuses.
Scale is sort of the afterthought of the meet and goes both days whenever you feel like flying. Scale Director “Foggy” Morehead looks over the models wherever you are set up, and informality is the name of the game. Cutthroat competitors would get ulcers at this meet. The rest of us had one heck of a great time.
Saturday was capped off by an impromptu potluck barbecue sponsored by the Willamette Modelers, and the flying stories improved as the evening wore on. Sunday was almost a replay of Saturday with fine weather and countless fine flights. Many of the planes which did hit the ground were saved by the luxurious straw padding.
Notable modelers and models
- Bill Gaiser (Lyons, OR): His first serious scale model was a four‑foot Curtiss Robin powered by an IMP ES‑2 twin he purchased for five bucks in a Thirties talent contest. That engine used calcium carbide and dry ice in a brass generator to produce gas pressure — a black‑art of the past compared with today’s CO2 motors. At Tangent Bill was flying a red‑silked 1911 Caudron that seemed thoroughly at home in the air.
- Larry Olson: His Sterling kit Fokker DR‑1, now about 11 years old, has literally hours of air‑time and five‑minute low‑altitude cruises that are reminiscent of WW I movie footage.
- Ric Dittman: An outstanding Taylorcraft two‑place side‑by‑side from the Comet kit — when he finished it resembled a high‑end scale model rather than a kit. Plush interior, inspection panels, a miniature copy of Flying on the seat, spring‑centering tailwheel, and superb craftsmanship coupled with near‑perfect scale flight made this a standout.
- Greg Davis: An Etrich Taube built from factory plans. Elegant, full of interesting details and a flight that must be seen to be believed. Complete with pilot and bombardier, it was almost museum‑ready and took first place in Scale.
- Bobby Haight: A Northrop Gamma rubber ship featuring a machined aluminum hub with concealed freewheel and adjustable‑pitch, bottle‑plastic blades. The bench ailerons and generous structure helped make it a strong performer. Bobby also flew a Savoia‑Marchetti S.M.81 trimotor powered in test by two Astro .02s and one .035; it showed some tip‑stall tendencies and was retired early.
- Capt. Doug Hannay: A very neat Earl Stahl Waco SRE rubber ship — a popular Scale subject and a delight in the air.
- Bill Giffen: A huge Currie Wot biplane that was truly impressive in flight.
Memorable moments and incidents
- Being “beaten up” at reveille by a Stinson Voyager diving low over the tents a few times (try sleeping through that!).
- Al Grell bouncing his Cessna a couple of times landing in the near‑dark after searching for lost models from the air in the preceding twilight.
- The farmers’ burning of the straw Sunday night. Smoke billowed thousands of feet into the sky, and the city boys were amazed by the calm with which the locals dealt with the situation. I also remember following Captain Doug around some sheds to get a better look at the approaching flames and coming face to face with a rather fearsome‑looking bull — definitely not the usual post‑meet wrap up.
- The occasional humbling flight: I once had a triplane that flew fine until the engine cut; without torque to counter built‑in warps it snapped into a roll and dove to the ground before you could say “Leapin’ Lizards!”
Awards, thanks, and contact
From the warm hospitality of the Grells to the fine hand‑painted plaques by Shirley Gode, the meet was most memorable. A hearty “well done” to CD Bob Stadnicki and to all of the wonderful people who made the 1986 Champs the success that it was.
For those in the Great Pacific Northwest who want more information, contact:
- Bob Stadnicki, 5066 NW Picadilly Cir., Albany, OR.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
