The Haught Corner
The Nats
With the recent Executive Council decision to bring the Nats to Muncie in 1996, it's clear there will be big changes in store for our championships.
It's quite likely the Nats will change considerably from the traditional format. It may become an event that takes more than a week to run and may entail more involvement from special-interest groups to make it happen.
It certainly will be different than the 1950s and 1960s Navy‑sponsored contests. Those Nationals were amazing collections of modelers compressed into a rotation of Navy bases.
- Los Alamitos, California
- Grand Prairie (Mountain Creek Lake), Texas
- Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
- Glenview, Illinois
Memories of the Navy Nats
I recall many things from those Navy Nats days: 350 contestants in events such as 1/2A Gas; long lines to process models in the evenings; walks through the contestants' hangar to check out the enormous quantity and variety of models under one roof; the unmistakable sound of Dynajets at odd hours; the Blue Angels performing on the weekends; and renewing once-a-year friendships.
There was the tremendous amount of work put in by Navy personnel, who endured a week in the hot sun with a bunch of us crazy modelers; and the Navy Carrier Cruise, where juniors and seniors got a free trip to Pensacola, Florida, and a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico on the aircraft carrier Lexington.
At the end of a hot day's flying, there was the fantastic milk served in the mess hall — cold, rich, and, in my opinion, unparalleled by any from the supermarket. I still crave milk after I've been out flying, and I firmly believe the habit stems from those long-ago Nats.
And how about the Apollo 11 flight during the 1969 Nats? Or the chance to see Dave Platt's fantastic Dauntless up close at Olathe in 1968? Or the Stunt finals, any year? Beautiful models flown with great skill.
Didn't Woody Blanchard win the Grand Championship almost every year? And the ultimate irony: wasn't there always a torrential downpour on ROW (Rise Off Water) day? People building (and rebuilding) 'round the clock in the work hangar; the Nats Hobby Shop; the trophy cage — and on and on.
Those are a lot of good memories. Many who flew at the Nationals during those years share them.
Problems in the old days
However, it's a mistake to look back on those days with too much longing. For their time they were terrific, but they weren't without problems:
- Mountain Creek Lake in Grand Prairie took in more than its share of models.
- Models landing off-base at Glenview were occasionally stolen or, worse, had the engine cut from the remainder of the model and left for its owner.
- Crowded conditions at several sites left CL and RC events at the mercy of DT'ed FF models.
- Weekends featured short flying days.
- Los Alamitos was largely unknown to modelers east of the Rockies.
An opportunity to retake the luster
Now we have a chance to make a little more history. The potential retooling of the Nats offers an opportunity to return the luster it once had: that of a true national championships where winning a trophy is tough and something to be cherished.
It seems to me that it's time for the special-interest groups (SIGs) to step up and volunteer their services to help run their part of the Nats. I know that no one runs a free flight contest better than free flighters, and I imagine the same holds true for Pattern, Pylon, CL Aerobatics, or Soaring.
"The potential retooling of the Nats offers an opportunity to return the luster it once had."
The SIGs were formed to look out for the needs of specific models and modelers. What better way to take care of business than to help run a national championships?
Maybe we can't bring back the camaraderie and atmosphere of several hundred lunatics in one hangar for a week in midsummer. But we can bring the Nats back to the point where a whole summer's flying is aimed toward it. We can create quality competition in all disciplines by holding a contest that is as flier‑friendly as possible. If we do that, we can restore the quality and quantity of the participants.
Reassessing events and FAI participation
Perhaps, as Bob Underwood suggested in his Technical Director column, we need to look at the total number of events flown at the Nats and combine or reduce that number. A glance at the listing in the Competition Regulations shows the staggering number of events that could be part of a Nats.
It's easy to say, "we have to have this or that event," but that's much easier said than administrated.
The low turnout — not just in 1994, but in recent years — in some FAI events indicates they may be a good place to selectively cut back. Examples from recent contests:
- F3D (RC Pylon): 6 entrants this year
- F1C (FF Power): 2 fliers at Chicopee in 1992 and 3 this year
- F2C (CL Team Race): 5 fliers with scores
That is to say, FAI events should be considered for removal from the Nats entirely. After all, F3A (RC Pattern) did have 26 fliers this year, and F3C (RC Helicopter) had 21. Maybe these aren't great numbers, but they would seem adequate for a quality competition.
The low turnout for FAI events is probably more symptomatic of a general decline in participation in many U.S. FAI programs than an indicator of problems with the Nats itself. The number of contest fliers has decreased in general, regardless of discipline, but the decrease is felt most keenly in the FAI events.
The Nationals' FAI events have traditionally been those for which we field teams for international competition. At one time that was probably a stimulant to program participation. But is it really effective now? And are the administrative costs justified?
Closing
Let's look back fondly on the Navy Nats days — in many ways, they were terrific — but let's take lessons learned from those contests, and from the ones that have followed, to lay the foundation for new Nats traditions. How many times will we have such an opportunity?
We should make the most of it.
Jim Haught Managing Editor
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
