NATS '78: FF Glider
Jerry Barnette
The free flight glider events—A-2 Nordic, A-1 Nordic, and Hand‑Launched Glider—could be described in two words: Jim Lewis. Jim won all three glider events.
A-1 Nordic
A-1 was flown the first day in accordance with the "old" 5.08‑oz. weight requirements. Conditions were not very helpful. A Louisiana summer shower (the kind with four‑ounce raindrops) made a short appearance around 9 a.m. With everything nicely drenched, not much lift was generated. The wind caused a site change to downwind of a large bunch of trees. The thermals, such as they were, at this new site were very small and probably more of a hindrance than help. No one maxed out in A-1.
In general, many of the A-1 fliers still suffer tow problems. Not everyone, however, did. Jim Lewis circle‑towed (one of the few who did) or kited the model every flight. Jim's model, a Phil Hartman design which may become a Blue Ridge Models kit, featured a two‑piece wing and an ultra‑simple twanger‑type circle tow hook mounted on the outside of the fuselage.
Designs flown in A-1 included:
- Jetstreams and Topkicks (most common).
- Jerry Guiles (second in Open) flew a 3/4‑size Ultimate Dragmaster.
- Ron Roberti (fifth) flew a neat Offspring 2 with sheeted wings.
- Jedelsky‑winged models such as the Gob and Starstream were also in evidence.
A-1 had many more younger fliers, especially Juniors, than did A-2. However, many modelers do not appear to take A-1 seriously as a "real" event.
Hand‑Launched Glider (HLG)
Hand‑Launched Glider was the typical "pig pen" circus. Jim Lewis, as did most of the top HLG fliers, piggybacked all flights. It was quite a sight watching people trying to stick the model into an invisible piece of air that somehow differed in quality from the adjacent piece of air. Long waits for short flights were frequent.
Results and notes:
- Open winner: Jim Lewis.
- Tulsa Glue Dobbers Trophy (high time in HLG regardless of age): won by a Senior.
- Bob Boyer did an outstanding job, making five maxes plus (a higher score than his HLG win at this year's U.S. Free Flight Champs).
- Team challenge: Texas (Dick Mathis, Larry McFarland, Mike Hallum) beat California (Steve Geraghty, Bob Boyer, David Turgeon) by 185 seconds to regain the quasi‑perpetual Texas‑California HLG Challenge Trophy.
- Captain Steve's "I'd rather fly RC than be on the Texas Hand Launch Glider Team" poster apparently failed to rally the California troops enough, or provided the needed impetus for the Texans, or both.
- Grady Turner, finishing second in Open, was the only other person to max out.
- Rudy Klubier was third with 340 seconds.
- Mike Clem won Junior.
Free flight participation totaled a respectable 90 individuals. Apparently, the rule change deleting glow engines didn't exert quite the negative impact anticipated. Surprisingly, there were very few ignition conversions in evidence, yet these engines are legal for competition, provide good stable performance, and are available. See you all at Salt Lake City in '79.
A-2 Nordic
Friday was A-2 Nordic day. The start was delayed until 9 a.m. due to a site change. Again, very small—"pitifully small," to quote one frustrated flier—thermals were the challenge/ nemesis in the early part of the day. Later the lift was better, the breeze died, and the air became super hot and humid.
The first round saw a respectable number of maxes plus some very close ones. Dale Segle, second to Bob Isaacson in last year's fly‑off, missed his max by 0.1 second. Bob Klipp noticed that his DT timer was set for less than three minutes. Rather than take the time to reset the timer, Bob gambled that he would be high enough when he DT'd that he would still max. Almost. Bob did in fact DT early and touched down at 177. Bob went on to score six straight maxes for second place, but missed forcing a flyoff with Lewis by those same three seconds.
It was a good day for Don Chancey designs: Klipp flew a Poacher and Jim Lewis a modified Hyperion V. Jim's Hyperion was only his second A-2; the first one was a Poacher.
Jim worked hard for his well‑deserved win, circle‑towing upwind to pick his own air each round. Jim had been running a couple of miles each evening to keep in shape for the event but the Louisiana heat and humidity was almost too much. Jim spent half an hour in air conditioning prior to the last round to regain his composure. Lucky that he did, as he towed into a monster downer in the last round, eventually ending up a long way downwind before releasing for a max to complete his perfect score.
Top finishers:
- Jim Lewis
- Bob Klipp
- Herb Mieras (the first of three Seniors in the top seven)
- Jon Watson
- Andrew Barron
The Seniors are tough competition.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
