Reno 1984 Nats: FF Outdoor Scale
Bill Warner
Deep, coarse grass in all directions, sunny skies and no wind — a marvelous day for Free Flight. The R.O.G. strip, huddled off in a corner, was hard and surrounded by rocks and stiff mesquite near a fence; most fliers opted to ignore the R.O.G. takeoff and fly over the grass instead. There were great flights aplenty, and thanks to the tall grass occasional bad flights produced little or no damage and could be trimmed out quickly.
Arriving just in time to see Bill Stroman's lovely B.E.2C saunter off in a letter‑perfect straight‑line flight set a high standard. Moments later Bobby Haight's museum‑quality A.D. Scout Sparrow was dieseling slowly up in lazy circles. Brian Nelitz's Fokker E‑3 with a CO2 motor drew many gazes as it flew beautifully again and again. My own Bleriot proved stubborn on directional control, but otherwise the flying day was excellent.
Bill Giffen ("Giff") went far out into the field with a show‑stopping HP‑42 Hannibal, modified from an Aeromodeller plan. Having built and flown one 20 years earlier, Giff tried again using two Babe Bee .049s on the top wing and two Pee Wee .020s on the bottom, with pendulum‑controlled ailerons. The model in flight was a real treat and brought cheers from the crowd. Your correspondent nearly broke his neck trying to get a photo — and located the only pothole on the field in the process. Giff also flew the ship as a R.O.G. at the Bill Pepin Field site and finished second — a well‑deserved result.
Notable entries and results
- Bill Stroman — B.E.2C: a lovely, letter‑perfect flight (hand launch rather than R.O.G.).
- Bobby Haight — A.D. Scout Sparrow: museum‑quality model, dieseling up in lazy circles.
- Brian Nelitz — Fokker E‑3 (CO2 motor): repeatedly beautiful flights.
- Bill Giffen — HP‑42 Hannibal: quadrimotor arrangement (two Babe Bee .049 top, two Pee Wee .020 bottom), pendulum‑controlled ailerons; finished second in Gas Scale.
- Larry Kruse (Liberal, KS): fielded several winners — Dalotel DM‑165 (Rubber, 4th), Farman Moto‑Aviette (1st in Gas), and a daring profile Beech Starship with contra‑rotating pusher props.
- Hal Cover — jumbo Helio Stallion: top‑notch Rubber Scale winner; also flew an electric‑powered Volksplane in the C event (sustained some bush damage at the R.O.G. site).
- Jerry Murphy — Cessna 170: notable Gas entry.
- Carlo Godel — detailed Chiribiri: museum‑quality Italian models (multiple entries).
- Jim Robinson — Nieuport 12: lovely in the air.
- Ray Fan — Curtiss S03‑C‑1: notable Gas entry.
Rubber Scale and other highlights
The Rubber Scale entries were uniformly high quality and performed admirably despite the 5,000‑foot altitude and 90° heat.
- Chuck Conover — Aeronca Chief: strong flights.
- Sherman Gill — Gadfly: fought for top placings.
- Bill Warner — Simplex Red Arrow: finally trimmed out on the last official flight.
- Roger Gudahl and Tom Moore: placed 6th and 7th with an He 100 and a Bonzo, respectively — helping make five of the first seven places non‑high‑wing modern planes.
- Carlo (Carlo) Godel — Ansaldo A‑1 biplane: a fine effort, though biplanes are disadvantaged under the present rules.
- Carl (Vince) Miller — Leopard Moth: always a delight in the air.
- John Godel — Coupé: flew as well outdoors as it had indoors.
Judging was close and entries were scrutinized carefully. Overall it was an exceptional day of Free Flight scale flying, with many models flying as beautifully as their makers had hoped.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
