Top Gun

Top Gun

Stan Alexander

RC scale competitions in the US are characterized by different skill levels. In AMA competition, fliers can enter Fun Scale or Sportsman class and work their way up to Expert. With the US Scale Masters series, there are 19 qualifying events around the country—an Expert-class contestant has to finish in the top 30% of the field at the meet to qualify for the championships each fall. In the international (F4C) FAI Scale program, a competitor must qualify for one of the positions on a three-person team.

The best fliers at these events are watched, judged, and picked to compete at the Top Gun Invitational in West Palm Beach, Florida, each spring. This event regularly draws more competitors from different parts of the world than any other event except the FAI World Championships. Pilots invited to Top Gun try to best each other with the "wow factor"—building large, complicated, unique aircraft that expand the technical envelope of scale aeromodeling. Giant Scale models with radial engines or turbines are common as competitors try to add to their realism score. Aircraft are only eligible for three years.

Practicing piloting skills and flight routines is essential if a pilot wants to crack the top 25 in the final standings.

Of the 63 entries in the 1996 event, 23 were eligible for AMA Designer Scale competition. These aircraft must be the original design of the contestant; models based on kits or commercially available plans are not eligible. Sepp Uiberlacher's Spitfire (winner of the high static score) would be a Designer Scale entry, as would Nick Ziroli Jr.'s TBM, Bob Underwood's Hiperbipe, and Hal Parenti's Ryan Fireball, to name a few.

Before the event started, several new models were lost during testing; these included former champion Terry Nitsch's new Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star. Several other models were lost in practice or competition. Nick Ziroli Jr.'s new TBM Avenger was lost, possibly due to engine overheating. Unfortunately, mishaps are occasional fate as aircraft push scale aeromodeling's technical envelope.

Canadian and other foreign entries this year included Sepp Uiberlacher, Karl Gross, and Graeme Mears. Jack Diaz arrived from Venezuela with several family members to compete in his first Top Gun with a beautiful F-4 Phantom; it finished 16th. Jack is a scale champion in his own country. Other countries represented included England, Germany, and Brazil.

Some of the most impressive models in the Expert class came from relative newcomers. Greg Hahn's North American B-25 Mitchell (Greg enlarged Nick Ziroli's design to build a beautiful 118-inch-span version of the WWII bomber) was a highly detailed 43-pound aircraft powered by two G-38 engines; it featured flaps, retracts, bomb-bay operating doors, and a unique bomb tray inside. Greg finished sixth and also took home the trophy for Best Gas Engine Performance ($200).

You don't see very well-finished Messerschmitt 109s in scale competition often; when one competes everyone takes notice. Pat McCurry brought the largest Me-109 G-6 I've ever seen in competition — a 1/3-scale machine with a 102-inch wingspan and a weight of about 43 pounds. It is powered by a G-62 turning a 22 x 10 prop. Doors and hatches operate like the full-scale aircraft. Pat won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Designer Scale Entry.

Having something different can make a model stand out. There were six Lockheed T-33s this year. The Ryan Fireball is a curious transitional post–World War II aircraft: part piston, part jet. Hal Parenti's enlarged Fireball spans 84 inches and was his third aircraft of the type. Up front it is powered by a Saito 270 twin four-stroke engine, while buried deep in the fuselage is an O.S. 90 ducted-fan engine. Air is fed to the aft engine through inlet ports in the inboard roots of each wing. With flaps, retracts, external tank drop, brakes, and an operating tail hook, Hal took ninth place in Expert.

Team Scale is an event where two highly skilled modelers enter together—one acts as the pilot, the other as the builder. In this class you see some of the very best craftsmanship in scale models. Examples at this meet included a C-47 constructed from Ziroli plans by Wayne Knight (140-inch span, powered by two O.S. 1.08s, with an operating cargo door) and Alvin Brown’s DC-3 piloted by Geoff Combs, which finished third in Team Scale.

Terry Nitsch flew his familiar F-86 Sabre jet to his third Top Gun win. The Bob Violett Models North American Sabre is covered with Coverite Presto and aluminum covering marketed by Foley Mfg.; Terry cut the aluminum panels to size, attached them, painted with Ditzler acrylic enamel, and finished with a clearcoat of Ditzler Del-Glo. His documentation came from photos taken at the Buckley Air National Guard base in Colorado. Terry used speed brakes and drop tanks for his mechanical options and beat David Hayes by only 0.625 points. Competition in Expert Class was extremely close this year—only four points separated first and tenth, and only 0.667 separated first and third.

David Hayes, from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, finished a very close second flying his Aries Thrush crop duster. His model had one mishap when it rolled off a table and lost tail surfaces; he repaired it with cyanoacrylate and returned for round three. Third place was claimed by Jeff Foley with his Jet Model Products T-33 U.S. Air Force jet trainer, an 85-inch-span model powered by an O.S.-91 ducted-fan. Charlie Chambers finished fourth in Expert with a P-61 twin-engine fighter (100-inch span, 38 pounds, built from Don Smith plans, powered by two Webra 1.2 two-stroke engines).

Five of the top 10 Expert finishers used JR radios, four used Airtronics, and Stephan Duerrstein (of Germany) used a Multiplex radio.

The meet combined scale competition with halftime aerobatic shows to entertain nearly 18,000 people over four days. The opening ceremonies included a full-scale Stearman flyover. The administrative team (including Frank Tiano), the sponsors, and the West Palm Beach Aero Club worked to make sure things ran smoothly. As the author joked to an official: "The best people are just plain people, and that's spelled P-L-A-N-E." Hope to see you there next year at Top Gun!

Top Gun 1996 Results

1. Terry Nitsch — F-80

Static: 96.167 — Flight 1: 91.750 — Flight 2: 91.750 — Flight 3: 95.250 — Flight 4: 89.750 — Total: 189.084

1. David Hayes — Aries Thrush

Static: 97.083 — Flight 1: 89.625 — Flight 2: 93.500 — Flight 3: 82.500 — Flight 4: 91.000 — Total: 188.458

1. Jeff Foley — T-33

Static: 97.000 — Flight 1: 89.250 — Flight 2: 88.250 — Flight 3: 95.000 — Flight 4: 90.000 — Total: 188.417

1. Charlie Chambers — P-61

Static: 97.667 — Flight 1: 88.500 — Flight 2: 88.500 — Flight 3: 91.500 — Flight 4: 92.000 — Total: 188.334

1. Corvin Miller — Swift

Static: 96.917 — Flight 1: 88.875 — Flight 2: 87.000 — Flight 3: 91.750 — Flight 4: 91.000 — Total: 187.459

1. Greg Hahn — B-25J

Static: 91.750 — Flight 1: 94.125 — Flight 2: 95.250 — Flight 3: 91.000 — Flight 4: 97.000 — Total: 187.208

1. Garland Hamilton — T-33

Static: 97.500 — Flight 1: 83.000 — Flight 2: 88.375 — Flight 3: 92.500 — Flight 4: 86.000 — Total: 186.458

1. Stephan Durrstein — DC-3

Static: 95.250 — Flight 1: 86.500 — Flight 2: 90.000 — Flight 3: 90.000 — Flight 4: 92.000 — Total: 185.917

1. Hal Parenti — Ryan Fireball

Static: 94.417 — Flight 1: 89.500 — Flight 2: 89.500 — Flight 3: 89.250 — Flight 4: 93.500 — Total: 185.250

1. Bob Underwood — Hiperbipe

Static: 96.583 — Flight 1: 90.250 — Flight 2: 85.250 — Flight 3: 87.500 — Flight 4: 87.750 — Total: 185.083

Team Scale Results

1. Dave Patrick / Graeme Mears — Tiger Moth

Static: 92.667 — Flight 1: 93.625 — Flight 2: 88.250 — Flight 3: 45.750 — Flight 4: 92.750 — Total: 184.209

1. Steve Elias / Jan Richardson — T-33

Static: 93.833 — Flight 1: 88.000 — Flight 2: 88.500 — Flight 3: 57.250 — Flight 4: 92.125 — Total: 183.375

1. Geoff Combs / Alvin Brown — DC-3

Static: 90.250 — Flight 1: 95.500 — Flight 2: 82.250 — Flight 3: 91.500 — Flight 4: 87.500 — Total: 181.750

1. Bob Violett / Jerry Caudle — P-80

Static: 95.250 — Flight 1: 87.250 — Flight 2: 83.875 — Flight 3: 0.000 — Flight 4: 85.000 — Total: 180.625

1. Roger Shipley / Jim Allen — T-33

Static: 92.833 — Flight 1: 81.750 — Flight 2: 91.000 — Flight 3: 83.500 — Flight 4: 85.500 — Total: 179.500

1. John Kohler / Fred Stagg — T-6

Static: 92.083 — Flight 1: 86.000 — Flight 2: 85.250 — Flight 3: 87.250 — Flight 4: 87.375 — Total: 178.958

1. Dean DiGiorgio / George Leu — F-86

Static: 92.167 — Flight 1: 89.000 — Flight 2: 82.000 — Flight 3: 83.750 — Flight 4: 84.750 — Total: 178.000

1. Frank Tiano / Ed Newman — Ki-61

Static: 94.083 — Flight 1: 51.750 — Flight 2: 86.750 — Flight 3: 92.625 — Flight 4: 52.750 — Total: 171.458

1. Bruce Horvath / Edward Simpson — Wirraway

Static: 87.917 — Flight 1: 76.000 — Flight 2: 88.125 — Flight 3: 76.750 — Flight 4: 84.000 — Total: 170.875

1. Bill Harris / Paul Schuessler — T-33

Static: 94.250 — Flight 1: 77.500 — Flight 2: 0.000 — Flight 3: 80.750 — Flight 4: 0.000 — Total: 147.000

1996 Top Gun Merchandise Sponsors

• Model Airplane News
• Paragon Technologies
• Futaba
• JR
• Saito
• Gerardo Enterprises
• Herr Engineering
• McDaniel R/C
• Van Dell Jewelers
• Jim Meister Scale
• Pro Mark
• Top Gun Hobbies
• Spring-Air
• Prop Wash Video
• Nick Ziroli Plans
• Pan American Dist.
• NASA

Cash Sponsors (each provided $200 cash awards plus a custom trophy)

• Airtronics
• Bob Violett Models
• Dave Platt Models
• Don Smith Plans
• Glen Torrance R/C
• Lanier R/C
• North American Power
• Pro Mark
• R/C Report
• Remote Control Television
• Carden Aircraft
• Scale R/C Modeler
• Robart Mfg.
• Hobby Hut

Major Cash Sponsors

• Model Airplane News
• Paragon Technology
• Frank Tiano Enterprises

Scorekeeping: Rosella Curry Chief Judge: Tim Farrell Asst. Chief Judge: Bill Holland Impound: Dawn Buckley

Static Judges:

• Bob Curry
• Bill DeVerna
• Lee Henderson
• Charlie Beer
• Harvey Tomaison
• Steve Harris

Flight Judges:

• Darlene Frederick
• Wayne Frederick
• Jim Parker
• Tom Kozel
• George Jenkins
• Jim Semonian
• John Smith
• Stan Alexander

Special Awards

• Critics' Choice: Pat McCurry — Me 109 *
• High Static Expert: Sepp Uiberlacher — Spitfire *
• High Static Team: Jerry Caudle — P-80 *
• Best Two-Stroke Performance: Charlie Chambers — P-61
• Best Four-Stroke Performance: Geoff Combs — DC-3
• Best Gas Engine Performance: Greg Hahn — B-25 *
• Best Multiengine Performance: Jack Diaz — F-4 *
• Best Jet Award: Garland Hamilton — T-33 *
• Best Civilian Award: Corvin Miller — Globe Swift *
• Best Military Award: Charlie Chambers — P-61 *
• Best Biplane Award: Graeme Mears — Tiger Moth *
• Best Aerobatic Performance: Bill Harris — T-33 *
• Engineering Excellence: Nick Ziroli Jr. — TBF Avenger *
• Best Craftsmanship: Charlie Chambers — P-61 *
• Best Designer Scale Entry: Graeme Mears — Me 109 G-6 *
• Best Foreign Entry: Graeme Mears — Tiger Moth *

* Received $200 from sponsors

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.