U.S. Free Flight Championships

U.S. Free Flight Championships

This was the 14th annual of such events (my, how time flies). As usual it was held at the FF mecca, Taft, CA—this year on May 26–28. A "foreigner," Marc Sisk of Davenport, IA, took home the Grand Champion Trophy. — Dick Everett

Overview

Unless one has been to this contest, he has no idea of how big it really is. When we turned off the road to Taft, the size of the contest became immediately apparent. Directly in front, there was a line of cars, cars with trailers, campers, motor homes, and tents. There was also a lineup of sun shades to protect the models and modelers; this lineup seemed to be a half-mile long. To the right stretched another front line of cars, tents, etc., that continued until it ran into a mass of vehicles that were in no recognizable order. There was a second line of cars, motor homes, etc., about 200 ft. behind the front line. A city had grown up overnight. We arrived at 6 o'clock on Friday and had to park way out in the boonies. Later that evening we were invited to a hamburger and baked bean feast which we readily accepted.

Saturday

Weather and early flying

On Saturday the wind started rather early, causing Old-Timer Event Manager Mark Tackett to comment that the modelers were hiding from the wind. The wind came up shortly after 8:00, which prompted many contestants to hold back to see what would happen. However, between 7:00 and 8:00 many fliers had already put in two or three flights, a lot of them maxes, which enabled these fliers to win or place very high.

Due more to wind than anything else, there was an unusual number of flights that went out-of-sight before the max time was up—some overhead in one of those boomers and some stretched out in horizontal distance due to wind. Otherwise, the wind on Saturday made the weather livable, with the temperature staying down.

The difference between engines used in the Old-Timers competitions vs. the modern engines used in the AMA events is readily apparent in the lack of max flights of the former.

On this day the wind returned to normal later, but it did get warmer. This change in weather prompted a lot of lean needle settings, especially in the Old-Timer events. Old memories came back while watching the number of ignition problems that continually cropped up. One of the main problems was the way the contestants wrapped rubber bands around the battery cases to hold the cells in place. This caused the loss of electrical contact from time-to-time when a battery would shift a little on a hard landing (or for some other reason). The guys would check the cells only to find them all right. There were also the broken wires from models being wired with no strain relief on the solder joints, etc.

Mulvihill & Old-Timers

• Mulvihill Rubber: Joe Bilgri won with 2,160 seconds. John Lenderman was second with 2,073; Bob White third with 1,920; Manny Andrade fourth with 1,778. All had three maxes plus flyoffs.
• Unlimited Mulvihill: Bob White had a fine 10:30.
• Old-Timer Stick Rubber: Ed Wallenhorst maxed out with 15:00. Second: Art Hedron 12:53; third: L. Williams 12:08; fourth: Mike Mikkelson 11:09; fifth: Bill Langenberg 10:54.

1/2A Gas

• John DeFries: 18:35
• Bob Sunberg: 17:13
• Mel Schmidt: 16:19
• George Funk: 15:38
• Scott Reid: 14:31

FAI Power

• Doug Galbreath: 14:09 (max)
• John Hannah: 13:00 (even)
• Bill Booth, Jr.: 12:40
• Ed Carroll: 12:37

Other events and results

• 1/2A Nostalgia
• David Martin: 12:05
• Bill Valentine: 11:56
• Terry Thorkildson: 11:38
• Steve Jenson: 11:08
• Marc Sisk: 10:04
• 30-Second Antique
• Jim Crocket: 8:34
• Able Gallas: 8:11
• Ed Tschernoscha: 0:56
• C. Jordan: 0:44
• Rubber Cabin
• Bill Langenberg: 12:09
• Jim Quinn: 11:53
• Sandra Chapin: 11:44
• Ed Wallenhorst: 11:06
• Bud Romak: 9:02
• B Cabin
• C. Meyerscough: 10:24
• Sal Taibi: 9:12
• Hal Cover: 6:19
• Ed Tschernoscha: 2:30

Pylon

• C Pylon was won by Hal Cover with 12:25; second was Harry Clark.
• The Pylon event featured the Don Foote–designed Westerner. The Westerner's McCoy .49 spark-ignition engine really moved it.
• In contests between Pete Allnutt and Juan Livotto, Allnutt won with 1,408 and Livotto was second with 1,371 seconds. Steve Geraghty was third with 1,236; Randy Weiler fourth with 1,232; Craig Cusick fifth with 1,169 seconds.

P-30 Rubber

• Clarence Mather: 510 sec. (winner; see Sweet P-30 feature)
• Stan Kimel: 481
• Don McHugh: 479
• Bob Ortiz: 460
• Richard Munz: 328

Junior P-30:

• Scott Persons: 257
• David Fee: 148
• Scott Cover: 120
• David Campbell: (fourth)

Indoor (Saturday)

• Cezar Banks (San Diego) won every event he entered:
• Easy B: nearly 11:00 (beat Joe Foster by 1 second)
• Novice Pennylane: 6:06
• Hand-Launch Glider: 63.1 sec (two flights; beat Phedon Tsoknopoulos by 0.7 sec)
• Clarence Mather (San Diego):
• Peanut Scale: 1st
• Easy B: 3rd
• Novice Pennylane: 5th

Saturday Night Flying

• Travis Hunter: 29:54 (winner)
• Chas Dorsett: 14:30
• Bill Ruff: 14:28
• Scott Reid: 14:05
• Forrest Staines: 11:53

Sunday

Early morning and weather

Long before 6:00 on Sunday morning, the 1/4A Texaco and the regular Texaco models could be heard droning away in the good warm air. Even that early, it was starting to get hot.

Wakefield

Wakefield turned out to be one of those max-out contests. George Xenakis, George Batiuk, and Al Ulm all maxed. The flyoff was delayed until 6:00 with George Xenakis the only one making the 4-minute max. George Batiuk dethermalized early, and Al Ulm (who launched first) missed the lift. Bob Critchlow was fourth, and Bob White was fifth.

A Gas and Junior A Gas

• A Gas (flyoff among five entrants)
• Paul Ryan: 35:00 (1st)
• Jack Moreland: 25:00 (tie for 2nd)
• Bill Ruff: 25:00 (tie for 2nd)
• Jim Kelley: 21:54 (4th)
• Gene Terra: 18:41 (5th)
• Junior A Gas
• Jon DeFries: 12:00 (winner)

Hand-Launch Glider

• Open
• Bob Boyle: 8:13 (max)
• Bob Isaacson: 7:98 (actually 7:58) — listed as 798
• Mike McKeever: 4:52
• Shawn Whitley: 4:41
• Larry Sargent: 3:78 (listed as 378)
• Junior
• Matt Kruse: max 3:76 (listed as 376)
• David Campbell: 2:70
• Jeff Wittman: 1:49
• Coury Duncan: 1:26
• Scott Persons: 0:37

(Note: some HL Glider times in the source were listed without standard mm:ss formatting; values are reported as given.)

Old-Timers (additional)

• Old-Timer Mulvihill Rubber (duplicate listing reflecting Sunday results):
• Joe Bilgri: 2,160 seconds (winner)
• John Lenderman: 2,073
• Bob White: 1,920
• Manny Andrade: 1,778

Scale Events

The Scale events attracted most of the spectators, mostly around Rubber Scale until the gas-powered models took to the air. When Addie Naccarato brought out her Farman Moustique, even some of the contestants stopped and gathered around so close that it proved difficult for Addie to get the model in the air. She had some difficulty with the built-in dethermalizer, but eventually got that straightened out. Then, the big model appeared somewhat underpowered.

Some VIPs showed up and were fascinated by the Scale models, notably Kari Heikkala (a flying captain for Finnair) and Asko Karttunen (Finnish Consulate for Los Angeles). They spent two days examining the models and talking to the modelers. Kari and John Lenderman, who had visited together in Europe, had interesting discussions about the models.

Speaking of VIPs, one just about has to consider Paul Masterson as one. For the last several years he has made the trip to Taft from England just to fly in the contest. This year he easily placed third in Coupe d'Hiver.

• Peanut Scale
• Mik Mikkelson: 1st
• Richard Mora: 2nd
• Von Whitlock: 3rd
• Frank Godel: 4th
• S. Hales: 5th
• Rubber Scale
• Mike Mulligan: 1st
• Von Whitlock: 2nd
• Ken Johnson: 3rd
• Jeff Wittman: 4th
• Stephen Hales: 5th
• Gas Scale
• Bill Warner: 1st
• Roy Mayes: 2nd
• Bill Stroman: 3rd
• Mark Grand: 4th
• Ralph Cooke: 5th
• Jumbo Scale
• Mike Mulligan: 1st
• Dick Siefield: 2nd
• Ken Sykora: 3rd

Wakefield and associated flyoffs

(See Wakefield section above for details on maxes and flyoff.)

C & A/B Nostalgia, C Gas, and related

• C Gas
• Doug Galbreath: 49:42 total (before finally missing a max); his aircraft used an O.S. VRB RC engine modified by Dukie, 10:1 aspect ratio, 43 oz; Doug won the Ocie Randall Trophy for the fourth time.
• Ralph Prey: 29:47
• Dan Keegan: 22:05
• Scott Reid: 19:34
• Wes Funk: 14:05
• A–B Nostalgia (later-year models dominated)
• Dan Keegan: max 27:29 (1st)
• Jack Moreland: max 26:22 (2nd)
• Terry Thorkildson: max 23:43 (3rd)
• Jim Adams: 13:01 (4th)
• David Martin: 8:35 (5th)
• C–D Nostalgia
• R.B. McKenna: 14:37 (winner)
• Dan Keegan: 10:58 (2nd)
• Al Heitick: 9:40 (3rd)
• Hal Cover: (4th)

D Gas

• Doug Galbreath: max 23:25 (1st)
• Travis Hunter: max 20:07 (2nd)
• Dan Keegan: 14:52 (3rd)
• Bill Ruff: 13:40 (4th)
• Scott Reid: 13:20 (5th)

Coupe d'Hiver

• Bob White: 1,111 (winner)
• Joe Foster: 1,025 (2nd)
• Paul Masterson (England): max 695 (3rd)
• Ding Zarate: 659 (4th)
• Jim Quinn: 582 (5th)

B Gas (scored FAI style)

• Bill Morgan: max 16:47 (1st)
• Don Berry: max 11:40 (2nd)
• Jack Moreland: max 9:60 (listed as 960) (3rd)
• Jon DeFries: 8:96 (listed as 896) (4th)
• Mike Searns: 8:56 (listed as 856) (5th)

C Cabin, A Cabin, B Cabin, .020 Replica

• C Cabin
• Sal Taibi: 14:29 (1st)
• Hal Cover: 12:10 (2nd)
• Jim Crocket: 11:39 (3rd)
• Jim Crockett: 11:33 (4th)
• M. Myerscough: 10:02 (5th)
• A Cabin
• Hal Cover: 9:16 (1st)
• Larry Clark: 8:50 (2nd)
• Al Heinrich: 6:35 (4th)
• Bill Booth: 6:06 (5th)
• B Cabin
• Sal Taibi: 14:14 (1st)
• C. Meyerscough: 11:34 (2nd)
• B. Avestus: 9:28 (3rd)
• Dick Lyons: 8:53 (5th)
• .020 Replica
• Fred Emmert: 12:00 (1st)
• Brad Levine: 10:49 (2nd)
• Dick Lyons: 8:39 (3rd)
• Bill Valentine: 8:06 (4th)
• Bob Sunberg: 7:59 (5th)

Texaco events

• 1/4A Texaco
• Sal Taibi: 45:35 (1st)
• Bob Dittmar: 31:06 (2nd)
• Jim Adams: 26:25 (3rd)
• Bill Booth: 20:47 (4th)
• C.J. Jordan: 16:28 (5th)
• Regular Texaco
• Bill Cohen: 2:29:32 (winner)
• R.B. McKenna: 17:48 (2nd)
• Jim Crocket: 13:41 (3rd)
• Larry Clark: 13:33 (4th)
• Brad Levine: 12:41 (5th)

Other winners (no scores announced)

• A-1
• 1st: Martyn Cowley
• 2nd: Mike Johnson
• 3rd: Steve Geraghty
• 4th: Antonio Abauza
• 5th: Bill Booth, Jr.
• Payload
• 1st: Terry Thorkildson
• 2nd: Gus Sunberg
• 3rd: Erik Strengell
• 4th: John Bonang
• 5th: Ron Wittman
• Electric
• 1st: Blane Beron-Rawdon
• 2nd: Lynne Wainfain
• 3rd: Jim Ogg
• 4th: Jim McDermott
• 5th: Tony Naccarato

Awards, Teams, and Notes

• Grand Champion: Marc Sisk (Davenport, IA). His helper was his wife, Hattie.
• Team Championship: San Diego Club #2 — Cezar Banks, Paul Althoff, and Bill Burke.
• Joe Norcross announced after the contest that he will not be Contest Director next year, as he will be flying.

All this in one hot day of contest on Sunday.

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