Warbirds
Report by Walt Wilson
The Spirits of St. Louis enjoyed fantastic weather for the club's Fourth Annual Warbirds Unlimited Scale Pylon Race last year. The unique event drew contestants from as far away as Georgia and spectators from as far as Connecticut. Scale judging and qualifying flights were held Saturday at the East Side RC Club's field at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Ill. Because of last-minute field problems, Sunday races were moved to the Spirits' new field in West St. Louis County (apologies to anyone inconvenienced by the late change).
Results and Highlights
- Winner: Shelby Hagberg (Cedar Falls, IA) — Jemco P-51D, K&B 6.5
- Fast time: 2:22.98 on the Formula I course
- Static placing: 5th
- Heats: won all four heats
- Note: Ralph White was ahead in one heat but cut a pylon on lap eight while leading by nearly a quarter lap.
- 2nd: Ken Oden (Dunwoody, GA) — scratch-built Kawasaki Ki-61 "Tony", Webra .61
- Static placing: 2nd
- Heats: won two heats, one 3rd, zeroed one heat after cutting two pylons
- 3rd: Ralph White (Neoga, IL) — Fliteglas P-51D, Supertigre X-60
- Static placing: 3rd
- Fast time: 2:25.00 (second-fastest)
- Heats: one win, two 2nds, zeroed one heat after cutting two pylons
- 4th: Mark Been (flying Bob Werner's model) — Top-Flite P-51D, Enya .60
- Static placing: 6th
- Heats: one win, two 2nds, zeroed one heat
- 5th: John Delafosse (flying Wayne Nenninger's model) — Jemco PT-19A, HP .40
- Static placing: 8th
- Heats: one win, two 2nds, zeroed one heat
- 6th: Max Hurst (Collinsville, IL; flying Bill Ogden's model) — scratch-built P-51D, O.S. .61
- Top static score and won Best Scale Trophy
- Heats: one win, one 2nd, crashed on takeoff in third heat (bird destroyed)
- Flew the third-fastest time
- 7th: Wayne Nenninger — scratch-built P-51C, Kraft .61 (MonoKote finish)
- Static placing: 4th
- Heats: one win, one 2nd, one 4th, crashed in final heat
- 8th: Art Biehl — Jemco AT-6, HB .40 (resurrected after last year's crash)
- Heats: two 2nds, one 3rd, crashed taking off for last heat (damage not serious)
- 9th: Ralph Doyle — Stafford P-51D, Kraft .61
- Heats: one win, one 3rd, one 4th, zeroed last heat
- 10th: Gary Bregant — scratch-built P-63 Kingcobra, Webra Speed .60
- Heats: one 1st, one 2nd, two zeroes
Other notable entries and outcomes:
- Roger Abbot (Mattoon, IL) — P-51D, Webra .61: zero in first heat due to problems, then scratched for the day.
- Bill Blaum (Traverse City, MI) — AU-1 Corsair, HP Gold Cup .61: crashed on takeoff in first heat, worked to continue but zeroed his last two heats.
- Spectators included Bob Underwood and Bob and Dolly Wischer, who took many pictures and notes.
Observations
- Aircraft variety: P-51s, Corsairs, King Cobras, Tonys and other WWII-vintage replicas. The P-51 dominated with seven entries.
- Milestones: For the first time in the event's history the fastest airplane won outright. This also appears to be the first time a .40-powered airplane won.
- Safety and participation: Some scale modelers avoid the Warbirds Race fearing close-proximity takeoffs and flying. In four years of the event there has never been a mid-air collision, nor a known takeoff or landing collision. Most crashes could be attributed to equipment failure or pilot error ("nervous thumbs").
Organization and Thanks
- Contest Director: Don Hoelting
- Scale coordinator: Westy Westhoff
- Racing coordinator: Joe Lunt
- The Spirits of St. Louis provided volunteer support in large numbers.
The Spirits wish to thank the many generous sponsors who made the contest possible and the East Side RC Club for its assistance and use of their field.
Next Event
The Spirits' next Warbirds Unlimited Contest will be held September 17–18, 1983. For further information, watch the AMA Calendar of Events. See you there!
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
