Free Flight Wrap-up AUg 1 Jim O Reilly and veteran Hi-Ho was tops in OT Stick. Ask Jim about the time this model was almost lost at a Denver contest in 2005... Free Flight Edition
Free Flight What a difference a year makes! Last year, Friday of the FF Nats featured absolutely perfect weather. This year the Friday weather was less than perfect, though it started off that way. From dawn until about 11 a.m., skies were sunny, it wasn t too warm or humid and winds were very light out of the west. An F1G flyoff was held along with the E-36 Mass Launch both before 8 a.m. and the drift was minimal. Then about 11, the light westerly breeze picked up to 5 to 10 mph, then hit 10 to 15 mph, and finally 10 to 20 mph by 2 p.m. It would have been great kite flying weather. Fortunately most fliers knew the afternoon was predicted to be windy, so they put nearly all of their flights in early. Old-Timer (OT) Rubber Stick had 31 entries and 15 fliers, despite the unfavorable west winds which shortened the chase area considerably. Jim O Reilly capped off an excellent week with another win, followed by Larry Coslick in second place. Jim was flying a well-worn Lidgard Hi-Ho and was the only flier to make it past the fifth 4-minute max. Twelve of the 24 entered flew Open 1/2A Gas. Bob Hanford won, only needing five maxes flying his veteran Pilfered Pearl. Gil Morris and Faust Parker were second and third respectively, both flying auto-surface airplanes. Junior P-30 featured some excellent flying by Hailey Mattson, who narrowly won over Kyle Gerspacher, 326 to 320. 1/4A Nostalgia had no max-outs, but it featured very tight scoring. Canadian Roy Smith took first with 345, followed by Denny Dock and Bob Hanford, in that order. CD Classic had 24 entries, only five of which flew. Bob Mattes and his outstanding Classical Gas lead the way with six maxes, followed by Dan Berry then Dick Covalt. Early 1/2A Nostalgia had no max-outs either. Bob Sowder took first with 333 seconds. The most interesting event of the day for me was Classic Towline. Since its inception in 2002, it has grown slowly but steadily in popularity. Now, with this year s rule change eliminating the Builder of the Model Rule, we saw at least two high-tech Ukrainian models flown by world-class F1A fliers flown straight-tow style. One of the high-tech guys was Ken Bauer, who was the only one to max-out, and in so doing placed first. He was followed by Dave Edmonson in second, and Stan Buddenbohm in third. That s it for the 2015 Nats. It was a great one, thanks mostly to Event Director Mike Fedor and his crew of volunteers. Thanks should also go to FAC Directors Mike Welshans and Pat Murray, and all the other volunteers who gave of themselves to make this Nats memorable and fun. Until next year, keep your fuse dry and tracker batteries fresh. Thermals. Don DeLoach Old-Timer Rubber Stick winners (L-R): Jim O Reilly, first; Larry Coslick, second; and John Schnobrich, third. Junior 1/2A Gas winners (L-R): Kyle Gerspacher, fourth; Hayden Ashworth, first; and Will Reuter, third. (Not pictured: Jazmyn Oakins, second). Junior P-30 winners (L-R): Ian Wicks, fourth; William Wicks, third; Kyle Gerspacher, second; and Hailey Mattson, first. Open P-30 winners (L-R): John Seymour, third; Mike Richardson, sixth; Don DeLoach, first; Dan Berry, fifth; and Paul Masterman, third. Not pictured: Dave Sechrist, second.
Bob Hanford won the McNeill Cup for Nats High Time in 1/2A Gas. George Bredehoft is proud winner of the Walt Mooney Trophy, for first place in Peanut Scale. Denny Dock had this well-built Crescendo for 1/4A Nostalgia. He finished second with two maxes plus 95. Californians Ken Bauer (L) and Tim Batiuk are glider experts who enjoyed some laid-back Classic Towline competition Friday. Ken placed first with the only max-out. Dave Edmonson finished second to Ken Bauer in the very competitive Classic Towline event. Senior P-30 winner John Wilson.
124J P-30 1 HAILEY MATTSON NORTH OLMSTED, OH 326 2 KYLE D GERSPACHER CLARKSVILLE, OH 320 3 WILLIAM WICKS NORMAL, IL 126 4 IAN WICKS NORMAL, IL 125 165 E36 Electric 1 ANDREW C HOOKE LAKE FOREST, IL 533 JR 1 DALE ELDER ORLANDO, FL 793 2 JAMES T JENNINGS JR GALLATIN, TN 744 2 HAYDEN G ASHWORTH INDIANAPOLIS, IN 307 JR 3 DANIEL B BERRY BENTON, AR 684 4 RALPH RAY BOULEVARD, CA 671 5 DOHRMAN G CRAWFORD DUNWOODY, GA 607 6 STAN BUDDENBOHM BOULEVARD, CA 592 6 DON A DELOACH COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 592 7 ANDREW D TOMASCH NORTHVILLE, MI 560 8 DRAYCOTT HOOKE MOUNTAINHOME, PA 552 9 HARRY E GROGAN WEAVERVILLE, NC 548 10 CHARLES D MCBRIDE FORT MYERS, FL 542 11 JERRY B MURPHY MANITOU SPRINGS, CO 528 12 JENNIFER F JONES FREDERICK, MD 509 13 JACK MURPHY SALT LAKE CITY, UT 472 13 JIM JENNINGS HENDERSONVILLE, TN 472 14 PAUL E NELSON GEORGETOWN, MA 467 15 SCOTT J LAPRAIK PORTLAND, TN 457 16 JAMES M COFFIN ANNANDALE, VA 439 17 DAVID P JONES RICHMOND, VA 372 18 PAUL S MASTERMAN VALLEJO, CA 350 19 JULIE E PARKER WEATHERFORD, TX 337 20 DRAKE HOOKE NEWFOUNDLAND, PA 335 21 CRAIG R GREENING MAHOMET, IL 334 22 M D RICHARDSON GROSSE ILE, MI 328 23 RICHARD J IVERS WEST NEWTON, MA 322 24 TARON MALKHASYAN LOS ANGELES, CA 289 25 CHARLES S MARKOS DEERFIELD, IL 209 26 BOB SOWDER TROUTVILLE, VA 120 26 DAVID L SECHRIST BRISTOL, IN 120 CLATOW CLASSIC TOWLINE 1 KENNETH A BAUER GILROY, CA 624 2 DAVE EDMONSON EAGAN, MN 495 3 STAN BUDDENBOHM BOULEVARD, CA 438 4 KIT BAYS WINTERVILLE, NC 425 5 MIKE MCKEEVER FAIR OAKS, CA 400 5 CHUCK E POWELL BENTON, KS 400 6 ROBERT SIFLEET GLEN ROCK, PA 385 7 TIM A BATIUK VALLEJO, CA 363 8 J G PAILET LADY LAKE, FL 222 9 JAN W LANGELIUS HASLET, TX 182 10 DICK W BERTRAND WEST OLIVE, MI 5 110 104-105C C/D Classic Gas 1 ROBERT E MATTES SAINT CHARLES, MO 750 2 DANIEL B BERRY BENTON, AR 683 3 RICHARD COVALT ANDERSON, IN 478 4 JAMES BOCCKINFUSO HARDY, VA 360 360 JAMES A DEMERITTE PALM BAY, FL 4 4 NatsNews 2015 124S P-30 1 JOHN C WILSON ATLANTA, GA 108 101O 1/2 A Gas 1 ROBERT M HANFORD BROKEN ARROW, OK 600 2 GILBERT C MORRIS COLUMBUS, OH 549 3 FAUST R PARKER WEATHERFORD, TX 468 4 DOUGLAS K MARSH GRANGER, IN 426 5 DANIEL B BERRY BENTON, AR 350 6 DAVE EDMONSON EAGAN, MN 346 7 CHARLES CATON MONTGOMERY, AL 317 8 GARY OAKINS SAINT PAUL, MN 310 9 P JACK MARSH SOUTH BEND, IN 301 10 JOSEPH C MOLLENDORF BUFFALO, NY 234 11 JIM S PARKER HOUSTON, TX 187 12 J G PAILET LADY LAKE, FL 117 OTRUST OT Rubber Stick (lg & sm) 1 JIM OREILLY BEL AIRE, KS 917 2 LAWRENCE D COSLICK SAINT LOUIS, MO 780 3 JOHN F SCHNOBRICH LAKE BLUFF, IL 502 4 PAUL E NELSON GEORGETOWN, MA 462 5 JOSEPH M WILLIAMS BROOKVILLE, PA 360 6 EDWARD KONEFES WAUCONDA, IL 350 7 JAMES FERWERDA KENOSHA, WI 346 8 JOHN C WILSON ATLANTA, GA 332 9 PAUL CROWLEY WARREN, MI 331 10 JOHN R STOTT BELOIT, WI 322 11 ROY B STEWART PRINCETON, IN 321 12 SKEETER B SURGUINE ORMOND BEACH, FL 318 13 WALTER J TOMASCH MISHAWAKA, IN 240 1/4GAS 1/4 A Nos Gas 1 ROY SMITH KINGSTON, CANADA 345 2 DENNY L DOCK STEVENSVILLE, MI 335 3 ROBERT M HANFORD BROKEN ARROW, OK 286 4 HAYDEN G ASHWORTH INDIANAPOLIS, IN 279 5 LARRY DAVIDSON MONETA, VA 278 6 BOB SOWDER TROUTVILLE, VA 275 7 KIT BAYS WINTERVILLE, NC 241 8 P JACK MARSH SOUTH BEND, IN 239 EARLY Early 1/2 A Nos Gas 1 BOB SOWDER TROUTVILLE, VA 333 2 GLENN D SCHNEIDER DIABLO, CA 305 3 LARRY DAVIDSON MONETA, VA 296 4 ZACHARY S SEYMOUR RADNOR, OH 288 5 KEITH FULMER MISHAWAKA, IN 254 6 DENNY L DOCK STEVENSVILLE, MI 236 7 P JACK MARSH SOUTH BEND, IN 166 8 SIMON BLAKE TORONTO, CANADA 113 SIPW30 Pee Wee 30 1 ROBERT D STALICK ALBANY, OR 1745 2 ALAN ABRISS REGO PARK, NY 1232 3 JAMES R KELLY YORKTOWN, VA 1010 101S 1/2 A Gas 1 ZACHARY S SEYMOUR RADNOR, OH 454 SUPERD Super D VIT/Fixed 1 CHARLES CATON MONTGOMERY, AL 357 2 P JACK MARSH SOUTH BEND, IN 247
Somewhere in these woods below is the 2015 Natswinning P-30. If you find it give it to an air-minded kid. P-30 was Friday s most popular event and the competition was excellent as always. Air-picking was fairly easy in the morning until about 10 a.m. After that point I saw a number of top fliers drop maxes in fact only five Open fliers maxed out. In the end I took the win over Dave Sechrist (second) and Paul Masterman (third), but the win was costly. I lost my old Polecat 10 prototype, built back in 2002. It happened on my final flight at about 1:30 p.m. the 210-second fly-off max. The model hooked a huge thermal and drifted east quickly, leaving the AMA property at about the 2-minute mark. I kept up with it for about 3 minutes on a motorcycle, but then it disappeared from sight at about 800 feet high. The chase was on. Out came my tracking radio. After about 10 minutes of zig-zagging the rural farm roads, I got a faint signal about 3 miles east of the field. As I got closer I realized the signal was coming directly from a grisly thicket of hickory and sycamore trees. Not good. Off the bike and into the thicket, shoulder high grass and spider webs be damned, I was going to get this model back or so I thought. If only I had been born a brontosaurus... The signal pegged right underneath a pair of 100-foot trees with 50-foot saplings all around them. I suspected the model was at least 50 feet up, perhaps in the shorter trees, but I couldn t see it, despite gazing up at every conceivable angle for about an hour. So after some agonizing, I knew it was time to write this model off. She had been a good one, winning for me Nats titles in 2005, 2014, and 2015, with countless other wins along the way. Don DeLoach
6 Anyone NatsNews see an airplane? 2015 Anywhere?