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Mar. 15 & 16, 2008 - Irvington Field Activities - Combat

Reminder - Upcoming flying events:

March 21 & 22 - The Chipola RC Aviators (CRCA) of Marianna, Florida, are holding their Warbirds Over the Panhandle Fly-in.

April 4, 5 & 6 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will host a Big Bird & 3D Fly-in.

More details for these and other events are at the end of this report.

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FOR SALE! Complete Cessna 182 Skylane , with O.S. 46 engine, Airtronics transmitter , receiver, Hitec servos, battery pack. Canopy is cracked. Ed will include an additional Hitec Laser 4 transmitter with this deal. Contact Ed Adams directly at adamseeu@bellsouth.net.

STILL FOR SALE! John Kenna still has one plane left for sale. Must sell! Excellent flying condition. It's a Malibu pattern plane (fiberglass and foam wings), set up for a YS-120 engine . The soft engine mount, header and pipe are in the plane. Contact John at: johnkenna@earthlink.net, 251-666-9433 or 251-716-4394.

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Sadly, Ben McGee strained his Avistar trainer through the fence near Half Mile Road early in the week. Something about "it got away from me." Is the Irvington Triangle acting up again? Spring weather inversion could have had something to do with it... All right, let me get something out of the way first. I watched Alvin eat a concoction of Boudan sausage, yellow mustard and pepper jelly and other unidentifiable items . Even Jeff Foster — an omnivore himself — turned up his nose at that !...

At the last club meeting Ben volunteered that he would take on the Kitchen Floor Expansion Project, which involves enlarging the concrete slab in the kitchen. Well, he got the project off to a good start. It's all formed up and should be poured this week. Don't let this picture fool you into believing that Alvin had anything to do with that new floor . The forming has all been Ben's work. Thank you very much, Ben!...

Andy Anderson and Justin Peacock flew their twin-engine Cessna 310 . Nice flying by Justin . Inverted too ... Those twins do sound nice !... You may not know this, but Al Ayler has an identical Cessna. However — and he admitted this to me — he's "scared to fly it." Oh, I believe it! So Al flew his scale Piper J-3 Cub, instead, a slow and docile plane that he knows he can comfortably handle . Al let a motorized Harold Dillon have a go at the Cub also ...

Remember the Staudacher Johnny Morris tried to get going a couple of weeks ago? He couldn't get that Y. S. engine running. Well, he now knows what the problem is. Carl Broughton brought his identical engine and they swapped the diaphragm pumps off the engine . Found out that Johnny's pump was not working right. So Johnny should be able to fly that Staudacher soon... Henry Waltman flew his Spacewalker. I'm sure he let Al fly it too.

Tony Farmer flew his Ultra Stick 60, making many inverted passes, dipping pretty low on occasion... Billy Frost flew two of his electrics. One was the Japanese Nakagima . The other the FA-18 Blue Angels ducted fan jet ... Roger Hagler tumbled and twisted and spun his Lazy Bee ... Jon Koppisch flew his Delta Wing pusher, making some very low passes . A REMINDER to all: High speed, low altitude passes are to be made over the grass on the East side of the asphalt runway, gentlemen. That was discussed at our last meeting! Some people do not feel comfortable standing on a pilot pad while planes repeatedly zip by them only 10 ft. away, waist-high, at high speeds. It's in the club rules! Use the grass behind the asphalt runway. It will look even more daring and exciting from the pits and the pavilion, because you can get a foot lower over the grass than the asphalt. Please comply! There have been complaints...

Robert showed up with his usual small fleet of unusual aircraft. The disassembled Stunt Kite Toad plane . The Mini HOR (Hell On Rails), totally stripped this time . And his newest creation, a Coroplast plane with 4-ft. dowel wing extensions ! He asked Frits to test fly it. "Sure," Frits said. "But, what are the extensions for?" "Oh," Robert said, "that's to snatch more planes during combat." "COMBAT?", Frits said, "with THAT?" "Oh, yeah," Robert said, "and we'll slide on these foamy noodle thingies." Yikes ! So Frits flew it first with the dowels, but without the noodles. Then a second flight with both 4-ft. sections, but that proved to give too much drag. So Robert cut the noodles in half. The plane flew okay like that. Well, sort of okay! Frits and Robert were ready for combat!... A buzzard slowly and persistently circled overhead, not a good sign right before combat ...

It was the third Sunday of the month, and it was 2 o'clock. Time for monthly Combat! Combat General Don Koval was ready. Here's Don's account of the three action-packed air battles. "The weather was really nice this weekend and we had a large turnout for the combat event. And many spectators also. There were nine pilots. Five showed up with those durable plastic Coroplast planes; Jeff Lee, Johnny Jones , Andrew Smith , Tony Farmer, and Johnny Turner. Russ Green and Homer Anderson brought their foam flying wings. At the last moment Doug Shorey decided to join with an electric profile Geebee park flier. Now that takes guts! But of course the most unusual plane was entered by Robert Sanderson — his "Noodles. "

"In the first round Andrew got a cut on Robert, then turned around and had a midair hit with him, knocking him out of the sky. Andrew was able to keep flying. Then Johnny T. and Homer had a midair that took them both out . Their planes were in bad shape and could not be fixed . Johnny J.'s wing was severely damaged also. "

"The second round was hot and heavy with seven guys going at it, including Robert's plane, which lost its noodles in the crash but was otherwise flight worthy. No midairs but lots of cuts were had ! As was the third round, a lot of cuts and some EXCITING flying! Andrew came out on top with 8 points to take the win. Congratulations to Andrew, March 2008 Combat Champ! A lot of "THANKS" to all the guys who were spotters for the pilots. I forgot to mark down all your names and I don't want to omit anyone. But again, THANK YOU! Next Combat will be April 20."

Thanks for running another great combat, Don !... Damage to airplanes was severe for a couple of the combat participants. Poor Johnny T.! Isn't that Johnny's fifth plane that's been destroyed in combat?... Jeff Lee did very well, proudly pulling around one of his cuts . So did Robert, who managed three cuts after reviving the plane after the midair . At one point he cut off his own streamer when he did a loop !... I don't believe the Tony & Alvin team did too well . At least I didn't hear Alvin crowing about how many cuts they made... Homer's plane was hit bad and may be toast ... Doug did really great with that small electric in the midst of all the mayhem! He sort of taunted the others by doing some 3D hovering in the middle of the swarm of planes! He had to come in early with some damage, but he fixed it and went right back up . Way to go, Doug! That's the combat spirit!

And now a special note from Don about future combat: "Starting with April Combat I will really be enforcing the starting time! At 2:00 I will sound the 15-minute warning horn. At 2:13 I will give a blast with my siren, just to get your attention, to let you know that the 2-minute scramble/launch horn is two minutes away. If you want to you may launch at this time. Or you can wait for the 2-minute scramble/launch horn. I will sound the horn ONE TIME to start combat. The round will be for six minutes. I will sound the horn ONE TIME to stop combat. Time between rounds is FIVE minutes, period! If you need more time, just join the next round when you can. For safety reasons, if you are handlaunching your plane, make sure that you do it IN FRONT OF the pilot pads. Thanks!"

Speaking of carnage and mayhem — Armageddon is coming! Yes! At last! Rob Baker, the Event Coordinator, has set the date for this popular event for June 7th. Be prepared and have your plane(s) ready! More details and a flier are coming... Not sure if you are right for Armageddon? Look, if you can safely fly around, take off, do touch-'n'-gos, loops, rolls and landings, you can fly in Armageddon! Having some steel nerves is nice, but not a requirement... Get that plane ready! No no no — definitely not your best or most favorite airplane! You need a plane that you don't mind... ummm... you know... dinging up!

You don't have to do all the individual Armageddon competition events, only those you feel comfortable doing, or those you feel will leave your plane... ummmm... relatively intact and in flyable condition. If your plane should be damaged where you can't fly it any longer, only then can you substitute a backup plane. Combat at noon is optional — you can use a different plane for combat. And look, you don't have to worry about those North End Pilots. They are all too afraid to compete! The last time a Cub was entered — years ago — Al Ayler wrapped his around one of the sturdy PVC posts during the Limbo event. Spectacular! On that particular day Al did not L O O O V E RC! Trust me, Armageddon is FUN!

Alvin flew his Thunder Tiger Raptor Titan helicopter. He could be seen irritating Henry Waltman by hovering the heli while Henry was trying to taxiing his Spacewalker . At one point Alvin turned the controls over to Justin. There was a brief exchange of autorotations. Who's the best at doing them? Hmmmmm... Alvin always does draw a crowd, doesn't he ?... Doug Shorey flew a small yellow electric twin-motor park flier. He got it way up high. But later I heard that he had lost it in the trees west of the field. I don't know if he found it.

Robert let Jon fly his Coroplast "Triangle" . Jon seemed to have a good time with the strange plane . It did well until the engine quit and it plowed into the red dirt . He also let Tony and Johnny T. fly the Mini HOR, which flew fine . When Tony was flying it, the engine quit, I believe, and the plane slowed down enough for it to stall. It did its infamous death spin into the ground! Frits knows the feeling very well! He's been there, done that! Several times...

Robert tried to fly the weird Stunt Kite Toad plane a couple of times . Roger did the handlaunches. The first time it looped back on itself and crashed! On its second flight the plane only flew about twenty feet. Frits asked Robert what the problem was, since he had just flown it a couple of weekends earlier. That caused many loud and nasty comments from the North End boys who overheard Frits' sarcastic remark. Especially from Al and Wayne Boudreaux, who started to make bets whether Frits could do any better. So Frits agreed to fly it too. He'd show them!

Did Frits ever tell you that Robert ALWAYS has to change things? Well, it was like flying a brand-new plane again, Frits thought. And so, Frits didn't do any better than Robert. This brought about a lot of booing, hissing, jeering and heckling, mostly from the North End. (Oh, Frits heard Tony and Alvin at the South End too...) I know — those North End boys think they are experts. After all, they are all so very proficient at flying... uhhhhhmmmm... CUBS! Well, Frits can at least say he's not afraid to fly any of Robert's contraptions. Uhmmm, sorry, Robert — creations!

Andrew Smith flew his electric Lite Machines LMH-120 Corona helicopter, nicking one of the blades in the process of doing an unplanned boom strike. He also flew both his Sticks, the Ugly one and the Slow one. He and Tony had some fun chasing each other around ... Kevin Spragg showed up with his small electric Ultimate Bipe... Frits took up student Paul Stacy and his Alpha 60 trainer three times. Paul is making good progress and feeling more comfortable with his fine flying trainer...

Johnny Turner showed up with his Raptor 90 helicopter . He practiced autos and did some nice sideways rolls and flips ... Russell Ward is still putting flights on his Ugly Stick, doing a lot of flying during the week. He also has been taxiing his Super Decathlon without the wing . Frits mentioned that now it was time to spend some time with the wing. Russell misunderstood ... "No," Frits said, "try to fly you wing, but without the fuselage." Russell — who is a very good sport — complied. You should have seen the body English he used !...

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Upcoming events:
ACMA Combat at Irvington Field every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. Next one is on March 16th, no matter what the weather! (Lightning will only delay it some...)

For a calendar of local area flying events you can always go to the Gulf Coast Area RC Event Calendar

March 21 & 22 - The Chipola RC Aviators (CRCA) of Marianna, Florida, are holding their Warbirds Over the Panhandle Fly-in. This is a Giant Scale Fly-in that is restricted to warbirds only. Military or civilian paint. Open flying format. Entry Fee $15.00. AMA required. Contact CD Dale Cavin, dcavin@earthlink.net, 850-482-7090. More info is on the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) calendar and on the CRCA Website

April 3, 4 & 5 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will host a Big Bird & 3D Fly-in at Irvington Field. AMA required. Contact: Scott Cameron, 251-473-5665, robertcameron4@comcast.net. Here's the flier . Here's a map to Irvington Field .

April 19 - ELECTRIC FLY-IN, Eglin Aero Modelers, Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Website: www.eglinaeromodellers.org Details later.

April 18, 19 & 20 - The West Alabama Aero Modelers (WAAM) of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will have a 3-day War Birds Over Bama Fly-in. This is a Giant Scale event. Here's the WAAM flier with directions . This is the WAAM Website . Contact: Frank Baity, 205-553-7131, frank.baity@wlm.falconjet.com.

April 26 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will have their 2nd Southern Alabama Warbird & Scale Fly-in at Irvington Field. Refer to flier for details . Unlike last year's event, we will now allow scale aircraft of all kinds, not just warbirds. AMA required. Here's a map to Irvington Field . And our ACMA's Website .

April 26 - Pinebelt R/C Association of Hattiesburg, MS, presents their 2nd Annual Tora-Doc Memorial Fly-in & Model Air Show. Location: Club field on Purvis Oloh Rd. Admission $5.00, children under 17 free. Landing fee $10.00. Refer to ToraDocFlier . You can find a map on their web site: pinebeltrc.com Contact: Jeff Williams, mr_fix_it55@yahoo.com

May 2 & 3 - Warbirds Over Clanton - Clanton, AL. Restricted to warbirds. Sponsor: Central Air Sport Flyers. Concessions on site. RV parking on site, no hookups. Contact: James Weems CD, jimweems@bellsouth.net, 205-733-2021

May 10 - The Koast Air Modelers Society (KAMS) of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, has scheduled their Annual Spring Fly-In for May 10, the day before Mother's Day. Fly whatever you bring. Chicken dinners and soft drinks will be available. AMA required. Here's a map to Ludlow Field . Contact: Paul Verger, cpaulverger@yahoo.com

May 10 - The Eglin Aero Modelers in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, will have a WARBIRDS OVER EGLIN Fly-in Website: www.eglinaeromodellers.org Details later.

May 17 - The Mississippi Coast R/C Club (MCRCC) of Gulfport, MS, is having a Helicopter Fly-in. Stay tuned for details. Contact: Richard Ober, 601-869-6821, heart1121@cableone.net This is MCRCC's Website .

June 7 - Armageddon is here! Be brave! (Details are coming...)

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Mar. 5, 8 & 9, 2008 - Irvington Field Activities

Reminder - Upcoming flying events:
ACMA Combat at Irvington Field every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. Next one is on March 16th.

March 14, 15 & 16 - The Birmingham Helicopter Modelers in Bessemer, Alabama, have their 14th Annual Central Alabama Helicopter Fly-in.

More details for these and other events are at the end of this report.

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FOR SALE! Complete Cessna 182 Skylane , with O. S. 46 engine, Airtronics transmitter , receiver, Hitec servos, battery pack. Canopy is cracked. Ed will include an additional Hitec Laser 4 transmitter with this deal. Contact Ed Adams directly at adamseeu@bellsouth.net.

STILL FOR SALE! John Kenna still has one plane left for sale. Must sell! Excellent flying condition. It's a Malibu pattern plane (fiberglass and foam wings), set up for a YS-120 engine. The soft engine mount, header and pipe are in the plane. Contact John at: johnkenna@earthlink.net, 251-666-9433 or 251-716-4394.

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During the week I watched one of our newest club members fly a couple of his airplanes. Craig Schell flew his electric CAP-232 . And then he took up an electric trainer, the Hobbico Electrifly (I hope I remembered that name correctly)... On Saturday there was not much going on while I was there. The only people I saw were Jeff Foster and Elton Sullivan . They were flying absolutely nothing. Best to have your wading boots on when those two are spinning their stories. It only gets worse when Alvin joins them ... The County is working on getting that pile of debris removed . This was during the week. By the weekend it was almost all gone.

We missed Robert Sanderson this weekend, but that was because he was at SPAD Fest Over Texas, near Dallas, I think. That's where pilots come together and fly their Coroplas plastic planes. Robert actually flew that weird contraption made of a stunt kite, a bike-peddling frog lawn ornament, some aluminum and plastic. It DID fly, but ended up stalling and spinning into the snowy, wet runway, sort of like Frits does here at our field. Yep, SNOW! Robert said there was plenty !

We also missed Don Koval again. He's not been around for three weekends, due to some health-related problems in his family. We hope everything will turn out well, Don, and that you will be back soon. How about next Sunday, COMBAT Sunday? But — family comes first, and we understand that... We had a sighting of Jade Taylor on Sunday. Yep, Jade's still kicking! He visited briefly with wife and daughter. No word on when he'll fly again...

There were several Piper Cubs on Sunday . Henry Waltman showed up with his. So did Tony Farmer, Al Ayler and Joe Krebs . They all flew at once at one time and tried to fly in formation. That really needs some work, because the best they could do was a rather "loose formation." Oh, there were some relatively close encounters . And Tony and Al came VERY close a couple of times ! Probably by accident... Then Al and Tony tried to outdo each other in Al's patented maneuver, the "one-hung-low," where you do an extended touch-'n'-go on one wheel. Al did some really nice ones . But so did Tony ...

Al had to show off for Henry and show him that his Cub could fly without a pilot . He actually walked about 10 ft. away from the transmitter. But then he quickly ran back and grabbed it when he thought Frits was going to run off with it . A year or two ago Frits did that to Al once... Johnny Turner got his Raptor 90 heli in the air and could be seen practicing autorotations . Doing great!... Alvin flew his Raptor .50 Titan helicopter a couple of times. Alvin can do some nice, smooth flying!... Alvin and Tony sat close as they watched TV . Not sure why. It wasn't even cold...

Tony also flew his T-34 Mentor, streaking it very low to the ground ! Several were inverted, too ! ... By the way, gentlemen, when you do low-altitude, high-speed passes, keep you plane over the grass just east of the runway, as to not make some flying pilots uncomfortable. Plus that keeps it in compliance with one of our club rules which prohibits low-level, high-speed passes over the asphalt runway lower than 50 ft. Trust me, it'll still look spectacular from the pavilion, while making it much safer for the pilots on the pilot stations.

Several large 3D planes showed up. Wes and Marie Batson flew their 42% Extra-260s ... John LaFleur had his 40% Edge-540 ... Sam Chest brought his Extra-260 . He had smoke on his plane ... Wes and Sam did some formation hovering ... And Scott Cameron showed up with his 3D plane, the Wild Hare R/C Extra-300 "Ranger Bob" ...

Elton brought his Somethin' EXTRA and a new plane, the Showtime ... Jeff Lee flew his Somethin' Extra ... Mike McLaughlin had Great Planes Lancair ES and the Four Star Foh . The Lancair looked nice ... Justin Peacock showed up with a small electric Hellcat, an electric Slow Stick and his latest, the Jerry Bates Sport-300 . The Sport flew very nice ! Justin's Hellcat ended up broken after it crashed . Not sure what the story was there... Doug Shorey flew his HobbyTown USA trainer...

Andrew Smith had his Ugly Stick, electric Lite Machines LMH-120 Corona helicopter, and the Twist. I think he flew them all. He chased Mike and his Four Star around with his Ugly Stick . After one landing, with the Four Star stopped on the ground, Andrew deadsticked and ran his plane up to the Four Star and hopped over it. He did some damage to the Four Star's tail ... Tony's Mentor and Mike's Lancair also got a little chase going .

Roger Hagler flew his small red Taylorcraft (I think)... Jeremy Caglione brought his Four Star 120 and Twist 60... Brother Seth flew his Somethin' Extra . He also had an electric Pitts Special biplane . It has plenty of power!… Roger Geil showed up with one of his Funtanas, the Funtana 90 with Saito 1.25 engine, I believe... Frank Rowell had both his Funtana S and Funtana X 100 with him, and he flew them both. Wife Julie was there too . I'm pretty sure that was Frank there with her...

Frits had two students on Sunday. Cecil Mount showed up for his first flight with his Hangar 9 F-22 Raptor "jet" trainer, shown here in this photo taken last month . Cecil has only been flying on a computer simulator, and he says he really likes that reset button! But he did very well on his first and second fight... Frits also took up Bill Bryan and his Hangar 9 P-51 Mustang trainer . Bill is making very good progress and Frits mentioned that next time he would let Bill do some takeoffs... .

After I left there was an incident that needs mentioning. Tony was standing next to Elton who was flying the Showtime. He was helping Elton adjust the trim controls. On a pilot station nearby Justin was flying his Slow Stick. He had tied the nose of the crashed Hellcat to the Slow Stick with a string. Apparently this made the Stick a bit unstable, to say the least! But wait — it gets worse! Jake Wiggins was trying to hit the dangling Hellcat nose with a bat as it went by. And then it happened. The Slow Stick headed for an unsuspecting Tony and flew into the right side of his face. Tony never saw it coming. The spinner apparently hit on his cheek bone. The spinning prop cut Tony up some, of course . Tony was lucky that the plane didn't impact his ear, eye or mouth.

Well, if you are going to cause a major safety issue, might as well go for our club's Safety Officer (Tony)! That way he gets the real story firsthand!... All joking aside — Let's be more careful when playing around! Those park fliers CAN and WILL do damage! They should be treated like any other plane.

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Upcoming events:
ACMA Combat at Irvington Field every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. Next one is on March 16th, no matter what the weather! (Lightning will only delay it some...)

For a calendar of local area flying events you can always go to the Gulf Coast Area RC Event Calendar

March 14, 15 & 16 - The Birmingham Helicopter Modelers in Bessemer, Alabama, have their 14th Annual Central Alabama Helicopter Fly-in. Site: Club Field. David Harkey CD, dharkey55@bellsouth.net, 205-991-2049. All kind of helicopters.

March 21 & 22 - The Chipola RC Aviators (CRCA) of Marianna, Florida, are holding their Warbirds Over the Panhandle Fly-in. This is a Giant Scale Fly-in that is restricted to warbirds only. Military or civilian paint. Open flying format. Entry Fee $15.00. AMA required. Contact CD Dale Cavin, dcavin@earthlink.net, 850-482-7090. More info is on the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) calendar and on the CRCA Website

April 3, 4 & 5 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will host a Big Bird & 3D Fly-in at Irvington Field. AMA required. Contact: Scott Cameron, 251-473-5665, robertcameron4@comcast.net. Here's the flier . Here's a map to Irvington Field .

April 19 - ELECTRIC FLY-IN, Eglin Aero Modelers, Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Website: www.eglinaeromodellers.org Details later.

April 18, 19 & 20 - The West Alabama Aero Modelers (WAAM) of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will have a 3-day War Birds Over Bama Fly-in. This is a Giant Scale event. Here's the WAAM flier with directions . This is the WAAM Website . Contact: Frank Baity, 205-553-7131, frank.baity@wlm.falconjet.com.

April 26 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will have their 2nd Southern Alabama Warbird & Scale Fly-in at Irvington Field. Refer to flier for details . Unlike last year's event, we will now allow scale aircraft of all kinds, not just warbirds. AMA required. Here's a map to Irvington Field . And our ACMA's Website .

April 26 - Pinebelt R/C Association of Hattiesburg, MS, presents their 2nd Annual Tora-Doc Memorial Fly-in & Model Air Show. Location: Club field on Purvis Oloh Rd. Admission $5.00, children under 17 free. Landing fee $10.00. Refer to ToraDocFlier . You can find a map on their web site: pinebeltrc.com Contact: Jeff Williams, mr_fix_it55@yahoo.com

May 2 & 3 - Warbirds Over Clanton - Clanton, AL. Restricted to warbirds. Sponsor: Central Air Sport Flyers. Concessions on site. RV parking on site, no hookups. Contact: James Weems CD, jimweems@bellsouth.net, 205-733-2021

May 10 - The Koast Air Modelers Society (KAMS) of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, has scheduled their Annual Spring Fly-In for May 10, the day before Mother's Day. Fly whatever you bring. Chicken dinners and soft drinks will be available. AMA required. Here's a map to Ludlow Field . Contact: Paul Verger, cpaulverger@yahoo.com

May 10 - The Eglin Aero Modelers in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, will have a WARBIRDS OVER EGLIN Fly-in Website: www.eglinaeromodellers.org Details later.

May 17 - The Mississippi Coast R/C Club (MCRCC) of Gulfport, MS, is having a Helicopter Fly-in. Stay tuned for details. Contact: Richard Ober, 601-869-6821, heart1121@cableone.net This is MCRCC's Website .

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Feb. 29, Mar. 1 & 2, 2008 - Irvington Field Activities

Reminder - Upcoming flying events:
ACMA Combat at Irvington Field every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. Next one is on March 16th.

March 21 & 22 - The Chipola RC Aviators (CRCA) of Marianna, Florida, are holding their Warbirds Over the Panhandle Fly-in. More details on this event and others are at the end of this report.

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STILL FOR SALE! John Kenna still has one plane left for sale. Must sell! Excellent flying condition. It's a Malibu pattern plane (fiberglass and foam wings), set up for a YS-120 engine . The soft engine mount, header and pipe are in the plane. Contact John at: johnkenna@earthlink.net, 251-666-9433 or 251-716-4394.

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I went to the field on Friday and found that the County had opened the field up for their biannual or annual trash deposit . A growing pile of trash was slowly building some distance south of the runway. Don't worry. It's supervised by County personnel and the junk should be gone in a week or two ... There is also some work going on across Half Mile Road . Trees have been cleared in a long strip parallel to the road . Rumor has it that it's for "a gas pipeline that will run all the way to Arkansas." Don't hold me to that statement. I have heard nothing official.

John LaFleur flew his giant scale 40% Edge-540 . He can make it "hang" ... After some tinkering with the gas engine, Jeff Lee got a flight in on his Wild Hare RC Extra-300LX, a plane that Tim McLeod used to have ... Johnny Morris had an incident with his Kaos 60. I think he said he had run out of fuel . It can be fixed. Johnny also brought out his newly acquired Goldberg Staudacher . John Kenna used to own that one. Nice plane, but Johnny and Jeff Foster (a Y. S. engine expert) could never get that Y. S. engine running properly ...

Scott Cameron flew his scale Piper Cub. He was assisted by Wayne Boudreaux ... David Etheredge flew his electric Shock, and the U-Can-Do 3D plane . That little electric can do some nice 3D too ... Doug Shorey had a couple of nice flights with his GeeBee profile park flier . He also flew his HobbyTown USA trainer, after mounting a small video camera on it ... Roger Hagler has repaired his Lazy Bee. A week or two ago the wind was just too much for it. Well, actually the wind blew it off one of the benches and broke it! But it's okay now...

Roger Geil dropped by again with his experimental ultralight aircraft . This one was newly refurbished by Roger and was recently certified . He still has the old one ... David Lanzo showed up with his Twist, and his yellow electric Slow Stick ... Justin Peacock had his red Slow Stick and a Hellcat . The Hellcat was fast! Nice landing ... Andrew Smith brought his Ugly Stick, the old Twist, and a red electric Slow Stick, capable of dropping plastic bombs . He managed to drop a bomb on Justin's Stick in flight! It caused no real damage to the wing. Andrew and Justin did some close formation flying in pretty stiff and gusty winds . They came very close several times ! Before going home, Andrew had his vehicle all loaded up, but I believe he can get about four more planes in it, don't you? ... Tony Farmer showed up with his Thunder Tiger Raptor 50. No, he didn't fly it! He brings it just to look at. I think he still wants to sell the thing.

So instead of flying, Tony worked the grill. He cooked pork ribs, hot dogs, beans and hash browns . It was delicious ! Thanks to the contributors, whoever they were! And in case you are new to our club and don't know, you can participate and eat the food that we cook. However, we ask that you occasionally bring something to cook too. You can bring a package of hot dogs and buns, or hamburger patties and buns, or Conecuh sausages and buns, or a loaf of bread, or a package of pork ribs, or homemade beans, soup or whatever. We're not picky! Or bring condiments like paper plates, paper towels, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish or barbecue sauce. Check the refrigerator to see if we need supplies.

Alvin Reed flew his Raptor .50 Titan helicopter both days. On Sunday he was seen applying a "rust remover" to each exposed screw and bolt on that heli . It's a secret recipe - Diet Coke! Alvin said John Kenna told him about it. I hope the screws don't fall out !... Tal Fowler flew his Compass Knight 50 3D helicopter, and put on a wild and woolly show ! The wind didn't seem to bother him at all. He dipped very low to the runway several times . Tal also showed off the chassis of an unfinished second Knight. He'll have a backup when he gets that one built... Johnny Turner brought his Align T-Rex 600 and Raptor 50 helicopters. He flew the Raptor ... Steve Drake showed up with his Align T-Rex electric heli, but I think the wind scared him enough to stay safely grounded ...

Frits Jetten went to the field on Friday, and lo-and-behold, there was one of his students, Ben McGee, flying his Avistar trainer all by himself ! Frits had not let him solo yet. But Ben was doing pretty good. I guess he doesn't need Frits any longer ... Robert Sanderson showed up with his combat plane again, the Mini HOR ("Hell On Rails"). Frits remembered how well it flew the week before . But this flight ended in a crash! Robert had changed the engine out, rearranged some components, and in doing so somehow had gotten it too tail-heavy again ! The plane went straight up after Robert handlaunched it. Frits had to give full down-elevator throughout the flight, which ended in the HOR spinning into the ground. But it'll fly again.

Robert's latest creation, the "STRIKE!" bowling plane has a pusher engine and a short fuselage with three vertical stabilizers, two of which are located on the wing tips . The first and second flights were extremely brief, each perhaps no longer that three seconds. One included a vertical bounce on the ball, which acted like a nice shock absorber ! The landing was not pretty ! On Sunday Robert had the STRIKE! ready again, this time with a small weight in place of the ball.

When Frits took it off the plane immediately nosed up and did a nice and tight pirouette on the spinning prop, until Frits killed the engine. That grinding on the asphalt reduced the prop arc by about 3/4 of an inch. That should give a hundred or so more rpm! Then Robert relocated the landing gear and shortened the nose gear strut . Jon Koppisch helped Robert set it back up . It took some drilling, screwing and sawing. Oh, did I tell you that Robert needs this plane ready for him to fly in SPAD Fest somewhere near Dallas, Texas this upcoming weekend? He plans to start the trip on Thursday. Time was of the essence and this crash set him back some...

Well, anyway, the next flight of the STRIKE! went better than anyone expected. Frits managed a nice, smooth, extended taxi run (remember that pusher prop!), and a nice rotation. He got some altitude and then made a left turn. Frits did some trimming while the unstable plane wobbled left and right while making its way north. Frits immediately tried to set up for a landing, because Robert wanted to glue the ball to the front on the next flight. Well, the plane was heading downwind at a rapid clip! Then Frits found out that he couldn't turn the plane left into the strong wind! The STRIKE! finally nosed up, stalled and spun to the right. It crashed about 30 ft. or so inside the fence at Half Mile Rd. The wing was fine . The rest looked pretty much destroyed ! Robert — not one to give up easily — said he'd have it ready for a test flight by Wednesday afternoon!

Justin got bored and started driving his RC car around. That was just not exciting enough, so he drove it on top of the pavilion roof, even jumping the space between the pits shelter and the pavilion . He only got it stuck up there once ... Nice weekend, except for the pretty stiff and gusty winds on Sunday. I hope next weekend will be better. A sneak peek in Justin's truck gives us an idea what we might expect in the next few weeks. Think of them as coming attractions !

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Upcoming events:
ACMA Combat at Irvington Field every third Sunday of the month at 2:00 PM. Next one is on March 16th
For a calendar of local area flying events that I know about, you can always go to the Gulf Coast Area RC Event Calendar

March 21 & 22 - The Chipola RC Aviators (CRCA) of Marianna, Florida, are holding their Warbirds Over the Panhandle Fly-in. This is a Giant Scale Fly-in that is restricted to warbirds only. Military or civilian paint. Open flying format. Entry Fee $15.00. AMA required. Contact CD Dale Cavin, dcavin@earthlink.net, 850-482-7090. More info is on the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) calendar and on the CRCA Website

April 3, 4 & 5 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will host a Big Bird & 3D Fly-in at Irvington Field. AMA required. Contact: Scott Cameron, 251-473-5665, robertcameron4@comcast.net. Here's the flier . Here's a map to Irvington Field .

April 19 - ELECTRIC FLY-IN, Eglin Aero Modelers, Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Website: www.eglinaeromodellers.org Details later.

April 18, 19 & 20 - The West Alabama Aero Modelers (WAAM) of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will have a 3-day War Birds Over Bama Fly-in. This is a Giant Scale event. Here's the WAAM flier with directions . This is the WAAM Website . Contact: Frank Baity, 205-553-7131, frank.baity@wlm.falconjet.com.

April 26 - Azalea City Model Aeronautics (ACMA) of Mobile, Alabama, will have their 2nd Southern Alabama Warbird & Scale Fly-in at Irvington Field. Refer to flier for details . Unlike last year's event, we will now allow scale aircraft of all kinds, not just warbirds. AMA required. Here's a map to Irvington Field . And our ACMA's Website .

April 26 - Pinebelt R/C Association of Hattiesburg, MS, presents their 2nd Annual Tora-Doc Memorial Fly-in & Model Air Show. Location: Club field on Purvis Oloh Rd. Admission $5.00, children under 17 free. Landing fee $10.00. Refer to ToraDocFlier . You can find a map on their web site: pinebeltrc.com Contact: Jeff Williams, mr_fix_it55@yahoo.com

May 2 & 3 - Warbirds Over Clanton - Clanton, AL. Restricted to warbirds. Sponsor: Central Air Sport Flyers. Concessions on site. RV parking on site, no hookups. Contact: James Weems CD, jimweems@bellsouth.net, 205-733-2021

May 10 - The Koast Air Modelers Society (KAMS) of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, has scheduled their Annual Spring Fly-In for May 10, the day before Mother's Day. Fly whatever you bring. Chicken dinners and soft drinks will be available. AMA required. Here's a map to Ludlow Field . Contact: Paul Verger, cpaulverger@yahoo.com

May 10 - The Eglin Aero Modelers in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, will have a WARBIRDS OVER EGLIN Fly-in Website: www.eglinaeromodellers.org Details later.

May 17 - The Mississippi Coast R/C Club (MCRCC) of Gulfport, MS, is having a Helicopter Fly-in. Stay tuned for details. Contact: Richard Ober, 601-869-6821, heart1121@cableone.net This is MCRCC's Website .

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