F/FSport
[The Battle of Midway]…was the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare.”—JOHN KEEGAN
H
istorians such as John Keegan widely regard the Battle of Mid- way as being pivotal in the out- come of WWII. In June of 1942,
just one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, and six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy hoped to eliminate the United States as a strategic power in the Pacific by attacking the American base on Midway Atoll. Instead, thanks largely to breaking the Japanese communication code, the U.S. Navy knew in advance the timing of the at- tack and the location of the ships involved. As a consequence of that information, it was able to inflict irreparable damage on the Japanese fleet by sinking four aircraft car- riers and a heavy cruiser. Japan was never able to recover from the loss of such key weaponry, and for the first time the war be- gan to turn in favor of the Allies. June of 2012 marks the 70th anniversary
of the Battle of Midway. The Flying Aces Club, with NFFS Digest editor Don De- Loach providing the impetus and leader- ship, will stage a “Battle of Midway 70th An- niversary Commemorative Mass Launch” during the 2012 FAC Nats. Only those planes documented as being involved in the Battle will be permitted, but that still allows an array of over a dozen U.S. airplanes and at least eight Japanese aircraft to be eligi- ble. Designs such as the Grumman F4F Wildcat and Douglas SBD Dauntless can go head-to-head again with the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero and the Aichi D3A-1 Val. As Don notes, special rules will permit “fighters versus bombers versus seaplanes
by larry kruse You can reach Larry Kruseat 18 NW Heatherstone Drive, Lawton, Oklahoma 73505, or via e-mail at
aircats@att.net
PHOTO: BYRON LECHLER
Byron Lechler’s beautifully rendered and detailed Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlessfrom the Comet kit would be a staunch competitor in the “Battle of Midway 70th Anniversary Commemorative Mass Launch” event to be held at the 2012 FAC Nats. Details in the text.
versus observation/recon” to go against each other on an even playing field by adding bonus points as bonus seconds to every flight each round. For example, a B- 26 Marauder that flies for 45 seconds and receives 30 bonus points in FAC scoring will be awarded a flight time of 75 seconds. A Wildcat that flies 62 seconds and gets 5 bonus points will receive a flight time of 67 seconds. The complete rules and the complete list
of eligible aircraft have been posted on the FAC web site at
www.flyingacesclub.com/. Just click on the “Nats/Non-Nats” link and scroll down to the announcement.
2011 Nats video For those who were not able to attend the
2011 AMA Nats (or even for those who were), Alan Abriss has done his annual fine job of capturing the sights and sounds of a warm week in Muncie with his “2011 Free Flight Model Airplane Championships” DVD. Like last year, this year’s edition also includes video footage shot from the wing of a freeflight model in the air for an entirely dif- ferent perspective. The week’s events, in- cluding ROW, Dawn Unlimited, Dakota and FAC Scale, are captured with color commen- tary from the modelers who have built and are flying the planes. The DVD runs 115 min-
PHOTO: ALAN ABRISS
Once again, Alan Abriss has captured all of the sights and sounds of the 2011 AMA Nats in a comprehensive DVD format that covers most of the very warm week in Muncie this past year (above left). The DVD is the latest annual installment in the F/F Nats series that Alan has been providing for several years and is a great way to keep up with freeflight if you were unable to make the trip.
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PHOTO: JEANNIE BAUGHMAN
Gary Baughman is ready for the new outdoor contest season with his well- crafted version of the Super Pearl 542 built from the newly-available short kit from Don DeLoach (above right). In addition to the 542 square inch model, Don offers the plane in two other sizes, including the 202E featured in last month’s column. You can bet we will be seeing more of these fine models in the future.
FEBRUARY 2012
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