Even the busy Contest Director, Dave Mitchell (above left), finds time to fly his DeHavilland DH-108 in the Modern Aircraft event. It is great to see a flying wing
thermals over the Thursday through Satur- day flying days. Thursday dawned sunny and calm and the flying began early with the call for WWI mass launch registration and gathering on the field for the event at 9 a.m. All mass launch events were flown in a similar manner with no qualification flights and all entrants launching in the first round together.
Watching 35 or so WWI biplane stick and tissue models climb out together into the calm morning sky is a sight to behold! Three flights in total were completed in each mass launch event with a large num- ber of flyers dropping out after the first round, followed by an on-field rules compli- ance check, then the final two flights, cul- minating in a dramatic final flight to decide the top five finishers.
Veteran flyer Don De Loach, from the Col-
orado Springs area, made it known that he came to fly by executing a clean sweep of the first three mass launch events on Thursday — WWI, the Thompson Trophy, and Low Wing Military Trainer. The friendly camaraderie amongst the flyers on the field belied the heat of competition just getting underway! For many years, the FAC Nationals and Non-Nats contests have included not just
fly so well. Don Srull flew one of the more unusual models, a Voisin canard pusher biplane (above right) in the Pioneer event.
freeflight rubber and power scale events, but a comprehensive range of Non-Scale competition events as well. Events like Old Time (OT) Rubber Stick and Fuselage, OT Gas Replica, Jimmy Allen, and the newest addition, 1⁄2 Wakefield-ROG, are designed to complement the classic stick and tissue FAC scale events and broaden the flying options to Nats attendees and competitors. These Non-Scale events carry forward the tradi- tion of FAC Sport models and events such as Embryo Endurance (50-square inch wing area models that ROG from a card tabletop) that go back to the very beginning of the Fly- ing Aces Club in southern Connecticut in the 1960s.
On Thursday, July 19, an epic battle be-
tween some of the best flyers in the world was shaping up in OT Rubber Stick, with two designs from the 1937 Zaic Yearbook finishing in the top three places. Clive Gam- ble won the event in a stunning upset flying an Ed Manulkin Class C twin pusher fin- ished in an attractive lime green and hot pink color scheme chosen by his spouse. Don Srull took third place flying a “Pusher”. Amazingly, plans for these two models can be found just pages apart in the same 1937 Zaic Yearbook!
Amidst this top-shelf competition, most flyers continued to trim and tune up their models, put in official flights, and just plain sport fly for the fun of it. Another appealing aspect of the FAC Nationals is the option to delve as deeply into the competition as one desires. Just being on the field and flying with kindred souls is satisfaction enough for many at the meet. For them, the FAC motto “Build what turns you on, Fly as often as you can, Win—just let it happen!” rings true. The strong entry count at the 2012 FAC Nats and the active participation by a number of promising young flyers bodes well for the future of the Flying Aces Club. It’s said that there is so much activity go- ing on up and down the flightline at the FAC Nats that it’s impossible to take it all in. It’s true. One comes away from Geneseo with a series of recollections that linger on well af- ter the meet has closed, cementing friend- ships and providing much-needed inspira- tion for the next season’s building projects. Here are a few of this writer’s favorite recol- lections of the 2012 FAC Nat.
Twin and multi-engined FAC rubber scale models seemed to be everywhere and flying better than ever at the 2012 FAC Nats. Pat Murray’s slick Northrop P-61 Black Widow
PHOTO: DAN DRISCOLL
Judging scale models requires a large investment of time poring over three- views and color schemes. Mike Escalante and Peter Kaiteris (above left) judge
FLYING MODELS
FAC Power Scale models while Mike Escalante and Vance Gilbert take a close look at Octavian Alden's Tupolev Tu-2 (above right).
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