Charra Reeves assists her father, Charles Reeves (above), in prepping a Lew McFarland Ruffy for a flight at the control line circles at the 2013 Joe Nall. Thanks to Bob Shaw for bringing his models for Charlie and Allen to fly at the Joe Nall. Dale and Derek Barry got the same opportunity to put some 23 control line models in the air at the Triple Tree Aerodrome. Howard Shenton and William Davis (at right) take a Messerschmitt Me-109 and a P-51 Mustang to the Combat circle at the Joe Nall, much to the delight of the crowd. Mac Hodges’ B-29 and Bell X-1 (below) are always the hit at the end of each noon demo at the Joe Nall, and this flight was no exception.
incredible event. While their individual names cannot be easily recalled, there are a few whose daily assistance made our work a lot easier and more successful. The four who come to mind for the second consecutive year are Pat Hartness, Mike Gregory, Mark Davidson, and Bob Sadler.
“We asked each student to sign up on a form that was found on our clip board. While many slipped through the cracks, here are some of our early findings. The top five states represented by our students were (in order) South Carolina, North Car- olina, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. We trained students who live in 33 states as well as those from five other countries. The great majority had either never flown a C/L plane or had not done so in many years.
#2, the training circle, was the hub of endless flying and aircraft repair for seven full days. “While the RingRats are incredibly strong, there are just some crashes that will partially destroy an airplane. I would esti- mate that every 10 flights, one of the four RingRats was in the pits being rebuilt. Thanks to the magic of CA and accelerator, it was rare for a fix to exceed 5 minutes. The planes were flying on stranded 52-foot lines. “A couple of months before the Nall, Pat Hartness called me and related his recent conversation with Bob Shaw. These gentle- men wanted us to concentrate our efforts on getting as many kids to the circles as possible. They produced and provided very attractive pin-on metal commemorative badges showing the circles and stating, ‘I Flew Control Line at the Joe Nall’. It seemed that a production run of 100 badges would be more than enough but we ran out. While those children may not have received their badge, they will never for- get the thrills they got in the circles. More than one mom told me her child would not take off his badge! Now that’s ‘buy in’.
FLYING MODELS
“One of the great things about the Nall is that the kids always came to us with their parents, and that is always a win-win. We took hundreds of pictures of each child with their plane, their parents, their siblings, and their instructor. How could anyone not be excited about what took place in one week in May?
“Great circles, generous sponsoring or- ganizations, fine airplanes, terrific weather, and tons of excited students are not enough to make the event what it was. It took a group of volunteers who manned Circle #2 for 10 hours each day for seven full days. Each helper was given a unique safety green ball cap with the Triple Tree Aerodrome logo sewn on the front and ‘Joe Nall C/L’ on the back. While there were many helpers, these gentlemen worked tirelessly even when the waiting line reached 12 deep on Friday: Bruce Jennings, Will Davis, Wayne Robin- son, Dave Wenzel, and me, Mark Weiss. “It is no secret to anyone who has ever at- tended the Joe Nall that it takes an army of hard workers to prepare and manage this
“Pat invited us back for the 2014 Nall, and we are already reviewing this year and what we can improve upon. We are also discussing strategies that will yield even more fun and indelible memories. High on our list will be ‘Junk Yard Wars’. After watching the joy and challenge at the annual Brodak C/L Contest in Carmichael, PA, we will be offering the same experience next year. We will look for teams of four who will be given propulsion systems for a C/L plane and a bunch of junk materials. Each team, in a very tight time frame, will have to design, build, and suc- cessfully fly their C/L creation.
“There were so many people and events that will stand out for this year’s grand ex- perience. The one that whimsically gave me the sense of permanence took place on the second or third day. In the late morning with students on site, a front end loader lumbered over to our area and left a few minutes later. When the dust settled, there it stood right along the tree line and only 100 feet from our tents—our own pair of Port-o-Potties! We have arrived! If you can help new control line flyers at the Joe Nall next year, contact me (Mark Weiss) at
ama82824@yahoo.com or call at 1-302-547- 4917 if you can help us for a day or more or even a week at the Joe Nall 2014.”
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