Brodak's Tuesday, day 1 of the contest

[De Hill]

It was a chilly morning with little wind. I talked to the Contest Director Allen Brickhaus; he said that participation at the Brodak Fly-in is down 7 people from last year. I walked down the scoreboards and recorded the entries in the profile stunt events. Beginner: 9, the judges were Dennis Moritz and Watt Moore. Intermediate: 20, judges: Chris Sarnowski and Phil Cartier. Advanced: 20, judges: Joe Gilbert and Tim Stagg, Expert: 14, judges: Rich Giaccabone and Bob Zambelli.

I wandered by the shelter of Carl and Joyce Levins. they had some items for sale. I was siezed by an impulse and bought a Fireball kit and a built ARF Nobler with Tom Morris controls and a real Nobler balsa cowl.
(don't tell Ruby!)

It started raining at 11 am.

At 12 noon, I visited with John and Buzz Brodak and saw their Maine Coon cats Ben (white and orange) and Jerry (white and brown) They both weigh 18 pounds and will continue to grow for the next two years.

I talked to Lloyd, Aiden, and Logan Gregory, Allan Thomas, and met Artie and Charlotte Jessup. I ran into Brad Smith, and his grandson Cayton. I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I would have liked.

 


  

[De Hill]

I interviewed Steve Bittner, who had a couple of airplanes that His old friend Henley (Hank) Spielman had built  from 1953 to the early 1960's. These were high aspect ratio high speed flapless stunt ships. The 1953 version was powered by a Fox .35, and the 1958 version was powered by a Johnson .35. These stunters flew extremely fast, and at the big contests that Hank Spielman entered, he encountered resistance from the judges, who claimed he flew too fast to judge. He did manage to win a number of local contests with these High Speed stunters. He flew a High Speed stunter at the 1961 nats and crashed it on an official. He ran out of fuel during the four leaf clover. He flew his second flight with a Hi Johnson Stuka. After the nats he sold most of his stunt ships. They were sold for $150-$200.00 apiece.

Steve Bittner acquired both the High Speed stunter and the Hi Johnson Stuka after the death of  Hank Spielman.
Sadly, Hank died after the early model pacemaker he had installed suffered a battery failure, and he didn't get to the hospital in time.

I met John Simpson; I had heard his name for many years and had never met him. Allan Buck was flying a large .60 powered Flite Streak with no flaps. It flew well.

[FLOYD CARTER]

Hello De.  You are correct in that modern-day judges do not appreciate fast stunters!  But in OTS, that's mainly what was flown.  JC Yates at 80 MPH, and such.  I've taken hits flying a Madman too fast.  But they don't go well if slowed down.

OTS judges ought to be ones who actually flew OTS back when OTS was the ONLY thing.

Floyd

[De Hill]

Elwyn took photos and I watched the Foxberg racers fly. It looks like a lot of work both for the flyer and the pitman. In the middle of the races Larry Scarinzi put up a couple of flights on his FAI combat ship. It provided audible entrtainment.We saw an electric Bi-slob flying....the horror!!

Ken Dawson (sleepy) and I discussed the lack of new flyers. I wonder if an article about controline in the AARP magazine would help?


Elwyn and I awarded the Wild Bill Netzeband award to the Philly Fliers who put on entertainment each evening at the field. Dan banjock gave us some names so we rounded up  up every one of them we could find. they are:
Dan Banjock-Mike Palko-Ted Heinrich-Randy Holcroft- Ken Dawson-Dennis Truxal-John and Elena Saunders-Cristina- Nate and Scarlett Henley- and Reggie -Dave Zwolak- and all the people who weren't there.

Dan said that none of this would be possible without the generosity of John and Buzz Brodak.'

De Hill

[De Hill]

Hello De.  You are correct in that modern-day judges do not appreciate fast stunters!  But in OTS, that's mainly what was flown.  JC Yates at 80 MPH, and such.  I've taken hits flying a Madman too fast.  But they don't go well if slowed down.

OTS judges ought to be ones who actually flew OTS back when OTS was the ONLY thing.

Floyd

I agree with you Floyd, but they are getting hard to find!

De Hill

[Elwyn Aud]

For most of the competition stunt flying the light was absolutely terrible for photos. Yellow planes seemed to photograph better in the low light. The sun finally popped out in the afternoon. Here are a few photos.

[Mike Keville]

Loved the photo of Joe, Colleen and the others under the umbrella!  Wish we had some of that rain here in Tucson, where it's currently around 108F.

[Bob Reeves]

Just found out Joe Gilbert won Expert Profile again flying the T-6 with a Saito 40. Congratulations Joe you have made the Gluedobbers proud.