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Author Topic: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!  (Read 2477 times)

Offline Shultzie

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BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« on: May 21, 2007, 02:11:27 PM »
ITS ALL RELATIVE...So many fliers try to match their garb...or gaaarbauzzzzz' outfits to match their stunt machines.
Some dress like Nurses aids...others like long distant truck drivers...others like this wild n' not so crazy flyer who just brought himself OPENLY AND HONESTLY...IN FRONT OF ALL THOSE NAVY JUDGES DRESSED IN WHITE AND TANS!

Who could not admire such purity of thought and soul...brotha????
Even equally brave is our John D. who bravely instructed the bevy of celebrated Navy flyers all dressed in their finest and flew their WARM UP FLIGHTS!

TALK ABOUT THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE VERY VERY BRAVE!
Don Shultz

Offline Marvin Denny

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2007, 03:04:24 PM »
  I only recognized the middle one

  bigiron
marvin Denny  AMA  499

Offline Tom Niebuhr

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2007, 12:02:07 AM »
The 3rd picture is John D'Ottavio (white shirt, back to the camera, preparing the airplane). The airplane is his bubble canopy version of the JD Falcon. I flew that airplane in practice on one of my visits back to NJ, while we still lived in St Louis. It was a good flying airplane.

What year was that, I know that John trained the judges that year, and was also not happy about some of their scores.

Note that in those days, John always dressed in a neat shirt, and dress slacks, and black shoes. It was his answer to the "white" although he never said it. He just always wanted to have a good professional appearance. Today it would be called dress casual.

Now you see people going to work in flip flops and look like they should be flying BiSlobs and driving cars from Rent-a-Wreck!
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Offline Warren Leadbeatter

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2007, 07:12:28 AM »
Gee I feel slack now... this is me at the last Comp I flew in where I came 2nd.   Propeller Head Cap, T shirt, Shorts and Sandals. And safety throng not attached apparently. But in my defence the air temp was over 100 deg F. But then again we are a bit more laid back down here.  <=
Cheers
Warren Leadbeatter
Port Stephens, Australia
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Offline Bob Zambelli

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2007, 07:53:40 AM »
Middle one definitely Dave Gierke - he did EVERTHING first class, from aircraft finish to dress.

I knew him when we flew together in the Buffalo area in the 50s. I never saw him with anything that wasn't perfect or near perfect. He was definitely in on the very early stages of ultra detailing using ink lines and letraset.

He also did some very informative engine analysis, often working with high school science projects.
Yep, wrote a book too!

Bob Z.

Offline Shultzie

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2007, 09:52:18 AM »
Yes....Like the song says:  "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end...but but due course: The very well did end. These shots were at Olatha Kansas. That middle shot was Dave Gierke, as we know, always dress coded with his beautifully designed and built legendary stunt models...
Yes...
That last shot is the one n' only "Johnny D'"  D'Ottovio who like his contest director good bud Dick Williams both Cooks, nursemaids, coffee cup n' water bottle servants to those fancy suited NAVY's Finest Flyers who were always GIFTED with the impossibly difficult job of judging stunt events at the nationals.
If it wasn't for the hard work of folks like John and Dick and many other thank-less nameless faces of dedicated modelers who took part in that STRANGEST OF TRADITIONS OF HAVING FOLKS WHO FOR 99.99% OF THEIR LIVES..DIDN'T KNOW OR CARED ABOUT TOY AIRPLANE CONTESTS...SIT FOR HOURS IN THE HOT SUN...PERFORMING A TASK THAT TRULY SHOULD HAVE NEVER BE STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.
So my heart-soul-and thanks go out to these stunt modelers who would even attempt that almost impossible job OF TRAINING THESE WONDERFUL MEN IN WHITE N' TAN...to be come an INSTANT QUALITY STUNT JUDGE?
MORE AMAZING YET!!! That many times....even with all those obstacles...the Navy guys did a pretty reasonable job of picking the eventual winners.
(however one ICON flyer who just got back from the World championship that flew the first round...and recieved a VERY NOTICABLY LOW SCORE...Bob Parker and I were standing there when a fellow competitior went up the the contest director who was standing RIGHT NEXT TO THE NAVY JUDGING STAFF CAPTAIN. and loudly complained that his ICON friend who just returned from placing in the top 3 flyers in the World Championships...WAS ROBBED with such a shabby low score!!!
This was TAKEN IN..BY THE JUDGES WHO WERE SITTING CLOSE BY IN THEIR LITTLE STEEL FOLDING CHAIRS, who were observing this outburst from one of our own????

AMAZING...but as predicted, this ICON FLYER upped his score by a huge margin the next round in the HIGH GUSTY WIND IN THE AFTERNOON!!! (WHY?....GO FIGGER???)

Maybe not...but I was far and away not the only one who felt...that when that flyer made that remark in front of the judges, complaining LOUDLY that this low score was posted in error to one of the BEST STUNT FLYERS IN THE WORLD! I would bet my white nurses Navy britches and red white n' blue tank top...that that REMARK to the director, in front of the eyes-n-ears of the NAVY staff, who HAD NO IDEA who that flyer was during his first morning qualifying round...NOW SUDDENLY KNEW THAT THIS WAS A WORLD CHAMPION and that they should really take notice and GO TO SCHOOL on his second flight.

HOW SHABBY WOULD IT HAVE BEEN...if that same flyer who posted such a low first score and then when the weather started coming apart in the afternoon wind fly...then score another low mark.  I can assure you that....EYES BALLS WOULD HAVE ROLLED IF OUR WORLD CHAMPION who had just returned from a winning battle...HAD NOT EVEN MADE THE FINALS!
WOW! JUST IMAGINE HOW DEMEANING  THAT WOULD HAVE LOOKED?

Just the same...in the end I think that the best flyers...for the most part still won the 68 Nats.
If KEITH TROSTLE is lurking, I know he has far and away more knowledge about that strange turn of events and weird scoring scene...and feeeaaaazzzzzco happenings at the INFAMOUS TURKEY SHOOT 1968 NATIONALS IN OLATHA KANSAS!
(but I wouldn't have missed it for the world....as in those daze days...we had so much fun with our fellow modelers as we gathered under the roofs of those hangers....HANGER TRASHIN WITH ALL OUR PA ADDICTED STUNT ADDICTS.

KEITH...WHO IS THIS FIRST FLYER WITH THE BAGGY SHIRT...BROWN SOCKS AND BROWN SHOES..AND DARK GREEN AIRPLANE WITH THE YELLER TRIM?.
AMA # 20017
 (this last photo is of Dick Williams..even bringing a request HOT COFFEE out to one of the NAVY JUDGES sitting on that 110 degree tarmac....talk about a coffee high?
(note Billy Werwage on that tarmac in the background preparing to fly his qualification flight.)
Don Shultz

Offline Steve Fitton

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2007, 02:47:50 PM »
Whoah, that must have been along time ago.  In the backround of the coffee pot picture, you can see that the Blue Angels are still in F-11s  !
Steve

Offline Shultzie

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2007, 03:14:39 PM »
Whoah, that must have been along time ago.  In the backround of the coffee pot picture, you can see that the Blue Angels are still in F-11s  !

Opps! Dated myself huh? Yeh! Those were really beautiful planes, huh? Also Bill Werwedgie' looked like a little kid with that GREAT BIG SUPA SIZED ARIES in the background.
Don Shultz

Offline Mike Palko

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #8 on: May 22, 2007, 04:33:52 PM »
I am to young to remember anyone dressing in button down shirts, slacks, dress shoes and color coordinating their outfits to match their airplanes, but I do enjoy the pictures in the old magazines. I think it really adds to the hobby/sport and gives the pilot, airplane and flight a lot of character.

Bob Hunt always told me the flight begins when you walk to the circle. Be prepared, present yourself very professionally, thank the judges after the flight etc...... and I think the outfit just adds to it. 

Don't get me wrong, I am not going to wear button down shirts and slacks on the HOT L-pad, but I will wear shorts and a button down shirt..... :P Very neat thread, looking forward to more pictures.

Mike 

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #9 on: May 22, 2007, 05:55:59 PM »
Really the individual that complained in front of the judges should have been escorted off the field to my thinking.  That is one of the reasons that having judges that did not know individuals like we do today, probably called it the way it should have been.  I have witnessed individuals winning in some contests when they were not even happy with their flight.  A person can have a bad day.  Still the aura factor still comes into play.DOC Holliday
John E. "DOC" Holliday
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Offline linheart smith

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #10 on: May 22, 2007, 08:46:18 PM »
Here is one of the Team members from Brazil who impressed me at the 2006 Nats with his flying, style and clothing.


« Last Edit: May 22, 2007, 09:15:31 PM by linheart smith »
linheart

Offline Shultzie

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #11 on: May 22, 2007, 09:01:26 PM »
Nice photo....
Just one thing that I keep seeing over and over again on so many pictures over the years...is that most of the flyers in these photos have "SAFETY STRAPS" dangling from the handles while in flight?  n~ n~ LL~
Don Shultz

Offline Mark Scarborough

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #12 on: May 22, 2007, 09:49:03 PM »
hey Shultzie,, if your saying they dont use them, ya better check the reading glasses again, I think you will find that it is in fact around his wrist,, its just a really loooonnnnggg thoonnnggg
For years the rat race had me going around in circles, Now I do it for fun!
EXILED IN PULLMAN WA
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Offline Shultzie

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  • Don Shultz "1969 Nats Sting Ray"
Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2007, 10:31:53 AM »
hey Shultzie,, if your saying they dont use them, ya better check the reading glasses again, I think you will find that it is in fact around his wrist,, its just a really loooonnnnggg thoonnnggg
LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ n~ GADS! I DO NEED NEW GLASSES OR A NEW PUTER SCREEN!

Mark...Nice  photo enhancement!  H^^
Don Shultz

Offline Mark Scarborough

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2007, 10:49:59 AM »
Shultzie,, its not your glasses,, must be the monitor,,, you know you can hook up these new LCD tv screens to your computer,, then you would have like oh say a 52" monitor for your computer,, better resolution too,, that would surely help huh? its either that, or you havent been getting a misting of castor in the old eyeballs lately enough to keep em lubricated, maybe more flying would help the vision ya think? S?P ;D
For years the rat race had me going around in circles, Now I do it for fun!
EXILED IN PULLMAN WA
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Offline Bradley Walker

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2007, 11:20:37 AM »
Here is one of the Team members from Brazil who impressed me at the 2006 Nats with his flying, style and clothing. 

I think he looks like a painter...
"The reasonable man adapts himself to his environment. The unreasonable man adapts his environment to himself, therefore all progress is made by unreasonable men."
-George Bernard Shaw

Offline Shultzie

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  • Don Shultz "1969 Nats Sting Ray"
Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2007, 11:30:35 AM »
I think he looks like a painter...

  LL~ LL~ but with my bad vision and demented mind, but instead of seeing that stunt handle..MY MINDS EYEBALL SEES A BIG BLACK SMITH-N-WESSON' 44 POINTING STRAIGHT AT ME???  f~
Don Shultz

Offline Shultzie

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  • Don Shultz "1969 Nats Sting Ray"
Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2007, 11:55:50 AM »
Shultzie,, its not your glasses,, must be the monitor,,, you know you can hook up these new LCD tv screens to your computer,, then you would have like oh say a 52" monitor for your computer,, better resolution too,, that would surely help huh? its either that, or you havent been getting a misting of castor in the old eyeballs lately enough to keep em lubricated, maybe more flying would help the vision ya think? S?P ;D

I will always remember a contest at Delta Park many years ago. I gave the judges a signal to start the old Merco engine. I gave the prop a flip...(the Merco had a habit of rockin' back and forth with a missfire timing thingee' just before it would decide on its own timing or miss timing to start running the forward direction. )
It belched and started..but in the process...that extra shot of prime was flicked off the prop and landed on my sunglasses.
But hey!!!
I walked out to the handle..did my cooooooooool take off....level laps....gave the signal...started the reverse wing over!!! OUCH!!! ALL OF A SUDDEN...WHILE LOOKING STRAIGHT UP AS MY OLD STING RAY WAS HALF WAY OVER THE TOP HALF...a small drop of Testors 39 ran down off my sunglasses and found its way into the corner of my left eye ball....

Totally and stupidly dumbolddo' I kept flying the pattern...with one eye blinkin' n' winkin' and by the end of the flight...I THOUGHT I HAD BEEN BLINDED FOREVER...UNTIL TIM DUNLOP SAVED THE DAY. In those days...he was a staff Captain of the Portland Oregon Fire Dept. and always had a first aid kit in car.
After flushing my eye ball with water. Luck would have it...Tim had a bottle of eye wash...(a standard item for firefighters anyhoo) and saved the day.
By the 2nd flight, my sight had cleared in the left eye...but the white part of my eyeball was BRIGHT RED 
That red eyeball stayed with me for a while as reminder that TESTOR 39 IN YOUR EYE...IS NO FUN AT ALL!MARK! WOW!!! AH! THANKS GOOD BUD! H^^ THE MEMORY OF THE MIST OF CASTOR IN THE OL EYEBALL...N' THE MORNING! LL~ LL~ LL~ DV^^
Don Shultz

Offline Mark Scarborough

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2007, 11:57:25 AM »
bUT AT LEAST HE HAS  A SAFETY THONG ON HIS S&W SO HE DOESNT DROP IT IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE!
For years the rat race had me going around in circles, Now I do it for fun!
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Offline Shultzie

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #19 on: May 23, 2007, 12:21:35 PM »
bUT AT LEAST HE HAS  A SAFETY THONG ON HIS S&W SO HE DOESNT DROP IT IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE!

WOW! OUCH! WHAT A VISUAL THOUGHT!!! In my life I have LET GO OF THE HANDLE WHILE IN FLIGHT FRIGHT only twice.

The first time was when I was a kid with a brand new All American Senior...(with that teenie short little bent alumn.  landing gear and long droopy inboard wing panel...that  habitually would drag or get caught the tall grass at the school yard.
 
I CAN STILL SEE THAT OLD FORSTER 29 TURN TOWARD ME....AS IT TOOK TO THE AIR...HEADING STRAIGHT AT ME ON A WOBBLING COURSE!

I WAS SHOCKED AS HELL...I SCREAMED...DROPPED
ON ALL FOURS..COVERED MY HEAD, WITH MY HANDS....AS THAT BIG ALL AMERICAN PASSED OVER ME...AND CRASHED A FEW FEET BEHIND ME!

I can still see that funny strange looking clear see-through orange-yellowish looking 8''-9 plastic prop with that imbedded metal center plug that would take the force of tightening with a prop wrench.. ( I used that 8-9 because of the lack of ground clearence.)

Although I remember clearly forever what that sharp-snarling prop looked like... HOWEVER THAT BRAND??? DOES ANYONE HAVE A CLUE WHAT BRAND OF PROP THOSE WERE IN THE EARLY OR MID 1950???
The second time I dropped the handle was on an old profile ShoeString when I got zapped with static electricity...
How fortunate that THE GREAT LORD TAKES CARE OF FOOLS, DOGS AND KIDS WITH MODEL AIRPLANES...that I didn't hit my new girl friend or someone else. Instead it hit the backstop of the ball field..shattering the front end off and the tail end.

(bye the way...that new girl friend was smart enough to drop me like a hot---silly pepper after that date)
Needless to say...she was not impressed with a guy who flew dangerous noisy, greaseee' smelly  little toy airplanes.
 
Don Shultz

Offline peabody

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2007, 04:59:58 PM »
John D says that the picture was from 1964.....the last "Navy Nats" and that the Navy Officers were great...they took John and his wife to the O Club every night....

Offline Dick Byron

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Re: BEST AND WORST DRESSED FLYER AT THE NATS!
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2007, 07:29:35 PM »
Green airplane with yellow rim. I think he came from Denver, I don't know his name.


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