Bob's my hero.
He flies anything really well, and is a super trimmer. The way he can adapt to bad conditions is pretty well known.
One of the best I have ever seen was at the '92 Nats in Chickopee, Mass when he made the fly-off with the four year old Showtime Laser.

The Saturday Walker Trophy Fly-Off was really hot and humid. The air was dead. The way that it was stacking up was that the Laser was too heavy to be competitive because the Super Tigre 60 was not powerful enough to get it through the atmospheric conditions with any kind of snap. In fact on the first flight he dragged the rudder on the ground in the second outside loop (but they all seemed right on top of one another, the other two must have been close)!

Bob set his mind to work on the problem and figured if the pipe motors can have small displacement and make enough power to haul big models with RPM, then the 60 can produce the power to haul the Laser by an increase in R's. This created an interesting set-up for the 60. Competitor Brian Eather suggested a 12x4 three blade to wind up the Tigre yet keep it in the airspeed range, with a lot of (Bob's favorite ingredient) nitro for this "more power" experiment.

Bob was up and needled the Tigre so that it sounded like the prop was near what the tuned pipes were making RPM-wise, but the engine was grunting through the muffler with a pretty quiet pounding. The model was off and cruising well, Bob hammered that Laser as hard as it would take, and amazingly it would accelerate out of the corners with authority. In fact it was good enough for him to push the big boys around. He eventually bested Bob Hunt for fourth.

Bob continues to be my coach and the words he told me the first time I asked him for help still stay with me, "Sure I'll help you, as long as you try to do what I tell you. When you stop listening, were done". Typical no-nonsense Whitely, straight to the point. No apologies.

Maybe later I can write some RJ controller stories. He was a famous, and very good LA Approach controller.

Chris...   

You know that cover pix of Miss Kell posing Miss Kell - that might be the greatest model mag cover of all time.

(clip)

That bandage on the knee was a nice touch.    The story about that is that the bandage was for real and they did not realize it was in the picture until it showed up on the cover of the magazine. I have an autographed cover from that magazine.  Kelly is a phamacist and getting married in a couple of weeks.

That bandage on the knee was a nice touch.    The story about that is that the bandage was for real and they did not realize it was in the picture until it showed up on the cover of the magazine. I have an autographed cover from that magazine.  Kelly is a phamacist and getting married in a couple of weeks.

Keith! Thanks for giving more information about Bob and Kelly. It is so nice to get updates from so many modelers from the past...what they are doing today...etc.
Again Keith...
I feel so fortunate to have modelers like you...with so much knowledge of not only our sport but also about our history and your contributions are so appreciated. You never cease to amaze me with your recall...and thanks for being there for all of us over the years.

Give both Bob and Kelly our best...and may her life be filled with happiness.

Folks,  Thanks so much for all the nice comments.  I wasn't aware of any of this til Keith said to take a look.  I am honored to even be mentioned in such august company.

As for the Miss Kell model it is my all time favorite of all the ones I have designed and built.  As stated I did use the Nobler wing as a basis and went from there. Why invent the wheel again.  I did rip off a lot of the design from one of Bob Violets' pylon racers from 1972.  What a looker!

I did pretty well as I seem to remember I got a 4th at the '73 Nats' with it.  I'm sketching up a new model that will be very reminiscient of the .35 Miss Kell but with a little larger engine and all the rest of the goodies we have now.

The real Miss Kell is now a pharmacist and an absolutely gorgous woman!  In fact will be going to her wedding this June in Seattle. 

Again thank you for all the nice things said and hope to see any and all at the Nat's or the great VSC!!   Bob Whitely

Here's Smilin Bob posing Miss Kell at the '73 Nats   

(WELCOME Bob!)

We think so highly of Kelly, that we're going to her wedding - leaving Monday 4 from the great land down under.  Shawn's a top bloke too.  Bob can be rightly proud of both of his kids.
Jeff & Jenni Reeves

I think John is still with us, likes to kill the desert with machine guns now.
Chris...

In case y'all are wondering what the above is all about, RJ suffered a heart attack yesterday, 10/2/09....had stents installed, med's pumped in, and at last report was resting comfortably.  Stay tuned....