Wow! Do these photos ever bring back memories! I remember that day vividly as we had all heard from Bob Lampione that Mike Stott was coming east for a visit. Bob was the east coast rep for Foam Flite which was owned by Mike and Arnie Stott. We were all using Foam Flite wings at that time and this was a chance to meet the guru himself! Mike's Chipmunk was rapidly gaining a good reputation at that time and he did indeed win Senior Stunt that day. I believe that Dawn was second and I was third with the original Caprice.
I'm especially glad to see these photos posted because there are a few who have suggested that the Caprice never existed. Well, here's the proof!
The Caprice, Bill Simons' P-39, Bob Lampione's Red ship (Never had a name as far as I know), Dawn's ship, and of course Mike's Chipmunk all had Foam Flite wings! It was very soon after this meet when I began cutting my own foam wings and soon after that I was in business in competition with Foam Flite under the name Control Line Specialties.
I pride myself on my recall of places, people, dates and locations, but I must be slipping a bit because I don't remember the name of this meet or exactly where it was. I know it was adjacent to a small airport somewhere in upstate New York.
I also can't remember the name of the young man in the photo. The photo reveals an AMA number: 64207. I called AMA and tried to get the name from our records, but they only go back to 1976. This number is currently not assigned to anyone.
Yes, the jet styled model in the photo is Dawn's model. We nicknamed it the "Pigeon" because the profile of the nose with the forward mounted canopy and the large spinner gave the impression of a pigeon's head. I don't think Dawn really liked that name much... The model was heavy for a Fox .35 engine. It was in the mid 50 ounce range! Her father was the owner of a body shop and he painted all of her models with auto lacquer. They were certainly beautiful, but they were heavy! She flew a large, open style of pattern with very little corner but with great shapes (no comments here guys...). She was an extremely smooth flier.
In one of the photos you can see the inside wing and the booms of Bob Baron's original Humbug!
It just hit me that this might have been the Troy, New York contest!
Were we really ever that young...?
Bob Hunt