Quote from: Mike Keville on August 26, 2015, 08:54:47 PM
When I die, I want to come back and 'wake up' in a Navy Nats hangar, 1950-1966!  

Me too, but be careful: come back as what?  I bring this up because I got daily phone calls from the "Vindows Technical Center", a scam call center somewhere in India.  They want access to my computer.  Profane insults won't get rid of them, although I thought it amusing when a female caller said to me, "You are not authorized to call me a bitch."  What has proven more effective is to tell the caller that I am tight with Ganesh, and that I shall arrange to have him reincarnated as a worm.  I haven't heard from them since.  

Quote from: Howard Rush on August 27, 2015, 11:32:31 PM
Me too, but be careful: come back as what? . . .

==========================================
...as an enthusiastic 20-year-old Free Flighter (knowing what I know now) -- rather than as a broken-down old fart long past his prime.

(Wish I'd known more about Ganesh, last time I dealt with 'Mujibar', et al.)

Well, ya' gotta' remember, this was back in the days when 'our' AMA (Academy of Multirotors & ARFs) actively supported competition modeling.

My, how times have changed!   

For the younger folks and 'newbies':

What you missed (in addition to those marvelous workshop hangars) was a week-long extravaganza with all events (CL, FF and RC) flown at a single venue -- plus Indoor events at nearby locations.  And the Nats locations moved around the country (PA, IL, TX and CA), so it would be within reasonable driving distance once every 4 years.

Should I ever win mega-millions in the Lottery and find a suitable location . . . . . . 

Every two years here in Kansas.    Texas and Illinois.

The story of the NAVY NATS is one that should be chronicled-and soon . I haven't been to the museum in Muncie, so maybe it already has  happened. Anyway, I
think it'd  be a great feature  in  the  AMA  monthly  mag . All of us here would love to see that happen , but  are there enough  AMA members  left who care ?

I entered the 1962 Glenview Nats.  I missed all the excitement of the hangars, chow halls, etc.  I lived in nearby Wood Dale, IL and worked in Skokie.  So I was just a daytime "transient". 

Also attended, but did not enter one of the Los Alamitos Nats.  sometime in the '50s but don't remember.  I lived in nearby Downey, so again, I missed all the fun away from the flight line.

Floyd

a couple of speed flyers who shall be unnamed, were kicked off of Fairchild AFB for drag racing on an unused runway......

Just found my invitation letter, dated July 1969, from the Secretary of The Navy to participate in the July 1969 Jr.&  Sr. NATS Winners Trip to Pensacola, Florida.

Also found a number of photos of the group and their activities;all taken by the Navy.

Those were the days !

Quote from: Frank Imbriaco on November 06, 2015, 07:50:10 PM
The story of the NAVY NATS is one that should be chronicled-and soon . I haven't been to the museum in Muncie, so maybe it already has  happened. Anyway, I
think it'd  be a great feature  in  the  AMA  monthly  mag . All of us here would love to see that happen , but  are there enough  AMA members  left who care ?

    Check out "Do You Speak Model Airplane?" by the late Dave Thornburg.

     Brett

Quote from: FLOYD CARTER on June 21, 2015, 02:40:43 PM
Paul Smith.  The National Model Airplane Championship is open to anyone with AMA membership (or equal).

It really shouldn't be called that, because it is nothing more than a very big contest.  Winning something at the Nats doesn't mean that you are the "best of the best".  That honor goes to those invited to the "Internationals", where only the top few are invited.

In the past, the Nats was rotated around different parts of the country.  Now, those within commuting distance to Muncie have the advantage over those more expert modelers who are just too far away to attend.

F.C.

Floyd- In reply to your assessment that the NAVY NATS was " nothing more than a very big contest" and the "best of the best" won at the Internats, I'd like to reply.
When exactly did the Internats end ? Sometime in the early to mid 50s I estimate  that leaves out most of us that are younger than 80.
I attended 5 Navy NATS in a row .  Graduate school, career and other pursuits put an end to things after 1972. I completed  only 3/4 of the circuit because Los Alamitos was finished after 1967.
Where I differ in opinion with you is that I saw many of the same guys at Olathe( one year- as Dallas wasn't available) that I saw at Willow Grove and again that I saw  three years in a row at Glenview. So, a fair number of contestants  back then could(should) be considered as" the best of the best" as they traveled the "circuit".
I also think that there were so many side attractions to the Navy NATS that it was much more than just  "a very big contest". The opportunities for entertainment( air shows, movies, static displays, etc.), lodging and meals at ridiculously cheap prices,   along with the NAVY treating Junior and Senior winners to a trip to  Pensacola,Florida , and many, many  more.
I haven't been to a Muncie NATS.  With all due respects to the fine  and high level competitors  who do  go to Muncie, your achievements are admirable.
I'll just politely   say that I'm not stoked about  going to Muncie; having been to   multiple Navy NATS.

My one and only Navy Nats was 1964 in my home town Dallas.  It was my last year as a Senior and I had spent the last year designing and building my dream machine.  What happened is one of those events you never forget and one I have never even talked about.  I think the statute of limitations has run out.

It is hard to contemplate over 20 entries in Senior, nearly the number of Opens but those years were the golden days of stunt.  I flew an original design that was very "outside of the box" for 1964.  60" wing, long movements, 5" square twin rudders, 40oz with a Fox 35.  Thing could do legal corners but if the trusty FOX was not hitting on all 1's the overhead 8's became a religious event.  The weather was near perfect the practice day before and the day of Senior Stunt.  No wind to a Texas flier is almost as big a problem as too much.  I knew how to fly in wind and used it.  Without it that beast was floating overhead big time.

In between practice flights a gentleman walked up and asked me if it was a modified Nobler.  I didn't know what to say.  It looked like the offspring between a Ballerina and a Cardinal.  It was as far from a Nobler as you can get but I could tell that he was not being rude so I simple said "No".  He replied, "Well you should try one next time but maybe I can offer some help with your overhead's."  It was George Aldrich.  He had me take out my engine and handed it to of all people, Duke Fox.  A short while later I was handed what looked like my trusty Fox but the back plate was different.  The change in power was breathtaking. I still don't know what he did, or why,  but I will never forget it.  That evening right before appearance judging, disaster struck. My grandmother slipped and put her hand through my outboard wing taking out three ribs 30 minutes before the appearance judging.  Ever heard a horrified scream in a maintenance hangar?  I told the CD and he said I could be judged before the event tomorrow and to go fix my wing.  This was in the days before CA when glue had to dry.

Next day the weather is even worse - Zero wind.  Got appearance judged, after having to explain twice then go get the CD to prove it.  I put up my best flight ever in the 1st round.  It is amazing what having line tension in the overheads will do for your confidence.  4th?    So in the 2nd round I put up an even better pattern but so did some others and I end up in 6th?.  It was as close as I had ever seen scores in Senior.  I was a mere 8 points out of a three way tie for first.  When it was all over and finalized they let us have our scorecards.  Down at the bottom was this giant goose-egg. The judge that scored my appearance points forgot to turn them in!  When they found them I had 21 appearance points! (there were 40 back in 1965).  I was told they were sorry but it was official and too late to change the results.

Some things you never forget and each time I see pictures from the '64 Nats there is this one of Larry Scarinzi (3rd in Open), Barry Simmons (Senior Champ) and Duke Fox and I wonder if Barry ever knew.  I never told anyone.  I heard later that George and Duke were making sure that anyone with a chance to win using a Fox engine was not having engine trouble.  I have no idea if that is true or not but it made me feel better.  Aside from the judge who has probably long since passed away, I am the only one who knows that I won Senior Stunt at the 1964 Nats.

I do know this much though.  Nobody runs down to join the Navy after a trip to Muncie. Those Navy NATS were bigger than life, especially to the Jr. and Sr. fliers and to my little brother, 9 at the time, who watched in awe.  He never flew with me but he did catch the aviation bug there and went on to become a Navy F-18 pilot.  One day he flew into the NAS Dallas before it closed and parked his F-15 on the exact spot on the tarmac where we practiced 25 years before.

Hey Ken the 64 NATS was my first also.  By then I was considered an Open age contestant.   I did not fly stunt back then as carrier and combat was what I flew.  Got to fly against the man, Riley Wooten second round of combat and I think I placed 14th in carrier.  Only one class of carrier back then.  My Merco 49 throttle was good for a second at Wichita that year, but at the NATS I needed more high end speed.  Got to meet Larry Scarinzi in the work hanger.  He had his Blue Angel.  Met so many people that year and for this old farm boy who had not been back in the big city it was an experience.  Yes, Duke Fox did not like for his engines to get beat.   So I had to cover my Johnson Combat Special when he walked up.   Years after when ever I would see him at the NATS he would ask if I wash still running dish water in my engines as K&B was my fuel of choice.  Hardly any body in the group flew Fox fuel.  It was either Testers or K&B.  By the way one of the kids I watched grow up and competed with up to that was Junior National Champion when you had to fly several different types of planes for the championship.  It was Wayne Meriwether, who Randy Cuberly should remember.   I think Randy was serving our country at period of time.  Any way keep us posted on the forum here.

John:

Small world.  I flew combat (not at the Nats) and piloted rat for Bob Lipscomb (I think that was his name).   I got to fly against Riley Wooton in Lubbock in '65 or '66.  I won but I didn't know who he was until after the match!  My trusty Johnson burped, he overshot me and cut his own streamer!  Best part was that I was flying a VooDoo and he wasn't!   It was double elimination and it took him about 10 seconds to make me a spectator in the finals.

Larry's Blue Angel was spectacular.  It changed the sport.  For a teenager to be able to see Ed Southwick flying his Skylark,  Don Still flying his Stuka,  Lew McFarland flying his Shark (Lew may be a composite memory) was like going back stage at a Beatles concert.

Sorry to admit that I used Fox fuel back then for stunt.  Used Kickapoo Joy Juice for combat.  Is that still on the market?

Ken

Didn't some communist protesters sneak into a Navy Nats disguised as modelers and then proceed to raise hell?

My one and only Nats was Dallas, 1956. I was 14 and brave enough to talk my dad into taking me, but what I really wanted to do was watch Speed. My first exposure to CL was 1950 when the Plymouth Internats were in San Antonio, and I saw Jet Speed with the pitcher's mound the center of the circle at old Mission Stadium. In Dallas we stayed in the dorm, ate USMC chow, and hung out in the work hangar. Don Still and his Stuka Stunt were my closest neighbors there.
The hot new thing in Combat was the Sweet Sweep, and I got to watch them before they had to remove the LE fences. One of them got away, and there were some bad moments until it came down near the same circle where it had been. I flew my All American Senior to probably last place, and went to the Speed circles..The Grogan Brothers, Leland Morton, Clem-Beasley-Kirn, and Jimmy Summersett and Dimmitt Perkins in Jet... instantly addicted to nitrobenzene smell in fuel.
Fearless

 Ah, good ole' nitrobenzene. 
Loved the shoe polish fragrance.
A regular in the diet of McCoy 60 Carrier ships on the East coast.

Quote from: Ken Burdick on January 26, 2016, 10:55:05 AM
a couple of speed flyers who shall be unnamed, were kicked off of Fairchild AFB for drag racing on an unused runway......

At Selfridge AFB, Michigan, some military brats were doing the same thing on an active taxiway at night and crashed into The Thunderbirds aircraft, killing one of the racers and cancelling the air show the next day.

Quote from: 50+AirYears on August 21, 2012, 10:59:46 PMAnother photo in FM was of one of the Blue Angels' F-11-F Tigercats: with an RC model sticking out of the side.  Apparent radio problem, maybe interference on the 27 MHz band.  They flew with one fewer plane for a while.

I remember reading this article in a dry rotted magazine. T'was Pappy DeBolt on the sticks and had a depth perception problem. Feared the Navy was gonna draft him back in to do the repairs.

First Nats was '59, in a stroller, no memories. Next up was '63 and then '67. At 6 and 10 years old the mental pics are vague. A crazy pilot in a Cub doing his well staged crazy act, the Blue Angeles flybys, and what seemed like miles of R/c planes on the ramp. What really caught my eye was inside one of the hangars. Indoor stick and tissue jobs lazily circling, relaxed people launching, looked just like the pics in M.A.N. Was a lot cooler in the hangar too.