Yesterday.....I self proclaimed as "STUNT DADDY-BOB EMMETT DAY"
Anyone lurking here on line would like to proclaim today with another stunt grunt...that helped as a teacher, mentor or just a friend who helped keep you alive and interested in precision arobatics.

If so....post a photo of them...with a little note asking you to say a few words about the STUNT GRUNT OF THE DAY?

I just would like to comment on my Dad, Jerry McMillin.

He taught me to fly models, how to build, paint and taught me drive, rebuild engines, and to fly full size airplanes. And tie my shoes.
 
Great coach, good guy. Thanks Dad.

Chris...


Picture of Jerry McMillin, 1968 in Southern California with the AMA-68 Shark derivitive. Torp .45 with a then new innovation, a Spin-A-Flow muffler.

Thanks Don,
Gosh, you made me blush.
I'll send a link to Dad, he has dial-up so he might have to wait a while to download the pic!
Chris...

Jerry Mcmillan was your dad !!! Holy smokes.  Here I was standing right next to you at a contest in Southern Cal with your Eagle and I had no idea that this is Jerry Mcmillan's son. How cool. 

Bill and Milton,
Thanks for the thoughts, I am fortunate!

Dan,
That is Dad's Smoothie. No one knows how much it weighs, but he flew it until he flew it well. It has gear mounted in the wings, assymetrically. Outboard farther from the fuse. The rudder looks like a Thunderbolt, kinda, and the stab tips were rounded off. It is from a kit, and hangs in my garage.
Thanks, I'll tell everyone.
Chris...

Don,
You should see my look of astonishment at Dads sunglasses!
I remember that Playboy, turned to dust. What a bummer. Ole Roger was a character.
You're right about the thought pattern, "...those flimsy I-beam jobs just can't take a crash."
Chris...

Hey Keith....
Here is that shot of you...with your "Kansas Windmeter" and that beautiful stunt model of yours...that always seem to glean a crowd around it.

HEY GANG! NO LIE...Although Keith in leaning into the wind....THAT IS NOT A FLAG OF SURRENDER..but just a rag to wipe the sweat off his brow and also served as a Kansas windmeter for  that first tune up flight the morn. of the first round of flights.

"By the way....the reason Bob Gieske was shaking his head...he decided that morning to not put in a tune up flight...but save that beautiful Nobler of his...for the real thing later that day.
Keith...DIDN'T JIM KOSTECKY FINALLY END UP IN SECOND PLACE? Remember the hassell that so many flyers decided to not fly due to the high winds...and many tried in vain to have that first round scores...THROWN OUT?

Hey Keith....
 
DIDN'T JIM KOSTECKY FINALLY END UP IN SECOND PLACE? Remember the hassell that so many flyers decided to not fly due to the high winds...and many tried in vain to have that first round scores...THROWN OUT?

Don,

Thanks for posting that picture. 

At that 68 Olathe Nats, Bob Gieseke was 1st, Jim Kostecky was 2nd, Jerry Worth was 3rd and Lew McFarland was 4th.

The "hassel" at that Nats was due to the scheduling and poor administration more than anything.  The qualifications and finals were all scheduled to be completed in one day.  There were two qualification circles where 5 fnalists would be taken from each circle based on the single best of two flights.  There was not much control or no planning on how people would be assigned to circles.  From my file, one circle had 21 flyers, the other had 17.  Some people completed their second flights before some people even had their models processed.  The posted scores were changing throughout the day as errors were continuously being found in the tabulation area.

Because of the tabulation errors, the Event Director at least did one thing right by insisting all of the scores be checked before the finals rounds started.  Some people who had fairly high scores during the day ended up not even qualifying after everything was checked.  The first found of flights during that finals started at about 5:00 PM and finished at around 7:00 at which time the Navy judges had had enough and walked off the field saying they were through.  Besides, it was going to be dark soon.  Then to compound the problem, the ED left the field stating something like he no longer had anything to do with the Open Stunt Finals.

This was the time that Art Adamisin volunteered to put a finals round together.  I do not know what Art did with the AMA, but he organized the finals round for the next day.  I believe he was able to get some new Navy judges.  Anyway, scores from that first round of the finals that evening were discarded and the two finals rounds were flown the next day.  The placings were determined by the single best flight of those two finals flights.  Scoreing seemed eratic as some second flights that day which were noticeably better than the first were scored much worse.  Anyway, the event was completed with the feeling that the contest left much to be desired.

I have often mentioned that had it not been for the initiative of Art Adamisin, what happened at that Olathe Nats could well have been the beginning of the end of the CLPA event as we knew it then and as it has since evolved.  We all owe Art a great amount of gratitude for his contributions to CLPA and particularly for what he did that Summer in Olathe, Kansas.

Don, from my letter that I sent to a friend immediately after that Nats, I wrote:

"Don Shultz flew and almost made the finals.  People were talking about his flying which was reported to be very good."  I do not know if you realize that you were on the circle with the most pilots and four of the finalists from that circle were in the top six after the finals were completed. With different judges and with a bit more organization, it might have been a lot more satisfying contest for you.

Sorry to be using Jerry McMillin's thread for this, but a question was asked and this seemed to be the logical place to post my response.

Keith Trostle

Thanks for the clarification about the nationals...I HAD NO IDEA THAT IT WAS SO MESSED UP?
I did take photos of those wild n' weirdly wacky scores that were posted on those chalk reader boards.
I'll dig them up out of my slide files....although as we know, they really don't mean much.

TOMORROW I THINK WE SHOULD POST "BIG ART AD' FOR GRUNT OF THE DAY...OR MAYBE EVEN GRUNT OF THE YEARS...
WOW!!!
He really gave soooooooooomuch to so many of us...we were so fortunate!
What an ICON!

Chris,

I will always remember your dad and that Smoothie that he flew.  If I remember, it was not particularly light.  In fact, it was just plain heavy, but your dad flew it very well.  Everybody was amazed that he could make it fly as well as it did.  He was quite competitive with that.  Jerry and I flew together often when you all lived in Southern California.  I was fortunate that he attended the 68 Nats in Olathe and you were with him.   That is the Nats that has recently been discussed here on these forums with photos of Jerry Worth and Jim Kostecky.  Anyway, your dad sort of became my coach and was a big help getting me through that Nats.  I know one practice day, he convinced me that the wind had gone down while we were at lunch and that it would be OK to fly.  It was one of those times when once in the air, the wind was so bad you wonder how you will get the airplane on the ground after the engine stopped.  I landed OK.  Bob Gieseke watched and just walked away, shaking his head.  I told your dad that I really appreciated his advice.

I will have to pull out a picture of the two of you at that Nats.  (You were younger then.)

There was one time I was flying on Delta when the DC-10's were new.  As the Captain, Jerry invited me and my companion to first class, and then invited me to set in the cocpit for most of the flight from LA to DC.  (This was some time ago before locked cockpit doors.)

Great memories.

Keith Trostle

Thanks for the great comments, Keith,

I remember that Dad always thought you were the best flyer in SoCal. I always thought of your Focke Wulf as the best model around. I'll never forget your offering me your '66 Nats ship and I looking at my dad as to ask if it was Ok and he said NO! I probably would've learned the whole pattern on that airplane! What was Dad thinking!

Gieseke probably was a bit impressed, psych-out is a lot in the event anyway. Bob is a nice guy, and always seems level headed about what things really are. I'm sure he was convinced you were a contender!

I flew AMA Cubs at Olathe '68, and the wind was so strongI practically had to build a new one when I got to the flying hangar, as the building hangar was across a big ramp. I tried to shield the rubber powered model from the wind with my body, and walk from the parked car rows to protect the model. It was totalled by the time I got there. I think I built a new wing, and used a technique from an older kid of moving the wing back to the stab so I wouldn't have to use clay to balance it. The rest was repaired and the flights were great. I was fourth, from tears to smiles. I wonder who the older kid was?

(Rick Loomis built his Fokker Tri Plane in the car from SoCal to Kansas. He finished it in the hangar, and performed the test flights on the ramp, at night, during a huge full harvest moon. It was calm that night and the moon was huge. Rick cruised it around for a few laps and then looped it around that moon!)

I'd love to see any pics you have, Keith. Thanks.

I know you probably knew this, Dad was a captain for TWA, as eventually was I. We had the L-1011 Tri-Star. That was probably what you flew to Dulles. I'm glad you got to experience that, Keith. Those old ships had big, roomy cockpits and comfy jumpseats, the one behind the Captain had fabulous visibility out of the huge windows on the Lockheed. I got to fly as Dad's Flight Engineer on the L-1011 before he retired. I didn't fly on his retirement flight because he was then on the 747 based in New York. The locked door thing makes it so that even the Flight Attendants don't want to come in anymore, and they are part of the crew!

Thanks for the stories, see you at VSC.

Chris...