I seldom join in a thread I didn't start, that is not my job as the Carrier moderator. What I would like to do though is to thank Eric for his fantastic notes and pictures of his F-7-F. His comments on the unlikely competitive plane is what caught my eye. I can't begin to tell you how many PM's I get about flying Carrier as if I were some kind of expert based on my just being here on this site. The most asked question and comment is as follows, and I do edit it a bit for brevity. "I would like to get into flying Navy Carrier, but I see no reason to do so because I am not a competitive flyer." Note, no mention of any dislike about their conception of flying Carrier. I think we all need to step back and realize how much the "Top End" of Carrier competition is not what a lot of possible Carrier participants are interested in.
In asking what kind of CL flying these guys/gals are doing it generally appears that they are "sport" flyers and really don't think they want to go to a carrier meet with their beginner skills and compete against the "Pros"! So, do they go to contests? Yes, but believe it or not their competition is generally in Beginner PA or intermediate classes here they are happy to just see how they are doing against guys much like themselves.
Now, after all that, I would suggest that what with the shrinking number of Carrier competitors, somebody someplace might try once again to set up a skill level Carrier ranking much like what saved PA from disappearing 30-40 years ago.
Two of us tried that suggestion several years ago when the NCS had roughly 100 members. It was a popular idea that went no place. Perhaps this side of the CL hobby should take another look at what might just build contest entries and give a growth pattern to our hobby.
Again Eric, a most sincere THANK YOU for your participation and skill. To all that have such skills it might be time to try the above idea. Plesase, somebody start a new topic around what I have just offered and leave the Tigercat thread as is.
Joe
BTW I have two Carrier twins that are really fun to fly and play around with, a F-7-F and a Gruman "Skyrocket" (Not shown below)