As promised in my initial post above I'm going to add a few thoughts about Bob. I was in such shock when I started this thread that I just couldn't put the words together to convey just how devastating this news was to me. Bob was a great and long-time friend.
I decided that the best way I could pay tribute to Bob was to post here a portion of one of the chapters of my autobiography. I could have simply posted the part about Bob, but I have decided to include a bit of backstory that explains who I was at the time I first met Bob, and how I perceived stunt, and how he changed all that. So please bear with me as this piece is a bit long, but at the end I hope you will get the picture of what I was trying to say. Let's go back now to the 1961 NAts in Willow Grove, PA...
We were still living in the Doylestown area in 1961 when the AMA Nats returned to Willow Grove, as they had every four years since 1953. One of my schoolmates was the son of one of the base big wigs, and he also had an interest in model airplanes. His father was apparently put in charge of helping to promote the Nats in the region, and he asked me if I would consider appearing – along with a couple of other local youths – on the “Morgan in the Morning” television show that originated in Philadelphia. Wow! A chance to be on TV! That was pretty impressive to a young man in those days.
The big day arrived and we were driven to the television station in an official Navy staff car. I was asked to bring along an airplane and all the necessary items I would need to start the engine on the sound stage. Remember, there were no mufflers in those days. I chose to bring my prized Quicker (described earlier) with the flame paint job. It was fitted with a Johnson .35 engine, and those of you who have run them know that it is by far not the quietest engine on the planet. I remember mentioning that to the person who was assigned to direct us, but he said not to worry.
The big moment was nearing. The Morgan in the Morning show was what everyone in the entire area watched when they got up in the morning. I was about to have my few minutes of everlasting fame. Everyone would see me on TV, and I’d be the envy of all my friends. I was told to fuel the model and be ready to crank it up when the program returned from commercial. I remember being cued to be ready to flip the prop. I had the battery leads connected to the engine, and got a bump on the prop. And then . . . Well, you probably won’t believe this next part, but I swear it’s true. At just the moment that we were supposed to come back on air, the program was preempted for coverage of Gus Grissom’s Mercury space flight! That was on July 21, 1961. The host, Rex Morgan personally apologized to us for not being able to get us on air. We were not re-scheduled, and that was that.
Larry Scarinzi was asked by the AMA to be the event director for the CL Stunt event at the 1961 Nats, and he came to stay with us for the week. Each morning I would go with Larry to the Nats, and he put me to work as a gopher. I’d go-for coffee, go-for donuts, etc. I also ran some scores for the Navy officer judges, and performed other crucially important tasks. In other words, Larry kept me from being a pest most of the time.
As mentioned before, I flew CL Combat with my Quicker at that Nats, but I also had a lot of time to just roam and see the many sights that a Navy Nats had to offer. Those Nats were a lot like a three ring circus, except that there were many more than three rings. Everywhere you turned there was something happening. Combat was being flown on the grass adjacent to the runway where the Stunt event was being flown, and Speed was just a few hundred feet away, along with Navy Carrier. Radio Control and Free Flight events were also being contested. It was an amazing contest.
For me, however, the most fascinating aspect of that Nats was the hangar that was filled with workbenches. The Navy actually built what seemed like hundreds of wooden workbenches, and modelers would work on their airplanes there. It was a place where spare models could be stored while a modeler was out competing, without the fear that something would be stolen or damaged. Many contestants actually slept under their assigned benches!
I vividly remember walking through this workbench area one day and coming upon a man working on his Stunt model. I knew instantly who it was, because the airplane he was holding had been featured on the cover of the American Modeler Annual just the year before as an S. Calhoun Smith painting. It was, of course, Dave Hemstrought, and the model was his absolutely gorgeous semi-scale Fairchild PT-19. Dave was performing some sort of maintenance on the model. I remember just standing and staring at this scene. Here was a genuine celebrity and I was just a few feet from him. After a few moments he looked over at me and asked if I would help him with some chore on the model. I was stunned! This Stunt Hero was asking me for help! I don’t really remember just what it was that he had me do, but I do remember asking him a lot of questions. I also remember that he was extremely friendly and patient. He treated me like a real person. He actually listened to what I was saying and held a real conversation with me. I was amazed! In retrospect I’m quite sure that he really didn’t need my help with anything and just wanted to ease my obvious nervousness.
David quit flying stunt soon after that and didn’t come back until around 1974. By that time I was an established Stunt flier. I remember seeing Dave and Les McDonald walking toward me at a Nats and wanted to re-introduce myself to him and relate the above story. I was sure he wouldn’t remember the episode at the 1961 Nats, but I wanted him to know how much it meant to me at that time. I started to tell Dave the story and about half way through he stopped me and finished it in perfect detail. He did remember! I was amazed, impressed and elated to know that our first meeting had been so memorable – for both of us.
The evening of appearance point judging was also a highlight of that Nats for me. It was done in the main hangar and in the evening when all the overhead hangar lights accented the beautiful finishes on the CL Stunt models. There were many amazingly beautiful stunt ships at that Nats, but I’m fairly certain that all who were there would agree that the two Ballerina II models that Charles Lickliter brought were the absolute pinnacle. Charles’ original Ballerina was published in Flying Models magazine in the October,1959 issue. The original design featured a carved balsa canopy frame that was fairly wide and resembled the canopy section of an Ercoupe. In fact, the airplane was in many ways seemingly inspired by the Ercoupe, having twin rudders. The Ballerina II had a thinner fuselage at the cockpit area, and featured a removable bubble canopy, allowing access to the incredibly detailed interior. Charles transported the models in large wooden boxes, and there was a crowd around his work area in the hangar when he opened the boxes to reveal the gleaming models. One was painted gray, and the other one - the one he used in the contest - was painted metallic blue. They were both flawless models, but the blue one just popped.
Charles flew the Ballerina II very well that week, ultimately placing second. I would be remiss in my reporting if I didn’t mention the fact that the Ballerina hit the ground during one of his finals flights. I was standing just outside the circle when this happened, and the hit broke the outboard wheel pant off the model. It skated just past one of my sneakers! By the rules, that flight should have been disqualified for jettisoning, but I guess the judges either didn’t see that wheel pant break off, or they were not cognizant of the rules. In any case, Charles had a great Nats result, and no one who saw those models would or will never forget them. Many years later I had the honor of publishing the Ballerina II in Flying Models during my tenure as Editor there. Charles was very pleased to get that model into print, and he was a delight to work with. Sadly, Charles passed away in 2007.
A number of other life changing things occurred at the 1961 Nats for me. I guess I’ve always liked models with a different design flair, and there were quite a few very original looking models at that particular Nats. I was walking by the Junior/Senior Stunt pit area on one occasion and saw a group of very unique looking stunters. They had a sort of Schneider Cup aesthetic to them. You know, like the float plane racers from the 1930s. I walked over near the group who obviously belonged to these ships and just stood there and stared at those gorgeous models. They were, of course, the Tucker Specials that were being flown by the guys from St. Louis. I guess it was Lou Zeller - Gary Zeller’s dad - who saw me drooling over these models and invited me to come over and take a closer look. Hesitant I was, but their very friendly demeanor drew me in and soon I was at ease and asking a bunch of questions. One of the group asked me if I would like to pick up one of the Tuckers. I accepted the offer and was amazed at how light those models were. They were resplendent in the Italian racing colors of the Macchi line of race planes and they were simply beautiful. I’ll never forget those models, but I’ll also never forget the hospitality and genuine friendliness of the St. Louis group.
During the 1961 Nats I watched all of the greats of the era fly their official flights. This was “important” I remember thinking, and it was with genuine reverence that I spectated.
I remember watching Lew McFarland fly the legendary Shark 45. I do remember that the Shark had a noticible tendency to “porpoise” during level flight. Nothing too extreme, but it was apparent. I guess the judges didn’t see that, or it didn’t bother them too much as Lew won the event that year (and he repeated as the winner the next year also). I didn’t get to meet Lew at that Nats, but I did meet him several years later and we became good friends. Lew even wrote me a very touching complimentary letter after the publication of my Genesis design in Flying Models magazine. I still have that letter and it is one of my most treasured possessions.
With flying Stunt as a future goal, I naturally wanted to see just how well the Junior class fliers performed. Hey, I was 13 and was going to be a Junior for several more years. The Junior class winner that year was Jim Vornholt. Jim was flying a Bernie Ash-designed Airon. That model was extremely sleek and stylish, and I just loved the way it looked. It was an I-Beam wing model, and it had a long, thin fuselage, long and thin wheel pants, and a bubble canopy. It was a space age looking ship for sure!
Jim was smoking hot that year, and I watched his finals flight from dead down wind. When he did his Reverse Wingover, the model seemed to be heading straight for my head. Jim drove the Airon down about as far as possible before turning the outside corner. That corner still sticks in my mind as perhaps the very best I’ve ever seen. The ship seemed to pivot on a point and came out dead flat. At that point my hope to fly competitive stunt in the near future seemed a bit unrealistic… The rest of Jim’s flight was equally impressive. Many years later Jim and I would become close friends, and I often remind him of that flight, and especially that wingover corner. He seems to enjoy that story each time I tell it.
The back story of Jim’s win is quite amazing. It seems that the night before the Junior Stunt event was to be flown, Bill Werwage, and Ron O’Toole watched one of Jim’s practice flights and saw that the stabilizer was flexing badly. Jim had used a piece of 1/4-inch thick balsa for the stab on the Airon, and had sanded that down to nearly 3/16-inch. Jim always cornered hard, and the stab had flexed enough times to have a stress crack forming. Bill and Ron strongly advised Jim to fix that problem before the next day’s flying and offered to help him make the repair. And so Bill, Jim, and Ron cut into the Airon that evening and pulled out the faulty stab, replacing it with a new one made from 3/8-inch balsa. Jim fortunately had brought some touch up paint and it was enough to cover the new stab. Early the next morning they went to the field and Jim took a practice flight. The ship performed as well or better than before, and Jim went on to win the Junior crown. These back stories are to me the most interesting part of the Stunt saga.
The Senior class winner at the 1961 Nats was Bill Werwage. Bill was flying his legendary Ares design. Bill seemed to be flying with a pronounced chip on his shoulder. I didn’t know what at the time, but found out many years later in a discussion about that Nats with Bill that he was furious over the treatment he had received the previous year at the 1960 Nats in Dallas, Texas. I won’t go into detail about Bill’s reason for his outrage, but suffice to say, it certainly motivated him to perform at a very high level at this Nats. I first met Bill at the ’61 Nats, but I’m certain he doesn’t remember me coming up to him and introducing myself. He was a man on a mission all week, and his focus was obvious. I pretty much stayed out of his way.
Another vivid memory from that Nats was the performance of Hank Spielman. Hank was, I’m pretty sure, from Maryland, and he was famous in those parts for his original design Stunt models. They were very sleek, flapless, had very high aspect ratio wings, and were powered by Johnson 35 engines running at full tilt. They were fast and impressive. The day before the Open Stunt event was to begin, Hank lost his front line model and his only back up model was a Hi Johnson-designed Stuka. The Stuka was also flapless, and it was also powered by a hot Johnson 35 engine. It was fast and loud, and extremely impressive. I remember standing with Larry Scrainzi and a few others as Hank prepared for an official flight. All I can remember is how that model just thundered through round maneuvers. Again, a vivid memory.
The most significant thing that happened to me at the 1961 Nats was watching an Open class Finals’ flight of Bob Gialdini. As I wrote earlier in the section about Larry Scarinzi, it was his flights with his original design, Gay Devil in 1958 that made me want to fly Stunt. It was, however, Bob Gialdini’s flight with his original design Olympic MkIII at the 1961 Nats that defined for me just how I wanted to fly Stunt.
Bob had approached CL Stunt with the thought that it could be perceived as a professional sport, perhaps like Golf, or big-time professional sailboating (at which Bob was an expert). And just as the practitioners of those sports put forward a clean and business-like persona, Bob did so with his appearance and conduct around the Stunt circle. His models were some of the first to be painted all white with minimal color trim, giving them a very clean and professional look. He dressed in all white as well; white shirt, white slacks, white socks and white deck sneakers. He certainly stood out from all the rest of the competitors who dressed more conservatively. Many years later he took a lot of kidding about his attire, and was called the “Good Humor” man of Stunt for years. Bob had the last laugh, eventually, winning two Nats crowns and a berth on the United States F2B World Team in 1964.
I stood and watched one of his finals flights in complete awe. The Olympic scribed seemingly perfect maneuvers, and had that “turning on rails” appearance. It really did seem as though there was an invisible track in the sky, and the Olympic just glided along on that track, smoothly and very precisely. Yes, this was definitely “how” I wanted to fly Stunt at some point in my life.
Years later Bob and I became close friends, and as this is being written we still keep in touch often. And I have often related to him the above story about the 1961 Nats and how much of an inspiration he and the Olympic were and still are to me. That seems to please him greatly…
The 1961 Nats was without a doubt the turning point for me in the hobby/sport. Until I attended that contest I just envisioned model airplane flying as an enjoyable pastime. Having seen just how seriously and professionally it could be done set me on a life path that from that point on was irreversible, even though I didn’t consciously think of it in that manner at that time. Stunt was now both in my mind and in my heart.
Bob Hunt