I am not trying to detract from the significance of the film that Robert has provided to us from the 68 Nats. However, I thought some would find it interesting about the notes that I sent after I attended that Nats in Olathe to a friend who was at that time a serious competitor in the LA area . These notes are somewhat edited from the original letter that I sent in August, 1968. (I was a bit younger then, this was my third Nats.)
"...Not considering the Los Angeles area, the only names that were not there were Silhavey, Wooley, Hemstrought, Sheeks and Ash. Gialdini is still retired from competition. Bud Tenny ran the event, is an indoor flyer and apparently did not know much about stunt, at least National competition type stunt. The way he ran the event left a lot to be desired and he made a few decisions that were obviously bad. Jim Van Loo is trying to get to be the event director next year. Part of the problem was not enough days, not enough Navy personnel to judge, hot high enough quality personnel to work the event, and Bud Tenny. The weather as probably you have already found out was WINDY. I put in a practice flight on noon Monday, the day of Senior, and was never so glad to get my airplane down in one piece. Gieseke watched me fly and decided that it was too windy for him to try. I know why Norm [Whittle, then a Senior] dinged his Playboy. On the outside squares, you start hauling full down and hope it makes it around. (This next week in Kansas, the weather is fine.) I am sending the results of the two circles used for qualifications. The order of the names is not necessarily the order the people flew. Processing was done on the field. This let some people get in their second attempt before some had even processed. After lunch, Gierki was in first place in out circle and I was 2nd or 3rd, Gierki's score was in the 390's. When flying started again funny things started happening. Some high scores ere posted on the board for really bad flights. Vornholt had a flight of around 416 which was all over the sky. Scores started being checked and different numbers were put on the board, so you did not know really where anybody stood or what the judges were looking for. (The general consensus was that the Navy judges liked the really low stuff. In fact, I think that is all they really looked for. The board showed me in 5th place so I needed to fly again even though I was pretty sure I would make the cut. My score did not improve any on my second flight. (It really was not as good as the first.) Gierki's score of around 394 was changed to 368 after recalculating. Vornholt's score was changed to 345. I do not think he was very happy about that. A couple of other totals were changed (not mine) and I ended up in 2nd place on my circle. Worth had a good flight. There was a flyer there that had a Nobler with monoline that clobbered on his second flight that was supposed to have over 400 points but it did not get on the board. I watched the monoline fly the night before and was not particularly impressed. (It did not groove.) Other funny things happened too. I do not know yet how assignments to the two circles were made. It looked like it was the way you got in line to process. Anyway, one circle started filling up with names like McFarland, Kosteky, Gieseke, Werwage, and Mathis without any names to speak of in the other circle I think I was lucky not to get in that circle. Tenny should not have let it happen that way, but I do not think he know really what was going on. Don Shultz flew there too and almost made the finals. People were talking about his flying which was supposed to have been pretty good. The only flying in the other circle I saw was Mathis and Gieseke and then not all of their patterns. They both looked good to me, particularly Mathis.
[There were two qualifying circles with no apparent method of assigning who would fly on what circle. It ended up that there were 17 pilots on one circle and 21 pilots on the other circle.]
Back in our circle, Bambrick had a new airplane. It was pretty and impressive in the air. Van Loo had a new Chipmunk that was about 10 oz lighter than last year. It looked a lot better in practice, but his officials were not as good. He was not happy with only the 26 points he got for appearance [out of 40]. I met Al Rabe there..[the start of a long friendship]. He had a semi scale Mustang in Cavalier colors that really looked like a Mustang. Dihedraled detachable wing. The airplane was really impressive. He is from the Dallas area. He said he flew it the first time at Olathe on Sunday, the second time Monday. It turned well and he did a good job flying it. [I got to fly that airplane in Olathe and was impressed.]
Jerry Worth had probably the best looking airplane there. At least, it was the best of the white airplanes with red and blue stripes. It had a conventional gear but somehow gave the impression it had a trike gear. 720 squares, 62 in span, Super Tigre 40 with rings - the old S.T. It did not like the wind as it yawed a bit.
Dave Gierke did not fly his Eagle with the throttle and brakes. Used his same Novi III from last year. He said that the Eagle just did not turn in the hot thin air. (Nothing did really) So, we did not get to see his thing. He was having engine problems and lost his bonus 5 points on both flights for qualifications. I really appreciated what he did for Norm Whittle. Norm had dinged his airplane, had it in the car and was not going to fly his second flight in Senior. Dave had him get the airplane out and led a team to get the thing glued together for his second flight that placed him in second in Senior. {a postscript here - There is a picture in the Flying Models magazine that covered this 68 Nats that shows Norm getting ready to start his engine for an official flight. There is a hand (mine) in the picture holding the tail up, supporting the stabilizer in the hope that the epoxy holding it together would set well enough to hold it together for the flight. The tail stayed together, but it was flexing a lot at the end of the flight.}
Charles Reeves was using the same Shark as 2 years ago. He is a good flyer but somehow did not perform as well during the finals.
Vornholt was flying a twin boomed swept I-beam affair. He can fly low.
Worth had the best tool box, then Gierke.
Gierke made a comment and it appeared to be true. You cannot use the same pretty white shiny airplane two years in a row. Somehow, they do not look as good. His Novi just was not the same.
[Note here - Qualification flights and finals were scheduled to be on the same day!!]
Finals were finally started about 5:00. We were at least an hour late getting started because of several mix ups. Too may people were on one circle so it took longer to get them through. And then all of the confusion of the score totals. Anyway, Tenny at least wanted to check all of the scores and it took time.
[Because of the unbalanced number of pilots on the two circles, it was decided that there would be 5 finalist taken from the one circle and 6 finalist from the other circle so there would be 11 finalists.]
Names were drawn for both rounds. I drew first to fly in the first round and last to fly for the last round. I started to get ready for my flight when a couple of the finalists came up and asked if I would be in favor of approaching Tenny to let us use our own judges. All of the flyers agreed but Tenny said no. So away we went. My flight was bad and was probably in the worst wind that evening. I ended up with the low score for that first round, which finished at 7:00 at which time, the Navy people left, including the judges. Tenny left too eventually and said he no longer had anything do to with the Open stunt finals. It all ended up that we would start all over on the finals the next morning using a different set of Navy judges.
Art Adamison volunteered to take over and did a creditable job. We drew for flight rotation for both rounds and I drew 8th and 5th. This whole thing worked to my advantage because I was in a lousy position and condition the night before. [NOTE: Jerry McMillan was with me that week at the Nats and helped me with my flights and did some coaching.) The scoring on the first round went pretty well. Jerry was able to guess the total scores within 2 or 3 points on most of the first round after he saw the first three flights. My flight went well but I have done better, ending up in 3rd place in that first round. There was a good point spread in the leaders. Gierki went up on his second flight and did not get started right away, so took an attempt. Worth put in a nice flight but do not know if it was better than mine but outscored me just the same. Werwage put in a so-so flight but got a good score. Reeves forgot to signal, at least the judges did not see him do so. My second flight was probably the best I have ever had in competition. It felt good. The wind was no problem, everything was right, both Jerry and I thought it would be several points better than the first but they scored it 20 points less. Kostecky flew by far a better pattern than his first but was scored less. McFarland had a lot of catching up to do and put in one of the best flights I saw that day and was not given what he deserved. Mathis was not up to par on either of his flights. He did not look like the same flyer from the day before. Gieseke's second flight was not as good as his first but still got a good score.
On Reeves' last flight, the judges did not score some of his last maneuvers. Charles said he did the whole pattern. The judges did not even agree on what maneuvers he did not do. Some people saw some of the ones the judges say he left out. He did not get to fly again. Gierke's last flight was not impressive. His engine was not running right for him.
For a national stunt contest this one left a lot to be desired.
Werwage was flying his Super Ares. [This was the first time I had seen Bill.] That airplane looked huge for the 40 he said he had in it. He looked good in practice. Watched him in practice Monday night. He broke a propeller blade on take off, engine still running, Werwage chases after model, catches model, tries to stop engine, breaks other blade off, engine still running, Werwage jams spinner into concrete, breaks off flap, finally gets engine stopped.
McFarland had built a new airplane but used his old Shark.
Kostecky had a shiny red airplane. Looked good in the air. Mathis was using his same Chizler. McKinney and Rabe had to leave Tuesday night so they missed finals.
Bambrick, Worth, and Kostecky got 37 points on appearance. I got 34 so cannot complain about that.
The Navy judges admitted to Adamison after it was all over that they did not have the experience to do a proper job to really determine the winner. As far as Gieseke winning is concerned, he deserved it as much as anyone. It is just that it looked like that McFarland put in a flight just as good. The next three places would be up for grabs and I will not complain about my placing.
1. Gieske
2. Kostecky
3. Worth
4. McFarland
5. Trostle
6. Gierke (tie)
6. Werwage (tie)
8. Mathis
9. Reeves
10 and 11 were Rabe and McKinney who had to leave.
[Note: If anyone is interested, I have the scores for the qualifying rounds, the aborted first finals round and then the actual final two rounds.]
Keith
Topic: 68 Nats silent footage taken from super 8mm (Read 4761 times)