Broken Arrow 24

[Crist Rigotti]

A big thanks to everybody in St. Louis for a great contest.  The weather was near perfect both days.  Good seeing Wayne too.

[James Mills]

Great contest.  The weather was awesome.  Bob Arata and the rest of the guys put on a great contest.  It was great seeing everone (the best part of the any contest).

James

[RC Storick]

I could not make it had a emergency who won?

[Crist Rigotti]

I could not make it had a emergency who won?

Expert:
Dennis
Mike
Dan
Crist
Sean

[wwwarbird]

 Thanks to Bob Arata and the gang for hosting a great weekend. Bob even had a block of rooms reserved for interested parties at the Drury Peartree Inn which turned out to be a great deal, $54.99 a night and it was only one mile from the flying site which was super convenient. My room was nice and clean and I got great service all around.
 
 I arrived in Fenton mid-afternoon Thursday and just spent the rest of that day settling in and getting acquainted with the area. Friday morning I stopped by Schafer's Hobby which was a nice shop and they even had some cool old C/L models hanging on the wall. A LOT of crafty type stuff there though. Then I went up to Mark Twain Hobby where Dan McEntee does a part-time gig on Fridays. It was a really nice shop with lots of good stuff and I left with my pockets a bit lighter.

 After those two stops I figured I'd better get downtown and make the mandatory St. Louis Arch stop since I hadn't seen it before. I walked around down there a bit and realized you have to stand a LONG way away to get a picture of the thing. There's a real smart guy who offers helicopter tours right there below the Arch from the river. Since the pad appeared slow and it looked like I could get up right away I ended up jumping in to get some aerial pics. I didn't figure 35 bucks was too bad for a front seat ride.

 At the contest I had a great time and it was fun to meet a few new faces too. It was a really light turnout though, have to wonder a bit how much Tulsa being the same weekend affected the attendance. I was also wondering where Sparky was, too bad he couldn't make it, hope the emergency he mentioned above wasn't too serious.

 The weather was still pretty sketchy on Friday but it cleared overnight and couldn't have been better for the Saturday and Sunday contest days. It was bright and sunny both days with practically zero wind.

 I've got a BUNCH of photos from both the Stunt and Scale events that I'll work on getting posted when I have a little more time.

 Thanks again to the Lafayette Esquadrille folks!

[john e. holliday]

Rub it in a little harder guys.   Now you've seen the Arch from the air, try seeing he city from inside the top of the Arch.  My brother took us up years ago.   I was not too comphy in the little car you ride in.  Anyway I am glad you guys had a great contest.   

[Sean McEntee]

     Glad you had a good time Wayne.  I've pretty much grown up on that field! 

      For folks who werent there, Wayne brought some of his models with him, among them a Zero, Helldiver, and a STUNTABLE PBY twin!!  All very well executed!  He's certainly got my creative gears turning!

[Bob Reeves]

Problem is Tulsa and St. Louis both have held contests on the same weekend forever and neither one wants to change. If Tulsa would have moved one week ahead this year it would have been rained out. Not sure if there is a good answer, I sure don't have one at least for the immediate future.

When the time comes that attendance is really down because we are all dying off maybe Tulsa and St. Louis can combine, one year everyone from Tulsa go to St. Louis and the next year everyone from St. Louis go to Tulsa.

[RC Storick]

The problem is our Parks department. They plan the model aircraft extravaganza for that day. Includes RC and rocketery. As far as I know Tulsa is a stand alone contest to it would be easy for you guys to change your dates and impossible for us to change ours.

[De Hill]

Reeves Field is the spiritual home of the church of the endless circle, of which the Gluedobbers are the main worshippers.
The last weekend in september is the holiest weekend of the year, and we are bound to stay at Reeves Field for that weekend.

So it would be very difficult, no, impossible, for the Gluedobbers to change their contest time.   

[Dan McEntee]

   I believe this was the 24th or 25th annual Broken Arrow contest. I'll have to check with Bob Arata to be sure. I think he has saved all the score boards for all these years. It was originally in July and I have a 3rd place plaque for beginner stunt and a first place in balloon bust with my "Ole Yeller" SIG Mustang from the 1988 contest. When I started to get serious about hitting the contest circuit, the Tulsa contest was on my list, and I seem to remember it being the first or second weekend in October at that time. One thing or another kept me from attending. I guess the Broken Arrow has been on the fourth Sunday in September for around 20 years or so. The thought at the time was to put a week between our contest and the Peoria Heart of Illinois contest so as to have a break and not have guys worrying about being gone two weeks in a row. Like a lot of contests around the country, the Broken Arrow started out as a one day contest on Sunday only and grew to a two day contest with the increased interest in Stunt and the Old Time and Nostalgia events became popular. As time goes by and the calender cycles, it becomes a matter of when the fourth weekend is. Sometimes, the third Sunday in a month is not in the third full weekend. I've had to miss contests in the last few years due to conflicts created by that exact factor. The Greater St. Louis Modeling Association started to have the Extravaganza as a two day event several years ago to raise money for the field fund, and the Lafayette Esquadrille actually asked them to schedule it for the weekend of our contest so we could have a good showing at the control line circles. It's hard for a lot of guys to be able to just hang out and fun fly for two days on a weekend, and having the contest the same weekend takes some of that pressure off. We had the extra benifit of the organization having food sales available, and usually a Port-A Pottie provided at the circles at no cost to the club. From a quick look at the Tulsa posts, they had a similar turn out as what we had this year. The Memphis contest was lightly attended also. I think there are several factors at work. One is of course, the economy. Second, is a lot of guys have aged and stopped flying, or even passed away. The simple fact is that the core group of C/L Stunt is aging and we can use some new blood. We didn't have ANY beginners at our contest and only one basic flight contestant. I remember it taking ALL DAY at the SIG contest to get through one round of beginner because there were between 25 and 30 entries. This past year there was only three or so. And really, this is nothing new and to be expected if you look at C/L Stunt contest results and such from the last 25 years or so. Back then in was a similar situation as we have now. As I said before, I was just starting out at that time, and contests weren't heavily attended the either. I think there was only 14 or 15 entries at the first VSC and look what happened there! They at least have kept their momentum, but I would expect old Father Time will catch up there also as the demographics of the whole thing changes. It's just a life cycle I guess. Those of us that are still hitting the circles regularly just need to keep at it, try to encourage new flyers to join the fun, and support what events we can until the next wave of contestants comes along. It happened before and it can happen again. Maybe the new trend to electric models will help pave the way. What ever happens, I enjoy seeing all of my friends when ever and where ever I can and I'm glad the guys that attended made the trip and got to share an almost perfect flying weekend with us. I'm glad the Tulsa gang had a good time also.
    Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[De Hill]

The Tulsa Gluedobber Controline bunch was reborn in 1987. The controliners and freeflighters were driven off be the r/c'ers in the early 1970's. (the r/c section of the club voted to not allow free flight or controline contests anymore; that essentially killed them both))

I started flying controline again in 1987. I was apalled to find that virtually no c/l stuff was for sale in the hobby shops or in the model magazines.  There was a gentleman named Doc Passen who was active back then. He was a doctor , a combat flyer and a kit manufacturer. I asked him what I could do to help controline come back, and he said; Get your CD license and start having contest. So I did. ( He later died in a veteran's home under sad circumstances; but that is a story for another time)

We have been having contests in Tulsa since 1988. We are far enough from St. Louis that the AMA does not see a conflict between sanctions for the two clubs. Even if Tulsa changed the date of our contest, I doubt that anyone from st. Louis would attend. In all the years we have been having contests only one person from St. Louis ever showed up, and that was Sparky, several years ago.

Moving our contest date would be difficult; Dallas has 4 or 5 contests, and then you have Wichita, Topeka, Texarkana, and one other in Arkansas that you have to leave some space in between, for contestant's money supply to recover.

The cost of attending contests is high. I find it hard to believe that changing our contest date one weekend would get us any more flyers. If we had moved our contest back one weekend as we were pressured to do, we would have been rained out this year. We would have had a huge revenue shortfall if we had been rained out. We have to mow our own field; pay for the electricity and water, and pay for the upkeep of our clubhouse. We need all the money we can make just to survive.


Bob Reeves graciously allows us to fly on his property; we don't have free city, county, state, or government land to fly on.

I rather doubt that any of the people who wish us to move currently run a controline contest.

We will not move our contest.

[Sean McEntee]

     Dad mentioned that the Broken Arrow was placed where it is on the calender to avoid back-to-back weekends away.  Well, the Peoria contest is no longer active.  Why not move the BA contest to that weekend?  Move the whole thing, including the extravaganza.  Time to do it would be RIGHT NOW, at the next Esquadrille weekend.  Asking GSLMA to move it might be tough, but if you don't ask, you font get.

     Dee that is pretty presumptuous and a bit insulting to assume that no one would come from the STL area.  Sig contest is 5 hours from STL, Oshkosh is 8 hours away, some attend the Nat's and drive down to Paducah, Memphis, and other places throughout the year.  They put the miles in.  Tulsa is only 6 hours out, and wont be a big deal.  The problem is, as previously stated, the conflict of scheduling.  Its pretty funny to say in one breath that you absolutely wont move the contest but, in the next "STL guys wont come to our contest".  We were talking about this very thing this past weekend.  Ive heard of several guys wanting to come down there, but its hard to legitimize bailing on a contest put on by ones club just to go elsewhere, and I'm sure everyone in the Gluedobbers would agree.  I would like to go to both contests one day, and I don't care who budges, but it would benefit both clubs if it happened.

     As for the beginner thing, in reference to the recent contest in St Louis, I will say this.  We have 2 originators of the Tuff-baby used at Oshkosh in the club.....NO TOUGHBABY'S ON THE FIELD THIS PAST WEEKEND DURING THE EXTRAVIGANZA.  I know it was a contest environment and everything, and people are busy, but there were plenty of people sitting around, and 1-2 1/2A circles worth of real estate open for use.  Something to think about for next year.  25 bucks for a gallon of fuel is all that it would cost the club for the weekend.  If I can be there next summer, put me down to fly kids in between rounds.

[De Hill]

Sean,

I did not mean to be insulting or presumptious. As I said, since 1988, there has only been one person to come to the Tulsa contest, and that was Sparky, and that was 4 or 5 years ago.

For the last few years, we have been asked to move our contest, and we have refused.

This date has been good for our attendance and weather.

St. Louis doesn't want to move their contest, and neither do we.

What's wrong with that?

[wwwarbird]

The cost of attending contests is high. I find it hard to believe that changing our contest date one weekend would get us any more flyers. If we had moved our contest back one weekend as we were pressured to do, we would have been rained out this year. We would have had a huge revenue shortfall if we had been rained out. We have to mow our own field; pay for the electricity and water, and pay for the upkeep of our clubhouse. We need all the money we can make just to survive.

I rather doubt that any of the people who wish us to move currently run a controline contest.

 Wow.
 
 This doesn't need to get ugly guys, but I do have to say that the  "If we had moved our contest back one weekend as we were pressured to do, we would have been rained out this year" comment is quite frankly, ridiculous. You can pre-pick any date, anytime, to hold a contest and run the risk of rain or bad weather.  

 No offense Dee, and I'm not saying you need to change your favorite date, but you just got lucky with weather this year and that's great. Who knows what the same date, or any date, will bring next year? Or maybe I'm just missing something, maybe all contest CD's should contact you in advance to schedule and guarantee good contest weather. That would be an awesome guarantee and attraction for those of us driving 500 plus miles one way.

[De Hill]

Wayne,

 

We were asked several times this year to move our contest to september 17 & 18. As it turned out, it rained that weekend. We would have been rained out if we had moved it. Do you understand now?

Also, we have had our contest on this date for 20 years. We have never been rained out. We wish to keep this date.

[john e. holliday]

I live here in the KC area which is about halfway between St Louis and Tulsa.   Up until a couple of years ago I attended the great contests that were held in Tulsa.  During the years there was no Tulsa I would go to St Louis.  At the time I had a brother living in the northern area of St Louis.   The year after the last Tulsa I attended I was going to go to St Louis and alternate each year.   I did that with the contests in Denver CO and Dallas TX.   But with the new change and everything going up in cost except social security I have had to for go several contests.   Also having a family that has not shown any support for the grand kids going with me, I have backed off a lot.  But I say keep both contests on the schedule as is.  I think the economy is the big reason for low attendence at any contest in this part of the country as well as no new people.

[wwwarbird]

Wayne,

 We were asked several times this year to move our contest to september 17 & 18. As it turned out, it rained that weekend. We would have been rained out if we had moved it. Do you understand now?

 Also, we have had our contest on this date for 20 years. We have never been rained out. We wish to keep this date.

 So you've had no rain on that date for the past 20 years, that's amazing. That history is pure luck and is what my point is.

 And BTW, I do completely understand what you're saying Dee, enough with the insults thank you. And like I said above, I didn't say to move your contest date. I'm over it.

[Allen Brickhaus]

Still teaching full time at the NCOE schools in Norris City Illinois.  I will be the full time music instructor for the entire system and will be done on November 9 when the lady on maternity leave returns to school.  Love to go to St. Louis but the New Albany IN Byron Barker was my last contest of the year.  Now planning for the Ice-O-Lated in late February and the VSC in March.  Hope to have a new Oriental and Barnstormer for both.  Perhaps I could get a  Plano built for myself.

Allen Brickhaus

[Larry Fruits]

 Since I was unable to attend this year, would someone please post the results from all the events. Thanks.

  Larry