Field gone for Oklahoma City Controliners

[John Ashford]

Well,  "All good things must come to an end."  Topping Park in OKC is now part of modeling history.  New highway interchange and High Voltage transmission lines will bring this to an end as of December 15th, 2009.

Topping was opened in 1949 and two paved "doughnut" circles installed in 1951. The park had a dedicated parking area and two grass circles for combat and fun flying.  I flew my first AMA contest in 1956 at age 13 on this field.  Many of our forum members have flown contests at this field.  In the late 60's - 70's, the OKC Controliners held two AAA contests per year.  One in the spring and one in the fall.  Not the best place to fly because of the terrain and trees  surrounding the facilities but it was still a "must" contest in District 8-9 with entries in the 60-70 numbers.

Yesterday, I flew what will probably be the last flight at Topping and a couple of the old timers were there also.  Sixty years of fond memories.  The Controliners are working on trying to get a new location and we will see what happens in the future.

You ALL have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great holiday season.

Later,  John

[catdaddy]

Well,  "All good things must come to an end."  Topping Park in OKC is now part of modeling history.  New highway interchange and High Voltage transmission lines will bring this to an end as of December 15th, 2009.

Topping was opened in 1949 and two paved "doughnut" circles installed in 1951. The park had a dedicated parking area and two grass circles for combat and fun flying.  I flew my first AMA contest in 1956 at age 13 on this field.  Many of our forum members have flown contests at this field.  In the late 60's - 70's, the OKC Controliners held two AAA contests per year.  One in the spring and one in the fall.  Not the best place to fly because of the terrain and trees  surrounding the facilities but it was still a "must" contest in District 8-9 with entries in the 60-70 numbers.

Yesterday, I flew what will probably be the last flight at Topping and a couple of the old timers were there also.  Sixty years of fond memories.  The Controliners are working on trying to get a new location and we will see what happens in the future.

You ALL have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great holiday season.

Later,  John

Sad news John. When I was stationed at Tinker in the 80's I always looked forward to the April contest. It renewed my interest in CL and I will never forget the times I got to fly on this field. I've got lots of memories. Here is a photo of my two boys at the contest in 2000. They had been exploring the wooded/creek next to the field and came back with a water moccasin. Hope you guys find a new place to fly but if not you're only 90 minutes away from TGD!

[John Stiles]

Kinda reminds me of when my ancestors was herded up and stuffed onto that stinkin reservation.

[john e. holliday]

Loss of a flying site is bad news as well as sad.  So glad the grandaughter and I got down for Jim's contest a couple of years ago.  Sanctioned or not it was still fun.  Here in KC if you don't fly radio they won't even talk to ya.  A paved circle down at the old river front park and can't use it.  Some environmental issues.

[Mike Lauerman]

I used to drive big rig coast-to-coast...Headquartered in OKC, Nelson Co-Op was the sister compant to Farmers Trucking Co.
Never flew C/L there, never had time...but was gettin' ready. I lived in neighboring Edmond, a 'college town'.
I have faith that the powers that be will deal with the issue fairly, if approached in a reasonable manner.
"Okie City" is following her Statehood movement toward 'Sovereignity'. The right to bear arms. Period.
And here I sit in California! se habla espanol...
 

[minnesotamodeler]

So sorry to hear Topping Park will be gone...I grew up in OKC (well, Bethany, 'way back then a separate town) and flew countless hours at Topping Park, learned to fly combat there.  Set the adjoining field on fire once with a Tiger Jet.  Crawled into the ravine to retrieve a cutaway combat plane (more than once). Sifted a big twin-engine bomber through a small tree when the lines broke. Flew in, and helped officiate, several contests there.  Many memories, good site, too bad it's over. 

Lessee, fliers of that era, Marlin McGee, Don Clayton, Mark Anschutz, Hal Whitten, David Stone (my brother)... too many intervening years to recall all.

[Eric Viglione]

Sorry to hear that John. Having lost fields, and them being at a premium with high population density where I am, I can relate. I now have to drive 40 miles each way to my field, yup, 80 miles round trip every weekend to fly! It's a wonderful field and a great bunch of guys, but when I'm brushing up for a contest, multiply that mileage by however many times a week I fly...yuk! My van has really ramped up the mileage because of this. The drive is no small factor in deciding if I am going flying when the weather looks iffy too.

Have you approached the county/city whatever about them providing an off-set property? Around some area's, if you have one of those county/city land leases and they do a land grab on ya, they are supposed to provide an equal piece of property elsewhere in town and even put in whatever improvements you made to the old property.

It's a nice thought anyways..

EricV

[Tom_Fluker]

Sorry to hear that.  The fall and spring contest at Topping were the norm for me growing up. 

I remember freezing one day and burning up the next.  Welcome to April in Oklahoma. 

Those doughnut circles were a pain.  5 feet wide at the max.  When you hit the shutoff, you better be moving out or you were never going to hit the pits.  I think Doug Harris could do it in his sleep though.

Also remember flying Marlin there in the 70's and again the last time he decided to enter a combat contest for fun.  He had a devilishly sneaky move where he could make a plane disappear low and inverted then pop up where you least expected it.

Hate to see the park go, but will never forget the people that were there.  It was neat since that site drew the Kansas crowd.  We didn't see them down South as much, so it made the OKC contest that much better.

Tom

[John Ashford]

Hey Tom,

Good to hear from you.  You touched on what made the contests in OKC so big.  We drew the "Texas crowd" as well as Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City. Bill Rutherford attended a lot of them and he had some darn kid that came with him and was always messing around.  I later learned the kid's name. Some "wanna be" named Richard Oliver.  The Harrises are all alive and well.  I see Bud, Doug and Robbie a couple of times a year.

Marlin CDed the April contest and I CDed the September contest for several years.  Marlin was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the combat circles at Topping.  I could write a book about all the people and the times at Topping.

Later,  John

[Bob Reeves]

Sorry to see it go, too bad you guys don't have a De Hill to beat on the city and carry the ball through the tough times. Think I remember hearing that property was donated to the city with the understanding it would always be reserved for a CL field. Somebody over there should be attending city council meetings.

[john e. holliday]

They are going thru basically what Topeka KS is going thru right.  But, at least Topeka is talking to the club.  I myself have not seen the new proposed site yet.  But, a site dedicated to the VETS and we are having to give it to a childrens organization.  I do hope that someone in OKC has enough clout to talk to the city.