Late 60s at Whittier Narrows

[Randy Powell]

Does anyone have pictures taken of the contests in the late 1960s at Whittier Narrows? I flew there with my cousin every weekend and at most contests during that period (67-70) and would love to see some pictures taken of those contests. Contests there were usually packed with families running around and picnicing with many, many competitiors sporting very inventive and colorful planes. I still remember the pearl pink Ringmaster and the multi-tone green Trident that were often seen at contests at Whittier Narrows in that era. Anyone remember a guy that flew at Whittier Narrows with a rather large red, yellow and blue dyed silkspan plane called the Atlantis? Circa 1968. How about a green and white Thunderbird that had gold leaf lettering and numbers on the wing. I don't really remember they people that well, but I remember the planes.   

[john e. holliday]

This reminds of yesterday while looking at the pictures from Tulsa and Alameda.  They made me think and I asked the wife if she remembers when we would go to Swope Park Flying Circle.  There would be at least a half dozen families.  The wives watching the youngsters that weren't flying and all the rest that were flying.  Of course some of us were in our late 20,s.  There was also a picnic lunch the ladies had put together.  A lot of fun, comaraderie and just plain fun flying.  DOC Holliday

[Randy Powell]

Doc,

That's what I remember. At Whittier Narrows in the late 60s, any given weekend there would be as many as a hundred fliers with families in tow. My cousin and his son (my age) along with me would show up and get in our flights. 4 circles and the flight line was usually 15 to 20 planes deep at any given time, dawn to dark. The contests were unreal with the fences lined 2 or 3 rows deep with planes. It was a lot of fun. The far circles were swampy, but no one seemed to mind all that much. There was a contest about once a month over the spring, summer and fall and it was a great deal of fun just to watch.

My cousin was a camera buff in addition to flying and he took many, many pictures. But unfortunately, his wife tossed his photo albums when he died and they are lost forever. Shame, that. I was just wondering if anyone else that attended these contests took pictures.

[Mike Patterson]

WOW "Doc" we are going to tell our AGE in minute. Swope Park flying my airplanes,Soap Box Derby,Starlight Theater,Fairy land Park wooden rollercoaster. Had to walk 500 feet to the park. Brings back memories of KCMO.

                                                                                                                                                                               

[Rudy Taube]

Hi Randy,

I don't have the pictures you requested, but I fly there now and am a member of the KOTRC. Our meeting is next Tues. and I will ask the members for some pictures. Dale Kirn is usually there and he has a great collection of CL history photos going back to the 1940s.

FWIW: Here is the link to our club web site:   http://69.50.210.183/~qwvcsno/

I was living in Santa Barbara in 1969 and came up to Whitier Narrows to fly in Combat contests. Like you, I remember the large #s of entries and spectators. The glory days of CL ane not all gone at our flying site, just a little "downsized". ;-)

It is still a beautiful site. Rich Lopez and the guys still fly combat on weekends, and the rest of us fly stunt on the pavement. We still have several large contests every year. Only a few spectators, and the average age of the entries is somewhere around 50. But there are more of us retreads every year. ;-)

CL is doing well in SoCal. The parks dept. just built two new paved CL circles at the Sepulveda Basin site. I think this brings their total to six. We still have our five circles.

I will try to get a few pictures from the late 1960s posted in future weeks.

Regards,

[Randy Powell]

Rudy,

Thanks. I'll look forward to them. Ask at the meeting if anyone remembers Bill Mayo.