Langley AFB

[Larry Wong]

anyone was there in 1961 July 6 to 10th. 1961?

[dennis lipsett]

i WAS THERE IN 1967. LEFT TJHE AIR FORCE IN 1968 FROM LANGLY AFB

[RustyK]

That's very interesting. I wish we had more infomation.
Rusty Kennedy
Chairman, AMA Foundation

[Ken Culbertson]

Incredible.  I was living in the Virginia DC suburbs in 61, shopping at the BX at Langley and flying CL a lot and I never knew that the USAF Nats was going on right down the street?  Damn

Ken

[Trostle]

anyone was there in 1961 July 6 to 10th. 1961?

I am not sure when the Air Force started its Air Force World Wide Model Airplane Championships.,  It would have been some time in the mid-50's.  The Air Force used this competition to select the Air Force 5-man Team to compete at the AMA Nationals for the National Team Championship.  The Air Force won the National Team Championship title from before 1960 through about 1972.  How the Air Force got beat is another story and there was not an Air Force Team or World Wide Championships after that.  Besides, after that time, the AMA Nats format was not conducive to have any more National Team selection competition.  The National team competitions as well as the National Club competition at the Nats and the Nationals Model Airplane Champion recognition received very little attention in the model press.

Various Air Force Commands, like Tactical Air Command, Pacific Air Command, Air Training Command and maybe a few others would have their own command wide competition to select their 5-man teams to participate in the Air Force Worldwide Championships.  As many as 40 or 50 individuals would attend those Air Force World Wide competitions.  Not only was the 5-man team Air Force team selected to compete as a team at the Nationals, another 5 man team was selected as mechanics to assist the first 5-man team.  The duties of this second team was to chase, stand in line for the next flight timers in FF, stand in line for the next speed flight, repair models and in general help the first 5-man team.  That was one of the secrets of the Air Force teams for consistently winning the team championships.  The team members were all competing for the individual National Champion award which meant, 9 events would be flown, at least 3 events in FF, 3 events in CL and 3 more events in either category.  This was in the days of the Navy Nats when all the FF and CL events were held at a Navy base in one week.

The three Air Force meets I attended were well run and organized.  One year, Dick Mathis was the Contest Director.  Another year, George Aldrich was the CD.  George may have been the CD several other times.  There was an article about the Air Force competitions in the 1953 Air Trails Annual.

Many stories and interesting times.

[Larry Wong]

ul

I am not sure when the Air Force started its Air Force World Wide Model Airplane Championships.,  It would have been some time in the mid-50's.  The Air Force used this competition to select the Air Force 5-man Team to compete at the AMA Nationals for the National Team Championship.  The Air Force won the National Team Championship title from before 1960 through about 1972.  How the Air Force got beat is another story and there was not an Air Force Team or World Wide Championships after that.  Besides, after that time, the AMA Nats format was not conducive to have any more National Team selection competition.  The National team competitions as well as the National Club competition at the Nats and the Nationals Model Airplane Champion recognition received very little attention in the model press.

Various Air Force Commands, like Tactical Air Command, Pacific Air Command, Air Training Command and maybe a few others would have their own command wide competition to select their 5-man teams to participate in the Air Force Worldwide Championships.  As many as 40 or 50 individuals would attend those Air Force World Wide competitions.  Not only was the 5-man team Air Force team selected to compete as a team at the Nationals, another 5 man team was selected as mechanics to assist the first 5-man team.  The duties of this second team was to chase, stand in line for the next flight timers in FF, stand in line for the next speed flight, repair models and in general help the first 5-man team.  That was one of the secrets of the Air Force teams for consistently winning the team championships.  The team members were all competing for the individual National Champion award which meant, 9 events would be flown, at least 3 events in FF, 3 events in CL and 3 more events in either category.  This was in the days of the Navy Nats when all the FF and CL events were held at a Navy base in one week.

The three Air Force meets I attended were well run and organized.  One year, Dick Mathis was the Contest Director.  Another year, George Aldrich was the CD.  George may have been the CD several other times.  There was an article about the Air Force competitions in the 1953 Air Trails Annual.

Many stories and interesting times.

.         
Yes I built a lot of planes just to make the team , also got resume from WAM ( Mom & Pop Roberts ) and made the ADC from Hamilton AFB had a great time meet a lot of guys , party at the beach .

[John Skukalek]

What events were included in the Air Force World Wide Model Airplane Chamioships?
Was it all CL?

[John Skukalek]

I see now that FF was included

[wwwarbird]

 Thanks Keith for another interesting story.

[dale gleason]

As a Brat, me and other brats thought we would be allowed to compete at the PACAF contest at Tachikawa AFB. Wrong, of course. But, we were allowed to pit, I hooked up with some really great guys, combat flyers from NAHA, Okinawa. About 1958, I think. They all flew Riley's Quickers with Torp 35s.

Stunt, Scale, Combat, Speed (including jet) were at Tachi, no Racing as I recall. Free Flight all categories and Towline Glider, and very little RC (just one entry, a Catalina) were flown nearby on the golf course at Showa Air Station.

Winners qualified for the USAF Team at the NATs.  Wonderful times!

dg

[Trostle]

What events were included in the Air Force World Wide Model Airplane Chamioships?
Was it all CL?

The three times I attended the Air Force meets, in CL there were the speed events (1/2A, A, B, C, 1/2 Proto Speed, B Proto Speed), Scale, and Stunt - no Combat, no Carrier, no Team Racing of any kind.  In FF, there were the power FF events (1/2A, A, B, C), A-1 Towline, A-2 Towline, HL Glider, Scale, Wakefield Rubber, I think Unlimited Rubber (or whatever it was called then).  No RC events.

It should be noted that many of those events not flown at the Air Force meet were events where there was not a way for a meaningful accumulation of points for overall perfomance, not a placing (1st, 2nd 3rd and so forth) meaning that if you were trying for the overall individual and team championship, points would be accumulated based on MPH, or a stunt score, or a scale score; or minutes/seconds in all of the FF events.  Again, each team member had to fly a minimum of 3 CL events and 3 FF events and for a total of 9 events.  At the Nats, many team members would fly indoor hand launch glider as one of their 9 events.

Keith

[John Gluth]

removed

[Trostle]

Interesting several FF categories were included. At the time, was there not accommodation for RC event or maybe lack of interest?

To compete on a National Team, a team member could fly up to 9 different events to accumulate points for the team.  To fly RC as a team member, considerable time would have be spent flying the various rounds in the RC pattern competition over a several day period.  Not conducive to flying multiple events during the week long Nationals.  RC Pattern might have been flown at some AF WW Championships.  In 1964, I flew in my first AF Meet.  Jim Kirkland was there and was flying RC Pattern.  He had won Pattern at the Nats previously and might have been flying RC at that AF meet.  But, I am sure he was not flying anything else.  He made an impression on me when he was looking at my models.  He said if he was younger and had the energy, he would fly all of the events.

Keith

[phil c]

Shortly after I moved to PA I had the luck to team up with some good flyers,  Gil Reedy, his son, Hartman, Mike?? from MD, etc.
The contest allowed for others- stunt events, combat, The Bird transformation obstacle, several racing events, and a balloon challenge event.

The only real obstacle was that demonstrations and other events would sometimes block the best Highway out of town!

It was fun, but I didn't have time to work, and help Mary to care for the kids.

Phil Cartier
An Oldd Time Novice