New Castle Del contest 1950's

[Chuck Feldman]

 

Do any of you remember these contest held at the New Castle county Airport? This was a big contest as I remember had all the events FF and CL. There was a great scale modeler who made Dynajet powered ships. Frank Lychek? F8f, F9f, F-86, they all flew great. Maybe Uncle Mikey went to these? B team race was hot 5 models in flight at one time cool. Combat ended the day then the survivors of the day Ali gather in one circle the whistler was blown and everyone started there engine. Then they would launch. I swear there may have been twenty models up in that circle! The winner was the last man flying. Those where great days!

Chuck

[Mike Keville]

Though I never got to New Castle, it sounds a lot like the early 1950s meets at Millville, NJ.  CL and FF events on the same field....Stunt & Scale were king.

That Dyna-Jet Scale guy with the Panther was Frank Laschek (Sea Girt, NJ).....later followed by a fellow named Joe Cole with his F-86 (F4J?) from Mt. Holly, NJ.

The Team Racing guys in those days were led by George Moir (Mantua, NJ) and Bobby Huffer (Annapolis, MD).  I remember watching them and others fly practice flights in the parking lot at a Sears store on Admiral Wilson Blvd, near the airport circle, in Camden, NJ---back when when you could safely enter that area (today a "combat zone").  In fact I used to launch practice flights for Moir with his "Rambler IV" at our club field in Haddonfield, NJ.  Ahh...the "shoe polish" smell of that fuel!  (Which may account for what some might call brain damage these days?)

Those were the days, alright...never to be seen again.  We should just enjoy the memories...and feel sorry for those who missed them.

[Chuck Feldman]

     Mike, Merry Christmas.    Those where the best times for CL. We had other contests to, There was one in Bristol Pa. Another down in Baltimore. The shoe polish smell came from Nitro Benzene. Morry mixed fuel and the NB came from the DuPont plant my Dad worked at. It did smell so nice. Well I thought it did. Today it is banned as it caused cancer in California or something. It is odd that we never met as we went to the same contests and my Dad and I flew with Morry once in a while. Your Club (Highway Glow Bugs) was the biggest in South Jersey wasn't it? We never travelled to North Jersey for  contests. Travel in those days was not like today. 50mph speed limits on open roads and 25 in town. No interstates like today. Still those where the good days.
Thanks so much for your added comments on the events and people of those times. Maybe some others will join in.

Chuck

[posthole_digger]

caused cancer in California or something

Unfortunately not just in California. It is a potent carcinogenic.!
Paul

[EddyR]

Which New Castle are you talking about. There is at least 10 in the north east US. I flew ff at many small towns all over the north east US in the 50's
Ed

[john e. holliday]

Del = Delaware?

[EddyR]

I never went to a FF contest in New Castle Del. I did go to a lot of FF contest in and around Phily. Also New Castle NY is not far from WhitePlains and there was FF and CL contest there from 1940's till 1960's. Flew combat and FF on the same day at WhitePlains NY.
Ed

[John Witt]

In 1958 and 59 I went to a great contest held in Glen Burnie, MD, called the U-Control Olympics. It was held on the parking lot of the GE plant there. Last year I went I flew scale and combat. There was a guy there with a 10 ft B-36 that flew just great. I was living in Dover, DE, at the time.

I couldn't get my P-40D to run through 10 laps so didn't place in scale. Turned out the Fox 29 had a bulged back cover from too many impacts into the dirt on other airplanes. Funny now, but wasn't so funny then. I won Sr combat on a coin toss when it was almost dark and neither of us could get the engines to run anymore. Great times. I can't remember what happened to any of those planes. I left home in '59 to go to college and all that stuff disappeared.

John W