Alexandr Dementiev (near), a Junior from Moldova, flying against Jeff Johnson with the typical elbow-out stance. The pit crew had to repair a severely damaged model, and he narrowly lost the match.
By Charlie Johnson
Wednesday, August 7, was a lot cooler than previous days. Pilots and pit crews had more energy, and engines seemed to perform better.
Entries for F2D Fast Combat were expected to top the 25 that were in Speed Limit, but there were only 18 or 19 on the field. As with other events, Fast Combat was flown as a double elimination event in the first round only. Some of the foreign World Championships team members joined in to make it more interesting.
Last year, Chris Gay won the event using a Pete Athans-designed foam model. Pete was runner-up using the same design. They had the only foam models in the event. Jerry Sabin joined in this year with a foam model, too. It was a one, two, and three sweep for foam airplanes. Pete once again took the runner-up position. This is the third time that Chris has taken the top spot.
Most pilots started their own engines, so rounding up a pit crew wasn't a problem. Having an airtime advantage is good, should both airplanes be disabled and cut equally. There were a few matches won in the closing seconds; this was heartbreaking for the pilot who had been leading for the whole match.
Except for the three foam entries, the pits were filled with conventional Eastern European-built models. They were mostly Fora-powered with external shutoffs. This isn't an event where you need a dozen (or two dozen) identical models, all with engines, of course. F2D Fast Combat is an event where old but good-running engines can find a home.
Note from AMA: Do you have photos from the Nats that you’d like to share? If so, email them to Clarissa Poston at clarissap@modelaircraft.org. Please include a brief description in your email, naming any individuals pictured in the photo(s), the name of the event that the photo(s) were taken during, and the name of the individual who took the photo(s). Your submission(s) might be posted on AMA’s Flickr page, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/albums!
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