July 12, 2020: CL Combat

By Phil Cartier

Nats F2D Combat took off to a great start Saturday morning, July 11. Unfortunately, only 14 flyers could make it, but the small field made up for it with lots of action. One could say the cream of the crop. Just about every flyer was meticulously prepared and there were few holdups other than pit crews, pilots, and judges playing Ring Around the Rosie.

Thanks to the experienced judges, all the matches got close, fair, scrutiny to make sure everything went by the rules. With a good crew, pilots can fly hard without fear of losing through a judging mistake.

Leo drags Pete’s streamer hoping for a cut.

Two unidentified flyers gave spectators a show. Ordinarily these models fly around 100 mph. Some stiff breezes added at least 20 mph to that when they did low, downwind, tight figure eights chasing each other. It is spectacular to watch. Considering all the close-in flying there were surprisingly few midairs, even though there was probably at least one in every match. A lot of times you could hear the airplane whack wings together—often more than once.