By William Drumm (midair72@hotmail.com)
Just as everyone was ready to fly the first round of Combat for the 2019 Nats on Tuesday, the sky opened up for a brief morning shower. Everyone did his or her best to get his or her gear covered up to prevent water damage.
After that little setback, RC Combat started out with Slow Survivable Combat (SSC). SSC is the most popular class RC Combat has to offer. Only having a .15 engine and an rpm limit reduces the speed and the severity of the crashes that are bound to happen.
With the fresh rain, we had to start out with the red flagging-tape streamers. These can get wet and still stay together in the air. We went with two heats for each round to help get a new pilot, Cody Oosting, used to the thrills of Combat.
We were again lucky this year to have the Civil Air Patrol Cadets come out and help us judge. This really takes a load off of the pilots so they can fix their airplanes when they aren’t up in the current heat.
After two rounds of red flagging tape, we switched to the normal black crepe paper. The crepe paper is easier to see and tends to get more cuts for the pilots. Having the cadets there allowed us to quickly run through five rounds of SSC before switching to all nine pilots in the air at once. With the target-rich environment, the last two rounds of the day had some higher scores. After seven rounds of SSC, Andy Runte is again leading the way with the rest of the Wisconsin gang right behind him.
We broke for lunch at noon and the Civil Air Patrol had some food cooked up for us to enjoy. After our bellies were full, we switched to Limited B. Limited B is a lot like SSC because there is an rpm limit to reduce the speed, but Limited B has up to a .29 engine. The bigger motor makes launches easier and the vertical envelope is much wider.
After only getting in one round of Limited B, the sky decided to fall on us once again. The first popup shower caught us off guard because it wasn’t on the radar before we got started. We waited out the scattered showers until a bigger area opened up.
Once again, with the freshly watered grass, we had to go with the red flagging tape. After the fourth round of Limited B, the radar was showing a developed area of rain heading our way and Combat was called for the day. The rain came pouring down once again, just as everyone was getting the last of their gear packed up.
Wednesday we will be finishing up SSC and Limited B when Mother Nature decides to turn off the faucet. After those two classes are finished, we will be starting Scale 2948. Come on out and enjoy the action!!!
SCC Day 1 Scores
Limited B Day 1 Scores
George Pritchett getting his planes ready.
George Pritchett's fleet all ready to go.
Mike and Denise LaPacz taking cover during the brief morning rain.
The Oosting's fleet in rain gear.
Smiling Bill Geipel itching to get SSC started.
Andy Runte putting the final touches on.
Brian Delahunty filling 'er up.
Cody Oosting all ready to go for his first meet ever!!!
Dirk Oosting ready to go.
Bob 'Long Haul' Loescher ready to go on one of his closer meets of the year.
George Pritchett getting his transmitter on the right model while his wife puts the sticky on.
Mike LaPacz ready to get some cuts.
SSC pilots and Civil Air Patrol Cadet judges.
Heath Bartel chucking up his electric SSC.
Cody Oosting getting ready to launch his grandpa's plane.
George Pritchett giving Dirk a toss.
Andy Runte lining up for the cut.
Brian Delahunty itching for a cut.
George Pritchett getting some points.
Bob Loescher reaching for that streamer just out of reach.
Andy Runte once again lined up for the cut.
Heath Bartel going in for the sneaky cut.
Oops! Andy Runte got a little too close.
George Pritchett reaching up to grab another streamer.
Bill Geipel relaxing after SSC finished up for the day.
Umm ... Dirk, the motors usually go on the front of the plane.
These combat planes are fully grown and ready to be picked.
Civil Air Patrol getting their chow on.
Mike LaPacz's jigsaw puzzle of a van all loaded up.
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