WWI Combat pilots line up before the mass launch (L-R): Wally Farrell, Pat Murray and Don DeLoach.
By Don DeLoach
Wednesday at the Nats brought significant weather changes. The wind started out of the north, and stayed that way all day. Temperatures were also much cooler (60s until after 1pm—then it only reached the 70s). It was a wonderful surprise for the dog days of July. Skies were cloudy most of the day, which made thermal picking tough, but there will still many maxes posted by careful flyers.
Catapult Glider is traditionally the most popular event at the Nats. This year looks to be no different; there were 18 Adult flyers and 5 Youth. In Adult, Kurt Krempetz notched his second win in two years, and this year did it by a wide margin (360 seconds). Second place with 324 seconds was Stan Buddenbohm, followed by Don Tang with 253. Oliver Dillon won Junior with 216, followed by Caleb Finn (130) and Beckham Reuter (115). Wes Reuter won Senior with 102.
Another top-three Nats event in popularity is E-36. Fifteen Adult flyers logged flights this years, plus four Youth. In Adult, relative newcomer Ben Schultz took the win over some experienced and tough competition. Bob Sowder was second and defending champ Josh Finn was third. The finish order among the Juniors was Caleb Finn first, followed by Paul Finn and and Sam Menanno. Caleb’s 750-second score is good enough for a Junior National Record and would’ve placed first in Adult.
The three days of FAC events commenced Wednesday, ably run by Pat Murray and George Bredehoft. Some of the results from Wednesday: WWI Combat, Don DeLoach 1st, Wally Farrell 2nd, Pay Murray 3rd; Jimmie Allen, Wally Farrell 1st, Chuck Powell 2nd, Tim Brockman 3rd; Phantom Flash, George Bredehoft 1st, Pat Murray 2nd; Dime Scale George Bredehoft 1st, Pat and Wally tied for second. There’s a two way tie in OT Stick between Pat and Doug Griggs; this will be settled via fly-off on Thursday.
The forecast for Thursday and Friday looks excellent. We’re all hoping for some high-caliber flying for the final two days on the Nats. Thursday morning, we’ll kick things off with the ethereal Dawn Unlimited (Rubber) event at 6 a.m., following at 7 by a five-man fly-off in F1B. There should be some outstanding competition.
