July 8, 2026: Control Line Navy Carrier

By Melvin Schuette

Today was the last day of the official Navy Carrier events. Both internal combustion and electric-powered Class I and Class II classes were flown. 

The number of electric-powered and internal combustion models were divided evenly. The MO-1 still dominates the carrier events. They are easy to build and easy to make fly. There were only 36 MO-1s built for the military, but the number of model MO-1s built has to be well in to the hundreds if not thousands.

Burt Rutan, who got his early start in aviation flying control line models, was at the Nats this year and dropped by the Navy Carrier events to watch. He was especially impressed with the electric powered models. 

There was only one entrant in the Internal Combustion Class II, In order to receive a score you had to put in an official flight. A flight becomes official when the contestant signals the judges the start of the low-speed portion of the flight.

The Navy Carrier Society, the Special Interest Group representing the Navy Carrier events, awards the Eugene Ely award each year at the AMA Nationals. The Eugene Ely Award is presented to the contestant who has the highest combined score from one of the Profile Carrier events, one of the Class I Carrier events, and one of the Class II Carrier events. The contestant must choose what three classes of carrier they want to use towards the award. This year the Eugene Ely award was awarded to Angstrom Eberenz.

Thursday will be the final day of the Navy Carrier events. Only unofficial events will be flown. The events that will be flown are, 15 Carrier, Skyray 35 Carrier, Nostalgia Profile Carrier, Nostalgia Class I Carrier, and Nostalgia Class II Carrier.