Overall I’d say it was a very fun event, everyone was having fun. We were able to hold a meeting, have an event, and still not tie up the runway for too long from general flying.
There was a large number of club members watching the 11 entrants battle it out by dropping bombs (14mm nuts) in a single round competition.
We saw all levels of pilots step up to the plate with virtually every style of airplane. Everything from a vintage “Crackle” flown by Ray Faulks, to a pair of Radians flown by Bob Stinson and Vince Gonsowski.
We had warbirds represented with a ME109 by Dennis B, a Wildcat flown by Neil Harland. Bob Anson did very well with his twin Multiplex, I think it is an Islander.
Tim Attaway flew his float-destined Mentor, while Steve Dente, Mike Eberle, Bob Mosely and myself flew foamies. Everyone with foamies was flying something from DW except me, I had my 2 Dog Yak.
We started with three drops onto the bullseye target used during Electroglide. The scoring was reversed, so the outermost band yielded the largest point value of 30. Ray Faulks quickly stepped up and was the first pilot up, and promptly dorked his plane in busting the nose off ( a DW foamie). He had another plane with him, so we let him continue with his vintage Crackle.
The action continued without any more fatalities of aircraft and all of the pilots doing pretty darn well dropping the bombs via a handful of different methods. The radians were looping to drop the nut, warbirds were doing both loops and dives, and the foamies were also doing all types of lunatic acrobatics to try to shake off the bomb.
Tim Attaway must have made 6 different loops, rolls and other before he was finally able to unload the G forces that hold the bomb on. Seems that the Mentor had a magnetic personality and didnt want to let go!. Pilot skill in other areas did not immediately transfer to this fun style event, as the IMAC guys werent doing any better than anyone else. With the reverse scoring and everyone having to drop the same way (a change in flight path), the event did not have any clear dominating airplane, or pilot. Although it did help to be a good 3D pilot as that method of low and slow acrobatic drop did manage to win the event.
Taking home the first place DHW Certificate for $60 was Steve Dente with 65 points. 2, 30 point drops and one for 5.
Next with 55 Points was Mike Eberle and a cert for $40.
There was a tie for 3rd place, where Bob Anson and Bob Mosley were both at 40 points. The Bob’s did a single drop to bullseye where Bob Mosley came out ahead and got the $20 cert.
After the drop for points, everyone got a drop to bullseye for a bonus prize. Distance from center was measured via the 12″ NewBalance ruler (my shoe), and with the closest drop to center at 5.25, was Mike Eberle. Mike won a real nice meter/wattmeter/balancer/gauge device that was
donated by John from Discount Hobby Warehouse http:/www.discounthobbywarehouse.com. Its a nice item that we all can use.
After the bombs stopped dropping, and the prizes were all handed out, my wife Julie served up 12 feet of subway sandwiches to the membership. I dont think anyone was unhappy about lunch! A little chow, a little more camaraderie, and a little more general flying wrapped up Saturday, July 30th 2011. We had a great turnout at the field and got about 30 folks fed for lunch. My personal thanks to all the members that came out to act like a fool with me, letting our nuts hang out , thanks to John at Discount Hobby Warehouse for the discount on the cert’s and bonus prize, and to the club council who approves and supports the events we get to have each month.
