Championships, Memorial Day Weekend,
May 29-30th, 2004 in Andersonville, Georgia
The fourth running of Southern Fried Combat saw pilots from Texas, Indiana, Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida and Georgia in attendance. Mac Hodges
private flying field is a field of dreams for modelers. From its exceptional on site hobby
shop, to the manicured Bermuda grass, to the electrical hook-ups, to the enormous covered
work area, virtually unlimited flying areas and the bright yellow J3 Piper Cub that Mac uses
to give rides it is truly an awe inspiring facility.
Early on in this report I have to tell you that I goaded the Texans a lot before this contest.
From teasing, to insulting, to characterizing them as wimps and sissies I tried to leave no
potential stone unturned. Well, it kind of backfired. They flat out beat the pants off of us
at this contest. Lee, Mike, Mark, Randy, Bert, Joe, Shane and Bo put a shameful whupping
on us Southerners. I'll give you the rest of the story in a moment, but suffice it to say that
they really flew well this weekend. At first I tried to pass it off as just good old Southern
hospitality, but even I couldn't put enough perfume on the pig to get it to smell right.
Here some of the highlights of this report:
- Before the whistle cuts
- Lee's twin
- Pulling off streamers on the ground
- MPH readings
- Slam's molding method for Scale planes
- Wayne Voyles' molding of Scale P51 Mustangs and SSC Warbirds
- Webra .25s, and Open A engines
- Andy's all night drive from Muncie, and only gets three cuts without his glasses
- Ron leaves his planes, Kirk loses 6 Firebrands
- The thorns in our sides, our legs, our ankles.
- J3 Cub rides in the morning
I got to the field about 9:30 on Friday morning but Atlanta's Larry Welch, Jim Grizzle and
David McGinnis were there ahead of me. Actually, Billy, Missy Wiggins along with son
David were there a day ahead of all of us. The big diesel duelie of Randy Dodson pulled in
next towing a long travel trailer and out piled his dad Bert, Joe Thojo Thompson, along with
Bo and son Shane Connolly.
Airplanes were unloaded, insults were traded and everyone got their stuff ready to fly.
Phyllis and Don Pruitt of Atlanta had a special treat in store for all of us. Don had managed
to acquire "Dixie Brew" the official beer of Southern Fried Combat. Freshly labeled the
night before it featured the Confederate emblem and warnings which in part stated that "Non
Southerners may speak with a pronounced drawl after imbibing this brew."
By 5pm it was time for some practice combat with Warbird SSC planes. Slam and Drewjett
each had one, as did Ron Caravona, Mark LaBoyteaux and Thojo. Joe had his new F86
and it flew well enough for Joe to spank the rest of us.
SLAM had a newly acquired Radar gun so we could test airplane speeds. Several folks flew
their SSC Open planes for the radar checks. Repeated passes netted a speed range of
48mph for the slow ones to 54 mph for the fastest. The fastest was probably hitting over
17,700 rpms at launch. This indicated to those of us that participated that the speeds of
SSC are about right where we had expected them to be. We also tested Scale 2610 and
Open B speeds over the weekend. As a generalization the B planes were in the 71mph to
74mph range; the Scale ships were in the 79-84mph range. Some of the fastest planes like
Lee Liddle's Cobra IV and ME410 were not timed as too many things were going on to get
it done. Randy Dodson's 48" Open B Raptor was the fastest plane timed at an average
speed of 86mph. Without doubt the fastest plane at the contest was Lee's twin AKM
engined Scale ME410. It was easily 10mph or more faster than any other scale plane in the
air on its one sortie.
Much of the registration and technical inspection was done on Friday afternoon and by the
end of the day about 25 pilots had been registered and tech inspected. All made weights but
some were sent back to put clevises on controls for safety or spinner nuts to meet the "no
threads showing" rule.
Late in the day Friday Lee Liddle test flew his twin engined ME410. Power is supplied by
two AKM .15s. These are hand built Russian engines designed for CL FAI combat. I
believe that on this test flight Lee was running 7X4s and the engines were howling. I believe
that he said they were turning a consistent 25,000 rpms at launch. Bo Connolly launched
for Lee. That may be an exaggeration. What Bo actually did is anchored the plane with its
engines tugging fiercely till Lee nodded that he was ready, then Bo just let go and the
ME410 shot skyward like a rocket and at just as steep of an angle. The sound of the
engines has to be heard to be believed and its speed is so great that only an exception pilot
could use it in combat. Incidentally Lee starts the engines by hand rather by using an
electric starter.
Although he didn't have to use them, Michael Willcox had two Open B Falcons with .15 size
engines on them that he planned to use as backups for Open B. One had a PC3 Cyclon and
the other a Nelson .15. We didn't get a chance to check them with radar but you can bet
the next time we get the chance we'll hold him down in full nelson till we get MPH checks
done on them. We have no doubt that these planes would be very competitive speed wise
with most of the Open B planes.
Steve "SLAM" Lamson has been ardently working to perfect plastic molded fuselages for
SSC Warbirds and Scale 2610 planes. At the early May Hilltop contest Steve had SSC
Warbirds with molded ABS fuselages. Although they worked, Steve was not satisfied with
either their performance or durability (I would have been, they fly well and are pretty stout),
so he totally cleared the design table and in three weeks had a totally new concept to unveil.
A little background is in order. What SLAM wanted in his Scale planes were three things:
durability, ease of construction and low cost. To measure durability his comparison was the
"flat bat". He had flown flat bat fuselages in Open B for several years and wanted both the
simplicity and durability of the bat. His solution was to make a Scale 2610 fuselage that
uses the bat as the load bearing member and cloak it with a PTEG molded fuselage that slips
over the bat. Pretty ingenious and as you can see from the photos it looks pretty good.
Wayne Voyles of Lanier RC has quickly developed and prototyped a new P51 Mustang for
Scale 2610. He and Larry Killingsworth had the new Mustangs for Scale. Very fast, tight
turning and ultra quick to build, we think Wayne is really onto something with this
construction process. He and Larry both used the Webra .25 GT with Kentucky Mousse
cans for motivation and I'm here to tell you that motor is smoking! Also used by Andy
Panoncillo, Lee Liddle and Ron Caravona the Webra generally makes 20,000 rpm or better
with a Master Airscrew 9X4 prop. Priced at about $80 this is a very good engine for
combat.
Friday night for Ron Caravona, Ryan Engler and I ended with checking into the motel,
catching a shower then eating fast food. Ron was pretty bummed that he had driven 700
miles from Louisville to Andersonville and forgotten most of his SSC planes at home. In the
process of loading his van with Rhino's planes and making sure they were ready he forgot
about his own. What a bummer.
We ran into Missy, Billy, David, Slam and DrewJett at the restaurant. We had two things to
talk about. First how fast Lee's twin flew and second how badly scratched and cut up we
got in the briars and brambles off to the left side of the flying field. This year Mac Hodges
let the weeds grow up and they concealed some of the thorniest blackberry patches any of
us had ever seen. Once you went into that thicket to retrieve a plane you didn't ever want
to go back. Slam, Andrew and I all had the scratches and cuts to prove we had braved the
brambles, but on Saturday no one compared to Robbie Wood or Kirk Adams for most
scratches per square inch of exposed flesh. Man those guys were bleeding so much I was
afraid we were going to have to give them blood.
Saturday morning started with us reluctantly rolling out of bed at 6am. Actually Ron got up,
Rhino and I asked for a few more minutes of slumber. After we dragged out of bed we
hopped in the cars and headed to the RC Contest Super Center (WALMART) for water,
sunglasses, sun block, and flags to mark the flight lines (guess who forgot those at home).
When we arrived at the field DrewJett was already making test flights. Jay Fromm and
Family along with Mark Cippolone had arrived in their motor home. Also Wayne Voyles
and Larry Killingsworth had parked their motor home. Mike "Glow Plug Boy" McGraw
and his family had their travel tent set up. Slam and DrewJett were camping next to Billy
and Missy and everyone was ready to get started.
Phyllis Pruitt ran the registration area like an old pro and Don Pruitt completed all the tech
inspections. Slam and I did the RPM tests for SSC and when Don finished tech inspections
he jumped in and helped with rpm checks. I did not have anyone go over the limit and the
temps were well into the high 70s by 9am. Humidity was also up which probably kept the
tach readings down low (water in the air displaces oxygen, so high humidity equals less
power). Most fliers were running 15% nitro with some as low as 5% and others as high as
30%, all doing whatever was necessary to get as close to the magic 17,500 as possible
without going over.
The engines were OS LA .15s and Magnum XL .15s. There were more conventional tanks
than bladders but there were a lot of questions from folks running tanks about how to run
bladders.
I had a chance to talk to a couple of folks who do not use bladders and said they wouldn't
because of the hassle. I asked them what the hassles were and they said that you couldn't
throttle with them and they burst. Both of those observations are somewhat accurate. You
can only throttle down to about 60% power and up again without the engine loading up and
quitting. Also bladders can burst, but won't if you change them for every contest. To the
best of my knowledge no fliers using bladders had one burst during the entire contest.
The airframes were as varied as the pilots. Lee Liddle, Bert Dodson, and I flew Cobras in
SSC. Many folks used flat bat fuselages to very good effect. There were a couple of folks
flying Falcons but most everyone had their own design stuff. You'll have to look at some of
the pictures to get ideas on what was flown.
The pilots' meeting was conducted at 9:30 am. 31 registered entrants were divided into four
heats for eight rounds. Combat started at 10:00am and continued with only a short break
for lunch till 4pm.
The wind was blowing hard from right to left so the combat area continued to drift
downwind during each heat. Those briars were to the left and no one wanted to go in there
to retrieve a plane unless they had to. So we shifted the flight line farther to the right to
make up for the wind drift.
Each heat had seven or eight planes up at one time. Cuts were fast and furious. Six pilots
go four cuts in the first round. Usually the first round is low as everyone warms up and
adjusts their distance vision and depth perception the field. Today the fliers were on.
Round two saw Slam score 540 and three fliers get four cuts. The sun was clear of the
clouds and the heat was rising. It was going to be a long day of combat.
Round three of SSC saw both Kirk "Montague" Adams, and Mike "Texas" Willcox roar up
in the standings with 640-point flights. Lee put up a very solid 520. Andrew "DrewJet"
Stanley scored his third consecutive 440, but Kirk was leading at the end of three by less
than one cut over Lee. Montague's stuff was working well, but the combat gods dogged
him all weekend send down bolts of mid-air-itis. I think Kirk should probably get the hard
luck award for the cumulative effects of midairs, briar patch foray, and airframe losses.
Keep reading it gets worse for Kirk when he begins the Scale competition.
In round four Tennessee's Mike DeWoody flying in a contest for the first time in about a
year put up an outstanding flight and had the round high score with 624. I finally managed a
decent round and marked up a 460. Mike Willcox nailed it again in round four with a 520.
Mike is the World Champion in CL Combat and has made enormous strides in RC Combat
in only a year. His ability to follow and pursue an opponent is in the top tier of all combat
fliers. He also has the patience to set up his target and then just flick the controls over to
make a cut attempt. If he misses the cut he is still in position on the opponent to strike
again. Time after time I watched Mike pursue an opponent through three or four laps
around the furball till he finally got the cut.
The second half of SSC was an epic battle. You had to be ready, your equipment had to
work and you had to be totally concentrated and focused. After eight full rounds Lee won it
all with a 454-point per round average, managing to stay 460 points ahead of Kirk who
finished second. Mike Willcox was third; Slam and DrewJett were fourth and fifth. After
the first event of the Dixie Nats the Texans had taken two of the first three places. It was
beginning to look pretty grim for the Southerners.
Daylight is strong till 8:30 pm at this time of the year in Georgia. Good thing because we
didn't start flying 2610 Scale till about 6:30 pm.
Four years ago at the first Southern Fried Combat Andy "APServo" Panoncillo won Open B
after driving all night to from Muncie to Atlanta. The following years were no exceptions,
as it seems Andy does his best traveling on nightlong. About 4pm on Saturday Andy rolled
into the Mac Hodges field and was ready to fly Scale 2610. He flies beautiful Japanese
B5N "Kates".
Before start of combat all the scale fliers judged the Scale planes for the best looking
model. Some voted for beauty and finish, others for technical accomplishment. The final
vote ended in a tie between Montague's Blackburn Firebrand (one of six he brought), and
Knife's ME410. They split the $100 prize 50/50.
There were 10 entries in scale. Last year the CD elected to put all planes up in one heat
with the result being incredible carnage. Instead of making the decision on his own this year
the CD (me) opted to let the pilots decide. By a vote of 9-1 they voted to fly 10 plane
heats. I wonder if they would vote the same way with the knowledge of what happened?
In round one Andy came out and flew his Kate with incredible skill and accuracy scoring 5
cuts. Mike Willcox flying an AD-7 Skyraider got four and Lee Liddle managed to tame the
insanely fast ME410 to get three. The highlight other than Andy's five cuts in round one
was the tremendous explosion from the impact of Montague's Firebrand and Lee's 410.
Folks in Alabama probably heard those planes hit. The impact was so great that it took Kirk
almost thirty minutes to find and recover the major sections of his plane. Now it must be
recognized that Kirk's planes are very very strong. They feature a 3/8" HDPE profile
crutch full length in the fuselage and wings covered with ripstop nylon over two fiberglass
rods. His planes are tough but the combination of speed and mass in this mid air was
unbelievable. Lee's right engine motor plate was ripped from the wing and the plane will be
repaired to fly again.
In round two Mike Willcox had a four cut round, Lee had a four cut and DrewJett had a
340 score. Kirk midaired early and only managed to get two cuts. The second Firebrand
was now toast. Too much time had been spent looking for planes and we ran out of
daylight. Sunday would begin with Scale. Joe Thompson had lost his P47 in round one,
Lee lost his AD7 Skyraider in the second round and was out of it, Wayne and Larry still had
their lone P51s, and Ron Caravona had lost the Horten, and Fulmar and was down to his
BF110 twin for Sunday.
On Sunday morning Mac Hodges pulled the J3 Cub around to the gas pumps and topped off
the tanks for a morning of giving rides to all who wanted to go up. He took off low and
kept his altitude down as he took off repeatedly with new riders in the rear seat. It is great
to see this wonderful yellow bird gracefully lift off into the early dawn air on another
beautiful flight.
At 9am the first round of scale took to the air. Andy couldn't find his eyeglasses. He only
got 4 cuts in that round. Mike, Slam and Drewjett all managed two cuts but there weren't
as many targets in each round as there were the day before and Andy was cutting them
before anyone else got the chance. Did I mention that Kirk lost another Firebrand in round
three? He was now three planes lost in three rounds flown.
In round four only five pilots could field airplanes as Ron Caravona couldn't get the twin
BF110 to perform acceptably and withdrew from round five. Mike Willcox had the hot hand
in round four, scoring a 420. Guess what? Kirk lost Firebrand number four in round four.
When have you seen a prop cut through a foam fuselage and cut the tank and the battery
lead? Talk about a freak accident. If it wasn't for bad luck Kirk would have had no luck at
all. Incidentally he brought six Firebrands for scale and had lost four up to this point.
In round five two more pilots dropped out. Wayne Voyles and Larry Killingsworth had both
lost their sole prototype Mustangs in round four. We were down to five pilots. Mike again
had the top score with a 420, Andy and Kirk both scored three cuts each and both had
340s. Guess who lost another plane in round five and was down to his final Firebrand.
Some folks call him Montague.
In round six we were down to four pilots. DrewJett lost his last plane in the prior round.
Andy topped the scoring with a 340 and Kirk followed him with a 240, but lost his last
Firebrand in this heat.
Round Seven had three planes and Mike Willcox cut both the opponents streamers. He
finished that round with a 240, Andy had a 160, and Steve Lamson a 120.
After 7 brutal rounds Andy Panoncillo the winner of the first Dixie Nats wins Scale 2610
with a score of 2,500 points and a 357 point per round average.
Open B had 23 pilots and started at 10 am. The weather threatened for a little while and it
looked like it might rain but we were fortunate. Brilliant sunshine and high temperatures
soon replaced the dark clouds. The wind was up and blowing hard again. In retrospect we
should have moved the flight line on Sunday. We kept it at the same spacing used for SSC.
Open B needs more spacing that SSC and we should have moved the line to accommodate
it. Although this didn't cause problems it is a good learning experience that we pass along to
other CDs.
We flew three heats per round with seven or eight pilots in each one. Larry Killingsworth of
Atlanta had the hot transmitter in round one and posted a very strong 620 after getting six
cuts with his Lanier Ripper. Larry co-designed this plane with Wayne Voyles and it is now
kitted by Lanier RC. It is very durable and flies well. It is also a very well engineered kit
that is an excellent value. Jay Fromm of Cincinnati came out strong also and posted a score
of 520 to have the second highest score in round one.
Some pilots were using the fiberglass and carbon fiber props imported by George
Cleveland. They are knockoffs of the MA 9X4 and I believe an APC but I’m not sure
of the pitch and diameter. Lee Liddle's Open B Cobra was easily the fastest plane of the
competition and he had a very difficult time not over flying the competition.
In round two the first of four streamer cuts before start combat occurred. It is rare to see
this happen. One pilot inadvertently cuts another's streamer before start combat. The rules
require that the pilots whose streamer has been cut land and re-tie so that he may enter
combat with a full streamer. This rule, in my opinion, was put in place to make sure that
folks took care of their streamers. It did not take into consideration another pilot cutting off
their streamer. Through no fault of their own a pilot whose streamer is cut off before start
combat would be penalized by being forced to land and re-tie. At a minimum they would
lose start on time and full flight points and also miss the most target rich time of the match.
This happened to four pilots: James Grantham, Robbie Wood, Bert Dodson and Mike
Willcox. Don Pruitt and I were the line marshals each time this happened. The pilots line
was long and each time it happened I was giving pilots permission to launch or watching the
stopwatch to start the match. I didn't see the cuts or who made them. When it happened
the first time I ruled that the flier who had been cut would get their entire streamer points.
This was not a unanimously popular decision but it was done because by the time I would
have been able to sort out who was cut by whom and get them to land we would have been
well into the match.
Another event occurred on Saturday and was discussed at the pilots briefing on Sunday.
Some competitors had to land during the heat. They landed due to midairs, bad engine runs
or another reason. When they landed they had streamers on their wings. After I observed
some folks removing the streamers before relaunching I informed all pilots that they must
leave the streamers on their planes when they relaunched. I feel like this is the right call. If
you remove streamers from your plane and then relaunched you are denying your
competition a chance to get cuts. A pilot could land remove whatever streamers were on his
plane and relaunch simply to keep others from getting cuts.
The RCCA board prior to the 2004 Muncie Nats will address both the "cut before start
combat" removal of streamers".
Mike Willcox was the man to beat all day. He has great equipment, is well practiced, stays
focused, and flies the entire match. He won Open B with a total score of 3,560 or 445
points per round. Lee Liddle was second, and Larry Killingsworth third.
The Texans had a great contest. All who participated were winners. At the end of the
contest the fliers walked the flight line to police and clean up litter from the area.
We appreciate all who came and look forward to seeing you at your contests this year.
