PHOTO - Walker's B-17 at Nats

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In case you were unable to attend the 2001 Nats at Muncie, here is a shot of Paul Walker flying his famous B-17. It is a beautifully built plane and is spectatular to watch fly. But it requires an enormous amout of patience and dedication to maintain and fly, and Paul seems to have an abundance of both.

He only missed the final five cut by one place, being nudged out by Windy and the Typhoon when the last scores were posted. I'm sure that Paul was disappointed, but 6th place at the Nats with this complex an airplane is still a major accomplishment...and he beat out 14 other top notch flyers.

Paul did say that he was going to "retire" the 9-0-9 after this event.

Cheers,

Great Shot! I was reviewing my tapes this morning and enjoying all the wonders.

Paul's B-17 shows what a tough job it must be to be a judge. Near as I can tell, there is about half a spit difference among the top five, and not much more than that among the top twenty. How you can judge those minute differences, and not be overwhelmed by names and other factors, is rather beyond me.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-15-01 AT 01:15 PM (EST)

Wish you'd gotten a pic of it doing the bottom outside corner of the sq.8's or loops. I know how difficult it is to stick a camera in front of your face when watching this critter doing the tricks. I haven't been able to do it! Kinda sad to see it retired, but considering how much prep time it takes for each flight, it's no wonder. It can't be any fun to fly, terrible to practise with, etc. It was a "statement" to the WC Judges more than anything else. It also pushes the FAI rules in several places, so there should be some rules changes implimented soon to spell out what is & isn't legal. I hope others have pics of it they'll post here. Steve

Steve --

You said a mouth-full. Taking good pics is not easy. I have been giving the Big, Strong, Handsome Wife heck for not getting good tapes of my flights. At the Nats, I took over the camcorder, and have lots of shots of empty asphalt and empty sky. Photographing or taping PA is darned near as hard as flying it! Trying to figure out how to use the non-lens eye as a general guide to where things are is like flying inverted. Knowing when to zoom in and when to back out is like doing the reverse wingover. Ted Fancher seemed to always cause my battery to drain, but I do have at least some tape of each finalist.

As a learning tool, I took some close-ups of hands and of footwork, particularly on the overhead 8s.

To your point, I have some tape of the B-17 in outside maneuvers, and a friend has some software / hardware that can make VCR tape frames into individual JPEGS, so I'll see what we get.