North Alabama Fun-Fly

I want to thank Ty and his gang for putting on one great fun-fly. The planes were great and the company was even greater.

Although there were many great planes in attendance, here is a picture of the ARFs that were present. Ty never did explain the significance of the grey wing tip on his Nobler located on the left.

The yellow winged Nobler is a nice variation on the kit.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-05-03 AT 02:24 PM (CDT)
 
Well, I removed only enough monocoat to see if I could install a sliding lead out fixture. One look at the plywood tip plate and the ribs and I said, "Naw,not this time". Now the only monocoat I have on hand is gray and my wifes iron. Nuff said??
We had 18 registered flyers, several stopped by to just watch. Rollin K. got us in the local paper and several mentioned they read about it and came to watch. One old farmer lived right next door and stayed for three hours. I'm not sure even I could stand that much boredom . Several guys flew some planes for the first time and got them trimmed and a few were able to do their first loops, etc. The weather was dead calm to balmy breezes up to 7 mph. Lots of sun, lots of fun, much more talking and meeting than flying. John Simpson got to test fly a 650 (may be wrong here) version of his Cavalier. In fact Tom Morris showed up just to fly, no store. Must have been a relief for him. There were about three Profile Cavaliers, 2 regular Cavaliers, two Magicians, five or six Flite Streaks, not all ARFs, at least three Noblers (2 ARFS), three Chiefs, both versions, two Vikings, one Ringmaster, an orginal Road Kill mark 2.0, a gaggle of .15 powered combat wings. Darn things are faster than I remember and at 34,000 rpm, they honk. Several combat flights. Lots of fun watching those. No craches, but a coulple of bad landings. I found my Nobler was a terror at 4 sec laps. Also a warp developed in the wing so the outboard wing droops upright, opposite inverted. The Brodak .40 never let me down, but I did change the needle assy for an OS version. Tried to start it too lean but got it going, still a little lean, on 60 foot lines. Richer next time, and tweak the flaps.
Folks from Tenn, Ala were there. Birmingham to Memphis to Nashville, to Fyfe and Anniston. We left the field better than we found it. We hope to make it an annual event.

Ty,

I agree, I totally recovered my ARF Nobler and also concluded that the re-engineering to install adjustable leadouts was not worth it this time.

You know, us Navy guys have to stick together. If you let me know your snail mail, I will send you a swatch of Insignia Blue to doctor up your Nobler with. [email protected]

Thanks Louis, but that is the only way I can tell mine from the crowd!! Actually I am tempted to strip it and recover in silkspan and paint it like VF2, circa 1937. Kinda like your'n only different, kinda.

Just wanted to add my thanks to the North Alabama Control-Line Association for a great day. The weather was perfect and so was the flying site. This is the first time I’d had the opportunity to fly with others, and the experience was invaluable.

I’d brought along a TT .25 powered ARF Streak (the distinctive finish on the far right in the above photo ) as well as an OS LA .25 Ukey. The layout pretty much had me with a circle available to use whenever I was ready, which I had not expected. If you are a beginning flyer and a little shy about showing up to one of these things, don’t be. It was a great experience!

Special thanks to both Ty M. and Rollin K. who both went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and welcome. Rollin spent a least half of his day walking me through pit etiquette, pitting and launching for me, flying and helping me trim the Ukey (the Coke can trim tab only adds to the beauty of the design) and giving me some handle time on his Diesel powdered “Goat”. More education in a day that I could have gotten on my own in years. BTW, the ARF Streak flew well right off the board. One of the big advantages of the ARF to me was the only real building to concentrate on was proper alignment. I think this detail may escape a lot of perpetual novices like me. An ARF keeps me focused on these most important details.

I also picked up a deal on a ARF Nobler NIB (thanks Louis), got to watch numerous great and near great patterns (to my eye), see some fantastically built planes, meet lots of great people (including some local to me flyers from Nashville, flying COMPLETELY UNBELIVEABLE COMBAT!!!!! as well as stunt) and just generally get a good education. I’ve been working on this CL thing for more than a couple of years now. This was by far my most fun day.

Thanks again for all of the planning and effort to make this a great experience.

Best regards,

Clay Griffin

Clay:
Thanks for the comments about the fun-fly. I think everybody had a good time, at least nobody threw anything at either Ty or me. I was happy to help trim the Ukie; always wanted to fly one of them and this was a good opportunity. It's fun! I wondered what happened to Louis's Nobler, glad you were able to get it. I just recently helped a buddy in Florida get one in the air and I incorporated a few mods, like bushings in the bellcrank, carbon rod over the pushrod, stronger leadouts, different tank lines and I can help with yours if you'd like. We can do most of the mods by mail if you send me the parts so email me and I'll step you through the process. By the looks of your flying, the Nobler should last you for quite awhile so some time spent now will help it live longer. Now you'll have to decide where to put all the awards you'll be gathering!

RK

Rollin Keszler

Clay, I forgot to thank you for the donuts and cakes. Umm, ummm!! Totally, like blew my diet man, like ya know??

Diet? Whats a Diet??

Did you and Rollin stop by the Barbeque place in New Market? If not you really missed some good Barbeque! Keep up the good work - someday I'll be back in the area - probably after I retire in the Tullahoma - Winchester area.

Hey Big Jim, ya'll can come back tomorrow, we need you.

Ty:

I'll take the blame for the cakes, but somebody else brought the donuts!

Yes, the cakes were excellent and very moist. You learn to appreciate a good moist cake after eating the dried out cakes that they serve on Navy ships. Cakes and bread have to be dried for several days before they are served on board Navy ships. Moist breads and cake (so they say) cause constipation, and you can't have any of that on board ships. Must be true, I do not remember ever being bound up on board; however, that greasy fried seagull probably did wonders in keeping us lax.

Let's see. You are a LCDR and I was a Chief. I think you got fed a lot of scuttlebutt as in the Chief's Mess, we always had fresh bread and cakes. Then of course the Chief CS was a Chief. Ha. Even as an SM3 I got fresh bread on the mid watch as one of our SA's was on mess duty in the bakery. Nothing like hot fresh bread and good Navy coffee on the mid in the South China Sea.

Well, in the ward room, all we got was the dried out cakes and the stale bread. The officers were all to cheap to come off of any of their money (wardroom dues) to buy decent grub for the officer's mess. Many times I have walked past the chief's mess and wished I could just eat the scraps that came off the table.

I'm also a Navy veteran, and had, until now, forgotten that the officers had to pay for their meals. On the "Tin Can" I served on, the cooks were exceptionally good. We had a German national who was serving in our Navy, by the name of Koenig. he was a great pastry chef, and baked every night for the crews mess. Our other two cooks were from Louisiana, both were excellent cooks. The Crews mess was a culinary treat, even by military standards.

I suppose that whatever was left over, was used the next day in the Wardroom.

Another neat thing about this particular "Can," was that the mess boys, and cooks, not only allowed me, but encouraged me, to build a Super Ringmaster on the tables after chow. Even the Skipper sat down with me and talked at legnth about my hobby. Of course he was not your normal Skipper, he was a "Mustang," and an ex fighter jock.

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?

John, which "Tin Can"? I was on the Newman K. Perry DD883, the Cromwell DE 1014, Hewitt DD966 and tdy to the Compton, Truxtun (CGN), and the Henry W. Tucker. The real Navy.

>John, which "Tin Can"? I was on the Newman K. Perry DD883,
>the Cromwell DE 1014, Hewitt DD966 and tdy to the Compton,
>Truxtun (CGN), and the Henry W. Tucker. The real Navy.

Interesting Ty.

It seems I remember seeing a few of those "Cans" in various places. Definatley the Perry, and the Hewitt.

I served on the Eversole, DD789. I also spent some time on the Hornet, and the Hector, a repair ship. But, I was USNR. Real enough Navy for me.

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?

Hornet CVS12, Hector AR 8. My buddy from my hometown and boot camp ended up on the Hornet.

>Hornet CVS12, Hector AR 8. My buddy from my hometown and
>boot camp ended up on the Hornet.

Yep, them's the "Boats"

(For you non-Navy types, It's almost heresy to refer to anything over 60 feet long as a boat, they're Ships. Just a little joke between a couple of swabs.)

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?

Interesting thing about "swabs" is that at every meet I hve been to since the 60's, most of the guys are ex Navy or Air Force. Very few Army and almost no USMC or CG. Interesting, no?
The USAF almost always had a team at the Nats, which for 25 some years was hosted by the US Navy at NavResAirSta's. This all started when Adm. Nimitz was CNO.

Ty, I believe both the esteemed Col. Trostle, and Dale Kirn both flew on Air Force teams, though at different times. I don't recall that the Navy ever did field a team, and I have never seen teams from the other branches of the Armed Forces. I've heard of individuals from all of them competing though.

I wonder if the bases still have the hobby work shops like they did years ago. When you're far from home, it was sure nice to be able to go to the shop and build something as familiar as a Cl plane. Sorta connected one to his roots.

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?

Clay;
Why don,t you come fly with the locals?
They won,t laugh at you , they don,t laugh at me(do they?)

Charlie,

Thanks for the invitation. When and where?

If it's easier send me a direct note <[email protected]>. The Nashville group I met in AL said they fly in Mt. Juliet at the school on Sunday afternoons. I keep trying to make that, but haven't had a Sunday work out yet. Let me know what the plan is.

Thanks again