Remember the classic song, “At Last” by Etta James. Well, this was an “At Last” kind of day. We had the Wingz ‘n’ Dawgz flying event at last. After 3 years of trying to do Wingz ‘n’ Dawgz and getting weathered out each time, this time was near perfect. Wind was about 8 SE and the temperature was in the 80s until noon. We had a great turnout, including a pilot from Clinton and several spectator visitors. Besides our shed for cover, Ray Cox had donated to LAFFS, a 10 x 10 pop up tent that we erected alongside the shed giving us plenty of shade. This was perfect. We had room to spread out and everyone could find comfortable shade. A big thanks to Ray for his generous donation. Bob McFadden efficiently hosted the day and held the pilot’s briefing at 0900 sharp, explaining the challenging rules of the Okie Bowling, the 3-RLS event, and the F-22 mass launch.
Gene Wallock and Ray Cox ably manned the ticket table and honcho’d the drawings for prizes throughout the day and the grand prize drawings. The flying events were interspersed throughout the day between periods of open flying. Soon, it was time for Okie Bowling, The brave pilots who towed the tetherball on a 40-foot rope trying to knock over empty fuel bottles (the pins) were Bob, Corky, Paul, Steve, Mike, Kris, and Chip. Bob was first up and set the bar very high, hitting pins on each of the three allowed passes. He racked up an impressive score of 36 pins. Bob showed us how to do it. He had plenty of power with his Big Stick, and once airborne he climbed promptly, getting the ball away from the ground. Then on final he lined up on the runway as if to land. The wind was blowing from the east so it naturally drifted the plane to a perfect alignment with the pins that were in a row just west of the runway. He slowed enough to set the ball down on the grass and then dragged the ball smoothly along the ground by flying the aircraft at only about 5 feet over the ground. He scored on each pass, whacking the pins just about in the center of the row, where the high value pins were located. Several other people then tried the event with not nearly as much success. Kris towed with a plane that was underpowered for the task and kinda mushed into the ground after getting airborne. Mike had a dead stick while towing and busted up his landing gear. The second most successful pilot only got 6 pins, far below the old master bowler, Bob McFadden. But the highlight of Okie Bowling was Corky’s Flying Circus. It was entertaining to say the least and maybe even breathtaking. On takeoff roll, he veered hard right, then hard left, then in to the grass, then back to the runway, then up in the air, then back down to the ground again, first one wingtip dragging, then the other, then finally a mighty leap into the air. Once airborne, he discovered the tow rope had become lodged on top of the stabilizer, which made it hard to control. Of course, this fit right in with Corky’s circus act to that point. But through superior piloting, Corky put in full rudder, yawing the aircraft to dislodge the rope. I don’t remember much after that because I was still trying to catch my breath after all the excitement.
The F-22 mass launch was something to see. Five guys including Jack, Corky, Mike, Don, and Steve Bell lined up on the runway and launched. There was momentary fur ball in the sky, but they soon spread out and buzzed around, not even coming close to a mid air. The last one to land was Jack, who had some excellent spotting assistance from Paul. There was at least one hard impact with the ground and a couple landings way out in the weeds. It’s was fun and the original promise of a mass gaggle of F-22s finally came true.
The 3 rolls, 3 loops, and 3 spins event had a lot of participants. It seemed easy enough– take off, do 3 ailerons rolls, 3 loops, 3 spins, and land. The pilot who had the shortest time from start of takeoff roll to full stop was declared the winner and received the coveted “Winner, winner, chicken dinner”. It seemed that the quick responding aircraft, like foamies with big 3-D control surfaces would win, but that was not to be. It was hard or impossible to get them to spin. I tried the challenge with a Senior Falcon that Steve J. had so graciously given me. But, winning was not to be. I got airborne, turned downwind, did three rolls, then tried three loops, each time getting lower and lower. I was getting uncomfortably low after the second loop, and considered starting a third loop, but chickened out and had to climb back up for a third loop. That was my undoing, and I came in dead last with a time of 1- minute, 34-seconds. Steve Bell had some aircraft problems which ended up turning his aircraft into splinters way out in the boonies to the west, so far that he had to drive his truck to retrieve it. We’re not sure what gremlins conspired against him. Paul took the honors flying his Long John with a time of 57 seconds. Superior airmanship and experience, no doubt.
Ken Reitsma brought all the cooking gear and prepared the hot dogs and great hamburgers. We all had a fine meal, and because of all the tent coverage, everyone had shade. It was most enjoyable. Thank you Ken R. for your continued unselfish support. Gene handed out prizes throughout the day, and lots of people got something. The Grand prize drawing at the end of the day, (about 2pm), was a Futaba 6EX radio system won by Jack McKinnis, and an L-4 ARF won by Bob McFadden.
This was a really nice day with good friends–about all one can ask. I’ve left out a lot of details, but have attached some photos. You’ll see more of the photos at the Xmas party.
We decided that the Chili Dog Day we had before must have exorcised the demons that had plagued our Wingz ‘n’ Dawgz event before. This was a fine day—worth the wait for it.
If you weren’t there, we’ll have another one, we promise.
– Clem
