The Mid-South Fly-In 2006 was a great success! With weather in the mid 70's, near zero wind and a flying field manicured so that even the 1/2A models
could be ROG! We had participants as far as the northern northeast as well as Florida, Tennessee, Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Georgia
and West Virginia to name a few! What a great bunch of guys and gals!
This year's event included the Class III pattern event which unfortunately
had only 4 participants. Also we were sponsoring a special Falcon 56 Class II pattern event of which we had no participants.
With 24 pilots signed in and over 100 aircraft on hand we had much more general flying than in previous years! Even up to
6 aircraft in the air at one time!! Some pilots recorded 10 to 15 flights on Saturday alone!
Our spectator count almost quadrupled from last year’s event.
Several spectators were touring through the pits as well as through the displays of vintage radio equipment and asking all
sorts of questions. A special thanks to Ron Morgan, Don Patterson and everyone else who were showing their collections of
radio gear and answering all those questions. I had several comments from passing spectators that they had seen many of these
radio systems in years passed in the model magazines but had never seen them in real life.
We also had a visit from some noted names in the model industry.
Bliss Teaque AMA Vice President of Section IV and Doug Holland Vice President of Finance for the AMA. Also up were Dave Platt
with his beautiful and very tough Falcon 56 (More on this later) and Norm Rosenstock offering signed copies of his book “Tales
of an Ancient Modeler”. Let not forget Ron Morgan, AMA Nationals Manager for all the help with this event.
With all the flying being done we were blessed with very few mishaps.
One particular mishap that was quite interesting was Dave Platt planting his Falcon 56 in top of a 80 foot tree. With some
discussing on how to dislodge the model, SWAMPS Club President and flying site owner Ralph Tutor convinced his son to do a
little tree bumping with his Bobcat skid steer loader! With some small persuading the tree gave up its prize to the tone of
very little damage of a broken prop and needle valve. Fortunately for Dave, John Johnson of John's Hobbies was a participant
and has a large stock of vintage engine parts in his store. John made a trip and returned with the much needed needle valve.
Dave did some minor repairs in the pits and was again in the air with his Falcon 56. To attest to the toughness of these vintage
designs, Dave even went on to win the Concours event with this Falcon 56 after all this!!! By the way, did I mention that
both of Dave's models were flown with reeds!!
We also had some model vintage manufacturers attending with Dan,
Billie and David Gipe of Early RC Models coming down from Michigan displaying
all 19 of their vintage designs being offered. Jeff Petroski of Home and Hobby Solutions also was on hand with his Kwik Fli
III recently available in a laser cut kit. I would also like to thank these guys for donating some of their kits for the give
away. Also a special thanks to Tower Hobbies, Ace RC and Great plane for donating prizes also!
The swap meet produced some great deals on some aircraft, radio
and engines at some good prices. Our CD Dick Pettit even picked up a huge "Miss Philadelphia"
on Saturday and was flying it on Sunday!!
The Saturday night banquet was some of the best eating found in
the area. A special thanks to Pasty and Ralph Tutor for finding LinShire By the Pond facility. Great food with a wonderful
environment for the banquet. Many of the ladies who attended were asking Shirley the owner for her recipes!! The awards handed
out were as follows:
Youngest Pilot: David
Gipe 16 years old
Oldest Pilot: Norm Rosenstock
Best Finished Model: Dwane Wilson with his King Altair
Best Old Timer (SAMS) Larry
Moore with his Spook (Gull Wing)
Concours: Dave Platt with
his Falcon 56
Class III Pattern 1st Place: Dave Burton : Sun Fly IV
Class III Pattern 2nd Place: Dwane Wilson : King Altair
Class III Pattern 3rd Place: Ronnie Weaver : Sr Falcon
All in all a great meet and great weather. Unfortunately on Sunday
the weather looked rather poor everywhere except the flying field! It was raining with thunder storms all around but never
a drop at the field. Many people left early but the ones who stayed were treated to another find day!
If you missed this year’s event please plan to attend next
year. You will never meet and fly with a better bunch of guys who enjoy the hobby as well as the fellowship with some of the
history makers of Radio control model airplanes!
I would like to thank everyone who helped out with presenting
this years event. Especially to my Wife Elizabeth, Daughter Christina, Laura Evans and Brian Taylor
for helping out in the concession stand, Rick Cawley and Ed Evans for frequency control and Dick Pettit
for CDing. A very special thank you to Ralph and Patsy Tutor for the use of their superb flying facility and their support
of this event.
Hope to see you next year for the Mid-South Vintage RC Society
Fly-In!!
Bob Harris
