WESTFAC II OR MUCH FUN IN TEXAS

WESTFAC II is now FLYING ACES history and it made some, too. First, for you timid flyers who did not venture to Gainesville, Texas, for this event, you really missed a big one. With 15 events including five mass launches, there was plenty of excitement. The demographics were great. The flying site was made for scale rubber and power – just ask anyone who flew over it. We had builders and flyers from twelve different states and Canada. These folks came to fly and according to them, they had a wonderful time. (I can emphatically confirm this!... Webmaster Marcy)

It all started on Friday at the Comfort Suites in Gainesville. Our five scale judges went to work on over 100 scale aircraft with one of the largest Jumbo/Giant Rubber Scale entries I have ever seen. Larry Kruse was there to both fly [he won the coveted Walt Mooney Memorial Trophy] and cover the event for ‘Flying Models.' By the way, if I can quote Chris Starleaf nearly correct, he said this was one of the best events he has attended. The scale judging table had a "new member" at the end of it. Besides the five judges, there was Mike Isermann with a laptop computer. That little baby had some new software in it to automatically update scale scores with flight times and do the FAC math for each aircraft. This is new territory and it proved very worthwhile.

Saturday morning started early – 7 a.m. for official flights. We had studied seven years of wind historicals before picking the dates for the event, but with Ol' Mother Nature, you just never know. The Texas Working Committee was ready and both Saturday and Sundays events went well. Thanks to a wonderful Town spirit, we had donations from the Chamber of Commerce and fantastic help from the Airport Manager. Both will receive commendation letters from WESTFAC. This was the first event I have attended that had free golf carts available for aircraft retrieval thanks to Grant Carson [a Flying Aces member and a resident of Gainesville]…!!

At 4 p.m. on Sunday we stopped flying and at 4:45 p.m. we had the final results from the computer. Herb Kothe was named GRAND CHAMPION and was presented with the new "MIKE MIDKIFF GRAND CHAMPION TROPHY" which will now revolve around our three WESTFAC venues [Perris California, Gainesville Texas and Denver Colorado]. Published in the current Flying Aces Newsletter are all the results and some of the many pictures from the event. To see all the pictures, just go to our web site at www.westernfac.com and click WESTFAC II pictures.

Our primary objectives were surely met at WESTFAC II. WE HAD A LOT OF FUN and continued to develop our venue Management Teams who will run WESTFAC in the future. Congratulation to the Texas Working Committee and all of the WESTFAC II Flyers.

The next WESTFAC is still in the planning stages and we hope to have it in 2011 in Denver Colorado.

Many Maxes to All...Roger Willis

MEMBERSHIP LIST PRIVACY

As in previous years, the Membership List will appear in the January 2010 edition of Windy Sock, paper edition, but not in the web site. If you have any objection to having name, address, phone number and e-mail address published, please notify your editor as soon as possible.

NO DECEMBER MEETING?

It is possible there will not be a meeting of Alamo Escadrille in December due to Christmas activity, cold weather, and lack of scale interest. Squadron Leader Shields will advise all by e-mail or phone of the final decision.

FIRST "RAZOR BURN," NOW "LASER BURN"

Rick Carnrick says, "I am finishing a Sting Aero glider with built-up wing I bought from Tim at A to Z a year ago. Going to mod it for Rapier/Jetex flight at SW Regionals. I did sand where parts meet but was reluctant to sand exposed ribs. My plan is to have semi-transparent, light covering tissue (yellow), perhaps over mylar. The darker burn marks bothered me. After Googling for a while, I stumbled across a forum where one fellow said he used titanium oxide (?!) artist paint to cover dark spots. Researched that nitrate dope will work over acrylic. Found some acrylic (Amsterdam Acrylic Titanium Buff light) at a local art store, took a Q-tip with a small amount of water aside, and presto! The exposed rib matches the other balsa parts! The reason I brought this up is that at our after-flight meeting Saturday noon some complaints were brought up about laser-cut kits' burn marks, and reluctance to sand too much so it doesn't show through tissue on small scale models. Has anyone else done this? Are there better suggestions? Attempting to brush on bleach didn't seem to work well."

AN OLDIE...

Curtis Jarrett asks, "Do you set up your models to fly right or left? Also do you offset your rudder to glide in that direction?" Ye editor answers, "Rarely do I have a model so well aligned (no warps) and so well put together that I have a choice, Curtis! So I let them turn in whatever direction they like. BUT I am convinced that low-wingers should not be allowed to turn right. Ole Rottensox, as I recall, once agreed with this and explained why in a long-ago issue of the FAC newsletter. Like all free-flight theories (my opinion) his proof was not airtight. I try not to mess with the rudder (or elevator) at all but there are times when it is necessary. (Note Bill Hannan's advice in "This Month's Models." Changes in tail settings will cause different results, varying with air speed.) Always when you reset the rudder consider the need for a compensating change in thrust line, unless you need to make the model turn in the same direction in the glide as in the power phase. Speaking of rudders, I never increase the rudder size in order to improve stability. I think oversized rudders, combined with inadequate dihedral, are often the cause of spiral instability. Sometimes I go so far as to reduce rudder size. The "real" airplanes have large rudders in order to give the pilot adequate control at landing speeds. Another thing to remember is that as the bank increases, the rudder begins to act more and more as an elevator; past 45° it is more elevator than rudder and the nose goes down."

MEET WOUT MOERMAN

Windy Sock's web site reaches far and wide and probably serves as a good pipeline for many isolated modelers world wide. The Internet may well prove to be a lifesaver for our part of the model airplane hobby. Here's an example:

"Hi, I would like to react on the articles about the DH71 Tiger Moth & Dippity-Doo. It was mentioned (by you?) that ‘Our Web site receives about 5,000 hits per month, so there are probably many modelers out there who do not see the FAC News....and might want to?' I am one of those anonymous regular visitors of your site and enjoy this site very much. So I would like to thank you and the others for this very enjoyable newsletter on the Internet!

"About the DH71, I found a nice reference on another site I often frequent (Click Here). It is in French, but the excellent pictures don't require a translation.....Kind regards, Wout Moerman"

Windy Sock's reply to Wout: "Thanks for the kind words, sir. It is my hope that Windy Sock is reaching the many free-flight modelers who are isolated from any club activity. It will help keep our hobby alive in these days of radio control. In what country are you located, and what type of models do you build?....Joe"

Wout's reply: "I'm 45 years old and located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I build mainly small-sized rubber free flight models: scale, sport and living room. I fly mainly outdoors, which is rather uncommon in my country. Most modelers keep their scale models for indoor flying and fly duration models outdoors. So I'm in a rather solitary position and that's the reason I love to look overseas for inspiration. If you would like to see some of my models just take a look (Click here). (Very interesting, and translated....editor). Some of the pages of my site are in English, but the pictures are self-explanatory. There are some plans of own design free for download and there are more to come. If you like you can use whatever you like, just let me know. Most plans are available in Dutch as well as English. Have fun......Wout"

We hope to hear more from you, Wout. Below are a few sights from Wout's Web site.

#1: Looks like Halloween in Holland! And that skull DOES have a prop on it!
#2: Wout calls it "Frog Pup," and it does ROG, if we understand him correctly.
#3: "Polly." Cute, and should be a crowd pleaser. Good to see a sense of humor at your hangar, Wout!
#4: Corben Super Ace. Shots like this leave one guessing about whether it's in flight or not. A fast shutter speed will stop a rubber-powered prop dead, and this could be the case here. Regardless, it's an epitome of rubber-powered free-flight at its typical best, sun shining through the tissue.

"AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS"

...Editor: Following is a first-hand account of the World War II raid on Tokyo in April 1942 as told by one of the participants...

My name is Edgar McElroy. My friends call me "Mac." I was born and raised in Ennis (Texas), the youngest of five children, son of Harry and Jennie McElroy. Folks say that I was a quite one. We lived at 609 North Dallas Street and attended the Presbyterian Church. My dad had an auto mechanic's shop downtown close to the main fire station. My family was a hard-working bunch, and I was expected to work at Dad's garage after school and on Saturdays, so I grew up in an atmosphere of machinery, oil and grease. Occasionally I would hear a lone plane fly over and would run out in the street and strain my eyes against the sun to watch it. Some day that would be me up there! I really like cars, and I was always busy on some project, and it wasn't long before I decided to build my very own Model T out of spare parts. I got an engine from over here, a frame from over there, and wheels from some place else, using only the good parts from old cars that were otherwise shot. It wasn't very pretty, but it was all mine. I enjoyed driving on the dirt roads around town and the feeling of freedom and speed. That car of mine could really go fast. Forty miles per hour!

In high school, I played football and tennis, and was good enough at football to receive an athletic scholarship from Trinity University in Waxahachie (Texas). I have to admit that sometimes I daydreamed in class, and other times I thought about flying my very own airplane and being up there in the clouds. That is when I decided to take a correspondence course in aircraft engines. Whenever I got the chance, I would take my girl on a date up to Love Field in Dallas. We would watch the airplanes and listen to those mighty piston engines roar. I just loved it and if she didn't, well that was just too bad.

After my schooling, I opened a filling station with my brother, then drove a bus, and later had a job as a machinist in Longview (Texas), but I never lost my love of airplanes and my dream of flying. With what was going on in Europe and Asia, I figured that our country would be drawn into war some day, so I decided to join the Army Air Corps in November of 1940. This way I could finally follow my dream. I reported for primary training in California. The training was rigorous and frustrating at times. We trained at air fields all over California. It was tough going, and many of the guys washed out. When I finally saw that I was going to make it, I wrote to my girl back in Longview. Her name is Agnes Gill. I asked her to come out to California for my graduation and oh yeah, to marry me. I graduated on July 11, 1941. I was now a real, honest-to-goodness Army Air Corps pilot. Two days later, I married "Aggie" in Reno, Nevada. We were starting a new life together and were very happy.

(Continued next month)

16TH ANNUAL ALAMO SCRAMBLE