Dear Mark,
To the best of my memory, I only participated in one hand launch contest run by Dave. This contest was described in the September 1979 Model Builder by Dave Thornburg. It took place at the Soaring Union of Los Angeles field at Cal State Dominguez Hills. I won't describe the contest in detail because that is covered well in Dave's article.
The weather was perfect. The SULA field was dry grass on hard dirt with a slight slope downwards in the upwind direction. Wind was light and the thermals were popping early in the morning. Guys were practicing before the contest started and getting out. The weather remained perfect with medium-strength closely spaced thermals. If you had no direct evidence of a thermal, the drill was to launch upwind and simply cruise until you got a bump. The odds were excellent that day that you would get something within a couple hundred feet. You could also of course spot off the other guys, or do a patrol on your way down from the preceeding flight to see what is happening for the next flight.
I was a member of the San Fernando Valley Silent Flyers at the time. This progressive group had been flying hand launch for several years at this point, including small contests and a running record of who had the longest flight from a hand launch. The group was made up of very competitive guys (including Joe Wurts) who were very willing to share and boost the general level of expertise, so it was a real hotbed of flying and technical activity.
I was flying a lot at the time with my Mirage. This was an easy plane to fly well and I was facile with it, so I was well prepared for the contest. The Mirage was working well for light air/light wind/small thermals, so I was optimistic about my chances. I remember that right before the contest, Tom Williams (Sailaire, Windrifter) saw my plane and proclaimed (in his booming voice) that it was way too big for a hand launch contest and that I would loose badly. I then did a practice launch right into a thermal and got out while Tom watched. It was very satisfying!
Anyway, the key thing to say about the contest is that (I believe) it really marked the transition of hand laucnh from an informal, pick-up kind of deal to a real, validated form of flying. This transition occured because Dave had the insight to see that this could be a big deal in the R/C soaring world, and he had the clout as a highly respected columnist to do something about it. When everyone heard that Dave was holding a contest, we knew that it would be an exciting deal and that it would be well and fairly run. We also knew that it would be publicized by virtue of his skills and connection with Model Builder - this is a factor since I believe that post-contest publicity is an essential element of any big, successful contest.
So a lot of guys showed up. Some had special, small airplanes. A bunch had Mirages. I don't remember what Joe Wurts flew, but he had been flying about that time a 12' span, ultralight model that he could make go up in almost anything, and even then he had an uncanny ability to center thermals.
Dave used his little 54" span model. I think he was disappointed that he didn't do better, but he was very gracious about it. I don't think that model was working up to its full potential - current HL models work quite a bit better I would say. Anyway, he was at a big disadvantage relative to the bigger models in the great air at SULA.
Dave mentions in the article that I wasn't getting big launches with the Mirage. This contest occurred when guys were just starting to use finger holes or external finger rests to hold onto when throwing. I was using 120 grit wet-or-dry patches on the side of the airplane to get a better grip. This really doesn't work worth a darn plus I wore my fingertips off - I could have cracked a safe! The other problem was that when I threw very hard I had a tendency to crack the skin of the aft fuselage from the twisting/jerking of the tail. Michael Bame loaned me (then new) Hot Stuff at the contest to repair a new crack in the aft fuselage. One reason the Mirage fuselage is so wide near the tail was to increase the strength - I had an Ed Slobod Paragon right before the Mirage and I could rip the stab off it in about three throws if I got over-excited...
One thing to say about Dave's MB article: I think he really overdid it in focusing on me. All the top guys there were very competitive and there is a real luck element in getting air. I had very good luck that day, and I was well prepared. Others were equally well prepared and just missed a thermal or two, that's all.
Dave Thornburg was a different kind of guy from the typical RC sailplane pilot. He was steeped in the folklore of models, especially free flight, and he seemed to me to come from an earlier time, sort of as if he grew up during the depression in the 30's. He wasn't an analytical, technical guy. Rather, it was the art of modelling and flying that he pursued. Read his construction article for the Bird of Time - artistic and folklore aspects abound. He was a very skillful and intuitive flyer at the time. He was also a beautiful builder using classic materials and methods. Everybody looked up to him for guidance. I think to me he represented a kind of role model to me and many others. He was a very positive influence on RC soaring. At a time of rapid growth in the sport, with lots of guys trying to figure it out, he shared his knowledge freely and skillfully.
OK. Enough of that for now. Please write again if you have more questions or if I didn't get close to what you wanted!
Regards,
Blaine Beron-Rawdon
Last
Updated 02/26/00
By Mark Miller on a Macintosh G3
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