Lake Charles, La.
As seen in the November 1978 Model Aviation
The 52nd National Model Airplane Championships had a lot of the main ingredient needed to make a good Nats—good weather. Except for a few hours of rain on the first outdoor days, the '78 Nats was blessed with either gentle breezes or calm. It was hot, very hot, but no worse than many parts of the country were reporting at the same time.
Good weather resulted in lots of flying, and that's what helps to make contestants happy. But good weather wasn't the whole story—the Nats was mostly well run, too. There were very few serious complaints heard and only one official protest, which did not hold up, so there didn't seem to be many unhappy people.
One exception was the RC Helicopter event. This was the first time the event was held at the Nats on an official basis, and there were some rough spots. It quickly developed that the rules, which are new, were subject to various interpretations so there were some disagreements with official decisions. There was also some dissension, apparently resulting from differing viewpoints which seemed to be aggravated by commercial interests. Mostly, however, the helicopter problems seemed to be caused by shakedown problems of any event with new rules, compounded by lack of experience by all concerned, including the officials. James Osborne, the director, deserves lots of credit for accepting the responsibility on short notice and knowing that there were bound to be problems.
By contrast, the RC Soaring event, which had similar problems when introduced officially to the Nats in 1974, was one of the happiest '78 events. Excellent officiating and organization by volunteers from Houston, headed by Bert Striegler, complemented the good weather, and the overall result was a highly praised event.
Much talked about at the Soaring event was the use of a Radio Shack mini-computer for tabulation of results. This was an experiment arranged by the Nats Executive Committee and it was highly successful, delivering complete results within five minutes after each round of flying. The happy experience may be expanded at the '79 Nats to more or all events.
This was not the first time for computer tabulation at a Nats as it was successfully tried at Olathe, Kansas in 1968. But that experience depended upon Navy personnel and equipment beyond AMA's means. The new mini-computer operation, however, appears to be practical for AMA ownership and operation.
In contrast to some very bad experiences in 1977 (caused mostly by a poor site) the 1978 Control Line Combat activity was relatively free of problems. A good site helped, as did good event directorship. Some also said it was helped by the fact that the 1978 U.S. AMA-FAI Combat team was in England at the World Championships! But, in general, the Combat event ran smoothly under the tight control of former National Champ Riley Wooten and without the numerous protests and complaints that seem to typify this highly competitive activity.
On the Free Flight scene, there was a very unusual development. The overall FF director, Homer Smith, was presented with a plaque of appreciation from contestants who praised the efficient operation of events. Homer in turn praised his various event directors for having done a super job of organization and friendly administration. The general happiness prevailing in the Free Flight events was a welcome contrast to comparisons with some previous Nats.
Control Line activity in general was highly praised. The team of Bryant Thompson and Bill Lee as manager and director, plus excellent individual event directors and assistants, helped the good weather to minimize problems. There were some great combinations of people. Little (and very pretty) Linda Wheeler from Texas was in charge of Racing events, assisted by big Vic Garner from California. Gerry Deneau from Denver ran the Carrier events, while John Shannon and Dubb Jett from Texas directed the Speed events. In Precision Aerobatics, with a very large entry, Arlie Preszler repeated his super job of directing as he did last year.
During the week before the Nats, a major Control Line crisis was discovered when it was realized that the AMA Carrier decks could not be transported from Ohio (where they have been stored since '76). The problem was finally solved when the former Nats CL Category Manager, Bob Vojslavek, was able to arrange having two Chicago decks trucked to Louisiana by his son Bill and Stan Stoy.
Another CL crisis was solved by the construction of Speed event safety barriers on the weekend before the Nats. The same was necessary for RC Pylon barriers. The barriers for both events had been left in California the year before due to lack of room on the Nats trailer. RC people also had to make up new racing pylons on the same weekend since the old heavy plywood units from Navy Nats days had been discarded as being too bulky and beyond economical repair. The new pylons turned out well, being made from standard steel tubing sections which are easily knocked down for storage and transportation.
Perhaps the biggest crisis of all was not evident to 90% of Nats participants. This involved telephone service. Vital to any Natsis good behind-the-scenes communications. Nats headquarters operations support the field events by constant contact with the community in which the Nats is held. Such communication is especially important during the week prior to the Nats when all final preparations are being arranged—hundreds of details involving Nats personnel, equipment, supplies and services are arranged or confirmed during that week. The operation involves arrangements for power, trash collection, portable toilets, transportation, food concessions, use of facilities, security, crowd control, first aid, and many details of local area support.
Special phone installations had been contracted for a month in advance, including a direct line between Chennault air base to the LARKS club field about 20 miles away (site of the RC Soaring and Helicopter events). Up until two days before the Nats only one phone was available of about half a dozen that had been asked for. The situation was not solved until the AMA officials went to the Louisiana State Public Service Commission for help to get the phone problem taken care of. Until that happened it was a frantic week of frustration, trying to get many originally simple details finalized.
RC Pattern was a big and busy event, with almost 200 entered in the four classes. Betty Stream was in charge again, as in '77, and she and her daughter Suzi, along with many other volunteers, did an excellent job of handling about a thousand flights. By contrast, Ed Rankin and a mostly Dallas/Fort Worth crew, had a relatively easy time with RC Pylon (compared to some previous years) due to a low entry turnout. But the pylon competition was as fierce as ever with the usual high performances, so the quality of officiating needed to be—and was—as good as ever. Those who didn't come missed a great event.
RC Scale drew the biggest crowd that anyone could remember. The site was jammed with cars and people, largely because little else was scheduled at the same time. Sport Scale dominated, with 10 times as many entries as Precision Scale, and with many unusual entries. A mostly new crew officiated and did an excellent job. The basic team of Dick Carson, John Preston, Dale Arvin and Chuck Dial worked well together to produce an overall Scale effort with few complaints.
Indoor fliers enjoyed a brand new site. Many acclaimed it to be one of the best ever at a Nats, even in comparison with some of the huge dirigible hangars of the past. With a ceiling height of over a hundred feet and a smooth beam structure (no girder network for models to get caught in) the new Burton Coliseum at Lake Charles provided two days of happy flying, with good help from the event director, Sandy Frank. As a result, some ideas are being considered for the possibility of future major indoor events at the site, separate from the Nats.
From the contestant viewpoint the Nats was a generally smooth operation. It turned out that way due to many good people workmg very hard behind the scenes to cope with problems that most participants take for granted. Maybe that's how it should be, but it could easily have been an unhappy Nats if the weather had been uncooperative or if so many good volunteers had not shown and done such a good job of making it easy for contestants to do their thing.
It took almost 400 volunteers to staff the Nats—about one for each three entries. With so many individuals it is impractical to list and credit all, but each one was important and is appreciated by AMA officers. Handling so many volunteers is in itself one of the major Nats problems: registering, identifying, housing, and communicating with them. To. coordinate and process the hundreds of officials and contestants, it took an AMA Headquarters group of 14 employees. Besides the basic paperwork necessary for control of the Nats the HQ people, with some volunteer help, supervised and operated a tabulation control center, the traditional Nats hobby shop, trophy distribution, a public information center, printing and distribution of the daily Nats News, a first aid station, and souvenir sales.
As in '74 and '75, the LARKS (Lake Area Radio Kontrol Society) provided the backbone of local support. Without such people to help set up the Nats, keep it running, and to clean up at the end, the Nats would be impossible to put on. Local support involves painting circles for events, arranging for rental or purchase of supplies and equipment, selling ads for 'the Nats program book, providing the physical labor to unload the Nats trailer, the building of various items before the Nats, transporting and setting up Nats gear on the field, putting up signs, keeping water coolers filled while events are running, trouble-shooting equipment and maintenance problems as they develop—the list is endless.
There were many LARKS members involved and three were in super-critical positions leading the club effort—President Dennis 'Bo' Hinch, Ned Barnes, and John Embry were everywhere, day and night, solving problems and coordinating support efforts. Many LARKS wives and children were also involved. In fact, the LARKS have a women's auxiliary group, called the LaLarks, and they worked at both Nats fields to help their husbands and youngsters participate.
Also of tremendous help were community officials-from the City of Lake Charles, McNeese University, Sowela Technical Institute, Burton Coliseum, the Sheriff's Department, the Calcasieu Police Jury, the Lake Charles Civic Center, the Convention and Tourist Commission, the Chamber of Commerce. The Lake Charles Nats each year has had tremendous cooperation and assistance from the city and the parish (equivalent to a county). Without such support the Nats would be much less than it is, so grateful thanks and appreciation from AMA folks is hereby acknowledged.
It was a busy but relatively calm Nats, not as big as many previous, but big enough to justify the title of the world's biggest model meet. The official entry list went over 1100. With all the officials the total number of participants was over 1500. That's a lot of people and most went home happy at having enjoyed another great Nats—the 52nd in a long series that began in the 1920's.
Where the Nats goes next is not yet certain. Several sites are being explored: Ohio, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas. Too, many unknowns existed at press time to indicate that any one location was more likely than others. But Lincoln, Nebraska is a brand new possibility, generated by modelers in that area who developed a detailed proposal. It is interesting enough that the AMA Executive Council will hold its fall meeting there, to help decide whether the offer is feasible. Meanwhile a return to Willow Grove naval air station near Philadelphia is a possibility, as is a return to the Dayton, Springfield and/or Columbus areas of Ohio. Simultaneously a previous possibility of using Ellington Air Force Base near Houston has gotten stronger although this seems more likely for 1980 than 1979. So there are number of possibilities and it is hoped that an announcement can be made before the end of this year regarding where the Nats will be next year. For now though, the memories of a good '78 Nats linger on …
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