Thirty flyers competed in twenty-eight events at Wawayanda, NY this year for the 25th Annual Barron Field Air Races, where warm temps and mostly mild drift lasted throughout the two day event on our field of dreams. Filmed by Tom Hallman, Owen Houck, Dave Krammes, Dave Mitchell, Fred Stagg, Michael & Oliver Sand, Peter Kaiteris, Rob Carleton, Tom Nallen II & Ronny Gosselin. Music via ArtList.io.
Honorary gift awards: [ Ссылка ]
*** Contest Report ***
Those of us who came the day before were greeted with a perfect
day for trim flying…with a classic Wawa sky, showing cloud formations
I had never seen before. I was truly captivated.
Once the foggy sunrise burned off, Saturday’s competition was held against
another beautiful cloud textured sky, creating a canvas for our models that showed
them in their best form. The day was filled with numerous scale and
non-scale events, along with three mass launches, ending with the BLUR race.
Both the WW1 and the peanut Goodyear MLs ended in a tie between two flyers
on the final round, which led to unexpected flyoffs! Dave Mitchell’s Aviatik D.1
aced out Tom Nallen 2’s high flying DH-4 in WW1, while Wally Farrell’s Lil Gem took the
kanone against Mike Escalante’s Falcon in the peanut Goodyear Race.
Sadly the Lil Gem went OOS while celebrating the victory, having taken a focused gaze
at his builder during the launch, then never looking back, lifting his ship high into the distant blue.
At least 10 models by 6 different flyers went OOS during the thermalistic day.
A few models made it into the 12’ corn, never to be found, but luckily some were recovered
through the efforts of keen tracking methods. You never expect a model to suddenly drift in the opposite direction, but in these moments, it pays to be prepared.
That evening, we had our annual gathering for dinner at the Colonial Diner in Middletown,
where the staff took good care of twenty flyers who exhausted but also amped up.
I always enjoy hearing the many loud, overlapping, enthusiastic conversations, replaying
the wild and at times unthinkable events of the day.
Sunday began once again with a beautiful foggy sunrise, enhanced with a hot air
balloon, and the unexpected drift across our field, all the while achieving a couple
of touch-n-goes before lifting above the distant tree line, a half mile to the southeast.
It then took little time for the power scale guys to get their flights in before any breeze
came our way. Majestic and thrilling flights by Wally Farrell’s Saab Tunnan, Doug
Beardsworth’s DH-4, and especially Tom Nallen 2’s Consolidated PT-1, which flew numerous, high, circling flights, once the engine kinks were worked out. It’s so good to see FF Power Scale back in the mix at Wawayanda and Geneseo in 2024.
The contest ended with our traditional Flying Horde mass launch. The drift was to the northeast, but stayed free of the corn. Wally Farrell’s high flying Swiss EKW took the K, along with the well deserved Grand Champ Honors. On his heels was our lone Junior flyer, Owen Houck, who grabbed three kanones during his heavily flown contest event schedule. His new FA Moth went OOS, but I’m sure he’ll consider building a new one for 2025. Also, a nod to this year's Earl Stahl winner from Geneseo, Fred Stagg, who received his first FAC kanone for his victory in Simplified scale with the Miles Magister.
It seems like yesterday that we began flying in Wawayanda, thanks to the invitation by the field’s owner, Andrew Barron.Only nine of us were there that day in 2000. It warms my heart to see the annual contest heavily embraced by flyers from the eastern US & Canada. Special thanks to co CD Mark Houck, and the extended Houck family, whose generosity is vast, feeding us free of charge with hot dogs, snacks, fruit & drinks.
Put this one on your bucket list, as it’s an experience you’ll never forget.
Tom Hallman
(Apologies to Doug Beardsworth for the typo)
Contest results:
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Oliver Sand's 1933 Outdoor Commercial Tractor plan: [ Ссылка ]
1933 Complete Model Aircraft Manual, full book:
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Oliver Sand's short kits: [ Ссылка ]
Fillon's Gloster A.S. 31: [ Ссылка ]
Schweizer 2-22 short kit: [ Ссылка ]
For more info on free-flight rubber-powered models, check these websites:
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National Free Flight Society - [ Ссылка ]
Mike Stuart's Flying Scale Models - [ Ссылка ]
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