The 2024 Northwest Control-Line Regionals
Roseburg, Ore., May 24-25-26, 2024

Jim McCartney's GeeBee makes a flight in Sport Scale at the 2024 Northwest Control-Line Regionals at Roseburg Regional Airport. Powered by an O.S. .120, the GeeBee sounds like the full-scale version. Flying Lines photo.

The West's big event rolls along in its 51st year

If it's Memorial Day Weekend in the West, the control-line model aviation action is at the Northwest Control-Line Regionals, which returned to Roseburg this year as fliers from all over North America converged once again on Oregon for three days of competition and socializing in their common passion.

Weather was almost perfect for CL flying, with light winds most of the time and partial overcast that kept temperatures cool. Attendance was down slightly in all events, especially Speed, but there was plenty of lively competition in all categories. Forty-nine individuals accounted for 122 event entries. Around the field, many contestants and crew members proudly displayed the 2024 T-shirt, which commemorated the late Phil Granderson, a master model builder, multi-event competitor and friend who took home many Regionals trophies over the years.

This was the ninth time the Regionals has been held in Roseburg in this current stint (it also was held here from 1996 to 2001), and plans are already underway for the 2025 event.

The work of putting on the Regionals was handled by the Eugene Prop Spinners, the Western Oregon Control-Line Flyers, the Northwest Fireballs, the Northwest Skyraiders, the Umpqua Valley Modelers, Roseburg area control-line fliers and many individuals who volunteered as event directors and workers.

Paul Walker bested a world-class field of 11 competitors in Expert Precision Aerobatics. Kestutis Dvarvydis took the Concours d'Elegance trophy for the most beautiful Stunt plane. Event grand champions were Dennis Nunes (Aerobatics), Lane Puckett (Combat), Jim Schneider (Navy Carrier), Leighton Mangels (Racing), Orin Humphries (Scale) and Ken Burdick (Speed).

Field setup and teardown was again under the direction of Eugene Prop Spinners' Gary Weems. Events were directed by Chris Cox (Aerobatics); Gene Pape (Combat); Kris Millard (Navy Carrier); Doug Powers (Racing); Walter Hicks (Scale); and Will Naemura (Speed). Registration and tabulation work was done by Robin Gearn and Barbara White.

Excellent lunches were provided by The Bun Stuffer food truck.

The contest offered trophy plaques through third place in all events, plus huge grand championship trophies in all events. An array of high-quality merchandise prizes was given away on a "door-prize" system, so every contestant came away with a good prize, win or lose.

The trophy and merchandise prizes were made possible in part by generous donations from Regionals contestants and supporters.

Trophy sponsors were: Don Chandler, Paul Gibeault, Orin Humphries, Lanny Shorts, the Norm McFadden family, the Northwest Fireballs and Alan Resinger. Merchandise or cash donations came from Don Chandler, Kestuteis Dvarvydis, Jerry Eichten, Eugene Toy & Hobby, Flying Lines, Dave Gardner, Russ Hester, Walter Hicks, Bruce Hunt, John Knoppi, John Lickley, Randy Ling, the Norm McFadden family, Alan Resinger, Gerald Schamp and Paul Walker.

Elsewhere on the Flying Lines website, see updated Northwest standings, Northwest records and Regionals records.

Kestutis Dvarvydis' Electra-2 was declared winner of the Concours d'Elegance award after a vote by the Aerobatics competitors. Flying Lines photo.

Event directors' reports

Combat

By Gene Pape

Another year of great Combat at the Northwest Regionals.

Field prep went quickly this year with help from Jim Corbett and Mark Crouse.

We were back up to five events this year. We had a total of nine entries this year across those 5 events with Andy Prior being the only entrant flying all five events.  Dave La Fever and Mark Crouse handled the judging on Friday and Saturday. Terence Bardue took Dave’s place, joining Mark for judging Fast on Sunday. While I ran the matches for the ½-A, 80 mph, and 15 Fast events, Lane Puckett stepped in and ran Vintage on Friday and Gary Harris ran Fast on Sunday.  I much appreciate everyone’s help.

We started things off at noon on Friday with ½-A. The weather started out cold and we went from heavy coats to T-shirts and back throughout the day. There were some truly outstanding matches with no midair collisions.  Lane Puckett started out with a win and ended with no losses to finish first. This was Robert Smith’s best event of the contest as he came in second.  Russ Hester was flying really well and came in third.

Vintage Combat was flown starting at 4 p.m. that afternoon. Since there were only three entries, it was decided that the event would be flown round-robin, giving the pilots two matches each.  The first match was John and Andy.  Andy’s model was damaged in that match, so John and Gene flew next while Andy fixed his damaged Voodoo. The repaired Voodoo worked well enough for Andy’s match with Gene that Andy won the event by a large margin while John ended up second over Gene by a whopping 2 points.  Final scores after two matches each, Andy 272, John 240, Gene 238.

80 mph started things off on Saturday morning.   This was the best-attended event of the contest with many very good matches, a few of which ended up with midair collisions.  Lane Puckett, Russ Hester, and Andy Prior all flew extremely well in this event and finished in that order.  Slav Malovan is an extremely talented newcomer to our area.  It is a pleasure to watch him fly.  He finished this event in a tie with Northwest regulars Jim Green and Gary Harris for fourth place.

Collisions are a part of Combat.  This is the instant after impact between planes flown by Slav Malovan (left) and Gary Harris in an 80mph Combat match. Flying Lines photo.

After 80 mph was concluded and a lunch break, we flew 15 Fast. To me, the worst thing that happened all weekend happened in this event. Several of us flying Combat are now well into our 70s.  While we can still fly Combat without much trouble, flying level for long periods is a real chore. Something happened at the beginning of one of Robert Smith’s matches and he had to fly the entire five minutes level with a screaming 15 Fast model. He was visibly worn out before the engine quit. Ah, to be young again.

Slav Malovan is an accomplished F2D pilot, so this event suited him. He finished second behind winner Andy Prior. The final match ended with Andy killing Slav a split second before hitting the pushrod on Slav's model ,causing it to do the tightest inside loops you have ever seen until it hit the ground. Russ Hester took home the third-place spot in this event.
 
Sunday’s only Combat event was Fast. As is usual, this was a great event to watch as the Nelsons just simply started every time so there were no matches where one person was flying while the other was trying to start their engine. There were many good matches and Lane claims Combat god Norm McFadden forced his model to crash and plug up the needle valve assembly in his final match, which resulted in my winning the event leaving him second. Russ Hester flew well to round out the top three.

Congratulations to Lane Puckett as Regionals Combat Champion for the second year in a row after winning ½-A and 80mph then placing second in Fast.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Navy Carrier

By Kris Millard

Let me start with a huge thanks to the Oregon crew for hosting the Regionals. It’s a special event and the highlight of many of our competitors' yearly flying activities. I cannot imagine all the time and hard work that goes into putting on an event of this scale.

And an extra special thanks to Chris Nicholls, who took the time to bring and set up the Carrier deck even though his busy schedule did not allow him to attend this year to fly. Chris a a relatively newcomer to Carrier who we are unfortunately about to lose to an out-of-state move. We will miss you and wish you the best in your new endeavor.

Also, thanks to my Carrier mentor Mike Potter who kept the scores and did a lot of my work so I could fly.

Friday started with calm air and decent weather, with many Northwest Sport .40 flyers putting in flights. Some successful … some not so much. As the day progressed, the wind picked up and began to swirl on the southern edge of the circle. Many fliers had trouble with this in slow flight and on the landing approach. I myself lost line tension on a Mo-Bipe in Nostalgia Profile and ended up tearing the top wing off. Many pilots decided to wait for the next morning.

Mark Schluter's Navy Carrier plane passes the deck in slow flight. Flying Lines photo.

Saturday started windy. And stayed windy. We had several dust devils of the 30’ Dia. size next to the circle causing havoc. Still, we got in quite a few nerve-wracking flights. It’s just not “Carrier” unless you’re living on the edge. We also discovered quite a few issues on different planes with linkages and engines. Sloppy bellcranks, engines that would run at high speed but not idle, some would idle but die at high speed. I even had a AMA profile MO-1 that was fine on the ground but had zero throttle control in the air. Eventually we called it a day.

Sunday saw a few of us cleaning up whatever flights we could as the wind was down and the sun was out. Folks flew whatever they had left to fill in their classes. It was a great day to fly NW Sport .40 with Jim Schneider putting up the winning flight.

Sunday afternoon was the award ceremony with Jim Schneider taking the Carrier Grand Champion award. Well done, Jim!

All in all, it was another successful Regionals with everyone assisting everyone else, many providing parts to other competitors on the fly to keep everyone flying. It’s the people that make Carrier such a wonderful event! I look forward to seeing you all next year.

Racing

By Paul Gibeault

The 51st NW Regionals greeted all the racers with nice (if at times breezy) weather.

I was really hoping to get in some Racing with my Nats winning Can-Am pitman Mike Hazel, but Air Canada saw fit to bump my model box en route in Vancouver and only delivered it after all the Racing was over...ARGH! Since I couldn't find a driving buddy for the 19-hour drive from Leduc, sadly I had to leave my Northwest Sport Race and Northwest Super Sport Race models at home. Perhaps it was providence as with pilots in very short supply I was then able to fly for Mark Schluter and time and count laps when not flying. We were particularly short of race teams and officials this time.

In events that had three entries or fewer, we went straight to the final races, forgoing the heats.

First off was Northwest Sportsman Flying Clown Race. With rusty pitman, the final got underway. The Leighton Mangels/ Doug Powers team had the speed advantage and won with 155 laps over the Nitroholics Team of John Thompson/ Mike Hazel with 140 laps. Mike using an OS FP .15 engine.

Next up was the faster open Flying Clown Race. The Mangels/ Powers team again placed first with 36 laps. The team of Bruce Tunberg/ Ken Burdick was second with a DNF. Bruce's black-head Profi-powered model was noticeably faster but, with only six laps per tank, was never in contention. In the final, Tunberg/ Burdick had 1 lap when Mangels/ Powers had a run-in, resulting in a high-speed taxi through the circle culminating in one of the longest shaft runs this writer has heard in a long time. The RPM kept climbing as the prop was slowly being ground down to a nub.

Being the sportsman he is, Bruce was not satisfied and allowed Leighton to pull out his second model and restart the final race. On the horn, Tunberg leapt into the air with Mangels right behind him. True to form, Tunberg's model came down on cue in six laps with Burdick landing 180 degrees from his pitman (upwind). Once Bruce finally got to his model, he quickly restarted and launched, but predictably his now-loose lined model came into the circle on takeoff, engine grinding its prop to a nub and finally stopping. This ended the second final with Mangels/Powers team taking first place with 36 laps and Tunberg/ Burdick team placing second with 6 laps. Those paying attention noted that all model run-ins were launched upwind, so they ran their models back to a safer pit location if they had to.

Racing Director Doug Powers got a chance to participate
as a pit crew member for Leighton Mangels thanks to
Will Naemura's stepping in to officiate the races. Paul Gibeault photo.

Dallas Sport Goodyear (160 laps and 3 pits) was up next. First place was the California team of Doug Haas and Bill Cave with a score of 160 laps. Second place was the Mangels/ Powers with the fastest model but tank problems had him pitting too often with 107 laps. During the race pilot Leighton fell over on a (very unlucky) sitting Ken Burdick 'squashing him like a bug and tearing off his own landing gear in the process. Fortunately there were no serious injuries. The Burdick/ Knoppi team retired to come in third with 81 laps after Ken's model rolled in on takeoff.

Northwest Sport Race had five entries. After the smoke had cleared it was Mangels/ Powers in first with a 9:01 (4:47 heat) using their ASP 25 with 6mm venturi-powered Brodak Super Fly model. The Nitroholics Hazel/ Thompson team not far behind with a 9:17 (5:12 heat) with their OS .25 FP-powered entry. In third place was the newly established Paul Gibeault/ Mark Schluter team with a 10:33 (5:34 heat) . Mark was right in there speedwise with his Fox .35 powered Ringmaster, but suffered from slower pit stops than the more experienced teams. Tunberg/ Burdick team placed fouth with a 6:57 and Doug Haas/ Bill Cave team finished in fifth place with a 48 lap heat score.

Finally in Northwest Super Sport race the big guns came out. The Mangels/ Powers team placed first with a 9:06. It was a close race as the Nitroholics Team (Thompson/ Hazel) were leading and going like a house on fire ... until their fire-belching K&B .40-powered model caught fire, putting an end to their chances at 109 laps. With the lack of a shutoff slowing pit stops for the Gibeault/Schluter team, pilot Leighton Mangels getting the plane right to his pit man Doug Powers, and four one-flip engine starts, Mangels/Powers stayed ahead of Gibeault/Schluter, which cruised to a well-deserved second place with Mark's very strong-running SuperTigre .40-powered entry with a 9:37.

Thus ended the 51st NW Regionals Racing. I would also like to thank Will Naemura, who quickly stepped in to direct the racing in order to let Doug Powers race. I would also like to thank all the fliers and volunteers who helped time and count laps when not flying themselves. We were at times really scratching for manpower, but somehow collectively managed to pull it off.

Scale

By Walter Hicks

A very big thank you to Terry Mitchell for being a co-event director this year in Scale. His help was very valuable in making this event run smoothly and efficiently.

Once again Scale had a very well-prepared group with high quality entries, very good Scale documentation and well done airplanes.

There were two new first time entries for scale this year, Tim Wescott with a profile Ercoupe which flew very well and garnered him a first place in Profile Scale. The other first time Scale entrant was Jim McCartney with a big, beautiful Gee Bee powered by a large four-stroke engine. It flew well and placed second in Sport Scale. This airplane drew a crowd wanting to watch it fly.

Gary Dowler's PT-26 took first place in Sport Scale. Flying Lines photo.

Gary Dowler had a very nice PT-26 which got him first place in Sport scale. Pat Johnston flew a "Beetle Bomb" Bearcat to a second place finish in Profile Scale. Note there was only one point difference between first and second place in this event! Orin Humphries flew a nice Beechcraft Staggerwing bipe to a third-place finish in Profile Scale. Orin also flew a very well-detailed Stearman PT- 17 biplane in Authentic Scale to a first place finish.

Jeral Godfrey flew an L-19 Bird Dog, which was very detailed, to a second place finish in Authentic Scale.

A big thank you to all the scale entries for being well prepared and ready to go for the contest. A good time was had by all.

Speed

By Will Naemura

Victories

Victories take on the forms and fashion in many different ways.  There’s victory in the fact that the 51st Northwest Regionals took place, still being the largest Aeromodeling contest, this side of the Mississippi! There’s victory through the passion of Mike Hazel and John Thompson as contest director and organizers of the event.  There’s victory of the people that came to compete, support and lend a hand at the event.  

This year, I had the privilege to be the event director of the Speed events. With Speed and Racing happening on the same circle, this year it was Racing that opened the competition with Speed being on the second and third day.  Not being able to present on the set upday, a big thanks to Doug Powers from the Northwest Fireballs club and Mike Hazel to set up the circle. As it turned out, Doug and I co-directed the Racing and Speed events. This allowed Leighton Mangels to use Doug as his pit man to compete in every Racing event and for me to compete in the Speed event. It worked out to be a better format and it was a delight to help each other to run the events. This is something that we will continue on in the future. 

So, some highlights and victories that took place: