Northwest CL fliers join Ringmasters Fly-a-thon 2012

Saturday, Oct. 6-7, 2012, worldwide

By Bill Darkow

The Brotherhood of the Ring sponsored its annual worldwide Fly-A-Thon on Oct. 6-2, amassing 1,685 flights of Ringmasters around the globe.

John Cralley of the Brotherhood forum reports:

On behalf of the Brotherhood of The Ring Forum, I wish to thank you for participating in and reporting to us about your flights as part of the 5th Annual Worldwide Ringmaster Fly-A-Thon. We truly appreciate the time and effort you have put in to this event. Whether you recorded one flight or 75, as did Bruce Fraser, you were part of what has become the largest control line event in the world. You might be interested to know that 1685 flights were reported which broke last year’s record of 1505 flights!! We did miss our goal of 2000 flights but Mother Nature did not cooperate this year. Next year 2000 will be surpassed. You might also be interested to know that you were part of a group of at least 222 modelers that flew this year.

It amazes me that the wonderful Ringmaster can generate such numbers 60 + years after it was first designed and sold as a kit!!!

I have attached an Adobe PDF file of the 2012 Fly-A-Thon results to this message as well as a file for Ringmaster S-1 plans that can be printed full sized at a copy shop or office supply store. Feel free to forward these files to anyone that flew with you and to anyone that you think might be interested in them. Please check the results file to insure that we have your report included.

If you have photos of models that flew, which you are willing to share, please e-mail copies to John Cralley. We hope to put together a slide show of photos from the Ringmaster Worldwide Fly-A-Thon. Some of you have already included photos with your report and I have those – Thanks.

If you are not a member of the Brotherhood of the Ring Forum, please consider joining. We welcome anyone that is interested in control line modeling whether you have a Ringmaster or not. Go to the Forum registration site and sign up.  You must give your full name and a valid e-mail address in order to register but you do not have to share them with the general membership.

It is not too early to start planning for next year’s Fly-A-Thon which is normally held the first weekend in October. If you can recruit additional fliers, especially from countries outside the USA , please do so. The Fly-A-Thon is a good way to promote control line modeling!

Again, thank you for participating and have a good year!!!

Pacific Northwest flyers contributed at least 156 flights to the total.  Scores went like this:

• Abbottsford, B.C.: Members of the BC Aces, Pacific Aeromodellers and Vancouver Gas Model Club made 56 flights.
• Auburn, Wash.: Northwest Skyraiders members put up the following flights:
  Gary Dubois, 3 flights on an S-1; Ben Jones, 7 flights on an S-1; Larry Kalapus, 4 flights on an S1, Rod Claus on a Stratusmaster, 3 flights.
• Chehalis Airport, Chehalis, Wash.:
  Bill Darkow reports that a dedicated group of sport fliers put up 45 flights on Saturday with 15 more on Sunday for a total of 60 flights.
  Ten different Ringmaster variants were used, including S-1 and S-1A, Super Ringmaster, three Custom Ringmasters (Uncle Sam, Skydiver and Early Birdman), Ringmaster Bipe, Ringmaster Jr., Beginner's Ringmaster and Baby Ringmaster.
  Twelve pilots put up the following flights:
      Doug Oertli, 13; Scott Johnson, 11; Daniel Johnson, 7; Bill Darkow, 7; Nathan Johnson, 7; Walt Russell, 5; Amy Johnson, 3; Christie Johnson, 3; Ralph Funkhouser, 1; Brad Parker, 1; Buzz Wilson, 1; Robert Smith,1
  The weather was great.  Everybody had a good time and is looking forward to next year.
• Estacada, Ore: Jim Alderson, Tex Newman and Tim Wescott put up 11 flights.
• Nampa, Idaho: Mike Fitzgerald made 3 flights.
• Portland, Ore.: Mark Hansen, Jim Cameron and Ron Anderson put up five flights.
• Salem, Ore., at Bill Riegel Model Airpark: John Thompson put up 4 flights on an S-1 Ringmaster during official flying at the Fall Follies stunt contest, flying it in Old-Time Stunt and Profile Stunt.

This may not be the complete tally. If anyone else in the Northwest reports flights, we will update this report.

For official information on the Fly-A-Thon, visit the Brotherhood of the Ring website.

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This page was upated Oct. 18, 2012