Jim Reynold's Balsa USA Phateon 90 is on the left, and Ted Tanasse's Balsa USA Sopwith Pup is on the right.

Ted Tanasse had his Sopwith Pup with Zenoah G-23 up in the air early for his first flight at the controls of a scale bipe.  Unfortunately, the camera was left at home, and was not retrieved until lunch time, so no flying pictures were taken, since the wind piped up after lunch. As Ted reports:

"I took my 1/4 scale Sopwith Pup that my Dad built. We (Jim Reynolds and I) had a little trouble figuring out the kill switch, but we finally got it and the G23 started and purred like a kitten. I took it out and taxied it back and forth for a while and then brought it in, refueled, and took it back out for my first flight (since the weather was cooperating). 

I realized right away that there wasn't enough rudder to make crosswind corrections, but on the second try, the crosswind dwindled and it gave me enough runway to launch it in the air. Whoa!!! It definitely needed some trimming. All the way left on the ailerons gave me straight flight. (At this point, spectators were placing their bets on whether the plane would come down in one piece or not.) I could only go clockwise to turn around. The plane was real sluggish and I determined I needed to go to high rates. That made the plane move much better. I completed the trimming on the ailerons until the plane flew straight with my hands off the sticks. Brought the plane down for a couple of slow fly-by's and trips around the field before deciding it was time to land. The landing was great. 

I had talked to Ron Page (who built and flies the same plane) before the event and he told me what to expect. He was right. The biplane has more drag and slows down pretty fast, so I kept the speed to 1/4 throttle until I crossed the fence then went to idle where it came in and gently touched down on it's two main wheels for a very nice landing. This plane flies real good on about 1/2 throttle. It's beautiful to watch up in the air. The experience Jim Reynolds had in Zenoah G23 engines was a BIG HELP!!! I need to give myself as much rudder throw as possible and fly the plane on high rates for a time until I get used to how it handles. A very successful day for me."

Erik Kelly's Pitts.

Been there, done that!

Charlie Fick retrieves the Pitts for Erick Kelly. Charlie had an Ultimate out but had mechanical problems after a few flights and before the camera arrived, so no pictures of his bird.

Steve Sterling had his Goldberg Ultimate with a Saito 1.20 4-stroke.  Since he is the camera man, we got no flying pictures.