July 18, 1998 Launch Report

Contributed by Chris Gillham

At the July launch there was plenty of great sunshine and for once a lack of airplanes. The temp was around 94 deg. Pretty warm but not scorching like some past launches. For some reason there were none of the local airplanes or biplanes running. We setup the table at the normal end of the field and collected dues as well as flight cards for each flight. We had 22 registered fliers. There were 105 total flights, including:

9 1/4A
1 1/2A
21 A
21 B
27 C
19 D
4 E
3 F

We had several new fliers attend the launch as well. They included: Alex and Jim Reinsberg, John Stutsman, and Aaron Zebrick. Thanks for coming out and we hope to see you again.

There were lots of Skywinders flown by Jim Thomas, Jeff Brundt, Alex Reinsberg, Rob Chapie, and Dave Mulawa.

Hopefully, someone finally got a good photo of the launch site. We had lots of Astrocam flights flown by Jim Thomas, Dave Mulawa, Chris Gillham, and Mike Walsh.

Fat Boys were in abundance also. Jim Thomas, Dave Mulawa, Chris Gillham, Amanda McCoy, and John Buckley all put in flights. Mine wound up in a tree by the barn but I was able to climb up and get it out. It should fly again another day. :)

Other notable flights: Rob Chapie's rebuilt Upscale Mosquito - this looked great!, Thoy Hornet on F power, large glider. Rob's boost glider flew great.

Jim Rulo sported a stretched Gemini clone which unfortunately crashed but his S.W.A.T. flew great on dual D12's.

Michael Sears had a great looking Centuri Nike Smoke which he started building 27 years ago. I think he might have lost it but I can't recall.

Jeff Brundt had several great flights on his V-2, Honest John, and Super Vega rockets.

I had my old reliable Der V-3 but with a slight modification. I added a Shuttle glider attachment and it flew great three times. Each time the glider released at apogee and flew terrific. Unfortunately on the last flight, the glider flew into the woods. I also had a maiden flight on my Estes Jayhawk on an E18-4. I also lost that rocket in the woods despite several hours of searching both that day and the following day. If anyone finds it or the shuttle glider I would be much appreciative of getting them back.

Thanks and I look forward to seeing everyone at tomorrow's launch at the Polo Field.