Forty-seven flyers showed up to make a near-record 151 flights. By motor, the flights were as follows: 2 - 1/2A, 7 - A, 12 - B, 45 - C, 17 - D, 5 - E, 13 - F, 14 - G, 11 - H, 13 - I, 2 - J, 3 - K, 1 - not recorded. Note that no fewer than *forty-five* of the flights used C motors - I wonder if we cleaned out the St. Louis hobby shops ? :-)
We'd like to welcome several folks who joined us for the first time: Bob Ezell, who joins us from Atlanta, along with his nephew Jacob; Keith Bennett; Scott Robinson, making the trip from the Peoria area; Tony Lee; Troy Manzella; Tom Thompson; Robby Stamelos; and Joe Ostendorf. Hope to see you again, guys!
In a day full of neat rockets and great flights, Jeff Brundt's new Saturn 1b was a standout. Jeff has a whole fleet of nice models, but this is the best yet: a large (5.75 in. diameter, 54 in. tall), highly detailed beauty. The model flew on an H123; unfortunately, it suffered an early ejection and separated; fortunately, damage was minimal and it will fly again. As if the Saturn 1b wasn't enough, Jeff flew several other beauties as well, including his large Cosmodrome Vostok on an H242, the 4" V-2, and his large Terrier-Sandhawk on an H128.
John Kennington made good flights with models of two different OSC Taurus boosters. John Buckley made a great boost-glider flight, and also multiple flights of his QCR rocket-glider and his Wild Weasel, modified from an Estes Venom. Jack Hollister's Really Big Bustard chuffed and hissed mightily, making several false starts before finally leaving the pad.
Several folks made good certification flights - Bill Brundick for Level 1, and Joe Jacob and Robin Weinrich for Level 2 - congratulations! Jim Hollister also made an attempt with his Prowler on an H128, but ended up with a lawn dart. Rob Chapie stuffed an H45 into a modified Fat Boy for one of the day's best flights; incredibly, he got it back. Rob also had great flights with his Thoy Phoenix on I161 and a 5 inch diameter scratch built rocket on an I284.
Jim Davis and Fred Gruis put on a spectacular K550-powered drag race, with Jim's minimum-diameter original beating Fred's Mini-Magg. I can't remember any other time I've seen so many folks making multiple flights with I-and-larger motors. Chris Gillham flew an I154 in his Boomerang, an I300 in an unidentified PML rocket, and finished with a great K550 flight in the Whistler. Keven Souers put his Cluster-R Sandhawk up three times, on H128, I161, and I211 power.
Mike Hill flew his Old Reliable with a rare G160 Silver Streak for a good flight, but his scratch built Stoned, with 2 I160's and an I480, suffered a cato. Aaron Edwards boosted the Expediter with an I435 for another good one. Mark McGraw's fine-looking Boyce Mercury Redstone made a good flight, as did his I284-powered PML Eclipse, and his Endeavor on an I300.
Joe Jacob's Patriot, the Estes cluster version, suffered a D12 cato, but his PML Endeavor had a good flight on J350 power. Scott Robinson flew an I154 in his Thunderhawk, along with an I284 in his Navy Strike. Robin Weinrich brought the launch to a close with a good flight of his Ultimate Endeavor on J800 power.
With the December flights, we had a total of *1359* flights at our launches during 1998! Way to go, guys!