Bernard Suhamski’s Bearcat on its final landing approach.
By Melvin Schuette
The Control Line (CL) Navy Carrier flying events start on Tuesday, August 6. While I was not involved with model airplanes when the Navy Carrier event came into being, this is what I have been told as to how the event came to be. It was during the time when the U.S. Navy was the sponsor of the AMA Nats. The Navy Carrier event was created as an event that used Navy Carrier-based aircraft that took off from a simulated Navy Carrier ship and made an arrested landing back on the same simulated Navy Carrier ship. Today, the airplanes used resemble aircraft that either took off and landed on an actual carrier ship or were intended to be used on a carrier ship.
Until recently, there were three classes of the Navy Carrier event. The Profile Class requires the use of airplanes that have a profile fuselage, a wing area of at least 300 sq. in., and an internal combustion motor up to 0.36 cubic inches in displacement. The airplane will be given a 10-point bonus if it resembles an actual carrier airplane. Class I & II airplanes use built-up fuselages and must be within 5% of the actual scale to receive a 100-point bonus. Class I airplanes can use any internal combustion engine, not exceeding 40-size. Class II airplanes must have an internal combustion motor larger than 0.40 and smaller than 0.65.
A few years ago, Navy Carrier introduced three new classes of carrier. These new classes require the airplanes to be powered by electric motors. All three classes of electric Navy Carrier are the same as the internal combustion-powered classes. The difference between the Class I and II electric is the weight of the airplane when ready to fly. At the Nats, electric airplanes do not compete directly against internal combustion airplanes, but they may on a local level.
Processing for all of the Navy Carrier events will occur Monday evening, August 5. Both electric and internal-powered Profile airplanes will be flown on Tuesday, August 6, while all of the Class I and II airplanes will be flown on Wednesday, August 7. Thursday, August 8, is the day that all of the unofficial Navy Carrier events will be held. The events that will be flown are 0.15 Profile Carrier, Nostalgia Profile Carrier, and Nostalgia Class I and II Carrier.
Each year, the recognized Special Interest Group awards the Eugene Ely award. Eugen Ely was the first person to take off and land on a carrier ship. The award is given to the person who has the highest combined score in one of the Profile Carrier events, one of the Class I Carrier events, and one of the Class II Carrier events.
This year, the CL World Championships will be held the week after the CL Nats. Unfortunately, Navy Carrier is not an event that is flown at the World Championships. I am not certain that we could get all of the countries that fly a Navy Carrier event to agree upon a set of rules.
Come look for us; we will be flying on the southeast corner of the 600 x 600 site at AMA’s International Aeromodeling Center in Muncie, Indiana.
Note from AMA: Do you have photos from the Nats that you’d like to share? If so, email them to Clarissa Poston at clarissap@modelaircraft.org. Please include a brief description in your email, naming any individuals pictured in the photo(s), the name of the event that the photo(s) were taken during, and the name of the individual who took the photo(s). Your submission(s) might be posted on AMA’s Flickr page, which can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/modelaircraft/albums!