Jeff,

When the plane is in level flight in a straight line at a constant airspeed, thrust is equal to drag and lift is equal to weight. The plane assumes a pitch attitude to give the angle of attack (AOA) that makes the lift equal to weight at that airspeed. If you throttle back and maintain altitude the airspeed will be lower, the pitch attitude will be more nose up and the higher AOA will still produce lift equal to weight.

The AOA is the angle that the airfoil chord line makes to the direction of motion.

In a speed model one of the objectives is to minimize the over all drag coefficient so that the available thrust results in maximum speed. The total drag coefficient has many small components. To minimize fuselage drag, the fuselage should be aligned to the flow. To minimize horizontal tail drag it should be lightly loaded. Some combination of thrust offset, CG location, wing incidence and decalage will result in minimizing the parasitic drag coefficient.

Assuming 100MPH and a weight of 12 ounces, the coefficient of lift of the wing is about 0.02. The AOA of the MH32 at a coefficient of lift 0.02 is about -1.5 degrees. That's in the straight away. BTW the minimum coefficent of drag of the MH32 is at a lift coefficient of 0.04. A thinner airfoil of lower mean camber would be better in the straight away but, worse in the turns.

In a tight (bank and yank) turn, the coefficient of lift will be about 1.0 and the AOA of the MH32 will be about 8 degrees plus about another 8 degrees induced AOA for a total AOA in a tight turn of 16 degrees.

Where to set the wing incidence relative to the fuselage centerline, depends on how much of the race is straight away and how much is tight turn. If the centerline of the fuselage is canted more than about 6 or 7 degrees, the drag goes up sharply. Depending on the race course it may be speedier to turn a little wider to prevent speed loss in the turns.

Also, a higher aspect ratio will reduce the induced AOA and the induced drag at high lift coefficients. The fuselage drag is reduced if the total AOA excursion is reduced.

In aircraft design, everything affects almost everything else! When you settle for simple answers you are likely to fall short of the mark.