Waldo, mind Tim's powers of observation. The big, black, unsmiling dog in the Twist/Dart/P-51D pic is Jake, near the Jeep. He NEVER smiles, and, ask Down, Jake growls even at ME when I put him in the Jeep where he can't see the Twist fly. You don't even wanna CONSIDER what he'd do if he saw strangers taking glo fuel from the garage. And I leave one of his plastic dummies on TOP of those cardboard boxes, so NOBODY will touch that fuel.

Funny, that dog is 8 yrs old. I brought him home on my lap as a pup. Since I retired that year, that dog's been my shadow, under my feet or in my lap (a "lap" dog at 95 lbs.) since then. When I started flying with Down, I left him home. Jake got so angry he peed in the closet, then downstairs, and I had a donnybrook with the wife. Now I take him every day I fly, so he's gotten over it, but the kid likes to fly. I put him on the buddy cord, once, but he had a hard time going between the sticks with his nose, then his paws. He landed awful close, got balsa, purple and yellow in his teeth, and I called it quits. But he watches. He delights in watering Down's tires, too.

But you spoke of flying combat, Waldo. Down and I tried it once, in winter, with our Dirty Birdies (Sturdy Birdy IIs with ST .51s, fast as hell). I put some surveyor's tape on the back of my bird with about 10 feet of thread. In the middle of the flight the thread broke, so, says I, "Well, we can go up and have some fun." We did for another flight. Then, asks Down, "What're the odds on us hitting one another up there?" "Golly," says I, "way out over the pond? ah, I'd say 50 to 1."

Well, I was wrong! The odds were 1 out of 3. Third flight we were 75 yards out, 30 yards up, over the opposite shore of the frozen pond--a loooong way away. I made a loop, Down got on top of me, somehow, and hit my wing, knocked it off--I can still see it floating, flipping in the breeze, coming down. I can't recall what happened to Down's bird, but it came down in deep, soft snow. Bits and pieces of planes coming down in a shower--with me still at full throttle (panic), heading for the pond. Nosed her in good, bent the drive shaft. The durned tail didn't have ANY lift, none. Believe that?

We'll have to try that again, soon. MY Dirty Birdy is ready to go--and I'm bored with her. And I have outsized ailerons on it. {Sigh} But Down's too busy with school--and he won't let me fly the Dirty Birdy against his Twist. Can't imagine why.

We are working out a flight pattern, a show, a ballet, with two Twists in the air. That'll take time. Our engines sound the same and we really like to hear them, but with two in the air at the same time, it's a chore. I have to hear the engine. Maybe I'll get over that.

Bigger challenge: Someone in one of these forums said we ought to tune two identical birds perfectly, trim them the same, and fly BOTH planes on ONE transmitter at the same time, windless day. Now THERE'S a thought that'll keep you busy on a a non-flying day. Doable?

Fly 'em like you hate 'em.

What fun.