He did more than campaign it. He won the Nats D pattern event with it around 70 or 71 as memory serves, using an Hirtenberger (HP) with standard muffler no less. Pipes weren't in vogue yet. He was the first real pattern pro I observed and thought the flying was amazing. Jim still flies exceptionally well now, except the larger SA jobs.
MattK
PS- The prototype I saw fly was painted silver with black. How the guy saw the model well enough to fly it that way at that speed is beyond me
ORIGINAL: Artisan
Does anyone know if Jim Martin (Jersey Jim), creator and flyer of the Banshee, ever campaigned the Banshee in the pattern circuit?
I saw Jim fly an exhibition flight at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in 1970 or 71. WOW! He was way ahead of his time. I did not think that a model airplane could fly that fast, or perform an entirely new maneuver that I had never seen before - serrated knife edge with the wingtip less than three feet off of the concrete ramp. The model seemed to have unlimited vertical, even back then. That Webra .61 Blackhead sure was howling and was using a muffler, no tuned pipe.
Needless to say, Jersey Jim became my new hero in model pilots. To say that I was impressed would be gross understatement.
It was obvious that Mr. Martin had the flying skill to do very well in pattern, but I don't recall any of his pattern participation being mentioned in the magazines.
His model was painted a beautiful grey with black accents. I had trouble tracking it back then, so I'm pretty sure I couldn't track it today. Can you imagine how a Banshee would look in glaring yellow? My most visible color is yellow, so that is how I would have to finish it, but not with paint.
Anyway I was just wondering if anyone had seen that model fly in the flesh and if they would care to expound upon it. TIA