Hi you all. I'm here in Newnan Georgia 25 miles south of Atlanta . I remember fondly all the names mentioned here. Dewey is a great guy and has contributed much to R/C. I traveled throughout Texas in the 70's and 80's competed and called for Doc Hurt. I was never very good but loved pattern. I retired from Delta , joined the SPA and really love that organization. They are having a time now because it has grown so large. Many of us yearn to fly the more popular old pattern planes of the past but they are not SPA legal. Myself, I still have a love for the EU1 A. That was a sleek, but heavy pattern plane that looked like an F4 fighter.It was a really wonderful flying plane but needed an immensly powerful engine to pull its' bulk vertical. How I yearn for the old days with pipes, retracts, and a screaming Rossi. I stopped flying pattern for a while when turnaround became the norm. It was expensive, and I didn't like the crowded manuevers between the poles. I wasn't blessed with the eye-hand skills needed to be a competitor. The SPA fills that need. I also have found that the people that compete in the SPA are some of the nicest people I have ever been lucky enough to associate with. Recently I have struck up a friendship with Vince Vlassic aka: "Crankpin", another pattern fanatic who is a fun guy. The SPA is a hell of a lot of fun. Thanks, Skip Getelman