Promoting Combat in Florida
11-10-2008, 04:31 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Loxahatchee,
FL
Posts: 102
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Promoting Combat in Florida
Air Combat America is on the hunt again to entertain the crowds and hunt down prospective new combat pilots!! We were invited to perform at Roar and Soar, a unique flying event in Polk City Florida. The event was hosted by Kermit Weekes at his facility, Fantasy of Flight. The event included Full scale flying going on during the day, a classic car show, slalom racing, parachuting, high performance boats, waterskiing, static full scale aircraft displays and of course RC flying.
At the RC field. there were airplanes in the air from 10am until 5 pm. The only break was at 11:45 when there was a Aerobatic Demo by a T6 Texan. The rest of the day Full Scale and RC peacefully co-existed flying at the same time. The safety officers were great and performed safety inspections and range checks on aircraft that were to be flown. The aircraft were flown in "slots" such as WWI, WWII civilian, 3D and electric. Several featured aircraft and our show team were given featured slots. We were given a prestigous 11:30 slot that was attended by the media for the local news.
Our demo was tame by combat standards but all streamers were cut and there were no mid airs! The team performed a second demo in the afternoon. There appeared to more spectators because the bleachers seemed to be packed this time. Our show times were announced during the day. We changed up a little and put 3 scale planes in the air. Chris put up a F82 Twin Mustang, which was a crowd pleaser. I flew a Hatrick P51 that was purpose built for today's demo. I used a color scheme for Cripes A Mighty 3rd which is a plane that Kermit Weekes has in his collection. John put up a Hatrick Zero. and there were 2 target drone Avengers. Again a crowd pleasing demo and only one mid air.
I would like to recognize the Team that came out today as follows:
Chris "Grasshopper" Handegard
Craig "Big Dog" Buttery
Brian Boots
John "Buzzard" Harding
Phil "Gumby" Bederka
and our pit crew/Announcer/Photographer Chris Martindale
A unique feature was the Pilot Box, where the planes were on display. After each flight we were in the box and would meet and answer questions for the spectators. We got to meet Kermit Weekes and pose for some photos and Don Lowe was also there to test an antique RC target drone from WWII. This was not a replica but the real thing!
We have already been asked to come back next year. We left such an impression that we were told Air Combat America would be a featured part of the events advertising.
There are almost 300 photos that were taken today I will be posting them at www.rcbushpilots.com due to I dont know how else to put a good amount of photos here.
The team did get some time to tour the rest of the event. The facility is awesome by itself. You can check it out at http://www.fantasyofflight.com/
To sum it up in a word "Awesome".
Submitted by Craig Buttery
At the RC field. there were airplanes in the air from 10am until 5 pm. The only break was at 11:45 when there was a Aerobatic Demo by a T6 Texan. The rest of the day Full Scale and RC peacefully co-existed flying at the same time. The safety officers were great and performed safety inspections and range checks on aircraft that were to be flown. The aircraft were flown in "slots" such as WWI, WWII civilian, 3D and electric. Several featured aircraft and our show team were given featured slots. We were given a prestigous 11:30 slot that was attended by the media for the local news.
Our demo was tame by combat standards but all streamers were cut and there were no mid airs! The team performed a second demo in the afternoon. There appeared to more spectators because the bleachers seemed to be packed this time. Our show times were announced during the day. We changed up a little and put 3 scale planes in the air. Chris put up a F82 Twin Mustang, which was a crowd pleaser. I flew a Hatrick P51 that was purpose built for today's demo. I used a color scheme for Cripes A Mighty 3rd which is a plane that Kermit Weekes has in his collection. John put up a Hatrick Zero. and there were 2 target drone Avengers. Again a crowd pleasing demo and only one mid air.
I would like to recognize the Team that came out today as follows:
Chris "Grasshopper" Handegard
Craig "Big Dog" Buttery
Brian Boots
John "Buzzard" Harding
Phil "Gumby" Bederka
and our pit crew/Announcer/Photographer Chris Martindale
A unique feature was the Pilot Box, where the planes were on display. After each flight we were in the box and would meet and answer questions for the spectators. We got to meet Kermit Weekes and pose for some photos and Don Lowe was also there to test an antique RC target drone from WWII. This was not a replica but the real thing!
We have already been asked to come back next year. We left such an impression that we were told Air Combat America would be a featured part of the events advertising.
There are almost 300 photos that were taken today I will be posting them at www.rcbushpilots.com due to I dont know how else to put a good amount of photos here.
The team did get some time to tour the rest of the event. The facility is awesome by itself. You can check it out at http://www.fantasyofflight.com/
To sum it up in a word "Awesome".
Submitted by Craig Buttery
11-10-2008, 04:45 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Strathmore,
CA
Posts: 1,247
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: Promoting Combat in Florida
Thats great! it sounds like you guys had a great time and hopefully got some people interested in combat. we did club combat this weekend to show off a little. I had planes that anybody can fly if they wanted to try it. I had a guy try and now he is hooked. lets do all we can to promote combat!!!
