Top Gun and The Joe Nall and how to do it.

Neil (Laser) Tidey and I found we had a desire to travel to USA for Top Gun and the Joe Nall.

5 Years ago I had a disasters attempt at Top Gun when a certain airline did not keep their word about transporting outsize luggage.

This time we went back to British Airways and they were a star.

It is worth using a good travel agent who has a inside line to BA . You can still get a flight to USA for under ?600.

Basically, If you can get your model into a box 75" X 29" X 25" and it weighs no more that 23 kg. they will take it as checked luggage at no extra cost.

By the time you have removed the tail, cowl and even the engine just about any model will travel. You stuff some clothes and perhaps the engine into hand luggage and even that can be 2 x 23 kg pieces and off you go!

We did have a sigh of relief as etch stage was ticked off though.

The legendary Dave Platt met us at Orlando airport and we enjoyed a early morning free flight session with him on a 4 mile square sight that had little roads installed so you could drive to fetch the model. Perfect.

Next day we fetched the RV from Cruise America and drove the one hour from Orlando to Top Gun at Lakeland.

A 7 ltr, V10 petrol engine propelled the thing at 10 mpg. Fortunately Gas is half the price of UK, It drove like a ship at sea and if a corner arose,

a fairly rare event on USA roads, I could practice my rudder terns.

It had plenty of space for the PT 22 model and had everything we needed to be very comfortable.

Most unfortunately half way through the Top Gun Flying only rounds It rained, big rain, 4.2?s in four hours and kept it up for 18 hours. Very unusual even for Florida. Large deep lakes formed where we really, really, did not want them.

This meant more time to chat to our esteemed RCScale Builder Admin, Mike Chilsum.

This was the static judging tent;

I got 2 x 10s and a 9.8 for static that got me 3 rd in static and an Outstanding craftsmanship award but a strong cross wind spoilt the flying for anything other than jets.

Even Frank Tiano can't control the whether. Wall Mart sold out of Wellis.

The run way had water both sides. It was like trying to land on an aircraft Carrier in a cross wind. Miss the deck and you were in the water.

Fortunately , We had Joe Nall to look forward to.

Triple Tree Aerodrome is 600 miles north in South Carolina. Straight roads and a few diversions into museums made an enjoyable 4 day journey.

I knew the Nall is the worlds biggest model flying event but it still had many surprises.

For some reason the event is little known in UK so I will sprinkle a few extra stats.

Firstly Joe Nall week is really a Monday to Friday thing.

Some RV's arrive on the Thursday and weight for the entry on the first Friday Evening. The old hands have their favorite spots. Trailers full of models are backed up to the flight line, a sun shelter erected then the RV is parked nearby on one of the gently sloping terraced hills that form such a beautiful surround.

It is the landscaping of the sight that makes the event so outstanding. 460 acres carved out of woodland includes the worlds longest grass runway at 7000 ft.

If you have that much grass you need a decent ride on mower.

This is the worlds largest mower and keeps the Bermuda grass on the runway in excellent condition for any model.

32 hydraulically driven rotary mowers all in stainless steal.

The facilities at both ends of the runway are like a mini hotel with plenty of hot showers.

We used the provided School buses to get a breakfast on the 3 D flight line.

Fortunately 3 D is well away,( Like a mile) from the scale and classic flight line, they had their own pond to dip tails into.

Sometimes the smoke was so thick you could not see the lake on the Lower 40!

New this year is the camping area behind the 3 D flight line, includes hook ups for RVs

Americans do not walk anywhere if they can help it.

The school bus was fun though, driven by one of a large army of volunteers, Everyone helps and wishes you a good time.

Show center. The gazebo had flags of all nations. I am afraid we had to tell them the Union flag was up side down!

Between the 3 D and scale line was a control line, electric and float flying. Also space for helicopters.

We woke most mornings to the Dawn patrol. At Dawn! Americans are not big on Silencers or mufflers but a new generation of big gas 4c is changing the scene.

Flying continued well into the night, The night flying was so thick at times I thought a new galaxy was forming.

LEDs were $2 a foot at the vendors.

15.000 visitors and 1.484 registered pilots happily flew when they wanted, During the peak times on the scale line you never waited more than a few minutes.

1,484 total registered pilots

578 Main (classic and scale line)

314 3D

355 Electric

81 Float

63 Helicopter

21 Control Line

45 States represented with registered pilots.

10 Foreign countries represented with registered pilots.

One of the good things about a show outside UK is that you see vendors that have stuff you do not normally see. Joe Nall had 94 stalls.

Some of the Vendors. The well built lady on the left was all hot air.

Surprisingly we found that most stuff is the same price or more than UK even whithout risking tax on the way back. However there were some outstanding bargains. I collected Spectrum servos at half  price, A role of 64th ply at 1/8 price, even though it comes from Finland. One guy selling Velcro was a education in the stuff. Sunglasses galore and if you wanted a petrol (gas) engine there were 100s to chose from.

One of the great things I did not expect was Music.

Wednesday was a Spaghetti diner with Country and Western on the terrace behind the Hanger.

Is this the worlds biggest BBQ

Thursday night we enjoyed a Cotton picking blue grass banjo band who were really ?wired?

Played Devil goes down to Georgia in front of the fake village shop. Outstanding!

Friday is a BBQ that is really the culmination of the week. 1000 customers were fed on pork and prawns in 18 minutes then a 18 piece jazz band from Savannah entertained us.

The hanger contains some immaculate aircraft and models and was staged as a piece of theater.

At the back of the hanger was a nearly finished Double size Valkerie vintage model. The volunteers had devised a cunning plan to get the model finished in that every passing modeler was invited to glue in a stick with his name written on it. By the end of the week the model was assembled..

One thing that we picked up on quickly is that no distinction is made between full size and model aviation. It is all aviation to them and if young folks can be drawn in and an interest sparked they will not mind paying their taxes for the latest wizy plane for the air force. Something a few people in UK could do with remembering.

Pat Hartness is the founder of the event, Joe Nall was his friend. Pat has now made the entire facility into a Foundation, (charity) that will go on forever. Future plans include a Restoration shop and a education school as well as more work to the landscaping and buildings.

We need to look at a few models. On 4 days at the end of the week we had a Noon time show.

Two Jet formation Teams from Germany were worth watching as was the B 29 that flew like a WOT 4 on 4 x DA 100s

Karl Gross bought the PT19 and a Cessna Crane from Canada, Both Moki equipped.

It is not true that Americans don?t build anything anymore. Among the 200 plus scale models waiting on the flight line was this lovely Riley. Moki Powered , Sadly the wings folded when the wires broke but he is already planning the next one.

This Demoiselle flew well

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An unfinished scratch Jenny. It is 20% bigger than the Procter kit.

My PT22 got quite hot in the sun. Notice the six flight stations in the background.

We left on the Saturday afternoon and were back home by Tuesday noon.

Many thanks to the many people who lent us stuff to make flight possible and help along the way.