Loudoun Open Combat

by William "ROCKS" Miller

After our success at the Fool's Folly Open Combat, Larry Wall and I decided to travel to Loudoun County for our next combat adventure. And I must say that we really had a great adventure! Because Loudoun County is nearly three hours away, we started out at about 6 AM. On the drive, we discussed combat, airplanes, radios, and engines -- what did you think we would talk about? It's amazing how short a three hour drive can be when the conversation turns to airplanes! Although we had a little trouble finding the field, we got there early enough to get a couple of practice flights.

The Loudoun flying field is very different from our flat surface, 600 x 100 grass runway. Loudoun's field is on the top of a small hill. Their runway is probably about 300 x 60 feet and it slopes at both ends! The entire flying area is surrounded by trees, and most pilots fly over the valley -- very different from our field!

Pilots confer over Battle Floyd setup.

Who Flew?

We knew some of the pilots at the field, but we met other pilots for the first time. I'll have to write Pete Rundell to get more information about the pilots. Pete Rundel, Earl Nester, Chris Shepherd, George Boardman, and Donato Marcantonio all showed up for the fray.

Killer Tree

Every contest has some interesting story. The Loudon field has trees on all sides, and the left hand approach has one particular tree that seemed to reach out and grab planes! Larry flew pretty close on one approach and the tree slapped his plane! After a couple 360s, he was able to regain control and continue flying, but Donato wasn't as lucky. After a particulalry difficult round of combat, Donato planted his plane squarely in the tree-top. Luckily the local pilots were ready with a large ladder and a long pole.

Here we see the local pilots helping Donato retrieve his battle-worn plane from the tree. Can you believe the trouble they had to go to? Several guys recommended removing the tree with various gas powered tools (chainsaws!) Donato finally got his plane back without any tree induced damage. But take a look at the hunk of wing missing from the last round of combat!

The Winner

Donato seemed to have the best and the worst day at the field! Round after round, he just kept loosing planes. Fortunately, he had enough planes, duct tape, and CA to keep flying. By the end of the combat he was the clear winner with over 1000 points. You can see some of the combat damage his planes sustained in the picture to the right. This plane lost what looks like a shark's-bite worth of wing right before it as attacked by the killer tree.

He also brought his personally designed indestructable plane. And although the fuselage, tail section, and wings survived several mid airs and crashes, the wing attachment finally gave up. The indestructable plane was built with large amounts of carbon fiber and plywood. Somehow he kept it within the weight limits and managed to make it flyable.

Donato likes to experiment with different types of aircraft, and everything he flies, from his electric pylon racer, to his Indestructable Combat Plane, are very interesting to watch! Donato is a great guy and he deserves to win. Good fight Donato Marcantonio!

After Action Report

While Larry and I did really well at the Fools Folly 2001, we quickly realized that we were in a different class of competition at the Loudon Combat 2001. Larry's Coro-Floyd held together for the entire event, but he's decided to make several improvements. I found I really liked having a matching pair of Battle Floyds as my combat entries. But we both agreed that the number one thing we have to do is practice!

CORRECTION: Isn't it funny how things are often different than you remember? I wrote the story above from memory. Donato wrote me a note to straighten out the story. I thought about rewriting the story, but decided to simply publish his note instead. Here's Donato's note:

February 7, 2002

Hey Rocks,

Thank you for the great press, nice picture too. The only thing about it is that I was not the one to hit the tree, although I helped during the retrieval. The shark-bite on my wing was due to a midair and was chewed up by a prop. It was the 3rd midair on that same plane, and the 5th round. In all 3 midairs the other pilot's plane was destroyed, and mine survived, same thing for this one. The other went down and I was able to land this under control even with the chunk missing, the only loss was the wing. Fuse is still flying. My indestructible plane only flew the 6th and last round, when I did midair Pete Rundel, my wing came off, but both wing and fuse are still flying, I only replaced a dowel, and retaped the wing. Pretty much I lost only 1 wing in 4 midairs for the whole day.

Donato Marcantonio

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