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Twenty six
countries competed in F2B Aerobatics. including once again teams from Eastern
Europe with long standing traditions in aerobatics, such as Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria, and for the first time a team from China. Missing
compared with 1978 were flyers from Mexico, Egypt and Ireland.
The sports Stadium boasted a tarmac circle specially laid down for F2B This was
outside the main stadium bowl, and could have been very turbulent under the
wrong conditions. However the wind remained reasonable, and blowing from an open
side throughout the contest, and therefore did not cause too much concern.
Accommodation was several kilometres away at the Students' Hotel, and the
organisers had laid on a regular quarter hour bus service between site and
accommodation through the flying periods, which proved very successful.
The practice facilities provided were very limited, situated about 2 kilometres
from the Students' Hotel, in the opposite direction from the contest site The
site was not large enough for normal length lines in one direction.
necessitating flying over rising steps on one side and rough scrub on the other!
This required much running around at landing periods — just not good enough for
a World Champs. Official practice was held on one day only. and flying was
divided between the three circles at the Sports Stadium.
 Due to the large entry, the first two rounds were spread over three days. The
British Team — Bill Draper, Barry Robinson and Peter Coates. flew on the first
day. All three had been experiencing overrun problems during practice, due no
doubt to different weather conditions, and had been withdrawing fuel to obtain
correct runs. Joseph Gabris flew early, in third spot, with a nervous flight for
an ex World Champion. His model is a 16 year old Supermaster, which had been
re-covered and looked very attractive, now HP40 powered.
Mark Lavalette opened round one for France with his usual fast crisp flying
style, and his score of 2,601 remained the first round leader for some time.
Bill Draper, flying sixth, was first British entrant to fly, at the still early
time of 0755 hrs! Atmospherics were obviously difficult to allow for, despite
the carefully measured amount of fuel extracted, the flight was ruined by the
motor dying in the first loop of the clover leaf. Bill continued the manoeuvre
and the motor spluttered into life at the bottom of the first bunt, and
continued half heartedly for the rest of the manoeuvre. However the high 'K'
factor manoeuvre was ruined, and quickly followed by a hurried landing.
However we still had another life left Barry was the next Briton, about an hour
later. Alarmed by Bill's earlier short run, he filled his tank, and had a clean
flight, but obtaining his landing points with only one second to spare, notching
up a few more points on Bill. Karma of Finland suffered an erratic flight,
losing line tension due to wind turbulence This caused him to run back several
paces, and although he recovered tension, the model flew into the branches of a
tree adjacent to the circle, then fell to the ground, fortunately without
serious damage!
First American to fly was Bill Werwage in sixteenth spot. His OS40 powered,
1575mm span model was flown big and smooth and went into the lead with 2,804
points.
  Much interest was focused on the opening Chinese flyer, Wu Dazhong.
His model,
pictured left,
featured wing tip fences with high lift aerofoil sections, heavily off set to
increase line tension. Powered by a Chinese made 35, the model was flown slowly
on long lines with the motor running very fast on a low pitch prop. Pull-outs
were consistently very low. Even more surprising is the fact that he did not use
a Control Line handle! The lines were simply attached to steel rings,
pictured right, which were
then slipped over the first and third fingers.
Flying mid afternoon, America's Les McDonald put in a useful score of 2.722
points for second place, using his 1976 model now K&B 40 powered. The motor is a
front induction model, with a new liner and modified port timing, running fast
on a 275 x 125 prop.
Boaz Trudler of Israel, who had been third place man in Europe in 1979. called
off an attempt due to starting difficulties, thereby putting Britain's Peter
Coates in a few minutes early. Peter suffered no mishaps with motor runs,
although just a little slower than he would have liked for 2135 points.
Suemoto of Japan followed up with a score of 2,616, putting him 3rd behind Les
McDonald, but Trudler could not find his previous form on his second attempt.
Hara started with a clean flight and strong challenge for Japan, rising to
second spot behind Werwage. So the first day ended with USA, Japan, USA, Japan
in the top four positions, with reigning '78 World Champ Bob Hunt and Italy's
Luciano Compostella among the top challengers yet to fly.
The British team, Barry Robinson. Bill Draper and Peter Coates were lying
respectively 16, 19 and 29 after day one. The completion of the opening round
changed the top order after Bob Hunt's mid morning flight went into top spot
with 2,817, and Compostella flying very fast, was only 5 points behind Werwage.
to hold third place.
Bob Hunt's new Genesis is some 90sq ins smaller than his earlier model but with
a larger tail area, still OS40 powered with home built three blade prop. wing
flaps are larger in area, and the flap hinge line is swept forward. The wing is
reminiscent of Al Rabe influence. A small baffle fence is mounted on the outer
wing leading edge some 50mm short of the outer wing tip - The theory is to drag
the outer wing and increase line tension, particularly in high manoeuvres.
 The second round started in the afternoon of Day 2, in the same flying order as
round one, with Mark Lavalette's fast, sharp cornered style picking up a few
more points for 2.673. Joseph Gabris could only improve slightly, still
appearing a little nervous. Bill Draper had developed symptoms of some form of
food poisoning with stomach pains, extreme weakness and dizziness, and was
feeling very sick when his turn came to fly. Consequently, despite a healthy
motor run this time, his score was slightly down on his first round score, but
still a useful addition to the team score.
Barry had been complaining of poor line tension, and had put in some practice
using lines 600mm shorter improving his score in the second round to 2.443. but
still short of the Fly Off. Bill Werwage again climbed into first position with
the highest score so far of 2,883.
Fred Tellier, the big Canadian,
pictured right, had put in a useful 2,448 in round one with his
Snowbird design and at 49oz it is 5oz lighter than his 1978 model. The HP40 had
been re-worked, with the liner dropped to reduce the timing and the compression
ratio adjusted accordingly. The motor is run rich, but with plenty of nitro,
still providing a lot of power. However, in round two, dirt in the jet caused
the motor to go lean and very fast in the inverted section. The rest of the
flight was a very high speed affair, with a considerable overrun to add to
Fred's despair.
China's Wu Dazhong with his unusual model and "handle", was getting the feel of
the contest, adjusting his pull-out heights nearer to five feet and obtaining a
useful 2,592 for the last flight of the day.
Scores were beginning to rise on the third day. as round two progressed, and Les
McDonald's flight of 2,931 recorded the highest score yet of the contest. Boaz
Trudler still could not get in on the act, tending to pull-out too high for
really good scores His model is Genesis style but with a Stiletto wing, and he
had a clockwork timer fitted to guarantee the engine cut out. However, the
judges ruled this out of order (all controls must be via the lines) and so the
timer had to be wired off, leaving Boaz to the time honoured method of metering
his fuel.
Peter Coates made a point of setting his engine run rather leaner than in his
first flight, and put in a clean schedule for 2,465 points, the highest British
score. A very heavy rainstorm in mid afternoon caught Andy Fakia of Canada by
surprise. He struggled through the schedule barely able to see the plane above
45° elevation due to the force of the rain. A prompt application by the Canadian
Team Manager obtained a sensible re-flight, but Andy was too wet and miserable
to take full advantage of his second opportunity.
 Bob Hunt's schedule earned him 2,887 but he was still short of McDonald. Gerard
Tayeb of France, Claus Maikis and Stephen Ratsch both of West Germany, and
Compostella all increased their scores as the round came to a close. Stephen's
new model is a very attractive 42dmsq job weighing in at 1.8kg whilst Claus was
using his last year's model with the radial cowl.
The first Fly Off was opened on Thursday morning at 0705 hrs by Rossi of Italy.
Top score of round one was 2.792 by Les McDonald with Compostella close
behind on 2,782. Following a re-draw, Sbragia, also of Italy, opened the second
Fly Off round still at only 1005 hrs. He was troubled by turbulence and had to
abort the clover leaf, due to lost line tension. Mark Lavalette was unfortunate
to have the elevator push rod break during his wingover, resulting in a high
speed "vertical landing". The Olympus was a complete write-off, but his first
round score was sufficient to earn him ninth place.
Wynn Paul, the third official member of the USA team, held a steady pattern
during a windy patch, although had a nasty moment in the overhead eight due to
loss of line tension. Compostella's second round was marginally less than
his first and so the battle now seemed to be between the remaining three
Americans. Werwage's score of 2,774 was short of McDonald but then in came Hara
of Japan with a well controlled flight for 2,797. Les followed with 2,871, and
all eyes were on the last man to fly — Bob Hunt, competing as individual
Champion in addition to the three man USA Team.
 With the OS running fast on the
125mm pitch prop, the flight was big and smooth for the highest score of the
Fly-Off, 2,880 points, but not quite enough to offset Les's lead from the
earlier rounds. So Les McDonald, the Champ in '76 is again World Champion in
1980, with fellow countryman Bob Hunt the '78 Champ in close second and Bill
Werwage, himself a past Champion, in third position.
Highest placed European was Luciano Compostella in fourth place, whilst the
Japanese and Chinese had made their presence well and truly felt in 2nd and 5th
Team place place respectively. The British Team achieved a creditable 6th place
out of 26 countries. Some other interesting facts and figures: Wyn Paul's model
Pampawagon, 1500mm span, weighed 1.7kg with ST 46 motor swinging a 300x 150
Zinger prop. Model has a 42dmsq foam Genesis wing (not the latest one), with
nose moment of 250mm and flap hinge to elevator hinge of 400mm.
 Karma's model, from Finland, was fitted with detachable wings which plugged into
the fuselage sides, and bolted into position. Ostrowski of Poland was using a
tandem undercarriage similar to the early Russian designs, and he also used an
electric starter. In my view this should not have been permitted under the
current rules, with time limits for starting and finishing. If starters were to
be permitted, then timing should commence from a signal given by the pilot after
his engine is running.
Noel Corney. pictured
left, the sole Australian competitor, also used a single track main
undercarriage with wingtip wheels. Due to the cost of transporting his plane
home again, he gave his immaculate model away after the contest — less the
engine and hardware!
 The pull test was being applied in a vigorous manner. Most models were being
pulled to the 20kg point, but the line tester would often pull his balance well
past that point unless checked. After Bill Draper and Barry Robinson were almost
pulled off their feet in the first round, the British Team had a member at the
handle end during tests to observe, and prevent over-pulling. Not surprisingly,
many sets of lines were broken.
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