A lot of the 150+ planes were large scale World War II fighters powered by gas engines.
There were a wide variety of propulsion systems including electric, glow, gas, EDF, turbine and turboprop, as well as planes from World War I through to F-15s and F-16s. The event is an “any scale any warbird” event, and we had planes from the size of Don Hafer’s Plantraco micro-warbirds to Brian O’Meara’s awesome B-26 Marauder “Flak Bait” with a 12’ wingspan. As a station opened up, the Air Boss signaled “start engines” and then the pilot went to fly while the helper controlled the plane until released to the runway after a safety check to verify control movements.
Two lines formed along the taxiway, each serving three pilot stations. Each area had wide access lanes for planes and vehicles, allowing plenty of room for trailers to pull up, unload and then move out to the parking areas.Īreas were set up for engine test runs away from the pilot stations, trying to minimize disturbances to the pilots. The infield setup took advantage of the large areas north and south of the main shelter, leaving the center open for spectator viewing. By early afternoon on Thursday, the first guests started to arrive as final details were taken care of by the volunteers. Normally, there are four pilot stations, and two more were added to handle the additional pilots. The club’s Field Maintenance team under Art Wagner and Scott Kubasta did a super job on getting the field into magnificent shape, and setup on Thursday went smoothly with the installation of the safety fence, spectator control lines and marking of the tent rows.
Ed is a volunteer at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum at Addison Airport () and gets to work around full scale Mustangs, Corsairs and Skyraiders, plus crews the museum’s DUKW and Sherman tank.įield preparation got started the weekend before the event with a walkthrough of the plan with the team leaders, and some trial runs for vehicle access to the unloading and parking areas. Terry’s second plane was his first warbird, a Top Flite Spitfire, and he runs the specialty business Wylie Warbirds () to cater to fellow enthusiasts. A dedicated team of club leaders put together a very successful first outing, with several lessons learned for next year’s event.īoth Terry and Ed are admitted warbird addicts. North Dallas’ October 2010’s All Scale event was kind of a dress rehearsal for the “big show” in June, and allowed us time to work out the details. The extended planning phase allowed visits to other events like Warbirds Over the Rockies and Top Gun to get ideas and learn from the other successful leaders. Planning for the event started in December 2009, when Event Director Terry Farmer and Contest Director Ed Kettler got together with club officers to discuss hosting a major event. The club’s Eagle Field east of Denton provided a 720’ x 40’ asphalt runway and an adjacent grass runway with wide open flying area making it ideal for warbirds. The skies over North Texas were filled with fighters, bombers, trainers and helicopters from June 10th through the 12th as the AMA Gold Leader Club Charter #1238 North Dallas Radio Control Club hosted the inaugural Warbirds Over Texas.