Hello Gentlemen,

     I have volunteered to write a short story as to how our club event (The Wonderful, Weird & Wacky or WWW) got it's start and by whom! At a club meeting early in 2005, I suggested We have a new event that would be fun and entertaining. Basically an event that any modeler could enter as long as he was a bit weird and wacky. Of which we are known to have a few belonging to our club. No mention of names, of course. Being the one who suggested this event, I was asked if I could make up the rules. No problem, not knowing of the repercussions this would have on me later. Anyway, a set of rules were written up and just about everyone in the club were given a copy.

Basic rules were the model had to be airworthy, judged as such, had to have lines pull tested as per carrier rules, had to take off and land on it's wheels and fly for fifteen laps to qualify. Engines were limited up to .60 displacement and limited to a wingspan of 60"  Model could have Any number of wings and any number of engines.

So, the contest was on and this meant that we had roughly 6 months to design and build something strange that has never been seen before and actually fly.  Mid September we held our contest at the old Clayburn park, which is a fairly new site for flying control line models. We had four official entries at that first contest and I must say, the odd looking models that showed up that day was nothing less than awesome. Some of them looked very airworthy, while others looked like the owners would have a lot of praying to do. I was one of those who prayed to the model Gods.

The four entries were Harold Youds, Jack Oster, Henry Hajdik and myself, Dennis Matthews.Now you have to remember that this was going to be the first time some of these models were ever going to try and get into the air. Jack Oster was first up and his model took off and flew like it was born to fly. The only problem Jack's model had was when it came to land and don't forget, it had to land on its wheels to qualify. As luck would have it, Jack's model flipped over and this DQ'd him on his first attempt. Contestants were allowed two attempts and Jack's day was not done quite yet as his second flight was excellent as well, but as he was landing the model nosed over again, and luckily fell back onto it's wheels. A loud cheer rose up from the crowd as Jack sighed with relief. He had  qualified.

Next up to fly was myself. This creation had two wings and two engines, one of which had throttle control (sort of ). As it proved out it needed both engines, going at full power just to get airborne. Once in the air it wasn't bad until the top engine quit and this was only after four laps. This left the throttled engine to carry all the load, which it was barely doing. I sweated from the fourth lap to the end and when the horn sounded, there was great releif as I pulled back on the throttle. I hadn't realized how much this engine was struggling because as I just started to reduce power, the model immediately started to lose height rather rapidly. The landing was quite rough and the model completely flipped over onto it's second set of wheels. No problem, I had qualified even if it was a bit unorthidox. Next on the flight line was Henry Hajdik.

Henry's model was a combination of two highly modified combat planes, one 1/2A combat plane mounted on top of a .15 size combat plane. This model also had two engines, an Cox .049 on top and a vintage ED .15 diesel engine on the bottom. This model looked like it was going fast just sitting there, but there was one small problem. Henry had two fuel bulbs the same colour, but with of course, different fuel in each one. Also I must mention you were allowed additional time to get airborne if you had two or more engines. Well, as luck would have it, Henry somehow got the fuel bulbs mixed upand was having trouble getting either one of his engines running. As time was runnung out, he got the diesel going and became airborne. This model was extremely stable and Henry had no problem from then on. He qualified in his first attempt and now rumour has it, he is creating something even more spectacular for the next time. Beware everyone! Last but not least to fly was the reigning king of the weird airplanes.

None other than our own Harold Youds who has been producing weird and wacky airplanes for a long time. Harold had brought out a whole fleet of different models and had trouble deciding which one to go with. In the end, his choice proved to be very airworthy. Unfortunately the other three entries were a little stranger and the king of weird airplanes ended up being dethroned. Don't worry about Harold,as we all know he will be back next time and probably blow the wings off all of us.

After everyone qualified, which was a surprise and a great relief to some, it was time to announce the winners. The judge for this event, was none other than our own renowned Larry Bell. He was very well versed in the rules and could not be bribed! This is saying a lot as I know he was offered free meals, large iced coca cola's and a host of other goodies.

First place went to none other than myself (Dennis Matthews), second place went to Jack Oster, third place to Henry Hajdik and last but not least was Harold Youds.

I must mention as well that Jack Oster's model won the pilot's choice award. In the beginning of this article I mentioned that I made up the rules for this event. Well, I have been chastised, threatened, and embarrassed over this. But. fear not, As I always say: If you want to win something, you have to make up your own rules. I heard rumours that our club wants to revamp the rules for the WWW.I have no problem with that, accept I have to win again. Just Kidding! Look forward to the next Wonderful, Weird and Wacky event for 2006. For those of you thinking about this event, I can tell you it is a whole

lot of FUN! So start building a WWW and see if you can make it fly! 

Hope to see you all at the next Pacific Aeromodeler's Club’s WWW. 

Dennis Matthews