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Headwaters R/C
Bats Outta Hell Combat Wing
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Having it's start in 2005, The Headwaters R/C “Bats Outta Hell Combat Wing” was started by Pat Klein. Pat talked a few other flyers into building Combat Airplanes and that’s how “Combat Night” got it's start.
The idea is to tie a 50-foot long streamer to the tail of your airplane and not allow it to get cut by your enemy, while cutting as many of your enemy’s tails as you can. Points are awarded for: Streamer cuts 50 points, Finishing a round 25 points, Spot landing 25 points and flying under the Limbo bar, 25 points.
Dependent upon weather, the first Combat night is held the first Tuesday in May and is held every other Tuesday evening for 6 events. Generally three rounds are flown each night, again dependent upon weather. If there is a weather-out, the following Tuesday is a make-up. |
The airplanes are a simple design: The fuselage is made from a plastic toy wiffle baseball bat, the wings are cut from foam and the control surfaces and tail feathers are made from either coroplast or balsa wood. The competitors get together at some point when more wing cores need to be cut and cut multiple sets out at one time. This means that the cores are all basically the same and since the wiffle bats are a manufactured item, the group comes close to having a one-design airplane. There are choices, however. The airplane can be high or low winged and may or may not have landing gear. The engine size can not be any larger then a .40 glow engine. The idea is to be as similar as possible and have a quick building and inexpensive airplane. Crashes and mid-air collisions are regular occurrences, so keeping things cheap and quick is a good idea! Since 7 or more combat planes might be in the air at one time, dukeing it out, many eyes on the action are needed. When held, the combat nights attract many spectators. There is a concession stand selling: burgers, brats, chips and beverages. Proceeds from the food sales pay for the materials needed to put on the show.
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It’s a really fun time and the mid-air collisions really get the crowd going! Mid air crashes are a likely; but, a costly accident for those involved! Usually, both airplanes turn to confetti and recovering the important parts becomes the issue. As the years go on, the pilot’s skills are increasing and it seems mid-airs are happening less and less. However, there are still enough crashes to please the crowd.
Three judges are used and each pilot must supply a spotter. Still determining who cut what is difficult. One way to ease this is to have each pilot put his name on the last few inches of his ribbon. At least then the judges can say who got cut. Full rounds can go by without there being a ribbon cut, so getting points by the other methods becomes important.
It’s a major effort to put on Combat Night and the flyers and spectators alike appreciate this effort! |
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