Indoor FF Championship at West Baden

Free Flight Indoor

As seen in the July 2018 issue of Model Aviation.

When the FAI F1D World Championship was held in West Baden, Indiana, in 1980, I was only 8 years old and had no idea what an Indoor Free Flight (FF) model was. I would not become hooked on Indoor FF until several years later.

Indoor modeler Larry Loucka used to make copies of model plans and articles from older model magazines that had Indoor FF coverage. I always remember reading about Indoor Week at West Baden, and often wondered what it would be like to experience it.

This year, with the F1D World Championship returning to West Baden and the two-day Jim Richmond Open precontest, my dad and I wanted to make sure we experienced Indoor Week. Being able to attend the activities for the week was going to be a great experience all by itself; on top of that, I was fortunate enough to also be selected as the USA Junior Team manager.

Eight-time World Champion Jim Richmond and his wife, Mariana, have been married for 43 years. They met at the 1970 World Championship in Romania where she was the US team translator.

Eight-time World Champion Jim Richmond and his wife, Mariana, have been married for 43 years. They met at the 1970 World Championship in Romania where she was the US team translator.

We arrived on Saturday, which was the first day of the Jim Richmond Open. There were so many people flying indoor models in the atrium that I could not help but smile. For those who have never been to the West Baden Springs Hotel, you have to walk across the atrium floor to get to the guest check-in counters. I think it took us an hour to make it across the floor because with each step, we saw familiar faces.

Some were those we currently see at contests, and some we have not seen in a long time. One person that I had not seen in many years was Vladimir Linardic. We both started flying Indoor FF when we were teenagers in the late 1980s. We attended many of the same contests growing up.

Vladimir Linardic (L) presented longtime modeling friend Chuck Slusarczyk with a Croatian F1D team shirt.

Vladimir Linardic (L) presented longtime modeling friend Chuck Slusarczyk with a Croatian F1D team shirt.

Vladimir now lives in Croatia and was representing his country along with his teammate, Vilim Zobec. We all ended up going to dinner nearly every night to catch up on lost time and reminisce about the U.S. Indoor Championship contests at Johnson City, Tennessee.

Besides finding old friends, we made many new ones. With social media such as Facebook, the Yahoo Indoor FF news group, and the Hip Pocket Aeronautics Forum, it is much easier for modelers worldwide to communicate with each other. There is a group of people I have only known through the internet and forum posts, and it was nice to finally meet some of them in person.

Bud Romak, Steve Brown, John Kagan, Jim Richmond, Larry Cailliau, and Yuan Kang Lee. Guerrero photo.

A rare gathering of six F1D World Champions (L-R): Bud Romak, Steve Brown, John Kagan, Jim Richmond, Larry Cailliau, and Yuan Kang Lee. Guerrero photo.

One such person was Eduardo Guerrero. Eduardo is originally from Chile and currently lives in Arizona. He and his father came to be timers for the World Championship. It was great to meet him and see his enthusiasm for Indoor FF. Eduardo has posted a number of photos and videos from this event on Facebook and on YouTube.

Evan Guyette was the winner of the inaugural Jim Richmond Open. Photo by Eduardo Guerrero.

Evan Guyette was the winner of the inaugural Jim Richmond Open. Photo by Eduardo Guerrero.

Eduardo Guerrero (R) and his father, Eduardo Guerrero Gajardo, represented Chile in the Jim Richmond Open. Guerrero photo.

Competition flying typically ended each day at approximately 5 p.m. After putting their models away, most contestants would go out to eat at local restaurants. As they returned from dinner, people would gather in the atrium area. There are many couches, chairs, and tables that allowed everyone to socially interact outside of the pressures of the contest.

There was a lot of laughing and storytelling at these gatherings and model airplane discussions that sometimes lasted late into the night. It was nice to see and experience the camaraderie of the Indoor community at an international level.

The night before the World Championship started, Ban Saks and Phil Kibbe showed a 70-minute version of the Float documentary that they have been working on for several years. The documentary covers several past F1D World Championships, so there is nice footage of models ﬂ ying in the salt mines of Romania.

There are also interviews with F1D modelers from around the world and their workshops. The documentary was well received. There is more information on the documentary website, which includes some videos, as well as links to the social media accounts for the ﬁlm.

On the last day of the contest after the ﬂying was ﬁnished, there was an awards ceremony followed by a banquet. Seeing Brett Sanborn on the podium winning his ﬁrst World Championship and the USA Senior Team win ﬁrst place was an amazing experience. It was great helping the Junior team—they each did an excellent job under the pressure of a World Championship.

It was a week of experiences that my dad and I will never forget. It took me 34 years, but I ﬁnally got to experience Indoor Week at West Baden!

Ross Clements, Joseph Szczur, and Chris Lou. The team placed third.