OVER DELAWARE 2009
WARBIRDS
Nick Ziroli assembles his 100-inch span Skyraider.
Held each year at the Lums Pond State Park
on the weekend after the 4th of July, this
event starts seeing RVs, campers and trailers
arrive on the Thursday before show weekend. Though it’s more than two decades
old, this ever-popular meet remains fresh
and new, thanks to the tireless work and
efforts that the members of the Delaware
R/C Club pour into it. The event’s co-direc-tors Dave and Pete Malcione are always on
hand to make sure everyone has a great
time. The thunderous commentary provided by announcer Fast Eddie Leuther kept
everyone entertained and well informed.
From the early morning pilot safety meetings and the Saturday evening BBQ, to the
huge 40x80 foot aircraft storage tent and
flightline traffic management, everything
about this warbird gathering runs safely,
smoothly and very efficiently.
As usual, local Troop 30 of the Boy Scouts
of America were on hand serving up hot
food and drinks to the pilots and their
crews. A large collection of vendors and
hobby suppliers is also a usually feature and
they were set up in their own shady area to
relieve some of the flightline congestion.
Some of the attendees this year were Vailley
Aviation, Balsa USA, SKS Video Productions, WarbirdColors.com and 2iCRC.com,
to name a few. If you ever needed a prop,
screw, glue or a tool, supplies were never far
away.
BY THE NUMBERS
This year’s pilot tally was over 200 and at least
double that number for airplanes. Nobody
comes to this event with only one warbird! As
a destination, this warbird meet is an
AMA/IMAA scale event. Pilots must have
valid membership cards and all aircraft must
be giant-scale military warbirds. There’s an
80-inch wingspan minimum for monoplanes and a 60-inch lower-limit for biplanes
and triplanes. A huge time saver is the online
pilot pre-register. If you fill in the forms available on the club’s webpage, you didn’t have
to stand in line to do the paperwork. Your
MEMORIAL
CORSAIR
One very special aircraft flying at
the 2009 event was a huge F4U
Corsair with folding wings. We
caught up with Dave Malcione
after an impressive flight of the
big bent-wing South Pacific fighter.
Here’s the interesting back story.
Dave, tell us a little about your impressive warbird.
DM: I built the Corsair from a composite ARF kit and my son Dave Jr. is the pilot. It is powered
by a Moki 250 radial engine and weighs 54 pounds. It is 1/4.5 scale and we dedicated it in
the memory of family friend and good RC flying buddy Carl Cantera. Carl was a major sponsor
and a major reason for the success and growth of CHWOD event.
What about the wing?
DM: The wingspan is 110 inches bent and it includes all the functional folding wing mechanics.
The wing down lock works just like a retract system, but they work with hydraulics instead of
pneumatics to give a constant speed of movement during the folding cycle. The pump is fed
from a flexible reservoir and a sensor keeps the pressure in the system constant. A servo-driven
valve feeds the fluid to the cylinder, backflow is collected in a flexible reservoir, ready to be
pumped back into the system. No end switches or locking devices are necessary. The 90-degree
rotating Oleo landing gear from Sierra Giant Scale are designed exclusively for the Corsair.
