What a rush! - flying at the churchyard

I spent most of the day with my wife making a vegetable garden. Later chilling under the maple tree I realized here was a nice calm overcast day with almost no breeze and my 1/2A babies were hanging in the shop, all lonesome, feeling neglected and hating the interloping Shoestring. I got to thinking, if I put the slowest prop I have on a Baby Flite Streak I could get in a couple of flights on 35' lines over at the church yard.

So I chose the Streak with the Big Mig .061 since it's muffled, that's the 7.4 ouncer, put an APC 6x2.5 prop on it figuring all it'll do is beat air and move pretty slow, grabbed my gear and walked across the street and set up. My wife got our new next door neighbors, a young military couple, out on the porch to watch while I rigged up the 35' handle and pumped 3/4 ounce of my remaining Glowplugboy into the bladder and gave it a rip. I haven't seen an APC yet that didn't let an engine scream in sheer happiness. Picked up the handle and set her free.

Off like a rocket, damn, it ain't all that slow after all. I didn't count but it felt like it must've been turning 2-1/2 second laps, and I'd forgotten how the most miniscule breeze rolls off of the church roofs and makes level laps absolutely impossible. But I settled into my usual routine of backwards, forward, inside and outside loops, 8s and lots of wingovers, did some overhead 8s, some of them even on purpose and damn near spun myself into the ground, stumbling and recovering a couple of times. That Norvel gets really good gas mileage. It finally sputtered out and I rolled in for a nice landing and didn't even hit the stooge. What a rush! I was dizzy. The neighbors were amazed, never saw such a display of controlled panic like that before. I walked over and talked to them while I regained my wits and put on two more exhibitions. Good landings all. That was such a rush. I've gotten so used to 45 foot lines lately, I had forgotten how intense it is when the circle shrinks and the ground gets 10 feet closer.

It was a great way to close out the day. And when I lugged my plane and gear home, my wife was giving the neighbor dude the nickle tour of my shop and planes, so we finally got to meet and talk. He's an engine guy too, but motorcycle engines. We talked about airplanes and how the models work. His kids were away today but he really wants his 5yo to see this in action.

Just thought I'd relate that to y'all. See you in the funny papers,
Rusty