1969 Albercht Oschatz, 31, DDR

Back to Wiener Neustadt after a six year absence. The field, village, and the Austrian Contest Director Krill, remain the same. So what's new? Plenty. The FAI/CIAM have once more "fiddled" with the F1B rules. This year there will be "7 Rounds of 180 Seconds", to attempt to reduce the number of contestants in the Fly-Offs, which some are now claiming "....is when the 'real' contest begins!" These changes also changed the design of the F1B. Now it was most unusual to see "box" fuselages, at least on the F1Bs made by European aeromodellers. The "new F1B" has a round motor tube, about 23 inches long, much the same as that seen at the 1958 Wakefield Cup contest designed by the Hungarian Champion George Benedek. There is a sameness about these new F1B that must be the result of the Sporting Code, 1965. An anomaly or two may be seen at the WC, for instance the "Espada" designed by Reiner Hofsass of Federal Republic of Germany. Otherwise, the "formula" prevails.

The WC was becoming more difficult to manage, that's for sure, and more expensive to promote. This year there were 32 nations sending full Teams. There were 72 contestants from 28 nations entered for F1B. On Saturday Elton Drew of GB took home the win in the FlA event. There was no fly-off because nobody, except Drew had perfect scores by the end of the seven rounds. Friday, August 15 would be F1B day and 72 contestants hoped and prayed for the weather to hold.

And the Winner is...ROUND1-7: The weather was intermittently overcast and rainy before the 7:30am start. On the field standing at their winding stands, that were all the rage now, were contestants from: (4X), (YR), (TC), (ZK), (HA), (VH), (PP), (L), (D), (OY), (SE), (I)' (G), (F), (HB), (OK), (C), (PH), (SP), (OH), (N), (YU), (DDR), (CCCP), (OE), and (DDR), in no particular order. There were 36 maxes in round one. Forty-five maximums in round two. Thirty-three in round three. Twenty-one in round four. Thirty in round four. Thirty-one in round five. Twenty in round six, and finally thirty-four in round seven. Only one person had seven perfect rounds and he was declared the winner. There would be no exciting fly-off in extra rounds, no cheering crowds, and no team demonstrations. No one knew who the winner was until the officials posted the last round on the leader board.

Albercht Oschatz's Wakefield length 1090, span 1230, prop 620x700

References

BMFA FF Forum 1990, N Beaumont
Aeromodeller, Nov 1969

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