1973 Joachim Loffler, 31, DDR

Back to Wiener Neustadt, Austria the same venue used for the 1963 and 1969 WCs, but this time sharing accommodations with the crowd attending a "Home Show" in the village. Remember in 1963, contestants were accommodated in private homes. Also Wednesday August 15 was a holiday, and many spectators were expected. The crowd was not disappointed, the F1C winner was a local aeromodeller from Vienna, whose home flying field is Wiener Neustadt: Vaclav Horcicka!

The Wakefield Champion in 1963 was Joachim Loffler, of Germany, another local boy who was 21 years old then. Here also was Albrect Oschatz, the 1969 Wakefield Champion, a Team mate of Joachim. The 1971 Wakefield Champion Joseph Klima of Czechoslovakia was also in this contest, so there are the ingredients for a good mix. Team USA was represented by Bob White who had the potential to win the Cup, Jon Davis, and Frank Parmenter. Thirty-one nations fielded eighty six contestants for the Wakefield Cup contest, which was scheduled for Thursday, August 16. Dickie Dickson writing in the Aeromodeller noted: "It was really delightful to find 31 nations on the field, all with their own ideas on details, but producing what to any visitor basically appeared an almost identical model..." ( ! ) "It seems that the art is now at the stage when a imple 'broomstick' fuselage moulded round a tapered rod, very often in glassfibre though still predominately of balsa, cannot be improved upon. Add a suitable slight high-wing platform convenient for location of timer; attach a constant chord wing, a forward fin, and a simple tailplane..." Dickie is no longer with us in 1995. If he was, he would be astounded by the fact that these Wakefields have hardly progressed beyond his description, and are now available as such to the casual consumer. (IK: this remark might apply to visual inspection by a casual non-technical observer, but the reality of a modern F1B with composite construction and advanced propellers is indeed three decades in advance of the 1973 models).

ROUNDS 1-7: At 8:00am the weather was a warm 67 degrees F, with 2 mph winds and a slight cloud layer. Perfect conditions for the Wakefield Cup. Fifty-one contestants maxed the first round. Thirty-four in round two. Twenty-three in round three. Forty-five in round four. There were sixteen contestants with perfect rounds in round five, thirteen in round six, and by the end of round seven twelve survivors remained to decide the outcome, including A McDonald of New Zealand whose Wakefield was flown proxy by A Jack of GB. A chair for the Wakefield Champion.. Joachim Loffler

ROUND 8: The 240 second fly-off round. Time 7:15pm. Weather: Warm 82 degrees F, wind 2-5 mph, sky overcast with a thin cloud layer. Not bad weather conditions, but the thermals were going to be light, and difficult to pick. Bob White wasted no time getting airborne, and he was followed by Kim Dong Sik, who was followed by a plethora of F1Bs, including Joachim Loffler, who simply came down last. For the second time in this young man's life he joined the rare ranks of those who have won the most prestigious mantle in all of aeromodelling TWICE!

Joachim Loffler's Wakefield - length 1130, span 1290, prop 570d

References

Aeromodeller, Oct 1973, W C Dickie Dickson
FF News 200, F1B Joachim Loffler

Music: "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree"; Literature: "Grass from the Diary of a Snail"; Cine: "Sleeper"