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WestFAC 2021 - Buckeye, Arizona          Oct 21-24, 2021
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Here are some terrific images from the WestFAC 2021 Event.  Again, we were blessed with a nice field to fly on. Thanks again to Tom Arnold and staff for all the hard work to make this a great time for all. This site will be available for the WESTFAC event in 2022. If you have pictures you would like to include in this gallery, send them to our webmaster or Tom Arnold. Make sure to include a caption.
Jet Cat table. Clockwise from bottom - Bob Hodes B-57B, Allen Shields' Skyray, Wally Farrell's P59, Mike Kelly's Skyray, Mike Kelly's Me 262, Tom Arnold's F-9F-6, Allen Shield' F-16, Bob Hodes Heinkel 178, Tom Arnold's Canberra, Wally Farrell's Heinkel 178, Rich Adams B-52
Wally Farrell's ME 609 twin with Fernando Ramos' Re 2001 behind.
Bob Hodes Voisin Floatplane with Tom Arnold's P-63 Tug behind
Fernando Ramos Reggiane Re2001 peeks out from behind Bob Hodes Voisin and Tom Arnold's P-63
Tom Arnold's A2J Super Savage. Always a crowd pleaser.
David Haught brought his Eindecker EIII. Flew well. Mike Kelly's Waco SRE and Tigercat in the the background.
Wally Farrel's Voisin floatplane with Rich Adams DVII behind it and Bob Hodes BV141 to the right.
FAC Scale entries. Mike Kelly's Tigercat can be seen in the right of this picture and his Waco SRE in the foreground
Better view of Bob Hodes BV141. Glazing work was well done and looked like more work than I want to try.
FAC Jumbo Scale. Wally Farrell's Bestetti-Nardi on the left followed by his Arado E-530 to the right. Bob Hodes brought out his Arado 440 and Dave Haught brought his Lancaster. All incredible models.
Another view of the Jumbo table.
Power Scale models. Wally Farrell's amazing ducted fan A-10, Dave Haught's Bleriot and Bob Hodes Sopwith Schneider. The Schneider was new and untrimmed.
Better view of Bob's Sopwith. Beautiful workmanship on all of these models.
Simplified Scale entries. Variation in subjects is apparent here. Bob Hodes Pottier on the left and Tom Arnold's T-28 to the right. Wally Farrell's two Piper Clippers in yellow and cream
More of the Simplified Scale table. Rich Adams FW190 on the left. Wally Farrell's Piper behind
View of the proceedings. Scale judging is going on in the background
Dime Scale table. Bob Hodes Chambermaid then clockwise Mike Kelly's Sparrowhawk, Dave Haught's F4B-4Wally Farrell's Waco SRE, Rich Adams Staggerwing Beech, Mike Keller's Peanut Monocoupe, with Mike Kelly's peanut Little Gem, Albacore and Barracuda from Dave Haught, Wally Farrell's Staggerwing
Peanut Scale. Front, Mike Keller's Nesmith Cougar then clockwise Wally Farrell's Pegna Racer, Bob Hodes, Pottier, Wally Farrell's Waco SRE, Rod Person's Nesmith Cougar, Dave Haught's beautiful P-51D, and Fernando Ramos' Floyd Bean Special.
Wally Farrell's Airmaster seems to be trying to hide among the dimers and peanuts. I don't think it's working
Hey, How'd these guys get past security?? Gene Drake on the left and the inimitable Fernando Ramos on the right.
Gene and Fernando looking suspicious. Luckily they kept their hands in their pockets otherwise...
Another shot of the Simplified Scale table with a Piper in the foregound, Bob Hodes T-28 to the right.
Final shot of the Simplified Scale table
Gene Drake, left holding Fernando's Floyd Bean Special, Allen Shields, Fernando and his Reggiane Re2001
John Hutchinson at a scoring table
Dave Haught and Al Lies scoring models together.
Bob Hodes with his work gloves on. Bob seemed to be everywhere something needed to be done. Always a great asset to a teamwork activity.
Rich Adams and Mike Kelly judging scale. Latest victim is Bob Hodes's Voisin Floatplane.
Don Bartick submits his SE5a to the cheerful judging staff
Tom Arnold and Wally Farrell helping with scale judging.
Don Bartick bringing his Spitfire to be judged next. Beautiful airplane
Don and Wally discussing a fine point
And if he thinks I'm going to believe that story...
Tom and Wally discussing Don's airy Spitfire.
Rich Adams and Mike Kelly score Bob Hodes nice Voisin Floatplane as Mike Keller looks on
Is there a sale at McDonald's?? Overall view of the display tables
WARNING *Graphic Image!* First fatality of the day. Wally Farrell holds the shattered remnants of his beautiful Bestetti-Nardi BN1 after it encountered a car and lost. Severely.
Tom offering a shoulder to cry on, or is it the other way around?
WARNING *Graphic Image* A closer view of the mangled wreckage
The Gathering Storm - pilot's meeting day one
More meeting, more talk
More talk
Don DeLoach contemplating a bottle of wine, "Too early???"
Tom Arnold putting the finishing touches on the meeting. Tom's effort paid off this weekend
It begins! WWI Mass Launch at 0900 hrs. For most of us, the coffee hasn't taken full hold and breakfast hasn't hit bottom yet.
Winding begins
Struggling to catch air.
WARNING *Graphic Image* Wally Farrell displays the absolutely tortured carcass of his favorite Waco SRE dimer. When he walked up with it, I thought, "How nice that he thinks to pick up loose trash". Yes, yes, I know it's hard to believe but that's an airplane...
His FAC Spirit almost crushed, we decided to have Mistress Demonia call off the Mojo we had put on him. Too brutal even for us.
Tom walking canopy row. White canopies in the background belong to HQ
HQ and more canopies down the line
Bob Hodes preps his Chambermaid dimer while Mike Keller holding a Nesmith Cougar peanut is ready to fly
Bob's Chambermaid is ready to go but he can't remember the secret incantation
Bob and his Chambermaid. His van is a thing of beauty for hauling models in dridecker comfort.
Tom Arnold winding his T-28
Verdant fields of alfalfa, oh wait, the other side of the road. This side was great to land on and made models easier to see on the ground.
Good group of canopies and cars which was half the flightline
WWII Mass Launch line up on Saturday.
Starting the winding. Talking was replaced by the wizzing sound of winders and soto voce instructions to mechanics
Tom gaging the extensible limit of his motor. Note the chic safety glasses.
WWII mass launch winding continues
The Undefeated Farrell Team in action.
Uniform du jour kept many of us from distinguishing Mike Keller from Tom Arnold. Both are flying Hellcats which made it even more confusing. Anyone have a bright red silk scarf??
WWII final lineup. Larry Seals (yellow shirt) officiating
They're off and climbing. Wind was a bit pronounced so the first seconds were a bit exciting until the planes settled in.
Mike Keller's Hellcat still climbing as a Barracuda struggles to find it's equilibrium
Wally Farrell's P-63 in the foreground is doing it's own thing and eventually found the air everyone else missed. He almost lost this plane.
You've let go of the prop and fighting the urge to release before hearing the word "Launch!". Brain is playing tricks on you. Did I just hear it?? I swear I just heard it. Not. Yet.
Tom checking for more twenties in his shirt pocket
Tom Arnold and Bob Hodes supporting each other on the field as they do all year. Great team.
Bob and Tom running numbers on the scoresheets as Rod Persons looks on.
Launch of the Greve/Thompson race. Larry officiated and is the person running towards the camera. Is he looking for cover?
Mike Kelly's P-47 strafes giant human hand. Eight .50 caliber machine guns pouring out rounds had no meaningful effect.
Mike Kelly's Waco flies during Golden Hour. Discovery that skiis will toe down creating air brake effect discovered that evening.
Mike Kelly's Sparrowhawk takes to the air. Lovely model that flies as good as it looks.
Mike Kell's SBD taking to the air. This was built from a kit using kitwood and covering materials. Mike proves that the old ways worked.
Mike Kelly's Little Gem leaves his hand. The imperfect covering attests to the fact that this little gem has flown a lot.
Mike Kelly's Waco C7 on a whiskey delivery run to miners in the frozen arctic. Band across the skiis is either and old fashioned landing hook device or a way to keep the ski tips up. Pilot slurred his words so bad we couldn't tell.
Dave Haught and his revered Sikorsky S-38. Zebra pattern on the fuselage is hand painted. Beautiful
Lining up for the Double Trouble mass launch.
Mike Kelly's Tigercat tries to overtake Wally Farrel's Me 609. The Tigercat was fast up the ladder but ran out of gas before the Me 609
Dave Haught keeps an eye on his S-38 as the Tigercat tries a starboard side flanking hit on the ME 609 behind him. You only see this flying models folks
Tom gets messerschmitted by Wally's ME 609. Law firm of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe taking this case...
Rich Adams launches his B-52 in Jet Cat. 25" span and 36 grams. Redfines "Heavy Bomber" in airplane parlance.
Rich's B-52 overhead.
Launch line view during WWII mass launch
Mike Kelly's Spitfire at time of launch during a round of WWII.
Mike Kelly's Waco C7 launches out during trim flights
Wally Farrell launches his Voisin for a relaxed Golden Hour flight. Great flier.
Le Voisin floating gently by.
Working aircraft mass launch round two. The wind had picked up just in time for this event.
Flying Horde mass launch. Great mix of subjects.
Team Farrell in the Blue Ridge Special mass launch. Kiss up front cuz afterwards...well you never know...
And the launch. Julie takes the event and all is well.
Wally Farrell launches his A-10 for a spectacular flight. We all thought it was a goner hopping thermals for over four minutes in the late afternoon sky but then was too far out at BINGO fuel decided to turn back towards the home before gassing out..
Wally's A-10 makes a scale puff of dust as it ends it's flight. Follow Mike's finger to the moment it hits the ground in scale fashion.
Tom Arnold winding his T-28. Note the dismal and scraggly field on one side of the road versus the thick alfalfa on the other side. Not very forgiving stuff.
Tom Arnold's P-63 Target Tug. Great color scheme for this area.
Tom Arnold's A2J Savage awaits the call to duty. Flew well.
Tom's Savage goes to work
Forlorn BA Cabin sits waiting for retrieval. Belongs to Don DeLoach and used to be red and yellow wings on a black fuselage. Esaki colors do not age well.
Wally Farrell holds his Travelair 6000 for the camera while making motor sounds. Beautiful model and flies well. Took an uncharacteristic dive to the mat during the mass launch.
Bob Hodes holds his Voisin just prior to another great flight.
Bob waiting for that perfect moment to launch
Rich Adams holds his Pilatus Turbo Porter during Golden Hour flying. Trim flights went well.
Rich Adams launches his Porter into the still evening air.
Wally Farrell winds his Voisin while Julie holds. Golden Hour flying as the sun sets. No wind out there that evening.
Wally Farrell tosses the Voisin. Still air with a brilliant sunset made it all magical.
This picture speaks for itself.
Rich Adams Turbo Porter on the stooge.
With flying over, everyone gathers in front of the HQ tent for the ending ceremonies.
By this time of the day we all had enough sun to last a while. Thoughts about trips home and the end of contest dinner that evening were just starting to form.
But wait, there's more!! Mike Kelly was awarded the coveted Blue Max by the esteemed John Hutchinson.
Mike Kelly, on bended knee in front of John Hutchinson, receives the Blue Max. John's lovely wife stands behind Mike as Tom and Bob look on.
Mike Kelly with his newly minted Blue Max. Very proud time for him and his friends. Head bowed in humility, he heads back to his tent, filled with the knowledge of the new responsibilities and FAC burden he now carries with him. (Too dramatic?)
A Jabberwock trim flight by Mike Jester
Mike Jester Launches his Korda C on an official in the OTR stick event
Bob Hodes and Mike Kelly with their Greve/Thompson entries
Grand Champion Wally Farrell receives his award trophy from Tom Arnold. Well done!
Mike Jester's Embraer crop duster circles over the alfalfa.
Wally and Julie Farrell and their mobile hangar.
Our lady retrievers launch their Blue Ridge Specials.
Mike Kelly receives his Blue Max from Hall of Fame member John Hutchinson.