If there was ever an individual who epitomized the phrase “Self made Man”, Walter Musciano is that person.   Walt credits his passion for modeling as a major factor in overcoming obstacles that would have stopped a lesser man.   For over 80 years, he has designed and built model aircraft of all types.   Fortunately for the rest of us, he has shared his expertise with the model aviation community for the past 6 decades.   One of Walt’s great achievements was his series of “Table Top Models”.   These affordable designs were simple to build and fly, and brought control line flying to the multitudes.   If you were a model builder in the 50s, 60s, or 70s, you knew these designs as the famous Scientific ‘hollow log’ series of planes.

The 2009 Michigan Musciano Fun Fly was again held at the beautiful Kalamazoo Smoke Rings flying site, which is adjacent to the famous Air Zoo aviation museum.   A newly added concrete flying circle added to on-site sanitary facilities and large covered patio always make coming to K-zoo a pleasure.   A scale judging competition was tested this year, which brought the total number of events to six.   The attendance was down somewhat from previous years reflecting the larger number of control line contests vying for the limited number of summer weekends in the Great Lakes State.   The Craftsmanship judging was an all Golden Hawk affair with Rich Kacmarsky, Frank Carlisle, and Tom Kasinec finishing first, second, and third.   Proto Speed saw the lead swapped several times as speeds improved throughout the day.   When it was done, Rich Kacmarsky squeaked out a win over second place Al Rohrstaff with Mickey Trimner placing third.   The Rat Race always seems to feature an intriguing combination of planes, pilots, and luck.   The Pilot/Pitman combination of Rich Kacmarsky and Frank Carlisle flew to victory only because the Tom Kasinec / Al Rohrstaff got such great fuel mileage, they didn’t run out of gas until the winners had completed their required laps and mandatory pit stop.   The team of Leroy Heikes and Joe Kresnak rounded out the top three.   Some impressive aerobatics put Al Rohrstaff at the top of the list in Stunt with Tom Kasinec taking second.   The Musciano Unlimited is an event that allows any design of any size, as long as Walt Musciano originally created it.   Frank Carlisle took a well-deserved first place with his Giant Golden Hawk, which is the big brother of the Golden hawk he used to place second in the Concours competition.   Rich Kacmarsky’s Giant Stuntmaster took runner-up in this 2-plane event.   An extra feature of the 2009 Michigan contest were demonstration flights by kids who had built and learned to fly contol line planes the week before at the Air Zoo camp.   As the clouds rolled in, certificates signed by Walt Musciano were awarded to the competitors.   After the usual chat about things aviation, everyone packed up and went home thinking of the planes they will bring to the 2010 contest.