A piece of contemporary history – a comprehensive documentation of the 1965 World Cup in Sweden with lots of details and background information. The gallery at the end of the article contains numerous previously unpublished photos of this event from private photo albums.
You can find the sober figures in the table below. Then you will know the winner, you will know which models the individual competitors flew and which engines they used. The best way for me to do this is in the form of a travelogue, and you can accompany me to Sweden once again.
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So we are starting in Brussels. We’ve been looking forward to this world championship for two years, and for twelve months we’ve been working like horses for these three flights that were to be completed in Sweden. We had built a lot of models, all of the same type: our “Trouble”. We had been training with our new proportional remote controls for months, we had been on the airfield for the last few months – Saturday, Sunday and up to three times a week in the evening.
Carl XVI. Gustaf of Schweden
We had made precise lists for each model, in which the jet needle position, the fuel, the glow plug, the propeller, the trim on the transmitter etc. were noted and for each figure, for each model an extra announcement was noted, which gave precise information about how the model behaved in each individual figure with or without wind.
These lists for each individual model were as complete as possible. For example, for a three-turn spin on model no. 3, it said: “Lower the throttle, apply a little elevator, half throttle just before stalling, spin to the right, stop after two and a half turns.”
This meant that model no. 3 with the engine at full throttle did not want to spin. It wouldn’t spin round to the left under any circumstances, and if you let go of the sticks after a full three turns, it would continue to spin for another half a turn. There was such a list for each of the 24 figures and for each model, which we had compiled in incredible detail, sacrificing a lot of time and completely neglecting our families.
The itinerary was set, the hotel room for the journey was booked, and then came the big day when we packed up our cars and set off 1500 kilometres north.
The first stop was Oldenburg in Holstein, where the Condor gliding club gave us a warm welcome and stopped flying so that we could train again. The next day we took the big ferry across the Baltic Sea to Denmark, then travelled by car past Copenhagen to Helsingborg and then took the ferry again to Sweden, from where we only had to drive 50 km to Ljungbyhed.
Our models would be clear, and Chris was fit for a world championship. The only two unknowns in our big game were the competitors and the weather. For this reason, we had organised our trip so that we were in Sweden four days before the opening of the World Championships.
During these four days we continued to train, keeping a close eye on the weather, making notes on where the sun rose, where it set, what time the wind came in and what time it went back to sleep, and training through the programme using our lists of the two best models we had with us.
Kato brothers from Japan with ‘Super Thunderbird’
We had found a place to train where military aircraft were parked. Fortunately, this place was unguarded and we weren’t disturbed the whole time. We were not allowed into the camp where the World Cup was to take place.
The first competitors found us on the last day of training. Some of them flew with us, others just watched. The next morning we entered the camp. It was a large airfield for jet aircraft, which lay within a cordon. Inside this cordon was a military academy where the Swedish pilots were trained.
We went to the secretariat and received a plastic bag full of papers. There was a detailed plan of the airfield, a timetable from the airfield to the accommodation facilities, a plan of the individual buildings of the monastery where we found our rooms, brochures about Sweden, postcards that we could send to friends, a detailed schedule of the World Championships, a booklet with greetings from the military, the Secretary General, the Swedish Aeroclub, the station commander, and so on.
We each had a room for two people with colourful, hard beds, a wardrobe, table and two chairs and were really well accommodated there.
The transmitters had to be handed in to the camp at 7 o’clock every morning. The camp was closed at 8 o’clock in the evening, and anyone who left their equipment in the camp could no longer access it overnight.
There was a bit of a commotion on the first evening because word suddenly got around that the power would be switched off in the camp at 12 o’clock at night, and many people had switched on their chargers. The camp was then opened up again for us and we collected our transmitter and receiver batteries to charge them in our accommodation.
After the transmitters were handed in at 7 a.m., training and the competition got underway according to a precise schedule that was strictly adhered to. The Swedes are an extremely disciplined people, and we felt it. There was no late arrival, no excuses were accepted, no transmitter was handed out if it was not your turn to fly.
Everything ran strictly according to the pre-arranged schedule, and that was a good thing. The first two days were set aside for training for the individual competitors. Each nation had 20 minutes at its disposal. The individual teams from the different nations either started at the same time or one after the other. They were free to choose.
The only accident during training was suffered by our co-world champion, Fritz Bosch, when his receiver crystal broke during the flight and the model went out of control. It crashed right next to the runway, jumped up again and slightly injured the foot of a very pretty lady from Vienna who had come as a spectator.
All of the competitors were sitting around the airfield, keeping a close eye on the training so that they could work out their chances. We had already drawn up a precise list beforehand and worked out who could be a threat to us.
We came up with a total of ten people, most of whom we already knew from other competitions, and told ourselves that we would end up in one of the top ten places.
After the training on the second day was over, we went through our list again and realised that only three people would be considered for the first three places if everything went smoothly and none of these three ran out of engine or had any system problems.
We had worked seriously and hard up to that point. But from the moment we knew that Chris had a chance of finishing in the top three, the World Championship got really serious.
On the evening of the second training day, the team masters had to report the order in which their three pilots were to be used, and this order had to be adhered to for all three days. The Belgian team was ranked number 8, number 20 and number 31.
While in the other teams the order was decided by lot, the friendly colleagues of the Belgian team recognised that Belgium only had one ace in the form of Chris, and that Chris should decide which place he wanted to start in.
We decided in favour of the first flight, i.e. site number 8, and calculated that the 7 a.m. competition would start at around 9 a.m., at a time when we would still have no wind according to the observations of the last four days. There was also a lot to be said against this 8th place, as the judges normally had to score themselves first in the course of the day, and as we had noticed that the first competitors in each international competition received completely different points.
In the end, however, we decided in favour of 8th place, and that’s how it stayed for the three days.
I could now tell you about every single flight of every single competitor. But I don’t think it’s terribly interesting for you to know whether the Canadian in the horizontal eight or the Dane in the inverted flight didn’t fly quite cleanly.
I should only tell you briefly about the people who are of interest to you. Our rivals were the Germans. However, this team was really unlucky during the competition.
Fritz Bosch’s best model crashed during training, and for the entire three days he couldn’t decide whether to fly his Delphin low-wing monoplane or the Klinger Tiger biplane. In the end, he took his Delphin each time and had bad luck with the engine in the first two flights.
The third flight he made was excellent, and there are people who think it was the best flight of the whole competition.
Bauerheim, the second German, had bad luck once with the engine and once with some external interference. He fought like a lion with his model, which suddenly broke out in the middle of the figures, plunged vertically downwards, then completed half a figure well and then suddenly started to go crazy again. In such a case, I would have throttled back my engine and landed. Bauerheim, however, fought through to the end without damaging his model.
It is understandable that such an incident does not exactly reassure a pilot, but only makes him more nervous. The third German, Karl Blauhorn, who I saw for the first time in Sweden, has a great future in my humble opinion. Young and carefree, he starts and flies all his figures cleanly. If he still hasn’t achieved a better place, it’s only because he lacks a good friend who understands the sport and is prepared to act as his coach. Blauhorn is not yet able to place his pieces.
He sometimes leaves so much sky between the model and the ground that it is difficult to observe the figures, he places his figures once to the right and once to the left of the judges and places the figure eights and loops in such a way that they can be seen at an angle of 45%. The impression is missing that all the figures appear to be drawn on a canvas. Karl Blauhorn should look for the right partner and not be annoyed when he is improved and corrected by this partner, who perhaps does not fly as well as he does. You get the impression that this is a man at the transmitter who can fly very well but lacks the experience of an international competition.
The American team leader was Ed Kazmirski. The most likeable of the American pilots was without doubt Zell Ritchie. Unfortunately, he had problems with his engine during the competition. One had the impression that the fuel tank was installed too low. The engine ran far too rich in the first figures and then became lean towards the end of the race. Cliff Weirick, who took third place, is a lively little chap who works at Bonner. Ralph Brooke – now a two-time world champion – a dentist, flew his Crusader.
The most impressive model in the whole series was without doubt the “Norseman” by Ronny Chapman from Canada. A gold, white and red model with a suspended, fully enclosed engine and retractable undercarriage. The engine with silencer made a wonderful noise. The two Kato brothers from Japan flew yellow and orange-painted models that bore the name Thunderbird and resembled Raph Brooke’s model. One of the two Kato brothers had difficulties during a pass due to foreign interference; both Kato brothers flew the old Orbit proportional system.
We had very good weather all three days with sunshine and a steady wind that shifted a little from time to time. The transmitters, which were parked in the hangar, were driven to the airfield in a vehicle and were there on time. At 12 noon, flight operations ceased and lunch was taken together. Flying continued from 1 pm until 4 pm. After that, the time was available to the participants for training. Most of the time, however, they didn’t train but fiddled with the models.
On the fringes of the competition, the visitors who are generally well known were also interesting for everyone. Howard Bonner was there with his sales manager and we had long conversations with him. Henry Nicols from England was everywhere and kept everything in order. The most striking personality on the whole airfield was without doubt Dr Walter Good, the old pioneer of model flying and the man who flew the first ever remote-controlled aeroplane in the world, fighter for the altitude record in RC model flying and President of the FAI.
He is one of the kindest people I have ever met in my life. It’s not just the flying, but also getting to know other people on the fringes of the competition, the coexistence of the individual nations and the immediate familiarity between like-minded people that makes a World Championship a success and gives it its fluidity. After the official flying had finished on the third day, various groups flew a small show; the Americans showed us square loops and square eights, while Chris and I performed a formation flight that ended in an attempt to dart as low as possible inverted over the concrete runway. Twice my model tapped the runway with the rudder, and on the next pass it landed beautifully with sparks and fire on its back. I had to sign many autographs for this inverted landing, and many people, including Dr Walter Good, came up to us afterwards and congratulated us on this association flight, in which the figures were really flown together.
In the evening, the last evening in Sweden, there was a banquet with a real Swedish Smörgasbord, a kind of self-service at a large table with delicious food. The site commander and the president of the Swedish Aeroclub, Dr Walter Good, gave a speech. The band played the anthem composed especially for this world championship, and two very pretty young ladies gave a vocal performance. When the prizes were presented, two people received a particularly loud round of applause.
On one occasion, it was the Czech Michalovic who came last. He had come from the Czech Republic with a hand-built 9cc engine and flew an orbit-tongue relay system that had been lent to him. Everyone was happy to see someone from the eastern world and he really deserved this special applause for his long journey and the difficulties he had faced. Chris Teuwen undoubtedly got the biggest applause, even though he only came second. The Americans later asked me why there was more applause for Teuwen than for Brooke.
I don’t know the explanation myself. But I believe that everyone would have liked to see a European win the World Cup. This is far more difficult for a European than for an American. The Americans arrived with material that we had never heard of before. Among other things, they flew the Veco 61 with serial number 2 and the latest Orbit Digital system, which is not yet available on the market.
It’s certainly much easier for someone who doesn’t have to save up for their expensive equipment to win first place at a world championship. He doesn’t have to think about finances, he can devote himself entirely to his flying, and I am convinced that even the travelling costs from America to Sweden will be fully reimbursed by the AMA.
There was no exceptional model available. Many models had a finish that was fabulous, but there was nothing special in terms of aero-dynamics or construction. Almost all models were low-wing, with very few high-wing models.
In the end, only the weights of the models, the systems that were flown and the motors used are of interest. Here is an overview:
Of the 35 models used, one had a weight of 2.3 kg, two of 2.8 kg, three of 2.9 kg, seven of 3 kg, two of 3.1 kg, four of 3.2 kg, two of 3.3 kg, four of 3.4 kg, one of 3.5 kg, three of 3.6 kg, two of 3.7 kg, three of 3.8 kg and one of 4 kg. 10 reed relay systems were flown, 11 Bonner proportional, 2 Orbit digital, 2 Orbit analogue, 1 Kraft proportional, 2 CRC proportional, 1 Multiplex proportional, 2 home-made proportional, 2 Simprop proportional, 2 Constellation proportional. The following engines were used: 15 Merco 61, 6 Super-Tigre 56, 4 Super-Tigre 60, 2 Veco 45, 1 Fox 59, 1 Veco 61, 1 Merco 59, 1 OS 60, 1 Super-Tigre 51, 1 K and B 45, 1 Super-Tigre 46, 1 Home-made 51.
We can see from this that the average model flown in competitions around the world today weighs around 3.4 kg, is powered by a Merco 61 and has a proportional system, probably a Bonner proportional system, as a remote control. Of the 35 participants from 13 different nations, 105 competition flights were completed without breakage. Fritz Bosch, Ralph Brooke and the Englishman Wauters each lost a model in the training and display flights.
If we Germans want to organise the World Cup in two years’ time like the Swedes did, I believe that this will not be possible without the help of the German Bundeswehr or another military unit.
In order to have as good a reputation in the organisation of the World Cup as the Swedes have today, we will have to make a great effort and be forced to look for a place that is conveniently located in terms of transport, that is very scenic and that gives us the opportunity to enlist the help of anyone who is interested.
Let us all hope that this World Cup will be placed in the right hands by those responsible.
| Place | Pilot | Country | Weight kg | Plane | Engine | Engine |
| 1 | Brooke, R. | USA | 3,15 | Crusader | Merco 61 | Orbit Digital |
| 2 | Teuwen, C. | Belgium | 3,17 | Trouble | Tigre 56 | Bonner Digimite |
| 3 | Weirick, C. | USA | 3,95 | Candy | Veco 61 | Bonner Digimite |
| 4 | Stephansen, P. | Norway | 3,1 | Maximum-4 | Merco 61 | Bonner Digimite |
| 5 | Olsen, C. | England | 3,2 | Upset | Merco 61 | F&M 10 Reed |
| 6 | Pitchie, Z. | USA | 3,75 | Phantom IV | Fox 59 | Orbit Digital |
| 7 | Chapman, H. | Canada | 3,35 | Norseman 4 | Merco 61 | CRC Electronics Proportional |
| 8 | Foster, S. | England | 3,35 | Nimbus II | Merco 61 | Orbit 10 Reed |
| 9 | Blauhorn, K. | Germany | 2,87 | Taurus | OS-60 | Multiplex-Proportional |
| 10 | Tom, H. | Canada | 3,0 | Cutlass | Tigre 60 | Kraft Proportional |
| 11 | von Segebaden, J. | Sweden | 3,8 | Mustfire | Merco 61 | Bonner Digimite |
| 12 | Bosch, F. | Germany | 3,65 | Delphin | Tigre 56 | Simprop-Proportional |
| 13 | Sweatman, C. | South Africa | 3,55 | Decoder | Merco 61 | Constellation 7 Proportional |
| 14 | Hitchcox, W. | Canada | 3,35 | Norseman 4 | Merco 61 | CRC Electronics Proportional |
| 15 | Haegeman, G. | Begium | 3,08 | Zinneken | Tigre 56 | Bonner Digimite |
| 16 | Rasmussen, H. | Danmark | 3,6 | Beach Comber | Tigre 56 | Bonner Digimite |
| 17 | Waters, I. | England | 3,1 | Altair-6 | Merco 61 | Min-X 12 Reed |
| 18 | Corghi, E. | Italy | 2,3 | X-18 | Tigre 51 | Controlair 10 Reed |
| 19 | Kato, S. | Japan | 2,96 | Thunderbird | Tigre 60 | Orbit Proportional |
| 20 | Wessels, J. | South Africa | 2,9 | Taurus-Mod | Veco 45 | Bonner Digimite |
| 21 | Mantelli, 0. | Italy | 2,75 | Taurus | Veco 45 | Bonner Digimite |
| 22 | Gugliolminetti, F. | Italy | 3,0 | KK Original | K&B 45 | Bonner Digimite |
| 23 | Hakche, J. | Danmark | 3,2 | Beach Comber | Merco 49 | Homemade 10 Reeds |
| 24 | Bauerheim, K. | Germany | 3,5 | Corsar | Tigre 56 | Homemade-Proportional |
| 25 | Culverwell, C. | South Africa | 2,77 | Taurus-Mod | Veco 45 | Constellation 7 Proportional |
| 26 | Levenstam, J. | Sweden | 3,7 | Mustfire | Merco 61 | Kraft 10 Reed |
| 27 | van der Burg, A. | Holland | 3,57 | Hazwena | Merco 61 | Orbit 10 Reed |
| 28 | van Vliet, P. | Holland | 2,95 | Blizzard | Merco 61 | F&M Prop |
| 29 | Kato, M. | Japan | 2,92 | Thunderbird | Tigre 60 | Orbit Prop |
| 30 | Tonnesen, U. | Norway | 2,9 | Flint Stone | Merco 61 | Homemade Propoflex |
| 31 | Dilot, R. | Sweden | 3,0 | Taurus-Mod | Merco 61 | Min-X 10 1 |
| 32 | Dedobbeleer | Begium | 3,24 | Demoiselle | Tigre 56 | Bonner Digimite |
| 33 | Andersen, E. | Danmark | 3,75 | Original | Merco 61 | Bonner Digimite |
| 34 | Martens, F. | Holland | 3,27 | Humple | Tigre 60 | Orbit 12 Reed |
| 35 | Michalovic J. | CSSR | 3,4 | Original | Home made 9cc | Orbit 10 Reed |
Text: Fritz Heese
Images: Collection Streil / Urs Leodolter, Wolfgang Bauerheim, Guenter Hoppe
