March Warbird Madness - Contest Idea

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  • James
    Administrator

    • Aug 2017
    • 1543
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    #1

    March Warbird Madness - Contest Idea

    Click image for larger version  Name:	Motion March Madness Brackett.jpg Views:	0 Size:	138.6 KB ID:	179268
    Hello Squawkers! Had an idea that could turn into a pretty fun contest in March. Now I am not a college basketball fan, but I have definitely had fun filling out a bracket or two over the years when the March Madness tournament rolls around. It's always fun to see upsets and such and I was thinking, "could we do that somehow with our customer base?"

    I found a site that will allow people to enter with just an email address (will need to be the same email as your Motion RC account to be eligible for any prizes). Then upon entering you will get to vote on each first round match-up. After a set time, Rd.1 will end and the aircraft with the most votes in their match-up will advance to round 2 and everyone can then vote again, and so on and so forth. It will award points for each correct pick all the way until the end and keep a running score/leaderboard throughout and you won't be able to see the results until each round ends.

    Overall I think it would create some wildly fun debate because the reason people love certain aircraft over others is totally arbitrary. You can like a plane more than another simply because of looks rather than historical significance etc, etc. These debates are happening throughout all of our forums anyway, so why not turn that into something competitive?

    So let me discuss how I created the bracket above. First I was thinking of best airplane ever regardless of military/civilian etc and quickly realized there are far, far too many great aircraft and getting to just 64 of them would leave many out. So then I thought about best Warbirds, just planes that "served". I found numerous lists which again were written by various writers who "ranked" aircraft and again is totally biased per writer, but comparing many lists you start to see certain patterns like the Mustang on top etc. But still when I tried to get to 64, many aircraft I love and I see discussed in droves here were left out as well, so I then decided I would eliminate WW1 craft, Helicopters and unmanned aircraft. Then aggregating the lists, I decided to come to 32 WW2 or later prop-driven birds and 32 jets as most of our customer base has an affinity for those two niches of aircraft. Then based on the aggregate ranks of all the lists I found, I seeded them with 2 warbirds and 2 jets in the #1 seeds, 2 warbirds and 2 jets in the #2 seeds and so on and so forth so as each region above (north/south/east/west) has 8 prop-driven aircraft and 8 jets.

    Even in doing so, there were still many aircraft left out, but heck even the NCAA tournament isn't perfect and teams complain about being left out all the time.

    So what do you guys think? Would you take part? I already see a ton of fun rd. 1 matchups...C-47 vs C-130? P-38 Lightning vs F-35 Lightning? MiG29 vs Su-27? Oh the battles that will ensue.
  • Tim K
    Member

    • Feb 2018
    • 64
    • Springdale Arkansas
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    #2
    I like the idea James, but you paired up some wildly different planes in the first round. How can you even compare a Mig-13 and a Stuka? What if you started out with the top half being all jets and the bottom being all warbirds / props?

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    • dkalwishky
      Warbird Lover

      • Sep 2015
      • 1382
      • Des Moines, IA
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      #3
      I'd participate! We all know the Corsair is the best ever.

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      • James
        Administrator

        • Aug 2017
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        #4
        I was thinking that, but that's sort of the point. You can't compare them. I had a version with the 32 props on 1 side and 32 jets on the other, but why couldn't 4 jets make the final 4, why couldn't 4 warbirds? It's more a popularity contest, but can the Mustang advance when it meets the A-10 in round 3? It's organized chaos

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        • James
          Administrator

          • Aug 2017
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          #5
          Originally posted by dkalwishky
          I'd participate! We all know the Corsair is the best ever.
          You think the Corsair will make it past the F-15 in round 3? (this is exactly why I love this idea...)

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          • dkalwishky
            Warbird Lover

            • Sep 2015
            • 1382
            • Des Moines, IA
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            #6
            Oh yeah, the Corsair will sweep the whole darn thing! :Cool::corsair

            I'd take the A-10 over the Mustang every time. :a10


            I think this will be a fun thing to do!

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            • James
              Administrator

              • Aug 2017
              • 1543
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              #7
              Will the majesty of the P-51 overcome the "BRRRRRRTTT" of the A-10...but the A-10 would have to defeat the B-2 and then probably the F/A-18 to even get there!

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              • dkalwishky
                Warbird Lover

                • Sep 2015
                • 1382
                • Des Moines, IA
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                #8
                I love the A-10 way more than those other two. :) Come on March, let's get this going already!

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                • Tim K
                  Member

                  • Feb 2018
                  • 64
                  • Springdale Arkansas
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                  #9
                  Why no WWI planes?

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                  • Dirty Dee
                    Member

                    • Dec 2016
                    • 768
                    • Northern Illinois
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                    #10
                    Count me in, this could be interesting to see peoples reactions and the popularites

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                    • Chensg
                      Experienced Flier

                      • Feb 2019
                      • 1
                      • Central CA
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                      #11
                      Let’s get this “new motion RC” plane March madness going!!! I’m ready for an F-111

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                      • Woodcock
                        Old Returning Pilot

                        • Apr 2018
                        • 830
                        • SoCal
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                        #12
                        I can't believe my freaken eyes. This is very disrespectful James! Where is the GD OV-10????

                        Additionally, I think a B-1B should have been on that list. So warbirds only eh? More disappointment. : (

                        Woody

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                        • dkalwishky
                          Warbird Lover

                          • Sep 2015
                          • 1382
                          • Des Moines, IA
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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Woodcock
                          Additionally, I think a B-1B should have been on that list. So warbirds only eh? More disappointment. : (
                          There are a number of bombers on the list, it's not just warbirds.

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                          • fhhuber
                            Senior Member

                            • Aug 2015
                            • 1476
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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Woodcock
                            I can't believe my freaken eyes. This is very disrespectful James! Where is the GD OV-10????

                            Additionally, I think a B-1B should have been on that list. So warbirds only eh? More disappointment. : (

                            Woody
                            You ask for 2 warbirds... and hen complain about warbirds only?

                            BTW... warbird does not mean just WWII fighters. It means all military aircraft from the first one purchased from the Wright Brothers until those in service in any military force, for any purpose today. This is why the AT-6 / SN-J is considered a warbird, as are the Tiger Moth, Fokker Dr1, T-38, KC-10, O-2A, ... Actually a lot of aircraft you don't think of as warbirds qualify if just painted in military colors, like Air Force 1 (any of the many versions).
                            FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

                            current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

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                            • James
                              Administrator

                              • Aug 2017
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                              #15
                              Originally posted by dkalwishky

                              There are a number of bombers on the list, it's not just warbirds.
                              Warbird doesn't mean fighter. All 64 on this list are Warbirds. Warbird is just any aircraft that served a countries military. So many badass planes got the chop just because of the nature of finding 64. I wish I had a way to list 400+ aircraft and let everyone determine the top 64, but we'd be getting crazy. Tried to represent as many countries as I could and as many varieties as I could. Sad the Skyraider didn't make it, the Osprey, the Harrier, the OV-10, the J-3 cub....maybe we need an NIT tournament!

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                              • fhhuber
                                Senior Member

                                • Aug 2015
                                • 1476
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                                #16
                                As for the "contest"... it becomes terribly skewed just by which 2 you put against each other in first round. By selecting 2 that should be in the final 4 as opposing each other round 1, you destroy the entire tree, pretty much guaranteeing that only one possible winner is left at the 16 "competitors" round.
                                FF gliders and rubber power since 1966, CL 1970-1990, RC since 1975.

                                current planes from 1/2 oz to 22 lbs

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                                • James
                                  Administrator

                                  • Aug 2017
                                  • 1543
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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by fhhuber
                                  As for the "contest"... it becomes terribly skewed just by which 2 you put against each other in first round. By selecting 2 that should be in the final 4 as opposing each other round 1, you destroy the entire tree, pretty much guaranteeing that only one possible winner is left at the 16 "competitors" round.
                                  of course. You could re-order this list a million ways and end up with different results each and every time. Just like the real NCAA tournament. The best team isn't always in the final 4. As I said in the 1st post. I just aggregated from lists I found via google. So it is already biased to the writers of those lists. Other than the Mustang landing in the 1 slot on nearly all of them, everything else was vastly different.

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                                  • dkalwishky
                                    Warbird Lover

                                    • Sep 2015
                                    • 1382
                                    • Des Moines, IA
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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by James.MotionRC

                                    Warbird doesn't mean fighter.
                                    I know but I took the posters comment as a lack of bombers. Reading it again it could be interpreted a couple of ways.

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                                    • Twowingtj
                                      If It Flys, I'll Try It

                                      • Dec 2016
                                      • 1907
                                      • Southerntier, NY
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                                      #19
                                      James, the idea sound like fun. Let's do it. The way you have it set up keeps it pretty unpredictable. :Cool:

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                                      • Chris Jones
                                        Member

                                        • Nov 2018
                                        • 1
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                                        #20
                                        I’ve worked my way through this and the Electric Lightning won. Now you have to build it!

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