Beginners luck.

The weather wasn't as hot as Sat. but it was warm for the regular stunt contest on Sun. I signed in and set up for a test flight. Everything went well until I got ahead of myself and couldn't decide weather to pull out of a loop inverted or upright. I pulled out about one foot below ground level flattening the landing gear. I straightened it back out and made my flight for the judges. The plane didn't respond to control inputs like it did before the belly flop. Loops were very big and close to the ground. I finished the flight by flying level and landed when the fuel ran out. I looked at the plane and found the fuselage split behind the wing and quite twisty. No wonder it didn't fly well. I'm lucky it didn't come apart in flight. The other flyer in my class tried to do the overhead eights and lost it. A brand new model went straight in. Total loss. I thing the engine survived. I pulled out my Primary Pupster back up plane and found that I had to use the same plane I started with. Which didn't matter as I got more points for not crashing than the other guy on my first flight so I won. I did get a flight in after all official flying was done. I flew well and didn't get fancy. I found that the muffler on the first plane had broken off and got lost. It tore a mounting bolt hole away from the engine block but that won't affect the running of it. I need a tongue muffler for it now. I'm watching some on e bay. The contest site is 52 miles from home. An easy drive, easier than going to Simsbury, CT which is 67 miles.