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Gladys International 21C

The Almost Quarterly Journal of The Sheffield

Society of Aeromodellers Issue 111 2015

In this issue...a Gull takes fight, wings are warped, an aircraft

museum becomes a reality and much, much more...

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Contents

Editorial………………………………………………………………………….p3

Some Summer Reading:Gordon Smeeton ……………………...p4

An Aircraft Museum in South Yorkshire:Ian Kingsnorth … p7

Building The Gull:Phil Barrett………………………………………….p16

Club Goings On:Ed………………………………………………………….p20

An Eindecker at Elvington:Ed……………………………………….…p24

Endpiece………………………………………………………………………..p2

There were 2 Vulcans at

Elvington last year, one RC the

other real. Let’s hope ‘558’

makes it again this year, in it’s

last display season, ever.

Acknowledgements As always thanks to all contributors. Desperate to put pen to paper ? Have an

idea for the newsletter? Ring me ( Neil Carver) on 0114-2667203. All photos by

N.C. except : p3 unknown, p6-14 Ian Kingsnorth,p16-18 Phil Barrett, p21 Gordon

Smeeton (top) and unknown. The cover photo is of the 20ft Mitchell flown by

Roland Sabatschus at Weston Park 2014.

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Editorial

Since I became editor of this erstwhile publication kind folk have

supplied me with a stack of back issues of Gladys and pre Gladys club

newsletters. Every now and again I go through them looking for

inspiration or compromising photos of committee members. One thing I

found out on these journeys into the past was that there is only one

mention of dinosaurs ( real ones, ) in all of the club newsletters.

Astonishing.

Another thing I discovered recently is that there is more than one Gladys

in the world of RC. You have to be careful with Google and search terms

like Gladys but persevere and you will find , on eBay the plans for

‘Glorious Gladys’… and here she is.

So what of this issue ? Well, true to tradition there are no articles on

dinosaurs. In fact there isn’t even a mention of a goat, a nightingale or

any other bird, except one. We pay homage to the Mew Gull and pilot

Alex Henshaw with a book review from Gordon Smeeton and a build

review from Phil Barrett. Ian Kingsnorth also takes us through a

fascinating history of S. Yorkshire’s only aircraft museum, at Doncaster.

Ian was secretary there for a staggering 20 years : seriously impressive

and proof you should never say : ‘Oh ok I’ll just fill in till someone

volunteers’. As you will see it turns out that Ian shares something with

Phil. Both built things in aviation through hard work and pretty much

without any instructions……..Enjoy the read, Ed.

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This very readable book is Alex Henshaw's own fascinating account of his

flying experiences before World War 2, his ambition to win Kings Cup Air

Races and to break the record for a single engined solo flight UK to

Capetown and back. Not only was he a great pilot but he could write too.

The book draws you in, puts you in the cockpit and is at times tense as

any good thriller.

Alex had a passion for flying and he

was fortunate in having a father who

shared his passion ( and not without

a bob or two -Ed ) Alex's' first flying

lessons were out of the airfield at

Skegness but as Skegness was not

licensed for first solo flights he was

flown over to Hedon near Hull where

he successfully got his solo licence.

Part of his test was to fly figures of

eights ( where have we heard of that

before ).

he Gypsy Moth 1 was his first plane

and the first competitive plane was a

Comper Swift which was bought in

1933. As time progressed various

planes were bought and sold, not

without incidents. He had to bale out

of his Arrow Active which was totally destroyed.

In a Kings Cup Race over England, Scotland , Ireland and Wales the Miles

Hawk engine exploded and he had to ditch in the Irish sea. Faster planes

were needed to win the Kings Cup. So after much thought they opted for

the Percival Mew Gull which was purchased in 1937. During 1937 and

early 1938 various races were entered all with partial success.

Modifications and improvements were constantly being made to

Some Summer Reading :Gordon Smeeton

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improve performances .He won the Kings Cup Race in 1938; the course

being Hatfield, Buntingford, Barton in the Clay and back to Hatfield. His

fastest lap was just under 240 mph. Preparations were now made for the

UK, Capetown, UK record attempt. Work continued on the Gull. Extra

fuel tanks were added and

alterations made to the fuselage

including reducing the height of the

canopy .

His 1938 record flight took him

across France to the Mediterranean

and North Africa ,then over the

Sahara Desert and the West Coast of

Africa . Alex was a hugely skilled

navigator and it is remarkable was

that his only navigation aids were a

compass, a watch and elementary

maps.

Much of his flying time was in the

hours of darkness and he often

landed at some unknown flying field

in the pitch black. Some landing

strips were in desert like conditions or on a narrow strip of land in

amongst jungle or forest . Reception parties at each stop were arranged

for refuelling and the like and they were given a time when he would

arrive. Almost without fail he would arrive over the given spot at the

time he had advised. The total distance flown was 12,754 mile in 78.46

hours: a new record. He would go on to famously test fly up to 20

Spitfires but the book ends weeks before war broke out .

When he wrote ‘ Flight’ in 1980 he almost couldn’t believe his

experiences in the thirties were real….. ‘ it seems so incomprehensible

today, that I keep quiet as no one would believe me.’

The author… Gordon … not Alex

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An Aircraft Museum in S. Yorks.:Ian Kingsnorth

As many volunteer aircraft preservation groups probably began, this one

probably started in a pub some where in South Yorkshire in the early

70’s. Eventually finding a home in the old coach house of Nostell Priory,

it stayed there with one complete exhibit a Bristol Sycamore helicopter

and a collection of aviation related bits and pieces. Some of these were

engines and instruments, and flying clothing but a lot of the collection

was ‘wreckology’. This was the term given to the new hobby of digging

up crashed planes. This 1980's fad turned up some fascinating items

including guns, bombs, and engines and in some sites the unfortunate

pilot.

Now of course the digging of crash sites is highly regulated and any hint

of it being a war grave precludes any digging of the site at all. This was

the result of the MOD introducing a licensing system, as some of the

groups had been a little reckless in how they conducted their operations.

And so the collection grew. Then in the early 80’s the owner of Nostell

Priory donated it to the National Trust and the South Yorkshire Aircraft

Society, as it was at the time, had to find a new home.

Fortunately one of the society’s members ,Carl Speddings, a farmer living

at Firbeck between Maltby and Oldcotes actually in South Yorkshire this

time, offered room at his farm to store the museums exhibits. This was

gratefully accepted. Unfortunately the Sycamore was moved on to an-

other museum and has since disappeared.

As luck would have it the fields opposite had once served Firbeck-

Hall ,next door, as a private airfield when it had been an exclusive coun-

try club during the 1930’s. On the outbreak of war in 1939 it was requisi-

tioned and became RAF Firbeck.It later became operational with West-

land Lysander’s of 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron during 1940-41.

Later 659Sqn was formed there and 654 Sqn followed. They trained ob-

servation techniques using Auster AOP III aircraft before taking part in

the Post D-Day artillery operations.

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It also turned out that the farm itself had been used as officer’s billets

and a mess building had been built in the grounds. Only the concrete

base was left which was used to build a display hall for some of the

smaller exhibits

So seeing this as the perfect place for an aircraft museum the group set-

tled in. With free entry it began to exhibit the collection again using an

old Nissan hut, dismantled from the old airfield opposite the farm. It was

the first building they had owned. By 1984 the museum was well estab-

lished, telling the story of South Yorkshire aviation history. It quickly

gained its first aeroplane, a Socata TB-200 Tobago, soon to be followed

by a Flying Flea, a De Havilland Vampire T11 and a Hawker Hunter F51.

Then an Albatross C1 replica from the TV series Flambards arrived.

Next a museum member purchased the interesting remains of a De

Havilland Vampire NF10 night fighter fuselage pod and an even more sad

looking Vampire FB5 pod, both from a remote scrap yard above Bingley.

This began a long association with scrap yards as a source of parts. In fact

most of the museums aircraft began life as scrap components, which we

eventually put back together for display. One such aircraft was our Chip-

munk which arrived as a cockpit section only, with the engines and cowls

Firbeck in the 90’s. The Meteor Mk 1V is now in the USA

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rear fuselage etc. arriving over a couple of years until the whole airframe

emerged as a complete aircraft.

The most ambitious project for the society volunteers was to recover

the substantial remains of a Vickers Wellington from Braemar in the

Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland. The wings, most of the fuselage and

the engines were recovered with the help of an RAF Wessex helicopter

and displayed at Firbeck until they were moved on to another museum

at Morton in the Marsh. The wings have subsequently been used by

Brooklands museum for their Wellington restoration.

I joined the museum in about 1987 and was volunteered by the rest of

the committee to become its Secretary, a role I seemed to occupy for the

next 20 odd years. Other airframes kept on arriving ,such as the Meteor

T7 (swapped for a Canberra cockpit) and a Jet Provost bought from RAF

The legendary Samuel Cody was at this historic event

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Church Fenton’s fire dump. Another Sycamore arrived after being used

in an escape training exercise where it was kept in a large fresh water

tank for divers to train on. Cockpit sections arrived from Canberra’s and

a Vickers Valiant, and for a while we had the cockpit of a Heinkel He111

once used for close up work in the film, The Battle Of Britain. It seemed

that the museum’s collection grew every month, with documents, uni-

forms, and even a mobile control caravan turning up.

A more exotic aircraft to turn up was an. E.E. Lightening F6 from a nearby

warehouse site owned by a chap who had bought up about 8 of them!

All had been sold on except this one which came to Carls attention the n

in the local pub when the owner said it was to be broken up next morn-

ing. So the deal was done, making this probably the first jet fighter

swapped for a tractor. Sadly the over enthusiastic JCB driver who was to

move the plane put his bucket into the wing root, luckily not doing too

Doncaster 1938: an Avro Tutor of 616 Squadron

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much damage; but it was still a close run thing. The Lightning was then

towed through the quiet Sunday morning country lanes, with all of us

praying the cops would not catch us or some one would come haring

round a corner and find the had nowhere to go. Mercifully it arrived

safely and had new wings fitted to replace the ones cut off during transit.

Eventually we recognised that we had to make more money to survive

and relying on donations on our now weekend opening hours was not

enough. We decided to register as a Charity to help with funding and

were accepted. We were then promptly visited by Rotherham Council

who began charging us business rates, but wouldn’t empty our bins !

The museum collection had now grown from one aircraft to 12,including

helicopters and many smaller aircraft parts including complete cockpits

weapons and a large engine collection. Visitor numbers were about 900

a year but due to the farm being of the beaten track no on knew where

we were and it was obvious we would have to relocate one day to better

Every museum has to start somewhere

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premises , hopefully with some indoor space for the aircraft. Eventually

Carl said he wanted his farm back and so the search was really on for a

new home.

Around 1994 alternative sites were looked at. First up was an offer from

the new Magna Project at the disused United Steels site in Rotherham

(we just happen to have their Piper Comanche on display) Next was an

air traffic control complex, formerly Northern Radar opposite Lindholm

Prison (former RAF Lindholm) which had come up for disposal by the

MOD. Neither of these sites was really what we wanted so they were

discounted.

Around this time I was working for the newly privatised Yorkshire Water

and part of my job was to travel the length a breadth of Yorkshire col-

lecting information on the clean water distribution system still held on

paper maps. On one of these visits I called in our Doncaster depot. As I

drove through the gates on Sandy Lane I was surprised to find the depot

was a collection of World War 2 buildings comprising of an aircraft han-

gar and 2 large wooden huts similar to the ones I had been trained in

when I first joined the RAF (another story). After a bit of research I dis-

covered that these were 1940 original RAF buildings from a wartime fly-

ing school and part of the war time RAF Doncaster. This airfield had

been Doncaster Municipal Airport before the outbreak of WW2 in Sep-

tember 1939.It was requisitioned by the RAF and 271 Squadron moved in

with converted Handley Page Harrow bombers, converted to the trans-

port role.

This then was just what we needed; a hangar to get the aircraft under

cover, buildings for all the rest of the collection, plus a new workshop

building built by Yorkshire Water which could be classroom space for

school visits and a proper meeting room. Therefore, I started to make

enquiries about the future of the site in Yorkshire Water’s plans. As luck

would have it I found out that as part of the rationalisation of the com-

pany the Doncaster depot was going to close and so we at the museum

put together a proposal to Doncaster Council who were the landlords

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and Yorkshire Water to have a new lease allocated to us. After my pres-

entations to the council it was agreed in principal and a very helpful

team from their Economic Development Department worked very hard

to get the details sorted out while I had to find some money to prepare

the 4 acre site for opening to the public.

Not long after, on a chance visit to the site made purely on a whim while

passing I found that the decommissioning company was under the im-

pression that they were to demolish and totally clear the whole site of

hangar and all its buildings. They had just begun on one of the huts and

put a JCB bucket through the roof. After a quiet word in the contractors’

ear, I got a stop put on that, saving the obliteration of our new museum

before we even got there!

While the legal work for a new lease was progressing we had to find

some large sums of money and I found that as we were now a charity we

could apply for local community grants and from Landfill Tax revenue

grants through Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN).I was also able to

The hanger through a fish eye lens and after several bottles of beer

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apply for £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Trust and gained £2000 do-

nated from Peel Holdings, who were about to develop the old RAF Fin-

ningley airfield into the current Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

So after raising about £80,000 we were able to ready the site for the col-

lection of aircraft and other bits and pieces to be moved from Firbeck in

the summer of 1999.

To get this stage we all had to work all hours to refurbish the buildings

and general site which had been badly vandalised and stripped of all its

plumbing and cabling during its decommissioning period when Yorkshire

Water vacated it. Bill Fern in particular put in many hours over one nasty

winter when we had no services on site at all.

In early 2000 the site was ready and the whole of the collection was

moved from Firbeck with the generous help of the TA Transport Regi-

ment at Rotherham’s McKay Barracks. So on one very wet day in June,

This Bell 47 dropped in last Winter.

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the whole collection was transported by road to Doncaster. It had

poured with rain the day before and even the Army recovery vehicle got

bogged down. It was pulled out by a farm tractor, much to their chagrin.

The road out of Firbeck was very narrow with a humped bridge just wide

enough for the vehicles, let alone planes. We got the Wessex helicopter

out running the undercarriage wheels just along the top of the bridge

walls.

Today the museum prides itself in being one of the best welcoming and

approachable aviation museums in the country. We have achieved Ac-

credited Status which sets nationally agreed standards for museums in

the UK. There are currently just under 1,800 museums participating in

the scheme, demonstrating their commitment to managing collections

effectively for the enjoyment and benefit of users .The museum now has

Harrier GR3 and Piper Comanche outside the hangar.

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over 30 aircraft and helicopters with a few in store or being restored in

the workshop. Visitor numbers have risen from 2000 to over 12000 per

year and we now employ two people. Membership is up from 20 to 80+

and our volunteer workforce is about 20 very hard working and special

people who have and continue to make this one of the best of the volun-

teer run self funding museums in the UK.

Postscript ( by Ed)

Now that is dedication for you. I’ll never forget taking my dad to Firbeck

many moons ago. As we arrived he said; ‘This can’t be right , it’s a farm’.

Well as Ian has told us, it was. Ian also foolishly suggested that if you can

correctly guess the number of planes in the shot on page 12 you win a

Mars Bar. Then again he also said :’Terms and Conditions Apply.’

The shot of the Tutor gives the excuse to mention the only one still in

existence at ( you guessed), Shuttleworth. There is scant mention of this

as an RC model anywhere ( but there is a Traplet plan) and as an air-

frame it doesn’t exactly excite… but what a paint scheme.

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Building the Gull: Phil Barrett

I was at the Old Warden air show in October 2014, and was very taken by

the two Percival Mew Gulls present. The Shuttleworth Collection owns

the ex Alex Henshaw Mew Gull that set the London to South Africa re-

cord, and it was accompanied by a modern replica which looked abso-

lutely authentic.

The two are seen below in formation:

I was looking for a winter project, and came across a Jamara kit of the P6

Mew Gull on the Glider`s Newark website for £60. The P6 was the last

Mew Gull built, and was slightly different to the previous five incorporat-

ing all the lessons learned with the earlier aircraft. It was built for Edgar

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Percival himself to race, which caused some disquiet among the custom-

ers of the earlier models who felt they would now be at a disadvantage

in future air races!

The initial impression of the kit was very favourable, as the wood was of

high quality and the laser cutting very crisp. However, the most notable

deficiency was the lack of a full size plan. Instead, there was a DVD in the

box from which you could print the plan off your computer. This proved

to be a major exercise in paper matching and sticking. Fortunately the

island unit in our kitchen came to the rescue, as the ability to walk

around the assembled sheets was invaluable.

The kit came with a set of assembly instructions with photos of various

stages in black and white, and rather indifferent definition. The next

problem came when comparing the instructions and the plan, as it was

clear that they represented different versions of the kit. In particular, the

aileron arrangement on the plan was different to the instructions. I took

the view that the plan was the latest version, and built to that.

A further annoyance was that no components were marked or identified

in any way. I ended up identifying all the parts myself, and marked them

accordingly to help the build.

Despite these niggles, the kit went together very nicely. The accuracy of

the fit of the laser cut elements was excellent, and the fuselage could

almost be assembled dry. I decided to buy the suggested motor from

Gliders to help simplify the build. It is a standard Jamara motor equiva-

lent to an Eflite Park 480 motor.

Looking at the taper of the wing and the reputation of the original air-

craft for being a bit of a handful at low speed, I deviated from plan and

built a quarter inch of washout in the trailing edge at the wingtip in order

to counter potential problems with tip stalling.

There was plenty of room in the fuselage for the equipment, helped by

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the servos for rudder and elevator being at the tail using short stiff push

rods to the control surfaces.I found a suitable pilot and seat from my old

Sea Fury which fitted just right under the large canopy. It just wouldn`t

look right with an empty office.

The model was covered in white solarfim, with the registration letters

and stripe being cut from solartrim. The colour scheme is based on the

1937 version flown by Edgar Percival in the National Air Races that year.

I am really pleased with the outcome despite the problems encountered

with the build.

The Gull then won third place in the Annual Model Show I so no longer

had an excuse to leave it on the garage shelf. Given the limited wheel

clearance in the spats though I decided to wait for a nice dry surface to

take off from. Muddy ground will not do it any favours. The first real

opportunity to fly was on 13th May, with a really nice afternoon at the

Sportsman Field in prospect. Within a few seconds it was clear that the

aileron throws were excessive, partly explained because the kits

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instructions were notably silent on the control throws. Nevertheless, I

got it throttled back and at a safe height before putting in a few clicks of

right aileron to keep it straight and level.

It looked fabulous, and with very gentle use of the ailerons I flew a num-

ber of circuits before attempting a practice landing. Unfortunately I

slowed it down too far on the final turn, leading to a tip stall and an un-

tidy arrival which caused very minor damage to one undercarriage leg.

I have now sorted the undercarriage and dropped the aileron rates to

60%, and look forward to really getting to grips with the Mew Gull.

Another Postscript…...The modern replica formating with Henshall’s Gull

also put in an appearance at the biennial air show at Sywell ( below). This

Gull has the unlikely registration of G-HEKL apparently the nearest avail-

able registration to the original plane ,G-AEKL , flown by Charles Gardner

when he won the 1937 King’s Cup. Its engine is an original 205-hp de

Havilland Gipsy inverted six. The owner ,David Beale found the brand

new Gipsy still in its 1936 crate. "It started on the second compression,"

he reports. Unlike some things we know…..

That

cockpit is

2ft wide !

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Perhaps one of the strangest events involving the club took place this

winter during one of the indoor sessions when we were asked by Radio

Sheffield to be one of the organisations in their treasure hunt pro-

gramme ‘ Clueless’. I wasn’t there that morning but I did hear a brief bit

of the show and Tim gave a good account of the club, accompanied by

the background hum of 25 circling Champs. What the audience made of

the man in the background shouting; “Shockies!” we shall never know.

Indoor rubber powered flying of course continues regardless of the

weather and through all seasons. The Indoor Free Flight Group now

meets on the 2nd Saturday of the month at the scout hut at Bradway

Primary School. The dates for the rest of the year are June 13, July 11,

August 8, September 12, October 10, November 14 and December 12.

Rumour has it that, not to be outdone by that ‘electric indoor crowd’

they have acquired a contract with ‘Sky’, or as they know it ‘Ceiling ‘.

Club Events: Ed

Burble.. Burble…

Futaba… burble.. 35

meg… burble…... ….

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Meanwhile Gordon kindly arranged the annual model show at the Cross

Scythes and once again a wide variety of planes were on show.

This years’ winner was Charlie Birch with his 1933 Airspeed Courier built

from a May 2011 RCME plan by Tom Hooper .As I write this there is a

complete wood pack version on the RCME website for the knock down

price of £102:11p. Charlie couldn’t make the event but here he is, with

model, prize and trophy at home. Congratulations to Charlie.

The Airspeed Courier has an intriguing past. My John Player cigarette

card of the plane states: “The Cou-

rier was the first aeroplane to be

produced in this country embody-

ing the retractable undercarriage.

When the wheels are drawn up so

much resistance is saved that it is

worth an extra 10mph on the top

speed.”

‘ BXN’ was the prototype Courier

and featured in some of the earli-

est air refuelling research by sir

Alan Cobham. The man with the

unenviable task of catching the

fuel pipe in this astonishing

shot may well be the author

Neville Shute. I can neither

confirm nor deny the rumour

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that a radio controlled re-enactment of this event will take place this

summer at Lodge Moor.

Ian Hastings came second with one of his 3 First War ( or fantasy first

War) constructions including a little modelled Ansaldo biplane and the

2nd place winner a Morane-Saulnier monoplane (on the right above).

This was one of a whole host of Ist War designs that were outdated even

before they got into production. Third place was taken by Phil Barrett

with his Mew Gull pictured earlier. Space doesn’t permit shots of all the

models shown but mention should be made of the largest of the models,

a pre war glider built by Steve York ( see over) and awaiting a test flight.

We were also given a brief and interesting talk by Dr Rashid Ali, senior

lecturer in Aeronautics, from Sheffield Hallam University. Students and

staff are entering the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Challenge set up by

the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. In this challenge teams compete

to build and fly an autonomous unmanned aircraft of 7kg max that can

perform a variety of humanitarian missions in an imagined natural

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disaster. This means the craft needs to deliver a payload in a variety of

weather conditions and fly a predetermined route, all automatically. No

problem.

Stop Press: News is just in that, following rave reviews of his Radio Shef-

field appearance Tim Scowcroft has been asked to join the cast of a new

seventies style programme based on the hilarious exploits of a group of

aero modellers. ‘It Ain’t Half Hot-Glue Mum’ will be broadcast this au-

tumn.

With one

chop

Danny

broke the

wing in

two.

Dr Rashid Ali and part of the UA.

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It was blowing a near gale when Terry John Tim and I arrived at Elvington

which didn’t bode well, but even before getting to the flight line I was

impressed by a by a large Fokker Eindecker being wrestled out of a car.

The owner turned out to be very friendly, German chap and very happy

to talk about the plane. When I asked if he would be able to fly in the

already stiff breeze he thought it would be no problem at all.

He explained its good handling characteristics were down to the fact the

plane was controlled by wing warping rather than aileron control. It

seems the action of the wind on one wing cause the other to counteract

the effect so

s u c c e s s f u l l y

that many

people who

had seen it in

action would

not believe the

plane didn’t

c o n t a i n

gyroscopes.

Now you can

i n v e s t i g a t e

wing warping

at your peril. If you don’t find yourself in the mire of complex equations

you trip up over some of the most fiercely fought territory in aviation

history: namely the nature of the patent the Wright Brothers had re

lateral control over their planes and their claim to have flown first. The

key issue is whether their patented designs really included ailerons as

well as wing warping. If that isn’t bad enough there is also the argument

that a certain Gustave Whitehead publicly described wing warping and

flew a powered plane before the Wrights. The gory details can be found

at http://www.gustave-whitehead.com/

An Eindecker at Elvington by Ed.

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It’s an area of fierce claim and

counterclaim but one undeniable

fact is so utterly loopy it has to be

mentioned. In the early 70’s

Senator Lowell Weicker used the

post Watergate Freedom of

information act to uncover the

(apparently still binding ) contract

Orville Wright made with the

Smithsonian Museum.

The Wrights donated one of their

airframes to the Smithsonian but in

return the museum became legally

bound to say the Wrights flew first. Apparently the terms of

employment of all employees of the Smithsonian Institute still require

them to say so. Mad.

Anyway the Eindecker’s owner was one Gerhard Reinsch from the

company Toni Clark Practical Scale.(http://www.toni-clark.com.)Based in

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Germany they produce high end models designed by Paolo Severin.

The Eindecker uses a light tubular steel fuselage and all the control

surfaces connect to the cockpit, so, like the man says : ‘This way, the

loads from the surfaces are transmitted to the joystick and foot pedals,

without burdening directly on the servos. ’ At 40% scale it weighs in at 42

lbs and the kit will cost you ( with bits and bobs) around five grand. I

think it would make a great club second model.

The Eindecker’s flight was in fact delayed because of the wind, as at 32

mph the wind was over permitted display levels. Mercifully the wind did

drop a notch and away went this wonderful machine. The display was

excellent . At one point it was almost hovering in the wind then , without

accelerating it just looped and came back to the hover. There is some

fantastic footage of all the Severin designs on the Toni Clark website.

They would all make great Xmas gifts from a partner that really cares.

There were more than a smattering of club members at Evington, some

of which failed to evade my camera. In the shot over the page lunch is

being consumed in the car park, which is a Britain's most spectacular bit

of concrete. Elvington's runway is 1.92 mile long and that car park was

originally a 49 acre apron designed to take the massive American

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bomber, the B36. Oddly enough

there will be more on the B36

in the next Gladys…….

You may have noticed I failed to

mention the journey to

Elvington. That’s because this

year we got lost on the way

back. Having been treated to

some fine full size flying by

Breighton pilots to round off

the display it only seemed fair

to drop in at their airfield just a

few miles away. ‘It’s easy to find’ I said…….

Thing is that the satnav really didn’t like the network of tiny lanes that

pass for roads in that neck of the woods. I’m also pretty sure the

inhabitants sneak out every now and again and move the signposts

around to fool enemy paratroopers, or as they know them : ‘Anyone not

born 5 mile from here.’ There are some pretty hamlets South of

Elvington but we only saw one, several times. We got there though ,and

were kindly directed to the hangers, any one of which is a small museum

in it’s own

right. Here

you can see

John and

Terry in a

state of

shock when

they realised

the Bucker’s

engine is at

the front

and not in

the boot.

28

Endpiece

...and at the Nationals, Terry discovers it’s his turn to

buy the teas.

Another look at this years winning model show entry built

by Charlie Birch. Shame about that wallpaper mind……..