On a fine dry but cold Thursday afternoon the Caledonia Shield returned to DMAC for another year. This inter club competition has run annually since 1951 with only 5 missed. The shield was presented to the SAA by the Caledonian Model Shop in Glasgow and was for the Free Flight(FF) and Control Line(CL) disciplines. Radio Control(RC) flying was very much in its infancy at that time so was not included. Somewhere along the line CL was dropped from the event and so it is now for FF flying only.

Over the years 14 clubs have been holders of the shield with Dunfermline winning it at its institution and 15 times since.

It is a championship event with the top flier in specific Glider, Rubber and Power competitions throughout the year counting towards a clubs total points score. Team Dunfermline consisted of Jim Arnott and David Hambley, yes those two again! Jim had a fantastic season and  won the shield single handedly by dint of 1 first place and 2 seconds throughout the year. David could only manage a third and a fourth in the eligible events. Jim’s success in the other events of the year earned him individual champion with David trailing a distant fourth.

Previous winners are Dundee, Lanark, Glasgow, Kircaldy, Glasgow Hornets, Esk Valley, Clyde Valley Flyers, Hamilton, Cathkin, Paisley, Edinburgh, Dumfries. Sadly some of these clubs no longer exist and many more only fly RC models and so do not compete.