Whitsun Bank Holiday Weekend can mean only one thing – the British Free Flight Nationals! The self indulgent joy of three days of Free Flight contests on an airfield instead of the blasted heath. The “FF Nats” is the biggest free flight jamboree in Europe with a multitude of events to suit all tastes. Three SAA members travelled South this year, David Hambley and Jim Arnott from Dunfemline and Chris Edge from the Borders, David and Jim sidestepping the usual weekend under canvas in favour of the comforts of a lodge room at Woodlands Waters caravan park. It was a problem free journey down until South Yorkshire and then a bit of a stop/start drag for the remainder. On Friday evening, there was full size aircraft activity on the airfield until about 7pm. A stiff breeze thereafter put paid to thoughts of an evening trimming session, so we settled for a relaxing walk along the woody tracks around the fishing lakes followed by a meal and bevy in Woody’s Bar.

What you have just read is the first paragraph of a comprehensive report written by Jim, if you want to continue to read it click here. Alternatively read on for an abridged version.

Saturday was dry, warm but windy and that caused problems. In the BMFA Rubber power event. Jim in his usual inimitable style put in 3 solid maximum flights to secure his place in the 3 man fly off. This was held in the teeth of a gale with extreme turbulence across the whole length of the airfield. All the flyers did extremely well to get their models away safely and Jim securing a very worthy second place. David had one attempt at a BMFA glider flight but had to ditch the model due to the strength of the wind. This resulted in a 24sec flight time so he withdrew from the contest. Chris travelled down to Barkston on the Saturday so did not fly that day.

Sunday again was dry and much less windy, the air was however treacherous. Jim dropped a couple of flights in International F1a glider so did not make his third successive Nationals win in the event. David’s day was poor with each successive round yielding shorter flights than previously. The third one was 0 with the model stacking into the ground due to an overzealous tow, he withdrew, again! Chris on the other hand handled the conditions with exemplary skill resulting in him lining up for a 3 man fly off. By this time the conditions had changed dramatically with the wind gone and buoyant air everywhere. The fly off did not produce a winner before the light was fading so a second fly off was scheduled for the next day.

Monday started dreich which turned to rain in the afternoon. Before the events of the day Chris lined up for the second fly off and produced a magnificent flight under the conditions to secure the top spot.

After this fly off the days events started. Jim maxed out in Classic Rubber and won the fly off in the rain. David’s fortunes improved and got 2 maxes in Classic Glider and an excellent 3rd flight in the conditions to secure third in that event. Jim also flew our recently deceased friend Ron Sabey’s Vintage Odenham glider to good effect overcoming towing problems to secure 3^rd place in that event.

Chris quietly went about his business in International F1h glider collecting five maximum flight times putting himself into another fly off. This was a dramatic affair with Chris’s model tumbling to earth due to a malfunction at the start of the towing phase. A quick correction saw the model in the air again with 1 minute to go before the end of the fly off period. By this time the other two contenders were airborne. An excellent launch placed the model in helpful air and the model floated away to secure the top spot again for Chris. As a result of this second win Chris also won glider champion of the British Nationals.

Overall a successful three days for DMAC. and a superb boost in Chris’s preparation for the World Championships in Szentes, Hungary this August.

Report: David Hambley.

Photos: Sue Edge, Cathy Arnot, David Hambley

The Fresh Air Festival was run on 27th March from 12:00 – 16:00 in the “Public Park” Dunfermline. There was a yellow warning for thunder & torrential rain at 3PM, this rain duly arrived but did not last for long. The DMAC flying and static displays were held on the upper lawn of the park with the flying circle placed adjacent to the Donald Fountain. This fountain is on a raised area and gave an excellent viewpoint for the public, at times it was reported that spectators were two deep watching the flying action below.

The flying started right on time at noon with an F2B flight by Ian Galt with his Joelle in what was a stiff breeze but flyable. At the request of the club to the Fresh Air Festival organiser Jim Stewart the grass had been cut very short to give a good take off and landing surface. The Joelle having spats on its undercarriage wheels appreciated this short grass. F2B is the international class of control line aerobatic model flying in which the pilot guides the model through a set schedule of manoeuvrers receiving points from a panel of judges in a similar way to the compulsory figures in ice skating.

John Davidson and Dave Hill, the combat boys, put on their usual spectacular flights all over the sky with the models towing paper streamers with each pilot attempting to cut his opponent’s streamer with his model’s propeller. This discipline of model flying is akin to fencing.

Eddie Burr, after some teasing by Bill Greive on the Public Address System, put on a wonderful display of special manoeuvrers and terrain following with his Bi Slob. This model being a biplane flies very slowly but has a powerful engine and so is capable of hovering and flying backwards. He also flew some of the F2b aerobatic schedule with David Hambley’s electric PT19. Eddy flew this model as David was away at the British Free Flight Championships at RAF Barkston Heath in England, more of that in another report. The first flight was rather short due to a low charge battery being accidentally used. During the second flight  with a fully charged battery Eddy really put the model through its paces. Bill commentating during this flight pointed out the noise difference between Electric and Internal combustion powered motors.

Dave Hutchinson flew his semi scale twin engined Mosquito and did some pitting with Dougie Groome for other pilots.

Flying continued more or less non stop with slick changes between flyers and there were no no engine starting problems. The combat boys entertained the crowd with a bout some five minutes long during which time it was obvious that both pilots were enjoying themselves.  A spectator was so amused by the gyrations of the pilots that he took a series of photographs one of which is included in this report, thanks Ian.

Bill on the PA mentioned that these bouts quite often ended with a mid air collision, no sooner had he finished speaking there was a loud bang and the models fell to earth in a shower of balsa wood bits to the great delight of the spectators. A little voice piped up and said “do it again mister”! There is some video of one of the bouts, sadly not the part where they hit each other.

Fortunately they were both old models which were pretty much at the end of their lives so the pilots were not upset by the loss. The rain then started just after 3pm and bearing in mind the forecast, particularly the lightning, we hastily packed up. The rain then stopped!

Whilst the flying was underway there were all kinds of Control Line and Radio Controlled aircraft on static display both in a tent, at the top of the hill and in the pits where the flying was taking place. Unfortunately due to the wind strength no Free Flight models could be displayed as they were too light to stay on the tables. The club prides itself on being the only club in Scotland that caters for all three disciplines of the sport so the lack of Free Flight models was a loss.

The display was ably manned by Bill Crossan who was regularly plied with burgers from the adjacent scout tent. Due to it being quite windy brown parcel tape was used to secure models and one of the club banners, this turned out to be not a good idea as we now have a very sticky banner! Mike Hambley did great job with the electronic side of the static display by setting up and looking after the photographic slide show and Radio Control Simulator which the public were encouraged to try. One mum had the greatest of difficulty prising her son off this simulator! The two Bills, Crossan and Greive, were kept busy handing out fliers and fielding questions.

There were three tables of models in the tent. Mike Rouse was displaying a 6ft span Radio Control foam slope soarer which was so tough that our visitors were encouraged to handle the model. The late Bill Browns “Bitsa” consisting of a Thunderbird wing, Crusader tail plane and an own design jet style fuselage and a simple profile model completed Mikes offering. Bill Greive had an Almost Ready To Fly (ARTF) and a ready built “Russian” style combat model on display.

Unfortunately due to position of other exhibitors tents public access to our tent was severely restricted resulting in a low number of visitors to the static display.

The Fresh Air Festival as a whole appeared to suffer from a limited number of visitors possibly due to the date clashing with other events both local and National. A change of date should be considered for next year which would remove the clash with the British Free Flight National Championships and we hear the championships of other sports.

Thanks to Bill Grieve who masterminded the whole DMAC event. Pete Brown and Dougie Groom were there at setup and helped out for the duration. Mike Rouse helped setup but then had to leave for another appointment.

Report by David Hambley with material from Ian Galt, Dougie Groome, Bill Crossan, Bill Grieve. Mike Hambley. Photo credits Mike Hambley and Ian Muir.

Tent kindly supplied by Cairney Hill Scouts, Slide show screen by Andrew Thompson Ltd, Public address system by Fife Leisure Trust (Dougie Gordon).

The Rotary Club of West Fife hosted a “Community Exhibition” at the Keavil House Hotel Crossford on Sunday 12th March. The exhibition was the first of its kind in the village and was intended to showcase the many leisure activities available in the village and surrounding area. DMAC was one of the first to book stand space and offered to put on a control line flying display in the adjacent King George V public park. This offer was enthusiastically received by the Rotary and so the club set about gaining the necessary permissions from Fife Council.

The Friday before the weekend saw Bill Grieve burling round the park on the club’s ride on mower cutting the grass to a usable height for model take off. Due to the days of rain previously everywhere was very wet and Bill got soaked from water being thrown up by the mower wheels! Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny so that the stake and rope barrier around the circle was set up easily. The Cairney Hill Scouts arrived at 11:00 and erected a Gazebo type tent for the flyers to use as a base. The forecast for the Sunday was light wind but with a shower just before flying was due to start and this came to pass with the afternoon being grey and very wet underfoot.

Inside the hotel the Rotary club weren’t stingy with table allocation so Mike Rouse oversaw the set up of the DMAC stand. This was the most interesting looking for anyone coming through the door with a good variety of models and accessories displayed. A large screen driven from a lap top computer running a Radio Control model simulator was available and some visitors to the stand took up the invitation “to have a go” A second screen kindly provided by Andrew Thompson Ltd was used to run a slide show to give an overview of the many facets of our amazing sport. After the official opening with Mike Rouse and David Hambley manning the stand a trickle of visitors was received.

It got really busy later on but most of the visitors seemed to be in the hall to see their daughters/grand daughters dance! The simulator was well patronised by visitors with quite a few showing interest in what the sport is about but most were more interested in drones, which of course are model aircraft! Mike Rouse did a great job of manning the stand and talking with people the whole time with assistance from Michael Hambley. During the exhibition the Rotary club mentioned several times over the PA that DMAC were doing flying demonstrations outside. Unfortunately very few people took the opportunity to visit.

In the park after the rain it was dull and with poor light making it hard to see the aircraft below the horizon, it was all but impossible to hit good base heights. The wind was light, however there was still some dirty air coming from the trees, it would be very difficult to fly there if it had been windy. The site was less than ideal, take off and landings had to be done carefully with as little air speed as possible, all pilots did this well with no one sustaining any damage.

There was a decent amount of flying including several combat bouts with Dave Hill, Willy Wallace and John Davidson using both modern “Russian” and Classic British designs of models. Dave Hutchinson and his 10 year old Grandson showed how it should be done with a mini Goodyear Racer. Ian Galt flew his own design “Scotia 7” which is now 3 years old having completed 191 flights, it is powered by a Super Tigre G51 using model technics GN5 fuel. Ian flew the F2b schedule in all his flights. In contrast to Ian’s IC powered Scotia Eddy Burr flew David Hambley’s electric powered PT19.

Thanks must be given to everyone who did their part and a good show was put on by all pilots and helpers. After flying had finished the scouts arrived to take down the tent. Ian generously took another flight and performed the F2b schedule as a display for the scouts since they have put up tents for the club numerous times for years but had never seen models flying.

Thanks must go to Bill Greive and Mike Rouse who put in their usual sterling effort with trailer, poles, rope etc and organising the Scouts for the tent.

Report by David Hambley with additional material from Michael Hambley, Mike Rouse and Ian Galt.

Pictures by the Hambleys.