Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th August proved to be busy for some DMAC members.

On the Saturday we had been invited by 527 (Dunfermline) Headquarters Squadron and 239 (Fife) Transport Squadron of the Royal Logistic Corps to provide a display at the Dunfermline Army Reserve Open Day. Unfortunately it was not possible to fly at the venue due to space restrictions so we provided a static display in the “Garage”. With 42 activities all vying for attention most visitors only spent a short time looking at the models on display and talking to the members present. Iain Ward spent a large part of the day “wet covering” with tissue a vintage free flight model, showing that this skill is still used when appropriate. Mike Rouse, Dave Anderson and David Hambley were on hand to talk to and answer questions from the visitors.

Unlike our last display at the Dunfermline public park the weather was kind with mainly bright sunshine streaming onto the stand and a comfortable 18C temperature and it was not blowing a hoolie. A good day!

Sunday 16th saw Jim Arnott and David Hambley competing in the Jubilee Quaich contest at the SAA free flight site on the Pentland Hills. Weather conditions were good with regular sunny periods. Jim flying a mini vintage rubber powered model used the conditions to great effect and quickly reached the target time for each of the three flights, a “Full House”. Unfortunately the final flight ended  in a tree and was seriously damaged during recovery, this meant that if other competitors achieved full houses Jim would be unable to fly in the tie breaker (Fly Off) at the end of the contest.

David flew his Superpearlite electric powered model that had been on display the day before at the Open Day. Unfortunately a repair had caused the rigging of the model to change slightly resulting in a poor glide during check flights. David therefore entered his other electric model Super Pearl which was spot on trim and comfortably reached the target time of two out of three flights. The third flight however was disqualified due to a overrun by the electric motor caused by a mis set timer. The model was recovered as quickly as possible and the second attempt was taken with 2 minutes to the end of the contest. The launch was too vertical so that the model did not get into its preset flight pattern straight away and so did not climb to it’s usual height, resulting in a failed flight. Since no other competitors had achieved full houses no fly off was needed thus Jim lifted the trophy and David was second. Another good day.