Many gliders at the field today taking advantage of the perfect weather.

Here's the aero tow queue.

And then of course there were Ken's shoes.  Something of a fashion statement.

Windsock mast stolen, what next?

George's new big T Rex, no fly bar. Gyros give a degree of automatic stabilization. Fly-By-Wire comes to model aircraft.

Here's a short clip.

The RCGF 50cc petrol engine in Valter's new 1/4 scale DH Chipmunk

The new XYZ 53 cc petrol engine in Adrian's glider tug.

The brands RCGF and XYZ are clearly two of the People's Republic's finest.

The engine suffered from a high speed miss, perhaps a faulty plug.

Here's a clip

Some strange flying machines at the field this afternoon.

Ted's Pilatus with its new engine..

 ... a 30 cc DLE petrol one -- a pair of elegant socks in the background.

And here's a short clip.

AGM 2011

The committee from last year was re-elected unopposed. See rouges gallery in the links at the right of the page.
On another matter entirely, I was today wearing braces with a Union Jack pattern. This lead to several scornful remarks about the cricket. Perhaps people spoke too soon -- ha ha.

Here's a clip of Donovan's Wilga tug in action.

Old Timers (and Vintage Aircraft)

It's a Sunday afternoon some time in the early nineteen fifties. My brother and I are flying a Paageboy with a Mills 0,75 diesel engine. The Paageboy is a Vic Smeed design for the Aeromodeller Free Flight Payload competition for 1cc engines.
We are on the tarmac apron in front of the empty hangars at Cranborne Airfield, a disused RAF training site just outside Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia.
Inside the hangars in the darkness are the ghosts of Harvards and their crews. Outside is bright sunlight.
We have several good flights before we break the prop.
We are members of the Mashonaland Model Engineering Society. Bill Heckler, a raffish fellow with thinning hair and a military moustache, runs the society.
He has spark ignition petrol engines in some of the classic American free flight aircraft, including a Goldberg Sailplane. These are beautifully built with balsa wood and covered with silk and nitrate dope.
Bill Heckler drives a modified Ford Zephyr; we have bicycles. He travels to South Africa for "The Nats". He is our hero.

It's over half a century later at JOMAC, meeting number 244 of the Chapter of Vintage Aircraft Pilots. I still have the Mills 0,75, this time it's in a radio controlled Tomboy. There are present many Old Timers and Vintage Aircraft. Balsa wood is still the material of choice for construction. A least one aircraft is covered with doped tissue. Some are moving to the Dark Side with electric motors and film covering. All are stately old ladies of the air.

Wherever he is now, Bill Heckler approves.

A 1,5 cc PAW diesel engine, Stan's I think.

Flemming working on his Red Zephyr.

Valter's Quaker 2.

Fergus' electric Slicker Mite complete with dummy Amco .87 engine. It's covered with doped tissue.

Ted's Bulldozer and Archangel. That's my Tomboy in the background.

Actually Ted had more luck with his little free flight rubber powered job. You could call it an ARF. Colin will disapprove.

And here is Colin with his electric Lanzo Record Holder.

New gates -- thanks Steve.

Donovan's 1/4 scale Wilga Tug.

Here's a clip of its first take off.