issue no. 53 australian model news

AUSTRALIAN MODEL NEWS

August 2018

Issue No. 53

2 Australian Model News

Contents 3. WORLD SCALE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2018, SWITZERLAND 5. KEILOR DISPLAY 8. VMAA TROPHY 2018 9. SAM600 AT BALLARAT 11. VFSAA “VICSCALE TROPHY” 2018 12. GWIN AVENEL’S “HAWKER FURY” 13. “ALL AUSTRALIAN” DAY AT KNOX MAC 15. TRANS TASMAN CHALLENGE

AND SCALE RALLY 18. LAKE BOLAC FLOAT FLY 20. ANTIQUE ENGINES 23. THE SHORT BROS & HARLAND

LTD TROPHY 24. MILITARY PAGEANT AT OLD

WARDEN 27. THE ROYAL INTERNATIONAL AIR

TATTOO 2018, AT RAF FAIRFORD 30. “FLYING LEGENDS” AIR SHOW

2018, AT DUXFORD 33. BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT AT RAF CONINGSBY

COMING EVENTS

LARGE SCALE RACING AT BENDIGO RCAC

37TH MAMMOTH SCALE FLY-IN AT VRF SHEPPARTON

SCALE RALLY AT WAGGA

“TWINS AND MORE” AT NORTHERN FLYING GROUP

SUNBURY MAC ANNUAL AUCTION

MASTERS GAMES AT ALICE SPRINGS

FOAMY FLY-IN AT MITCHELL FIXED WING AERO CLUB

SCRATCH / KIT BUILT SCALE RALLY AT P&DARCS

INVITATIONAL SCALE CLASSIC DOWNUNDER AT COOTAMUNDRA

This newsletter is published bi-monthly to feature model aircraft building and flying and to report on aeromodelling events in Australia and New Zealand. Contributing material and requests for inclusion on the distri-bution list may be forwarded to — John Lamont Unit 5, 1326 Main Road, Eltham, 3095 Ph: 03 9431 0044 Mob: 0415 384 823 E-mail: [email protected] Visit our website at - https://sites.google.com/view/australianmodelnews/home

Mid winter is always a difficult time to produce a newsletter with the generally poor weather limiting the events held and most modellers preferring to stay indoors. To cap it all I picked up a ‘flu germ late in July that slowed me down quite a bit as the publishing date for this issue approached. Despite the above problems I have managed, with the help of David Anderson and many others, to complete this issue which by force of circumstance includes modelling, full size aircraft and other bits and pieces that I hope will be of inter-est. David’s fortuitous return late in July after visiting his family in the UK provided the photographs of the Air Shows that he attended in excellent summer weather in Britain. The AMN website has been of some concern for a while as the format that I used to prepare it on the pc doesn’t present well on mobile devices. This leads to a lot of drop offs and it seems that Google have recognised this (generally, not spe-cifically) and in setting up a new site building programme have addressed the issue. I have prepared a new website at https://sites.google.com/view/australianmodelnews/home in the new format and would appreciate any feed back that you care to give me regarding readability. John Lamont

On the Cover. Graeme Frauenfelder’s large Grumman Panther flying at the

Twin Cities Autumn Scale Rally.

From the Editor


2018 FAI

WORLD SCALE CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEIRINGEN - SWITZERLAND

Two Australian teams attended this world event in July with both teams performing well to produce the best result for Australia since David Masterton and Warwick Gregory placed first and second at the 1984 Championships. David Law, Noel Findlay and Noel Whitehead placed fifth, eighth and ninth respectively in the F4C event and combined to win the Team event from the French and Swiss teams in a very tight finish. Greg Lepp, Peter Goff and Anthony Ogle placed seventh, ninth and fifteenth respectively in the F4H event with Greg and Peter each winning a round of flying. After holding a top three place in the F4H Team event for two rounds they were passed at the end by France to finish in a very respectable fourth place.

The F4C team, from left - Sharon and Noel Findlay, Noel and Jan Whitehead, Melissa and David Law.

F4C INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

F4C TEAM RESULTS


The F4H team, from left - Ray Ogle (Team Manager), Anthony Ogle, Greg Lepp, Peter Goff

F4H INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

F4H TEAM RESULTS

Noel Whitehead’s CT-4 flying in the F4C event. Noel Findlay’s DH Fox Moth flying in F4C.


Peter Goff flying in F4H assisted by Anthony Ogle.

Peter Goff’s DH Tiger Moth flying in F4H.

Greg Lepp’s Bristol MC-1 flying in F4H.

The Australian team with their distinctive shirts in the group photograph.


KEILOR DISPLAY

2018

I was on my way to the Nationals when this event took place but Rob Dickson was able to take these photographs and pass them on to me.


VMAA TROPHY 2018


Ballarat May 2018

The forecast was for cold and windy, but it was decided in conjunction with the Ballarat club to go ahead. The forecast was right, it was cold with light winds on Saturday, not too bad, but Sunday was still very cold and quite windy. Very few SAM members chose to go and we had only Kevin Fryer, Brian Dowie and myself together with three Ballarat SAM members. Had it not been for some non-members from Ballarat and Bendigo taking part it would have been dreadful. The poor attendance made the event hardly worth reporting on and something has to be done about a competition like this. However, the members that did turn up had a very cold but happy time thanks to the hospitality of the Ballarat club. Our thanks go to Graeme Gulbin for organising a great night at the golf club that was the high point of the weekend. My thanks also to Brian Dowie who had the events running seamlessly and last of all our thanks go to Dave Sampson for putting on such terrific hamburgers. This was the last event before our winter break so let’s all get building and flying so that the September competition at Echuca has a very good turn up, making the people that work so hard on your behalf feel that their work is appreciated. Brian Laughton

New models by Kevin Fryer (Cumulus) and Brian Laughton (New Ruler).

Texaco winners, from left — Dave Sampson (Bomber) 3rd, Steve Gullock (Bomber) 1st, S. Sinclair (MG 2) 2nd.

Kevin Fryer’s electric powered “Cumulus”. Dave Sampson the “Burger King”.


COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE RD. 1 RD. 2 FLY- OFF TOTAL

1. K. FRYER CHALLENGER COX 420 420 573 1833

2. B. LAUGHTON ALBATROSS COX 420 420 476 1736

3. B. DOWIE BOMBER COX DNF

RD. 3

420

418

RD. 4

420

1/2A TEXACO

RESULTS

COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE CC/SEC RD. 1 RD. 2 FLY- OFF TOTAL

1. B. LAUGHTON PLAYBOY TH.TIGER36 25 420 420 776 2036

2. K. FRYER PLAYBOY MC COY 60 40 420 420 662 1922

3. S. GULLOCK PLAYBOY 0S 52 32 420 366 464 1724

RD. 3

420

420

420

RD. 4

429

DURATION

COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE CC/SEC RD. 1 RD. 2 RD. 3 FLY‐ OFF TOTAL

1. S. GULLOCK BOMBER ENYA 53 15 528 582 420 1110

2. S. SINCLAIR MG 2 OS 60 21 454 501 509 1010

3. D. SAMPSON BOMBER 0S 52 15 539 464 409 1003

RD. 4

TEXACO

COMPETITOR MODEL ENGINE CC/SEC FLY‐ OFF TOTAL

1. D. MISSEN SWISS MISS PB 40 538 1138

2. K. FRYER SPACER PB 40 448 1048

3 S. GULLOCK STARDUST BB 38 332 932

RD. 1

300

300

290

RD. 3

300

RD. 2

300

300

300

BURFORD

COMPETITOR MODEL RD. 1 RD. 2 RD. 3 FLY‐ OFF TOTAL

1. G. GULBIIN STARDUST 600 600 600 1387 3187

2. D. MISSEN STARDUST 600 600 600 1325 3125

3. K. FRYER STARDUST 600 600 600 1245 3045

4. B. LAUGHTON ALBATROSS 600 600 600 1110 2910

5. S. GULLOCK LIL DIAMOND 600 600 600 740 2540

6. T. ARNUP STARDUST 600 600 600 707 2507

1/2A TEXACO (ELECTRIC)

DURATION (ELECTRIC)

COMPETITOR MODEL RND. 1 RND. 2 FLY‐OFF TOTAL

1. K. FRYER CUMULUS 420 420 530 1370

2. B. LAUGHTON NEW RULER 420 420 481 1321

CC/SEC

25

25

1/2A Texaco (Electric) winners, from left — Kevin Fryer (Stardust) 3rd, Graeme Gulbin (Stardust) 1st, D. Missen (Stardust) 2nd.

1/2A Texaco winners, from left — Kevin Fryer (Challenger) 1st, Brian Laughton (Albatross) 2nd.

Duration winners, from left — Steve Gullock (Playboy) 3rd, Brian Laughton (Playboy) 1st, Kevin Fryer (Playboy) 2nd.

Burford winners, from left — Steve Gullock Stardust) 3rd, D. Missen (Swiss Miss) 1st, Kevin Fryer (Spacer) 2nd.


VICTORIAN FLYING SCALE AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

VICSCALE TROPHY

This major event in the VFSAA contest calendar was held on the Queen’s Birthday weekend at the Twin Cities field in Albury and un-fortunately was not well attended, only seven turning up to fly. Whether it was the cooler weather, the longer distance compared to the usual venue of Shepparton or the motel, meals and petrol costs is uncertain but very few people came north for the weekend. Anthony Mott was the only entry for the Scale event and this event was cancelled. Despite the low number the Flying Only event went ahead with the three top placings taken by local members. RESULTS Flying Only 1. Rob Sargent Cessna Bird Dog 2. Chris Henry Extra 330 3. Alwyn Brunton Sopwith Pup

Tony Grieger presenting the Flying Only trophy to Rob Sargent with Tim De Haan and 2nd placegetter, Chris Henry, looking on.

Anthony Mott’s Druine Turbulent was the only entry for the Scale Event.

Anthony Mott’s Turbulent, Rob Sargent’s Bird Dog and Tim De Haan’s Pawnee.


Gwyn Avenel’s

Hawker Fury

NEW ZEALAND

MODELLING

Gwyn has been building this project on and off for the past twelve years. The model, based on the Hawker Fury located at Duxford in the UK, has a 2.3m wingspan and weighs about 13kgs. The Fury is powered by a Laser 300 V-Twin engine in keeping with its British origins. The model has a scale wing section and the fuselage con-struction follows the same structure as the full sized. Covering is tissue over silk . Gwyn comments: “After some years of trying to achieve a polished aluminum finish with paint and/or foil, I was persuaded to try making the cowling from aluminum. Luckily, I have a very talented metal-smith living nearby who was prepared to tolerate me using his work-shop, his knowledge and advice on fixing my mistakes”. The results speak for themselves and it is the part of the model of which Gwyn is most proud. “As we live at the bottom of the world, we need to disassemble the model and pack it into airline acceptable box sizes to be able to bring it with us to Top Gun from Auckland, NZ, via Houston. Luckily our national carrier (Air New Zealand), has an excellent protocol with our National model association to allow this to happen. I have been to Top Gun four times now, the first time was in 2011 when I topped the Masters static score with my Douglas SBD “Dauntless” Dive Bomber. Top Gun has always been a favourite model competition for us as we have made many new friends and have been welcomed unreservedly into the event. This year’s event is very special, being the 30th anniversary, and Frank Tiano de-serves plaudits for bringing this event to the modeling public over this long period of time. It’s a great week in Lakeland, FL”.

Gwyn Avenel with his 1/4 scale Hawker Fury.


ALL AUSTRALIAN DAY

at

KNOX MAC

Once again the wind was strong enough to deter most models from taking to the air and the contest was decided on static scores. There was a good presentation of early Australian control line designs and it was unfortunate that the weather conditions did not allow them to be demonstrated in flight.

The winners, from left — Steve Vallve (Hearn’s Hobbies “All Australian”) 2nd, Colin Collyer (“Marquis Charger”) 1st, Dave Lacey (Central Aircraft “ Cyclone”) 3rd.


A pair of Hearn’s Hobbies “Super Skylark” models by Peter Byrne and Ted Hall. Steve Vallve’s Hearn’s Hobbies “All Australian Mk.II”.

Colin Collyer’s winning “Marquis Charger” biplane.

Models lined up while the owners have lunch and attend the KMAC meeting.


The weather God’s weren’t so kind to us this year. It would be nice to have a direct line with the weather Gods? I guess we can’t complain too much as we have had a good run for a lot of years. Entries were down a little, maybe they had looked at the forecast or felt the wind was too strong for these delicate FF scale jobs. In saying that, there were many good flights made over the weekend. The New Zealanders showed us how to fly F4A in the wind, they took 1st & 2nd using Auster’s with ‘far travelled by train’ Bob Craine taking 3rd place with his Comte AC-4 Gentleman. Results for rubber scale had to be decided by static points, as the competitors left their flying to Sunday morning in hope that the wind might have been less, but sadly it was stronger. Even the scramble flyers elected not to fly due to the wind. The new class for us was kit scale, and this looks like being popular. John Goodwin and Dave Bailey even started betting (this started at the pub) amongst themselves, that if they do not bring a model next year they will pay $100 each into the prize fund. Two ladies, one from NZ didn’t want to miss out on the act and put their hands up as well. What this means is that if these four do not appear with models, and by the rules have to be built by themselves, there will be $400 going to the winner of the event! Our first Kit contest was extremely close, only six points separating 1st, 2nd & 3rd with a lucky take off making the difference and a win for Roy. Once again prizes were supplied by Peter Jackson via Big Kev, thanks guys. Sadly the kits have come to an end, so next year will be different. RESULTS F4A Scale Stan Mauger (NZ) Antarctic Auster C4 1437.5 Ricky Bould (NZ) Auster AOP9 1090.1 Bob Craine (AUS) Comte AC-4 Gentleman 1029 Rubber Scale Mike Mulholland (NZ) Borel Hydravion 888.2 Phil Warren (AUS) Comper Swift 737.9 George Fay (NZ) Folkerts SK-3 440.7 Kit Scale Roy Summersby (AUS) Stinson Voyager 139.5 Mike Mulholland (NZ) CT4 Air trainer 133 5 Phil Warren (AUS) Piper J3 Cub 133 The Hope-Cross Trans Tasman Trophy once again went to New Zea-land, well done NZ.

Both days there was cake supplied by Lyn Towel, and bottomless tea and coffee on the AFFS table. Barry arrived with the B-B-Q mid morn-ing Sunday and soon after we had hot scones, jam and cream made by Matt Hannaford, he’s an expert at this. Lunch was supplied by AFFS and was also well received. Having lunch on the field kept us talking for much longer so let’s hope they do it again next year. Thank you Phil, Noels and AFFS. It’s interesting, and it was the same last year, that some people want to change the rules no matter what they are, these often get talked about, but unless it gets onto paper and agreed to it must stay the same, so if you want a change start the process now. This is mainly due to the painting / covering of kit scale. Thanks must go to our judges, we seem to have the same ones each year, if you like aeroplanes put your hand up to be a judge, and you get to see the models up close. It’s not that hard as you have a sheet and guides on how to do it. What about New Zealand supplying a judge or two, come on Kiwi’s let’s make it truly international. Roy Summersby

TRANS TASMAN CHALLENGE

& SCALE RALLY at

RICHMOND

Mike Mulholland from New Zealand was the winner of the Reg Jude Trophy.


Phil Mitchell’s DH Tiger Moth flew in Power Scale. Mike Mulholland at the judges table with his Borel Monoplane.

John Goodwin assisting at the judging table with Mike Mulholland’s DH Tiger Moth.

George Fay holding Ricky Bould’s Auster AOP-9 before a splendid flight

Phil Warren’s Comper Swift placed second in Rubber Scale. Roy Summersby won Kit Scale with his Stinson Voyager.

George Fay winding his Folkerts Racer which placed third in Rubber Scale, assisted by Ricky Bould.

Stan Mauger’s Antarctic Auster, a regular at Richmond, was the winner in F4A Scale.


Phil Warren had his Peyret Taupin flying nicely in Rubber Scale.

Roy Summersby’s beautifully built Sopwith Swallow in Power Scale. George Fay’s rubber powered Folkerts SK4 on its way to a great flight.

Ricky Bould launching his Auster AOP-9 in Power Scale. George Fay with his Douglas Skyraider.

(Glenn Crouch photograph)

(Glenn Crouch photograph) (Glenn Crouch photograph)

(Glenn Crouch photograph)

(Glenn Crouch photo-

Don Spray’s Kit Scale Fairchild Ranger is a great flyer.

Gary Pope passing the Hope-Cross Trophy to the victorious New Zealand team represented by Stan Mauger, Ricky Bould and Mike Mulholland.


The Queen’s Birthday weekend in June again saw the Ararat and District Aeromodellers Club hold their annual float fly at Lake Bolac. Rick and I went down at lunch time on Friday to get in early to set up and found that there were four flyers from Noarlunga already set up on the foreshore and flying. As you can see from the photos, the condi-tions on the lake were perfect, albeit a bit cold. Saturday dawned clear and calm with flying commencing around 8:00am. Most of the flyers arrived on the Saturday and we had a total of twenty six flyers for the weekend. The flyers came from many clubs, Geelong, Warrnambool, Naracoorte, Noarlunga, Mount Gambier and Camperdown with the furthest coming from Ceduna. The weather on Sunday was a repeat of Saturday’s and everyone had a wonderful weekend with many hours of perfect flying. Pam Pimblott (photographs by Matt Hoskings)

Just a small ripple on the water as this Gee Bee flies by.

Ararat & District Aeromodellers

Caravans and models are at the waters edge. The Lake Bolac Boat Club build-ing, with toilets and hot showers, is available to the flyers and makes it a very comfortable visit.

Lake Bolac Float Fly


This Spitfire is an ARF foamie but it does have scale floats.


Ohlsson 23 -1941 Irwin G. Ohlsson built his first two small en-gines in 1934. They had a 0.12c.in displace-ment and were used to power a small cabin model and bi-plane. Irwin’s interest in model engines continued to the point where he wanted to manufacture his own engines. Harry Rice was instrumental in developing the tooling for the die cast parts and supply-ing most of the machined parts for the first Ohlsson miniature, a 0.56c.in displacement engine. This engine, along with several kits and accessories was the start of Ohlsson & Rice, a business that became one of the most recognized names in the hobby industry. The Engine Collector’s Journal lists seventy eight

different Ohlsson & Rice model engines manufactured until 1957. Today they are sought after by engine collectors and still used by modellers to power their Old Timer models. Back in the 1950’s Monty Tyrrell and John Brehaut used an Ohlsson 23 in their Class ‘B’ Team Racer to dominate the event by virtue of the Ohlsson’s very low fuel usage. Their model was not the fastest but it covered a lot of laps on one fluid ounce (30cc) of petrol and oil.

Ohlsson 60 ‐ 1941

The Ohlsson 60 was the motor of choice for many of the early control line flyers until the Anderson Spitfire came along to supplant it.


Brown Jr. Model D - 1934 The Brown Jr. designed by Bill Brown was the first model aircraft engine to be built in significant numbers and sold to the general public, revo-lutionizing competitive model airplane flying at the time. In 1932, the ruling authorities at the National Championships had only one classification — powered models. In order to encourage contest-ants to be innovative, any power source could be used, but almost all contestants used rubber power. Maxwell Bassett and Bill Brown took their “gas model” to the Nationals at Atlantic City and entered it. The model that Bassett named “Miss Philadelphia” came in fourth. To some perceptive people this was a milestone and the gas model had arrived! To others, though, including the “rule makers,” this was just a passing fancy that would create little further interest. The next year Brown and Bassett arrived at New York's Roosevelt Field for the 1933 Nationals with several different models and engines. They won first place in all three powered contests — the Mulvihill Trophy for stick models with a time of 14 min 55 sec, the Stout Trophy for cabin models with 22:22 and the Moffett International Trophy with 28:18. Because of their overwhelming success in sweeping all three divisions the previous year, the rule-makers finally realized that the world had changed and created a "gasoline engine" division in 1934.

Dan Bunch marketed his Gwin Aero 0.488 ci and kept his popular, well-made and competitive engines in production from 1938 until 1945. A unique feature of some of the Bunch engines is the inverted mod-els. While most engine manufactur-ers stated in their instructions that their engine could be mounted and run inverted, Bunch actually stamped the name up side down on the bypass.

Bunch Gwin Aero - 1938


McCoy 29 - 1948 Dick McCoy was one of the early pioneers of model engine design and construction. Starting in the late 1930's, McCoy produced racing car and aeroplane engines before having them made in 1945 by Duro-Matic Products Co. From 1953 to 1956 the engines were made by McCoy Products Co. in Culver City before turning produc-tion over to Testors in April, 1956. The McCoy 60, 49 and 29 be-came the preferred engines for control line speed models, rivalled only by the Dooling 61 and 29.

This McCoy 29 has had the exhaust stub reworked to hopefully improve the exhaust scavenging and to match the curvature of the cowl. The McCoy 49 was also used successfully in high performance free flight models and a few McCoy 60’s are still performing well in Old Timer events.

OK Super 60 -1938 In 1938, Charles Bre-beck formed the Herki-mer Tool and Model Company to manufac-ture his engines which were known as OK en-gines. A year later, he obtained a patent for improve-ments to engine design to minimize heat distor-tion and facilitate eco-nomical manufacture. Brebeck applied for and received a patent for a method to fabricate a model engine crankshaft using a cooling jig to prevent welding heat from softening and dis-torting the assembly. The initial product was

a .60 displacement engine, which was soon followed by a 1.2ci twin version for military drone application.


The Short Brothers

and

Harland Ltd. Trophy

In the April issue of AMN I wrote about the rescue of this trophy by Peter Byrne when it was about to be lost forever to the scrap bin. Since publishing the article I have had several older modellers recall the trophy but none could provide any additional infor-mation until Howard Gostelow, a former member of the West Preston MAC in Melbourne and now resident in Queensland, sent the accompanying photograph taken in 1955 at the Victori-an State Championships presentation night. Howard is holding the trophy presented to WPMAC as the leading club at the Championships and still has several of the small trophies sitting at the base of the Short Brothers & Harland Ltd. Trophy. Howard could not recall why the SB&H trophy was in the photo-graph as according to the engraving on the trophy it was won in 1955 by Trevor Boundy of the Elsternwick club. Discussion with Trevor, who is still active in aeromodelling, has not thrown up any further information so mystery still surrounds the trophy and its travels from the last presentation to R. Dietzel in 1982 to the present time.

Howard Gostelow at the Victorian State Championships presentation night in 1955.


Going back to the Old Country, June/July this year, to catch up with family and friends and by chance taking in a few Air Shows!! (This being 100 years since the end of World War 1). Old Warden was my first Air Show to visit on this trip, being the Mili-tary Pageant on the 1st July, 2018 and dedicated to recognizing the contributions of the Armed Forces, past and present. To me this is a mecca of early aviation and would be interesting to compare with my many visits to Omaka in New Zealand. The Shuttleworth Collection and visiting aircraft on display are shown on the following pages. The Bremont Great War display team was reminiscent of WW1 dog fights I first witnessed at Omaka, New Zealand in 2011. Here at Old Warden there were up to nine World War I aircraft flying at any one time. Of special interest to me was the Royal Aircraft Factory Be2C replica commissioned in 1969 by the makers of the film ‘Biggles Sweeps the Skies’ and designed by film model specialist David Boddington. Built in 16 weeks and based on de Havilland Tiger Moth components it was flown, crashed and stored for 25 years in the USA. Since being restored to fly again by co-owners Matthew Boddington, son of the original builder, and Steve Slater it is now back at its birthplace in the UK. Overall the flying was tight and close and compared favourably with Omaka. The highlight to me was the fly over by the Lancaster bomber of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. I witnessed this again at two further Air Shows and will go into more detail of this aircraft in following reports. Another first for me was to see a Westland Lysander take off and fly for a fifteen minute display with a Spitfire and Hurricane off each wing tip. Seeing this machine take to the skies is a fitting tribute to the pilots and operatives who carried out difficult missions under cover of darkness, during the worst years of World War II. As well as aircraft, entertainment for all ages was included. Flight Simulator, U.K. Youth Gliding, Art and Craft in the Swiss Garden, free make and paint from Airfix IPMS and 1/3 scale models from the Dawn Patrol. Great for modellers of all ages ! David Anderson


Shuttleworth aircraft lined up and ready to fly. The R.E.8 was designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory and was used extensively as an artillery spotter from 1916 to 1918 despite heavy losses.

The Sopwith Triplane was the first triplane scout of WWI, predating the Fokker Dr.1. Produced in 1916 for the RFC it was exchanged with the RNAS for their French SPAD’s, replacing Pups, Strutters and Nieuports of the RNAS.

Known officially as the Sopwith Scout, the Pup was ordered for the RNAS in 1916 and although low powered its performance was equal to many of higher powered contemporaries.

The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c replica commissioned in 1969 by the makers of the film ‘Biggles Sweeps the Skies’ and designed by film model specialist David Boddington.

The B.E.2c replica in flight.

The S.E.5 together with the Sopwith Camel was the most famous British scout aeroplane of the WWI. Production commenced in 1916 and first patrols were carried out in April 1917.

The Bristol M.1 was expected to reach the Western Front early in 1917 and promised mastery of the air in very short time. However, more conventional biplane scouts arrived instead and the Bristol Monoplane never reached the Western Front.


The fine display of 1/3 scale model aircraft by The Dawn Patrol.

The recently completed Westland Lysander of the Shuttleworth Collection. The Hawker Hurricane and Hawker Demon of the Shuttleworth Collection.

Once only imagined, the re-appearance of the Hawker Hurricane is now becom-ing more common as more restorations take to the sky.

The BBMF Avro Lancaster on a fly past over Old Warden.

A Pobjoy powered Comper Swift in the Shuttleworth hangar. Winner of the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from London to Melbourne the de Havilland 88 Comet “Grosvenor House” is now fully restored and flying.


THE ROYAL INTERNATIONAL

AIR TATTOO

RAF FAIRFORD

I attended this event with my family on Saturday, 14th July, and with the help of a family friend we were able to attend the flight crew enclo-sure. The air show was a celebration of the RAF Centenary but, while fo-cusing on U.K. equipment, it also had an International flavour to cele-brate the close partnerships forged between Britain and its Allies over many years. There were aircraft from Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, USA and, not to forget good old Australia, a Royal Australian Air Force E- A Wedgetail of No.2 Squadron. All of the participating aircraft put on a very polished display but the outstanding display for me was the Red Arrows. Formed in 1964 at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire (home of the “Dambusters”) the present aircraft used is the BAe Hawk T1 powered by a Rolls Royce ADOUR Mk 151 Turbofan with a thrust of 5,200 lbs. They put on a spectacular twenty minute display trailing patriotic red white and blue smoke. Other outstanding aircraft were the Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab Grip

en, Dassault Mirage 2000D’s and the Dassault Rafale Ms, all with delta wings. We had the Great War Flying Team and various helicopters and for the first time, certainly for me if not most of the crowd, we saw the F-35B Lightning 11 do its thing, powered by a Pratt and Whitney F135 Turbofan with a thrust of 40,000 lbs with reheat. It's also fitted with a Rolls Royce Lift System. This is the short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (not sure if the Aussie version has this capability). I missed the Stealth Surprise, as the USAF B-2A bomber from Mis-souri made one pass and flew straight back to the USA, a twenty hour non-stop flight! It was a very tight and full air show, including the Battle of Britain Me-morial Flight which always pays a fitting tribute to the pilots and crew who flew these aircraft in WWII. To my great surprise the weather was an enjoyable 28-30º tempera-ture and the sky was blue! David Anderson


Airbus Atlas 400M tactical transport aircraft. The RAAF were present with a E- 7A Wedgetail from No.2 Squadron.

Panavia Tornado RAF BAE Hawk jet trainer.

The Red Arrows put on an impeccable display of aerobatics and formation flying in their BAE Hawk T.1 jet trainers.


The F-35B Joint Strike Fighter demonstrating its vertical capabilities. Saab Gripen fighter.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the support DC-3 leads the Lancaster bomber with a fighter escort of Spitfires and Hurricanes.

A couple of oldies to balance out the heavy metal. A line up of Panavia Tornado aircraft with crews selling souvenirs.


Where else would you find the following aircraft on display and fly-ing, all assembled by the Imperial War Museum and the Fighter Col-lection Flying Legends. 14 x Spitfire, 4 x Hawker Hurricane, 2 x Hawker Sea Fury, 4 x P-51D Mustang, 3 x Curtiss Hawk, 1 x Grumman Wildcat, 1 x Grumman Bearcat, 3 x Vought Corsair, 2 x Douglas C-47/Dakota, 4 x Hispano Buchon, 3 x Beech 18, 1 x P-47D Thunderbolt, 1 x B-17G Flying For-tress, 1 x Blenheim, The Flying Bulls (1 x P-38 Lightning, 1 x B-25 Mitchell, 1-DC-6),1 x Bü131 Jungmann and not forgetting the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight consisting of Lancaster, Spitfires and Hurri-canes. The flying program opened at 2:00p.m. sharp with the Spitfire scram-ble, tail chase and general cavorting around the sky followed by line astern fly passes. This was spectacular as the eleven Spitfires carried out wing overs, figure of eights, from right to left and left to right. All in all a very spirited display with the sight, sound and smell of the V12 Merlin and Griffon engines doing their thing. The Naval fighters — Corsairs, Bearcat, Curtiss fighters and Sea Fury followed the Spitfires in very spectacular fashion. Mid-afternoon saw the Luftwaffe and Battle of Britain film tribute take place.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, with the distinctive sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines coming from the Lancaster Bomber and the Spitfires and Hurricanes on each wing tip, was a feast of sight and sound. The Flying Bulls from Salzburg gave an excellent display with their highly polished aluminium finish glistening in the sunlight. Yes — the sun shone and the sky was blue, unlike my last visit to Duxford some fourteen years ago when cloud cover was down to 300ft and not one war bird was able to fly! There was so much to see at this historic airfield, the high standard of the wonderful Aviation Museum, watching the most talented air show pilots fly very rare historic aircraft and not forgetting the highly skilled engineers who maintain these aircraft to perfection. David Anderson

Flying Legends Airshow 2018

at Duxford


The Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann of the Flying Bulls put on a fine aerobatic presentation.

More aircraft by the Flying Bulls, above are a B-25 Mitchell and a P-38 Lightning. At right is a Douglas DC-6. All aircraft have a highly polished aluminium finish.

A part of the eleven aircraft Spitfire formation. Norwegian DC-3.

A Mk.1 Bristol Blenheim, the only one of its type flying. The Blenheim leads in formation with a pair of Spitfires.


A DC-3 leads a formation of three Beech 18’s.

Blenheim and Spitfire formation.

Spitfire pair.

The BBMF Lancaster passes over with bomb bay doors open. The UK’s resident B-17 Sally ‘B’.

The Flying Bulls P-38 Lightning pairs with their F4U Corsair. One of the four Buchons on display. This one is a two seater.


After seeing the BBMF flying at Old Warden, Fairford and then at Dux-ford, it was time to see all these aircraft at their home base so a visit was arranged with my brother Patrick to RAF Coningsby. I had visited this aerodrome before so I was looking forward to a return visit. RAF Coningsby is an operational Drome, with Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4’s and these can be heard doing circuits and bumps throughout the day. BBMF operates ten historic and irreplaceable WWII aircraft — an Avro Lancaster, a C-47 Dakota, six Spitfires, two Hurricanes and in addition flies two 1952 de Havilland Chipmunk training aircraft, which are used for year around training of BBMF pilots on tail-wheel aircraft. The tour through the hangar usually takes 1 1/2 hours however we had a very knowledgeable guide who must have spent at least 2 to 2 1/2 hours giving us facts and figures plus very interesting historical notes, such as .. the Hawker Hurricane MK 11c in front of us had been owned by Princess Margaret and was flown by Peter Townsend in the 1950's Kings Cup Air Race. For younger readers, the King's Cup air race, was the Blue Riband and high spot of the British Air Calendar prior to WWI and attracted not only Royalty, but also Cabi-net Ministers and Heads of the Armed Services.

Next in the hangar was an all silver Spitfire, PR MK X1X powered by one of the ultimate Griffon Spitfires, by all accounts daunting to fly as the 2050 hp produces a massive amount of torque. Special attention is required at take-off as the engine rotation is reverse to the Merlin. Last but not least, we were able to view the Avro Lancaster B1P474. This aircraft was completed in 1945 and missed the war in Europe by a few weeks. It joined the BBMF in 1973 and is one of only two airworthy Lancaster's world wide. A flying memorial to the 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew who lost their lives in WWII, the starboard side of the fuselage displays 50 Squadron RAF code letters VNT and the City of Lincoln Coat of Arms (this is my hometown and my father was a technician on Lancaster's during the war). On the port side is an Aussie connection — 460 Squadron RAAF code letters ARL and a kangaroo playing bag-pipes! The story goes that the navigator painted the ‘roo on the plane after which one of the crew complained .. "I am not an Aussie, I am a Scot".. so the bagpipes were duly added! David Anderson

BATTLE of BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

RAF CONINGSBY


OS FS‐91S A used engine in good condi on.

$150

FOR SALE ENGINES AND TRANSMITTER

CONTACT: JOHN LAMONT

Home: 94310044, Mobile 0415384823, Email: [email protected]

OS BGX‐1 A used engine in very good condi on.

$250

Hitec Aurora 9X 2.4GHz Transmi er (Mode 2 s ck arrangement but can be easily changed to Mode 1)

c/w charger and manual. $150

issue no. 53 australian model news

Documents