1 Gladys International 21C The Almost Quarterly Journal of The Sheffield Society of Aeromodellers Issue 111 2015 In this issue...a Gull takes fight, wings are warped, an aircraft museum becomes a reality and much, much more...
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Gladys International 21C
The Almost Quarterly Journal of The Sheffield
Society of Aeromodellers Issue 111 2015
In this issue...a Gull takes fight, wings are warped, an aircraft
museum becomes a reality and much, much more...
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Contents
Editorial………………………………………………………………………….p3
Some Summer Reading:Gordon Smeeton ……………………...p4
An Aircraft Museum in South Yorkshire:Ian Kingsnorth … p7
Building The Gull:Phil Barrett………………………………………….p16
Club Goings On:Ed………………………………………………………….p20
An Eindecker at Elvington:Ed……………………………………….…p24
Endpiece………………………………………………………………………..p2
There were 2 Vulcans at
Elvington last year, one RC the
other real. Let’s hope ‘558’
makes it again this year, in it’s
last display season, ever.
Acknowledgements As always thanks to all contributors. Desperate to put pen to paper ? Have an
idea for the newsletter? Ring me ( Neil Carver) on 0114-2667203. All photos by
N.C. except : p3 unknown, p6-14 Ian Kingsnorth,p16-18 Phil Barrett, p21 Gordon
Smeeton (top) and unknown. The cover photo is of the 20ft Mitchell flown by
Roland Sabatschus at Weston Park 2014.
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Editorial
Since I became editor of this erstwhile publication kind folk have
supplied me with a stack of back issues of Gladys and pre Gladys club
newsletters. Every now and again I go through them looking for
inspiration or compromising photos of committee members. One thing I
found out on these journeys into the past was that there is only one
mention of dinosaurs ( real ones, ) in all of the club newsletters.
Astonishing.
Another thing I discovered recently is that there is more than one Gladys
in the world of RC. You have to be careful with Google and search terms
like Gladys but persevere and you will find , on eBay the plans for
‘Glorious Gladys’… and here she is.
So what of this issue ? Well, true to tradition there are no articles on
dinosaurs. In fact there isn’t even a mention of a goat, a nightingale or
any other bird, except one. We pay homage to the Mew Gull and pilot
Alex Henshaw with a book review from Gordon Smeeton and a build
review from Phil Barrett. Ian Kingsnorth also takes us through a
fascinating history of S. Yorkshire’s only aircraft museum, at Doncaster.
Ian was secretary there for a staggering 20 years : seriously impressive
and proof you should never say : ‘Oh ok I’ll just fill in till someone
volunteers’. As you will see it turns out that Ian shares something with
Phil. Both built things in aviation through hard work and pretty much
without any instructions……..Enjoy the read, Ed.
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This very readable book is Alex Henshaw's own fascinating account of his
flying experiences before World War 2, his ambition to win Kings Cup Air
Races and to break the record for a single engined solo flight UK to
Capetown and back. Not only was he a great pilot but he could write too.
The book draws you in, puts you in the cockpit and is at times tense as
any good thriller.
Alex had a passion for flying and he
was fortunate in having a father who
shared his passion ( and not without
a bob or two -Ed ) Alex's' first flying
lessons were out of the airfield at
Skegness but as Skegness was not
licensed for first solo flights he was
flown over to Hedon near Hull where
he successfully got his solo licence.
Part of his test was to fly figures of
eights ( where have we heard of that
before ).
he Gypsy Moth 1 was his first plane
and the first competitive plane was a
Comper Swift which was bought in
1933. As time progressed various
planes were bought and sold, not
without incidents. He had to bale out
of his Arrow Active which was totally destroyed.
In a Kings Cup Race over England, Scotland , Ireland and Wales the Miles
Hawk engine exploded and he had to ditch in the Irish sea. Faster planes
were needed to win the Kings Cup. So after much thought they opted for
the Percival Mew Gull which was purchased in 1937. During 1937 and
early 1938 various races were entered all with partial success.
Modifications and improvements were constantly being made to
Some Summer Reading :Gordon Smeeton
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improve performances .He won the Kings Cup Race in 1938; the course
being Hatfield, Buntingford, Barton in the Clay and back to Hatfield. His
fastest lap was just under 240 mph. Preparations were now made for the
UK, Capetown, UK record attempt. Work continued on the Gull. Extra
fuel tanks were added and
alterations made to the fuselage
including reducing the height of the
canopy .
His 1938 record flight took him
across France to the Mediterranean
and North Africa ,then over the
Sahara Desert and the West Coast of
Africa . Alex was a hugely skilled
navigator and it is remarkable was
that his only navigation aids were a
compass, a watch and elementary
maps.
Much of his flying time was in the
hours of darkness and he often
landed at some unknown flying field
in the pitch black. Some landing
strips were in desert like conditions or on a narrow strip of land in
amongst jungle or forest . Reception parties at each stop were arranged
for refuelling and the like and they were given a time when he would
arrive. Almost without fail he would arrive over the given spot at the
time he had advised. The total distance flown was 12,754 mile in 78.46
hours: a new record. He would go on to famously test fly up to 20
Spitfires but the book ends weeks before war broke out .
When he wrote ‘ Flight’ in 1980 he almost couldn’t believe his
experiences in the thirties were real….. ‘ it seems so incomprehensible
today, that I keep quiet as no one would believe me.’
The author… Gordon … not Alex
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An Aircraft Museum in S. Yorks.:Ian Kingsnorth
As many volunteer aircraft preservation groups probably began, this one
probably started in a pub some where in South Yorkshire in the early
70’s. Eventually finding a home in the old coach house of Nostell Priory,
it stayed there with one complete exhibit a Bristol Sycamore helicopter
and a collection of aviation related bits and pieces. Some of these were
engines and instruments, and flying clothing but a lot of the collection
was ‘wreckology’. This was the term given to the new hobby of digging
up crashed planes. This 1980's fad turned up some fascinating items
including guns, bombs, and engines and in some sites the unfortunate
pilot.
Now of course the digging of crash sites is highly regulated and any hint
of it being a war grave precludes any digging of the site at all. This was
the result of the MOD introducing a licensing system, as some of the
groups had been a little reckless in how they conducted their operations.
And so the collection grew. Then in the early 80’s the owner of Nostell
Priory donated it to the National Trust and the South Yorkshire Aircraft
Society, as it was at the time, had to find a new home.
Fortunately one of the society’s members ,Carl Speddings, a farmer living
at Firbeck between Maltby and Oldcotes actually in South Yorkshire this
time, offered room at his farm to store the museums exhibits. This was
gratefully accepted. Unfortunately the Sycamore was moved on to an-
other museum and has since disappeared.
As luck would have it the fields opposite had once served Firbeck-
Hall ,next door, as a private airfield when it had been an exclusive coun-
try club during the 1930’s. On the outbreak of war in 1939 it was requisi-
tioned and became RAF Firbeck.It later became operational with West-
land Lysander’s of 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron during 1940-41.
Later 659Sqn was formed there and 654 Sqn followed. They trained ob-
servation techniques using Auster AOP III aircraft before taking part in
the Post D-Day artillery operations.
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It also turned out that the farm itself had been used as officer’s billets
and a mess building had been built in the grounds. Only the concrete
base was left which was used to build a display hall for some of the
smaller exhibits
So seeing this as the perfect place for an aircraft museum the group set-
tled in. With free entry it began to exhibit the collection again using an
old Nissan hut, dismantled from the old airfield opposite the farm. It was
the first building they had owned. By 1984 the museum was well estab-
lished, telling the story of South Yorkshire aviation history. It quickly
gained its first aeroplane, a Socata TB-200 Tobago, soon to be followed
by a Flying Flea, a De Havilland Vampire T11 and a Hawker Hunter F51.
Then an Albatross C1 replica from the TV series Flambards arrived.
Next a museum member purchased the interesting remains of a De
Havilland Vampire NF10 night fighter fuselage pod and an even more sad
looking Vampire FB5 pod, both from a remote scrap yard above Bingley.
This began a long association with scrap yards as a source of parts. In fact
most of the museums aircraft began life as scrap components, which we
eventually put back together for display. One such aircraft was our Chip-
munk which arrived as a cockpit section only, with the engines and cowls
Firbeck in the 90’s. The Meteor Mk 1V is now in the USA
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rear fuselage etc. arriving over a couple of years until the whole airframe
emerged as a complete aircraft.
The most ambitious project for the society volunteers was to recover
the substantial remains of a Vickers Wellington from Braemar in the
Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland. The wings, most of the fuselage and
the engines were recovered with the help of an RAF Wessex helicopter
and displayed at Firbeck until they were moved on to another museum
at Morton in the Marsh. The wings have subsequently been used by
Brooklands museum for their Wellington restoration.
I joined the museum in about 1987 and was volunteered by the rest of
the committee to become its Secretary, a role I seemed to occupy for the
next 20 odd years. Other airframes kept on arriving ,such as the Meteor
T7 (swapped for a Canberra cockpit) and a Jet Provost bought from RAF
The legendary Samuel Cody was at this historic event
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Church Fenton’s fire dump. Another Sycamore arrived after being used
in an escape training exercise where it was kept in a large fresh water
tank for divers to train on. Cockpit sections arrived from Canberra’s and
a Vickers Valiant, and for a while we had the cockpit of a Heinkel He111
once used for close up work in the film, The Battle Of Britain. It seemed
that the museum’s collection grew every month, with documents, uni-
forms, and even a mobile control caravan turning up.
A more exotic aircraft to turn up was an. E.E. Lightening F6 from a nearby
warehouse site owned by a chap who had bought up about 8 of them!
All had been sold on except this one which came to Carls attention the n
in the local pub when the owner said it was to be broken up next morn-
ing. So the deal was done, making this probably the first jet fighter
swapped for a tractor. Sadly the over enthusiastic JCB driver who was to
move the plane put his bucket into the wing root, luckily not doing too
Doncaster 1938: an Avro Tutor of 616 Squadron
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much damage; but it was still a close run thing. The Lightning was then
towed through the quiet Sunday morning country lanes, with all of us
praying the cops would not catch us or some one would come haring
round a corner and find the had nowhere to go. Mercifully it arrived
safely and had new wings fitted to replace the ones cut off during transit.
Eventually we recognised that we had to make more money to survive
and relying on donations on our now weekend opening hours was not
enough. We decided to register as a Charity to help with funding and
were accepted. We were then promptly visited by Rotherham Council
who began charging us business rates, but wouldn’t empty our bins !
The museum collection had now grown from one aircraft to 12,including
helicopters and many smaller aircraft parts including complete cockpits
weapons and a large engine collection. Visitor numbers were about 900
a year but due to the farm being of the beaten track no on knew where
we were and it was obvious we would have to relocate one day to better
Every museum has to start somewhere
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premises , hopefully with some indoor space for the aircraft. Eventually
Carl said he wanted his farm back and so the search was really on for a
new home.
Around 1994 alternative sites were looked at. First up was an offer from
the new Magna Project at the disused United Steels site in Rotherham
(we just happen to have their Piper Comanche on display) Next was an
air traffic control complex, formerly Northern Radar opposite Lindholm
Prison (former RAF Lindholm) which had come up for disposal by the
MOD. Neither of these sites was really what we wanted so they were
discounted.
Around this time I was working for the newly privatised Yorkshire Water
and part of my job was to travel the length a breadth of Yorkshire col-
lecting information on the clean water distribution system still held on
paper maps. On one of these visits I called in our Doncaster depot. As I
drove through the gates on Sandy Lane I was surprised to find the depot
was a collection of World War 2 buildings comprising of an aircraft han-
gar and 2 large wooden huts similar to the ones I had been trained in
when I first joined the RAF (another story). After a bit of research I dis-
covered that these were 1940 original RAF buildings from a wartime fly-
ing school and part of the war time RAF Doncaster. This airfield had
been Doncaster Municipal Airport before the outbreak of WW2 in Sep-
tember 1939.It was requisitioned by the RAF and 271 Squadron moved in
with converted Handley Page Harrow bombers, converted to the trans-
port role.
This then was just what we needed; a hangar to get the aircraft under
cover, buildings for all the rest of the collection, plus a new workshop
building built by Yorkshire Water which could be classroom space for
school visits and a proper meeting room. Therefore, I started to make
enquiries about the future of the site in Yorkshire Water’s plans. As luck
would have it I found out that as part of the rationalisation of the com-
pany the Doncaster depot was going to close and so we at the museum
put together a proposal to Doncaster Council who were the landlords
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and Yorkshire Water to have a new lease allocated to us. After my pres-
entations to the council it was agreed in principal and a very helpful
team from their Economic Development Department worked very hard
to get the details sorted out while I had to find some money to prepare
the 4 acre site for opening to the public.
Not long after, on a chance visit to the site made purely on a whim while
passing I found that the decommissioning company was under the im-
pression that they were to demolish and totally clear the whole site of
hangar and all its buildings. They had just begun on one of the huts and
put a JCB bucket through the roof. After a quiet word in the contractors’
ear, I got a stop put on that, saving the obliteration of our new museum
before we even got there!
While the legal work for a new lease was progressing we had to find
some large sums of money and I found that as we were now a charity we
could apply for local community grants and from Landfill Tax revenue
grants through Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN).I was also able to
The hanger through a fish eye lens and after several bottles of beer
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apply for £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Trust and gained £2000 do-
nated from Peel Holdings, who were about to develop the old RAF Fin-
ningley airfield into the current Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport.
So after raising about £80,000 we were able to ready the site for the col-
lection of aircraft and other bits and pieces to be moved from Firbeck in
the summer of 1999.
To get this stage we all had to work all hours to refurbish the buildings
and general site which had been badly vandalised and stripped of all its
plumbing and cabling during its decommissioning period when Yorkshire
Water vacated it. Bill Fern in particular put in many hours over one nasty
winter when we had no services on site at all.
In early 2000 the site was ready and the whole of the collection was
moved from Firbeck with the generous help of the TA Transport Regi-
ment at Rotherham’s McKay Barracks. So on one very wet day in June,
This Bell 47 dropped in last Winter.
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the whole collection was transported by road to Doncaster. It had
poured with rain the day before and even the Army recovery vehicle got
bogged down. It was pulled out by a farm tractor, much to their chagrin.
The road out of Firbeck was very narrow with a humped bridge just wide
enough for the vehicles, let alone planes. We got the Wessex helicopter
out running the undercarriage wheels just along the top of the bridge
walls.
Today the museum prides itself in being one of the best welcoming and
approachable aviation museums in the country. We have achieved Ac-
credited Status which sets nationally agreed standards for museums in
the UK. There are currently just under 1,800 museums participating in
the scheme, demonstrating their commitment to managing collections
effectively for the enjoyment and benefit of users .The museum now has
Harrier GR3 and Piper Comanche outside the hangar.
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over 30 aircraft and helicopters with a few in store or being restored in
the workshop. Visitor numbers have risen from 2000 to over 12000 per
year and we now employ two people. Membership is up from 20 to 80+
and our volunteer workforce is about 20 very hard working and special
people who have and continue to make this one of the best of the volun-
teer run self funding museums in the UK.
Postscript ( by Ed)
Now that is dedication for you. I’ll never forget taking my dad to Firbeck
many moons ago. As we arrived he said; ‘This can’t be right , it’s a farm’.
Well as Ian has told us, it was. Ian also foolishly suggested that if you can
correctly guess the number of planes in the shot on page 12 you win a
Mars Bar. Then again he also said :’Terms and Conditions Apply.’
The shot of the Tutor gives the excuse to mention the only one still in
existence at ( you guessed), Shuttleworth. There is scant mention of this
as an RC model anywhere ( but there is a Traplet plan) and as an air-
frame it doesn’t exactly excite… but what a paint scheme.
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Building the Gull: Phil Barrett
I was at the Old Warden air show in October 2014, and was very taken by
the two Percival Mew Gulls present. The Shuttleworth Collection owns
the ex Alex Henshaw Mew Gull that set the London to South Africa re-
cord, and it was accompanied by a modern replica which looked abso-
lutely authentic.
The two are seen below in formation:
I was looking for a winter project, and came across a Jamara kit of the P6
Mew Gull on the Glider`s Newark website for £60. The P6 was the last
Mew Gull built, and was slightly different to the previous five incorporat-
ing all the lessons learned with the earlier aircraft. It was built for Edgar
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Percival himself to race, which caused some disquiet among the custom-
ers of the earlier models who felt they would now be at a disadvantage
in future air races!
The initial impression of the kit was very favourable, as the wood was of
high quality and the laser cutting very crisp. However, the most notable
deficiency was the lack of a full size plan. Instead, there was a DVD in the
box from which you could print the plan off your computer. This proved
to be a major exercise in paper matching and sticking. Fortunately the
island unit in our kitchen came to the rescue, as the ability to walk
around the assembled sheets was invaluable.
The kit came with a set of assembly instructions with photos of various
stages in black and white, and rather indifferent definition. The next
problem came when comparing the instructions and the plan, as it was
clear that they represented different versions of the kit. In particular, the
aileron arrangement on the plan was different to the instructions. I took
the view that the plan was the latest version, and built to that.
A further annoyance was that no components were marked or identified
in any way. I ended up identifying all the parts myself, and marked them
accordingly to help the build.
Despite these niggles, the kit went together very nicely. The accuracy of
the fit of the laser cut elements was excellent, and the fuselage could
almost be assembled dry. I decided to buy the suggested motor from
Gliders to help simplify the build. It is a standard Jamara motor equiva-
lent to an Eflite Park 480 motor.
Looking at the taper of the wing and the reputation of the original air-
craft for being a bit of a handful at low speed, I deviated from plan and
built a quarter inch of washout in the trailing edge at the wingtip in order
to counter potential problems with tip stalling.
There was plenty of room in the fuselage for the equipment, helped by
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the servos for rudder and elevator being at the tail using short stiff push
rods to the control surfaces.I found a suitable pilot and seat from my old
Sea Fury which fitted just right under the large canopy. It just wouldn`t
look right with an empty office.
The model was covered in white solarfim, with the registration letters
and stripe being cut from solartrim. The colour scheme is based on the
1937 version flown by Edgar Percival in the National Air Races that year.
I am really pleased with the outcome despite the problems encountered
with the build.
The Gull then won third place in the Annual Model Show I so no longer
had an excuse to leave it on the garage shelf. Given the limited wheel
clearance in the spats though I decided to wait for a nice dry surface to
take off from. Muddy ground will not do it any favours. The first real
opportunity to fly was on 13th May, with a really nice afternoon at the
Sportsman Field in prospect. Within a few seconds it was clear that the
aileron throws were excessive, partly explained because the kits
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instructions were notably silent on the control throws. Nevertheless, I
got it throttled back and at a safe height before putting in a few clicks of
right aileron to keep it straight and level.
It looked fabulous, and with very gentle use of the ailerons I flew a num-
ber of circuits before attempting a practice landing. Unfortunately I
slowed it down too far on the final turn, leading to a tip stall and an un-
tidy arrival which caused very minor damage to one undercarriage leg.
I have now sorted the undercarriage and dropped the aileron rates to
60%, and look forward to really getting to grips with the Mew Gull.
Another Postscript…...The modern replica formating with Henshall’s Gull
also put in an appearance at the biennial air show at Sywell ( below). This
Gull has the unlikely registration of G-HEKL apparently the nearest avail-
able registration to the original plane ,G-AEKL , flown by Charles Gardner
when he won the 1937 King’s Cup. Its engine is an original 205-hp de
Havilland Gipsy inverted six. The owner ,David Beale found the brand
new Gipsy still in its 1936 crate. "It started on the second compression,"
he reports. Unlike some things we know…..
That
cockpit is
2ft wide !
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Perhaps one of the strangest events involving the club took place this
winter during one of the indoor sessions when we were asked by Radio
Sheffield to be one of the organisations in their treasure hunt pro-
gramme ‘ Clueless’. I wasn’t there that morning but I did hear a brief bit
of the show and Tim gave a good account of the club, accompanied by
the background hum of 25 circling Champs. What the audience made of
the man in the background shouting; “Shockies!” we shall never know.
Indoor rubber powered flying of course continues regardless of the
weather and through all seasons. The Indoor Free Flight Group now
meets on the 2nd Saturday of the month at the scout hut at Bradway
Primary School. The dates for the rest of the year are June 13, July 11,
August 8, September 12, October 10, November 14 and December 12.
Rumour has it that, not to be outdone by that ‘electric indoor crowd’
they have acquired a contract with ‘Sky’, or as they know it ‘Ceiling ‘.
Club Events: Ed
Burble.. Burble…
Futaba… burble.. 35
meg… burble…... ….
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Meanwhile Gordon kindly arranged the annual model show at the Cross
Scythes and once again a wide variety of planes were on show.
This years’ winner was Charlie Birch with his 1933 Airspeed Courier built
from a May 2011 RCME plan by Tom Hooper .As I write this there is a
complete wood pack version on the RCME website for the knock down
price of £102:11p. Charlie couldn’t make the event but here he is, with
model, prize and trophy at home. Congratulations to Charlie.
The Airspeed Courier has an intriguing past. My John Player cigarette
card of the plane states: “The Cou-
rier was the first aeroplane to be
produced in this country embody-
ing the retractable undercarriage.
When the wheels are drawn up so
much resistance is saved that it is
worth an extra 10mph on the top
speed.”
‘ BXN’ was the prototype Courier
and featured in some of the earli-
est air refuelling research by sir
Alan Cobham. The man with the
unenviable task of catching the
fuel pipe in this astonishing
shot may well be the author
Neville Shute. I can neither
confirm nor deny the rumour
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that a radio controlled re-enactment of this event will take place this
summer at Lodge Moor.
Ian Hastings came second with one of his 3 First War ( or fantasy first
War) constructions including a little modelled Ansaldo biplane and the
2nd place winner a Morane-Saulnier monoplane (on the right above).
This was one of a whole host of Ist War designs that were outdated even
before they got into production. Third place was taken by Phil Barrett
with his Mew Gull pictured earlier. Space doesn’t permit shots of all the
models shown but mention should be made of the largest of the models,
a pre war glider built by Steve York ( see over) and awaiting a test flight.
We were also given a brief and interesting talk by Dr Rashid Ali, senior
lecturer in Aeronautics, from Sheffield Hallam University. Students and
staff are entering the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Challenge set up by
the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. In this challenge teams compete
to build and fly an autonomous unmanned aircraft of 7kg max that can
perform a variety of humanitarian missions in an imagined natural
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disaster. This means the craft needs to deliver a payload in a variety of
weather conditions and fly a predetermined route, all automatically. No
problem.
Stop Press: News is just in that, following rave reviews of his Radio Shef-
field appearance Tim Scowcroft has been asked to join the cast of a new
seventies style programme based on the hilarious exploits of a group of
aero modellers. ‘It Ain’t Half Hot-Glue Mum’ will be broadcast this au-
tumn.
With one
chop
Danny
broke the
wing in
two.
Dr Rashid Ali and part of the UA.
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It was blowing a near gale when Terry John Tim and I arrived at Elvington
which didn’t bode well, but even before getting to the flight line I was
impressed by a by a large Fokker Eindecker being wrestled out of a car.
The owner turned out to be very friendly, German chap and very happy
to talk about the plane. When I asked if he would be able to fly in the
already stiff breeze he thought it would be no problem at all.
He explained its good handling characteristics were down to the fact the
plane was controlled by wing warping rather than aileron control. It
seems the action of the wind on one wing cause the other to counteract
the effect so
s u c c e s s f u l l y
that many
people who
had seen it in
action would
not believe the
plane didn’t
c o n t a i n
gyroscopes.
Now you can
i n v e s t i g a t e
wing warping
at your peril. If you don’t find yourself in the mire of complex equations
you trip up over some of the most fiercely fought territory in aviation
history: namely the nature of the patent the Wright Brothers had re
lateral control over their planes and their claim to have flown first. The
key issue is whether their patented designs really included ailerons as
well as wing warping. If that isn’t bad enough there is also the argument
that a certain Gustave Whitehead publicly described wing warping and
flew a powered plane before the Wrights. The gory details can be found
at http://www.gustave-whitehead.com/
An Eindecker at Elvington by Ed.
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It’s an area of fierce claim and
counterclaim but one undeniable
fact is so utterly loopy it has to be
mentioned. In the early 70’s
Senator Lowell Weicker used the
post Watergate Freedom of
information act to uncover the
(apparently still binding ) contract
Orville Wright made with the
Smithsonian Museum.
The Wrights donated one of their
airframes to the Smithsonian but in
return the museum became legally
bound to say the Wrights flew first. Apparently the terms of
employment of all employees of the Smithsonian Institute still require
them to say so. Mad.
Anyway the Eindecker’s owner was one Gerhard Reinsch from the
company Toni Clark Practical Scale.(http://www.toni-clark.com.)Based in
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Germany they produce high end models designed by Paolo Severin.
The Eindecker uses a light tubular steel fuselage and all the control
surfaces connect to the cockpit, so, like the man says : ‘This way, the
loads from the surfaces are transmitted to the joystick and foot pedals,
without burdening directly on the servos. ’ At 40% scale it weighs in at 42
lbs and the kit will cost you ( with bits and bobs) around five grand. I
think it would make a great club second model.
The Eindecker’s flight was in fact delayed because of the wind, as at 32
mph the wind was over permitted display levels. Mercifully the wind did
drop a notch and away went this wonderful machine. The display was
excellent . At one point it was almost hovering in the wind then , without
accelerating it just looped and came back to the hover. There is some
fantastic footage of all the Severin designs on the Toni Clark website.
They would all make great Xmas gifts from a partner that really cares.
There were more than a smattering of club members at Evington, some
of which failed to evade my camera. In the shot over the page lunch is
being consumed in the car park, which is a Britain's most spectacular bit
of concrete. Elvington's runway is 1.92 mile long and that car park was
originally a 49 acre apron designed to take the massive American
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bomber, the B36. Oddly enough
there will be more on the B36
in the next Gladys…….
You may have noticed I failed to
mention the journey to
Elvington. That’s because this
year we got lost on the way
back. Having been treated to
some fine full size flying by
Breighton pilots to round off
the display it only seemed fair
to drop in at their airfield just a
few miles away. ‘It’s easy to find’ I said…….
Thing is that the satnav really didn’t like the network of tiny lanes that
pass for roads in that neck of the woods. I’m also pretty sure the
inhabitants sneak out every now and again and move the signposts
around to fool enemy paratroopers, or as they know them : ‘Anyone not
born 5 mile from here.’ There are some pretty hamlets South of
Elvington but we only saw one, several times. We got there though ,and
were kindly directed to the hangers, any one of which is a small museum
in it’s own
right. Here
you can see
John and
Terry in a
state of
shock when
they realised
the Bucker’s
engine is at
the front
and not in
the boot.
28
Endpiece
...and at the Nationals, Terry discovers it’s his turn to
buy the teas.
Another look at this years winning model show entry built
by Charlie Birch. Shame about that wallpaper mind……..