The event is rather unusual, in that the model flying is only a part of the whole event. Other attractions, apart from the radio control aircraft, which were going all day, include a large funfair, classic cars, model steam engines, cars, railways and boats, and lots of people selling stuff out of tents and car boots. The models have to be put in for static judging during the day, with the flying not taking place until 6 pm, with two hours to get your flights in.
This year conditions were bright and sunny, if rather breezy to start with, but by about 7.00 pm conditions had settled down, and there was only a light wind. As usual a good crowd of spectators had gathered to watch the proceedings
The competion is split into four classes - rubber, CO2/electric, Jetex and I/C power. There is a trophy for each class, with the overall winner taking home the Eddie Riding Trophy.
Points are split between static and flying marks, and flights are judged on realism, not duration. To achieve a qualifying flight, a time of 20 seconds has to be achieved. An ROG gets you extra marks and you have four attempts to register a flight, with the marks from the best one counting.
I only entered the Rubber class, as Rapiers were not allowed this year. I feel this is a retrograde step, as without the Rapier entries, there was just one left flying in the Jetex class, and he failed to get a qualifying flight in. This meant that the large crowd were not entertained to a single successful flight by a free flight scale jet. My rubber entry was a Nakajima Tenzan, finished one day before the competition, and completely untrimmed. This is a recipe for disaster, of course, and although I had the model almost trimmed, though underpowered, with about a quarter of an hour of the competition to go, I failed to make a 20 second flight. I'll enter it again next year, so have 12 months to get it properly sorted!
This year Michael Smith won both the I/C class and the Eddie Riding Trophy with this excellently detailed and finished Sopwith Dove. The model flew very well, taking off from the taxiway after a long straight take-off run, then settling into gentle left hand climbing circuits.
Bill Dennis was runner up in the I/C class with this very handsome Avro 505K. The flight scores for this model and the eventual winner were extremely close, but Michael's Dove just edged out the Avro on the static score.
A good collection of entries on the centre table, including Terry Manley's large I/C powered Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter. This is a new model to replace the one he has won the Trophy with for the last three years, which was destroyed in a crash. At the front is John Rimmer's I/C powered Fiesler Storch, which finished 5th in class. Behind you can see John Waters' electric powered Sopwith Triplane, 4th in class. You might also spot John Goddon's Earl Stahl designed Miles Magister - a great flier finishing 2nd in the rubber class.
Another Fiesler Storch, this time rubber powered, entered by Ralph Sparrow. The model is based on the Charlie Newman design, and was very nicely finished and got a good static mark. This combined with the third best flying score was enough to win the class.
This rubber powered Percival Mew Gull was build by Reg Boor using plans for an upcoming West Wings kit, and somewhat to his surprise, it flew really well, despite the small low mounted wings and large fuselage. It placed 3rd in class - definitely a kit to look out for.
I/C powered Piper Super Cruiser by James Campbell, which exhibited a rather more spritely performance than the original ever did!
Tony Pritchard's 1/12 scale electric powered ABC Robin, based on the Eddie Riding rubber design, was flying as well as ever, and took 3rd place in class.
Here are the full results: