In this photo you can see the scale flyers’ tables around the central circular area. To give a sense of scale, the building at the far side is three stories high, and was the location of the only toilets open on the day. It took longer than you thought to walk all the way over there!
Outside the central area there were additional open areas (with nice smooth floors), which did not look very big until you walked into them, and realised that each of these was much bigger than the sports halls we normally fly in (even Nottingham University, where the indoor scale Nationals is held). Some people used these for their Peanut flights.
Happily there was a good turn out for the event, and nearly all the top competitors were there. I brought along (with some trepidation) my newly finished, and unflown, Curtiss Sparrowhawk to enter in the open rubber class. Also the old Jungmeister in the peanut class. The Sparrowhawk proved much easier to trim than I had expected, and by time the last round of the class arrived, it was performing quite nicely. I was thrilled to bits to get fourth place overall on its first outing.
Here are a couple of action shots
The Jungmeister survived a few crashes to finish 6th in peanut. Given that we had such a vast space to fly in, a surprising number of models still managed to find things to bump into!
Here you can see Charlie Newman's immaculate Rubber Powered Comper Swift. On its best flight it performed an extremely wide circuit around most of the Dome, fortunately not collecting any indoor duration models on the way! The model finished in 5th place in class.
Behind you can see Richard Crossley's rubber powered Lockheed L-188 Electra. It was great to see this model in action again. It flew very well, and with the help of its multi-engine bonus took a well deserved first place.
Another of Richard's exquisite foam creations was this peanut scale Aichi Val. All up weight was around 12 grams and the best flight on the day was 52 seconds (though it has done over a minute). It finished 4th in class. The custom made documentation book is nearly as impressive as the model!
Mike Hadland had his lovely Waco SRE flying very nicely in the open rubber class and finished third.
Many of the CO2 flyers suffered from poor performance and icing due to the cold temperatures and moisture in the air. Although it was sunny outside, the only warm patches inside were by the windows in direct sunlight. At least one competitor resorted to charging his tank early, and leaving the model sitting in a sunny spot until called to make his flight.
Peter Smart had no problems at all with his Gasparin GM 300 powered Kalinin K-5 though, which flew for over a minute and got very high indeed.
Another of Peter's CO2 models performing well, though not entered in the competition, was this diminutive all-foam Sopwith Schneider.
Peter's new rubber powered peanut Grumman Tigercat was not behaving quite as well as the Sopwith, and ended the day in several pieces. Hopefully it will be repaired and back in action before too long.
The second Comper Swift entered in the open rubber class was this neat example, built from the Aerographics kit by Gordon Hannah. It flew extremely well, finishing 7th in class.
Another of Gordon's models was this smart Wittmann Bonzo, entered in the peanut class.
As well as his Hurlbert Hurricane, Chris Strachan was also flying this peanut Dixon Special, as raced in the Goodyear Trophy event at Cleveland in 1948. The complex scheme was beautifully painted.
Jacques Cartigney travelled over from France to take part in the event, and entered this attractive Heinkel 64 in the peanut class, finishing 7th.
Peter Iliffe won the CO2/Electric class with his superb Albatros D.V, but was also making some trimming flights with his new Gasparin GM 120 powered DFW B1. Judging by the initial hops, it should fly well, but needed a bit more power than was available on the day.
The detail on this model is fantastic, as you can see on this close-up shot, taken at Peterborough the month before (with better lighting for photography than in the Dome).