20th Annual Electric Fly-In
Way back in 2004, BMAC held our very first open Electric Fly-In and for 21 years since bar one we have held this event, this year being our 20th time. The event is the biggest event in our club calendar and the only one we advertise nationally, so always a lot of pressure on the organisation to make it work. 20 years of holding any event is quite the achievement and one that should be celebrated.
Over the years from the early days of practical electric flight we have seen many amazing models and had many famous model designers, builders and pilots attend such as Chris Golds, John Stennard, Cyril Carr and his EDF space shuttle, John Ranson and the amazing 100” de Havilland Hornet with engine sound system and not forgetting David Chinery who was with us again this year. We’ve also seen the technology change beyond imagination. I could go on, but maybe we should talk about this year’s event.
As we have done traditionally the event is held in September and this year it was on the 21st after the weather precluded the initial date. The day had a less than inspiring start, with the strong winds of Saturday night blowing our marquee to the other end of the field. However, Sunday dawned dry, bright with a steady Northeast breeze. The early birds to the field soon had the marquee back up in place and the field setup ready for a day’s flying.
This year, the numbers were down a little, probably due to the unpredictable weather and the recent date change, but still around 50 or more attended with a good range of models. The flying started after Roy Thompson had given the pilots briefing at 10am, and Alan Haskell had booked in our guest flyers.
One change from previous years was pizzas from Dominos were the order of the day, as both of our BBQ Gods (Bob McAlpine and Peter Love) were unfortunately unavailable. A big thank you goes to Graham Reid, Ian Evans, Tim Jefferies and their good ladies for stepping up and looking after the catering, along with those who kindly brought cakes, some of which I managed to enjoy.
As ever a raffle was run to help cover the costs of the day’s event. Here I must thank Dominic Mitchell and HobbyKing for providing the two fantastic prize’s a H-King Viper 64, and a Durafly T-28 Trojan. As a result, we took an excellent £252. The two lucky winners were Michael Oates for the T28 Trojan and with a great sense of “de-ja-vu” back to last year, Jim Vart won the Viper.
This year, there were two trophies up for grabs. Tony Nijhuis kindly agreed to judge the Best Built Model. For this we were looking for a model that showed a great degree of construction, design and ingenuity by the maker that had flown on the day. Tony presented the trophy to Michael Oates after being very impressed with the Angry Bird which flew very well on the day.
Next was the BMAC Award for the best model overall. This went to John Hutson from the Epsom Downs Model Aircraft Club (EDMAC) with his 15-year-old Hangar 9 de Havilland Twin Otter, which he flew repeatedly throughout the day.
As with previous years we had an excellent range of model aircraft at the event covering most aspects of the hobby, from vintage to scale to glider, to EDF’s to 3D etc… I would say that the only aspect not represented were helicopters, maybe next year. There were models flying constantly throughout the day and on into the late afternoon, I’ll will allow the pictures to show you the flavour of that.
For an event to run smoothly it requires a lot of work behind the scenes. So, a final thanks to those club members who gave up their time to help with the preparation of the field on the Saturday, erecting the marquee and safety fences. On the day we had volunteers taking responsibility for car parking and the flight line. Lastly, thanks to Tony Lee and Colin Low for the photos.
Next year it’s FUN at 21 see you there.
Roy Thompson
Events Officer BMAC
