Charmouth's Spring heli fly-in 2003 had been on the GMC's list of events to go to for a while. But when the chance arose to spend the day watching model jets, including Andy Best's Hotspot, we couldn't say no. The boat and accomadation were booked, and seven members went: Andy Best, Dave Vivyan, Shane Browning, Thomas David, Nick Brehaut, Stehpen Mauger and myself. Nick Vining arrived on the Friday evening after the Jet Meet.
We departed on the overnight boat to Portsmouth, which included a 2 hour stop over in Jersey...good job there was a bar on board!
After breakfast on the boat the next morning, we hit the road for a drive up to London. Who would have thought that after only 10 minutes, we were driving through torential snow, in the South of England, in the middle of April? Our journey (through snow nearly the whole time) took us right past Heathrow airport and on to Slough model shop (lots of stuff for sale in there, never seen a shop like it!) then up to Watford, home of heli specialist shop Motors and Rotors. This proved to be most expensive part of the whole weekend, with nearly everyone spending money on new stuff, from Thomas David getting some digital servos for his Synergy 90, to Andy Best buying a new jet! We had a bit of a look around and had a chat to Dave Wiltshere and the Motors and Rotors crew.
Then it was off to Bob Johnston's Skyline Models. As we walked in the door there was a really strong smell of jet fuel...we had just missed him running up the new Nova Cuatro Turbine 3D helicopter, in the shop! We had a look around and some of bought a few bits and pieces, then we left and headed off to Didcot, our home for the night in a Travel Inn. We booked in, found our rooms, went for a drink at the bar, then decided to have a fly with the 3 Graupner Mini Pipers we had with us. Which we did. Then we went back in for a bar meal, which went down very nicely.
Next morning, we headed for RAF Abingdon in Oxford, where the Jet meet was being held. Some of the machinery on display here was unbeleivable! Unfortunately, alot of the photos don'd convey the sheer size or detail on some of these jets. My favourites included Ali (form Als Hobbies) Mig 29 Fulcrum and L-39 Albatross (which was to be entered in the Jet World Masters the same weekend as Sandown), an F18 Hornet, flown by the guys from the model show on sky TV, and an English Electric Lightning, which did not fly, but was bought by Dave Wiltshere. Models of all types were on show, including countless Hotspots / Kangaroos etc, but easily the most popular scale model was the F15, there were loads of them!
Unfortunatley, some models were also lost during the day, one of which was an enormous (12' wingspan) A10 Tankbuster with twin turbines at the back. It was worth £17,000!
We left the airfield at around 4pm, and hit the A roads for the South coast. About half way down (from Oxford) the A road we were on was cosed so we had to take a detour through loads of little windy B roads, and just as this happened, Stephen Maugers GPS System died. Great! More then 3 hours after we set off, we got to Charmouth at about half past seven, to find Nick Vining there waiting for us.
Throughout the early evening, all the other heli fliers started arriving. Dave Wiltshere had told us that he'd booked a chinese meal for us, so once he'd arrived we all set off for our meal which was top notch and not too expensive. After a couple of drinks at the bar we headed off to get a good night's sleep prior to our flying day the following day.The next morning, we headed for breakfast to find Dave Wiltshere , Trevor Skedge and Jason form Motors and Rotors flying their Mini Pipers from the driveway, weaving in and out of the trees. Great Fun!
Once we got to the Charmouth flying site, we checked in or transmitters, then went for a walk around to see what everyine else was flying. Dave Hollins had his HUGE Vario R-22, a very impressive helicopter with a stars-and-stripes colour scheme. He also had with him his new Turbine powered helicopter...a Hughes 500 with a 5 bladed head to boot. Performance was unbelieveable, and the controls appeared very responsive and precise. Dave reckoned that if he had fully symetrical blades instead of the semis he was using, it would easily roll!
Bob Johnston also had a few decent heli's with him including his Robbr Millenium II which put on a good display, and he also put on a very good display with the Turbine Nova, the first Heli to do a full 3D routine. Dave Wiltshere was flying a mixture of X-cell Furys, and the Graupner NH-90 turbine Helicopter. One guy, I think from Revolutin models was flying a hybrid of the Henseleit 3DNT. It was a mark 3 running with some parts from the mark 1 due to a recent crash. Beleive the hype about this machine...when it is well sorted it really does fly incredibly well, even if the canopy is a bit ugly!
Andy Best and myself were the only ones from our group to fly. Andy flew his X-cell Pro 2, which I also had a quick go with,and I also flew my 2 Raptors, 60 then the 30. I thought the Raptor 60 was going pretty well, inverted hovering on the deck and all, until Dave Wiltshere came and flew next to me with his X-cell Fury 60 expert, a completely different model in the air. Now I've flown my Fury 60, I know how big the difference is. As for my raptor 30 V2, I had one of those CSM 200 heading lock budget gyros in them, which I'm now not very find of. I certainly won't be buying another one. I've got a CSM 400 in the Raptor 60 and it works really well, but the 200 just doesn't inspire confidence. And it isn't just because of the helicopter. We have had others behave in a very poor way in another Raptor, a Sceadu and a Logo aswell.
During the Day, our old club member Pat Vaudin arrived to see us all, and he took Thomas off to his flying site for the afternoon.
As the afternoon wore on, and the breeze didn't seem to be dying off, we decided to head off to bit of slope soaring. Got to the cliffs...not a breath of wind. The only glider we managed to get airborne successfully was my Flair Heron, which pootled around over the edge for about 25 minutes. Then we packed up and left.
Once we got back to the cabins, we got changed and went for a drink while we waited for Pat to bring Thomas back, then we went to look for a decent place to have a barmeal. We found one and they did one of the best Steak and Chips ever! A huge T-bone and loads of Chips really went down well. Then we left and went back to the cabnins for the compulsory Charmouth Party. Dave Fisher from Flyin' Fish was the band's singer (if you could call it singing...noi offnce Dave!) and they were belting out numbers by bands like Thin Lizzy and all the old 70's rock'n'roll stuff while we got stuck into the JD and Cokes. 'Nuff said!
On the whole it was a very enjoyable weekend. We had such a great time and we can't wait for the Autumn event in October. Bring it on!
Pictures:
Pictures (page 1).
Pictures (page 2).