7th July 2002. One of the biggest dates in the 2002 calendar of the Guernsey Model Club. The club had been approached early in the year about doing a display as aprt of a family day at Delancy Park. We agreed to do it, provided we could get approval from various forms of authority. We got the approval, and the display went ahead. The day started with Fog, low cloud, and rain. Lots of rain. By 1pm however, the skies were blue and the wind calm. It was looking good. People had started arriving with their aircraft for the static display, as weel as the few of us who were going to fly. Other people doing things at the event were going about their business, as were we. By 2pm, we had what must have been the biggest collection of GMC aircraft ever put on display for the public. Our first flying slot was due to begin at 3pm, so we just went around looking at everything else there was to see. Then at 3pm, we got the call to start up our first aircraft in 10 minutes. The first aircraft to fly would be my Raptor 60. I started by doing a hovering display, including nose in and pirouettes, then shot off into a full aerobatic display. Then I realised just how small the area is. I had to turn it around almost before it was moving! I settled into a few loops and rolls, then did a spot of inverted hovering, then finished my display with an auto-rotation to a greaser of a touchdown. That really set the tone for our afternoon. Other airborne displays included Mick Wilkinson with his GPH 346 Helicopter, Andy Best with his Cargo Toffee Bomber (the kids favourite), pico jet and twinjet, and Julian with his Pico jet. Simon also entertained with his bungee efforts. A really big hit with the crowd was the sound of Andy's Hotspot Jet being run up so people could experience the sound and power of a model jet turbine aircraft. I finished off our flying displays in the evening with a prophanging display using my Limbo Dancer, whi during a feat of courage/bravery/stupidity, I walked up to it, let go of the transmitter with one hand, and grabbed the hovering plane. I think captured the spirit of our afternoon. Being serious about it but having loads of fun in the process. I certainly had lots of fun, as I'm sure a few thousand members of the public did! I would like to thank, on behalf of our club, the members of the Kings Church who organised the event, from the free Tea's and coffee's to all the entertainment put on during the afternoon.It really was a great effort. I hope they do another event like this, and invite us along as we thouroughly enjoyed it.
Now, you can click on the links below to see some pictures of the aircraft we had on display, both static and flying:
Pictures Page 1.
Pictures Page 2.
Pictures Page 3.