Once upon a time, On a flying site far, far away, a group of model flyers from Guernsey went for a weekend away in Jersey, to participate in the modelling event of the year...The Jersey MAC Battle of Britain Display 2002! Well, first of all, I have to say a great weekend was had by everyone, except maybe the guy who lost his cougar to a pretty quick plane. All of the Guernsey flyers were there to have fun, and we certainly did. From walking through St. Helier on Saturday morning, to wondering if we would even get home on Sunday night (Thomas was particulaly worried, he had lots to homework that he had to do before he had to hand it in on Monday!) We were always having a laugh.
Even though we did not take Simon Lovell with us this year (we had Thomas instead) we all still managed to keep smiling. Saturday Started well. Halfway to Nick's house to pick him up, Shane remembered that he had left his wings on his dining room table. Oops! We got to the harbour Ok after that, then when we arrived in Jersey it was time to get lunch and visit the model shop. After a few minutes browsing, we went to get our food. Mine consisted of 2 Tuna and Salad Baguettes, a fresh cream slice, and 2 cans of soft drink. Charlie called me a pig, but what I had was nothing compared to what someone else later on...
Then we went back to the van to eat our lunch, which is where the first half a dozen or so of our photos come from. The geezer sitting on his own across the road eating is Shane. He felt the van was a bit crowded so went somewhere else to eat in peace. Who can blame him, sat in front of Thomas the whole time we were in the van, he needed the occaisional break. Also, Jess can be seen, doing his "what are you looking at, Punk" pose, and Charlie with his customary roll-up.Then it was off to the flying site. Being a bit windy (about a force 6, gusting 8) a few people were reluctant to fly. I was not one of them. After putting my Raptor 60 through its paces, and taking my newly sprayed X-cell Pro for a spin or 3, I had to try Nick's diamond dust. Then came the first casualty of the weekend. Halfway around the first circuit, at full throttle, the wings started to flutter. Then as I brought it around into wind, it fluttered so badly that it went into a slow left roll, so I lowered the throttle, and a broken prop was the only damage. However, we decided against flying it for the rest of the weekend incase a similar problem happened again.
Whilst all this was going on, Thomas was taking his BMFA 'B' Certificate, which included checking the aircraft was safe to fly (...umm), and that once he had glued it back together, he could fly it competently, and answer general questions about model flying(...umm). But suffice to say, we did learn on Sunday morning that he had passed and that meant he could fly in the display proper. Way to go Thomas.
Then, after some more flying, we all went for a meal. T-Bone Steak and Chips (nice!) went down very well, especially with Nick as he hadn't eaten since midday at Mc Donalds. Then, we all left and went back to our hotels (7 of us were in the same place, but Andy and Julian decided to stay elsewhere) where we went to the bar for a few more beverages. But Nick didnt want drink. He got Shane to take him down into town, where he got 2 take-away bags of chinese ribs. After all, he hadn't eaten for 2 hours (if that). Then we called it a night.
The next morning after breakfast, we went gliding over Bouley Bay, for 90 minutes or so. That was quite good fun, but for me especcially set the tone for the day. Fooling around, Thomas and myself had a mid air collision, though no damage was incurred and both models carried on flying. But that wasn't after even more drama. Early on, when Thomas was going to test fly his Tucano, I launched it and it flew for about 10 seconds, before plumetting to a shelf on the cliff face about 30 feet down from where we were stood, and the drop was STRAIGHT down. Still, Thomas foudn a way around and after about 30 minutes, he was ready t otry it again. (Why bother after something like that?).
Then to the Les Landes to prepare for the display, getting set up, and eating our lunch. The display started at 2:30, begining with a check flight of Andy's hotspot Jet. Unfortunately, a slightly heavy landing rendered it unflyable for the day. Then the show started proper. First, it was Slow planes. Uneventful would be an understatement. Then, sport aircraft...nothing major to report on. Then helicopters. With no less than 5 helis in the air at once, to say the skys were uncrowded would be lying. The real heli fun was not to happen until later on...
Scale next, and the first flight all weekend of my Mustang, yes, the one that got written off there in 2001. This plane suffered again this year, but not till later.
Then I got a break. I took part in all of the first 4 slots of the display, and would be flying again soon after the next one or two, when I took the controls of Shane's Concorde, which I'm pretty sure the crowd loved.
Eventually, one of highlights of the weekend...flying Nick's Club 2000 pylon racer in place of the diamond dust, racing against 3 Weston Magnum's one of which being Pete Rondels with the super tuned OS motor. The other 2 Magnums were already in the air when Nick Launched the Club 2000. Coming around after the first circuit Pete's Magnum was launched skyward, and they climbed together in unison, and rolled over and came down together, and both did a flat out pass downwind over the runway, side by side. An awesome sight and sound. Eventually, a similar thing happened, except I was upwind and Pete was downwind, both in a full throttle dive, and they crossed over right over the center of the runway about 8 feet high, with a closing speed of over 400 mph. All I saw was the plane I was flying, and a bright yellow flash pass right next to it. The commentator likened it to the red arrows. Nice! It just goes to show, that a £35 plane with a £40 Irvine 25 can keep pace with a Weston Magnum with £400 worth of OS and specially made tuned pipe, is pretty good going.
During the second round of helicopters, Pete rondel and myself got a bit of competition going when he started hovering fairly low inverted, so I joined him, and we had 2 helis hovering inverted about 20 feet apart, then he came lower, and then went flying off, but I stayed with it, unitl if I had gone any lower, my blades would have been in the bushes. He realised how low I had gone, so he went one better, with the blades of his venture just inches from the tarmac. I wasn't going to better this so flew off and pushed the airborne limits of my Raptor 60 to the max, bettering anything else seen in forward flight that weekend. I'd call that a draw. Still, don't worry Pete, I'll be back for a re-match next year!
Streamer chop time! Otherwise known as Carnage time! And my second mid-air of the day, after about 3 others first including the guy with the cougar, taken out by a once again rapid Club 2000. Then Paul Reynolds Gangster and my Mustang hit each other. Both surviced the hit, but I was deadstick downwind with nowhere near enough height to turn. Landing Dead stick with no undercarriage, on rough ground on a really windy day...I'll let you work out the rest. Suffice to say, it was not flown again that day, although damage was not as bad as the year before. I didn't have to build a new one this time around. Shane later described this slot as something mad, the likes of which he had nevcer seen before. Thomas was having fun too. Flying his Chilli 'ish' Breeze in every suitable slot, he had never experienced anything like the streamer chop.
The Fun fly slot was next, and my THIRD mid-air of the day. My limbo dancer and about 8 Cougars, all vying for the same bit of sky. Someone was going to come a cropper, and after a few Cougars fell out (Can't remember how), I was in a steady prop hang, and a Cougar Mk1 came up the back of it and his prop munched my wing. Then, as they fell over, still tangled together, mine hit the ground, now weighing twice as much as usual because of the Cougar stuck to the back of it. They were both pretty badly broken, I'm not sure how bad the other one was, but mine was pretty busted. It may well fly again, and if it does, I already have a colour scheme sorted out. Watch this space.
The finale for the day was the Foam Stake chop, which, like many others, was not without incident. Iwas not taking part, my Chilli Breeze being my only only fixed wing aircraft left. So I stood and watched...mainly Nick trying to break his Club 2000. After a few circuits, he was aiming for the stakes, missed and flew into the ground at full chat. One new prop later, and Charlie launched it again, this time with Nick aiming for the stakes straight from the launch...he missed again, striking the tarmac at full chat. A topped up tank of fuel later, and he gave me the transmitter. Now it was my turn. He launched it, and I did a few passes nowhere near the stakes (I didn't want to break it) then, I slowed it up, waited until it was right infront of us, then I wound the throttle open and she went straight through a load stakes about a foot off the ground. After that first hit, stakes got hit every time I came through for about half a dozen goes. Then it was just me and Nick and a Cougar. Nick informed me that Pete was hovering his old cougar in and around the stakes, so I wound the motor up a bit earlier, shot through a bit faster, and missed, not the stakes, the Cougar. Pete had flown into a stake at slow speed, and this caused his motor to stop. And that was it. After a few more passes at the stakes and a victory roll, I brought the Club 2000 in to land (in one piece with an intact prop) with a great smile on my face. And shane had got the whole flight on video. It was also great to have a Guernsey plane being the last in the air for such a great event. Officially it was not the last flight of the day, with Jerseyman Matt Besnard having one last flight with his Kangaroo Jet. And it nearly was its last flight. Even expensive High-tech planes have their moments, to everybodys surprise and horror (especcially Matt's) when he got a flame out. Amazingly he got it on the runway in one piece and after a few tries he got it going on the ground again. And that was the last official flight of the day.
A great weekend was capped off in style with (yep, you guessed it) a meal. But first, we had another problem. We found out that condor was delayed. But not by how much or where it was. Every time we phoned them we got a different answer, so in the end we decided to play it safe and check in at normal time. Then for the meal. Well, I've heard of fast food but this was mental. We went to a chinese restaurant at Quennevais, arriving at 7, you should have seen the restauant managers face when we told him that we had to be at the harbour for 8 o'clock! We sat down and ordered and the food was cooked and eaten, and we left at about 7:45. Not bad going, feeding 11 people a full meal in 45 minutes, they certainly earned their money that night.
It was a good job we left when we did, because the boat was only about 20 minutes late! We got back to Guernsey just after 10 pm (just enough time for Thomas to do his homework when he got home). We had to wait around for Thomas' parents to collect him, where Thomas's dad wondered where we put him when he saw how full the van was.
And that was about it. We were home, tired but in one piece (unlike a few of our models). It was a fantastic weekend, maybe even better than 2001, who knows what 2003 will bring. Big thanks and congratulations must go to the JMAC For putting on a stunning event, and we hope to have another go next year. Cheers Jersey!!!
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