MAAA Wingspan

32 WING SPAN AUGUST RCAS arranged interclub competitions at Nowra and I represented the club in thermal glider the year we won. I became interested in old timers and joined SAM 1788, there is more to this than most folk realize as there are lots of classes and homework must be done. What model, what size, what class and where to you get an old motor. We flew all over the place, Canowindra, Blaney, Goulburn, Newcastle, Wangaratta, Albury and Cootamundra. David Owen and Gordon Burford often attended as they worked on a remake of Gordon’s original 5cc diesel. Attended and flew in the Nationals at Nowra in 2000, aeromodelling heaven. http://www.wrcs.org.au/newsite/ On the way to the field was the Ku Ring Gai Control Line Club at the St Ives showground and I often called in to catch the action. I heard that Bob Palmer, who designed the beautiful and iconic “Thunderbird”, was visiting from the USA and as I had built one, converted to radio, called to meet him. Much to my surprise Brian Horrocks was in town for his visit. A common Sydney holiday was the beautiful drive up the east coast to Queensland, there are many suitable sites along the way for slope soaring, so I always carried one. Coolum was a popular destination as several pals had retired there and the field was spectacular, flew there many times. Chris Callow, pylon world champ, and his father were members at the time. I retired in 2001 and moved back to Adelaide, joined CMFC, the local SAM chapter and later Willunga. As a member of the South Australia Old Timers Association (SAOTA) I attended many competitions locally and in Ballarat, Swan Hill, Cohuna and the Nationals in Loxton. I currently serve as secretary for this group. I had an interest in Golden Era racing so that was the start of heavy involvement up to the 20th anniversary race. I finished up building quite a few models, Turner Special, Hughes H1, Marcoux Bromberg, Midget Mustang and a P38 lightning. Flew in two races the best result being a third place in Radial. Better pilots than me now used my aircraft for many wins. I served on the committee of CMFC as contest director and vice president in what was a very busy time, overseeing the new watering system and toilet. As the club was short of instructors, I did the course at Holdfast. Lots of interesting students but Frank “Tweek” Weeks was memorable, he was returning to the hobby. The first flight on the buddy box he got bored after 3 circuits and flipped the Boomerang inverted and flew through the sun. “It’s yours!” he hoped, that was one boomerang that didn’t come back. My long-time interest in gliders saw me building a Flair KA8 and with help from Bob McEwin as the tug pilot did some aero towing, followed by trips to Lameroo and Deep Creek. Two trips to “Oily Hand” in Cowra with Don Howie was a revelation, literally hundreds of diesel-powered C/L, free flight and radio models. I regularly attended the MASA meetings as a delegate for Willunga and later as publicity officer. I also undertook the CFS course for issuing turbine permits. We got a lot done at the time with the RFDS day at Strathalbyn and other successful projects. Sure, had some fun in the sun.