Sunday 28 April 2013

27th of April 2013

On arrival at the farm yesterday conditions looked good, but unfortunately before too long we had a swirling, gusting crosswind which didn't let up all day & made landings quite interesting for some!

Curtis brought out his Mustang but the long grass would not let him get away & eventually after a few nose-overs one of the retracts gave way & that was the end of flying for "Hurry Home Honey" for the day...


Nearly got away!


Birthday boy Paul had more success with "Glamorous Glen", but it was not the day for large warbirds with that unpredictable wind.





Not to be put off, Barry brought out a very nice electric Albatross D.V.a which looked great & flew well!






Luckily for Curtis he had a plan B for the day & his Super Skybolt performed without fault.





Next up was the return of the Trojan which flew much, much better, but a dead-stick combined with the conditions led to a heavy landing which ripped out one of the retracts. Very fixable but disappointing when everything was going so well!







The wind didn't seem to worry the "Glider Brothers" Barry & Bill.




Michael's definitely found his mojo again & had a good day thrashing the Katana!





I had a good day out with the MXS-R - makes a nice change to have no homework to do!





"Jet Master" Dennis had a great flight but the wind made landing very tricky!






Great to catch up with Terry for a chat - as owner of the turf farm we are very lucky that he generously allows us to set up camp on his land every weekend!


Graeme had a good time with his foam Pitts until it made very hard contact with the ground whilst clearly trying to dive-bomb Dennis' Falcon!



All in all not a bad day even if the flying wasn't the best!





I almost forgot to mention that Curtis had a plan C as well!




For something completely different we finished the day off with a couple of beers.

See you next week.

Cheers, Rob

Sunday 21 April 2013

20th of April 2013 - Biplane (Triplane) Day

Another glorious day at the turf farm with plenty of sunshine & minimal wind......it doesn't get much better than this!

I'm still not entirely happy with the camera settings but here goes anyway......





Today was dedicated to biplanes/triplanes of all shapes & sizes. First to fly was Paul's Tiger Moth.







James' Mini Beast was hard to capture in a photo!


Ian with his Extra


Bill's Falcon



Anthony with his PT-17


Graeme preparing his awesome Fokker Triplane



Introducing Anthony's T-28 Trojan






Lots of aircraft ready to go!






Ian's Extra looking good!



Michael's Katana just in frame!






Prepping the Trojan 




Biplane/triplane mania! (I know the Pete 'n Poke is not a biplane but people seemed to want it in the photo anyway).









Getting them all started & in the air!
















There was lots of jet action on the day too, but man they're hard to keep in frame!






 
So, did the Trojan fly?

Yes, but it lost the nose wheel strut in flight which lead to a bumpy landing that damaged the prop, muffler & cowl. All very fixable & she should fly again next weekend.





Late in the day Graeme's Extra shredded a leading edge in flight which did not end well!





Late in the day beers were drunk & stories were told...next week we get to do it all again..

See you then.

Cheers, Rob