A total of 12 PSSA members met on the Saturday morning at the pre-arranged car park outside Abersoch.  This allowed the exchange of greetings and an early viewing of new models in the boots of peoples cars, before the convoy made its way up to the agreed flying site, Cilan Head.

Unfortunately, the increase in altitude at the site had brought with it a thick sea mist (fog?) - on a positive side the wind was blowing square SSW onto the slope (varying between 12-20mph) which would allow those brave enough to fly to at least have a go.

And that they did...before most had even rigged their models, Andy Conway had launched his Boulton Paul P.111A off into the murk, its overall gloss yellow finish helping to some degree with the poor visibility.

Andy Blackburn flew his lovely MiG 15, modified from the Neil McHardy plan, and Alan Hulme got airborne too, enjoying a lengthy flight with his own design NA P-51B Mustang.  Simon Cocker flew another Mustang, this time the large, all silver EPP version from Durable Aircraft Models.  Flying continued on and off all morning, the fog lingering, with the odd shower which sadly, turned heavy at times. 

Following the worst of the weather around lunchtime, the showers died off a little, allowing further flying to continue - although the mist was still problematic. Andy Conway flew his Panavia Tornado F.3, on this occasion with the fixed wing design.  This model performed very well in the strong lift, even when during one flight his canopy became detached and fell safely back on top of the slope. (Lucky the weather was so poor and he wasn't soaring out over the sea on patrol!)

Steve Griffiths' N.A. P-51D Mustang

Later in the afternoon we were joined by Stuart Stevenson, who brought his modified Flair Hawker Hunter F.1.  Stuart has changed the wing incidence on this design and has tailored the flight characteristics very nicely.  Andy Blackburn flew his MiG 15 in formation with the Hunter at times and this made great viewing for those not flying at the time.

 

Panavia Tornado F.3 by Andy Conway

With everyone having flown the skies were temporarily cleared for what was for some, the highlight of the first day - a superb demonstration flight by Simon Cocker with his camouflaged 108" span Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. With the slope to himself and the abundance of lift still rolling in off the sea, this large model was flown in a manner that would have Boeing's designers quaking! The model gains so much energy when the nose is dropped and Simon has the choice of converting this back to height or burning it off through a series of large, jet style rolls and loops!

The weather on Sunday morning was not much better - the wind had moved round to SW and had reduced a little in strength, unfortunately the mist was still present and a constant drizzle greeted us upon our arrival at the slope.

We had been joined by Steve Buckley, who brought his Flair BAC Lightning F.3 and a modified Andy Conway BAe Hawk design, which he later flew well in and out of the mist.  Terry Lidstone had also made the trip up North, and arrived with an EPP N.A. P-51 Mustang, an EPP Aermacchi 339, his delightful Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX from the Balsacraft kit and a Metcalfe Boeing F-15 Eagle.  All of these models were flown in between the showers, although conditions were far from ideal.

 

Ron Collins scrambled his own design N.A. F-86 Sabre to combat the aerial threat imposed by Andy Blackburn's MiG 15, and again these models flew in formation of sorts which looked most convincing. Phil Cooke and Simon Cocker also flew formation with the ex-Paul Janssen's Macchi-202 and Dewoitine 520, at times these models disappeared briefly in the mist which was forever changing in density. Alan Hulme flew his lovely DH88 Comet racer briefly before over-control on landing caused some minor damage.  This was only the models second flight and it certainly showed a lot of potential. Andy Conway flew his P.111A and Steve Griffiths and Mike Briggs also both flew again before the weather turned for the worse and the drizzle turned to rain.  It was agreed by 3pm(ish) to call it quits and the event was brought to a close.

Vortex Models EPP NA P-51D Mustang by Terry Lidstone

The weekends results were as follows;

Best Static Prop : Mike Briggs / Shorts Tucano T1

Best Static Jet : Phil Cooke / Boeing CF-18 Hornet

Best Flown Prop : Phil Cooke / Macchi-202

Best Flown Jet : Andy Blackburn / MiG 15

The Northern Area PSSA Trophy for the best model flown by a PSSA member was shared this time between Simon Cocker, with his B-52 flight on the Saturday and Phil Cooke with the Macchi-202.

The weekend event was considered an overwhelming success by all who attended and participated - thanks must go out to Don Brown and all at the Lleyn M.A.C. who helped the event run so smoothly. With the event now having run twice, we hope to firmly establish this meet as an annual event and the dates for the Abersoch 2002 PSS Fly-In will be available soon. Hopefully the weather will be on our side in 2002!!!

Phil Cooke with his static winning Boeing CF-18 Hornet

<Back>