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Steve
Griffiths' FJ-4 Fury commences another strafing run at
Sheffield
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Having organised an event I always feel
somehow responsible for the weather on the day and anxiously
check the forecasts from the Met Office, the BBC and the
local Peak forecasters. The forecast had changed over
the two days prior to the event and I emailed Steve
Griffiths the very latest from the Peak District site which
showed quite strong southerly winds and a chance of showers.
It was with some relief that I turned up at Callow Bank
about 9am on Sunday morning 22nd May to find a fairly good
South Westerly and decided to test out the West slope with
my Banana mouldie (before Steve Griffiths arrived!)
The sky was only partially cloudy, the sun was out and there
was excellent visibility. The Chairman of the club,
John Penton also turned up with a similar thought and we
pronounced the event 'Open' as we were both able to find
plenty of lift around the slope.
Phil Cooke was the first visitor to
arrive and soon had his excellent EPP Lockheed T-33
in the air, but it was clear the conditions would be
changeable during the day as he occasionally struggled for
lift and took out some of the huge battery packs that he was
using for ballast.
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As the morning
wore on the threatened showers didn't appear but the
lift was intermittent as the wind seemed to shift
more to the South. Martin Middleton was easily
able to fly his Lockheed U2 however, with its
clean lines and high aspect ratio wings, but
others struggled in the changing conditions.
Simon Cocker
flew his much travelled and very convincing
Boeing B-52 - a brave decision in the conditions
- and I was very impressed with Steve Griffiths'
NA Fury, beautifully finished in light grey and
flown superbly (title image).
He also flew his excellent little P-51D Mustang,
(right) the plan of
which is soon to be available from a National
magazine. |
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Mike Briggs' Hawk 200 flew well
but I was very reluctant to test fly my new T-45 Goshawk
from the same Conway/Griffiths/Briggs plans, resulting in
much prodding and banter. I was finally badgered into
it, by the usual suspects, as Simon Cocker picked it up and
walked purposefully towards the slope edge.
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Peter Hitchborne's T-45 captured on its maiden
flight (Mike Briggs photo) |
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I hate first flights with all moving
tailplanes, it seems that no amount of checking the
incidence helps. The advice I'd been given by the
expert (Steve Griffiths) was 'Give it about an eighth of an
inch of up elevator, keep your finger on the trim lever and
hope for the best!' This proved to be timely advice
as, immediately after launch, I needed all the up trim
available and a bit more besides! Luckily the ailerons
needed only a tiny amount of trim so I was able to
concentrate on pitch corrections and the flight was
shortened only by the lack of lift resulting in a slope side
landing with no damage. Back to the drawing board with
the CofG position, requiring a lighter battery and the loss
of some forward weight! |
By midday the wind appeared to have
shifted over to the South as the smoke from the Blue Circle
cement works chimney four miles away could be seen trailing
to the right of the slope and Martin Middleton tested both
slopes with his resilient EPP Me-163 Komet.
This model, imported I believe from the states is striking
in the air, being red with Black and white insignia and
flies remarkably well considering the dumpy shaped fuselage
and delta wing. The lift was pronounced to be on the
South slope and the whole caravan of models, Tx cases and
haversacks full of lunch and cameras were carried the couple
of hundred yards to the (much) steeper but shorter slope.
Immediately on arrival there was a
question whether we had made the right choice but the lift
proved to be reasonable if not brilliant. The stars of
the show were the two T-33s of Phil Cooke and Simon Cocker
flying in formation, close to the slope giving everyone with
a camera a whale of a time.
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Martin Middleton prepares to launch his B-24
Liberator |
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Model flew very well at Sheffield |
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Colin Troise of the local club test flew
his unfinished Cambrian Spitfire only to find there
was insufficient aileron movement. I launched the
model for him and as the flight started I was glad he had
exonerated me from blame should it crash as the lack of
control resulted in a wild flight as Colin fought to keep
wayward model in the air in poor lift. Eventually a
smiling Colin returned to the pits after a safe landing and
I was very relieved that there was no damage.
Alan Hulme suffered similar problems with
his FW152 - discovering later that only one of his
ailerons was working. The south slope is somewhat
unlucky for Alan, I remember catching my breath as he
launched his Dewoitine on a previous visit to the slope and
watching it struggle for lift, eventually landing out below.
The same fate awaited Simon Timperley of the local club who
brought to the slope the smallest RC model glider I had ever
seen and watched as it plummeted a couple of hundred feet to
the valley bottom. It was so tiny in fact that he had
to be shepherded to its resting spot by whistles and hand
movements from the top of the slope, unable himself to see
the model in the deep bracken.
As the afternoon progressed rain could be
seen approaching on the horizon but my prediction that it
would pass us by proved to be false in the extreme as we
were drowned in rain and hail at about 3:15pm. After
20 minutes of drying out in the car and a warming coffee the
skies once again cleared but a resulting very light wind
signalled the end of the days PSS flying.
The next meeting at Sheffield is Sunday
June 26th which being so close to midsummer should provide
good weather and with any luck a strong westerly!
Being close to the longest day let's hope we fly so much we
have to change batteries! The September event will be
an informal competition, to add a little spice to the day,
so practice those victory rolls and Immelmans!!
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