The Great Orme gets our 40th Anniversary season under way!
The opening event of our 2026 ‘40th Anniversary’ season has taken place upon the Great Orme 18/19th April – albeit in a slightly curtailed manner with high pressure bringing very calm conditions on the Sunday. Thankfully, Saturday produced some memorable flying on both the SW and NW slopes and in sunny skies with flying taking place from 09:00 right up until 17:30. Attendance, as so often happens following the long winter break, was strong with over 35 pilots taking part over the 2 days.
I arrived on-site before 08:30 to find John Hey and Andy Meade already parked up and rigging in the car park. As forecast the day commenced with South Westerly winds which I measured at 30mph+, perfect conditions to say the least – but these winds were due to reduce in strength and move round to the North West before lunch, so I was keen to get going to enjoy some flying on the most preferred slope.
Some of the earliest flying (well before the pilots brief at 10:30am) included Andy Meade with his large Fouga Magister, Paul Jubb with an impressive new F-18 (EDF conversion) and myself with the Hawker Hurricane. The early morning lift was as good as ever on a true SW vector and it was a shame when, as forecast, the wind direction began to creep more and more to the right hand side, the lift became ‘mushy’ and it eventually becoming clear we needed to relocate. From late morning the lower North West slope was used to good effect, and thankfully the windspeed remained above 20mph for the vast majority of the day, allowing almost all types of PSS models to be flown. There were a number of highlights and new models on display worthy of mention.
Jez Billington had brought a new Bede BD-5, built mainly from veneered white foam and finished in the classic ‘Octopussy’ James Bond scheme, which at 60” span flew superbly on a number of occasions throughout the day. Jez also had with him a superb looking F-86 Sabre, slightly bigger in scale than the G&M Models Mass Build design and with a fibreglass fuselage. Jez explained he bought the model second hand from a frustrated jet flyer who’d had enough of the troublesome undercarriage. It was in fact one of the classic Bob Violett Models BVM F-86 Sabres which Jez has converted and renovated to a very high standard for slope use! Jez elected not to test fly the Sabre from the NW slope which isn’t as forgiving for maiden flights, so we didn’t get to see this fantastic model grace the skies just yet.
Chris Barlow brought a number of models out for the day but the one which really stood out for me was a tiny Avro Vulcan, spanning no more than 21” (just bigger than 1:72 scale) 3-D printed from the ‘Plane Print’ files available online. The shape of the model was perfect, true scale to my eye – but the flying performance of this peanut scale 2 channel Vulcan was staggering considering its tiny size! It flew very well from the off following a little trimming required for a slight tail heavy balance point. Weighing just 190g – Chris explained there is room inside to move the little NiMH Rx battery forward to correct the balance before the next flight. The model demonstrated some very refined flying characteristics considering the relatively high winds, and I look forward to seeing Chris fly this model again with his refined CoG and in calmer conditions.
Andy Meade enjoyed a lengthy flight with the big Messerschmitt Me-262 built from the Airworld kit, which looked superb as always in flight, especially so when viewed here with the bright April sunlight on our backs. John Hey added to the Luftwaffe attendance with his Heinkel He-162 Salamander, built from the Neil McHardy plans and flown now for a couple of seasons. Steve Kemp enjoyed a couple of flights with his superb new Hawker Sea Fury (see title image), finished in a well weathered Royal Navy scheme. Phil Cooke flew his Jet Provost 150 and Simon Cocker enjoyed a lengthy mission with his large Lockheed U2 in NASA colours. Typically, the NW slope doesn’t cater too well for landing larger models like these, and pilots often gain some height and walk back up to the top of the Orme to perform a scale-like circuit and landing back into wind and along the path nearer the car park.
G&M models proved once again that ‘size isn’t everything’ with the successful test flight of their very latest 1:32 scale model – this one in the shape of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Spanning just 44” and with an AUW of just over 2lb the mini-BUFF utilises 3D prints for the scale nose and tail sections and engine nacelles which integrate perfectly with the rest of the built up airframe. Listening to Gordon and Martin during the flying, I think there are still a few small refinements needed to optimise the models performance, despite a great demonstration in good lift on Saturday. Like the previous model release, the Lockheed U-2, I think this might be another popular little PSS model within the community.
Also evident was an ever growing population of G&M model WW2 bombers on show, with an impressive collection of Avro Lancasters and Handley Page Halifax bombers proving the popularity of these smaller models, the Lancaster of course having been released as a free pull-out plan in RCM&E magazine. Many of these models were successfully flown in the good conditions too, including Peter Garsden’s new Halifax in RAF Coastal Command colours.
At around 2pm we pulled everyone away from the slope and staged the all important group photo. Im determined to get one of these for each day of our events in 2026, to fully capture our activities in our 40th season.
Later on, as a few pilots started to de-rig and head back to their B&Bs, a group of us let our hair down with some high octane ‘follow the leader’ type flying this time with a wide range of WW2 types. A PSS Hurricane, Spitfire, Mustang and the Salamander were all in the mix. With the wind slightly more Westerly than North West our left to right passes were slightly downwind accelerated allowing some hugely ‘charged’ low passes in quick succession before the procession of models climbed safely away to regroup high and left to start another cycle. Great fun flying like this once the formalities are over!
On Saturday evening 16 of us met up at The Queens Head in Glanwydden for a lovely social meal and a few drinks allowing stories and highlights from the day to be recovered.
Waking up for breakfast in the B&B, Sunday dawned very still, just as per the forecast. With the clear blue skies the Orme looked so inviting in the sun when viewed from Llandudno town, but the light NNW winds would only see us play with thermal soarers and DLGs from the NW slope, and sadly no PSS flying was achieved throughout the day. Thank goodness the Saturday had proven so fruitful, enabling us to claim a successful (albeit shortened) start to the season!
A huge thanks to everyone who travelled and took an active part in making this event a success!
More photos from this event can be viewed HERE.