History

PSS began in the mid 1970's, when a group of modellers at Moel Famau in North Wales were buzzed by a full sized DC-3 Dakota, flying low level in the valley below.  This sight inspired members of the Clwyd Soaring Association to try and convert traditionally powered models into slope soarers, and soon after the first models were flying successfully off the slope!

The adjacent picture of the Red Arrows Gnat is the earliest photographic record of PSS attained by the author.  It was taken by Alan Hulme in the Summer of 1979, and shows an unknown modeller launching the model into the sea breeze off Morte Point near Woolacombe in North Devon.

The Clwyd Soaring Association were the first club to run a dedicated PSS event, taking place in October 1983.  The competition was a huge success, with modellers travelling from all over the U.K. to attend the nationally advertised event.

The first competition winner was Mick Galvin, who is seen here proudly displaying his winning Aermacchi MB-339 in Italian Air Force colours.  The model was built by Mick from an original design by Grahame Algar and was constructed entirely of foam.

The success of this event led to similar events at Clwyd each year, with the number of modellers and models increasing all the time.  As interest grew, other clubs organised PSS meetings.  The picture below  shows the line up of models at the second PSS event, again at Clwyd in 1984.

In 1986 the Power Scale Soaring Association, or PSSA was formed by Alan Hulme as an Association to unite PSS modellers on a worldwide basis through the media of a quarterly magazine.  These publications gave news on forthcoming PSS fly-ins world wide and reported on recently held events.  They also enabled members to submit ideas and articles on the design and construction of models, as well as allowing them to show off their new creations!

Today, the magazines have been replaced by our website and the Associations chat forum, enabling us to be far more versatile - delivering more information to our members, faster.  The PSSA is an internationally recognised Association, with well over 300 members in countries as far as Australia, Barbados, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Japan and the USA.

2026 sees us celebrate the 40th Anniversary of our Associations formation back in 1986 and we will recognise this important milestone with a series of additional events throughout the season.

To see articles and journals about our history, you can follow links to Magazines, Designer Techniques, and Builders Articles, most of which were written in the early days of PSS before the ages of the Internet when our quarterly published paper journals were de rigeur!