Issue #11 Fort Bragg, California May, 2005
Strange
weather during the merry month of May. Rain of course because it
is still Spring but the trouble was the sunny days. Beautiful
weather and lots of sun would entice us out to the field but the wind
has been flukey!
Even
arriving at the field by 7:30 AM it is hard to get in a flight or two
before the winds start to blow. A steady breeze isn't all that
big a deal but at our field it keeps changing direction! Every
fifteen minutes we will have had a gust from every point of the
compass!! We try to look on it as just another teaching aid;
helping us refine our flying skills the same way the the tall redwoods
and the dirt pile do but it sure would be nice to have a peaceful day
of flying for a change.
Of course, when the wind is too stiff, we can always mow!
Yet, in spite of it all, we did get in some flying.
Here
Lucas rests on his laurels after successfully flying his RotoPlanes.
The small one is powered with an OS 15 and the large one is powered with an OS 46. When they fly they sound like threshing machines!! Sort of look like 'em too what with the "wing"?? spinning around and round! Watching them is well worth the entry fee!
Here is Ron Cowan's
new Phaeton Bi-Plane he built from a kit. Powered by
a OS 61 FX
Speaking of
Bi-planes, Dick Lucas brought out his big gas powered Liberty Bipe.
Getting it back on the ground on our short field requires an
assistant, in this case Ron Cowan. Ron hits the engine kill
switch when Dick tells him to so the plane has a chance of stopping
before running out of grass strip!! This time it didn't make it
and suffered some damage.
New member Gene Holloway has been bringing out his electric Slow Stick
and electric sail plane. The photo to the right shows his
sailplane flying with a buzzard while, in the lower left photo, Gene
demonstrates his more relaxed approach to this RC modeling madness!
Gene with his glider in the lower right photo.
As some of you know I
own a Ultra Stick 120. Or, at least I did until it got shredded
through the redwood trees.
Dick Lucas and I spent over an hour hunting for the part and pieces. They all easily fit in a gunny sack!! Totaled. Or so I thought. But Dick Lucas kept looking in the sack and finally said he thought we could rebuild it!! I had my doubts but early this May we laid out the pieces on Dick's work bench. Several weeks later it started looking like a plane.
And here it is!! Top side, bottom side, the Ultra Stick flies again. Thank you Dick!!
Note: June 19th. Father's Day Combat at the Fog Buster's field. Not your normal Fog Buster's Combat but a real send up for Weston's High school Graduation! Weston's relatives will be in the area for his graduation and are coming out to the flying field to watch Weston kick butt! It's gonna be a big, big deal!! Be there!
And, of course, June 10 ~ 13, the Northern California Regional Float Fly. The largest in Northern California, located on the beautiful Sacramento River. Hosted by the Redding Area Miniature Aircraft Club and the Northern California Unlimited RC Flyers. Huge raffle. Saturday night Banquet. Free Swap meet. Camping.
Click here for the June Edition