St Albans Open Vintage Day, 6th June 2009

VINTAGE DAY 6 JUNE 2009

The advanced party on the Thursday had a perfect summer evening on which to erect the marquee (by trial and error), check Colin's barbecue (good as ever) and even do s little flying. However, by Saturday morning the weather gods had changed their minds. We were greeted at 0900 by drizzle, which got steadily heavier, but various optimists and pundits said it would clear up by 1200, and sure enough it did:

By that time we had decided to abandon the ”Precision" competition, largely because of the difficulty of marking the target circle in the rain, but a fair number of flyers had registered, so the Tomboy and Tomboy Senior could go ahead. I always feel that these gatherings are as much about flying your own Vintage models and admiring everybody else's as about competing (funny, isn't it, that other people's models always look so much better than your own!).

By the time the Three B’s (Burgers, Bangers and Bubbly) had been dealt with the weather had settled to a fine afternoon with a bit of breeze, enough to allow big models such as the Falcon and Majestic Major to hover directly over the field into wind on part throttle. Not so good, though, for the Tomboys, who had to work hard to avoid being carried off downwind.

A total of 17 registered to fly, made up of 15 visitors and 5 StAlbansMAC members, including Bill Mills with his faithful Flying Quaker and Jonathan Lewzey's nice little Mamselle. I hope next year to see Mike Barton’s 9 foot 1956 Willis Monoplane in the air again, as Bill Roe is now restoring it to flying condition.

Flying ended, as usual, with the Tomboy and Tomboy Senior fly-offs, five models in 36" and six in Senior. These mass launches are always worth watching, and then there is the delightful spectacle of a row of (mostly) elderly gentlemen gazing upwards, some being propped up by their timekeepers, and all wishing their eyesight was better!

David Boddington was heard to say "I'm flying the third floater from the right"! To no avail, sadly, as his Tomboy disappeared downwind and has never been seen again.

Finally, thank you from me and from all the flyers (who came from as far afield as Surrey, Dorset, Leicester and Kings Lynn) to Gerald, Colin and all the helpers both before and on the day, who make this event possible.

RESULTS

TOMBOY 36”

1          Tony Tomlin     7:06

2          Stephen Powell 6:45

3          John Strutt       5:45

TOMBOY SENIOR

1          Tony Tomlin     15:27

2          John Strutt       12:44

3          Stephen Powell 12:22

ST ALBANS CHALLENGE CUP

John Towell      Majestic Major, Laser 70 Diesel.

MICHAEL BARTON TROPHY

Leon Davies     Black Magic.