Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
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A SMASHING DAY AT MIDDLE WALLOP, BY TREVOR HEWSON

(following the terminal crash of Alex’s Albatross)

In case anyone is bewildered as to why, in spite of the demise of his  beautiful Albatross, Alex is still enthusiastic about aerotowing, here’s a few shots to give a feel for the last event:

Not so long ago a 4m, quarter scale glider  would be considered large. Now though, 2/3 and 3/5 scale models are  commonplace. I’ve never looked into the price of these things but,  suffice it to say, a reasonably convincing pilot figure would typically cost more than I’d normally spend on a whole model!

It wasn’t all expensive plastic though. There was a good proportion of  traditionally built vintage types (Chris Williams must get a warm glow  of satisfaction if he counts up how many have been built from his  plans). There were also one or two who tried to do something a bit  different:

Those of you who remember Alex’s RTP  aerotowing exploits from last winter will realise why that last model in particular gave him ideas!!

The standard of flying was generally good but even so, Alex was not alone  in his misfortune. At least five gliders suffered extensive or terminal  damage, two of them on towing incidents. Always sad but, as they say, ”it happens”€�.

Trevor

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