Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
Sloping Off - our newsletter

MALCOLM MACKENDRICK - AN APPRECIATION

The first time I met Malcolm was our first year at Longham when on a breezy day he brought the Drifter to  the lake and to my surprise it flew well: as much to do with his skill as a pilot as any inherent aerodynamic stability. He was an inveterate inventor and adjuster: the Drifter had at least three different sets of floats and he added a reversing speed controller, so that when the wings were taken off it could function as a rescue boat.

His next model was a Twin Star with a “Malcolm” hull and two brushless motors running off one SC - it took a bit of getting going, but once running it worked fine, and the windmilling of the props when the throttle was closed in the air kept the motors in sync. Then there was the Skimmer, a ground-effect experiment that flew for a few seconds, and a tiny Icon that I only saw fly once.

Later in 2011 we had our first planned event at Strawberry Field. Malcolm arrived with a selection of superbly built and flown vintage era models including a FIVE wing quintiplane of (needless to say) his own design. And it flew!

Malcolm was such a cheerful and optimistic guy and a flying session was always enlivened by his arrival with a cart full of models and his wicked banter. He died a few weeks ago from a massive heart attack, and we extend our sympathy to his family and to his friends in the Wimborne Club. We will miss him.

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