WRAM - JACK BLACK.

In the days of our monthly newsletter I wrote about 30 mini stories of  warringah radio aero modelers.  Some were short others not.  From time to time other members may like to add to the WRAM folder. 

Jack Black can be the first to be on the Web site format. 

Who is Jack Black ?    

You should have noticed the bronze plaque, titled “The Jack Black Field”, erected in the parking area at the beginning of the unload turning circle. 

Jack’s peer members erected this plaque in recognition of his efforts, with others, in establishing the current Belrose site. 

Jack was the instigator of obtaining a permissive occupancy for the site, in 1977, from the Department of Lands, and the driving force for the development of the field.  

Jack was a Swiss Air pilot, who was a pioneer in and regarded as the father of electric flying in Australia.  Jack was the first to import “Cover-rite” film covering and “Multiplex” gear amongst a lot of firsts.  He was also credited with obtaining  for Australian aero modelers the 36MHZ band. 

Jack was renowned for forbidding any flying until the native plants and grass had been watered.  Jack collected seeds only from the local bush for regeneration of the bare and barren abandoned quarry site.  He spent endless time when not at work, co opting members in regenerating the area, which presented bare slopes to the west and south and looked like a bomb site. 

The original field only extended to a line about in line with the Container sheds, up until 2001.  The story of the extension is for another day ! 

Brian Porman

Part 3 of Mike's scooter build story is in the "members articles" section. Click HERE to go there.

Ed

WRCS Ramblings by C. Ovgee

Very hard to fly a tail weighty aircraft! Neil Waterhouse did extremely well to get his new bum-heavy Extra back to base on the maiden. Now it’s balanced & trimmed, flies like a bird.

Great to see Alan Sammons back on the flight line. Hopefully Al & lovely wife Hine will be able to get permanent residency and then the big S. African can relax & enjoy his flying.

It can even happen to an instructor. Take-off with reverse ailerons. The aircraft got as far as the end of the field before gravity won & it dissolved into matchwood.

At WRCS we are blessed with great thermals as well as good wave lift. This is a boon for the glider brigade who are often seen sitting in the red chairs staring skywards searching for lift. Talking about red chairs PLEASE stack them back in the shed before you go home so that they are not left out wet & dripping for others.

I know I bang on about it but there are still a thoughtless few who continuously leave litter at the field. If you see a careless member, tap them on the shoulder & tell them we ain’t your mother so take it home.

It was a sickening sight. Seeing Ron Clark’s 140" four engine Lancaster spin in over the ridge. Three years of scratch building. After only three flights - model destroyed. As I write Ron has looked over the wreck and reckons he can do a re-build. I will keep you posted.

David Menzies, Peter Wyss, Steve McMahon and Michael Krzanowski

had a wonderful weekend at Lake Keepit recently. Thermals were everywhere and the four glider enthusiasts flew from morning to night enjoying the buoyant conditions.

Every Saturday around noon we light the wood BBQ and cook our lunch. All are welcome so don’t forget to bring a snag or steak and enjoy a meal after a mornings flying.

One of the most frequent flyers at WRCS is George Kaley. George, who travels from Mosman & is an excellent builder, just loves his flying and is seen most days at the field with a variety of aircraft from gliders to electric to Scale.

Don’t forget to pre-register for OS Day at Belrose on Saturday 27^th July. It will be a BIG BIG day so get your nomination in early.

Where do we stop regarding size? I remember not long ago a 60 size aircraft drew a few “Wows”. Nowadays, anything less than 100” is considered to be a plaything. When you hear stories of modelers building bigger models than the original (in the UK one modeler made a Tiger Moth 1.1 size…bigger than the original!!) it starts to make you think. At a recent event your scribe spied a monster 156” Decathlon as well as a 148” carbon Cub.

Around eight WRCS members made it a weekend at Maitland for the annual COMSOA fly-in. Great weather and some wonderful flying. The only casualty was Doug Radford who damaged his Tiger Moth in the backwoods when the ASP 180 four stroke went AWOL. Another drama was when Kel Steinman twisted his new hip & had to be ambulanced to Maitland hospital for it to be put back into place.

I know it’s a long way away but put this in your diary. HMAS at Vineyard are holding a fly-in on the October long weekend. All are welcome on the Saturday (inc. Bronze Wings) for a fly. On Sunday there will be selected flying as well as Polair & other entertainment.

Our biggest enemy at WRCS is noise. A few model airfields have been shut down due to excessive noise upsetting neighbors. We must be vigilant at ALL TIMES and try and reduce noise either by better muffling or re-propping. Electrics too can be ear piercing & these ships too need to be looked at & muted.

Attempted Humour

Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a small town, west of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland)

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin' on the station - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody horses to get in, no calves to feed, no troughs to clean - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks or goanna stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the bullock paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody dingo's arse and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of p...!! You don't even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster.

Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter,

Sussan

Dead Crows Study and Findings.

A recent study has found over 200 dead crows near Ceduna South Australia and there was concern that they may have died from the Avian Flu virus.

A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and he confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu, to everyone's relief.

However, he was also able to determine that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with large trucks, and only 2% were killed by car impact.

The State hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine the disproportionate percentages for the large truck versus car kills.

The Ornithological Behaviorist determined the cause in short order.

When crows eat road kill, they always set up another crow as a lookout in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger.

His conclusion was that the lookout crow could say "Cah" but it could not say "Truck".

A FIREMAN came home from work one day and told his wife, 'You know, we have a wonderful system at the fire station: BELL 1 rings and we all put on our jackets, BELL 2 rings and we all slide down the pole, BELL 3 rings and we're on the fire truck ready to go.

'From now on when I say BELL 1

I want you to strip naked.

When I say BELL 2

I want you to jump in bed.

And when I say BELL 3

We are going to make love all night.

The next night he came home from work and yelled

'BELL 1!' The wife promptly took all her clothes off.

When he yelled 'BELL 2!' the wife jumped into bed.

When he yelled 'BELL 3!' they began making love.

After a few minutes the wife yelled 'BELL 4!'

'What the hell is BELL 4?' asked the husband?
.

.

.

.

.

‘BELL 4 means your hose is not long enough;
‘AND YOU'RE NOWHERE NEAR THE FIRE!'

A Golfer and his Caddy

# 10 -- Golfer: "Think I'm going to drown myself in the lake.
Caddy: "Think you can keep your head down that long?"

# 9 -- Golfer: "I'd move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course.
"Caddy: "Try heaven, you've already moved most of the earth."

# 8 -- Golfer: "Do you think my game is improving?"
Caddy: "Yes sir, you miss the ball much closer now."

# 7 -- Golfer: "Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?"
Caddy: "Eventually."

# 6 -- Golfer: "You've got to be the worst caddy in the world."
Caddy: "I don't think so sir. That would be too much of a coincidence."

# 5 -- Golfer: "Please stop checking your watch all the time. It's too much of a distraction."
Caddy: "It's not a watch - it's a compass."

# 4 -- Golfer: "How do you like my game?"
Caddy: "Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf."

# 3 -- Golfer: "Do you think it's a sin to play on Sunday?"
Caddy: "The way you play, sir, it's a sin on any day."

# 2 -- Golfer: "This is the worst course I've ever played on."
Caddy: "This isn't the golf course. We left that an hour ago."

And the #1 Best Caddy Comment.....
# 1 -- Golfer: "That can't be my ball, it's too old."
Caddy: "It's been a long time since we teed off, sir."

Sadly, Ron's Lancaster came to grief on Friday 10th May when it span in after an aborted landing. Reasons unknown, but possibly contributed to by the outer port engine not running correctly in the climb out. 

It looks like she's beyond repair, which is a terrible shame given the 3 plus years that Ron had been working on her. The photos below, taken before the crash, give you some idea how beautiful she was. It took 4 people to safely hold her back whilst Ron ran up the engines and, although the paint job wasn't finished, she looked and sounded spectacular, on the ground and in the air.