WRCS - August 2007

Warringah Radio Control

Society Incorporated
(Incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act 1984)

Newsletter - August 2007

Ron Clark with his C M Pro Extra 330L, it has 1980mm wing span, weighs 7.4kg and is powered by DZY 48cc twin cylinder petrol engine

MEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGS
The next meeting will be the TRASH AND TREASURE NIGHT to be held on Tuesday, 14th August 2007 at Tennis Cove, Eastern Valley Way, starting at 7.30 pm. The next meeting after that will be on Tuesday, 11th September 2007

AGM 2007

This year's AGM was held at Tennis Cove on 27th June, there was a great turnout of members and those who renewed received their new keys to the field. The locks have now been changed.
From now on, all Frequency Keys will now need to display the flying status of the pilot, these stickers were also handed out.

There are many new faces and/or positions held on the Committee, the following officebearers were elected:

President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer/Registrar:
Committee:

Colin Simpson
Warren Lewis
Brian Porman
Ron Clark
Grant Furzer
Paul Mandl
David Pound

It was brought to the attention of the Members that the total membership of the Club declined during the year but we hope to reverse that trend this coming year.
Kerry Smith (the retiring President) thanked the Field Maintenance Team, the Competition Organisers and Caterers; the Christmas Party organisers and the Newsletter Editor for their tireless work over the past year. We wish the new Committee a successful year.

WHO'S WHO AT WRCS Unfortunately not every member of the Club is able to attend the General Meetings, these pics may help you identify the current office-bearers of WRCS next time you are at the field:

Colin Simpson
President

Warren Lewis
Vice-President

Brian Porman
Secretary

Ron Clark
Treasurer/Registrar

... and the Committee (l-r)

Grant Furzer

Paul Mandl

David Pound

GARIGAL CUP
23 SEPTEMBER 2007

Round 2 of the Garigal Cup is scheduled to be held on 23 September, members who hold Gold Wing status are invited to participate in this competition with fixed wing aircraft, performing the Gold Wings programme.
To encourage more open competition the placegetters from Round 1 will be handicapped 15%-10%-5% of their aggregate score.
There will again be valuable prizes to all placegetters Shane Austin is the Competition Director

HINT (from the Archives)
WING BAGS It's cheap and easy to protect your wings from hangar/travel rash using plastic bubble wrap.
Use an electric soldering iron to weld the edges together, it is easier if the flat side of the material is on the inside of the bag.
Clamp the surfaces together five or ten millimetres back from the edge, and slowly run the hot iron along the edge, melting the exposed material.
You don't need anything elaborate for the clamps, use two metal rulers held down to the bench by finger pressure, with the surplus overhanging the edge of the bench.

HELICOPTER DAY
Sunday 19 August 2007

Beginner / Intermediate / Expert
Each pilot picks 5 tricks, the 3dmasters k values are used to do the scoring - anyone can do any manoeuver - but the percentage will be worked out comparing if an expert or intermediate or beginner does the flying etc. It is similar format to 3ddu (3d downunder) and the 3dmasters which is held in the UK.

Flying is for all standards.
THIS IS A FUN EVENT WITH SAFETY PARAMOUNT

Competition Director - Andrew Moss

BIPLANE DAY CANCELLED Originally scheduled to take place on 17 June and then postponed to 24 June, Biplane Day had to be cancelled due to the prevailing wet weather and the drenched condition of the field.
Biplane Day is the only event that takes place on a Saturday because biplanes fit in nicely with general flying conditions and the field does not have to be closed to the members (as we have to do with other competition days), Tom Sparkes (the event co-ordinator) with Dean Riebolge and Peter Papas (the joint competition directors) will try to hold this event later in the year if it can be fitted into the calendar, please keep an eye on the announcements on the Webpage.

NEW CFI'S APPOINTED Your Committee has decided to make a different approach to continue to maintain the very high standards that this Club has set and tries to achieve. To do this, it was decided that it was best to appoint 2 CFI's, one for fixed wing flyers and one for the heli guys and these appointments were announced at the July meeting
We welcome back David Menzies who has agreed to accept the position of CFI for fixed wing models and we also welcome Shane Austin who has now been appointed as CFI for helicopters.
As we know, the position of CFI in any discipline involves very much work, involvement and commitment and we thank George Atkinson, Chris Hebbard and Dean Schuback who have until recently carried on this thankless task.

OLD AVIATION CLICHE
"Good judgement comes from experience,
and experience comes from bad judgement"

HINT #3 - by Blackfingernail Never interchange Futaba servo arms with Hitec servos, the sprockets are different

FROM THE ARCHIVES This pic was found in the RCAS (now MAS) Newsletter from August 1997:

"Warringah Interclub 1997 winning team being presented with their trophies by RCAS President, Mike Close"

Pictured with Mike Close (pictured second from left) are Colin Simpson, Mike Minty, Peter Williams and Stan Begg (pictured left to right).
Incidentally, Mike Close has since joined WRCS and is a regular at our monthly meetings
WRCS very actively and regularly competed in the Interclub Competitions, winning it on three occasions within 4 years (the competition was not held that other year)., and we competed very successfully in all disciplines.
Many of the competitors are still WRCS members and attend regularly at Belrose, including Kevin Einstein who's successes with his helicopter helped in winning.
Unfortunately the competition has ceased.

FROM THE WORKSHOP Vaughan Oosterhuizen brought to the field a very distinguished looking Spitfire, quite recognisable from its colour and markings as the famous "Black Spit” flown by Ezer Weisman of the Israel Air Force during that country's War of Independence in 1948. The "Black Spit" was the first Spitfire assembled in Israel after partition, it was made from spare parts found at various airfields abandoned by the British on their departure. Weisman retired from the IAF in 1969 with the rank of major-general and was elected as the seventh President of the State of Israel in 1992 (he died 2005).

The model has a 46" wingspan, 36.5" fuselage and weighs 1.2kg AUW. It is powered and operated by an eflite opower 25 BL Outrunner with Flightpower 3200mah 11.1v lipo and 4 mini servos. On its maiden unfortunately the aileron throw was too low and straight after the launch the plane veered left and plowed into the ground. Not much damage was done but for now Vaughan wishes to keep the model for display only.

FLYING STATUS STICKERS Following the unanimous decision of Members made at a recent General Meeting, identification of the flying status of pilots on their Frequency Key has now been implemented and it applies to all pilots regardless of whether they fly fixed or ratary wings.
The sticker identifies whether the pilot utilising the frequency has Bronze Wing, Gold Wing or Instructor status.
The appropriate coloured sticker is to be applied to your Frequency Key, which should be cleaned to remove oil etc and then scuffed with fine sandpaper before the sticker is applied.
Please allow at least 24 hours for the glue on the back of the sticker to fully set before using your Frequency Key.
Even if you use many frquencies with your various models, all Frequency Keys must display one of these stickers.
The stickers were first made available to the Members at the AGM, but if you need more stickers please contact Ron Clark

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

After 25 years of continuous involvement at the Committee level of WRCS and holding just about every position on the Committee during those years, Chris Hebbard has finally called it quits and has decided to just enjoy his flying.
Chris' involvement and input will be missed but we have total confidence in the Committee which still has on it many members experienced with the issues affecting WRCS on a day-to-day basis.
It goes without saying that the Club owes a great debt of gratitude to Chris for all those years of dedicated service - THANKS CHRIS!!

"FAITH IN AUSTRALIA" In 1929 the original Australian National Airways took delivery of five Avro 10 airliners built by A.V.Roe in England (there were 14 built altogether and 7 of those were bought by Australian firms).
ANA's five Avro's were named "Southern ......", the last being the "Southern Moon" and registered VH-UMI and flew until 1932 until the depression forced the airline into liquidation and the airliner was put into mothballs in a hangar at Mascot Airport in Sydney.
When Charles Ulm (a Director of the old ANA) made a bid for the Singapore-Australia mail contract in 1932, he purchased the plane from the liquidators and at great cost transformed the plane into a long-range aircraft, increasing the wing span and installing fuel tanks in the wing, extra bracing and giving the fuselage a thorough face lift, all passenger seats and furnishings on the plane were removed..
In place of the old Lynx engines three new Wright Whirlwind J-6 engines were installed, and the plane was christened with her famous name "Faith in Australia" and registered as VH-UXX.
So Ulm (with "G.U."Scotty" Allen as co-pilot and P.G.Taylor as navigator) set off attempting a record time flight round the world flying east to west but the flight to England was beset by all kins of trouble with the engines and the fuel pump and failed to set a record.
Repairs were carried out in England and with an additional crew member taken on (Edwards) flew to Ireland ready for the Atlantic crossing when, at Portmarnock Beach the starboard undercarriage collapsed and the wing cracked when the right wing tip hit the ground. The plane was too heavy to move and as the tide moved in the palne became partly submerged and the waves virtually destroyed the plane.
The plane was dismantled and shipped back to England where, with financial support from Lord Wakefield the plane was rebuilt, including a new fuselage now including passenger windows along the full length of the fuselage.
Edwards resigned, and the intrepid trio abandoned the world flight and set out for a record flight back to Australia. On October 12 1933 they left England and flying day and night in long stages arrived in Australia in the then phenomenal record time of 6 days, 17 hours and 56 minutes, a record that only lasted for 1 year when it was shattered by the Comet during the MacRobertson Race.

Refuelling at New Plymouth, New Zealand, in 1933. The colour scheme was silver overall with an orange upper wing and fuselage spine

The original purpose of the flight was the mail tender but Ulm failed to win the bid, so Ulm tried the cross-Tasman and Pacific passenger and mail market which required some modifications to the internal fittings of the plane. A mail run to New Guinea was also completed in July 1934 but after Ulm's death the "Faith" was not used until May 1935 when it was chartered and resurrected by Kingsford-Smith intending to fly it in formation with "Southern Cross" for the Jubilee Air Mail Tasman flight, but lack of mail and freight caused the flight to be cancelled so the "Faith" was dumped back in the hangar where it remained (except when used by Eastern Air Transport for joy-rides and aerial advertising) until bought by Kingsford-Smith Aviation Service in 1938.
In 1941 it was sold to a firm in New Guinea, was given a first class refit and modifications. Just as the work was being completed WWII broke out in the Pacific area and the "Faith" was painted matt olive green and had RAAF stripes in the fin and carried Australian soldiers and civilians from Wau to Port Moresby under the noses of the Japanese Air Force, until February 1942 she did an evacuation trip and after setting down in Townsville was refused permission to return to New Guinea.

By 1944, no longer considered airworthy and there being insufficient spare parts, the by now derelict plane was taken off the register in September 1944 and burned in 1945.

FUNNY ... UNLESS YOU WERE ON BOARD
Pilot locked out of cockpit in flight It was reported that on 26 August 2006 the pilot of a regional jet airliner (operated by Air Canada's Jazz subsidiary and capable of carrying 50 people) went to the washroom during a flight but then found himself locked out of the cockpit
The incident occurred aboard a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg and the crew were forced to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in..
With 30 minutes of the flight to go, the pilot apparently went to the washroom leaving the first officer in charge, but when he tried to get back into the cockpit the door would not open.
The investigations revealed that the airline claimed that the door malfunctioned, which is a very rare occurrence, but the crew's decision to remove the door had been in line with company policy.
What must have been a frightening experience, for about 10 minutes passengers described seeing the pilot bang on the door and communicating with the cockpit though an internal telephone, but being unable to open the door.
Nevertheless the airline claimed that at no time had the plane or passengers been in danger.

HINT #4 - by Blackfingernail Clear the model memory before using it on a new plane otherwise your old programmed mixes that are set may inadvertantly cause your new model's flying surfaces to do things you don't intend

DAVEY CROCKET and BANDIT MATE When the morning weather news says "it's 4 degrees at Belrose" they mean in the Gerries shed!!
Brian Porman resorted to his old Crocket hat to help keep in some heat being lost from the bald pate while Ron Clark looks like he has just pulled a Bank job, but there was no way the hands appeared until 10.30am!

By then it was 14 degrees as Ron's hands are out of the pockets and ready to rumble with his beautiful Extra (as featured on the cover), seen here BEFORE its maiden flight. Ron defied the superstition of bad luck to take a photo before the flight which was superb and required no trim changes with the plane knife edging west to east with little effort.

After the AGM, I came to realise that even with my number of memorable crashes I do not yet register on the scale of "kilo-crashes requiring replacement of the model", ie. using 1,000 as the base number, anything less than 50 does not register (... you had to be there to appreciate that one).

Team combat is just around the corner! Two teams (headed by Mark Rickard - "The Vikings" and by Peter Papas - "The Spartans") have already challenged each other to team duelling using specially built lightweight models with .15 to .25 engines, Mike Reynell is looking into developing a stock model for the purpose. More details will be announced when known.

After the furore when a helicopter came second in the first Garigal Cup, the rules have been changed to limit the competition to fixed wing aircraft only, the choice of aircraft used remains the pilot's. The second round of the Cup is being organised and many members are already "in training", To encourage closer competition, the previous placegetters will be given appropriate handicaps. Shane Austin has agreed to be CD for the event scheduled for September 23.

Warren Lewis, who has kindly agreed to be the Christmas Party co-ordinator, has indicated that the cost ($22 per adult) will remain the same this year and that the organising of raffle prizes, activities for the young and not-so-young have started in earnest, tickets are now available and raffle tickets will be available shortly.

The "Special Category" for Scale Day has been announced to be "Golden Era", meaning any aircraft with a racing heritage that was designed and flown prior to 1939. Time to start readying your models, the event is in October!!

FOR SALE
WRCS Polo Shirts
Great quality shirts are available for all members to purchase

$40 each
All sizes available.
All enquiries to David Foster at the field or by phone 9948 1790

NOT A NEW PROBLEM This was found in a 1998 issue of the Newsletter:

In case you are wondering, yes, your Editor has resorted to reprinting old stuff because of lack of participation by the Members.

The article in last month's Mag about the "Shredded Plane" reminded us about an article in this Club's Newsletter in about 1997 about another (rather famous) runaway plane incident.
By the way, the story of the "Shredded Plane" was investigated by "The Mythbusters" team and the episode is often shown on TV (Discovery Channel).
Anyway, here is a reprint of the story of that other famous runaway:

HOW TO SHOOT DOWN AN ERRANT AUSTER

Auster

The story of the pilotless plane that flew over Sydney in 1955 begins with Anthony Thrower, then aged 30, who had rented an Auster aircraft from Kingsford Smith Aviation Flying School at Bankstown and was practising landings. Thrower had completed only one circuit of his planned one hour flying on 30 August, when his engine suddenly failed only 10 feet above the ground.
Thrower landed his aircraft in the middle of the strip, climbed out, swung the propeller by hand (there was no self-starter) and the engine immediately roared back into life. The brakes failed to hold and although the startled pilot grabbed a wing strut in an attempt to check the aircraft, he was forced to jump clear, narrowly avoiding the tail as it whipped past.

The pilotless plane, aided by a favourable south east wind and well trimmed controls, sped across the strip and became airborne. Narrowly missing the control tower, which was then hastily evacuated, as well as other aircraft buildings, the Auster slowly circled the aerodrome at low altitude. After continuing right hand circuits of Bankstown for 15 minutes, the trainer steadily gained height and then began drifting with the aid of a now westerly wind, towards the main centre of Sydney.
Bankstown aviation officials immediately alerted control tower personnel at Mascot, who broadcast a general alarm to all aircraft in the vicinity as well as to police and other government emergency organisations. Meanwhile the police station at Bourke Street maintained broadcasts at one minute intervals of the plane's last known whereabouts.
The unmanned aircraft continued to gain height, passing over the outer Sydney suburbs of Punchbowl, Bexley, Hurstville, Rockdale, Mascot, Alexandria and Redfern before finally arriving over the centre of the City about 0930 hours.
By 0953 hours the Auster was over the harbourside suburb of Vaucluse at 5000 feet.

Wirraway

An Air Force Wirraway departed the Richmond RAAF Base at 1010 to join the chase. Wing Commander Beattie was at the controls and Squadron Leader Janes in the rear. The target was contacted ten minutes later nearly three miles offshore and now at 7000 feet. The Air Force pursuers received instructions not to open fire until their quarry was at least five miles offshore and then to ensure that there were no fishing or coastal vessels below.
The Auster continued climbing in a tight orbit to more than 10,000 feet and eventually reached a position estimated at five miles from the coast. Two firing passes were made at the pilotless plane with a hand-held Bren gun from the rear cockpit, but without any noticeable effect. It should be noted here that before departing the Wirraway’s rear canopy and fairing had been removed. As a consequence, Squadron Leader Janes was suffering severely from the altitude and cold, his aircraft thermometer reading minus five degrees Celsius. Not only were his hands freezing onto the gun but he was unablke to load a fresh magazine.

A RAAF Meteor jet swooped onto the scene from Williamtown, near Newcastle, and was directed to the target by the Wirraway, which then broke off its attack and returned to Richmond.

Luck was not with the Air Force that day. Firstly their Meteor, piloted by Squadron Leader Holdsworth, had been delayed some 13 minutes on departure when a Sabre jet preceding its take-off had burst a tyre on landing and obstructed the runway. Then, in the jet’s initial firing pass, both cannons jammed after only a few rounds had been fired. Some strikes, however, had been observed on the Auster’s starboard wing. Despite this it flew merrily on.
Squadron Leader Holdsworth now requested that two more Meteors be sent and the reply was … they’re on their way as well as two propeller-driven Sea Furies from the Navy at Nowra. The race was on – Navy or RAAF to win the day.
Meanwhile, the Meteor, while awaiting the results of the bi-service race to the target, made four frustrated passes directly below the Auster and pulled up sharply in an attempt to dislodge it from its flight path and into a dive. However, the jet wash was not effective and the runaway continued miraculously on in the same determined fashion.

Meteor

Sea Furies piloted by Lieutenants Bluett and McNay arrived from 805 Squadron (Nowra) at 1135.
McNay lowered his flaps to slow down and approached to within a hundred yards of the target to again confirm it was unoccupied. Then, pulling up astern he gave it a short burst from his four cannons.
Lt.Bluett followed with a beam-on attack and after about 15 rounds a great sheet of flame burst from the Auster’s cockpit. From the first strikes on the runaway by the Furies until it plunged vertically and hit the waves was only one and a half minutes.

Peter Connor's painting of the Sea Fury pursuing the Auster.

OLD-TIMER'S ADVICE: "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible", so wrote Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society in 1895.
If you don't want to prove him right, check that your control surfaces are moving fully, freely and in the correct direction BEFORE flying.

- Alan Place (reprint from old Mag)

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