WRCS - December 2007

Warringah Radio Control

Society Incorporated
(Incorporated under the Association Incorporation Act 1984)

Newsletter - December 2007

October Scale Day winners displaying their hard won hardware.

CHRISTMASPARTYCHRISTMASPARTY
The Christmas Party will be held on Saturday, 8th December 2007, entry by ticket only.
MEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGSMEETINGS
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 12th February 2008 at Tennis Cove, Eastern Valley Way, starting at 7.30 pm.

WRCS
CHRISTMAS PARTY
By ticket only!!! at 4 pm
on SATURDAY
8th December

dinner served at 6pm, we are again catered for by McGoo’s Spit Roast
with lots of yummy food.
Adults $22;
Children 5-12 $10;
under 5 - FREE

Raffle - tickets $5 each, Prizes are:
First: Seagull Models Super Star 120-160 size ARF kindly donated by Model Engines (Aust)
Second: Cap 232; 46 size ARF kindly donated by Model Aero Products
Third: OS-46 size two stroke engine kindly donated by Col Taylor Model Supplies

AND Lucky Door Prize:
Tour for one person of RAAF 33 Squadron at the Richmond Base, including an inspection of the 707 (this will be the last one in the fleet by the way), as well as a simulator tour

Contact Warren Lewis at the field most Saturdays or by phone 9972-7181(w) or 9417-0269(h) or send cheque (made out to WRCS) and a stamped self address envelope to:

Warren Lewis
61 Headland Road
Castle Cove NSW 2069

SCALE DAY OCTOBER 2007 Well what a day that was! A beautiful sunny one, hardly any wind, a huge turnout of excellent aircraft but sadly with a few too many dead ones at the end.

Col Simpson conducted the pilot briefing at 10.00 and let everyone know that safety was the most important thing but that officious rules would not interfere with the fun. Every pilot had to have a partner to keep and eye on what was happening in the air space and soon there were a number of aircraft up there. The pilots had provided notes on their plane so Mike Minty on the mike (ummmm is there a pun there somewhere) could keep the large crowd of modellers and non-modellers informed. Here’s a row of pilots enjoying a gossip during the briefing – Grant and Tony stop talking or you will be in detention!
There were four classes, Large and Small Military plus Large and Small Civilian with an extra prize for Best Golden Era and, of course, the annual Cowan Trophy for the best overall model. You can see from this line up that competition was going to be tough and when you look at some others around, like this pretty Bucker Jungman from Mark Connor which he flew in a very scale like smooth aerobatic way.

He was actually a flying advert as he had announced it was for sale (he’s still open to offers).
This Fokker D VII was built from a Flair kit by George Kaley and finished with a free hand painted lozenge scheme - it was going to be difficult for the judges to select the winners from beauties like this.

Here’s Doug Radford with his Avro Avian that he built from a plan having scaled it up from one he had built years ago half the size. It had a muffler system Doug had built for the OS 120 so that the 4 exhaust pipes exited in the scale position.
One of the finest models was this Sopwith Camel that David Foster brought. The cowl in particular was a work of art.
Flying took place all through the day but sadly not always a take off/flight/landing. Simon Press and his gorgeous Lightning twin was one of the first to succumb to terror firmer and took a while to recover from the hill.

Both Doug and Col Mitchell finished in the trees at opposite ends of the field but neither was damaged, David is doing a bit of retrieving here for Col with the mighty pole and succeeded in getting it down without dropping it and causing damage.
There was a squadron of Spitfires of varying scales, David Pounds was the largest at 95” span closely followed by Martin Cowans in more ways than one!
They did a lovely beat up of the field together and some mock dog fighting – well they were on the same side after all. Al Zuger, David Foster & Peter Sharpe were the other Spitters! This one is Al’s.

The day started with a pair of Ju87 Stukas from Grant Furzer and Dennis Grech but only Grant took home a whole one. Here he is, assisted by Dennis about to fly it.

The mighty Mosquito of Graeme Swalwell and Jim Masterton thrilled the crowd with it’s 2 pilots (one on the flight controls, one on flaps and U/C) putting on a fine display and one heart stopping landing!!

Here it is, tail up and about to leave the ground with the help of 2 x 25cc Laser motors.

At the other end of the scale (another pun?) was the diminutive Ford Flivver from Mike Minty which nearly didn’t fly due to a battery problem but that was fixed by Mark Connor with a bit of cycling and charging.
Among a number of biplanes this Super Stearman from Col Simpson stood out and, as ever, he flew it well (including some low inverted passes) until it met Al Zugers Yak coming the other way! David Foster had another one that didn’t.
Tony Vella put on a great display of bipe aerobatics too with an electric powered PT 17 and he also flew a large Cessna Cardinal.
There were a number of Cubs, regular and clipped wing versions by Doug, Peter S, and Peter C and one Dornier Do 27 by Harry Hubmann and Barry Campbell. Vaughn Oosthuizen flew a very smart Curtiss P40
When the judges had finished their evaluations and the points were added up the results showed:

Small Military:

Large Military:

Small Civil:

Large Civil:

1st Vaughan Oosthuizen – Curtiss P40
2nd Dennis Gretch – Ju88
3rd David Pound – Spitfire

1st Grant Furzer – Stuka
2nd David Foster – Camel
3rd George Kaley – Fokker D VII

1st Mike Minty – Flivver
2nd Peter Coles – Tiger Moth
3rd Al Zuger – Ultimate

1st Doug Radford - Avro Avian
2nd Ron Clark - Ryan
3rd Ron Clark - GBY

The Best Golden Era went to Tom Sparkes and his lovely GBY
The Tim Cowan Trophy went very appropriately and deservedly to Martin Cowan and his Spitfire.
Thanks, as always, to the helpers particularly Tom Wolf for slaving over a hot stove and the judges for their impartiality. See you next ear and let’s hope it’s even bigger and better!

Report and pics by Mike Minty

For full size photos why don't you download them if you wish. We thank those who contributed their pics.

WRCS INAUGURAL PATTERN COMPETITION

by Shane Austin

It was 8.00am Saturday morning, all ready for a busy day of pattern flying, then I stepped outside to see a bleak morning of persistent rain and low cloud. Just beautiful spring weather……NOT.
Well everyone started turning up around 8.30 with the optimistic view that the weather would improve, and after about 11.00 am the weather did improve, the rain subsided, and so it was decided that I should go up for a fly and see how it really was.
The cloud base was still quite low, with the aircraft slipping into the mist a few times at the tops of some manoeuvres but otherwise it was OK.
Another 30 mins later and it was decided to give it a go.
First up was David Macfarlane, he started on his first manoeuvre and at the top of it disappeared for about 2 secs in solid cloud before he popped out the bottom, so the flight was discontinued and we waited a bit longer.
The weather had continued to improve so it was decided to send the Sportsman up for a fly.

It proved to be a quite close contest in sportsman, with all competitors flying very good rounds in difficult conditions. The weather continued to improve to allow all other classes to continue.
Masters were next up, followed by our lone Advanced flyer, then completing the day’s flying was the Expert category.

We managed to finish 3 rounds for all pilots, which considering the conditions for the day was quite an achievement.
After some pretty serious thunderstorms throughout the night, the next day started with some heavy rain at about 8am, but cleared to beautiful blue skies, but then the westerly wind moved in (bugger).
Conditions were still flyable, and although it was a bit bumpy below the ridge line, above the ridge line was OK.
Some pretty serious wind corrections were needed to keep the aircraft flying in the right direction, with some doing better than others. All classes struggled at times in winds that were gusting up to 50 kmh (according to the bureau of met terry hills site).
A couple of flameouts by some gave the other competitors an opportunity to advance their rankings. Peter Coles unfortunately had to pull out on Sunday after mechanical problems.
Conditions continued to worsen throughout the day and just before 2pm after everyone had completed 5 rounds the decision was made to call it a day.
The final results were calculated, with a particularly close finish in both sportsman and masters. Ron Clark was the winner in sportsman after flying 5 very consistent rounds (and winning 4/5 rounds) with Val Pinczewski coming a very close 3rd.
The first place getter in Advanced was Felix Nieuwenhuizen. I managed a first place in Expert.
In the Masters category David Macfarlane was the winner.
Over all positions were:

Masters

Expert

Advanced
Sportsman

1st David Macfarlane
2nd Peter Nieuwenhuizen
3rd Bill Garrod
1st Shane Austin
2nd Tom Collinge
1st Felix Nieuwenhuizen
1st Ron Clark
2nd Jason Arnold
3rd Val Pinczewski
4th Peter Coles

Everyone was very happy with how the competition went, and were overwhelmed by the facilities and support that was received over the weekend from Committee and Members. A big thanks go to all those who helped make this event the success that it was, especially those involved in the catering (Brian, Grant, Peter and helpers), who kept everyone well fed and watered. Also big thanks to Grace and Tony Law who organise most of the events and summarise the score sheets. Numbers were a bit down this time for many reasons, but after such a successful comp, I’m sure numbers will be increased for any future comps.
WRCS has decided that if we were allocated this event for the future it wiil be held in September 2008.

NATIONAL AIR RACES
COOTAMUNDRA 2007

	Left: Ron Clark with his AT-6 being assisted by Tom Sparkes Below: Tom Sparkes' Laird Turner being prepared for flight, takin off, in a tight turn to port, and flying in a straight line

A BIT MORE HISTORY & FACTS ABOUT WRCS

by Brian Porman

EXTRACTS FROM SUBMISSION TO LANDS DEPARTMENT VALUER The following partial extracts are from several submissions from the Club to the Valuer General about the valuation of our Permissive Occupancy.
These extracts compliment the November 2007 Newsletter article by Sean Foley, a founding member as well as other recent references to our history.
It is intended for record and to inform new members about our beginnings.
We would appreciate any corrections/additions from older members with pertinent information.

The Quarry:
The initial land improvements and drainage work commenced in the 70’s with the acquisition of the PO.

"The Good Old Days” circa 1982 photograph is exhibited in both sheds, showing in particular the denuded western ridge face. This is several years after the tip was closed and the fill grassed, but before the plantings had taken hold.
A second photograph, “More Memories” shows a view looking east from the south west road entrance. The silt retention dam is just visible in the centre of the photograph beyond the field. It is on a level lower than the field estimated at about 15 plus metres.
A copy of an article from the “Manly Daily”, March 4, 1978, and a photograph, in which it describes the “land restoration project” by the Club was included and we were extolled as saviours of the Narrabeen Lake catchment in our particular area. Look up the Manly Daily web site.
Our original letter outlined the background to our lease and in summary:

The abandoned stone quarry was like a moonscape stripped bare of trees and foliage. Best estimate is that this was about three quarters of our present lease area.
Club members at their own expense and time, in the past 30 years, (lease commenced in 1977) have replanted more than 10 hectares of native plants. We are reliably informed that one of the founder members, Mr Jack Black, a Qantas pilot, and in whose memory the field was dedicated, planted with others over 10,000 plants from harvested seeds. Jack organised bucket brigades for years to nurture these plantings.

The results are obvious [but not so welcome when searching for a downed aircraft!].
Members continue to remove noxious weeds such as Pampas grass and Lantana.
Rock carvings north and south of the lease were discovered by pioneer members of the club.

Early Works:

I interviewed Mr Peter Clarke of Elanora Heights (9913.3531), a current member of the Club, about his recollection of the initial site works.
Peter was a founding member of the Club, he was also a Warringah Shire Councillor from 1974 to 1977.
Peter stated that the Managing Director of Lowes, City, was Club member, Bob Belyea, who searched Lands records in his lunch hours, and discovered an abandoned sandstone and slate quarry site at Belrose.
Peter stated he and Bob investigated the site, sometime in the mid to late 70’s, and on sighting the enormous hole that was the quarry site, he thought “no way would this ever be made suitable for us”. Bob and another founding member, Qantas pilot, Jack Black, (after whom the field is dedicated), thought otherwise.
Peter stated that the centre of the present field was a huge hole which he stated was “about twice the depth of the fill depth that can be seen at the present east end of the field.”
The fill at the east end [as you inspected], is estimated at being in the order of 12 metres. The dam water level would be about another two or so metres fall again.
This would indicate that around the centre of the quarry area, some 36 metres of fill has been deposited to bring about the current level.
There has been some consolidation over time as shown by a noticeable sag in the present day surface.
As Peter recalls there was an urgent need for a landfill for demolition materials in the Shire at this time.
The fill, as Peter remembered, was deposited under conditions set down by the Lands Dept and supervised/policed by club members whereby 2 members were rostered on each of six days a week for “quite some time [years]” to ensure that the tipping was dry, non putrescible.
Peter stated that the locked gate, for which the Club was responsible was some 300/400 metres further east than the present position.
The present position of the locked gate, which is set down in our PO was determined by the Lands Dept because too many dumpers were still using this section of track following closure of the ‘tip’.
The Club as I understand hired Dozers from time to time and was assisted by Council occasionally with Plant to grade out and cover the tipped material. The top soil and grassing was a cost to the Club, but I cannot find any records to indicate what was outlaid.
There was a large, but low and not well built, as I understand, silt dam at the eastern end of the site, which was apparently worked on by contractors paid by the Club to improve the strength and operational effectiveness.
In 1999 the Club further engaged Contractors to raise and strengthen the dam wall and establish a spillway across a rock outcrop at the southern end.
This dam is now listed and recognised as a significant wetlands for the native fauna in the area.
There is also a smaller catch dam constructed on the northern drainage creek prior to and above the main dam with the runoff dropping in to the major silt retention dam.
A longitudinal drainage creek was also constructed on the south boundary.
This proved to not be capable of properly handling runoff from the western hill which overflowed with silt onto the field during reasonable rainfalls.Corrective drainage work and field extension was carried out generally in 2001.
“Soil Services”, a division of the Dept of Land & Water Conversation, were engaged to design and oversight the works so as to minimise sources of silt.
This has been very successful with the water flowing being clear and potable.

Recent drainage/ land works.
From about 1999 to 2002 drainage and field improvements were carried out by both members and contractors. This has resulted in a vastly improved field and drainage complex.
In 1999, a contractor was engaged to raise and strengthen the Dam wall and cut the spillway in a rock outcropping.
Sub soil drains were laid in the central and eastern end of the field . The cover of the April 2000 Newsletter shows a member with a “Big Wheel” of agricultural pipe.
A 650mm diameter concrete pipe line replaced an open drain and berm that was subject of regular silting and flooding in times of normal and extraordinary rainfall. The extension then covered this infrastructure.
The field provides a way station for bush walkers and cyclists and Emergency services have had cause on a dozen or so occasions to land Helicopters to evacuate injured walkers and cyclists.
The field is set up to allow Emergency Services vehicles to take refuge in the event of a conflagration event.
The Club is a member of the local Bush Regeneration group and contributes regularly to the Rural Fire Service.

SO WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR DAD?

Memories by Sean Foley

Chapter one - How it all started As a lead into this narrative I should say that when I asked our Editor if my wartime experiences as a child would be of any interest to our readers he seemed to think that they would, but he hoped that there would be at least some reference to aircraft in there somewhere. It must be remembered that WWII broke out for Britain and the Commonwealth Countries on the 3rd September 1939, 68 years ago and I was only five years old, some of my recollections are a bit sketchy on occasions and some of the events out of sequence I’ve no doubt.
This is something my son found difficult to understand when he was young as I have always been an adult to him. I should first mention how my interest in aircraft began. This was brought about by my father taking me to Hendon Airport, North West London to see the Hendon Air Display in 1938.
I recall walking through grass that was at eye height to me and standing behind a split sapling and wire fence used to keep the spectators away from the aircraft, various planes took off and flew around but it wasn’t until three silver biplanes all tied together at their wing tips with coloured rope started to perform a graceful ballet in the air that my attention really became focused, this was of course the RAF display team doing their stuff.
At about this time my father picked me up and sat me on his shoulder so that I could get a better view, a little later things seemed to go quiet and then this silvery monoplane appeared at very low level, with its engine at full song making a loud growing whistle as it raced across the airfield pulling up into a climbing turn and then into a reverse roll and coming around and back at what seemed an incredible speed to do it all again, in fact it made a number of passes before disappearing out of sight. It had made all the other aircraft look positively pedestrian. From what I could remember of its shape I’m sure I had just seen my first Hawker Hurricane and my interest in aircraft was born.
My first flying model was rubber powered. Some of our more senior members will most likely remember these models, made of a stiffened formed card, coloured silver with a yellow band around the rear fuselage to make it look like a prewar fighter, I think the wings were balsa wood, it had very fine wire undercarriage with small bakelite wheels and generally flew rather poorly as I recall. The other doyen of the skies for kids in those days was a punched out cardboard glider which came with a short stick with an elastic band attached for use as a catapult.
We learned early in the piece that you did not fly these when it was raining or over wet grass other wise you finished up with a handful of soggy paper in your hand, their flying characteristics were little better than the others. My father purchased these at the now unheard of price of 6d (5 cents) for the glider and a whole 1/- (10 cents) for that ground braking rubber job. I think my father’s income was about four pound ten shillings ($9.00) per week, so I didn’t get too many replacements when I broke them.
When WWII broke out the Germans launched their first real Blitzkrieg against Poland, they destroyed much of the Polish Air Force on the ground and although some of those brave souls did make it into the air they were hopelessly outnumbered, but surprisingly, flying obsolete aircraft they did acquit themselves rather well. It was still a bloodbath.
I’m sure you are wondering why I’ve written this side issue, the reason is somewhat personal, a cousin of mine born in Canada had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was sent to England. She was based at a Fighter Station in Norfolk working in Radar control. and met and married one of those Polish pilots that had got away form Poland and joined the RAF. They came to see us a couple of times, but after he had been wounded by German anti aircraft fire on at least two occasions flying over France attacking targets of opportunity (ground attack) he finished up in the North Sea and had to be rescued, after these episodes he began to drink rather heavily and used to have fits of rage for no apparent reason. My cousin had the marriage annulled, they had not had any children. Such are the rewards of war.

A NEW HONOURARY LIFE MEMBER Another of our "Golden Oldies" has decided to cease flying and has disposed of his models (in fact he donated one of his kits to be the raffle prize at the Christmas Party. At the November meeting it was unaninmously resolved to honour Cec Ashley with Honourary Life Membership of WRCS. Cec now joins Alan Place and David Rose as such honourary members.

SPEEDING A senior citizen drove his brand new BMW Z3 convertible out of the car salesroom. Taking off down the motorway, he floored it to 90 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left.
"Amazing!" he thought as he flew down the M40, enjoying pushing the pedal to the metal even more. Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a police car behind him, blue lights flashing and siren blaring.
"I can get away from him - no problem!" thought the elderly nutcase as he floored it to 110mph, then 120, then 130mph. Suddenly, he thought, "What on earth am I doing? I'm too old for this nonsense!" So he pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the police car to catch up with him.
Pulling in behind him, the police officer walked up to the driver's side of the BMW, looked at his watch and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 10 minutes, today is Friday and I'm taking off for the weekend. If you can give me a reason why you were speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go."
The man, looked very seriously at the policeman, and replied, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a policeman. I thought you were bringing her back."
"Have a good day, Sir," said the policeman.

OUR KOOKABURRA This photo was submitted by Patrick Boutonnet of our kookaburra snapped at the field on 4 November.
The variety of native flora and fauna seen regularly at Belrose is a credit to the way in which the field and its surrounds are maintained

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