This was the first time the LMA had held a public flying show at the North Lincs Model Flying Club near Winterton. What a treat we were in for. The weather was great and the hospitality extended to everyone second to none. It was such a success that next year’s show is already being planned.

This report was written by Tony Hooper with pictures provided, but not taken by Tony.

Here is Tony and his wife, Emily, preparing the F15 for his next flight.

For the first time in many years the LMA Committee decided to hold a show over the Easter weekend by courtesy of the North Lincs Model Flying Club. It would be impossible to give this club too much praise for the excellent facilities that they laid on for this show which included amongst others an excellent site for flying and camping, a very good sized marquee for the models, a wonderful free lunch every day in a hospitality tent for pilots and helpers and so many other things too numerous to mention. I am afraid that the rest of our shows will have a lot to live up to in terms of the facilities provided. And all this on the first occasion they have ever run a public show. It was so helpful that we had excellent weather – albeit a change a wind direction every day to keep us “on our toes” but it was mostly very light so presented no problems even to the lightly loaded WWI models.

With some 50 modellers present Glenn Masters and John Evans did an excellent job of devising a schedule that kept the crowd entertained over the whole of the 3 days and this was no mean feat as there were some who could only be present for a part of the weekend. We were grateful to all the fliers who showed a great sense of “flexibility” as far as arranging the flying slots were concerned.

On Friday members were encouraged to undertake proficiency tests, carry out over 20kg test flying, and as a new innovation have a go at some “buddy box” flying with some of the larger under 20kg models. Our thanks go to John Greenfield who provided his Beech 18, Neil Whitfield with the Titan, and Steve Holland with the Giles. We had excellent feedback from those who participated. All this activity kept the air busy and provided a very informal start to the weekend.

Most impressive in the over 20 kg test flight flying was the Tigercat of Glenn Masters and Roger Bales’s Short Calcutta. Glenn was able to do 3 test flights over the weekend so we shall soon be seeing it in public at the shows. John Greenfield also gave a good performance with his new Me262. The test flying is progressing well and we should soon see it flying at public events.

Poor Roger chopped his fingers pretty badly in the Calcutta’s prop and had to be whisked to hospital for treatment but in true tradition he was back next day flying his Vickers Vimy. Fortunately, Steve was the Inspector for the Calcutta and was also a named pilot so Roger watched pensively as Steve gave it its first airing. Roger’s pleasure in seeing it fly for the first time was a joy we all shared after his unfortunate accident. There were one or two other incidents (none of any serious nature) which demonstrated the value of having a show this early in the season to allow members to “brush away the cobwebs” on themselves and the models!!

Roger Bale’s Calcutta.

It was good to see Ali Machinchy flying at the show – he joined the LMA recently and is a very welcome addition to our bevy of top UK pilots. He and Steve Holland used this event to practice a synchronized aerobatic routine and whilst they seemed a little disappointed with their standard the crowd were enthralled by their performance and the rest of us thought it was pretty damn good as well!! Ali also flew some of his jets and in the evening was seen to be carrying out prop hanging with his electric model. Well they say practice makes perfect.

Other highlights of the show included John Deacon’s Liberator, Dave and Andy Johnson flying their B17’s, John Greenfield’s Wellington, Tony Hooper’s Islander , and Colin Hammond’s DC3, all of which featured in a Grand Finale at the end of each day which resulted in some 20 engines in the air at once.

We must also thank all those other modellers who are too many to mention without whom there would not be a show that gives a proper balance and full representation of what the LMA is all about . To name but a few these included Doug Rigby with his Stampe, Mike Standing with his Cub, Paul Savage and Dave Arkwright with their PT17’s, Simon Steggals who flew his Bell 47 Helicopter and Focke Wolf 190 , and Dick Whittington with his Cub.

This was the first show for our new Trade Stand managers Derek Whitfield and his son Neil. Ably assisted by Mrs Whitfield they did an excellent job all weekend dealing with the many enquiries about our activities. This event was a really good start to the new season after the disappointing weather at Wroughton and all of you who stayed at home thinking that the Easter weather would defeat us – well everyone at Winterton had the last laugh.