Sunday 28th July 2024 saw the first official BMFA ‘Flying Only’ scale competition held at the Wimborne Model Aero Club’s fantastic Cashmoor site. This was an event postponed from earlier in the year due to strong Northerly winds being forecast, although the wind did set some challenges for flyers at this re arranged event also, swinging to almost 90 deg to the main runway directions (luckily south) during the day and becoming quite strong as the day progressed. However, despite some initial concerns about entry numbers due to clashes with other local club Fly Ins and the Old Warden Scale Day, a creditable (for first ever proper comp) entry of 8 competitors materialised, including two entries from the Wimborne club in the form of Kevin Ross and the club Chairman Peter Willis, both of whom were competing in a BMFA formal scale comp for the first time. The rest of the field was made up of seasoned scale competitors, including Nigel Nixon who was due to depart the following morning to Romania for the Scale World Championships, along with Brian Seymour who is the Scale Tech Committee World Championship Team Manager.
Quite a number of club members came along to watch, talk to the competitors about their lovely models and some even flew during the lunch break. The entry levels allowed for the flying of three rounds, and after the usual pilot briefing, flying commenced at 10:30. Unfortunately, Richard Crapp had drawn the first flying slot and during the first round he lost control of his well campaigned Stampe during a roll and the model was destroyed during the subsequent ground impact, the thud alone indicated the extent of the destruction! This model had already been repaired twice before and the damage this time looked pretty terminal but several people helped in the recovery of all the parts, so who knows this model may yet re emerge either in whole or in part to fly again!
Kevin Ross flew his lovely Chipmunk early in the round also but unfortunately shortly after his flight he got called away due to his wife being taken unwell, so he could not compete in subsequent rounds. The rest of the competitors put in some creditable flying despite the slightly choppy conditions, with Nigel Nixon demonstrating to all how to fly well and consistently over the rest of the competition with his lovely Tucano, which even had it’s own ground sunshade to protect covering/finish from the usual ravages/heat of the Sun.
Unfortunately, Al Foot damaged his beautiful SE5a during his second round landing when he caught a wingtip in a strong cross wind and knocked out the engine and some of the delicate scale detail so he could not fly in the third round. Peter Willis also had an engine failure just after takeoff in the third round so had to scrub that round.
The final results were:
1st Nigel Nixen – Tucano
2nd Brian Seymour – Macci 202
3rd Dave Knott – Sea Fury
At the end of the day WMAC were thanked for hosting the event and all said that the venue and hospitality were first class and they would like to see the event become an annual fixture.
Brian Seymour subsequently dropped David Tappin an email with the following comments:
"Please pass on my gratitude to Wimborne MAC for hosting the BMFA Scale Contest yesterday.
Despite my flying buddy, Richard, suffering a total loss of his Stampe in the first round we had a cracking day and hope that Wimborne MAC will host another event next year. We found the flying site to be excellent as well as the BBQ, add to that, your fellow club members are great company. It was great to see club regulars flying in the breaks and the Lancaster fly was a truly awesome sight both on the ground and in the air"
May I just say a big thank you to all those who helped and supported this event, which for our first attempt went extremely well.
Competition Video Highlights
