I guess it all started
back in ’78 whilst watching a full size aerobatic competition at Old
Warden. In those distant days, grace & precision was the attraction
and, to some extent, remains an important part of the desire to fly an
aircraft without any limitations to flight performance.
FAI Competition aeros in those days, for
models at least, consisted of single figures flown about a central
point, but within the ‘box’. It was not until ’84 that common sense
motivated the FAI into providing continuous, (Aresti based)
programmes, more in keeping with full size practice. Although many
pilots were a little apprehensive with this new format, my
‘attachment’ to full size gave me renewed enthusiasm. Even in those
far off days I could visualise freestyle, albeit a more basic form, as
the way forward.
In the first year of the new ‘Turnaround’
schedules I managed to acquire my highest UK Nationals Championship
position of 2-nd place, using not the best equipment available,
(passion is a pilot’s best friend!) But it was not until ’87 that the
most prestigious achievement in UK model flying was at last mine, that
of UK National Champion, labelled ‘the premier event’ by the modelling
press of the day. The model I used was ‘Akro Special’ designed
specifically for the new F3A schedules. It was developed over a
three-year period incorporating many features gleaned from various
full size aerobatic aircraft that I’d studied up to that time.
In ’86, ’87 & ’88 I formed part
of the UK F3A
Aerobatic team, competing in Holland, France, Sweden & the USA. As a
Team we managed to acquire a Bronze medal at the Euro Champs in both
France (‘86), and Sweden (‘88).
In 1990 I found myself taking a break from
the rigors of competition flying. Some of this time was spent
developing another new aerobatic design, Loaded Dice. The second
‘series’ of this prototype, Loaded Dice II, was seen on the F3A
circuit in ’91, attracting comments such as ‘too scale’ & ‘not
appropriate for the task’. I placed second at the UK Nationals that
year. In ’92 I once more regained the title of National Champ. I
retained that title for a further two years using improved examples of
Loaded Dice before retiring from F3A competition at the end of ’94.
The reasons for that retirement were various, but one of the major
reasons, and one that motivated my desire to change aerobatics;
tedious, unimaginative schedules. Not only were the schedules boring
in my view, but also the modelling public were beginning to show a
genuine disinterest in the once ‘premier discipline’. For me it had
become inevitable that Change must occur, very soon!
It became increasingly obvious that I alone
could not change the ways of those who continued to believe that F3A
was fine, and in ’96 I realised that the people who best knew how
aerobatics should appear were the majority of modellers who attended
the shows. The feedback I obtained following my displays at these
shows left me in no doubt what shape future aerobatics should take.
Several years of show flying passed & more than two decades since I
was first inspired by those full size aeros, I once again found myself
at Old Warden. This time I was not watching aerobatics, but flying
them for spectators who were as eager to see a new style of flying
then, as was I all those years ago. Graham Ashby, (RCM&E Editor), was
there to take notes of the latest Loaded Dice III, (the only 2 metre
model to be available as a plan at that time), in readiness for a long
awaited plan publication. Presumably as a result of the
‘acceptability’ of my style of flying Graham proved very receptive to
my proposition for a new event, ‘Freestyle Aerobatics’. The race was
on to get some kind of event ready for the following 2000 season, a
very appropriate year in which to begin a new type of
aerobatics.
The present objective is clear: to
reinstate Aerobatics as the ‘premier discipline’.
Previous Competitions
To get a taste of the previous competitions we have listed below PDF
files that you can download, these are articles from issues of RCM&E.
Permission to publish these articles was given to us by RCM+E,
as such we would ask that any copies downloaded are used for your own
private use. We ask that these files are not published on any other
Website or publication without prior consent from RCM&E.
Please
click on the icon go to the Adobe website to download a copy of adobe
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