TOPIC: Old Warden Sept 2023

After July's complete washout, we were hoping for something better, especially as the weather in the weeks before the event (16/17 Sept) was (and here I quote the BBC forecasts) 'Sunny with light winds'.
Alas, it was not to be. Though the Friday before was a perfect flying day, the weather broke in the evening (and my barograph dropped).
At which point the forecast on my preffered aviation weather site looked like this:



And proved 'spot on' for the Saturday I attended.

Considering the conditions though, we all had some truly memorable flights, if more than our fair share of duff ones. This was due to, (a) the gusty conditions and turbulence coming off the downwind trees and (b) I had foolishly put a 1.8mm bit in my mini drill I used for drilling out my pre CE TSP L-2 170 mN motors. The thrust was therefore about 100 - 110mN and a typical flight pattern was: a nice steady climb out from a vigorous 'heave-ho' followed by a mild stall and shallow dive into the ground.

Andy Blackwell was more circumspect in his drilling out had some lovely flights with a T-38, some reasonable ones (notably after a second launch) with an F-15) and a nice sortie with a Mirage. On the latter flight this dependable delta turned into wind and got caught out by the eddies coming of the hedge. More power especially in this case would have been a good thing! As Andy noted, the power may have been down but the motors seemed to go on forever (25-27 sec by my stopwatch). . At least this meant that there were some rewarding relaunches.

I tried out some old 320mN L-2 motors in my ever reliable Viper and was rewarded with spectacular climbs, loops and Immelman turns. Oh, and Andy had some long retrieves! Thank you Andy.

There were no thrust issues with the TSP L-1 motors and the small F-100 Super Sabre, the VMC Gripen and especially the Lansen all made excellent flights

Howard Metcalfe was using old Rapier L-2s and we saw some excellent flights with his Valiant, Harrier and (especially) Concorde.

Roger Reese has already commented on the day on anothe forum thread (see Roger's Old Waren ) and what hes said there is well worth repeating;

"I went Old Warden yesterday was a meet up with fellow rocketeers. The weather was OK, but too windy for my lighter/smaller models, and only my Ray Malmstrom 'JetStream' fflew anywhere decently.
The good news tho: tThe Yak 23 during a lull in the gusty conditions proved a good flat glide. Promising?".

Yes indeed. As Roj intimates, it was too gusty for de novo trimming and my Macchi M 346, Hawker Hunter and new F-15 all stayed in their boxes. A pity, but so it goes. They will live to fly again!



Above, Andy trimming out the 'Aeromodeller' F-15. His persistance paid off despite my mistake with the motors and some of the F-15's cimb outs on a measly 110mN were a delight to see. I had brought a selection of tried and tested models (bottom right) . But even these, for example the small Gripen, could get 'shot down' when going well. Rocketeering is not for the faint hearted!



Above: the ever ebulient Roger Reese with his lovely Spacejet (another model sensibly kept gronded); me with a trusty T-38; Andy with a large Grippen and Howard Metcalfe with his Harrier.

Howard was well pleased with his harrier, which he says flies ever so much better after being painted. He opines this is a result of a reduction in surface drag. .

Daniel was there on the Sunday which, though windy, was not quite as bad as the forecast. The two photos he has sent so far show a curiously deserted flying field.



I hope to add more comments and photos about this event - John Digby was there with his camera - and I hope Daniel and Howard will report on the conditions on Sunday and any flights they made.

This season has been a bit of a non starter for me and once again I arrived at Old Warden without any models, but did have a camera. Alas only borrowing it from my son the evening before I did not get any decent video footage but did manage to take a few useable images.


Roger gets the Viper away



Roj's Sabre falls foul of the gusty conditions



Rogers SAAB Lansen off on another impressive sortie.

Andy gives the Mirage a hefty launch. Roger adds I really must change the 1.8mm bit in my drill!



Andy again this time getting a Viper away



Finally, a little less oomph required to get the( 'Aeromodeller', March 2021) T-38 Talon away