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SEBMFA SCALE DAY 2009

Keith Miller reports on the scale event at the Bickley club field held on 2 Aug

The day before this event the annual MIMLOCT Cloud Tramp mass launch on Epsom Downs had been carried out in dismal rainy conditions, so it was a pleasant surprise to arrive at the Bickley MFC field the next morning to find that Summer had returned with blue skies and sunshine for Scale Day. As a result, the attendance was excellent and some 50 models were on display. These included Don Coe’s magnificent large scale wing warping Bleriot X1, the detail and accuracy of which has to be seen to be believed and its flight performance gained a well earned round of applause. John Mason of TJD Models had his electric powered 1/5th scale Lockheed P-38 Lightning (that’s over 10 feet wingspan!) which was awesome in the air and John impressed all by soldering up his batteries on the field. Not to be outdone was Colin Straus with his well known large DH 88 Comet, whose very low inverted passes were mind boggling. At this event the models are voted on by all the pilots entered and it soon became apparent when the voting slips started coming in that Don Coe’s Bleriot was easily leading the field and he was eventually confirmed as the winner. It is understood that he is donating the model to the Shuttleworth Collection where it will be on show at some time in the future.

Towner Trophy
1	Don Coe	Bleriot X1
2	Greg Veasey	Mitsubishi Zero
3	Richard Stevens	Curtiss Hawk 75

We would like to express the grateful thanks of the South East Area Committee to the Bickley Club for their hospitality, use of their equipment and assistance in running the event.