Rafman

I joined in 1969 with 1838 Elm Park Sqn in West Essex Wing rising to the rank of CWO then AWO and I now find myself as a Flt Lt in command of 1476 Rayleigh Sqn in Essex Wing. I certainly got a lot out of the Corps and I am still friends with Sqn Ldr Terry Horsley who got mentioned in a previous post. The Corps has changed over the years but I still get a kick out of seeing the progress that the Cadets achieve during their time in the ATC, and long may it continue.

I arrived at 9am and the Gnats were just lining up at the end of the runway so I was standing right behind them when the leader went smoke on go and I got kippered. Great sight though. The Vulcan was due to do a fly by but unfortunately because the isolated showers didn't appear to be isolated this was cancelled. The first part of the show was great right up to when the rain started, some brave flyers tried to continue but even they had to give in. After about a two hour wait the show started again but by then most of the show flyers had decided to go home, so it was a limited effort but a select few managed to keep it going and the sun came out so all credit to those people that stayed. Because of the rain I took shelter in the TJD stand and that cost me £150 on an E Flite Yak 54 AS3X 3D machine, it was a good buy though at £100 off the normal price.

Ditto for the thumbs up for Hobbyking, I ordered 2 FrSky receivers at midday and they arrived the next morning, you cannot ask for better service than that so well done Hobbyking and keep it up.

This is spooky, I was made redundant 2 years ago and like you it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Got a new job in one month before they even paid out the money for 35 years service. Two months after that got a big cheque from the taxman which was very nice. I am still breathing at 60 have a sports car as well as the model wagon and have been married to my wonderful wife for 39 years. Have loads of models to choose from depending on the weather. Have just taken over a new ATC Squadron which is the biggest in the Wing. Enjoy Flying, Fishing, Shooting. Life is just great at the moment and plan to enjoy it.

Great news and advert for foam models, I initially hated foam models but after flying my first one which was a small Christian Eagle which I still fly on a regular basis I have been sold completely on foam and my fleet now consists of the following: Art Tech Christian Eagle Diamond 2500 Glider Carbon Z Yak 54 Stryker FQ27 Hobbyking P40 Warhawk I am sure that more foam models will join my fleet, I also have an E Flite Ultimate whiist it is not foam it does fly very well.

I mainly use XT60 connectors on most of my models but my latest project a 67" 6S powered P40 Warhawk from Hobbyking uses HXT 4mm red connectors.

I have flown one of these for nearly two years now and it is awesome, one of the best planes I own, it flies fast or slow with no dramas and is neutral trim wise so inverted is easy and slow rolls a dream, I highly recommend this aircraft, they got the design right, however, one word of caution, on my model I had to change out all the servo's because the quality of the one's installed were dubious to say the least. My model is one of the earlier one's when they first came out so I am hoping that a couple of years down the line they have sorted out the quality problems with the servo's, but as a flying machine you will love it.

When I first heard on the radio that there was the possibility of a strike by tanker drivers I thought here we go again, there will be panic buying at the pumps, but to my suprise it seemed normal until the goverment opened their mouths and fuelled a crisis, which I believe was carefully manufactured to get the response we are seeing now, on the news this morning they have made an extra 32 million pounds in fuel tax revenue just from the panic they have instigated. What is needed is for the good old public to take no notice of what the cronies in power say because they are pulling the strings and we are dancing to the tune. I say calm down go back to normal and deal with a strike as and when it happens. We should be looking to reduce our fuel buying to bring about an impact on tax revenue and then maybe the price of fuel might go down slightly. I won't hold my breath on that one rafman

I will give it a go Ta Steve

Congratulations on passing your A Cert, sometimes it is better to do it by the suprise method as that means you do not have time to think too much about it and just get on with it and pass.

Went to the field yesterday, fantastic weather, no wind with clear blue skies and flew 5 flights. 3 with my Carbon Z yak 54 and 2 with my art Tech Christian Eagle Bipe. Don't normally come out of hibernation until april so bonus

Like a lot of other people I have had a fair range of different radios over the years, started with Acoms then went to JR for a time then a brief excursion to Sanwa (1 day) even tried Digifleet before returning to JR for many years. When it came time to swap over to 2.4g I initially went for a Futaba 6EX but soon outgrew that and finally settled on a 10C which has never missed a beat in the time I have used it. I only have and use genuine Futaba receivers with it but would not swap it for the world, easy to program and a delight to use.    

Hi Rob,   Like you I am involved in the Air Cadets as OC 1474 Wickford Squadron in Essex Wing, apart from that I also go Fishing, shooting and have a sports car for weekend jaunts if I am not flying models that is, occasionaly I spend time with the wife and grandkids mainly over the winter period when it is too cold to do the other things.   Steve

I will have a guess at 53 and 61   Rafman

I fly Mode 1 for fixed wing as that was the mode I started with many years ago, I subsequently went on to fly Mode 2 as well being an Instructor for both, interestingly enough I fly helicopters on Mode 2 as I tried one on Mode 1 and found it difficult.   RAFMAN