August Nationals 2019

[Dave Cunnington]

One of yesterdays good value swapmeet purchases - no instructions or plan, but for the price so what !

Can anyone help please....meantime I guess I'll talk to my friends Google and Outerzone.

Many thanks to the vendor DC

[Nightflyer]

Took my son to the Nationals for the first time Saturday and stayed til late. Seeing the sheer joy and thrill of it all on him and his reactions brilliant!

Great location, great organisation, so well done BMFA and of course RAF.

Traders were good and very helpful so spent loads.

Flying is always great to watch and the Showline really delivered well, ably supported by the legendary Dave Bishop commentary.

The after show free flight and night flying is always FUN especially free flight.

Even the weather decided to be exceptionally nice for the bank holiday weekend.

To cap it all my teenage son who is learning to fly rc did not want to go home and now wants us to camp next t year and bring free flight models. I have been into aeromodelling well over 40 years and attended the Nationals a number of times but I personally felt this year was the best for all of the above but especially seeing my son's reaction and joy and increased interest in model flying. That has to be good as it his generation that are the future of our sport and hobby.

[Piers Bowlan]

How about some of you posting a few photos highlights of the event, for those of us who were unable to make it?

[David Ashby - Moderator]

An enjoyable (if exhausting ) weekend. Thanks to all who made it what it was.

It was good to see the FPV GP racing too. It may not be everyone's cuppa but was interesting and added to the mix. I dropped down to Buckminster yesterday to watch the DLG and F3J - again, well worth seeing.

[stu knowles]

I had a great day on the Sunday at the Nationals, arrived at 9am and left at 8pm, The crowning glory for me is the Free Flight Scale event which starts at around 6pm, We know Free Flight Scale is always amazing but a DHC Chipmunk and Hawker Typhoon with no exaggerated dihedral? and a TSR2 which flew beautifully. Then over to the FF Jamboree, which is just a delight to witness. It was all good but the gossamer winged ornithopter and rubber powered helicopters were unbelievable!

I did think that the weight limit had detracted slightly from the variety of models being flown but non the less it is a joyous spectacle of aeromodelling.

To all who help to stage and make the event happen, Deep Respect and Thank You All. and to all who participate or just attend and watch, may you never grow old.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

To all who help to stage and make the event happen, Deep Respect and Thank You All. and to all who participate or just attend and watch, may you never grow old.

+1

[Simon P]

Stu Knowles, this is the only rubber powered helicopter I saw. I apologise that it’s backlit but all the models looked great against the sunset each night, even the ones that were probably never to be seen again! (Saw at least 2 fly always last night).

[stu knowles]

Yes that was the one, It flew so well (in a slightly weird way) I thought that it was so innovative.

[Engine Doctor]

A Cracking weekend ! but the Nats was noticeably quieter this year with far fewer trade stands attending. The camp site was nowhere near as busy as usual . Had a nice couple of flights with my edf at the electric flight line on Sunday evening but who left a pole in the middle of the runway ????My model found it on landing causing only very minimal damage but later another guy found it flying flat out !!!! ouch ! Could the electric flying be moved to a clear part of the runway ?

Good to hear that the chuck and duck has now allowed two channel radio again to be used providing model is in the spirit of vintage type model ie rudder or rudder and elevator but no throttle control.

Re getting in late : Its still a live active airfield so entry cant be allowed until normal activities have ended for the weekend . Its hard on the traders who have to set up ready for the next morning but it is what it is ........a live airfield

Hope to see you all next year.

[Cuban8]

The problem with the not before five o'clock rule was that it was (is?) never enforced. If the airfield was released earlier in the day, as it quite obviously had been on several of my previous camping visits, then next time there was no way I was going to be left at the back of the queue by arriving at the requested time. Next year might indeed have seen the RAF not releasing until much later (as was the case this year) so what do you do?

Set a clear and unambiguous time for punters to arrive and stick to it. If the RAF are finished early then just allow access to traders and officials. At least we'll know where we stand.

[Engine Doctor]

Posted by Cuban8 on 27/08/2019 14:02:35

Set a clear and unambiguous time for punters to arrive and stick to it. If the RAF are finished early then just allow access to traders and officials. At least we'll know where we stand.

Agree with that.  However no  full size flying was apparent this year and even the traders were not let in and when they were the tents that they had paid for were either not erected or finished.  Rapid Rc were up until 3.30 am trying to finish their stall and were kn*****d when they opened in the morning . Others had to start unloading their stalls at the crack of dawn . 

Its still a working airfield so unfortunately  have to obey what the RAF say or find somewhere else ???  Now thats the hard bit.

Edited By Engine Doctor on 27/08/2019 15:14:36

Edited By Engine Doctor on 27/08/2019 15:17:06

[Doug Campbell]

There was enough advance notices and warnings not to arrive before 5.30 so no complaints there. I arrived at seven, got near where I wanted to be and set up by eight. Perfect. My only moan would be the miserable toilet/shower attendant continually complaining about wet floors but not stopping up the loo roll and paper towels.

Still, one of the best nats ever

[Martin McIntosh]

I agree that a later time of arrival could be published in case of delays. I did not see 17.30 anywhere. I also accept that it is up to the station commander to release his field when he sees fit and did not intend to blame either him or the BMFA, but we were all a bit hot under the collar by 18.30. Apologies.

Regarding attendance I would say that it was much quieter than usual with plenty of space to camp where you wished and no scrambling for a parking space near the trade tents. Maybe families pressurised their dads (grandads!) to take them to the coast instead due to the weather.

The traders get fewer and fewer alas, perhaps because the fees charged cannot balance the expected profit, especially if there was poor weather. In the 1970`s a lot of large shops pulled out due to this; a fact repeated at Sandown Park. There were noticeably less food vendors too, although the hog roast by the beer tent was something else.

The swap meet was enormous this year. Got exactly what I wanted and having an almost empty shopping list and seen a lot of good flying I beat a retreat before the heat set in again.

[Bustergrunt]

I arrived at 1745 hrs and drove straight onto the campsite, set up complete by 1830 hrs...a hot and sweaty weekend but the facilities were excellent....

bring and buy was epic...spent loads, got BARGAINS!

[Keith Lomax]

Here is the perspective from those who run the camp gate ….

We opened the gate at noon. This is the earliest that the RAF allow us to do, and also as the gate staff will be working until around 10pm it would be unfair to ask them to do it sooner.

This year we only had to turn away about five who arrived in the morning wanting to get in, which is a big improvement.

We knew that we would not get the airfield until late afternoon, so we had about a dozen volunteers primed to marshal the holding area (under Andy Symon's organisation).

The initial flow was a trickle which is good, but it grew steadily as the afternoon wore on.

By about 4pm the queue to be parked in the holding area had reached back to the gate operation, and by 5pm it was queued all the way back to the junction with High Dyke / Ermine Street and for some distance in both directions. It even made the traffic report on local radio.

Airfield clearance was given around 5:30, allowing us to release the marquee company to set up the remaining trade marquees (they can't all be done in advance as they would restrict the view of the main runway from the Air Traffic Tower), and traders soon after.

Less than an hour later the campsite crew were ready to marshal the campers into their plots (this can't be done in advance as some of the infrastructure can't be setup with full size aircraft still using the taxiways).

The holding area was then allowed to disperse - but in a safe way and not a mad rush, and arrivals at this time could drive directly onto the campsite.

Within an hour the queues had been cleared, but arrivals continued at a steady rate until after dark.

As an aside, early afternoon, one idiot drove in the gate, went to the right of the "Keep Left" sign, crossed the line of traffic heading into the holding area, up onto the perimeter track, round to the CL Team Race area and turned left onto the secondary runway. I alerted air traffic and the SATCO (Senior Air Traffic Controller) went out to escort him back and give him a few harsh words. He claimed not to know that it was an active airfield and he tough it was only a campsite! Actions like this could cost us the use of this site.

My thanks go out to all of those who made this the smoothest Nats Friday for many years - including camp gate staff, holding area marshals, campsite crew and all other helpers, and especially the person who booked the weather!

 

Keith Lomax

Honorary Treasurer, Nats Treasurer, and general dogsbody.

Edited By Keith Lomax on 01/09/2019 10:16:03

[Nightflyer]

I am surprised at the intolerance of some people over the fact that we get to use an active RAF base for our model flying activities. Despite notices as to limitations before site admittance there are always people who feel that if they get there early that they have a right to early access.

Please consider the fact that this is an operational RAF airfield. The station has to go through a number of activities many that may not be visible to the uninformed before they can release the site to us. Aircraft activities have to finish, the site made safe and also anything to do with security (and not just the perimeter fence and gates). At the same time please consider the fact that we have use of the site through the permission of the Commanding Officer, and that he is placing a great trust in us that we will treat the site considerately especially regarding rubbish and anything that is FOD that could affect aircraft (and crew safety), which the BMFA have to rigorously check before handing back to the RAF after the event. I have seen an aircraft lost because of a penny coin (and crew killed) while the pilot of another aircraft managed to save an aircraft and himself despite a piece of metal being ingested by an engine!

I know the weather was hot this year and that people probably wanted to get set up (campers and traders), but such attitudes by impatient people have the potential to dissuade the generosity of the RAF and the Station Commander. In other words do not take the site for granted. RAF and MoD personnel also have access to the gripes and moans that do get feedback.

The RAF and MoD have a duty of care for the site and operations and so do we.