La Coupe Des Barons 2021

[David Davis]

Perhaps some of you gentlemen may have already read this information, for those, I apologise for wasting your time but I thought that La Coupe Des Barons, or “Baron’s Cup” in English, deserved a place of its own here.

 

The Baron or “Baron 1914” to give it its full title is an iconic three channel trainer as well-known on a French flight-line as Sig Kadett in America or a Super 60 in England. It has a 1.55 metre or 61" wingspan. The difference between the Baron 1914 and those other trainers is that the Baron looks a bit like a Great War monoplane fighter with massively enlarged tail surfaces which give the model it’s stability as well as a cartoon-like appearance. You could easily imagine Dick Dastardly flying one! Another difference is that every year a competition is held in southern France for this model, La Coupe Des Barons. I competed in 2018 and 2019 but I didn’t do very well and the 2020 event was cancelled owing to the Covid 19 pandemic!

 

La Coupe will take place on 12^th June this year, Covid 19 allowing. Eighty entrants are accepted with a waiting list of twenty to replace those who drop out. The event is getting to be increasingly popular. Entries are accepted from 00.01 on 1st January. I didn't apply until 11.30 and was fortunate to gain the 73rd slot. Having said that, there have been a lot of pilots who have dropped out of the competition this year, currently I'm 52nd on the list. My club will be taking a team of five down to the event if nobody else drops out. I have to go because while I have never finished prominently in the results, I am quite well known being the only Englishman flying in the event and because being a four-stroke afficianado, I give a prize (£35 worth of balsa wood,) to the leading pilot who uses a four-stroke engine, to the second place man in the unlikely event that the leading four-stroke competitor is your humble servant!

 

La Coupe Des Barons was the idea of Vincent Saffiotti, a former French fighter pilot and rescue helicopter pilot. For the event he adopts the persona of Tomio Harachi, a fictitious Japanese fighter ace from a 1960s American television series. Being the founder of the event his model bears the Number 1 and everybody else has a number issued in accordance with their application. Mine is 247. Vincent may be seen on the day wearing a Japanese Kamikaze headband, a Japanese tee shirt or even draped in a Japanese flag. The pilot of the Number 2 model finishes his Baron to look like a WW2 US Navy fighter!

 

Models are to the original specification plus or minus 10% and some variation is allowed in wing and tail shape. Engines are limited to a 35 two-stroke, a 56 four-stroke or 700 Watt electric motor. The original Baron used a 19 and others have been flown successfully on a 15 so you can imagine how quickly they go with the more powerful motors! I will be campaigning a model fitted with a Thunder Tiger 54 this year.

The entry is divided into eight groups of ten pilots and after a static concours d'elegance, the flying rounds of the competition begin, each of which lasts for five minutes. The first round is known as "casse baguettes" or " break the sticks." 70 balsa wood sticks are pushed into the ground, ten rows of seven, each stick two metres apart, which is bigger than the wingspan of a Baron. All you have to do is break or touch a stick and you get points for any stick you touch or knock over; you have a judge supplied by the organising club standing behind you keeping score. Of course you have to fly less than one metre above the ground to hit a stick and any inaccuracy in your flying results in an accident. After five minutes of attempting to knock over the sticks, the survivors of the first group are called in and the second group gets its turn.

The second round is a pylon race between two pylons, then there's a break for a typical French four-course lunch washed down with a little vin rouge then the competition resumes with the third round in which a trainer slowly pulls a crepe paper streamer and contestants have to cut it with their propellers. Of course with up to eleven aircraft in the same airspace at the same time the chances of a collision are great! Finally there's the dreaded limbo round in which models have to fly through a "goalpost" ten metres wide by four metres high. It sounds easy but the goalpost is several metres away and not square on to the pilots. Suffice it to say that the attrition rate is enormous and it doesn’t do to be too fond of your model!

This video of the 2017 event should clarify any questions you have. I chose the 2017 Coupe because it's more amusing read "destructive" than that of other years. I was an entrant in the 2018 and 2019 competition but the 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid 19. Further videos are available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwWg0Ad5cKs

 

I have two Barons: Boris in Russian colours, seen below flying in the pylon race against a white model flown by a 13 year-old girl in 2018, and Bertie in RAF markings. You are only allowed to fly one model in the event so this year I will be flying Bertie. He's less stable than Boris but his engine is more reliable!

 

 

 

[kc]

Good luck in the contest!

 

 

I think you previously posted a link to the plan- if so it might interest others to see it here.

[Steven S]

I enjoyed your 2018 log and am looking forward to this edition.

This is a link to it 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Steven S

[Graham Davies 3]

Good luck David.

 

The videos were thoroughly enjoyable and it's great to see such a healthy turnout to a day of madness. It would be great to get something going over here. If only we could also adopt a similar lunch strategy....

 

Graham

 

[David Davis]

7 hours ago, Graham Davies 3 said:

Good luck David.

 

The videos were thoroughly enjoyable and it's great to see such a healthy turnout to a day of madness. It would be great to get something going over here. If only we could also adopt a similar lunch strategy....

 

Graham

 

Thank you for your good wishes gentlemen! A full report will be produced in due course.

 

Alcohol at the flying field is very much a part of French aeromodelling. At my club we have beer, soft drinks, Perrier Water, whiskey and Ricard, a type of pastis, constantly available. Wine is bought for club dinners, barbeques and "Inter Clubs" when we invite neighbouring clubs to fly with us for the day. If you buy a round, each drink costs 1€. Your bar bills are then talled up at the end of the month. In May my bar bills amounted to 39€. In this way the club makes a healthy profit. Believe it or not people fight to pay a round!

 

I've always thought that maybe the BMFA could organise a similar competition for the WOT 4 at their national flying site. Teetotal barbeque lunch anyone?

 

Link to plan here: https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5077. It's marked  up as a Svenson Vicomte which was a Baron made under license. There is a Baron plan on The Outerzone but that shows a Baron with ailerons. These are banned in the competition.

[David Davis]

Gentlemen I have a decision to make.

I have a second Baron which I keep in reserve. It is in Russian colours and I call it "Boris." It is pictured below just after I'd built it in 2018. I was having problems getting the engine, an old OS 52FS, to run consistantly. It was always cutting out in flight after a few minutes, so I stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the carburetter yesterday morning.

Of course I'd lost all of the settings and at the flying field yesterday afternoon the engine refused to start. I gave up on it and switched to Bertie, my Baron in the RNAS colours. Its Thunder Tiger 54 started straight away and I had two flights with it practising my low level flying. Then I went back to Boris, twiddled a couple of needles, took away the number I first thought of and the engine burst into life! Little further fiddling was required and I had a very good flight with it until the engine cut at the top of a loop.

My problem is this. Boris is a stock Baron. With Bertie I have changed the wing structure and reduced the dihedral. This has produced a lighter faster model but Boris is so much more stable and easy to fly. I will have to fit a cowling and the wing could do with a re-cover but I have everything in stock.

Changing horses in mid stream? Decisions, decisions.

PS. The leads on my starter motor have started to deteriorate so I cut them short yesterday morning, soldered an XT60 connector to them and I attached a 3S 2200 LiPo to it with cable ties. I now have a very portable starter motor which works extremely well!

 

Thanks to all of you who advised me on fitting a LiPo to a starter motor.

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by David Davis

[J D 8]

Hi David, Is your OS 52 sidewinder mounted ? If so this can result in a high carb position due to the way it is mounted on the engine.

I have an Enya 90 4 stroke on a Katana that was mounted sideways that I could not get to be reliable. It was just not possible to get the fuel tank high enough in the fuselage for carb to line up with centre of tank [ Jon Laser engines is always promoting proper tank position for reliability ]  With it upright has been fine. 

 Good luck in the Coupe. Cheers, John.

 

[David Davis]

22 minutes ago, J D 8 said:

Hi David, Is your OS 52 sidewinder mounted ? If so this can result in a high carb position due to the way it is mounted on the engine.

I have an Enya 90 4 stroke on a Katana that was mounted sideways that I could not get to be reliable. It was just not possible to get the fuel tank high enough in the fuselage for carb to line up with centre of tank [ Jon Laser engines is always promoting proper tank position for reliability ]  With it upright has been fine. 

 Good luck in the Coupe. Cheers, John.

 

Thankyou for your good wishes John.

 

Interestingly enough the Thunder Tiger in the RNAS Baron is side mounted and has never posed a problem. The OS is mounted upright in the Russian Baron.

 

That said, I bought the Thunder Tiger new and the OS second hand so maybe it's got a lot of mileage on it.

[David Davis]

Well that decision has been decided for me!

 

I arrived at the flying field with both Barons. I decided to fly whichever model was displayed on the transmitter screen when I switched on the transmitter. It turned out to be Boris, the Baron in Russian markings. The engine started readily enough and I took off and was practising low level passes. The field alongside the club's runway is sown to wheat which is currently standing about 60cms or 2 feet high. After several successful low passes, the wheels touched the wheat and the model was tipped over onto its nose ripping out the firewall..

 

Otherwise the damage is mostly cosmetic but I now know which model I will fly in next Saturday's competition! ?

[Ron Gray]

Survival of the fittest!

[David Davis]

I have just received the running order for the competition and I am drawn Pilot 4 in the last group, Group 8. That suits me but the pilot at the No 5 position is Laurent Jacquot who won the competition in 2018! I won't try keeping up with him!

 

There have been lots of pilots dropping out of the event. In January there was a full list of 80 pilots and a waiting list. I was no.73 on the list, now I'm no.50 on a list of 65 and as I may have said above, I gain the impression that some of my clubmates won't be going for various reasons. I think it's incumbent on them to inform the organisers.

I also have another potential difficulty. I was under the impression that the largest fourstroke engine permissible for the competition was a 56. The same size as the smallest fourstroke currently produced by OS but having consulted the rules this morning I see it's a 52. I have fitted a Thunder Tiger 54 to Bertie.

I have emailed the organisers to see whether I can fly in the competition with this engine and I'm awaiting a reply. I have smaller motors but it would be very inconvenient to have to change the engine at this late stage.

 

It's not as if I'm going to win...

[David Davis]

Just heard from the organisers. I was right all along. The largest four stroke engine allowed in La Coupe Des Barons is a 56. They hadn't kept their rules up to date! 

[Steven S]

That's good news, especially if the competion is to be held in 5 days.  Good luck David

[David Davis]

Thank you Steven.

 

[David Davis]

Off to La Coupe Des Barons later today, just have to check the van's fluid levels and wash the windscreen. Not looking forward to the drive, 225 miles or 362 kms involving skirting some big towns. Us country boys are not use to all that traffic but at least the model's ready!

[Chris Walby]

Been following in the background so thought I would chip in with best wishes and good luck for the event. ?

[David Davis]

Thank you Chris.

 

I feel that if I can get through the first round without crashing I'll do quite well in the next two rounds. The final round, the Limbo, is always a destruction derby but if I can get through to that stage I will be pleased.

 

Report to follow next week.

Edited June 11, 2021 by David Davis

[Denis Watkins]

7 minutes ago, David Davis said:

Thank you Chris.

 

I feel that if I can get through the first round without crashing I'll do quite well in the next two rounds. The final round, the Limbo, is always a destruction derby but if I can get through to that stage I will be pleased.

 

Report to follow next week.

 

Good Luck David

You will do well

Just fly " your own flight " that you practised in your minds eye.

[David Davis]

Thank you Denis

[Ron Gray]

Yes good luck David and have fun!

[David Davis]

Thanks Ron.

[Ace]

Good luck and enjoy the day and don't let a red mist moment spoil your day ?

[Graham Davies 3]

Good luck David. Expecting a full report!

[McG 6969]

The best of luck down there, David.  ?

 

Bonne chance...

 

Cheers

Chris

[David Davis]

May I advise any new readers to read my posts of 3rd June and 6th June which summarise the history of La Coupe Des Barons, my involvement in it and the necessity of taking my RNAS Baron "Bertie" down to the competition despite the fact that my Russian Baron "Boris" is an easier model to fly.

 

Personal situation and self awareness corner!

 

I am of a somewhat pesimisstic nature. While I can deal with setbacks, I tend to worry and fret which is why meeting Trish aka, "Miss Blue Eyes", the lady in my avatar, has been so fortunate for me. Her motto is, "Don't sweat the small stuff!" I am a very lucky man. We have recently also adopted the motto "Engage Military Medal Mode!" (My maternal grandfather won the Military Medal in the Great War and they don't give away medals in the British Army like they do in some armies I could mention!) He also nearly lost his job in the General Strike, so whatever problems I have had to face are as nothing compared to his situation. I've not had to raise eight kids on a coach painter's wages either!

 

Having said that I have had a number of  less than fortunate experiences recently which will have affected my competitiveness! Firstly, I got rippped of to the tune of 144€ a few days ago. Having spent overr thirty years in Her Majesty's service, I now have a more than adequate pension and the amount involved does not affect my solvency but it's still annoying.

 

Secondly my doctor has recently put me on blood thinning drugs to aid my circulation and I now carry a card to warn ambulance personnel of the situation should I be involved in an accident! The girl at the pharmacy urged me not to cut myself or else!

 

Thirdly and rather unwisely, I opted for my second Covid 19 jab on the evening of Thursday 10th June, the day before I had to drive 225 miles (362 kms) to the competition. Fortunately the only side effects which I noticed were  a sore arm and my having to blow my nose rather more frequently than I normally do.

 

Fourthly, Mr Macron, the President of France, has forbid all travel between the UK and France because of the outbreak of the most recent variant of Covid 19 in England. Consequently, my "mechanic," Trish, who lives in England and who likes aeromodelling and La Coupe, was unable to come over for the event. I had a sneaking suspicion that none of my colleagues would make it to the event even though four of them were still registered.

 

Finally while we're in self awareness mode, I'm useless with computers and I hate driving these days! I used to enjoy touring Europe in old cars or newer motorbikes but I don't do more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kms) a year these days and that's the way I like it. I can see me having to drive much further in the year ahead but that's for the future. All of this had a bearing on what was to happen!

 

The journey down.

 

Having charged all batteries and having loaded the van, a 1998 Volkswagen LT 28 two-tonner I set out. I had prepared a route and written it down in felt tip on a piece of A4. I used to use this method on the tank bag of my bikes! However, not having anyone to check it for me as I drove was a disadvantage. The competition was being staged by the Jonage Club this year for the first time. Jonage is a pleasant suburb of Lyon, France's second largest city. It is located to the north-east of the city not far from the airport. I had booked myself into the Kyriad Est which is in the suburb of Meyzieu about ten minutes drive from the flying field. Not having a navigator and distrusting my Tom Tom sat nav which always seemed to take me through city centres, (I call it my Sat Knave!) I found myself heading for Lyon but rather too far to the west and south, so had drive in a north westerly direction via Thiers to get back on course. Then I noticed a sign which told me to take a certain route to get to the airport. The route was well sign-posted and I soon I was in Meyzieu looking for the hotel. An hour later I gave up  and switched on the Sat Knave which took me there in five minutes!  I had noticed the signpost for Jonage so I knew that I would not have to travel far the following morning.

 

I'll leave it there while I have some breakfast but here's the official group photograph to whet your appetite.