KLAMCNewsJuly2009

July 2009 News

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If you have been able to find that diamond in the sandheap, either a really good item that has proven essential, a really good classic kit to build or just good honest value for money service, let's put it in the Flyers Kit & Props Shop!

Building a new model - nearly ready to fly it!

Go to On the Field - send yours in!

It's not too late to enter the SUMMER PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION.

Send in your favourite picture before the end of August 2009.

KLAMC Open Fly-In may prove a winner!

Rules state :- Must be taken at Roydon or Wootton and of an aeromodel not a male!

Welcome to the Fen Fighter Squadron

Home of the Fenfighter's 1/12th ACES UK Combat Squadron.

Pictures and build diary's from the Squadron members.

www.fenfighters.co.uk

Want to Fly a RED BULL?

Become a REDBULL 'Rookie'

Plus a Great selection of over 80 REDBULL quality videos!

On the 25th July 1909 French aviator Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel from Calais to Dover with no compass, map, radio or windscreen.

Louis Blériot 1872-1936.

On 25^thJuly 1909 after trying several unsuccessful designs, French aviator Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel, flying fromCalais to Dover in a self designed and built Blériot XI Monoplane with an Anzani 25hp engine. Responding to a challenge laid down by the Daily Mail, Blériot became the first man to cross the channel by aeroplane and win the £1,000 prize! In poor visibility and with no compass, watch, map or radio he crossed the English channel in just over 36 minutes at an average speed of 40 mph. The previous day, Saturday, had seen rough weather making flights look unlikely all weekend. Fellow aviator Hubert Latham attempted to cross the Channel just days earlier (July 19th) and had ditched his Antoinette IV in the channel when his motor quit.

1909 aircraft were extremely unreliable, the hobby of visionaries and wealthy eccentrics. Most craft were underpowered and the engines were prone to failure for one reason or another. Aircraft design was more an art than a science and control systems were still to be invented. There were no airborne radios to call for help and flight instrumentation was limited.

But early on Sunday 25th July, Blériot walking with the aid of crutches, having suffered a burnt foot from an earlier accident decided to motor to his hangar at Les Baraques. Luck was on his side as the weather suddenly cleared. He informed the French Naval escort of his imminent departure and waited for dawn. Dressed in a khaki jacket lined with wool for warmth over his tweed clothes and a close fitting hat fastened over his head and ears he was ready. During preparation for takeoff a neighbourhood dog wandered into the arc of his propeller blade and was killed. His wife, who did not share his enthusiasm for flight, begged him not to go.

At 4.35am the first light of dawn on the morning of July 25, 1909, Frenchman, Louis Blériot gave his crew the signal to release his small wood and fabric Model XI aeroplane. It crossed the grassy paddock and bounded into the air crossing the cliffs at Sangatte France, near Calais, and ventured out into the mist over the English Channel. The weather had been so gusty that his fellow competitor friends thought that he was just going on a short test flight but as he faded into the mist over the sea they realised that they were too late!

Monsieur Bleriot steered his course by watching the shipping in the Channel. When asked later how he plotted his passage, he said "I turn my head to see whether I am proceeding in the right direction. I am amazed. There is nothing to be seen - neither destroyer, nor France, nor England. I am alone. I can see nothing at all."

After a further 10 minutes struggling to keep his machine level, Blériot suddenly saw the English coastline appear. He realised that he had drifted off his intended course and immediately changed direction heading for land. He first crossed the coast at St. Margaret's Bay because he had been put off course by the wind, but made his way up the coast to Dover. However this brought him up against a strong head wind as he battled his way towards the cliffs. His passage from France was expected by Charles Fontaine the French reporter of the Le Matin newspaper. He was waiting for Blériot just outside Dover Castle and as he emerged through the mist he waived a French tricolour flag to guide him down to the landing ground at Whorwell on Northfall Meadow. Caught by gusting winds as he crossed over the chalky white cliffs, Blériot had some hairy moments as he put it, “I stop my motor and instantly my machine falls straight upon the ground from a height of 20 metres.”(65ft)

“A break in the coast appeared to my right, just before Dover Castle. I was madly happy ... I rushed for it. I was above ground!” The customs officer who arrived to record the landing recorded the aircraft as a yacht and its pilot as its Master as he had no category to cover the event.

It was not an elegant French arrival, smashing the propeller and undercarriage of the flimsy machine, but it was enough to win the £1,000 in Sterling prize and enter the history books of flight!

His monoplane which was damaged in the landing was later repaired and is now preserved in Paris at the Musee de l'Air. The spot where the aircraft landed is marked by a monument paid for by Alexander Duckham who witnessed the landing.

Louis Bleriot (right) and observer with his Model XI after Channel crossing and rough landing.

Can a restored 100-year-old plane retrace Louis Blériot’s epic

first flight across the Channel?

Urgent! - If you leave the field last - Don't forget to scramble the gate lock after locking the gate!

Moonshot: 40 years later, let's reach for the stars

Forty years ago this month, a man -- an American -- after strapping himself atop a giant liquid-fuel missile, found himself more than 250,000 miles away planting his foot on the moon. Neal Armstrong, followed by Buzz Aldrin, tripped the light fantastic on the powdery soil on our satellite for a few hours, scooped up some rocks, planted and saluted the Stars and Stripes, and then zoomed away in less time than the average tourist spends visiting Yosemite or Yellowstone.

Moonshot: 40 years later, let's reach for the stars

Moonshot: 40 years later, let's reach for the stars!

The lunar module was named Eagle after the bald eagle depicted on the insignia; the bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. The command module was named Columbia, from the traditional feminine name Columbia used for the United States in song and poetry. The name may also have been chosen in reference to the columbiad cannon used to launch the moonships in Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon. Some internal NASA planning documents referred to the call signs as Snowcone and Haystack, but these were quietly changed before being announced to the press.

Moonshot: 40 years later, let's reach for the stars

NEW! NEW!

Feature page - East Anglian Airfields

Flying Legends 2009

Cosford 18th - 19th July

Following announcements of a price freeze and record numbers of pilots, the Large Model Association have revealed that there will also be a full size aircraft flying display this weekend at the annual Large Model Aircraft Rally. Weather permitting, aircraft from the Shuttleworth collection, Old Warden will be showcased in a lunchtime display on both days of the event. The aircraft including a Focke Wulf FW44 will be flying at the Aircraft Rally for the first time ever.

Dave Johnson, Chairman of the Large Model Association said: “We are very pleased to host the aircraft from The Shuttleworth Collection and include a full-size aircraft flying display this weekend. These rare and unusual aircraft will be flying at lunchtime on both Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting.” Mr Johnson also added: “A price freeze on tickets for the fourth year running, combined with a display of some 200 model aeroplanes makes for a great day out for all the family. There are 60 trade stalls, catering outlets, children’s fun rides and access to the Museum making this air show in miniature, a full day of entertainment. ”

This is the 17th model aircraft rally to be held at Cosford and over 10,000 visitors are expected to attend over the weekend.

Admission prices to the Large Model Aircraft Rally including entrance to the Museum are just £9 for adults, £5 for children, £7 for senior citizens with a family ticket of 2 adults and up to 2 children retailing at £20.

Gates open at 8.30am.

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On the Field & Ready for Take Off!

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Thunder Tiger engine for sale!

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Duxford Flying Legends - Press ReleaseStar of the silver screen visits Duxford

Flying Legends, organised by The Fighter Collection in partnership with Imperial War Museum Duxford, is without doubt

one of the finest warbird air shows in the world, providing an unrivalled line up of the classic propeller-driven combat aircraft

from both the First and Second World Wars, many of which are now either rare or unique.

Ticket prices for Flying Legends are: Adults £29.95, Senior (60 years or over) £24.95, Children £9.95 (children aged 4 years

or under go free), Student/ Unemployed/ Disabled £9.95 (carer goes free). Buy your tickets early and save 10% - simply click

the Book Online button on the website at www.iwm.org.uk/duxford or call 01223 499 353.

The Imperial War Museum Duxford is south of Cambridge at junction 10 of the M11. Ample free parking is available.

For a full list of Duxford’s air shows and other exciting events in 2009, including half term activities for families, visit www.iwm.org.uk/duxford or telephone 01223 835 000.

See the Lockheed Electra in action in the trailer for Amelia at http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810038855/video/14159334/standardformat/

Lockheed Electra Hazy Lily, star of the film Amelia, will be gracing Duxford with its presence at

Flying Legends air show (Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 July).

The aircraft is one of the few surviving Lockheed Electras in existence, and is identical to the aeroplane that Amelia Earhart

flew on her ill-fated voyage of 2 July 1937, where both she and the aircraft disappeared over the Pacific Ocean.

Lockheed Electra Hazy Lily has an amazing history. It is 67 years old and served as transport for the US naval attaché

in London during the Second World War. Between 1946 and 1952 it was owned by Sidney Cotton, a businessman

and spy for Her Majesty’s Intelligence Service. He was also a friend of Ian Fleming and the inspiration for Fleming’s

most famous character, James Bond. It is rumoured that this aircraft was also used in the filming of Casablanca,

starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

The aircraft is due to be seen on the silver screen in Amelia, starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere,

Ewan McGregor, Virginia Madsen and Christopher Eccleston, in autumn 2009.

The journey undertaken by the Lockheed Electra in order to reach South Africa for the filming of this epic story is the

stuff of boy’s own adventures, particularly as the aircraft flew air miles equivalent to those undertaken by

Amelia Earhart during her lifetime, in one round trip.

Now, visitors to Flying Legends can see this historic aircraft in action in the skies over Duxford before seeing it on the

silver screen, bringing Amelia Earhart’s legendary story to life.

This poem and it's introduction is taken from the book -

ENGLAND'S BEST LOVED POEMS

by George Courtauld

WHEN MY WIFE and I moved from London back to Essex in 1990, a great aunt invited us to tea. It was Remembrance Sunday and she recounted how one summer's day, during the Battle of Britain, she had had tea with three very young fighter pilots. Within seven days all of them had been reported missing. She never saw any of them again. Her husband was a tail-end Charlie in a Lancaster bomber, (the rear gunner and reputedly the most dangerous job in the RAF), but he survived the war. It was he who introduced me to this poem.

John Gillespie Magee was an American airman who joined the Royal Canadian Airforce when Britain declared war on Germany. He was killed in action in 1941, aged 19.