Flying Back in Time
A fond recollection of an event where the star of the show burned bright but not long.
Back in 2015 the Ghost Squadron were hosting their away-day events in a field near the town of Cheddar — yes, home of the cheese — situated down in the lower right corner of England. Well-known for the generous size of their models, you could always rely on seeing stuff at a GS event that verged on the spectacular. — CW
Every year the Ghost Squadron goes off for its holidays, usually for a week, and often in different locations. For the last couple of years, one of those locations has been near the landmark of Cheddar Gorge, in Somerset and this year, after careful scrutiny of the weather forecasts, I opted to go down there on the Sunday, the day with the lightest winds, to see what was occurring. The first thing to greet my eyes upon arrival, was the wonderful sight of Dave Pullinger’s massive half-scale Spalinger S.10 being painstakingly rigged in the next parking bay.
This model is a tour-de-force of the modelling arts, and a very challenging subject to boot. As well as being a biplane glider, it has no ailerons, roll control being activated by the warping of the upper wings. Six years in the making, this model is a follow-on from Dave’s original 1/4-scale design, published so long ago that Fred Flintstone was still wearing shorts at the time. No expense had been spared in the making of this masterpiece including the installation of two half-scale pilots and the use of a sign writer to complete the finishing touches.
So keen was your reporter to see this beast in action, that he refused to fly himself, lest the great moment be missed. This meant that the first attempt didn’t take place until near lunchtime, whereupon proceedings ground to a halt, as no one else wanted to miss it either.
Although the wind was forecast to be light, it was still blowing at right angles to the runway, and it became evident as the poor tug roared and trembled, and the Spalinger reluctantly moved at walking pace, that the wing warping was going to be unable to prevent the downwind wingtip from scraping on the grass, thus demolishing any hope of getting airborne. There was a deep irony to this situation, contingent to the rules and regs that apply to models over 20Kgs. Event organiser, John Greenfield, had brought along his new half scale Klemm, a model more than capable of towing up the Spalinger, but he was the only person on-site certified to fly both models! Eventually, after three attempts, the Spalinger became airborne, and after an agonisingly slow climb to altitude, we were treated to the re-creation of a small piece of history.
This model was indeed an impressive sight in the air, and three or four more flights were embarked upon during the course of the day. Sadly, and for reasons unknown, on the last flight the S.10 went into a dive from which it didn’t recover, and this little piece of history became history itself.
Later, the Klemm went on to tow up Tony Hazlehurst’s half-scale Slingsby Falcon, an impressive and scale-like sight indeed.
Like me, many others must have clocked the favourable forecast, because there were plenty of gliders in attendance, waiting for a tow. One to catch my eye was Ian Stromberg’s 1/3-scale SZD-8 Jaskółka, scaled up from the John Watkins plan. Weighing in at just under the 20kg limit, this was an impressive model, and it looked pretty impressive in the air too.
Equally as impressive was Ian’s realisation of the Fowler Flaps that are a feature of this machine. I have long nurtured the idea of building a Letov LF-107 Luňák, but the problem of building in the Fowlers has always dented my enthusiasm somewhat. There are plenty of kits available for the Luňák, but they all seem to have conventionally hinged flaps.
Despite the crosswind, it was a good day for aerotowing, and the tug pilots put in their usual sterling performance, whilst the gliders circled in the sometimes very abundant lift. As this seems to be a fixture in the event calendar, it can only be hoped that next year’s weather will also include a day as good as this one!
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to add them in the Responses section below — you get there by clicking the little 💬 below — and I will do my best to answer them.
©2015, 2023 Chris Williams
Resources
- The Williams Anthology — The collected works of Chris Williams as found in the pages of the New RC Soaring Digest.
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