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Two weeks had passed and all of the fliers recharged and with renewed vigour met back at the Bushfields Sports Centre Peterborough for Round 2 of the 3 scheduled . Externally the weather was quite cold however as previous years this fails to make a notable difference inside. The heaters & vents are shut off shortly beforehand providing a stable environment for these light models.

Access was allowed some 30minutes before our 10am start which allowed all to fill one side of the hall with our tables, kit and the models perched from their stands. Practice flying was well in swing within 30 minutes with fervent activity from all of the fliers aiming to trim the last seconds from their models prior to the first round.    

It was Derek Richards who took the `bull by the horns’ with a brace of flights that were to push Bob Bailey to within one second over the two flights with Mark Benns putting in one good flight to rival the leaders.

Round two started promptly with Bailey & Benns launching on ever increasing torque levels to attain times around 10mins 45secs, Richards however was having none of it with a flight of 11minutes dead. John Shaw & Geoffrey Lefever were having their own private battle with John tipping the balance as Geoff battled with some model damage which was certainly affecting duration.

The Final round was set up to be a real humdinger, it was Bailey’s turn to fly early posting a superb 11min 6second flight inching himself ahead of Derek but only by 13seconds, Richards responded with a trademark high torque launch bouncing the ceiling just after the minute and settling to a respectable time but not enough to tip Bob who held out to win his second trials in succession.   Meanwhile Shaw, Lefever & Clive King struggled to better their early rounds working tirelessly to the last few minutes of the event.

Congratulations to Bob Bailey for retaining his title with a full house and to Derek Richards & Mark Benns for sealing their team positions for 2010. The Final round is to be held early in the New Year where the fourth place (reserve team member) will be hotly contested as will the 2nd & third position. Thanks again to all who attended and special thanks to Peter Ing for being Contest Director for the day.

Top 4 placing after Round One

R. Bailey                     100% (21.58- best 2 flights)

D.Richards                  99.01% (21.75 – best 2 flights)

M.Benns                      98.25% (21.35 – best 2 flights)

J.Shaw                        81.63% (17.56 – best 2 flights)

G.Lefever                    79.81% (17.32 – best 2 flights)

The first round was held at the Bushfields Sports Centre on the outskirts of Peterborough. The hall is a superbly sealed space which has never failed to produce the benign air conditions required for such an important contest.

As per last year the format for the team selection is gathered from a competitors best two round performances from the three scheduled dates. The top competitors score on the day is awarded 100% with all other entrants receiving their respective percentages. This has proved to be hugely successful process always `down to the wire’.

There was a good attendance with competitors, fun fliers and spectators creating a fine ambience. The day was divided into three rounds for two competition flights to be recorded by each entrant. All flights are flown with 0.2grams of rubber, a third motor with a spacer of 0.4grams. 

An early marker was set by Bob Bailey (last year’s trials champion) with a superb 11mins15s, with Derek Richards & Mark Benns posting opening gambits in the early 10mins. John Shaw last year’s GB team member had a brace of mid 8min flights. Round two commenced with Bailey unable to reach the heights of his first flight however Richards & Benns upped their times to close the gap. The stable air throughout the day provided excellent trimming conditions with all of the fliers tirelessly in the air fine tweaking to better their duration for the final round. All improved their times except Bob Bailey who consolidated his first flight with his penultimate attempt.  

Congratulations to all who attended and flew making a splendid long & hard days flying, we look forward to Round Two in two weeks time.

Top 4 placing after Round One

R. Bailey                     100% (22.08- best 2 flights)

D.Richards                  98.34% (21.46 – best 2 flights)

M.Benns                      96.5% (21.22 – best 2 flights)

J.Shaw                        76.72 (16.59 – best 2 flights)

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This years Indoor Duration Nationals were held for the first time over 3 days in the 37ft high WW2 hangar at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire.  

An excellent attendance combined with brilliant weather conditions made for very competitive flying, along with a healthy fun flying atmosphere.  

With an overwhelming positive response from all of those attending the Indoor Technical Committee will attempt to build on this format for 2009. 

Please see the attached for full list of results. indoor-nats-2008mb.pdf revised 23/09/08

A full report will be forthcoming within the BMFA News

The 2008 F1D Indoor World Championships have just taken place in a huge domed exhibition hall in Belgrade, Serbia.

The hall is over 90 feet high. The British team of Bob Bailey, Mark Benns and Derek Richards flew their fragile 22 inch wingspan rubber powered free flight models for 3 gruelling days in temperatures up to 39 degrees. Excellent support came from Peter Ing and John Shaw.

The competition is all about duration, with many single flights of over 30 minutes. Each flyer has 6 attempts and his 2 longest flights are totalled to produce his individual score. The 3 scores from each country are added together in the team event. Although the American team were clear winners, the British total of 3:14:52 was enough to secure Silver medal position, ahead of the Hungarian flyers.

In the preceding Open International contests, Mark Benns won the 35 cm wingspan class, Bob Bailey was second while Peter Ing came 4^th and John Shaw 5^th.

Nick Aikman. GBR Team Manager.