Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club

2011 News Archive

2011 - The Year that was

By Les Davis.

Two thousand and eleven has now gone, but as we look back what did we see happen? Well you could say it was like Chinese food, a bit of "Sweet and Sour", so lets start with the sour bit first.

So what did last year bring us? Water ,Wind and Fire. In January the rains came, after ten years of drought, and did we cop it at Marong! The creek (Spring Creek) that had been dry for many many years flooded at the bridge and the flood waters built up to the point that it flooded all around our Club house, Canteen, the Blue Container and the Toilet Block, and as well, out as far as the edge of our runway.

The hollows and depressions in the ground had all filled with the flood waters and these took some weeks before they dried out. One of these areas is now know as Lake Butterfield, and only Roy Butterfield knows why this name came about.

A few weeks later in February, the winds came, but stayed around for most of the year. Every time we wanted to use the field for an organised event the winds blew a gale. Time after time it happened, and it was so disappointing, not only for the club members but also for the visitors who had traveled all the way to Bendigo for various events,to find it was a blow out, and no event.

The extreme wind conditions that we experienced this year even tore our windsock to shreds. Although we did manage to run some club events in the windy conditions, it's not every enjoyable for the pilots and there's a high risk factor of unnecessary damage caused by the wind alone. I remember reading a comp report that came in from "Treesare Bendover"

We had the Water, and we've had the Winds, where does the Fire come in? After all the rain that we had comes growth and lots of it, but in November it all turns brown, and becomes fire fuel, and we are all aware of this fact, yes its the fire season. In December a lorry (Truck) traveling past our field lost a wheel, which caused a spark to set a light to the grass on the side of the road, which in turn burnt through the fence line and into our flying field, out as far as the edge of the runway. If you walk to the west of the field, to the big tree where the (Bloody) maggies nest, you'll see the burnt oval area from the fence to almost the edge of the runway.

Enough of the Sour stuff, lets look at the Sweet bit. It would have to be our 60th Anniversary Celebrations, and what a day it was, with 40 of our 60 members present, and the past Presidents as well, plus the surprize guest. That was the VMAA newsletter editor, Mr Joe Finocchiaro. Between our honorary member Mr Ken Thomas and Joe Finocchiaro, their cameras were flashing like mad, and asking all sorts of questions on our club, and the life story of the club as we know it. All this info will be put together for the coming editions of both the RCM news and the VMAA newsletter. The coverage should be great, it will put our club out there for the right reasons. What a great time to be apart of our wonderful club.

The "Bendigo Radio Controlled Aircraft Club"!

11th December - Break Up Day and 60 year Celebrations for BRCAC

On Sunday the 11th of December the Club's break up and of course the 60th Celebrations, was held at the Club's flying field at Marong on a warm, sunny, windy day, which was ideal for our Celebration day.

Starting at 10am with a few aircraft flying, you could hear the camera men singing out "lower", "closer" and now "slower", which was not easy in the wind, but most us managed to get the aircraft into position to please the camera shutters.

Time to meet a few new faces and renew some oldies as well. Ken Thomas was there (one of our Horonary members) and with him was Joe Finocchiaro the VMAA Newsletter editor, and they were very interested in our club's history, asking millions of questions and taking lots and lots of photos.

A lovely lunch was had by all, organised by the President, Andrew Thomas, Soon everybody seem to have a plate in their hand, on their lap or at the table; everyone noticed how good food keeps the chatter down.

As soon as everybody had eaten they were asked to congregate in the "Clubhouse 40", for the presentations and celebrations.

The President started off the Presentations by welcoming all, including the past Presidents, and all the Club members to this special day.

The clubman awards were presented, in accordance with the number of points won during the year, from one point through to the winner of the Clubman award for this anniversary year.

With one point were Cliff Goullett, Stuart Sinclair, Adam Roberts, Mal Fields and John Newman.

On two points were Matt Young and Geoff Jenkins.

With three points were Neil Frost, Gary Schmedje and Mike Fields.

Now to the trophy winners;

6th	Roy Butterfield
5th	Brian Deason
4th	Alan Uren
3rd	Ian Heather
Runner up	Shaun Power
Winner for this year	Les Davis

The Mitre 10 Trophy was award to David Munday for his outstanding support to the Club.

Joy Robinson was made a Honorary member for her culinary skills in the canteen.

Our Landlord Rowlan McKinnon was unable to attended, for his Honorary membership to be presented.

Les now gave a brief rundown on how the club got to be 60 years old, then everybody sang the happy birthday song, followed by three cheers, and the lovely cake was cut by the President, and a wish was made. (um!)

Next the 60th Anniversary badge and Anniversary glass, were presented to the Past Presidents, then all the club members received their badges, followed by a slice of cake that was offered to each member.

Last but not least was the Club Photo, all members gathered around the windsock area for the photos to be taken, and that was it , a great day all for all that attended the 60th Anniversary celebrations.

Congratulations to BRCAC, 60 years well done!

Thanks for that report Les, and for all the others you have made through the year.

Here's a collection of photos taken on our big day, which with your help will grow. If you have any to add we would be very grateful to receive a copy. Please get in contact via the contacts page for details if you do not know how to send me stuff.
John.

25-27th November - ASAA Championships 2011

ASAA day three - Sun 27th

After a very violent night of windstorms and rain flying commenced in fine sunny weather. Great flying standards are being set with no injured Aircraft despite the difficult conditions. Thanks to the kiwis and the young talent, an enjoyable time was had by all.

Congratulations to winners and place getters. We hope to see you all next year.

The Anzac Spirit lives on!

Friday 25th

Interstate and local competitors faced difficult and turbulent conditions today, for the first round of the ASAA Championships for 2011.

Many new aircraft and pilots were in evidence. The committee and members of BRCAC would like to welcome them and hope they have a pleasant weekend.

Results of each day with photos will be posted on the BRCAC Web site each evening.

19-20th November - VARMS Scale Aerotow

This weekend we welcomed members of Varms to our field. The Fly-in has been going for at least thirty years.

Some wonderful flying was seen in spite of difficult conditions (wind and rain) but none the less persistence won out in the end and a great time appeared to be had by flyers and spectators alike.

Thanks also are due to club president Andrew Thomas and his band of willing club members Les Graeme and Gary.

Thanks to Bill Matthews for the report and a great set of photos

6th November - RCGA Thermal Glider Comp

Results as follows:

1	David Hobby	6989
2	Jim Houdalakis	6977
3	Bernie Sizer	6912
4	Alan Mayhew	6765
5	Graham Norman	6510
6	Joel Pedder	6290
7	Marcus Stent	6096
8	Gerry Carter	5975
9	Daryl Blow	5649

Report and photos Bill Matthews

29-30th October - National Air Races

The National Air Races were resumed again this year at Cootamundra, after being flooded out last year due to rain storms, but with the change of date, it brought lot better weather and a good weekends racing was had.

Entry numbers were down a little on, not last year but two years ago, with only 3 classes being flown being, AT-6 Texan, Redbull 120 and TT Reno.

Texan was first class to race, at the new start time of 11am on the Saturday which is a time that seem to suit everybody. It allows for the pilots who drive late into the night to get there, now get a break before racing in the morning, as well as the pilots who wish to travel early Saturday morning to get there in time. Well done to the organizers, good move.

Three full rounds of quite exciting and in times very close racing in all classes were had before we went to the lunch break. Catering this year was put on by the local Cootamundra model club, and good food and drink was had by all, well done to the new catering staff.

Following lunch a redraw was done to see who had retired and who was still in the racing. Unfortunately Texans had suffered the most causalities, with only two Texans left flyable. They were both the same colour own by the same family and didn't want to fly against each other, so that terminated the Texan Racing for the day.

Redbull class was in fairly good shape and still had plenty of aircraft to race, and TT Reno had no causalities and were hanging in there, although take offs and landings were a bit ordinary to watch.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday went off without any more drama, and the highlight of the weekend would have been the speed of Steve Davis's Edge 540 Redbull Racer, nothing had been changed from the last race day at Cobram , not even the glowplug, but you'll have to say from the speed of it, "its arse was on fire", and the other highlight was the new aluminum pylon poles, who will be the first to try and cut the pylon in half? We'll just have to wait and see.

The new race committee of Steve Norrie and Bob Carpenter run the show well, and Muffin Joe did a great job on the start line, I know the pilots appreciate the time and effort, that had been put into run this racing event, which should be bigger and better next year.

Results:

Texan AT-6 and Redbull had the same results.

Third in both was Greg Lepp

Second in both Les Davis

Winner in both was Steve Davis.

TT Reno

Third was Dave Brown

Second David Lawless

First was Steve Norrie

Report By Steve and Les Davis. (photos)

30th November - Electric Glider - Climb & Glide Competition

Well I finally managed to organise a day off and get the model set up in advance and ready to go.

Up nice and early because it was difficult to sleep with the wind howling around the house, so on with the PC and check the forecast - not good with average winds all day listed at 30kmh plus add 40% for the wind gusts and chill factor around 12 to 14C.

Forever the optimist I rechecked the forecast nearer the departure time only to find the wind now averaging 35kmh and gusts just recorded to 57kmh - some small thought of how fast the model would glide backwards - let alone achieve a glide time brought me back to the reality of it being a no fly day.

A few phone calls later I couldn't find anyone else willing to venture out to the field so it was a non event - not even the social gathering we had when the Old Timer event was also blown out.

Alan Uren

16th October - Old Timer Comp

Come 1pm on Sunday for our Old Timer Texaco Comp and what happened? Well, the wind blew, and the wind blew, and the wind kept on blowing. Even standing in the canteen you could feel the wind was rocking the building, the foam ceiling was squawking with the change of air pressure.

But did this stop us, ah lets see. We had 4 aircraft, 3 pilots and one contest director, not one of the planes was removed from the vehicles. The pilots then sat in the canteen, and the contest director kept "saying too windy too windy" and he was r-right!

We did however have a discussion on how we could change the format to try and entice others to fly and enjoy these lovely old style aircraft. If anybody is interested in trying/flying these wonderful old style aircraft, please say so, or talk to some one who has one, and they'll tell how great and relaxing these are to fly.

These Vintage designs are really self launching glider type aircraft. They use a glow engine or electric power to launch the aircraft to 300 to 400 metres up into the air, and then glide around looking for thermals to keep them up for as long as possible, or until its time to land, how easy is that? (Piece of cake!)

If you like looking at vintage motor cycles or vintage motor cars, then you'll just love these vintage aircraft, known to us as old timer aircraft. There're designs from the 30s and 40s era, and are really a joy to fly on nice summers day, believe me, its true.

Report by, Treesare Bendover. (again)

9th October - Bunnings sausage Sizzle

Six club members turned up this year to our second time, "Bunnings Sausage Sizzle". This is done to help generate more club funds, and give our club more exposer to the general public.

The weather looked lousy and some car race was on at Bathurst, so we thought this may keep the sausage eaters away, but the weather and the car race didn't seem to matter, as it seemed like the same amount of snags were consumed during the day, similar to what we had last year. ( we'll have to wait until the figures to come out)

Keeping the supplies up to the chief cook was a full time job for at least one member, and at other times requiring two gofers, just to keep up the other extra supplies. It was busy all day, from 8.30am through to 4pm nonstop.

Thanks to the Six club members who manage to do so well on this fund raiser again, specially to Dave who had to drive for a couple of hours just to get there, then he cooked a few hundred snags, before he cleaned and packed up to travel back home. Its a very full on day for those six members,but its only once a year, and we do get to meet and greet some previous club members, and some new prospects, and I guess that makes the day worth while.

Thanks also to the Bunnings People, for our turn to use their Sausage Sizzle fund raiser program.

Signing off, Zing Zing the Sausage King. (no no not Dave)

25th September - Glider Comp, 5 min dropout

The glider comp this month was "5 minute drop out", a type of elimination event where all pilots try to obtain enough points through the early rounds, as to be able to get into the top final four for the elimination fly offs. The elimination fly offs keep going, reducing one flyer every round until there is only one left , the winner.

The weather was fine, although the wind was swinging all around the place which made it hard to get good bungee launches. Some did get good launches and some didn't, it was luck of the draw, I guess.

Through the early rounds only a couple managed to get 5 minute Scores, the rest struggled with the hit and miss wind conditions, and lack of thermal formation. Yes they were there, but hard to find and hard to stay in.

Very quickly we finished the rounds and were up to the final four. Who would now need to fly the sudden death elimination rounds until we had a single winner?

The final four were Roy Butterfield, Cliff Goullet, Ian Heather and Brian Deason. First to be eliminated was Brian, then Cliff, leaving Roy and Ian to fight out for First place.

Results :

First place	Ian Heather
Second	Roy Butterfield
Third	Cliff Goullet ( first timer)

Thanks to those who helped with the bungee and timing, and Mr Matthews for his pics.
Report and CD for the day , Roy Butterfield.

Vale - Chris Davies

It's with great sadness we note that Chris Davies lost his battle with his medical condition, on the 17th of September 2011.

When Chris knew his days where limited he wished to return to his favorite hobby, and the club that he had great ties with. He managed to get out on quite a few Fridays, to fly with his past flying buddies and the new ones as well, enjoying every minute that he had.

Chris was a past member of our club, and had taken on roles such as president and secretary before his work took him away from Bendigo. On Chris's return to Bendigo and to our club we welcomed him back with open arms, but time was all too short.

11th September - Pylon Comp or Crash and Bash

It now only happens twice a year. What does? Our pylon race day, although this one could've had a new name, like the Crash and Bash Race. Why? Lets find out.

The weather forecasts all week long said, Cold, Wet and Windy for the weekend, but only rain could stop us, we can beat the cold with more clothing, and we are all experienced enough to handle the winds , so if the rain stays away its game on.

Sunday morning came looked out the window, oh shit its raining, but that's all there was really, for the rest of the day, with a little sunshine at times and some nasty cold winds to boot.

The entries were taken, with six in the CPR and five in the Sports Class. For those don't know what the sports class is, any high or low wing trainer, up to 46 size engine. Note, it "must be a trainer", not a race aircraft of any description. CPR was to be run first before lunch, but the wind strength as it was suggested that we might wait until afternoon, for the wind to ease a little, so the Sports Class were readied to race.

First race everything went wrong, lights had a mix up cut lights coming when they shouldn't have, then a light drizzle of rain on top of this, and we called "lunch". As soon as we did the sun came out.

After lunch we got down to some serious racing. In round one we had Shaun Power, Charlie Meson and Matt Young, they were having a great time trying to handle the wind and still kept a good flight line. Next heat of round one, had first timer Gary Schmedje and Les Davis. Les took the lead only to have a flame out and leave Gary to race on his own. Round two was almost a repeat of the first round with similar results with Les having another flame out.

In the third round Les had a change of aircraft, he now had Scanner as what Gary had, 2 identical aircraft in the colour scheme in the Same race. Now it got interesting two of the same aircraft same speed lot together swapping the lead several times this was becoming very confusing, who was who, then almost a mid air, this had everybody on their toes, watching.

Come the fourth round and it was the Les and Gary show again, but this time Gary cut number one pylon too short and too low bashing a wing into the pylon, then crashing just in front of the lights cage, what can one say, " this is pylon racing".

Now its time for the CPRs. Had the wind conditions got better or worst? Hard to say.

In round one we had Charlie, Les and Shaun and surprize surprize, they were handling the wind quite easily, with some close racing. In heat two we had Stuart Sinclair, Dete Hasse and John Newman, Stuart was showing the way flying nice and tight with a good turn of speed. John had finished the race when he got caught down wind on landing approch, and suffered damaged to his aircraft, that put paid to his day.

Next round in heat two, Dete and Stuart were having a ding dong battle and it happened, a mid air at number one pylon, 2 more aircraft requiring some maintenance.

The rest of the rest of the racing finished without any incident, then a quick pack up and we were ready for the final results. Before the results, lets say big thankyou to the boys in the cage, who did a great job on such on the lights for us, Andy, Frosty, John and Gary.

Results overall:

Sports class

1st	Shaun Power	783
2nd	Charlie Meson	777
3rd	Matt Young	759 (Junior)

CPR

1st	Les Davis	630
2nd	Shaun Power	600
3rd	Charlie Meson	580

ClubLevel :

Sports class

1st	Shaun P
2nd	Matt Y
3rd	Gary S

CPR

1st	Les D
2nd	Shaun P
3rd	Stuart S

Bill Matthews was the coffee boy as well as taking some fine photos, Thanks Bill for your assistance.

Report by Les Davis

28th August - 4 in 20 Glider Comp

Sunday morning came without a breath of wind, the sun was out and it looks like another great winters day, but by 1 o'clock the wind had picked up and the clouds had appeared, taking away most of the warm sun.

The 4 in 20 comp requires the pilots to fly 4 flights to obtain a total time of 20 minutes. With any one flight it can be up to, but not over, 10 minutes.

Only five entrants for the 4 in 20, a bit disappointing but it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.

The early flights enjoyed some type of lift, which produced good scores, then the lift was gone and the pilots had to work hard to achieve reasonable flight scores.

As usual Les Davis flew superbly only to be matched by Ian Heather, who both managed the perfect twenty minute scores. Alan Uren only missed out by the smallest of margins missing the twenty minutes by only one miserable second, oh so close.

The dark horse of the field, Brian Deason, had a horrible launch on his first flight, only managing 2m.47s after refusing the offer of a relaunch that was available to him, but recovered very well and scored an impressive 7m.27s on his last flight to come in third.

And you guessed it the CD came last, no vertical stabilizer the fin and rudder which had collapsed on launch resulted in no points for the last round.(Bugger)

It's the easiest glider comp to run, and the winner is not decided until the last round is flown, keeps the interest up right to the last flight.

Thanks to the pilots who turned up, to make it such a great comp day, and for the help with the bungee retrieval etc.

Placings

1st	Les Davis and Ian Heather	20. mins
2nd	Alan Uren	19.59
3rd	Brian Deason	19.30
4th	Roy Butterfield	19.11

Report written by and CD for the day Roy Butterfield, photos by Alan Uren.

14th August - Bendigo GTR and REDBULL Racing

Another wonderful Large Scale Race day was held on the 14th Aug 2011, under near perfect weather conditions, for the Great Texan Race and also the new class of Redbull racing 120 size.

As the race day came closer the entries came in quite quickly, and more than expected, so Steve and Les decided step down from flying and run the racing event this time around. The entries that came in were 10 for Texan and 8 for the new class, that of Redbull racing 120 size.

By 9am Sunday morning all flyers were set up and ready to go, the course was already set, lights were checked, timing computer was loaded, time to welcome everybody to Bendigo with a quick briefing, a run down of the race rules, photo shoot and its time to go RACING!

Round one had 3 heats of Texan and 2 heats of Redbull, racing was fairly mild, more like single file racing just follow each other around, this went on until the lunch break. With some good food and drink in their tummies during lunch break, after lunch they started to mix it up a bit, and it became great to watch with the lead changing many times in some races, with great passing manoeuvres.

The Shepp boys were having a ball, 3 of them in one heat, plenty of laughter as they manage to avoid each other, but the stand out was Gary Flanagan, his noisy engine bearings could be heard every time he passed the pitts, but his aircraft was short on speed just the same. Les Sawyer was having a great day out, his Texan was on song, and his Redbull was going quite nicely for its first outing.

The surprise of the day was Cliff McIver. He managed to score a cut before the timer had started counting, its not really hard to do but Cliff was the first one to do it, good onya Cliff.

We also had 2 new flyers in the Redbull class, Ashley Meddings, and Chris Caulcutt, and both did very well in their first attempt, although they will need to watch the cuts they both kept getting. It was great to see new talent coming through, well done to both of them. They be back next year for sure.

Steve Green's entry in Redbull was a Chipmunk aircraft, and it made some of the tightest turns you will ever see, using flaps and elevator, the Chipmunk could turn in its own length around the plyon,but didn't do much for the speed factor.

All 5 rounds of Texan and Redbull were run and we finished on time, one of the best days we've had, and would like to thank the following for their assistance, Gary, David, Frosty, Andy and John for lights and timing, spot on all day, and Robbo, Joy and co in the kitchen. Good tucker!

Plus Model Engines for their kind donation of the Texan Race fuel, thank you all.

Results - Texan

First place	Les Sawyer	539.3
Second	Gary Flanagan	536.7
Third	Cliff McIver	531.9

Results - Redbull "120 size"

First place	Rob Lauder	585.8
Second	Les Sawyer	549.6
Third	Dave Brown	528.3

Thanks to Bill Matthews who took the pics, and the other club members who helped in some way during the day.

Report by Steve and Les Davis

5th August - A Note from Chris

I would like to thank all club members for their welcome since I re-joined the club earlier this year. It has been a long time since I flew models and it has given me fantastic pleasure to start again.

The presentation that was made to me on 15th July was a great surprise and I'd like to thank Les for his kind words.

Yesterday (Fri. 5th Aug) with expert help from Alby, who built the plane, and Les who made sure the controls were trimmed, I was able to fly my new plane on its maiden flight. It was wonderful to be able to take-off, fly around, do some basic aerobatics and land again safely.

I had been unsure as to whether I would be able to, given my condition. My confidence is returning however, and I look forward to flying next week. Alan who has been helping me with the buddy box, flying his duration model, has been a key in helping me to regain that confidence. Here's hoping the weather holds!

My son-in-law who gave me the kit was absolutely rapt to hear the news of the flight.

To all of you many thanks, from myself and Marg.

Happy flying.

Chris Davies (photos)

25th July - BRCAC Annual General Meeting

At the Annual General Meeting, the outgoing president gave a thank you speech to all the general members who had helped to run the club through year, and also the Secretary and Treasure for their contribution through out the past year.

Then all positions were made vacant and nominees were called for.

Secretary position, Alan Uren was re-elected unopposed

Treasurer position, Barry Thomas was re-elected unopposed

President position, One nomination, Andrew Thomas was elected

Vice President position, One nomination, Greame Beagley was elected.

Report by Les Davis

24th July - Glider 2,4,6,8

Unfortunately only four pilots made it for the 2,4,6,8 comp.

A little drizzle, then some sunshine then cloud, we had it all with a 6-8 knot wind. The lift was variable so you had to get your times right, not all of us did this.

Ian suffered from a heavy glider when a lighter one would have been better. I chose to go eight minutes on the first flight and bombed out at 6min 53secs then in the last round could have stayed up all day when I only needed 6mins.

Les Davis was right on the ball with two perfect scores and two better than average. Alan Uren had two good scores, 2min and 4min, but his 6min & 8 min were way off.

Any way on to the results.

Thanks to those that turned up, hope we see more there next time.

Out of a possible 1200 Points...

Les Davis	1057	1st
Roy Butterfield	1050	2nd
Alan Uren	929	3rd
Ian Heather	671	4th

Roy Butterfield, AUS33939 C.D. (Photos from Alan Uren)

22nd July - Friday Flyers

David Oxley had a new Electric Sopwith Camel, which had its initial flights with a beautiful takeoff and an excellent flight with no trimming needed. See some photos here, thanks to Alan Uren.

15thJuly - A SPECIAL PRESENTATION

On Friday the 15th of July a special presentation was made to one of our members. That member was Chris Davies, who served as a club secretary for many years when he joined our club back in 1990.

After quite a few years of membership and service with our club, Chris's work took him away from Bendigo and up into the high country at Dinner plain to run the local school up there. Although away from Bendigo the occasional phone call from Chris kept us in touch.

Early this year came the news that Chris has returned to the Bendigo area, and wished to rejoin his favorite Radio Controlled Aircraft Club. Yes Chris was back, and still flying the old fun fly aircraft that he had when he left. We welcomed him back with open arms.

Then came the news that Chris's health is fading, but that's not stopping Chris, He's out there doing what he likes, and that's flying, making the most of the Fridays with the current club members (the oldies), whenever it's possible. Alan Uren who is a mode 2 flyer the same as Chris, has been bring his Wombat trainer, for Chris to enjoy some nice relaxing flying, and its working, just have a look at Chris's face,with the big smile.

As this is our club's 60th anniversary year, we had decided to present Chris with his 60th anniversary badge at this time, so on the Friday all the club members that were in attendance were called into our club room for the presentation.

Chris was thanked for the time and effort that he had put into the club, as it takes a lot of good members quite a bit of time and effort, to keep clubs viable and active, especially over 60 years.

Chris thanked the members for their kind words and his badge, and suggested that we get out and do so more flying while we can. The presentation finished with the members saying in unison,

"Thanks Chris... And Good Luck"

16th-17th July - VMPRA Pylon Race Meeting

Saturday morning came, fine and sunny with mild winds ideal for racing, and all the boys were out tuning their donks, and practicing their pylon racing ready for the start time. As the clock approached mid day they decided to have a quick lunch and start racing just after 12 noon.

With the course all set up it took a bit of time to get enough pylon judges for the racing to start, then it was on,as Saturday was only the practice day, some great races were had, with the ground only claiming one aircraft that I know of.

Two of our club members were in the Quickie class that being Shaun Power and Barry Townsend, and they were having quite good races, with Barry just out pointing Shaun in every race.

Practice racing finished at about 4 PM, and everything was packed up for the day, and all was ready for Sunday, the main race day. We were hoping the weather would hold out for most of Sunday, but that was not to be, as the rain started at 8pm Saturday night and rain and rain and was still raining Sunday morning.

Nine o'clock Sunday it was called off, weather looked very bleak, still light rain falling a little foggy and low cloud, made it possible to race. Very disappointing for those who had travelled up just for the Sunday racing.

The VMPRA thanked the club for the use of our field,and then everybody departed, gates shut and locked, we all went home, end of story.

Thanks to the 4 club members who manned the canteen for a day and a bit, not much was sold, but we can't control the weather, and that's life.

Report from, Hot Dawg and Must Targ.

19th June - Climb and Glide

Six competitors turned up for the Climb & Glide event.

Weather wise it was not your ideal day, very overcast and windy, approx 8.5 knts. Later there were breaks in the cloud and we had occasional sunshine.

On to the comp. Unfortunately after the first round I had to pull out with aircraft problems. Ian, Les & Alan were getting good times mainly because of the style of aircraft, John & Neil were struggling with the wind blowing their aircraft around a bit. We managed to fly four rounds which were modified to cut out the spot landing aspect and bring out the pilots skill more.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the new format and in my opinion it was a much better way of running this event (thanks to Les for the suggestion).

On to the results.

First	Max score tied at 24Minutes	Les Davis & Ian Heather.
Second	22Min 22 Secs	Alan Uren
Third	18Min 03 Secs	Neil Frost
Fourth	15Min 42Secs	John Newman

Thanks to all that attended, hope to see more competitors at the next climb & glide.

Roy Butterfield C.D.

Queens Birthday Weekend - Cobram Air Races

A team of racers from Bendigo went to race at Cobram, on the Queens Birthday weekend and cleaned up in the two classes that they entered.

The two classes were AT-6 Texan and 120 size RedBull race. Steve Davis turned on his smooth flying skills, leading all the way in from start to finish in both events, while I struggled a bit to get back in the grove after the midair I had at the last race event at Adelaide, but it didn't stop us from pulling first and second in both of our race classes.

The weather was ideal with no wind to speak of. Very nice smooth grass runway running east/west, in a narrow flying field, but this created no problems to the racing pilots that were there on the weekend, making landings in either directions, with the very light winds over the two days.

The pylons they used were 300mm PVC sewer pipe, which looked like cannon barrels sticking out of the ground six metres high, with guy ropes and fence around the bottom, to stop wayward aircraft attacking the pylons from ground level.

Five rounds were flown over the weekend, which was pretty hectic with entry numbers in the high 40s. Entries were from Qld, NSW, Vic and SA to compete in this first ever large racing at Cobram, which ran very smoothly, so well done to them.

The most disappointing thing for the weekend, was the aircraft failure of the red Texan that the Turna's used to great success in Adelaide. It was purchased by Dave Brown and brought to Cobram to give the Davis team a run for the money. Although it was as fast as ours it suffered a wing failure in the fourth race and destroyed itself. Very disappointing for all.

On the other side, we had some really great races, especially the Reno class, (62cc), where the Mustang and the Corsair would swap the lead three or four times during the 10 lap race. It was fascinatingly to watch every time they raced.

Again we had great support from our own club, with Robbo, Joy and family, along with David Munday, Gary Schmedje and his Dad, so thanks for your support over the weekend.

Report by Les Davis 5620 (photos)

[What can we say, well done again guys!!]

5th June - Pylon Race Day

Our first pylon race for this year was on the calendar as CPR and Sports Pylon. Unfortunately Barry Townsend thought we were having Quickie 500 and brought out his Viper to race, sorry Barry.

CPR was first to be run before the lunch break, as the weather threaten to turn nasty as the day went on. With six entries ready to race at just after 11am a draw was made with two heats of three flyers, Dete Hasse, John Newman and Geoff Jenkins in the first heat, and Les Davis, Shaun Power and Charlie Meson in the second heat.

The first heat was raced in quite calm weather, John and Geoff were first timers and struggled with the course for a while. Dete was on song and easily lapped the other two before the race was over, but as soon as that race had finished up came the wind, and it was a northerly coming off the trees, so it was quite blustery to say the least.

The second heat the three pilots who were racing, all had silmar speeds with their aircraft, and some close racing was had, although the wind did make it difficult at times with these little aircraft getting blown around quite bit. With the conditions as they were, we decided to go straight through and finish the five rounds of CPR racing before the lunch break, and we did.

After lunch the wind hadn't gained any more strength but was surely colder, and our best pylon judges (button pushers/ time keepers) were in for a cold session in the cage, which we must take our hats off to Andy, Gary and David, they do such a good job not one light mishap for the whole day, thanks from all cocerned.

Five entries in the Sport Pylon, so what is sport pylon, well any high or low trainer, any high or low wing type sport aircraft,with 40-47 size engines, no designated race or racing type aircraft, its for the beginners level, but all members can fly in it, with the correct aircraft.

First heat had Les Davis and Charlie Meson, only two flyers but very close racing and exciting as well, with Charlie just getting home before Les every time.

Second heat had three flyers Matt Young ( visitor from CV Modellers) Geoff Jenkins and Shaun Power, Shaun was showing the way in the first round, but in the second round the pylon number 3 got in the road, and that put paid the Shaun's day. Matt and Geoff were having quite a fun time with the wind and the fact that this was their time at this class, some extra aerobatics (wind blown of course), during the race made it great and exciting to watch. After five rounds were flown we call it a day, and packed up all the gear, including the damaged pylon that got Shaun, and then the scores were tallied up ready for the presentation of the place getters.

Before the results, lets say a big thankyou to those Pylon Judges who had to sit out there in the cold, just so we could race, they did the job well, Andy, Gary and David.

Our CD/Starter for the day was Ian Heather who seemed to enjoyed himself being in the middle of it all, and also did a great job, and kept the flyers moving along all day, thankyou Ian. Thanks also to Roy Butterfield also came along just help us on the day.

Results
CPR first

1st	Les Davis	800 pts
2nd	Shaun Powe	782
3rd	Charlie Meson	774 ( over all placing, non club member)
3rd	John Newman	616 ( club Level)

Sport Pylon

1st	Charlie Meson	771 pts ( over all placing, non club member)
1st	Les Davis	739 ( club Level )
2nd	Geoff Jenkins	625
3rd	Matt Young	560 ( over all placing, non club member)
3rd	Shaun Power	206 ( club level)

It was great to see three newbies having a go, its not hard to race fly, its hard to go as fast as you wish, that's racing, next Club Pylon Race day is on the 11th of September 2011.

Report By Les Davis 5620 (Bill's photos)

30th May - BRCAC Bylaw update

Have a check of the bylaw update relating to 2.4GHz radios here.

27th May - New starting benches

The new starting benches made, installed and relocated by Andrew are now in full swing by the members � Bill's smile is an indication of how they are being received and appreciated.

14th-15th May - Victorian State Pattern Champs

This year would have been the coldest weekend that this event has been run under. Not only was the temperature down but the wild chill factor made it bitterly cold, blowing straight of the south pole.

How the pilots managed to fly in such cold conditions was amazing, to see them rugged up with all the clothing on just to keep warm, then having to fly to the best of their ability with the strong southerly wind blowing in their face. If that was not bad enough, what about the poor old judges having to sit out there all day, freezing their buts off.

At least on Sunday it wasn't as cold as the wind had eased off somewhat, but it was still not very pleasant, although they pushed on with the rounds and managed to get them all in by 4pm.

One interesting note, almost half of the entries are now using electrics over glo engines. Does this say something?

Henry Hutchinson did the presentation in our Clubroom, which was a little warmer than outside. He thanked the Bendigo Club for the hot food and drinks that we supplied over the weekend and also for the use of the field, which they say is the best field for aerobatics, bar none.

Thanks to the few club members who braved the cold to make this a State Championship event a successful one, so much by so few.

By Frozen Stiffen (photos by Bill Matthews and results via Andy Thomas)

1st May - Fun Day

Shaun Power was the CD for the clubs fun day, and Shaun set out the follow events to be flown.

Loops in 30 seconds; 15 second Climb and longest glide; Unknown flight time: and touch and goes.

The weather didn't look great but they did manage to complete the comp before the rain arrived, with only 5 entries, they did still managed to have a few laughs during the events.

Results were

Shaun Power	First
Gary Schmedje	Second
Ian Heather	Third

By Laughing Larry.

17th April - Texaco Old Timers

The weather was perfect for this type of event with next to no wind & clear skies. Six pilots entered but we had no extra timers so it was three planes per flight.

After the first round we only had four competitors left through a minor incident. So we went on, thermals were few and far between. Alan managed to get a lot of hight with most of his flights but only achieved three max's of which one was lost from an out landing.

Les, Brian and Bill were all finding it tuff going with mixture problems, inversion layers and very hard to find thermals but good times were being achieved. Brian also had an eagle attacking his plane for some two to three minutes but when landed there was no damage done.

At the end of the day Brian was the winner with Les second, Alan third and Bill forth having eight & nine plus minute flights but no max's. Forgot to mention we had six rounds, because the first four were over so quickly thus no need for a fly off.

Safe flying. Ian. (photos)

Bendigo wins at Adelaide !

The Race team of Steve and Les Davis took on the Large Scale Racing event at Adelaide known as the Golden Era Racing. It's the biggest Scale Racing event, run in Australia every two years.

Steve and Gary Turna had held the "AT-6 Texan" title for the last six times over a period of 12 years, and now the Bendigo team has taken it off them.

It has taken our Bendigo team four years to get to the top, using their skills through local and nearby competitions, to gain the necessary skills and know how needed to win the big event.

Steve was the pilot who managed to fly exceptionally well, putting the pressure on the Turna's until it started to unravel for them, engine slightly off tune, cutting pylons, giving us a easy run home in the last round, needing only to finish to win the title, which we did.

Les was not so lucky. In the sixth lap of the fourth heat he had one of the most spectacular mid air collisions seen, and the noise that came from it was very loud, bringing to the attention of all the crowd to watch the confetti floating through the sky.

Both aircraft were total wipe offs, but that's racing, can happen, will happen and does happen.

Total paid up entries were 72 for all five classes, but only 68 aircraft managed to get off the ground, and there were about 56 still flying at the end of the racing, although not all of the 12 were badly damaged.

The weather was very kind to us while we were there, although the flies were rather thick, like in your ears, up your nose or swallow one while your trying to fly. We were also lucky to have a bit of home town support while we were there. David Munday and also Robbo and his wife Joy had travelled over to Adelaide and joined us for quite awhile, during the racing, which was great!

So Steve and Les would like to thank all the people who have helped us along the way, to achieve this success, and a couple are Bill Hughes and Alan Uren, also Andy Thomas, Thank you!

Steve and Les Davis (photo)

3rd April - Glider Competition

With only 2 early arrivals it wasn�t looking a goer until another 2 turned up just before time on.

The wind was well up and the sock straight out from the south.

Mal went CD for the day and opted to drop the Multitasking for a simple duration event. Although plenty of wind there was only the odd lift to be found which Mike seemed able to find throughout.

We found 4 minutes the pace and so a couple of rounds progressed until Ian, away down south keeping the bungee free, returned to the pits to be horrified that his glider, well weighted down, had never the less been upended and tossed about by a vicious gust leaving the tail broken.

Mal�s Fling was next to run foul of the conditions and augured in from 20 feet up effectively writing it off, for the day. He was able to continue with his spare Fling.

With bungee causing extreme problems in the long grass, breaking and generally a P.I.A.. With the wind getting up so that the safe glider envelope was approached it was decided to finish at the completion of round 3. During that time Brian, also away on bungee chores, glider was also ground flipped by a great gust and some minor nose separation was a mild concern.

Overall a reasonable day but lack of numbers, poor bungee and less than favourable conditions made it quite eventful, if not a tad short in term.

Regardless, Mike took out first place with an excellent set of times, followed in 2nd by Brian who also had very good flights. Third was Mal with good, but not good enough flights and 4th was Ian.

Thanks to those who came along, especially to Alan and John for flight support

Mal (photos)

20th March - Duration, Comp Day

On a warm and sunny morning 9 entries arrived at Marong for the yearly Duration Competition, but this year we gave an incentive to first time entries in the form of extra fuel. This worked, because half the entries were first time contestants to this event.

With the wind coming through the trees it was a little rough when flying down low, but our pilots had no trouble handling the wind, even at so slow speeds, except for Geoff Jenkins who got a little bored and had to do some mild aerobatics to just fill in the time. The remainder of the field flew without too many problems during the day.

Alan Uren set the great time of 1 hour and 3 minutes, which nobody could catch, he has that engine just keeping purring, well done to Alan.

While talking of Alans, Alan Roshier came out just to help us run the comp which was of great help. Appreciated.

The surprise of the day was, how well Neil Frost did, recording times to finish in the placings, along with Adam Roberts who obtained a great second score, and probably surprised himself.

Gary Schmedje, Geoff Jenkins,Les Davis, Brian Deason and Bill Matthews all improved their scores with their second flights, with the winds easing down quite a bit which made flying very pleasurable.

Results:

Position	Pilot	Best time
1st	Alan Uren	63m 0s.
2nd	Neil Frost	52m 41s
3rd	Adam Roberts	49m 40s
4th	Les Davis	46m 19s.

Report by Les Davis. 5620 (Photos)

20th of February - VOTA Old Timers

The big day had come. VOTA were coming to have another of their wonderful OldTimer Competition events at our field. Our club had managed to get four members in to work the canteen, but would this be enough?

Yes it was as, you see, there was only 8 contestants. What happened? Last year they had 25 entries and didn't finish until sunset. Was it the weather that kept them away, very possible, or was it too early in the year?

They had enough entries to run at least two of their competitions, the morning event was Texaco, in almost perfect weather when they started but the winds were getting stronger as the day went on. Come lunch time the winds had strengthened even more. The front came through with a shower of rain, just to make things worse.

A meeting was called to decide what they might do. They waited for an hour and the weather cleared, the winds had easied to less than 7 knots an hour, so the next event was on. The Climb and Glide.

Then it was time to pack up and head for home. Those who flew and had no carnage seemed quite happy, while the rest put what they had left in the car to take home for re-adjustment.

The results for Texaco:

1st

Ted Hall

2nd

Lin Clifford

3rd

Graeme Gulbin

...and for Climb and Glide:

1st

Lin Clifford

2nd

Steve Cullock

3rd

Ted Hall

The VOTA boys thanked the club for their effort, before disappearing into the sunset.

Report by Treesare Bendover. (photos)

13th February - Working Bee

Club does Debris.

What do you call it, when you have 14 bods, 12 rakes, 8 wheel barrows, 4 car and trailer combos, 1 tray bodied ute, and a lovely Sunday morning at the field?

Did you guess it? You'll be right if you said, it was a ............................ " Working bee! "

And what an active working bee it was. It cleaned up all around the clubhouses, shade shelter, runways, taxi ways, and the areas that we need to mow. Next we started on the fence line down to the creek, by the time we had reached the half way point, the rubbish with very large sticks/ branches had become too much for us to man handle.

Time to call in the heavy duty equipment to finish the clean up, like a front end loader and tip truck.(coming)

In the mean time the mower was out, giving the car park the once over, while a couple of whipper snippers cleaned around the carpark fence lines.

Now the place was really looking a treat. Talking of treats, it was now almost lunch time, hot pies and pasties were on, with a drop of dead horse, and a cool drink, a job well done!

Thanks, to the following, 2 Garys, 2 Terrys, 2 Davids Steve, Brian, John, Alan, Ian, Andy, Les, and Billy. The flying field is now clean, and ready, for Visitors and all Club members to use.

Les. (photos)

6th February 2011 - Electric Fun Day

After a very very wet Friday and Saturday it was doubtful if the E-Fun Day could be held. Come Sunday morn, clear skies fairly windy mild temp, things were looking a lot better. Now would the roads be open? Yes they were, and the runway was dry enough, well Electric Fun Day is On!

7 flyers took to the sky, flying was no problem and many found thermal lift and had some great long flights. For others it was a little tricky, landing in turbulent air close to ground. Just ask Roy Butterfield.

Alan and Noel had a few problems getting their aircraft together, and sorting the radios to operate probably , but in time they did, and both had some good glider flights. Others to fly were Billy, Mal, Les,and Ian, as the day's flying was coming to an end, Roy who had broken all of his little foamies, then brought out his Scale Fox Electric Glider to fly.

Roy, not having a computer radio, has to reset the radio for each aircraft. Yes you've guessed it, he left the V tail mixer on! Well we had a Fox going here, a Fox going there, it was all over the sky. Where was it going to come down?

If there was place that you don't want to land,( crash) its in a puddle, which is what we had in front of the dunnies, from all the rain that we've had over the prior couple of days. Spot on Roy, right in the middle of the puddle, in goes Roy shoes and all, to recover his aircraft.( see photos)

Some names have been suggested for the depression in the ground, where the large puddle forms. Such as Roys Reservoir and Lake Butterfield.

At the end of the days flying, some small goodies were given out, as this was a fun day, not a competition, for best and worst flights, can you guess who had the worst flight.............................?

Report by Les D.

January 2011 - Vale, Vic Smeed

Vic Smeed, Died in January 2011. ( England )

The designer of many free flight designs in the 1950's, who designed the Tomboy aircraft that's known and flown all around the world.

Dete Hasse, Brian Deason and Les Davis all competed in a Tomboy world wide postal comp last year, run out of Italy, as you may remember, placing 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

There would be at least another 4 or 5 members of our club, that have or have had a Tomboy Aircraft, at some point of time, and this aircraft has brought so much enjoyment, to a lot of modellers over a long period of time.

Thank you Vic Smeed, for your great contribution to our modelling world, and long live the "Tomboy".

Report by Les D.

On the - 13th February 2010 - Flood Cleanup

It has been decided to organise a Flood Cleanup working bee on Sunday Feb 13th from 9am and help is requested of all members please.

Bring your gloves and appropriate footwear. Trailers will be available to shift the debris back to the creek. A a shovel and rake will help, too!

BBQ lunch you ask? Come and find out!

18th January 2011 - BRCAC Bulletins

Reports from club members after the rains.

BUNINYONG. Workshop and planes survived last Fridays deluge (95mm overnight) BUT trees down, power lines down and substantial damage to our entrance. Creswick, Clunes, Beaufort etc. are in dire straights and will take weeks to clean up.
Alby in Castlemaine... although no plane damage he is still bucketing out the water in the workshop, but has not stopped the production line. He has gumboots on!
Report from David Munday

Here in Maldon I had to bail for fifteen hours when the power went off and the sump pump in the basement stopped, but nothing has been damaged. (Well, my arms are longer!).
John Newman

So far it seems that BRCAC members and friends have had it pretty easy. Are there any more stories out there? It's probably true that we generally aren't close to the Loddon River, but even Kangaroo Flat had roads washed out.

We can thank the good work of many club members that the club facilities have coped so well.

16th January 2011 - WHATA-A-WEEK!

Monday it started in Queensland, rain rain rain. Then came the devastating floods as we watched from our lounge rooms, the destruction and the heartbreak. To see the power of water in Toowoomba as it rushed through, and down the Valley as it wiped out whole townships that were it its path. Almost unbelievable.

Meanwhile here in central Victoria the soaking rains kept on coming for days and days, then on Friday nature let's us have it, and cop it we did. Floods everywhere, highways closed, trees down, water all over the place.

If you have a story to tell, about the floods, to add on under here, send your story in to John ,our web master, for inclusion in " WHATA-A-WEEK ".

So how did Marong and our flying field get on? Well if you've made the trip out there, past all the "water over the road" signs and the 40 KPH speed limit at the rear of the golf course, you'll know its been pretty bad.

When I got to the field on Sunday, I was greeted by where the Spring Creek had broken its banks, and flooded across our flying field.

First I noticed the debris along the fence, from the creek to our road gate. As I stopped to open the gate I noticed a lake had formed in front of the toilet block, some 40 metres wide. The car park fence is also littered with debris. As I entered the flying field there was more rubbish to the right of the shade shelter, for about some 50 metres into the paddock.

On checking the clubhouse and the canteen no water had penetrated either building. I checked the blue container, that was still dry.

But the little tin shed had a water mark up about 8 inches or 250mm on one side wall, inside was wet and rather smelly.

Now do you want the good news, well the runways are clean, green and looking good. It may need a mow if we get a drop more rain, but beware there is a very damp spot on the east end of the main runway.

What a way to start the year, floods in summer.

Is this Global Warming?

Report by Les Davis.

6th January 2011 - Webra Engines.....Finished

The well known Model engine manufactory, Webra Engines, based in Germany/Austria,closed its doors on the 23 rd of December 2010, for the final time.

The company went into bankruptcy, citing that China had destroyed their market.

If you have a Webra Engine and need spares parts, its suggested that you may need to chase up parts very quickly, before the spares all dry up.

Don't say you haven't been warned..............

Report thanks to David Munday

Pit Chit Chat - With Les, for 2011

Well Christmas is over, and the New Year is upon us. I hope you all made it through this period safely, and are looking forward to a good years flying in 2011.

OK, OK, what did you get for Christmas? Was Santa good to you this year? Let's hope so.

Hands up, who got a "Spitfire" (well thats me). I've waited 68 years to get my first Spitfire, they say good things come, to those who wait, and wait, and wait.

Who got new 2.4 GHz radios? Well at least two that I know of. Our most senior member, and our club leader, have now joined in with the majority of the club flyers and will be using the new frequency, which is marvellous!

So as you sit here reading this why don't you send in to John, our web master, your Christmas surprises? He can add it to this report and let all the club members know what new and exciting, aircraft, engines, and radio gear will be seen on the field this year.

Did ya get a large Pitts, or big Extra? Maybe a DA200 Engine. What about a new Glider, or even a Control liner*? (I know Dave Munday* is after one). Whatever gear you got for your aviation activities, let your fellow club members know, through this web site.

The web site is for all to use, its not just for competition reports. Use it to tell all of us about your new projects, kits or constructions, new engines, etc.

So What did you get for Christmas? we're all waiting to see what goodies you were lucky enough to get. Please add it to this report, it will make John a very, very happy web master.....

Les Davis

(Thanks, Les. That's a great idea. Also I'd like to remind members that there is an area where they can put photos of their models, to show them off to us all. Check out the Member Galleries. Send me an email via the contacts page for instructions.)