S.L.O.W. Club Wednesday Flying Session

Chuck, John, Glenn, Kenny and I all made it out to the field today.
Another Spring flying day featuring wind challenges. Updrafts and downdrafts. Variable wind direction. Shear winds. But it was warm and sunny. A nice day to be out at the field.
Chuck brought his Folgore.He managed several pretty good flights with it. The Folgore seems to be able to handle the winds at the field pretty well.
John brought a couple of carrier planes. His Skyraider and one of his Japanese Navy semi-scale bombers. I got to the field too late to see the Skyraider fly. But the Japanese Navy bomber flew well once the engine run settled down.
Glenn and Kenny did not bring any planes to fly.
I managed to get in about six flights on my Circulator. It took me three flights to get the needle valve set right. But the last three flights were good ones. On the last flight I even managed to get in a couple of overhead eights.
Last, but not least, I finally took my Yankee Nipper out to the field. On the first attempt to start the engine (Leo 37), the prop came off. But we found the prop, the prop washer, and the prop nut. On the second start, the engine ran for two minutes, but seemed a little lean. So I opened the needle another turn. On the next run, the needle fell out. John found it in the grass. On the next run, the glow plug almost fell out. The engine lost so much compression because the glowplug was coming out, that it stopped running. By this time I was beginning to feel a little jinxed. On the next run it ran fine for three minutes.
So Chuck told me to fly the plane because he wanted to see it fly before leaving the field. So I agreed.
The takeoff was a bit squirrely, but I did manage to get airborne. Lord that sucker is fast! I was terrified. Chuck claims he timed it at three seconds per lap. Fast enough for me! Anyway, about two thirds of the way through the flight I felt confident enough to climb and dive the plane a little. Once it ran out of fuel, it glided pretty well. Of course I nosed it over on landing.
But the bottom line is I flew the Nipper and it is still flyable! And I did not fly it again today because I can only stand so much excitement in one day.
After the fact Chuck said he thought he would get to see me rack up a spectacular crash. But he must have been kidding me.
Pictures to follow. Unfortunately, the pictures were taken with my old digital camera. The family had other plans for the good one today. So the pictures are not as good as I would like. Maybe next time.