Sunday at SLOW Club Field

Managed to get in two great flights with my Circulator 2. Lots of problems. Had to wait out two passing thunderstorms. Started with two inverted landings due to engine quits. Had to disassemble my ST NVA at the field and start from scratch on trying to set the needle. My first time flying in six months! (Working many hours trying to make ends meet.) Managed to get in 2 good flights. Not many people at the field for some reason. The field is in beautiful shape. My battery ran out of juice after the second good flight. My backup battery was home getting charged. And everyone had already left the field. So could not borrow a battery. Really wanted to get in a couple more flights. Oh well, it is the first time flying this year. Out of practice with equipment maintenance. But I can still do overhead eights, vertical eights, lazy eights, loops and wingovers. So all is not lost. Only took pictures of the Circulator 2 on the new extension to the paved part of the circle. No other planes out there to take pictures of.

During the winter, I replaced the landing gear on my Circulator 2. The old gear was not holding up well. The aluminum was not a strong enough grade. So I found some stronger looking aluminum gear in my stash and installed it. The new gear passed it's first test with flying colors.

A couple of the guys (Paul and Joe) at the field mentioned that they noticed I was not at the club field when the takeoff strip was doubled in length. Evidently the guys all showed up one Saturday and did the work themselves. They poured concrete. Hard work. They did a beautiful job. I have worked every Saturday since I started my new job. Saturday is usually the busiest day of our work week. Everyone at our company works on Saturday. So I was not able to show up that day to help. Evidently guys my age are supposed to be retired and available. Believe me, if I ever find enough money, I will retire and be available on Saturdays.

I asked Joe why we needed such a long runway, since all of my planes takeoff in about a third of the old strip. He said a couple of the guys are planning to build a B-29 and a B-24. "Still crazy after all these years!"

Wanted to find out how much it costs to drive to the SLOW Club field from Walkersville at todays gas prices ($3.95 a gallon for regular). So I filled the tank before leaving and again after the trip. It costs $24.80 for one round trip to the field from here. One more reason why I can't make it out to the club field as often as I used to. Oh well, maybe the gas prices will come down someday. LOL!!!

I have to admit that it was very disappointing that there were so few people at the field yesterday. I wonder where everyone went...

Combat 38

Sidewinder Special

Chuck's Stunters

Me-109T

Tomahawk

Combat 38

C/L Flying is Still A Blast!

Made it out to the Sky Lancers of Washington Club flying field yesterday. John, Joe, Chuck and I were there. The weather was almost perfect. Temperatures in the mid 50's. Very light winds. Some clouds and the sun not too high in the sky.
John, Chuck and Joe brought some really cool planes as usual.
John's Nick Ziroli Combat 38 powered by an Enya 19.
Joe's Guillows Me-109T powered by a Cox 09.
Joe's Tomahawk powered by a Veco 19.
Chuck's Stunters.
And my Sidewinder Special powered by a Thunder Tiger GP-25 C/L.
Plenty of flights-plenty of fun-plenty of excitement.
Thanks for the Sunday off, boss.
Pictures to follow.

Voodoo Wing Thing

George brought this plane too.

Salmon Streak

Streak

Three flights-plenty of inside and outside loops, vertical, horizontal and overhead eights, wingovers, reverse wingovers, inverted laps, etc. The Streak is still a blast to fly!

Shoestring

George's Shoestring

Flying Clown

Charlie's Clown is now Enya powered!

P-51 Mustang

FW-190

Ground Crew

P-38 Lightning

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

Luckily, last Sunday turned out to be a day off from work for me.
Made it out to the NASA softball field to see what's happening with the S.L.O.W. club these days.
There were many signs of involvement with the 4-H club from Montgomery County.
There were more Super Clowns at the field than I have ever seen in one place in my life. Probably 6 or 8 of them. Kent is teaching the 4-H members his super light building techniques. They are building the Super clowns for a contest to be held at the Montgomery County fairgrounds later this year.
There were also several 1/2-A models under construction.
Flying lessons were also provided.
And we even had a couple of youngsters flying hand launched gliders. And a Dad flying a rubber-powered stick and tissue Spitfire.
Of course there was a lot of control line flying going on.
Pictures to follow.

Circulator Survives!

Super Tigre 34

Circulator Lives!

Me Too!

Circulator Home!

Too Windy in Walkersville

The forecast for this area today called for 10-15 mph winds with gusts over 25 mph. So I decided not to spend the time and gasoline necessary to fly at the SLOW club field. I miss the guys, though.
Anyway, I just had to try flying here in Walkersville. So I went over to the Heritage Farm Park.
After opening the needle valve on my Super Tigre 34 about 3/8 of a turn, it fired right up. And the takeoff was really hairy. The wind blew the lines slack some, but the plane and I recovered. The wind nearly blew the Circulator out of the circle a couple of times. It would start to seem like the flight would be O.K. and then a wicked gust would challenge control.
I managed to complete a couple of inside loops and maintain control of the plane. But it really was just too windy. So after the first flight, I packed up and went home feeling a little foolish for not having enough sense to stay home in the first place.
The Weatherbug says the high gust at the high school was 31 mph. I think a couple of gusts that high or higher hit my Circulator during that flight.
Hopefully some weekend soon we will get some gentle winds around here on a Sunday I do not have to go to work. My wife Sharon was nice enough to take a few pictures after the return from the field. Some of them follow.

George's Shoestring-Super Ringmaster-Larry's Planes

Bub Launching-Bislob-Shoecat

Larry's New Stunters-Cats-Drones-Clown-Bislob

John's Circulator and Bub's Stunter