Another Habu takes to the air. Easy to build, easy to fly.
Habu on a slow fly-by
..what do you mean it's my fault..
Peter flying his Habu, while Dessie walk out with Ian's trainer.
What do you mean it was'nt you..
Lizy is Davids dog that looks after us. Always on the lookout for anything edible. Has a habit to scrounge through your car if you leave the doors open.
Lizy, looking very innocent..
She looks as if nothing happened. Was not her fault I left the doors open or the plane in the car!!
stab damaged...
Ah well, taught me a lesson! The damage was easily mended, but beware off dogs looking for food!
Tales of pink planes and brute power..
Gerry had the best plane of all to fly in the darkish weather. It’s pretty pink! Rumours have it this plane is a wee present for a young lady. I’m sure we will find out more once the weather turns a bit milder!
Lady in pink.
..it is certainly the best colour as far as visibility is concerned!
If my eyes don’t deceive me, it says ‘Kate’ on the wing, but do correct me!
The rightfull occupants of the place came by to say hello, nice meeting you ladies, but would you mind just stepping a wee bit out of the way?
..wanna have a flight ladies??
And of course, last but not the least, Dessy with his new engine/old Pitts.
(Like plane for a tenner, engine a tad more.)
I wonder why Norman is looking so worried. Do you think he has to test fly the beast??
..to the moon and back
After some hard work trying to wind up the rubber bands in the engine, it finally obliged, and sprang to life. Maybe due to the cold, but we needed to open the main needle 1.25 turns and the low needle 1 turn to get the music going. Ivan must have had his brain thawed out in the hut to come up with that solution, while the rest of us were wondering how to get enough juice into the innnards.. It might well be that we need to go back to the orignal settings quickly after a bit of running. But for now it was pure music, even on the stubby two so called exhausts. We managed 6500 RPM on a wooden 28 *10. It picks up and idles very well for a brandnew engine. Vibration levels are very low too, I would have expected them to be higher, especially on a wooden toothpick. Anyway, Norman being the Testpilot of choice (lucky for those with crossed thumbs) had to take a leap of faith. Since he knew this plane when it still housed a 50cc engine, at least that part was no surprise. After some careful taxi-ing to the take-off position, it was time to get airborne. With some last minute deep sighs, and suggestions to only fly at half throttle, she went on her merry way. Beforehand the max airtime was decided upon as being 5 mins, given that this brute is thursty. After some lazy uneventfull circuits, it was time to return from the moon.
Landing was largely a non event, but even at low tick-over it wants to keep going, despite the 13 mph breeze (measured that earlier). Norman said he had almost full up during the final part of the descent, which can be explained by the fact that Dessy did a plug an pray engine installation without readjusting the Center of Gravity sticker that comes with all planes. (DLE111 versus unknown 50cc, something has to move!)
Anyway, Dessy went home one happy man!
what do you mean it's a bit windy..
35 mph wind? That all?? Phelim certainly enjoyed himself going full blast down the field. My camera never managed to catch him going past.
Phelim's Rapier
A few slow passes were needed to get him in the picture. Of course Roxy like to chase planes, she does not understand what a waste of time that is. They will come down eventually, all you got to do is wait! Silly dog..
Roxy chasing planes, and getting a good workout!
Roxy chasing planes, and getting a good workout!
This is a slow pass for the benefit of my camera, with Roxy doing her best to catch up..
..is that close enough for you??
Sometimes objects are closer than they appear to be on your camera viewer 
Gerry getting plenty advise on how to rig a biplane.
Gerry had a new Tiger Moth, or at least the engine was new, and needed some running in. Later on, a pretty bad gust of wind flipped it on it’s back, even though it was weighted and tethered down. Moral of the story: in high winds, sit on it!
Gerry has been spotted..
..practising for his B-certificate.
(At least that’s what the rumour mill says.)
What’s not quite clear yet, is why he is not using his tranny to fly the Cougar??
(date says 15 Nov, there was Sunshine on the field, not like today, all I can see is waterfalls cascading down the road. Ah well, maybe it’ll clear up later..
New toys..
Magically one of those contraptions for cutting the grass appeared on the field last week. But tell you what, starting a plane is easier then running one of those things! However, as we discovered, without a working battery, you are stuck. (And you have to push the darn thing back to base.) Never mind, all will be sorted soon. 
Owen brought his new heli, and had some nice flights with it. Of course, never satisfied with merely flying, someone had the brilliant idea to stick a camera in the heli. No doubt we will see the results soon. First impressions of the resultant video: lots of wobbly sky. 
The rest of those there do what they usually do: take planes apart, try to start reluctant engines, have flight or two, drink some tea, walk the dog, have a natter..
It was another pleasant afternoon, but by 4 the lights went out, and most of us headed home. Looks like you have to be there by 10 to enjoy some sunlight!
Long time no see..
I know, I’ve been in hiding! Since there was nothing extremely exiting to report, there were no stories. But since the summer is definitely on the way south, it is a good time to catch with some pictures. This Sunday was actually a good day, almost no wind, a bit chilly, but for the rest, nice.
Dessy flew his big Yak. There are still a few minor issues to be sorted, but as long as the plane goes home the way it arrived, all is well!
Wings and Wheels and a Rapide
The usual trip to Wings and Wheels incorporated a change to our normal routine this year, choosing to attend Wings and Wheels on the Sunday. Michael unfortunately couldn’t make it this year and a friend of Owens, Jack, took up the offer to travel with us!
We decided to visit Duxford Imperial War Museum on the Saturday, and after our pilot and navigator (who won’t be in the front next year!) took a slight deviation from our route (I think at one stage we passed a sign for Glasgow!), we arrived just before lunchtime and began the tour around this vast site.
We took a few photo’s so I wont go into what we seen but suffice to say there is plenty to see and do and all tastes in aircraft are catered for. The American flight Museum is crammed full of planes and would take a few hours just to take it all in. (more…)