About 10 miles north of the Massachusetts border where the Connecticut River bends to starboard and flows south toward Long Island Sound, lies a tranquil place called Retreat Meadows. Here, a special breed of aeromodellers fly their aircraft free, rising off the still waters into the cool Vermont sky.
Our Stealth Squadron roving reporter recently caught up with Jim Woolwough, to learn more about his fantastic free flight rubber model “Thin Ice” and the quest for a 5 minute rise-off-water (ROW) flight over Retreat Meadows.
For perspective: the standing Mulvihill Rubber ROW world record flight is 5min 44sec made by Robert Hauk on September, 7, 2019.
In 1929, Bert Pond (AMA Hall of Fame) held the ROW world record with a 2min 52 sec flight made with an “A Frame” Twin Pusher on floats.
Jim Woolnough describes “Thin Ice” his fantastic model airplane and the quest for a 5 minute rise-off-water (ROW) flight
Retreat meadows, Vt – site of the flight
(click to enlarge)