Indoor Season Underway

All Georgetown, MA indoor flying dates have been posted! 


            Click to Enlarge Images

Rick P and Marc G show off their NRE Tribute models at the Turkey Fly
The Texas FAC flyers participated remotely in the NRE Tribute Event
And the infamous Harfang (Snow Owl) gang phoned results in from chilly Montreal, Canada.
Richard B flew his Scrappy at the Woodsom Test Field in early December.
Just a reminder of what’s coming…
Winner of the Ed Novak Tribute Event –  Mike S. and family at Pinkham Field in Durham, CT

NRE Tribute Goes Viral!


Thanksgiving seems ages ago.   The annual Durham Turkey Fly was held the weekend before T-day and the Novak Tribute Event was the highlight.  All-sheet Tribute models were flying in Durham and an equal number of flyers participated remotely from Texas and Canada.  How about that – an International salute to one of the FAC’s finest, Never Ready Eddie (NRE)!

The Colonel (Paul S who ran the event) will tell us about it below, but first – an ANNOUNCEMENT.

The Georgetown, MA indoor flying meet dates have been added to the Calendar and will appear on the Coming Events in the Sidebar. There will be indoor flying dates each month January – April, 2025 in both Georgetown, MA and Glastonbury, CT.  See you in the gym(s) flyers – and don’t forget your Scrappy one design model!

The Colonel’s NRE Tribute Event Recap

“There were 19 entries in the Tribute Event.  Four from the Alamo Escadrille in Texas, Six from the Snow Owl (Harfang) Squadron in Montreal, Canada, and Nine from the Pinkham Field Irregulars in Durham. 

Tribute models built included 5 Flying Fools, 3 Commando’s, 3 Little Mike’s, 2 Swallow’s, 2 Rigid Midgets, 2 Clodhopper’s, 1 Lil Cloud Sniffer and 1 FAC Beginner’s Racer.

And the Winner was ..(drum roll).. Mike S. and his beautifully decorated Flying Fool. 

Mike had Three duplicate flights out of his six officials and his next closest was one second apart.  The Snow Owl’s Giorgio T. also had Three duplicate flights, but his next closest official flight was three seconds apart.”

A tip o’ the hat to Mike for some impressively consistent flying with his Flying Fool.  And what a pleasure to see Mike with his young family out on the field.  And thanks Colonel, we know your cell phone was smoking like an old Hisso with a bad cylinder with all those remote flights getting texted in to Pinkham Field!

Hope we can do it again sometime.

See you in the gym soon skysters!

Good-Bye Summer

One more outdoor meet –

11/17 Durham FAC Turkey Fly

Event Flyer HERE


            Click to Enlarge Images

Flyers launch their Baby Gliders at last year’s Turkey Fly at White’s Farm in Durham, CT
It was windy for the WW1 mass launch event!
Mitch K’s Curtiss Speed Scout FAC Scale model flew well in the Glastonbury HS gym on Nov 3
Tom N retrieves his Commando from the top of the bleachers
Flying to the stars? Nope, a Pacific Ace floatplane rests on the West River in VT
Scrappy One Design flyers in the Glastonbury HS gym on November 3

Seasons go round & round..


And just like that, it’s over.   The shadows grow longer as the days get shorter.   The pitter patter of soft soled shoes on the gym floor.  The first weekend of November was truly a transition – flying in the brisk air at Woodsom Farm on Saturday and in the calm, quiet space of the Glastonbury HS  gym on Sunday.  Whew!

There’s one more chance outdoors at the Turkey Fly in Durham, CT on Nov. 17.  See you there!

Nov 2 Woodsom Meet Pics & Results

Despite the strong Fall wind, a great time was had by all.  Steve E. extended his streak with wins in the Pinkham Stick, Embryo, Dime Scale and Chameleon Mass Launch events.  Rich Z. mopped up most of the remaining events.  Congrats guys.  We won’t go so easily on you next time..haww!

Check out pics and meet results below.

Pics

Results p1

Results p2
Thanks for sharing Kim & Steve!

About those Indoor Dates –

All of the Glastonbury, CT Indoor dates have been posted to the Calendar page.  Check the Flyer for dates in the Glastonbury High School gym, key contacts (John K) and address for the High School (your GPS/mapping will provide directions).

Don’t forget to build a Scrappy and get in on the One-Design Fun!

 

Georgetown, MA Indoor Dates are being finalized and we expect to have these posted to the Calendar soon.  We anticipate one flying day per month beginning in January 2025 and running through April.  The Scrappy One Design will be flown in Georgetown as well, so get building!

Fying Aces Take Flight at Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm!

Exhibition Flying at Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury MA on June 8, 2024


            Click to Enlarge Images

Stealth Squadron will Fly Stick & Tissue models at this open-to-the-public event. Click to view Event Listing at historicnewengland.org
The Stealth Sqdn Spring Meet has been moved to May 11, 2024. Click to view full flyer w/directions
Steve E’s WW2 Mass Launch winning Hellcat at April 14 Georgetown Meet
Richard B flies his Guillows Bird Dog at an impromptu Woodsom Farm trimming session
John R holds Rich Z’s Airmaster at the Glastonbury April 21 meet.
First sortie in the popular World War 2 mass launch event at the April 14 Meet in the Penn Brook School. This was our last meet of the indoor season.

CHANGE: May 11 1st Outdoor Meet


Whew.  Just like that the Indoor Flying Season is over!  The April 14 meet at the Penn Book School in Georgetown was a big success, with lots of entries in many of the events.  See the Results Sheets below:

 

And the following week, flyers gathered at the Glastonbury High School in CT for the final indoor meet at that site.  Check out the great pics of the action that Clubster John R took HERE.  Thanks for sharing John!

Flying Aces Take Flight at Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm!

Yep, that’s right, on June 8 the Stealth Squadron FAC club #49 will put on a stick-and-tissue rubber powered model airplane exhibition at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in beautiful Newbury MA.  From 11am to 2pm, Stealth Squadroneers will fly their models in several exhibition events and help attendees get their stick models (included with public admission tickets) flying at this historic early New England farm.  Check out the Event Listing on the Historic New England site and tell your family and friends to come join us at the event!

Last Club Meeting of the Season coming up!

Monday May 6 will be the final club meeting of the season at the Georgetown Public Library.  Check out the sidebar or Calendar listings for the details.   With the good weather and longer days, we’ll be planning more impromptu flying sessions at the testing field  off the parking lot at Woodsom Farm in Amesbury, MA.  Perhaps our club meetings will be at this field.

 

See you at the May 11 meet at Woodsom Farm, skyster!

High Performance Indoor Scale Model Comparison

Indoor Contests: January 8 in Glastonbury, CT & January 15 in Georgetown MA


            Click to Enlarge Images

Key Specifications for J Daly Indoor Flying Scale Models

Lessons from the Glastonbury Gym


Do you remember when we used to fly free flight rubber models in the MIT Dupont Gym in Cambridge  MA?  Perhaps you flew there with us. 

One of the top flyers there, Jim D., built a couple of flying scale models from the popular Golden Age Reproductions kits and plans. One was the 25″ wingspan Scientific Curtiss Robin and the other was the Megow 20″ span Caudron C460 Racer.  They were fabulous flyers with flight times of 80sec to 2min duration indoors.
Being an engineer, Jim documented the key specifications for his models – weights, wing area, motor dimensions, etc.  He also charted the empirical results from a number of flights on each model in the Glastonbury high school gym.   Yes, this is the same gym we’ll be flying in on January 8, 2023! 
In his analysis (click link below), Jim compares the performance of the two models and draws some insightful conclusions. He comments on high wing vs. low wing configuration, the effects of drag and wing undercamber among other things.  
There’s lots of great information in this brief analysis for both experienced and newer modelers.  If you can replicate Jim’s specifications, you’ll be very competitive in indoor meets like the ones coming up in January 2023.  Good luck skyster!

Read performance Comparison Now

 

Nov 5 Woodsom Meet Results & Pics

Georgetown Indoor Flying & Contest Dates added to Calendar
(View Flyer for Events)


click images to view larger

Tristan & Sam ready the BE2e for WW1 combat
William’s Laird fuselage suffered some wind damage while on the stooge
Clive ready to launch his GB2 twin flying boat into the wind. Flew great
Steve put in some great flights with his Condor
Bill launches his new Tomahawk Embryo into the Autumn sky

 

A Perfect (Windy) Day!


                              Results Page 1

                              Results Page 2

Wow, near 70 degree temps on a November day in New England with blue skies!  A perfect day for flying free flight rubber models – well, except for the wind.  Yep, it blew 12-15mph most of the day for our outdoor season close meet at Woodsom Farm in Amesbury, MA.

Still, many outstanding flights were made.  Flyers had to wind their motors carefully lest they fly their models off even the big green fields of Woodsom Farm.  Several models were lost with at least one OOS (out of sight) flight into a cloud.  The mass launch events were hotly contested with several very close and unexpected finishes. 

Carlisle ace George S. had a great contest with three wins for the hat trick.  Son William S. was not so lucky, his Tomahawk Embryo stomped by a stick & tissue loving dog and his beautiful Laird Solution racer smashed by a Hungly gust while on the winding stooge.  Oh, the carnage!  All wail!

Steve E continued his winning ways in Pinkham Stick with his high flying Goose canard and copped a second Kanone with his Mad Maxine Embryo Endurance model.  Clive G.’s Debut was hot on Maxine’s heels, but made a bee line downwind for the tree line at the hill and was lost on its first official flight.  Oh Hung, hath thee no mercy??

Clive settled the score somewhat with a win in the Golden Age Civil event.

Sam and young Tristan trekked to the meet and flew several events.  No Kanones (first place finishes) at this meet, but they had big fun flying with the gang and that’s really what it’s all about. 

There were lots more flyers and models to see, but we’re running out of room here.  Our roving photog did capture some of the action and we’re happy to share it below.

Oh, one more thing.  The Georgetown indoor dates have been set.  Check the Calendar and the flyer at the top of this post.  Get building and see you on the flightline skyster!

 

October 8 Results & Indoor Season Kickoff

Outdoor season finale at Woodsom Farm is Saturday Nov. 5
(View Flyer)


click images to view larger

Oct 8 Results pg 1
Oct 8 Results pg 2

 

Tons of Flying Fun!


Whew, there’s so much going in our local free flight model airplane clubs that it’s tough to keep up!

Let’s do a quick summary.  First, despite a fair amount of wind at Woodsom Farm for the October 8 contest, there was a lot of good flying (and chasing).  A number of flights flew off the field and into the rough, but fortunately most of these were found and retrieved.  The Embryo Endurance event was hotly contested and sadly Steve E.’s Corvette was lost after putting in one of its best flights ever.  All wail!  Rumor has it Steve is already building a new and better Corvette.

We have one more outdoor meet at Woodsom on November 5 and the outdoor season finale at Whites Farm in Durham, CT is on November 13.   We’re betting on good weather for these meets.

Next, we have real reason to celebrate – after two missed seasons due to Covid, we’ll be flying again in the Glastonbury H.S. gym (CT) this coming indoor season.  The first flying session is this coming Sunday Oct. 23!  See all of the flying dates on the official flyer at the top of this post, or on the Calendar page of this website.

On top of all this, we’ll be flying a full schedule in the Penn Brook school in Georgetown, MA this indoor season as well.  Flying there will begin in January 2023 and run through April. Look for dates and flyers to be posted to the Calendar page soon.

On October 29, the Stealth Squadroneers will gather at Roma’s restaurant in Haverhill, MA to celebrate the 100th birthday of Golden Age Reproductions honcho and FAC Hall of Famer, Jim Fiorello.  Hit us up via the Contact Us form on the site and we’ll share the details.  We’d love to see you there!

Finally, keep your eyes peeled for more info, tips, etc on the one-design models for the indoor season.  Clubsters will be building the Nallen Potez 34 dimer and the Guillow’s Bird Dog.  Yessir, the balsa chips will be flying as the weather cools here in New England.

See you on the flightline skyster!