Outdoor Free Flight – Stealth Squadron FAC#49

Waywayanda Meet Pics & June Meet Flyers

See you at the Sunday June 11 (Durham, CT) and Saturday June 24 (Ipswich, MA) Contests!

Click to Enlarge Images

Contest Director Matt K retrieves his Embryo model on his motorbike

Sam B launches his electric supercapacitor powered ducted fan scale model

Vance G flew his 54in span Nene Viking in the Giant Scale event.

PA-based Tom H scans the field as he works on his new Boeing twin flying wing. This model won the Giant Scale event.

Oliver S. prepares his high-flying Folkerts SK3 Greve Racer for a morning flight.

An idyllic early morning scene at Barron Field in Waywayanda, NY

The lush sod glimmers as the sun comes up over Barron Field in Waywayanda, NY. Eight hardy fliers, including your Stealth Sqdn correspondent, camped out on the field.

Fine Weather, Field & Friends

What more can a Free Flight Model Airplane enthusiast ask for? Yep, all model meets are fun, but weekends like May 27-28 on Barron Field are what memories are made of.

Two consecutive days of sunshine and sub-5mph winds enabled spectacular thermal flights and friendly competition between some of the top flyers on the East Coast. The FAC Scale events created a quandry as competitors had to decide whether to put in official flights on a beautiful Saturday, or wait for the even better forecast weather on Sunday. Kudos to Contest Directors Matt K and Vic N for setting a tone that encouraged keen competition, lots of fun flying and good ‘ol Flying Aces Club camaderie.

Many “max” flights (2 minutes or longer) were to be seen. Several models were lost OOS (out of sight), but many max flights stayed on the field due to the light drift.

Eight flyers camped overnight on the field. Friday night was cold with the temp dropping to 42 degrees, but the early morning and late-evening flying more than compensated. Michael S’s birthday was celebrated with no fewer than three of Soon’s Orchard best pies. Delicious!

Check out the Photos Page for more pics in addition to those shared here.

June Meets Coming up!

If you haven’t got your calendars marked yet, hop to it as time is flying! Don’t miss another opportunity to fly Free Flight with the Stealth Sqdn gang. No worries if you don’t have a model – we’ll set you up if you show up at the field.

Two meets – click the links below to view the Event Flyers with Directions and Key Contacts.

Sunday June 11 at Whites Farm in Durham, CT

Saturday June 24 at Pony Express Field in Ipswich, MA

May 21 Amesbury Meet & Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome

Sunday May 21 – outdoor season opener meet at Woodsom Farm. Contest Flyer HERE

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May 21 Woodsom Farm Amesbury, MA Contest Flyer

A Sopwith Pup and Fokker DVIII at ORA. The Fokker was flying with an original rotary engine!

A Curtiss Jenny takes off from the grass strip with a kidnapped Trudy Truelove (dummy) holding onto a wing strut!

A New Standard biplane hopped passenger rides before and after the airshow.

This Golden Age Morane Saulnier aerobatic aircraft was spotted in one of the hangars just up from the ORA airstrip.

The grandstands at ORA line the grass airstrip. Here the return of the ribbon-cutting Tiger Moth and Fleet biplane is announced over the PA system.

Stealth Squadroneers with Old Rhinebeck Pilots & Cast, July 2022

May 21 at Woodsom Farm; 2023 ORA Trip Planning

Finally! The daffodils have bloomed and spring has sprung. Clubsters are blowing the cobwebs off their outdoor models and looking to get outside and fly in the warm sunshine.

Our first outdoor meet of the season is right around the corner – Sunday May 21 on the big rolling green fields of Woodsom Farm in Amesbury, MA. Check out the Contest Flyer and plan to make this one as we expect to see many new models built over this past winter.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Field Trip

A few clubsters made the trek to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (ORA) last July and had a great time. They got to see many terrific WW1, Golden Age, and Pioneer aircraft flying off the legendary grass strip. More of their great pics are posted on the Photos page of this site. What an airshow!

We’re hoping to make another field trip to ORA this summer, perhaps with a few more clubsters this time. We’ll be discussing the details at the close of the May 21 meet at Woodsom Farm. Show up at the meet and let us know if you’d like to join in the fun.

See you on the flightline skysters!

March 12 Indoor Meet Results & Pics

visit the Photos page for more pics

click images to view full size

Jim launches his Stick Model. Looks like a Jetco ROG

Rich and his White Monoplane, 2nd place Golden Age ML

Ray winds the rubber motor in his Voisin Hydro, 1st place Pioneer Scale

Jon covered his stick model with a lightweight shopping bag made from recycled materials

George’s Waco cruises by. This model won the FAC Scale and Golden Age Mass Launch events.

New Flyers, New Models, old favorites

Wow, the Penn Brook Middle School gym was as busy as a beehive in May at the March 12 meet!

Several new flyers from New Hampshire showed up to fly their rubber powered free flight models. At least one youngster flew a traditional stick and tissue model airplane for the first time. And the local VW Beetle car club showed up to enjoy the show.

Ara D and Sam B made the trek from ME and CT to join the flying fun. Always good to see our pals from out of state.

The contest events were friendly, jovial – and competitive as ever. Check out the results below:

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron March 2023, Page 1

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron March 2023, Page 2

Check out the Photo Page for more pics from the March meet.

April Indoor Flying Finale

Sure it’s been snowing up a storm, but Spring is around the corner.

Our indoor flying season wraps up in April with a final flying session in Georgetown, MA on April 2, and another finale in Glastonbury, CT on April 16. These are your last opportunities to fly indoors in New England this season, so check out the flyers and mark your calendars now.

Outdoor Flying Dates Coming Soon

Keep your eyes peeled on the Coming Events sidebar on the homepage as well as the Calendar on this site. We’ll be posting the Outdoor Meet and Contest dates soon.

Hopefully, you’ve been busy as a beaver on the building board and getting some new models ready to go. We’re really looking forward to seeing the models from Steve E’s online model building class take to the sky.

See you on the flightline skyster!

2022-23 Indoor Season One Design

Twofer the One Design Event!

Oh my, it’s December already! And I haven’t got my One Design model completed for the 2022-23 Indoor Flying Season. And…and there’s TWO of them to build too!

Time flies while we’re having fun, eh?

So, our stealthy webmaster finally updated the One Design page on the Stealth Sqdn site. Check it out. You’ll find the all important Rules here in case you lost the original emails these were sent out with. Use the Contact Us form to find out how you can get a short kit or plan for the Potez dimer. We’ve got some great Bird Dog docs to share with you as well. Color schemes, 3 views, detailed pics and more from the Bird Dog Squadron Signal publication. Just ask via the Contact Us form and we’ll shoot the good stuff off to you.

Hopefully some of the pics on the One Design page will get your building juices flowing. And yes, please send us pics of your in progress or completed One Design builds to admin@stealthsquadron-fac49.com. We’ll get them up on this site for all to see.

See you in the gym skyster!

Nov 5 Woodsom Meet Results & Pics

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

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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!

Nov 5 Season Closer at Woodsom Farm

Final 2022 Outdoor Meet this Saturday!

It’s going to be a long, cold winter. The time to build and fly indoors is fast approaching.

But the forecast is for blue skies and warm temps this coming Saturday November 5 for our season closer meet at Woodsom Farm in Amesbury, MA.

Mark your calendar now. Your fellow Stealth Squadroneers will be out at the field flying stick & tissue model airplanes. Make a point to join in on the fun.

See you on the flightline!

Full Contest Flyer

with Directions & Contacts

October 8 Results & Indoor Season Kickoff

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

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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!

October 8 Stealth Sqdn Meet in Amesbury

Free Flight at Woodsom Farm!

Ah, the hurricane wind and wet will be passed, the air will be crisp and the leaves will be turning.

Fall is the best time to fly on Woodsom Farm. Come join your pals on the flightline skyster!

Full Contest Flyer

with Directions & Contacts

Recap: Aug & Sept Meets at Woodsom Farm

Next Stealth Squadron meet is October 8 at Woodsom Farm
(View Flyer)

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Bill M shows his new GAR Albatros DV. Flies great with scale dihedral!

Steve E launches Goose, the Pinkham Field Stick event winner

Great Weather, Great Flying!

Well gang, the club flying events have been coming in rapid succession as the curtain begins to draw on the outdoor season.

Yep, between Woodsom Farm (Amesbury MA) and Whites Farm (Durham CT) a whole lot of Free Flight model flying’s been going on.

And it’s not over. Our next meet is at Woodsom Farm on Oct 8. Check out the event Flyer and see you on the field!

Pinkham Field Stick

The inaugural Pinkham Stick event at Woodsom Farm was a success. Steve Evans brought his new “Goose” and won the event. Steve sent along a plan for the high-flying Goose and we’ve posted it for download on our new Pinkham Stick web page. Build one!

read about the Winning flight

See it on Youtube

Results

August 20 Meet

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron Aug 2022, Page 1

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron Aug 2022, Page 2

September 10-11 Meet

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron Sept 2022, Page 1

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron Sept 2022, Page 2

Kanone Report, Stealth Squadron Sept 2022, Page 3

See you on the flightline on October 8 skyster!

Flying Fun with Pinkham Field Stick

Fly Pinkham Field Stick at the upcoming 2 day Stealth Squadron meet
(View 9/10-11 Flyer)

AMA Alpha available from Peck Polymers (see text)

John K’s record-setting Marchi Cloud Chaser. Read more about the Epic Flight

Simple is Good!

A new event has been added to the upcoming Stealth Squadron meets – Pinkham Field Stick.

This is an event for simple quick-to-build, stick fuselage models intended to maximize participation and fun on the field with minimal up-front investment in time and resources. The rules/guidelines for this event are as simple as the models themselves:

The folks in Durham, CT have been flying this event for years and at the Mid Summer Melt meet a couple of weeks ago a new Pinkham Field Stick record was established with a 17min on-the-field flight. This is the longest flight we can recall where the model was launched, landed and retrieved from the same field.

read about the flight

These simple free flight models can deliver thrilling thermal flights. They’re a great first step toward a full-bodied FF rubber sport or scale model and a fantastic way to hone your FF flight trimming chops.

There are many rubber-powered FF stick model designs out there. The recent Pipit one-design is good to fly in the event so if you’ve got one bring it to the meet and you’re in. The great flying AMA Alpha ready-to-fly model also qualifies and may be the quickest and simplest way to get into the event. Plus the Alpha comes with a winder that you’ll be able to use with your next rubber powered free flight model. The Alpha is available from local supplier Peck & Polymers .

We’ve set up a new Pinkham Field Stick Plans & Tips page on this site to support this event. The plans are free to download – check them out and maybe one will catch your eye. Or better yet, design your own model. Keep your eyes peeled for design, construction and flying tips as well!