S/C & Retro R/C 2023 Event Video - Wet & Windy!

[Phil_G]

A wet and very windy event this year but with many travelling two or three hundred miles to visit Ponty, we made the very best of the quieter spells...
A warm welcome to a few new recruits this year, next year we promise sunshine and calm, trust us.. !
Many braved the elements and flew, though it wasnt a pleasant experience for anybody really, very turbulent near the ground and loads of shear causing a couple of planes to just drop out of the sky. BUT it was a great social event, catching up with pals and cho' int' cud as we say in Yorkshire.
Petes retro helis handled the incessant wind very well, no-one got blown away or suffered any major damage, so despite the weather we had a great weekend. The 'Ken Willard Theme' slot was well supported with 9 builds though Stu's Mini-Drake didnt make the photo somehow (?). Our sincere thanks to Mike & Sarah of the "Retromodeller" shop-tent, to the PANDAS crew for helping make it another successful Single-Channel & Retro R/C Event for 2023 and of course to all the brave attendees!
Cheers
Phil

[leccyflyer]

Fantastic video Phil - you really captured the windspeed there

It was my highlight of the year to meet and chat with you all and a great introduction to first rate aeromodelling nostalia. Thank you again to all involved.

That's a beautiful flying site you have at Pontefract and, considering the conditions, it was great to see so many brave pilots willing to have a go. I'll certainly be back next year.

[stuart mackay]

Good stuff Phil, so glad that the Ken Willard Mini-Drake flight and wing fold has been preserved for eternity!

[Mike_K]

A quick thanks to Shaun and Phil for organising another great event and a big thank you to the Panda Club for hosting us and making us feel so welcome yet again, it must be one of the most friendly clubs in the country.

Even though the weather was not brilliant, I enjoyed it just as much as previous events, it's the people that make the events, not the weather or the flying. At least it didn't rain on Sunday and most of us got some flights in, though it was too marginal for me to fly any S/C, they stayed in the car. My abiding memory is summed up by the below photo, the wind! The wind was strong enough to topple over the windsock on a number of occasions, it was a steady 20mph and gusting stronger.

The windsock was horizontal for the weekend, until it blew over!

I didn't take as many photos as intended, too much talking with friends is my excuse... Below are some of what I did take

Shaun admiring one of Pete Christy's vintage helicopters

Paul Jefferies with his Ken Willard Gasser

Mark with his "more than adequately powered" ballistic GoJet, probably the best-flown S/C model at Ponty, albeit with elevator control

The Ken Willard designed "group photo". The box in the front was a ply box built by Tobe Källner to bring his Ken Willard Traveller over to the UK

A Weekender (built by Wayne in Australia) sits unflown (under other other models in the car) due to the wind

[leccyflyer]

Like you said MIke, it's the folks that make the meeting and it was marvellous to meet and to chat with so many dedicated modellers.

Mark's Go Jet was the model of the meeting for me - absolutely superb in the air, looks like a HP Victor and I will definitely be building one in due course.

[Graham G]

Here is another YouTube link to a "Montage" of images that my wife took over the two days.

[Shaun]

Great job, thanks.

[Tim Hooper]

Many thanks to all for the warm (yet windswept) welcome last weekend!

Netty and I had made the commitment to spend several nights camping locally, and so it would have been daft not to turn up for the event.

I was glad I did! Not much airtime, but great to meet new faces and learn some of the arcane intricacies of modern-day galloping ghost operation.

Can we come again next year? Can we, huh?

Tim

[Tobe]

You are always welcome but please next time bring some better weather, personally I left my share of good weather back home in Sweden this year so I'm guilty as charged

[Nick M]

So any thoughts about 2024?

Bit behind the curve but making a Tom Thumb...