Rolls Royce Hucknall Scale Weekend

The annual Rolls Royce Hucknall scale event is always held at the end of July.  I have had the pleasure of being a member of this club a few years back so I am familiar with many of the members, what I never realised until this weekend, was some of the history that this site is steeped with:

In the 2^nd World War the site was used to repair and return damaged Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain.  This was also the site of the first ever conversion of the P51 Mustang from the original Allison to the mighty Rolls Royce Merlin.

 The site was made famous in 1954 when the “Flying Bedstead” was developed and flown from this site, this was the test bed for the Harrier VTOL.

Our Flight hub team has already visited this site earlier in the year for the Electric Event so the team was familiar with protocol.  Entrance to the site is made through a security gate and we had decided to arrive early Saturday morning as the M1 is best left alone on a Friday!

The weather forecast was not promising, but we have all learned to pay no attention to that!  The day did improve gradually and luckily the strong wind was directed straight down the runway.  I must say that the runway at Rolls Royce is the finest that I have ever had the pleasure of flying from and this is why it is used for many jet events throughout the year.

The EDF Jets and war birds all coped very well the conditions without a mishap.  It was surprising to see how busy the Saturday was, flying was continuous and before we knew where the day had gone it was time for a spot of tea.

Sunday started with blue skies and sunshine with not a breath of wind, but by the time we had eaten breakfast the sky had filled with cloud and that strong wind was back with us.

After checking in with TX control and filling out our model details and specifications it was soon time for the pilots briefing.  As usual Reg of RR Hucknall MAC gave us a very detailed and professional overview.

First up from the flight hub team were the war birds, the P47 and the P51, this was the first public showing of the new upgraded P51 and the new Yellow “Marie” colour scheme.  All these war birds feature the new worm drive electronic retracts.  Chris Norbury did an excellent job displaying my own favourite P47, Lance and Bob were close on his tail with the Mustangs.  The announcers did a great job entertaining the crowd with some great model specifications, and there was much interest from pilots and spectators alike.

The Savox/Bionic Extreme Flight Extra had a solo slot just before lunch and as ever it coped with the strong wind very well especially as it is a relatively small model.  I have some new Mejzlik carbon propeller coming this week, which will improve performance further as they are lighter and stiffer than the current APC E.  The Savox SC1267 and 68 are still performing with blistering pace and accuracy.

The new Top Gun L39 was also displayed early in the afternoon,  its pace and stability were stunning and it coped very well in the far from perfect conditions.  We also were able to get a few descent photos of this aircraft in flight, which is always a bonus.

The Alpha Jet and the new prototype T50 were displayed in an EDF slot, the T50 had lots of interest as it has some great unique features and it flies and presents very well.

It was soon time to pack up in some late afternoon sunshine; as always it was a great event and we will continue to support this very well run show, hopefully see you there next year..