Wednesday

Top two on the 'Old Farts' list.

Brian flew the Wyvern again today, looks great in the sky.

Play Video

Saturday

Our static show at StJohns Church Fete today.
A pleasant way to spend Saturday morning. Standing around, chatting, eating, chatting.

Wednesday 12

 Perfect start to the flying day.



Lin flew his lovely Stinson.

 Ian has a new Cessna push-pull.

 Returning from a succesful maiden.

 Brian flew the Westland Wyvern and it flew beautifully to a very smooth landing however the taxiing proved a little problematical.

We need HOW MUCH fertiliser?

(For the runway, that is.)

Sunday 9

Caution..... runway in use.

It's Brian!

He's unloading an ARF!

 OH,
it's OK.

It was a birthday present.
What a lovely model Westland Wyvern.

Uncooperative Infernal Combustion engine meant we didn't get to see it fly.

 New member Carl M

My Corsair, in terminal crashed mode.

Sunday 26

21 Vehicles

23 Members

Full overcast, very light wind, EXCELLENT flying weather for our first day at State Field East.

Moving Day

The council have started adding to the mountain they built at the eastern end of the strip.
It is already covering the fence at the end.


The decision was taken to get out now to State Field Eastern.

The runway has never looked in better condition.

Pity about the mountain.

 Plenty of members turned up for the working bee.
Many hands needed to roll up the runway mat.

Many trailers full of stuff and a good load went to the tip, mind you there is still a few more loads worth of rubbish to go to the tip.


Tomorrow, flying at State Field Eastern, weather permitting.

Vale Barry James

Henry Barrymore Steel 'Barry' James 

 February 10 1933 - October 4 2014

Barry James

For the members Bairnsdale model Aero Club Barry had always been there, in fact on his passing he had the longest continuous membership for as far as we can judge, the whole history of the Club.

Barry was a modeller extraordinaire with a particular interest in scale modelling at a competitive level, and over the years achieved significant results. In his earlier years he was a regular contestant both in Victoria where he was one of the inaugural members of the Victorian Scale Association, and the National competition, mixing it with the best of the nations scale modellers.

Where some enthusiasts have a particular interest in a single aspect of the hobby be it flying the model, researching a particular aircraft to model, the drawing up of the plans or the building and finishing, Barry seemed quite at ease and competent in all facets. He had a particular interest in two types over the years those,were the Tiger Moth, none of us would even hazard a guess how many of these he had over the years - one of them featured on
the cover of the National publication Airborne in the late 70's early 80's. The other being the American P47. There were others of course, but the latter 2 were built specifically for the Wagga Wagga military aircraft competition held each year over the Anzac weekend.

Adrianne always accompanied him. Adrianne you need a medal for this support, but without it Barry would not have achieved the results he enjoyed. It couldn't have always been fun sitting in the caravan or motel awaiting his return and listen to the tales of woe or the euphoria as was the case.

He really did enjoy this meeting as it was the opportunity of catching up with many of his
competition peers he had met over the years. He was widely known and respected for his
camaraderie, knowledge and models. He was competitive, but this came with nerves. He
would pour over his call sheet to ensure he knew the manoeuvres and the sequence he
was required to perform them. To an outsider this seemed quite unnecessary, as he was a
constant practicer, of the flight plan. The nerves were always evident during a competition
flight, but like many competitors, he claimed this was a necessary part of competing - no
nerves poor flight. It obviously didn't affect him badly as he was a very regular participant.


He was a willing teacher and was always happy to advise beginner or more experienced
modellers how a particular manoeuvre should be performed and if you were required to act
as a judge, what constituted a mistake and how it should be scored.

Like all modellers he experienced the highs and lows of the hobby. The excitement and
pleasure of a successful maiden flight of a new model and the despair when some reason
a particular favourite crashed either for some obscure reason or what is commonly termed
the 'dumb thumbs'. In the latter case, he was always prepared to say 'it was my fault', an
approach not common to some modellers but when voiced by a acknowledged expert is
very comforting when going through some of our own mishaps. We thank you Barry for
that, the smile, the shrug and absolutely no rancour when things didn't go quite right.

More recently Barry collaborated quite significantly in the development of the design of a
somewhat unique event to promote and enthuse current modellers, and spark a interest to
those who have not yet participated. While Barry was a scale modeller through and
through he did appreciate that not all people are willing to compete and just needed the
opportunity to fly a scale model without the scrutiny of judges. So was born a programme
that will allow three quite separate facets. A concours section, a judged flying section, and
time for non competitors to fly their aircraft for fun.

In recognition of Barry's input to the hobby it has been decided that the judged flying component
of the meeting will be called 'The Barry James Flight Realism Award' -I'm sure he
would approve.

To you Adrianne and your family we offer our sincere condolences.

We, his fellow club members as well as those who have competed with and against him
will miss him dearly.

Henry Barrymore Steel James - a wonderful man and modeller will be missed by many.

Thank you to Ian Waters

Wednesday

 A nice warm day with clouds.

The shelter is in preparation phase for reincarnation at the State Field.

 Brian brings the big PBY back from another successful sortie.

Plenty of social interaction between episodes of aviation.