Aero Modelling

My introduction to aeromodelling came at a very early age, I would have been around 7 or 8.  My first models were solid gliders followed by rubber driven free flight types.  Eventually I got into control line powered models, of which I built several.  Most ended up the same way, crashing!  By the end of the second world war I had decided to build a radio controlled model.  I built the model and then had to build the radio gear - this being my main introduction into electronics, a career that followed in later years.  By now I would have 12 years old.

I built the radio but it never worked so I continued on with control line flying.  I never got into gliders at all and eventually gave up the hobby for many years, marriage and building a career getting in the way - not that I'm complaining.  A move to Biggin Hill, in 1963, brought me into contact with a fanatical aeromodeller and rekindled my own interest in the hobby.  I joined the local club, the Sevenoaks and District Model Aero Club, acquired a kit plus engine and radio gear, made by Skyleader, I still own the latter.  During the next many years I built various aircraft and flew most weekends throughout the year.

Then in 1973 we moved again, this time to Lingfield.  I was by then running my own electronics business the pressures of which caused a temporary cessation of the aeromodelling hobby.  I still have several models in the loft and several engines of one size or another, some 2 stroke and others 4 stroke.  I still hanker after a resumption of the hobby and maybe in the not too far distant future I shall find enough time to participate again.  In the meantime I may just decide to build a new engine, but have yet to find a suitable subject.  I live in hope.