Size matters for models

By Andrew Stackpool

On target: Dean Erby’s Albatros flies past during a round at the World War II and MiIitary Scale Aircraft event at Wagga.

Photo by LAC Guy Young.

LAC Guy Young with his model RAAF 3 SQN Mustang.

MEMBERS of the RAAF Base Richmond model aircraft club flew high at Wagga when they competed at the annual World War II and Military Scale Aircraft competition.

The event, which attracted approximately 100 entries, was held from April 21-23.

“The competition was very stiff, so we didn’t win any of the awards,” LAC Guy Young said.

“The weather was very windy on the Friday, so my 3SQN Mustang was the only one to fly. However, we were luckier than the four whose aircraft crashed.”

LAC Young, LAC Anthony Ogle and his father, retired FSGT Raymond Ogle, joined 60 other entrants at the event, which has run for more than 30 years.

The event, the largest in the southern hemisphere, comprised a static judging and then a flying component.

It has three aircraft categories, WWI, WWII and Military, and the Air Force competitors faced tough competition.

The event was supported by hundreds of spectators, who came to watch the highly detailed models of famous warbirds take to the skies and be put through their paces.

Favourite displays were the bombing runs, in which scale model bombs were dropped by some aircraft including an 18-kilogram model of a PT-17 Stearman biplane training aircraft.

Powered by a six-cylinder petrol radial engine, the aircraft dwarfed spectators with its three-metre wingspan.

 

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