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Oldtimer R/C Championship
in Nyköping, Sweden
by Tore "Oldtimer" Loodin
Sweden is a not-so-large country on the northern borderline of
Europe. R/c oldtimer flying is not so large either - yet! When I began
organising oldtimer meetings five years ago, typically a crowd of four fliers
got together. Nowadays, the crowd has grown to well over ten gentlemen. In my
files for oldtimers in Stockholm and its surroundings, there are more than 30.
Well, on September 23rd, eleven oldtimers gathered 100
kilometers south-west of Stockholm at the r/c site of Nyköpings Model Club
unloading their beautiful flying machines. For once the club had hit one of the
few beautiful days this summer, sun shining from a bright sky and no wind at
all!
The rules for this competition are quite simple: After
take-off, you are allotted a motor time of max four minutes, after which you
have to shut down the engine to at least a very low idle. The model is then
pretty high and hardly visible, so very old oldtimers such as me must have help
from some hawk-eyed person to observe the model. Then you have to keep the
model in the air for four minutes, called "ideal time". Plus or minus
this period of time detracts points in the protocol. Landing within a 30 meters
wide circle gives bonus points. Four rounds are flown, the worst one not counted
when totalling. The competition is held in an easy-going style, emphasis being
on a
social get-together.
This r/c field borders the landing zone to Skavsta Charter
airfield, so the control tower there warned us every time a flight was going to
land. Perfect co-operation, which I think is only possible in the countryside
where almost all people are acquainted.
As slight thermals were above this flatland, the times in the
air were averaging three and a half minutes, none hitting the four minute
point. Sportsmen as we are, no one tried to crash-land their model within the
circle to win points. How beautiful these models are, the sun shining through
the wings and fuselage's framework! Oldtimers then remember their early model
steps in their youth, forgetting the agony of crashing!
Many interesting machines were there:
 Tomas
Leijon sported an Old Warden scarred Gladiator,
also flown in Germany and USA. It was built to be motorised with a
Taplin Twin Diesel engine but due to unavailability of this it had until
now been flown with a Laser four-stroker. But just one month ago, Tomas
got a Taplin from Australia and now it merrily purred in the nose of the
Gladiator for the first time!
 Esbjörn Forslund heroically flew a rudder-only
diesel-driven Sky-Scooter (right) which, being well-trimmed, disappeared
in the blue. He had forgotten to switch on the receiver! When returning to
Stockholm we saw a yellow dot in a field one kilometer away. Sure
enough, there was the Sky-Scooter standing on its three wheels, quite
unhurt. Moral of this story - always check the rudder before throwing a
model up in the air! Lucky guy, this Esbjörn.
  Tore Loodin
(left) flew a Playboy Senior with
an unusual coupé fuselage, howling upwards and tractored by a
Super Tiger ·25. Normally, this model is flown with my pylon-shaped
fuselage, but one has to surprise the crowd!
Pär Laxén, our only really young oldtimer (right), carries his guppy-shaped
but beautiful Rocketeer.
 The native Bengt Höglund became Champion of
the year flying a Quaker Flash. Arne Kohlberg (right) flew in
second on an Astro Viking. Third man was Lars Eriksson
sporting a Diamond Demon. Ah yes, yours truly Tore Loodin
got to a humble sixth place.
The organiser, Ingvar Claesson from Nyköpings
Model Club got standing ovations from the competitors for the
well-managed meeting.
Many thanks, Tore, most
enjoyable! All
the pictures are thumbnails - click on them to see the larger view and I think
you'll agree they really capture the atmosphere of this oldtimer meeting. If you
want to use the Club Scene page for something like this, then it's waiting for
you and you're most welcome! |
