A report by David Balfour
The Albury Club held its third Classic Airplane day over the weekend November 21st 22nd.
The event is promoted as a Scale Rally with a difference.
This event was introduced three years ago following a request from some members to conduct an event that would celebrate the first 40 years of aviation, that is 1910 to 1950.
The name Classic Airplanes was adopted thanks to a local aircraft engineering business here in Albury that specialises in maintaining and restoring , aircraft as the name implies ‘Classic Airplanes’. The proprietor of the business, Mr Jim Williams, is a frequent visitor to our flying field and is always willing to assist members with off cuts of material to assist with model building.
The event is both a flying and static display run over two days, aircraft do not have to fly to be eligible for a prize. The aircraft are displayed in lines of decade groupings, that is four rows depicting 1910 to 1920, 1920 to 1930, 1930 to 1940 and 1940 to 1950 – the first 40 years of aviation.
The number of aircraft this year was slightly down on previous years due to the inter State travel restrictions in place at the time. A total of 35 aircraft were displayed, the static concept brings out aircraft that are rarely seen or have been in storage for many years.
Jim Williams was invited again to be the sole judge and his instruction was select the aircraft he liked the most, not an easy task as he liked them all!
In an ironic turn of events Jim selected my De Havilland D.H 75 Hawk Moth.
De Havilland built a total of 8 of these aircraft in 1928 in an attempt to compete with the American aircraft imports into Britain at the time. The aircraft was not a success, and was considered to be ‘ not one of Geoffrey de Havilland’s better ideas ‘
Unfortunately, the weather gods were not on our side this year, Saturday was quite hot, while Sunday the wind restricted much of the flying, let’s hope for better weather next year.
For more pictures of the event, click on the link below