The Café (There is no Topic)

Just back from a visit to one of my clubs, Cumbernauld Model Flying Club. Got a good refresh on my suntan, flew my mini P51d and maidened a new Glider, the Arrival was caused mild damage so I guess I should have tested the Flaps when much more than ten feet high as a gust got under it as the nose went UP. Corkscrew and splat. Drats.

According to the CAA info site it is registered to
WINDRACERS LTD
THE ENGINEERING CENTRE, UNIVERSITY PARKWAY
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON SCIENCE PARK, CHILWORTH
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 7PT
If it gets in the way of the military the University could be in serious trouble.  

Nothing to do with planes but I printed a small piece of O gauge track.
 
Note the wheel "wedges" at each end as it is for display only.
 
The meths heated live steam 0-6-0 Mollyette built by my Dad for me as a 10 year old to go with the Hornby O gauge set.
I built the box for my grandson to house a Lego locomotive given as a birthday present.
He had quite a large set but his interest did not survive as he is now football mad and pretty good too playing in a local league team. I even had to make him a special shelf to store all his trophies and medals.  His mum sold off the Lego but out of courtesy gave me back the box so it has been reused to store one my toys!
 
There is sufficient foam inside the lid to ensure Mollyette is quite secure. None of my kids ever expressed much interest in "trains" although that might change in due course when they find out what Mollyette and its coal fired O gauge bigger brother Minnie Haha are actually worth.
   

  
 

Just watched a video about Eric "Twinkle" Brown's early life. I know as a test pilot he lead a charmed existence but it seems it started well before.
His Dad joined the RFC in 1918, trained but did not fight but joined the RAF in 1919. In the early1930s he went with his Dad to Germany to meet old WWI pilots and during this time became friends with the famous aerobatic pilot Ernst Udet and was given a "jolly" flight by him. 
At University in his final year of his honours degree in German he was spotted by the Home Office and selected to teach English in Munich and improve his spoken German for 6 months during the summer of 1939. On 3 September (the day war was declared) he was arrested by the SS as an "unwanted" alien. Spent 3 days in jail but was taken to the Swiss border to be exchanged for a German student who was in England. The MG car he had at the time was also driven by the SS to the exchange point. One wonders if his friendship with Udet who by then was a very senior member of the Luftwaffe administration had something to do with the transfer.    

Goodness that makes the East Fortune air shows I saw in Scotland look like a neighbourhood block party in comparison.  From a substantial point of ignorance what struck me was the folk running the dozen camera drones within the flight paths of the big/fast beasties. Goodness they were good but surely on the edge of what is allowed in terms of clearance to piloted craft. Who watches the watchers?