This is the second year OMFC has played host to BMFA FF Scale and this year they elected to the run the Credgington Trophy event on Port Meadow for the first time.  12 entries completed in the national Flying Only event organised and judged in a lovely relaxed manner by Mike and Phil Smith. Alongside this OMFC ran  Hi-Start Scale glider and Rubber Scale duration classes with a Cloud Tramp mass launch at 12:00pm as part of the MIMLOC world event . Scroll down for full details

Thanks to BMFA CD Mike Smith, Rubber Scale Duration CD Andy Blackburn and event CD Gary Law

Thanks to Martin Bennett and Leigh Richardson for the photos

There is also a video on Youtube

BMFA Credgington Trophy

In the Credgington Trophy 12  models took part from 9 entrants in the national event organised and judged in a lovely relaxed manner by Mike and Phil Smith. The competition has a small static element where the models are lined up and given a mark for workmanship and complexity which is added to the best flight score from 4 flying rounds

The event was warmer and slightly windier than forecast, the heat and associated thermals created some difficult conditions for our flying realism based competition. The air was quite lively at times testing the stability of many. Ivan Taylor elected not fly his Spitfire which he knew wouldn’t fly well in the conditions as did David King with his BAT Monoplane.

 I seemed to spend much of the competition fighting my normally reliable rubber powered Miles Falcon which decided to put on a full display of crash landings. Despite numerous efforts to tame it every flight seemed different, zooming up and doing wing overs to flying straight into the ground. I even lost a magnet which holds it trousers on so it continued without it’s pants for a while with further trimming ideas but all to no avail. In the cold light of the following day I diagnosed a loose elevator, both the movable aluminum hinged elevator and the entire tail had damage and was moving giving the variable results. Funny how you miss the obvious when preparing for the next flight in a competition. With the elevator fixed the Falcon returned to it’s normal self at the following Lodge Farm Free Flight Scale event

Bill Dennis’ electric Levente was also proving tricky so he double entered his rubber Stinson but more of that one later. Five models qualified with 5^th place being taken by Charlie Jeffreys now well campaigned and well trimmed Rumpler Taube from the APS plan and powered by a DC Dart. Just ahead in it’s first ever competition was Andy Blackburn’s new electric Bristol Scout. This model is showing great promise, it’s also from the APS plan converted from IC power and is looking to be a nice stable flyer.

Ahead in joint 3^rd place was Mike Stuart’s DH Fox Moth. This a model originally built for indoor flying where it won the Indoor Nationals so is very light and normally needs calmer conditions to show off its wonderful scale performance. It did very well in the bumpy air showing just how well trimmed it is. Sharing 3^rd place was my Cessna 170 from the KK kit. This is powered by a .5cc Redfin and much like the Falcon needed retrimming after a being bounced around Buckminster at the World Scale event a couple of weekends before. I did get there in the end with my final flight as the 3^rd place shows

Ahead of my Cessna was Pete Fardell’s OD Bleriot XI which was flying superbly in the conditions, hanging in the air on some flights in manner often described by contemporary pilots of the fullsize aircraft where high winds would often give a negative ground speed. Due to the double entry rules where only the highest scoring model features on the podium it’s score is dropped.

The top 2 places turned into a battle of the Stinsons and perhaps a battle of picking the best air. Bill Dennis’ rubber powered Stinson 0-49 from the Earl Stahl plan flew very well into 2^nd place while ahead by some 90 flying points was Pete Fardell’s Stinson Sentinel to take a well earned victory and the Credgington Trophy. This is the third year in succession Pete has won the trophy so it’s becoming a bit of a Fardell household ornament

Rubber Scale Duration

CD Andy Blackburn

The Rubber Scale Duration class is becoming a popular feature at the OMFC competitions and this time attracted 9 entrants. It is as it says on the tin a duration class for scale models with a simple set of bonuses added for things like low wing, biplanes and multi engined models.

PJ Carter and David King both flew just a single of the 3 rounds due to the conditions while Mike Stuart managed two rounds with his large twin Beech King Air. The battle of the Stinsons was reversed in this class with Bill Dennis’ O-49 ahead of Pete Fardell’s Sentinel both being behind Mike Stuarts other entry, his Howard DGA-8

The top three all managed maxes, set due to the wind at 60s down from the usual 90s. Peter Brown’s Fairchild 2A managed two and a strong first flight to boot but Andy Blackburn just squeezed 2^nd place by 4 points after the  low wing bonus was added for his Miles Magister. Out in front with three maxes was Ivan Taylor’s Auster which has been purpose built for the class with large diameter prop, light constuction and fitted with a DT

Hi-Start Scale Glider 

7 Gliders entered the Hi-start Scale Glider class but in the conditions only 3 managed to achieve qualifying times. My Slingsby Eagle managed just one flight before sustaining damage on the second launch when it failed to release and hit the ground still on the bungee. Simon Burch’s small Slingsby Skylark was going very well and three flights saw it secure second from Bill Dennis’ Schweizer TG-2. Bill took advantage of the better air earlier on and managed a max on his first flight putting him well out in front

MIMLOC Cloud Tramp Mass launch 2026

The final event held at midday was the Cloud Tramp mass launch held globally each year as part of the MIMLOC event.  With a prize for the last one down 10 flyers armed with Cloud Tramps lined up to take part. After the usual mayhem of the mass launch two models remained in the air after 1 minute with my model finishing just ahead of Peter Brown’s model.

Cloud Tramps are great way to get into free flight models , they are very simple to build but are capable of surprising performance. Mine and Peters flew for over a minute and even longer times are possible. There’s more details on the Endless lift website https://www.endlesslift.com and VMC even do a kit so with another event already planned for next year why not give it a go.

Photos by Martin Bennett