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This is intended to give a short summary of what seems to have been the highlights at Aspach 2004 from my point of view. From the experiences of last year I had learned that it can be very exhausting trying to fly a model at the Aspach meeting. This was the 13th meeting and the number of pilots had grown ever since the first meet. This time it were over a hundred, with each pilot limited to two models.
Some of them already arrived on Friday, but Saturday was the best attended day. Mainly due to the weather, it was really a hot day and I saw some really red skins (me included). Sunday morning it began to rain a little, but flying was going on.
Lots of traders were present again and the trade stands were always crowded.
The meeting was well organised by the Aspach club members again. Flights were commented by Phillip Gardemin of "Aufwind" magazine, Ludwig Retzbach (Deutscher Modellflugverband) and Ralf Heinisch. The queue seemed to be shorter than last year. May be some pilots already resigned and brought their models only for static display.
Once a pilot with his model was picked out of the queue, he was allowed to enter the ready box. Transmitter was handed out and he was watched by an official assistant.
No models were lost during the whole event due to interference, but one model obviously due to pilot error and one helicopter simply disintegrated in the air.
Saturday evening there was a party in the tent with raffle and buffet.
But now to the models and their pilots.
First there was Franz Schmid again with his half scale Fokker Triplane. After he had experienced problems with the speed controller at Traunreut, he switched to the already tested (Klemm 35) unit. He performed a nice and troublefree flight, for which he was awarded a trophy.
Saturday morning the pieces of two big models were brought along and everybody was wondering, what would be the result. Two black booms turned out to be for a big P68 Black Widow. Flight preparations lasted the whole day and the maiden flight was announced as the last flight of the day. Ralf Dvorak, who flies full size jets, was hired as a test pilot. The taxi runs in the bumpy grass broke a main leg and it was doubtful if the power was enough for take off. So hopefully more luck next time!
Some other big parts were assembled to form a huge Arado 555. This was one of the last WWII projects, designed in different variations. For more info look www.luft46.com.
The Arado was powered by one motor and a three blade prop. She took off at walking speed and was very manouvrable. A real big slowflyer, very forgiving and a big applause for the pilot from Berlin.
The Bncker Jungmann was powered by a geared Ultra 2500/5 and 24 cells. It is built from an English kit, imported by Roskothen here in Germany. This was one of the few models still powered with brushed motors, while brushless motor dominated the scene. Especially jets and 3D aerobatic models benefit from the lower weight and high performance of brushless motors.
Ralf Kaiser came all the way from North Germany with his A1 Skyraider. It is built by Heino Dittmar from scratch. Performance was very realistic from an own design brushless motor.
There were of course a whole team of pilots from Switzerland. Amongst them Ueli Amacker with his Vampire. The red Russian twin engined jet with retracts must also have belonged to the Swiss team. Who knows the correct designation? (The model was later identified as Iljuschin 211)
Bob Mahoney the chairman of the British Electric Flight Association, came a long way with his Ryan "Spirit of St. Louis". This model is built on the Philippines and available as a ARF model by Kavan.
Another ARF model was the Keith Rider R6 Jack Rabbit, also available as Schoenfeldt "Firecracker". www.rbckits.com
Stefan Hoellein showed his whole range of gliders and purpose models. All CNC-cut and high quality kits. www.hoellein.com
There were also a lot of youngsters around flying their Depron models, like the Ultimates and Shockflyers.
The starship Enterprise was a very unique design, also made from styrofoam. The performance of this prop driven model was stunning.
All together it was an almost perfect weekend, spent with a lot of good friends and watching interesting flight demonstrations. The cream on the coffee would have been a flight with my Jepe Pyranha (Jepe) together with Stefan Hoelleins Alpha Jet. But things always turn out different to what someone would have liked them to be.