Hello
In Switzerland a traditional air show exists. There you see every year new performances. I am there as a photographer and writer of articles in model magazines. So I have a close access to information of a few of the shown models.
The show was shown at the beginning of October. This is fall. At morning there is often fog.
Especially on airfields. I do not know, why the found always such places to build them there. The one, which was used for the air show is normally an education and training field for Army and Airline pilots. Fog means the have pretty soon to learn flying by instruments... but anyway
At this weekend there was a foggy morning and a wonderful afternoon with sun, blue sky and temperatures around 20 deg C. On both days, Saturday and Sunday, about 16'000 visitors came to that event. This is a huge number for a country which counts only about 8 million inhabitants.
In Switzerland are four different languages spoken. I am used to speak a type of German, but in a strong Swiss dialect.
Firstly I had to learn French. But only to pass certain exams. For my degree in electronics I changed to English. I used it later often as a certified Radioamateur, with world wide connection on shortwave radio (call: HB9CRN). After running a self-employed business for many years, I reduced work a little bit and started again with R/C models. That is my background.
I would like to show a bit what you can see on the other side of the world.
Here is the access link to my pictures:
Link: http://www.telesys.ch/index.php?cat=50
Information is only available in German. Pictures say sometimes more than words.
It is true, you see here many “high-end” models, which took thousands of hours to be completed.
Here are a few of those models:
Ju-52-3m
Ju-52 with three “Moki” radial engines and corrugated aluminium sheets. The plane is controlled by the excellent Weatronic radio system. It has a wing span of 6.09 m and a weight of 98 kg. The owner lives in Germany.
Link: http://www.telesys.ch/thumbnails.php?album=276 (the real Ju-52 still flies in Northern Germany)
At Saturday a real Ju-52 came flying across the air show. Only to see her little sister on the ground, then heading to the lovely lakes and mountains in central of Switzerland.
Four real Ju-52 planes are in Switzerland still flying. They do short tourist flights over the Swiss mountains. Our model plane field is on a closed army airbase. And the Ju’s are located on the other side of the airfield. We share with them the airspace. And they offer once in a year their hangar for our “second hand model fair”.
Link: http://www.telesys.ch/thumbnails.php?album=325 ( last Saturday was hangar model sale, so the four Ju-52' had to stay outside)
F 104 Starfighter (the version of the German Army)
This Starfighter is the number 3. Two models crashed before on German air shows. Reason. Radio interference on 35 MHz. The organizers were not able to observe frequencies, like it should be done on such events.
Number one took 6000 hours. It was built semiscale. It used real hydraulic systems to lift-up landing gear and gear doors. All parts were self developed and produced. Also may gear parts were reconstructed, made in wood, and then used to produce moulds. Many parts are made of Titanium alloy or Magnesium alloy. The one which was shown here uses now pneumatic systems to keep the weight low. About 3000 hours were used to build it.
http://www.telesys.ch/thumbnails.php?album=302
Data: Wing span 1.65 m; Length: 4.2 m, Weight: 20 kg; Scale 1:4: thrust 20 kg; Jet engine: Frank Germany with 20 kg thrust
I do not know, if anybody is interested about what is happening in Central of Europe ?
At least a few of us are reading what Bruce writes about the R/C industry. In forums he is titled as the "wise old man". Many forums do not allow mentioning the brand "Hobbyking". And he is often seen as the one who writes honest about products of that brand. So it is also expected that his name should not be used in posts. Many guys write a lot about Hobbyking batteries, R/C equipment and so on. And to make sure that the posts are not changed they use that expression. Most others know exactly whose name is behind.
Hermann