This year’s Blades Over Billingshurst (BOB) was combined with the SE BMFA annual Heli event and it was very well attended. Not all attendees were flying (like me) , but went along to see the vast array of helis on display and being flown.
With the recent hot weather and light winds, this event was graced with good sunshine but pretty strong S – SW winds (gusting about 25mph), however this didn’t stop the pilots from flying. It was very gusty at times making it less than ideal conditions for some of the models.
There were both scale and non-scale helis, mostly electric powered and a few turbine-powered helis too.
There were both scale and non-scale helis, mostly electric powered and a few turbine-powered helis too.
Those pilots who did brave the conditions gave us a brilliant display of scale flying and some very expert aerobatic stuff which was extremely impressive.
Unfortunately this large airwolf model was unable to fly as both the model and it’s pilot still need certification from the LMA (someone told me it weighs 36 kilos). Surprisingly, it is powered by an electric motor (not a turbine).
We were promised a possible fly-past by the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), and sure enough at 13:00 a single Hurricane came very close to the field (it was actually flying for the Billingshurst Armed Services Day Fete near to our field).
Many thanks to Pete and the organisers from the Horsham and District model club for making the day such a very enjoyable event.
(Pictures courtesy of Pete Glover)