Biggles' Mess

[David Davis]

Years ago I bought a Brian Taylor Harvard from an old boy in Somerset. I have never flown it because I don't trust such a nicely built model in my clumsy hands. However, when I was there, the old boy mentioned that all aeromodellers were hoarders. I suppose he was right.

 

Now I am certainly not an engine collector but I have more engines than I need. We have a father and son team who fly at our strip. The father is probably the best flyer in our club and likes to fly old pattern ships which he has either built himself or bought secondhand. Among their models is a small electric powered Bird Of Time which they built themselves. The family live in Paris where the father works in IT. The lad, the middle one of three brothers, is twelve years old and flies a battered old trainer fitted with a 6.5cc Webra. He's a pretty skillful flyer capable of flying inverted circuits but I noticed that his engine cut out frequently. When I asked about it I was told that the engine was worn out.

 

I happened to have the self-same engine but mine was fitted with an MDS Quiet silencer. I gave them my engine free, gratis and for nothing. It was installed in the airframe and they had a couple of flights with it but it seemed to lack power and it cut out once. I suggested that perhaps the silencer was choking the engine. We dismantled the silencer and removed a large washer but we retained the cone. With the silencer refitted the engine performed flawlessly albeit a little more noisily than previously.

 

I have lost count of how many times the lad thanked me for giving him the engine but I was pleased to be able to help him out.

Edited May 8, 2022 by David Davis

[Kim Taylor]

8 hours ago, David Davis said:

 

When discussing the non-payment of my pension with the civil servant, he said that they do not use emails when discussing pensions because of the increased chance of an account being hacked.

I really meant by using the online forms on the .gov portal, rather than an unsolicited email. By using the online form, you're effectively doing the work for them, inputting direct to their system and it means they can access the form whilst 'working from home' or (a new one on me over the last few weeks) 'hybrid working' whatever that is!!

Kim