Jim Davis Lancaster

[Alexander Peacock]

Hi again .

I spoke with my father about the subject of Flying the Lancaster across the channel . From what he remembers Jim Crashed the Lancaster while exhibiting it , apparently it went straight through a caravan and after the close call Jim was worried about hurting someone. My Dad's a good bloke and honest with it but who knows . Whatever the case it's fond memories.

I vaguely remember one of guys who worked in Jim davis models started Apple Models. Maybe he knows more .

Any how

Regards

Alex

[Jesus Cardin]

Alex, as an aside note, is your father Ian Peacock?

Thanks

[Eric Robson]

Sorry about the orientation and the quality but I have just found this photo taken at Sywell in the 1970-80's it is in colour but the photo had yellowed so I made it black and white . It was not very good in colour. It is standing beside a Sopwith Pup, not sure if it a real Pup or a replica.

[Bob Cotsford]

Reportedly that Lancaster directly led to the loss of the Box Trees Lane flying site in Bentley Heath on a combination of noise complaints and overflying the A34. Four Quadras was it?

[mal brewer]

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 11/08/2020 11:33:50:

Reportedly that Lancaster directly led to the loss of the Box Trees Lane flying site in Bentley Heath on a combination of noise complaints and overflying the A34. Four Quadras was it?

I seem to recall that the Jim Davis Lancaster had only two functional engines, yes they were chainsaw engines,so would have caused a fair old racket !...........could be wrong, can anybody confirm on number of engines ?.......Mal

[Allan Bowker]

Thanks for the photo Eric, good to see it as it's intended use.

I can't confirm if the design was 2 or 4 active engines but I can recall being told in the shop they were from chainsaws. I had just assumed it was all four.

[Eric Robson]

Hi Allan, I was able to buy my first set of Futaba radio gear due to Jim Davis. He advertised Futaba M series at £164 interest free credit for two years. I gave up smoking to afford it, I was visiting relatives in Kidderminster at the time and drove up to his shop in Erdington where the big Lanc. was hanging up. It looked awesome, at that time 60 size models were classed as large, I seem to think that it only had two working engines but I would not swear by it. I know he had two large scale Spitfires and I think there was a large scale Me. 109. as I asked about it at a show where he was flying the models and he said they were having problems with the 109 and it would not be flying that day. That was 44 years ago so time may have fogged my memory which is normally pretty good.

[mal brewer]

Hi Eric, I remember the Spitfires that Jim Davis used to fly at displays alongside the Lancaster,he used to put on a big show at Woodvale,where he would have a big trade stand. His manager,Dave Wright, used to do a lot,if not all, of his show flying. I remember seeing the two Spitfires, but never saw the Me 109, or ever heard mention of it, that's not to say it didn't exist. Last time I went to his store,it was in a large industrial type building in, I think, Dartmouth street, Birmingham, that would be around the late 80's................Mal

[Andy Stephenson]

I saw the Lanc fly at Sywell circa mid 70s and if I remember correctly there were only 2 working engines. The other thing about it was that it needed two pilots, one for the actual flying and the second for the flaps, bomb doors and throttles.

[wingcoax]

That would be the same as Roy Levers big Lanc They used to fly it from the back of a car with the roof down.

[mal brewer]

Yes, Roy Lever's Lancaster, or 'Plankaster' as it was known, due to it's very semi-scale appearance. He did indeed fly it from the back of a converible car, a Jaguar I believe, if I remember correctly. The story I read somewhere was that he used to use a chase car because he couldn't fly a model coming towards him ! Probably a made-up tale, I think he did it that way because he was an out and out showman.................hope he wasn't using a 'merlin' radio ! .....Mal

Edited By mal brewer on 12/08/2020 12:08:41

[Colin Leighfield]

Dave Wright, who did a lot of the show flying for Jim, is still flying with SCRCAC. Since 1970 I have owned a Frog Jackdaw that was given to me by a friend at work who said that it had originally belonged to Dave. A while ago I mentioned it to him and he said that he had originally built and flown one and eventually sold it on. Last year I decided to get it going again, did some minor repair work, fitted new radio and servos as well as a new Enya SS30. It flew straight away perfectly, a bit twitchy on take-off but it’s a really good plane, surprisingly quick and quite aerobatic on rudder and elevator. I reintroduced Dave to it, he hadn’t seen it for probably fifty years and he flew it again. It was a great experience to see the master flying a plane that he reckons he built in 1964, 56 years ago. It has some aged related “patina” that I don’t intend to change, it’s still a top-notch plane to fly. Here’s Dave reunited with an old pal.

[Richard Harris]

Its a small world, here is Dave flying his Wakefield model up at the patch a few years ago. I spoke to him last year at Greenacres, next time I see him I will ask him about the Lancaster.

I was only a child but I do remember a trainer they did that looked nice, Slim Jim I think? always fancied one.

 

Edited By Richard Harris on 12/08/2020 16:16:51

[brokenenglish]

Sincere Thanks to Colin for the Jackdaw story and to Richard for the Evans Jaguar video.
Both super interesting posts!

[Bob Cotsford]

I persuaded a mate, Steve Hilton, to take up flying in the early to mid 70s. His weapon of choice was an ARTF Slim Jim and it turned out to be an excellent trainer. I think there were a couple of other * Jims, certainly I remember a low wing Jim variant.

[Colin Leighfield]

Dave told me that a few years ago he got seriously into Wakefield for a few years, he was competing at top level.

I think that all of Jim’s big planes flew with converted chain saw motors. 44cc? There was also a Me109E with one of those that I saw written off at Weston Park shortly after take-off, Dave was flying it. I asked him recently what happened, I think he said it was a transmitter error (got the wrong one?!)

The high wing pre-fabricated model was the Slim Jim, although it was thought of as a trainer, with a 60 up front it was very capable. I had one from around 1979 and it lasted for about twenty years until I scrapped it because it was carrying more than its own weight in soaked-in oil! That was the plane I was flying at Fradley when two RAF Tornados out of Cottesmore flew under it when it was inverted at the top of a loop around 500 ft. Next thing I knew it was reported as a near miss and was investigated by the AAIB. Dave told me that one of his jobs at Jim’s was to build these and also the low wing version, the Low Jim.,

After Jim’s Erdington shop got burned down and he moved into the new place nearer the city centre it never seemed to be the same and didn’t last there very long. I remember seeing the Lancaster up there in the roof. Didn’t someone say that it finished up in the USA? Some may remember that when they did the cross-channel flight with the Spitfire that a young Chris Robathan was one of the team, he is in the cover photograph of the RCME magazine edition when they reported on it. Chris checked me out for my “A” certificate. Sadly he died suddenly quite young some years ago.

Jim Davies did a lot for radio control flying and Dave did a brilliant job of the show flying with those big and successful scale models, quite astonishing to us in those days.

[Andy Stephenson]

I had a low-jim I bought as an unwanted kit at a club meeting, it was meant for a .40 size engine but I only had an HP.61 so it needed a load of lead-shot in the tail. During the first flight it had tailplane flutter being over powered and quite slim at the tail end, the lead shot drained out through a crack that had developed as a result of the vibration. The next thing I knew was I didn't have enough elevator to hold the nose up and it ploughed into a field. After mending and reinforcing the tail it flew for years when I finally gave it to one of the younger penniless members of the club. Before that I used it to try out my OS.61RF Pumper and tuned pipe, 500ft loops no trouble.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Dad snapped this at Woodvale in 1978 (very rainy if I recall). Is this the Davis Lanc? I assume not judging by the markings and the flat top fus'?

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:05:47

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:07:02

[mal brewer]

Posted by David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:04:48:

Dad snapped this at Woodvale in 1978 (very rainy if I recall). Is this the Davis Lanc? I assume not judging by the markings and the flat top fus'?

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:05:47

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:07:02

Hi David, that's not the JDM Lancaster, that is the Roy Lever version. You can see why it was known as the 'Plankaster' due to it's boxy type appearance..................Mal

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Ah, thanks Mal.

[Andy Stephenson]

I'm sure the one I saw fly at Sywell in the 70s was smaller than the Roy Lever one and the two pilots flying it were definitely standing by the runway and not in the back of a car. Could this have been the JDM Lanc.

Andy.

[Maurice Dyer]

Roy Lever, Powermax.

Bought a charger off him at Sandown Park once. Never did work. Speaking of Sandown, I recall in the late 70s Dave Wright was flying for JDM: one time they rigged up two or three big paddling pool type things and Dave flew this magnificent S6b off (and back on it). He was a brilliant flier. Happy days. 😁

Maurice

[mal brewer]

Posted by Andy Stephenson on 13/08/2020 11:42:11:

I'm sure the one I saw fly at Sywell in the 70s was smaller than the Roy Lever one and the two pilots flying it were definitely standing by the runway and not in the back of a car. Could this have been the JDM Lanc.

Andy.

Hi Andy, I'm pretty sure the JDM Lancaster was smaller than the Roy Lever version,though still a very large model by the standards of the day.If the pilots were standing on the runway, it almost certainly was the Jim Davis model.................Mal

Edited By mal brewer on 13/08/2020 11:56:56

[Maurice Dyer]

I've seen a YouTube clip (cannot find it) of Roy Lever being driven down the runway flying his. If I recall he was sat on the back of a three wheeler. God knows why, the Land was big enough to see. Maybe dodgy range on 27 megs !?.

Does anyone recall the name of a television series Roy did in the 90s ? He had a jet amongst others. Was it Model Mania or ??

Maurice

[FilmBuff]

Posted by mal brewer on 13/08/2020 11:17:29:

Posted by David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:04:48:

Dad snapped this at Woodvale in 1978 (very rainy if I recall). Is this the Davis Lanc? I assume not judging by the markings and the flat top fus'?

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:05:47

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 13/08/2020 11:07:02

Hi David, that's not the JDM Lancaster, that is the Roy Lever version. You can see why it was known as the 'Plankaster' due to it's boxy type appearance..................Mal

Was that taken at the 1978 Control Line and RC Scale World Championships?

If so - there was also a large scale 747 flown - looked like it would fall out of the air at any moment.