Gordon Cornell, one of the great characters of UK aeromodelling, has died peacefully at the age of 88. Probably as famous for his eccentric personality as for his enormous talent as an engineer and craftsman, Gordon’s whole life was lived in model aviation, from his professional involvement with FROG and ED in the fifties, to his cottage industry supplying hand- built diesel engines, which occupied him until his brief final illness.         &nbs...

Obituary for Chris Tompkins - RIPWe are greatly saddened to report the passing of Chris Tompkins during February 2021. Chris started aeromodelling in 1946 while still at school and joined the Oxford Meteor Model Flying Club in 1948 and was then flying free-flight power and later became active in R/C thermal soaring competitions. He played a major part in establishing BARCS (British Association of Radio Control Soarers) as the special interest group within the BMFA. He was BARCS member ...

"Den (Pip) Smith. I'm sorry to report that we lost one of our long standing members affectionally known as Pip to the dreaded virus on 12th January this year.Pip was born on 24th November 1931 so not a bad innings especially as he had previously fought and beaten Cancer over the years.He was an accomplished engineer and took great delight in helping us all with the more difficult modelling jobs like welding, producing stuff on his lathe etc.His friendly helpful smile will be sorely missed by us ...

JOHN STEVENS 1936-2020Typical of aeromodellers of his age, John began in the hobby with free flight, progressed into control line and then – in the era of RCS reed gear – into radio control.He took advantage of Plessey sponsorship to graduate with an engineering degree, then moved to Air Link Trainers in Aylesbury in the ‘60s working on flight simulators, at a time when the technology utilised a camera ‘driven’ around model scenarios, with the mocked-up cockpit mounted on hydraulic jacks.He...

JOHN STEVENS 1936-2020Typical of aeromodellers of his age, John began in the hobby with free flight, progressed into control line and then – in the era of RCS reed gear – into radio control.He took advantage of Plessey sponsorship to graduate with an engineering degree, then moved to Air Link Trainers in Aylesbury in the ‘60s working on flight simulators, at a time when the technology utilised a camera ‘driven’ around model scenarios, with the mocked-up cockpit mounted on hydraulic jacks.He...

The Free Flight Forum will not now be a face-to-face event at Daventry, but will take place at the same time on Zoom, 10:00 on Nov. 15th. Full joining details will be on the BMFA website News Page by Nov. 1st.It will be chaired by Mike Fantham and to whet your appetite here are the speakers and topics.Simon Dixon - The Models of Ray Monks; Mike Woodhouse - Tame Your F1B and Related Thoughts; John Emmett - Geo Fencing and Electronic Stability; Peter Martin - Simulated 3D Flight Dynamics, an Appro...

PETER KING  11-8-40 to 23-8-20Born during the Blitz, Peter King joined the Surbiton club in 1952 and placed third in the Frog Junior free-flight contest at the Nats the year after, at the age of 13. He later joined Croydon & DMAC but at the same time taught himself clarinet and alto sax, developing a great feel for modern jazz, in particular the be-bop techniques of Charlie Parker. At the age of nineteen he was asked to play alto at the opening night of Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in 1959, and...

It is with deep sadness that we announce the untimely departure of Richard Russell on Tuesday 10th March 20 after a short illness.Chairman of the Corby & District Model Flying Club for many years.  He has been proactive and a supportive member of the club through many changes and establish our new site at Welland Glider Club Brigstock.He will be sorely missed by his Wife Marty, children, Christopher, Kally and all club members.   

Richard (Dick) Place.It is on occasions like these that people often take stock of things that have happened in the past, and realise how quickly time, and years have slipped by.It was with great sadness that I report of the passing of one of the all-time quiet legends from our control line section in April 2020.-that of Richard Place. Always known as “Dick”, to his friends; apart from his legendary team racing partner and friend, Don Haworth - who always referred to him as Richard.Dick was al...

John Frederick Reid ( Jack) 23-12-1932 -01-07- 2020By 1974 Jack was building models suitable for serious competition and indeed did try out for and successfully won a place on the Canadian F1B team to attend the World Championships to be held in Bulgaria in 1975.    In Bulgaria the Canadian team won the bronze medal in F1B.  They would have had silver if Jack hadn’t set the timer wrongly on his last flight.  Forty years later he was still kicking himself for that one. In 1976 he again made the ...