Executive Directors

Ian Pallister, FSMAE
Chairman

Ian’s interest in model aircraft started in 1960 with catapult-launched plastic toys and quickly progressed to the all sheet rubber-powered scale models from Yeoman and KeilKraft. He built his first single channel R/C model at the age of 12 and progressed through galloping ghost to a self-built proportional radio set bought with his first RAF pay packet in 1970. 

After gaining a degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Southampton University and 400 hours of pilot training he served for 26 years as an RAF Engineer Officer, leaving as a Wing Commander in 2004. He then embarked on a second career in the Civil Service as a training manager at the RAF College Cranwell where he was the RAF liaison Officer for model flying at Barkston Heath for several years before finally retiring in 2018. Throughout 11 years as Chairman of the RAF Model Aircraft Association Ian sat on the BMFA Areas Council. During that time he competed in all disciplines flown by the RAFMAA as well as the BMFA Scale Indoor and Free Flight Nationals. He was National Champion in Scale CO2/Electric in 1988 and in Peanut in 1992. Ian has judged R/C Scale flying since 1979 and, on retirement from the RAF, was co-opted onto the BMFA Scale Technical Committee to organize the Scale Indoor Nationals which he did for 5 years. Remaining on the Scale TC for 10 years he held the posts of Treasurer, Chairman and Council Delegate. He was elected Vice Chairman of the BMFA in November 2014 and took over as Chairman all too soon in October 2017 when his predecessor’s health deteriorated. Ian was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers in 2017. An active member of two BMFA Clubs as well as the RAFMAA, Ian’s primary competitive involvement remains Scale (R/C and Free Flight) but he enjoys all forms of R/C flying including thermal and slope soaring as well as an ongoing dabble with helicopters, multi-rotors and FPV. Ian lives in Lincolnshire and is married with two grown-up children and two grand-children Edit biography
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David Phipps
Chief Executive

Dave has been a BMFA staff member since 2003, becoming CEO in 2005. He served as the Power Nationals Co-ordinator from 2010 until 2021. Dave is also General Secretary of the Royal Aero Club and a director of the General Aviation Awareness Council.

Dave has also served as Europe Air Sports Technical Officer for Unmanned Aircraft since 2015 and was a member of EASA’s Expert Group working on the finalisation of the EU regulations for unmanned aircraft. In 2016, he was a founder member of the European Model Flying Union along with colleagues from the German, Austrian and Swiss Aero Clubs who came together to formalise support for his ongoing work with EASA on behalf of the wider model flying community. He was voted in for a third term as President in 2021. The EMFU currently represents 125,000 model flyers throughout Northern Europe. Dave has been a member of the BMFA since 1983 and has flown gliders, fixed wing powered aircraft, helicopters and multi-rotors. He is a current member of the Shillito Wood Model Flying Group. He lives on the edge of the Peak District in Derbyshire with his wife Janine and six horses. He has two grown up children. In his ‘spare’ time he is the long-standing Chairman of his local Parish Council and the Village Hall Committee. Edit biography
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Keith Lomax, FSMAE
Interim Financial Director

Keith served as Honorary Treasurer from 2003 until his election as Vice Chairman in 2022.  Prior to that he was Area Delegate for the East Anglian Area in 1991 and BMFA Honorary Secretary from 1991 to 1996.  He has also held committee posts at club and area level. 

He has undertaken various roles in relation to the Power Nationals including being coordinator in 1992 and famously running the bar from 1994 to 1998; helped out at the Free Flight Nationals for four years; manned the BMFA stand at many shows; and initiated the children’s DART workshops at the Model Engineers Exhibition. Keith is married to Christine who also works at the Nats and on the stand, and has three adult stepsons (who also all work at the Nats, usually on the roping crew). Keith and Christine also have two dogs (George and Holly) who are known to quite a few members. Keith’s model flying activities started with R/C Power fixed wing ‘club’ flying and have included indoor and a very poor attempt at scale. Other interests include canal boat holidays, photography and anything to do with maintaining a house and the stepsons’ cars. Keith is a governor of a school for children with special educational needs. When he has time to go to work, Keith is an internal auditor (like an accountant but more friendly and interesting) and specialises in auditing computer systems. Having worked for various multinationals, Keith currently works at Motability Operations, the company that operates Europe’s largest car fleet – providing a service to over 400,000 disabled people in the United Kingdom.
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Duncan McClure
Members Director

I have been an active modeller for over 40 years and I enjoy participation in many aspects of the hobby. I started off flying control line and free flight and then moved to RC, starting with a home built single channel radio. I now fly power sport, scale and aerobatics, glider (both slope and thermal), helicopters and more recently gas turbines and electric.

My entire fleet is now exclusively electric or turbine. For the last 36 years I have been a member of the White horse Model Club. I have served on the committee of this club for most of this period and have held most of the senior posts. I have been responsible for the development of training materials and have trained many members, both young and old, in power, glider and helicopter disciplines. Edit biography I have held power B and Club Examiner ratings since 1982 and I became an Area Chief Examiner in 2000. I have also been an Approved Instructor since the inception of the ‘up and away ‘scheme and a silent flight examiner since 1993. I am now also an Area Chief Instructor. I also fly full size and hold a Private Pilots Licence (PPL A) with IMC and night ratings. I fly on a regular basis and have a share in Piper Cherokee based at a local airfield. I find full-size experience invaluable for model flying, particularly in relation to safety and training. I worked for several years as a part time fixed wing flying instructor for ATS and the RC Hotel in Corfu, so I have gained valuable experience of training pilots of all ages and with a wide range of abilities, in both club and commercial environments. For my day job I work as a radiation physicist for the government, and have been involved in notable incidents such as Chernobyl and the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive Polonium in 2006. Edit biography
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Mark Benns
Sporting Director

Mark Benns has remained an active member of the Peterborough Model Flying Club for over 38 years. He has held committee posts in the Indoor and Free Flight Technical Committees since 2005 as well as playing an active role in the procurement of the BMFA National Visitor Centre.

Married with two grown up children, Mark is a Chartered Architect running his own Practice and is also a Director of a Company developing large scale Combined Heat & Power projects. A Free Flight aeromodeller since the age of 12 he has juggled his enthusiasm in both Indoor duration and outdoor competition. Mark recalls his first insight into aeromodelling was watching an RC glider demonstration at a local school fete, two weeks later he was hooked and a member of the Society. He dabbled with RC slope soaring back in his University days in Sussex and has been dizzied by Control Line at Cabbage Patch Nationals but his real passion is flying hand launched gliders, rubber models and for the last 12 years Competing at National, European and World level in the Indoor class of F1D.
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Simon Vaitkevicius
Technical Director

Simon lives in Spalding, Lincolnshire. His aeromodelling career started in 1993 when he became interested in thermal soaring and joined his local club, the South Lincs Soarers. With encouragement from his colleagues he became more proficient and started to fly competitively at a national level.

He has mainly flown flat field thermal competition models in the 100s, Open and sometimes F3J classes but has also dabbled with electric thermal soarers and electric scale models. He enjoys competition flying and in 2010 was fortunate to become BMFA 100s national champion. Professionally, Simon is a Chartered Engineer and owns his own training company which educates Engineers nationally and internationally. He is also a Visiting Professor of Innovation at Bournemouth University and guest lecturer at London Southbank University and Brunel University. Prior to owning his own organisation he worked at Nokia UK for 15 years as a Mechanical Engineer, working globally as a process trainer.
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Helen Jones
Outreach Director

Helen Jones has always had an interest in all forms of aviation and particularly liked visiting air museums and the occasional air show. However until 2004 she knew very little about aeromodelling until she met her husband who flies Control Line.

It was through supporting and helping at both F2B and F2D events that she became aware of the importance of the BMFA and its role in promoting all forms of model sport flying. Before retiring she worked as a Primary School Senior Leader in Leeds specialising in Mathematics, Special Educational Needs and Safeguarding. She has also been the Local Authority Governor for another Leeds primary school for the last fifteen years. It is her aim to explore, develop and extend the BMFA's offer to young people so that they are enthused and inspired to join the BMFA and help shape the future of this amazing sport.
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Paul Hoey
Honorary Secretary

My working life revolved around education in one form or another as a teacher, youth and community worker and various management roles in Norfolk County Council where I concluded my career as Head of the County’s commercial education services.

I served as a Trustee and Board Chair of a multi faceted substance misuse charity for 20 years until 2021 and I continue my involvement as a volunteer supporting people in recovery. I am also active in our local church. Aeromodelling has been a thread throughout my life despite protracted diversions into sailing, windsurfing and ongoing cycling. Like many I built Keil Kraft models as a child with intermittent success and am now surprised that they fly much better than they did 50 years ago. Maybe I have learnt something over the years. I enjoy several disciplines and fly RC sport aerobatic models on a regular basis but my real interests are indoor scale and FF and small free flight sport models. I am a member of the South Norfolk MFC where I am a club examiner and Impington Village College MAC. In this centenary year I am chair of the BMFA 100 planning group. The camaraderie and challenges of aeromodelling are important to me and therefore I like to be able to give something back to our great sport.
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Non-Executive Directors

 

John McNamara

Modeller since the age of 7, building plastic models and free flight gliders and rubber powered models. Later at secondary school built free flight A1 and A2 gliders with a school friend. Dabbled in Electronics & photography too.

At 13, I joined the ATC where my modelling education proper began. I was soon building control line stunt and combat models. Our squadron had a C/L Stunt demonstration team which displayed at local air shows and country fairs. I was taught to fly radio control at the age of 14. I had learned to fly full size gliders in the ATC and continued whilst in full time further education. Modelling took something of a back seat during this time, but once I was at work, I began to build several slope soarers and a couple of power models. I joined the West Yorkshire Model Flying Club at this time. In the late 70’s I began to be interested the possibilities of electric flight. After a great deal of failure, I put my education to work to build better performing equipment Such as inverter battery chargers and Electronic Speed Controllers, as well as rewinding motors to serve as prime movers. By the early 1980’s I had several successful electric powered gliders and powered aerobatic models. All these items are taken for granted these days and are readily available. I was always interested in scale models and started building scale gliders and powered scale models. Several where own designs, with mixed success. In the late 1990’s I became interested in Ducted Fans and built several models of this type. I made a lot of new friends at this time, most of which are still close fiends now, but some are passed, but not forgotten. After finally finding my stride in ducted fan, turbo jet engines appeared on the scene. For the last 20 + years I have spent most of my spare time pursuing jet flying. In 2003, with a close friend we founded the Elvington Model Flyers, a specialist club for Jet flyers. I am honoured to be the chairman of this club. I have also severed several periods on the committee of the West Yorkshire club and that is may current position. In 2019 I was asked if I would help the Northern Area which was very short of members. I then took on the role of Delegate for the northern area. Subsequently I volunteered to work with a group of members from different areas to examine the purpose and direction of the BMFA areas. We have worked on a revised, updated and more relevant constitution for the BMFA areas as well as a revised guide to the constitution. I continue to be a life-long modeller, flying jets, gliders, scale and electric. I plan to dabble in multicylinder petrol-powered scale shortly too. There is always something new to learn and new challenges to overcome.
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Roy Tarbox

Roy comes from an aviation family background which influenced his career, most of which was spent in the aerospace, aviation related industries.  His interest in model aircraft started in the late 1950’s with catapult and steam driven projectiles.  He quickly progressed to the balsa/tissue rubber powered and control line models, typically from Vernon and Keilcraft etc.

It was only in the mid 1990’s that time allowed him to seriously become involved in model RC flying. This was initially on IC aircraft fixed wing aircraft and latterly all electric, including helicopters. As his professional career moved around the UK Roy has been a member of 3 clubs Winchester, Basingstoke and Witney. He is now both chairman and trainer for the Witney model flying club. He has taught a range of club members to fly fixed wing aircraft. Young (pre-teenage), and those of more mature years. As the weather has become more unpredictable, he has encouraged his fellow club members to develop their indoor flying skills. His preference is for scale models. He researches, designs and makes his own RC models based on the original full-size design. This is both from conventional materials and the more exotic foams plastics and carbon fiber etc. In his professional life he qualified as a Chartered Engineer and initially specialized on aircraft structures. As his career moved on, he gained a management diploma and honors degree in systems, electronics and design. He retired some years ago from full time employment, finally running a major international collaborative defense project based in Bristol. His retirement was short lived, as for many years after, until covid struck, he served as an independent consultant on a MOD safety committee.
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Martin Dilly, FSMAE

Started modelling in 1943 with an Airyda Blackburn Skua after first smelling doped fabric and ply and proper aromatic high octane fuel coming from rows of Whitleys and Hotspur gliders at RAF Hartford Bridge.

Joined West Kent MFC and SMAE in 1948; flying in competitions ever since. Joined Croydon & DMAC in 1949, flying C/L aerobatics, speed, combat, a little R/C (bang-bang rudder), flew early R/C slope soaring in 1960s, moved on to concentrate on F/F, mainly international class F1A gliders. Learned to glide at Detling, 1951 and to fly at Redhill and Croydon on Magisters and Tiger Moths in 1953 via a Flying Scholarship. RAF 1956-58 on ground radar, just missing Suez. Having several expatriate New Zealanders in the Croydon club led to a long involvement with the NZMAA, first as proxy flyer and team manager at F/F World Champs, starting with Kauhava in 1965 and as NZ delegate to CIAM since about 1970. I was made a life member of NZMAA in 1987. Other CIAM work has included chairing the Information & Education Committee and serving on several International FAI juries at World and European Championships. Managing the UK teams at World and Euro F/F Championships from 1980 to 2003 with a couple of years off makes me probably the next most experienced of the species after Viktor Eskov of the USSR and Russia. In parallel with this has been a lot of BMFA work, with an emphasis on the public relations side and the removal of inter-disciplinary blinkers, and work since 1970 towards Sports Council recognition of model flying, finally achieved about 25 years later. Despite 35 years as a TV cameraman for the BBC, Dilly Towers has always managed to avoid having a resident TV set, which may account for finding the time for it all. ‘All’ has included writing the Free-Flight and Foreign Flyers columns in Aeromodeller magazine for a period, co-founding Free Flight News, serving as BMFA PRO for two periods, editing and producing the SMAE newsletter, doing part of a TV series on modelling that still gets shown 20 years later, much to peoples’ amusement, representing BMFA on the Royal Aero Club Council, producing, editing and marketing most BMFA Free Flight Forum Reports annually since 1985, organising the Free Flight Forums, writing a couple of books on model flying, serving as London Area PRO since 1965 and as Council delegate since 1970. I was also heavily involved in the landmark Bromley public enquiry on model flying at a local park in the early 1970s, and in drafting the Home Office Code of Practice on Noise Limitation for Model Aircraft in 1970s. I was elected a Fellow in 1977 and received the Royal Aero Club silver medal in 1992. Current flying activity focuses on F1A, where the building of some carbon bunters and ‘Russian rod’ line has led to far more consistent towing and helped to compensate for the possible lack of launch energy at the bottom end of the towline. Other interests include jazz, baroque music, Eastern Europe and food.
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Peter Disney

Peter currently lives in Brixham, Devon and is a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy.  He was educated in Torquay and at Imperial College, London and joined the Service in 1982 as a Seaman Officer, passing out from BRNC in 1983.

After Fleet training and professional courses he moved on to be the Navigating Officer of HMS Kirkliston and then HMS Bereton before commencing flying training as an Observer in 1989. Initially qualified on the Lynx Mk3 helicopter operating from Frigates and Destroyers, he held several appointments with 829, and 815 Naval Air Squadrons as the Flight Observer and then the Flight Commander including operations in the first Gulf War and the Mediterranean. In 1994 he became a Qualified Observer Instructor training Lynx Aircrew and as serving as the Operations Officer of 702 NAS based at RNAS Portland. After a final appointment back with 815NAS as the Type 23 Senior Flight Commander in HMS Somerset deployed to the South Atlantic he joined the Staff of Flag Officer Sea Training at Devonport in late 1997 as a Staff Warfare Officer conducting Aviation training at sea for RN and NATO warships. In 1999 he returned to flying duties and completed a conversion course to the Merlin (EH101) helicopter at Westlands in Yeovil. The initial cadre of aircrew were based at RNAS Culdrose and charged with bringing the Merlin into Service and establishing the Merlin Training System which became 824 NAS later in 2000. As a Merlin instructor with specific responsibility for developing and accepting the simulators into service, he worked very closely with CAE, the contractor, in Canada to validate software and hardware and then oversaw the subsequent installation at Culdrose. In 2002/2003 he was employed as the Senior Operations Watch-keeper working with the Coalition partners at the UK National HQ in Qatar for the war-fighting phase of Operation Telic in Iraq. On return to Culdrose and the Merlin he became the Senior Observer in 829 NAS, re-commissioning the Squadron in 2004 and using his Lynx sea experience in establishing links between the parenting organisation and the frigates. Since 2009 he has been back with FOST in Devonport training ships at sea. Having started his modelling career with control line flying as a teenager in the 70s his first model was a Kiel Kraft plastic Hurricane. He progressed to built-up models and some free flight ducted fans, but drifted away from modelling when he went to college. Returning to the hobby and R/C power flying in 2000 when he joined the Culdrose Model Flying Group, he became the Chairman of RNMAA and BMFA representative in 2007. In addition he is now also a member of several clubs in Devon and Cornwall and has been involved with the Devon and Cornwall Sub-Areas since 2009. He has held fixed wing ‘A’ Certificate since 2002 and was invited to fly before the full size aviation at Culdrose Air Display in 2006, so worked-up and successfully passed the ‘B’ that summer. He flies mainly larger R/C scale and semi-scale fun fighters at the summer shows, but is also very keen on EDF models, having designed and built several models of British aircraft from the 50s and 60s. He also dabbles in electric R/C (up to 200W size motors), rocketry (up to E Impulse) and indoor helicopters.
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