 |
| |
Floreat
Prescotia |
The
Website for former pupils of the Prescot
Grammar and Prescot Schools |
© The
Prescotian 2000 - 2010 |
|
|
|
| ....... |
| Here are some
members of the Model Aircraft
Society round about 1963.
Can anyone help with names?
Jim Cruise (design guru) is third
from the left, next but one is
Dave Carman then Ken
Fleming. Geoff Johnson is
looking down in the middle then a
couple of people I really should
remember before David Twamley at
the back, David Bagley, Bug
Mitchell peering through, ??? was
exceptionally enthusiastic, Ken
Wildsmith (who notably had a
Triumph Tiger Cub before getting
the first Honda 175 in the
country) then someone else whose
name sadly escapes me. Good to
see the headmaster's house and
water tower in the background.
[David Bagley] |
 |
I am writing because
I ( yes me !) actually founded
the model aircraft society
featured , so I am the founder
member . I guess that makes me a
member ! Can't remember , but I
think I was in the third form,
because I was thrown out of a
geography class for dismantling a
diesel engine at the back , while
Australia was going on at the
front . I think third form
because after that I needed
glasses and so sat at the front!
It was me. Please tell me when.
My father, and his friends, had
served in WWII in the RAF, and
wouldn't talk about aircraft,
which of course made me more
interested in them. I started off
with gliders and then made
control-line aircraft , because I
had got my hands on a couple of
old glow-plug engines, ( hence
the dismissal from geography ,
which I did well in, incidentally
,having learned to make it up as
you go along ). My father
relented because the control-line
Spitfire flew well, and more
importantly , did not crash. And
so I got a decent engine , one
Christmas. A 5cc Enya !!, and I
still have the scar on my
flicking finger to prove it !
Such was the enthusiasm generated
by this and another Enya engine ,
that I got interested in
aerobatics , and combat
control-line, though I always
loved the form and function of
the scale models.I made all my
models from plans , not kits ,
and there were techniques where
you could convert a plan
accurately into an aircraft, in
fact , much more easily and
cheaply, than buying a kit.
I became fascinated by what I now
see to be realizable form and
function .I got a few of my mates
interested, and tried to interest
one of the teachers . Everyone ,
it seemed, wanted to knock off at
four. But the sports fields were
unused in general, after this
time, and if there is a real
hardship for a budding Reginald
Mitchell ( NOT! ), the problem
was somewhere to fly them .
Whereas during WWII, people were
quite happy to see Spitfires
flying over , a few years later ,
they couldn't stand the noise of
an Enya , on the only land
available , which at that time
belonged to Huyton Secondary
modern School. Bill Major was
(DFC) was the headmaster of the
school, and allowed us to use the
land to fly these aircraft. The
land was unused for any other
purpose at that time. It was
wasteland. But people complained
about the engine noise ,
particularly on a Saturday when
the Football was on the new TV.
Bill Major the headmaster, had
had a complaint, and said , as
far as he was concerned, it's a
lot healthier flying model
aircraft, than watching football.
But somebody , one day , came out
, and broke the wing of of one of
my aircraft. This was a child.
I founded the model aircraft
society so that we could fly our
aircraft and inventions with
agreement from everyone ,on the
School playing fields. There was
much opposition to this idea from
teaching staff ( apart from two
who got the idea through, and I
thank them). I put a notice on
the board, asking if there was
any interest, and at what level,
and there was some. A lot more
than I expected . So, with some
fear,I did a little lecture after
school about the various kinds of
model aircraft. Free
flying/controlled
/powered/unpowered/speed/duration/weight/etc.Combat
and scale was my speciality at
the time. I remember borrowing
from Mr Thompson , a couple of
spring balances from the physics
lab. to show the different
designs, and kinds of model
aircraft, to show the compromises
between power weight and lift,
and differences in design. I was
very surprised how many people
turned up ( after school ) , I
was expecting about six, but
there were thirty or more.
Better modelers than me, and ,
well, it took off! It actually
became a very good club, in my
time. People gathered out of
school hours to fly these
creations, after countless hours
of preparation, with at least the
dedication of any sportsman, on
the same sportsfields. Actually
may of us were sportsmen, which
was what in the end won the
argument for us.
I was delighted when I came down
from University College Durham,
after my Physics degree , to
visit the old site of the School,
and,to my amazement and delight
the model aircraft society was
there, and up-and-running ! I
actually was invited to fly one
on control-line,and I have to say
it was a lot faster, than any I
had built. I was worried I might
crash it, but it flew beautifully
. Much better than mine.
I have no lasting interest in
model aircraft per se., but I am
pleased that other young people
from Prescot have a passion for
the realisation of intellectual
invention. Don't knock it !
Not for us alone.
[John
Barnett] |
|
|
|
