July 2023

In this month’s edition:

Down on the farm 54 last month 6/23 – Tony Palmer
Trip to Mannheim, Germany – June 2023 – Paul Reilly
Chilsfold Farm Fly-in 17th June 2023
Gliding Evening at Parham 6th June 2023

Down on the farm 54 last month 6/23

Klemm L25C G-ACXE

Duplicate inspection record for the controls has gone to the LAA. We did taxi trials done on the runway with Tony Berryman at the controls on Friday 23.6.23 and we only had some minor wrinkles.

The Klemm with Tony Berryman taxing, tail was raised in other runs.

Talk by Keith Hartley

Our June 7th speaker Keith Hartley in full flow

We had a good turn out on the night with well over 20 people attending. I personally found it very interesting and I think the rest of the audience thought so, coupled with many slides to compliment the talk. Keith during the talk mentioned an interesting ferry flight of a Hunter to South Africa, with time in jail and many more escapades. He will be returning at another date to tell the story.

Our June 7th speaker Keith Hartley with me

AeroExpro air show at Sywell report

BristellUK were exhibiting at the show, we had the latest NG5 demonstrator and the prototype B8 strutless high winger on display. I personally think we had the best display there but that was based on the fact there were almost no exhibitors present and we had two different planes, one being the B8 that had never been to the UK before. I thought the show was very poor and many of the visitors were disappointed with so little to see having made the effort to come. We had many reports of many pages of briefing to read and difficulties with getting landing slots when in reality there were not many visitors flying in.

BristellUK display in front of the LAA tent

Latest NG5 demonstrator

Bristell B8 prototype at Sywell

Meetings and events over the coming year

We need ideas for strut talkers to cover, Aug, Sept and October.

We have 2 strut trophies which I have on the window ledge waiting for a suitable candidate; please nominate a club member for something outstanding.

Tony Palmer

Trip to Mannheim, Germany – June 2023

Some of you may know that Farry and Tony have had the latest Bristell aircraft product in the UK for a few weeks. The aircraft needed to head back to the Czech Republic so I offered to ferry the aircraft. While this isn’t about the aircraft but rather the stopover point along the route.

After clearing customs in Calais it was onward for Germany to my overnight stop about 3 hours flying away. I headed for Mannheim which is an industrial city positioned on the Rhine lying south of Frankfurt. This made a good overnight city stop about halfway along the route as the airport is very close to the city. The runway has a 1,000m tarmac and grass option but this is generally used by the gliding traffic. The airfield has Mogas in addition to Avgas and Jet-A1, with the later being used by a small cargo operation and a few commercial flights each day.

Outside the airfield is a great German beer house / restaurant which is in the old control tower, just behind this is a tram line and these run into the city every 5-10 minutes. With tickets costing €3.00 for a single. Being a small city, hotel choices are plentiful, generally centred around the train station.

After being well-rested overnight I had to make a choice the next day… In the vicinity there are two technical museums. One at Speyer and the other in Sinsheim. If I had longer I would of visited both but sadly only had time for one.

Speyer is about 10 miles south and has an airfield next to the museum speyer.technik-museum.de/en/ so access is easy using the aircraft. Without this it’s a little harder to travel from Mannheim. This museum has a great mix of stuff but its star events are that it has a Boeing 747 with a slide coming out of it for the inner child. It also has a submarine U9 and a Busan, this is the Russian version of the space shuttle. This is just the start of what they have….

I ultimately opted for Sinshiem sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/ which is just over an hour on a train along a scenic valley. It does require a change and it drops you directly at the museum which makes it easy. A return ticket cost €13. There is a grass airfield there but sadly the gliding club doesn’t allow visitors, so it was a train ride.

This museum has everything from bikes, to militaria, hot-rods, American classic cars, Le Mans winners and steam trains but I was obviously there for the aviation elements. It is spread over 3 buildings and the ticket cost €21. When I say spread over… I mean that in the physical way as the halls are jammed with so much stuff but even on top of the buildings they have more. On this day there was an Audi cabriolet car meet so loads in the car park.

In many of the halls they have items that are automated, for example they have a DH Vampire that is hoisted to the ceiling and for a couple of Euros (they accept bank cards) you can control the aircraft from a joystick in-front of it, watching it bank from left to right. A great way to make these classic exhibits interactive!

There was a Sikorsky helicopter (the one that looks like a Wessex), an English Electric Canberra in Germany livery (I didn’t know they operated them), a De Havilland water bomber that was mounted hanging out over the building and at a ‘flying angle’ making it very difficult to walk inside but great to see.

The real highlight was on top of Hall 2 and was the star of the show as they had an Air France Concorde that you can access but also a Tupolev TU-144, also known as the Concordski. I believe it is the only one on display outside of Russia. These both were fully accessible and again mounted as if they were landing causing you to puff to get up to the flight deck, high above the ground. While both these aircraft were in need of some exterior work it was great to see them. Even though the TU-144 was older than the Concorde it looks much more advanced and surprisingly roomy in the cockpit, although some systems had glass fuses, like you used to have in your household appliances.

I had a great afternoon, ice cream, and tired feet after looking at everything. This is a great place to visit and easily accessible as a European weekend break with an aircraft as its only 3.5 hours from the UK in a 95 knot aircraft.

The airfield was pretty helpful and relaxed and 2 night overnight parking, and a landing fee only cost €32 which is a bargain in my view. Make the most of the summer as there is some great places just beyond the horizon. Onwards to get the Bristell B8 to the Czech Republic.

Paul Reilly

Chilsfold Farm Fly-in 17th June 2023

The slightly iffy weather, and the King’s Birthday Flypast may have put some people of from attending, but plenty of Bristell aircraft managed to make it! As you can see from the pictures, the sun did shine for some of the time. As always, the catering was great.

The pictures in the slide-show below are by Richard Hasler with some by me. A very pleasant event. Many thanks to the Charletons and Farry for organising it.

Gliding Evening at Parham 6th June 2023

Hosted by Southdown Gliding Club at Parham, a group of Strut members and friends had the experience of glider winch launches. The acceleration is amazing; think Star Trek when they jump to warp speed and all the stars become lines. For most pilots the angle of climb feels dangerously extreme, before pinging off the cable at the top into comparative silence. The views from the front seat, without an engine and propeller to spoil the view are fabulous. A very different aviating experience for most of us. Definitely give it a go if you get the chance.

Here is a slide-show of random pictures from the evening. Many thanks to SGC for organising the event.