An interesting find during Google search for events and activities around us: a model aircraft show. Sounds interesting and only about 3 hours away, so off we go!
The Weston Park Model Airshow is held on the 1000 acre grounds of the Weston Park Estate. The estate was built in 1671 and was the home of the Earls of Bradford until it was handed over to the Weston Park Foundation, a charitable organization that maintains the property.
There were two separate flying areas: an airstrip for the planes, and a separate area for the helicopters. Also, in the evening on the day before the big show started they held “Tiny Whoop” racing in one of the tents. Tiny Whoops are small drones, about 7-8″ in diameter, but they are packed full of technology! In addition to 4 propellers and a battery, they also contain wireless communications for control and for video signals. Drone operators use VR headsets to see where the drone is heading and then handsets to control the drones flight. These drones are incredibly tiny and fast. I couldn’t get any photos or videos of these drones racing around inside the tent, so I recommend looking at “tiny whoop” videos on YouTube to see what it is like!
There was also an outdoor drone racing course for larger drones. These drones are much smaller (about 1′ in diameter) than the X-Class drones we watched at Popham Airfield, which were up to 3′ in diameter. All racing drones are controlled by operators who sit in chairs (to stop them from moving around and injuries that would result), don VR headsets and then use hand-controls to remotely pilot their drone through the racetrack.
In the video below you can easily hear the whine of the drones as they negotiate the race course. If you watch carefully you may even catch a glimpse of a drone on the course!
I can’t believe that I didn’t get any photos or videos of the helicopter flying. It was incredible to watch (must have spent too much time watching instead of taking photos). I have included a link to a video of helicopter stunt flying (not my video), as this is exactly the kind of heli flying we watched at the Weston air show.
There was a small section of the show dedicated to RC boats. Unfortunately they were hidden away on a small pond in behind the amusement rides. We saw hovercraft and other boats, even an RC steam tractor (powered by batteries, but had smoke coming from the stack).
Another area of the show was set aside for military vehicles. These are the real thing, not RC models! A UK-based club that restores WWII vehicles, with emphasis on Willy’s Jeeps of which several were on show.
Once again I didn’t get any photos of the hovercraft models, or military vehicles (sigh).
The model craft airshow was the main attraction, and it was quite the show! Now in its 27th year the show is well organized and runs very well! There is even a large screen showing who is currently flying and a pair of announcers kept up a running commentary throughout the show.
We were really surprised at the number of model jets on display. These models use real, scaled-down jet turbine engines!
There were also lots of non-jet powered aircraft. Some of the model planes were huge. There was even one that was 65% of full size (I’m sure the dogs, at least one of them, could have flown inside it).
The weather wasn’t great, but the spectators weren’t deterred. The fireworks even went on in the rain!
The plane show was fairly continuous. As one plane landed another took-off. Sometimes there were several planes in the air at one time.