The Netherthorpe Connection
Several of our members have been involved in full size flying.
Bob Nash spent some time at Netherthorpe and as noted elsewhere Richard Fisher got his PPL and progressed from landing at our field in his microlight to aerobatics in his refurbished Skybolt. In 1972 Ashley Hoyland was the first person to launch himself off Higger Torr (highest peak between the Ringinglow and Fox House roads) in a home made hang glider and after taking his PPL in 1980 held the PPL for about 20 years flying Cessna 150/152s and a Rallye TB10 Tobago.
Martyn Webster was a member for many years before he moved to Blackpool to take up a new career. He was a well established flying instructor and latterly the Deputy Chief Instructor at Netherthorpe.
Keith Webster, enjoying an orange juice at Humberside airport, after agreeing to be my first passenger in the Rally TB10 Tabago, the blue and silver aircraft in the background. Keith was also on our committee for many years and was Membership Secretary, later becoming Airfield Manager at Netherthorpe.
Clive Butler has been flying full size aerobatics for some time and when he was a member of the club we put the following on our web site.
Photos of the Pitts S1S under construction progress and comments to follow:
Photographed by Ashley Hoyland January 2001 – definitely not almost ready to fly.
The fuselage was jig built but the rest is down to Clive. The attention to detail and workmanship must surely make this one of the best around. Anybody got an suitable engine stored under their bench please let Clive know?
The top wingspan is (should be ) 17feet 3 inches and the fuselage length is just over fifteen feet so its not a big aeroplane. The finished weight should be around 800lbs, “if I am lucky” says Clive but most Pitts with starter, alternator, battery and radio etc turn out around 850 lbs or so I am told, the m.a.u.w is 1150 lbs so obviously, like a model the lighter the better.
With a Lycoming IO360 of 180 hp or possibly 200hp if I can find one, the performance is staggering and its not that long ago that Pitts were competing and winning at the World Championships . Many Pitts do still compete but are outperformed now by the new generation of composite monoplanes.
On the wings in the photo the spars are sitka spruce, the ribs are routed from resorcinol bonded birch ply with other items like the fillets made from Douglas fir (because its easier to obtain and slightly cheaper than spruce although it is slightly heavier) the pull blocks that will house the drag and anti drag wires are made from American ash. I have not used any pins or nails in the construction and everything is clamped and glued with ‘Aerodux’ a two part epoxy.
I will keep you posted of my progress but as you know it is a slow process, If I can possibly finish all the wings and get them covered by the end of the year I will be very happy.
I keep charging the models up and you never know I might actually come and fly them if I can drag myself away from the garage/workshop.
Clive Butler
All this took place before we knew we were going to have to rely on a good relationship with Netherthorpe to continue flying from our field under the new CAA regulations for model flying.
Charlie has sent us the photographs of him receiving his gliding wings and the second photograph in the circuit at Pocklington. Congratulations Charlie.
Had a great week winning the intermediate class with almost 800 km flown over 4 soarable days in August 2022