Rougham Airfield Model Aircraft Show

Organised jointly by Bury St Edmunds Model Flying Club and The Large Model Association the flying weekend held over 3rd and 4th May at Rougham Airfield, a former WW2 USAAF Bomber Group station a couple of miles east of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk normally marks the start of the “show season” proper, and this year was no exception.

Record crowds turned out this year with plenty of retailers and attractions for modelers and public alike, and whilst the weather could have been kinder on the Sunday, a very strong and gusty cross-wind prevailed for most of the day Saturday saw some amazing models take to the skies!

B-25 Mitchell's Flown by John Norris and Perry Lambert

The event, which attracted exhibitors and visitors from across the country, also saw
John Norris and Perry Lambert from Horizon Hobby UK in attendance and both flying Hangar9 B25 Mitchell Bombers on Saturday, John’s was electric powered and flew with a pair of E-flite Power46 motors whilst Perry had Evolution .36 glow engines in his. In the air there was little to choose between them in terms of performance but worthy of note is just how far electric powered models have developed over recent years so much so that John had a “glow-fuel free” weekend and in addition to the B25 also flew the E-flite BAE Hawk and the twin-motored Deuces Wild.

And speaking of things electric, Ali Machinchy flew two blisteringly fast electric Horizon Hobby models, the first being the E-flite BAE Hawk and the second the Sundowner 50 from Hangar9 both models were relatively silent and very, very fast.

Ali also wowed the crowds over the weekend with his usual superb display flights, his twin tubine powered A10 Thunderbolt (Warthog) and the equally stunning turbine powered Hawker Hunter, whilst the Hunter remained on the ground the A10 looked absolutely spectacular in the air.

Other highlights of this super show were members of the “Dawn Patrol” with their magnificent 1/3rd scale WW1 bi-planes. Those along with many more display pilots and superb large scale models from the “show circuit” helped make Rougham such a great start to the season!