The 2023 BMFA CL speed Nationals were once again hosted at the Barton control line flying site, the CL speed Nationals is held at the Barton site rather than the BMFA Buckminster site due to the number of pulse jet models that are entered in BMFA Open speed and these are prohibited from flying at BMFA Buckminster.
The 2023 event was held over two days and this made for an action-packed weekend. Some competitors were asking for a return to three days of competition and this may have to seriously be looked at to get all the desired flying completed.
The competition started on Saturday morning and the models that were put forward by the competitors at this stage of the meeting were either Sport Jet (pulse jet) or 12 class (IC). The 12 class models are usually an International class F2A model fitted with an Irvine 12 engine running on around 25% nitro and just a super silencer rather than a full tuned pipe. (see Aeromodeller issue 1035 for details).
The weather was a little rough on the Saturday and this kept the prized F2A models in their transport boxes as the weather forecast for Sunday looked more favourable.
Peter Halman and Paul Eisner in the 12-F2A pit area
Some of the early runners in Sport Jet were not recording good speeds with Barrie Lever being 10 mph down on the expected speeds at just a little over 138 mph. Andrew Watson recorded 144 mph in Sport jet and newcomers Joe Gough and Peter Harvey recorded just shy of 130 mph with their Sport Jet models.
Dick Hart Sport Jet flight video
Sport jet flight video’s at the 2023 Nats
The 12 models flew next and had mixed results with Paul Eisner recording 141.10 mph for 95.40% of the record, however on Peter Halmans second 12 flight we actually saw what was the contest winning flight at 150.70 mph for 99.08% of the record, no one else through the whole competition recorded over 99% of the record that they flew against, thus making Peter the clear Nats winner.
Multiple World record holder Ken Morrisey kept his powder dry and models in the car on Saturday, with all of his thoughts to flying in the better weather on the Sunday.
As predicted the weather was marginally better on Sunday and certainly good for flying all CL speed models. The F2A models were all flown on the Sunday with Paul Eisner just cracking 300kph at 301.10 kph and Peter Halman at 295.60 kph, Dave Brewin after setting his personal best speeds in the recent European Championships failed to get a valid flight.
Peter Halman 295 kph F2A flight
A number of Sport Jet flights were flown but largely speaking they did not effect the higher end of the results, that was until Ken Morrisey took to the circle, Kens first flight with his regular Sport Jet model resulted in a disappointing 139.10 mph, team Morrisey then took the bold decision to bring into the circle a new and only flown once before model that netted 145.40 mph for fastest Sport Jet flight and 3rd overall.
Ken Morrisey 145mph Sport Jet for 3rd overall
Dick Hart and Barrie Lever then demo flew an Italian rules Sport Jet model which will be campaigned in Europe next year, this model is powered by the Zanin Sport Jet and runs on pump petrol, the model needs some trimming and will then likely be a competition contender.
Joe Gough, Dick Hart and Barrie Lever with Italian rules Sport Jet, Zanin powered
Paul Eisner took the opportunity to demo fly his Pink Lady F2A model, this model is a replica of the 1964 World Champs winner of Bill Wisniewski, the model is monoline controlled and powered by a Ratler 15 (combination of K&B and Super Tigre parts), the original model would have been powered by a Wisniewski K&B special. Pauls flight with the Pink Lady replica went really well and netted a decent 128 mph, although this was not a contest flight it was watched by many of the competitors who were present.
Pauls Pink Lady demo flight video
Paul Eisners Pink Lady, 1964 WC’s replica
So overall we had 1st Peter Halman 12 class, 2nd Paul Eisner 12 class and 3rd Ken Morrisey Sport Jet.
2023 CL speed Nationals prize giving
At this point it is very important to thank the Barton Club for the use of their CL facility, Dock Hart for taking on the role of CD again and especially Christine Watson for her excellent time keeping via the Transitrace system.
All photo’s by Peter Harvey