It is with deep regret that we have to inform the CL speed community of the passing of Dick McGladdery, whilst Dick was not a former World Champion or a master craftsman he was one of the true characters of CL speed flying. Dick was of strong enough character to follow his own intuition on most aspects of CL speed flying and he certainly was not one to follow trends blindly rather he was someone who tried to set trends or at least a seed of an idea.
Dick was always calm and respectful even when things were not going well, his approach to speed flying was certainly not the ‘Choice of Champions’ as John Brodbeck would have said but it surely was entertaining.
Martin Radcliffe has given us much information on Dick including this small account of Dicks life, both in modelling and professionally.
Dick achieved over 200mph with a piped 29 using a centrifugal switch to richen it up at speed, but one of the timekeepers screwed up and he didn’t get the record. He was unable to repeat that speed. Centrifugal switches were a bit unreliable.
Dick also indulged in motor cycle racing in the late 1960s. Comment from Alan Dell “Dick and I spent many days together racing motor cycles at circuits such as Cadwell Park and Snetterton. We did not do that well, but enjoyed the typical friendly meetings with the other riders.”
(The late Kevin Lindsay mentioned about one race where Dick came into the pits half way thru and they asked him what the problem was. Dick replied he was out of breath and needed to get his breath back!).
Dick was well known for his odd shaped models. At one European or World champs he had a pusher speed model, there’s a photo of it in an old Aeromodeller or Model Aircraft magazine. It collided with the netting.
Dick was born in 1941, middle initial H, and married Barbara L. Hosier in 1972. They didn’t have any children. Martin met her just the once at Dick’s house.
Dick first appeared for UK in 1964 World Champs in Hungary where he came 27th at 122.4mph. Kevin Lindsey was 23rd and Brian Jackson was 38th. UK Team position was 8th
1965 Liege Belgium fastest team entrant from UK at 14th, team position 4th
From 1966 to 1982 Dick was not in the UK Team.
1982 Oxelosund, Sweden. Dick 44th with 213.2kph. (Paul Eisner top UK flier 25th at 249.4 using timed crankcase pressure Rossi)
1984 Chicopee USA. Dick appears to have been our only flier, came 28th at 218.8kph
1985 3-Sisters, Wigan Dick 18th at 244.1kph, team 6th. (Paul Eisner 23rd at 211.5kph, Peter Halman 11th at 263.9kph)
1989 euros 3 Sisters 9th place individual silver team
1990 W/C Blenod France 8th individual silver team
2005 euros Gyula Hungary , 14th place individual , Gold Team
Dick worked in civil engineering and did a work stint in the middle east.
In the last few days there have been lots of memories from Dicks friends and fellow fliers and we bring these along with many photo’s. (all photo’s by Martin Radcliffe unless otherwise credited)
Dick McGladdery RIP a life well lead.
Tributes to Dick
From Colin Brown regarding Dick – he was renowned for his Eskimo Nell recitals! Eskimo Nell (film) – Wikipedia
I also remember on one of our bi-annual trips to Britenbach (Dick won the F2A once with an early Irvine 15) that Dick celebrated our ‘Arrival’ enthusiastically with the Russians and their Vodka – flying the next day was rather subdued.
World Champs 1988 Kiev.
On arrival, no hotel rooms were available so we were put in a chalet in the forest. Dick Mac, Steve Smith & I carried our suitcases & model boxes in torrential rain to our chalet.
Our ‘chalet’ was a 10’x8’ garden shed with three beds. Soaking wet we sat on our beds feeling pretty miserable. Dick rummaged in his bag and produced a bottle of Scotch which quickly lifted our spirits. Dick proceeded to recite Eskimo Nell in full. He was outstanding!
R.I.P. my dear friend Dick.
From Nigel Frith
So sad, always said there were 3 ways of doing things, the right way, the wrong way and Dicks way. Fond memories.
I would add :
Dick was never one to follow the crowd or use a proven solution; he much preferred his own solution ‘Dick’s way’ which could range from 110% right to 110% wrong but it was his way.
He held a burning candle for a ‘Pusher’ speed model which he believed would be more efficient and hence faster. He made some that employed his intricate bending of piano wire; they flew but the model launcher had to be most wary not to get a sliced wrist on launching !
A quintessential Dick Mac model.
From David Brewin
Dick, much like Ian Russell who passed away a month earlier, worked a a Quantity Surveyor on Civil Projects but his passion was aviation both model and full size. He took particular pleasure in reading about the intricacies of the Napier piston engines.
Dick always down played his flying abilities which ,he claimed, was why he stayed with ‘Straight & Level’ speed.
He also believed in competing from the heart making very few notes on his model/engine settings and often making multiple changes between flights. The lack of notes did result in some vagaries in engine compression and fuel setting but that was all part of his character.
I shall remember his better qualities as a nice man, a mildly eccentric bachelor (although he had been married) with a pipe at hand for a couple of puffs; he would return said pipe to his trousers only to be reminded from time to time ‘Dick, you’re on fire 🔥!’
Dick with pipe and another experimental setup (3 piece wing)
From Peter Halman
My earliest memory of Dick is a picture of Kevin Lindsey, Peter Drewel and Dick admiring their uniline handles, I think at Charville lane prior to the 1965 Criterium of Aces. Dick had also flown in the 1964 World Championships in Hungary without great success. He represented the UK multiple times between 1965 and 2005 during that time although he never achieved any individual podiums he helped the F2A team to achieve 2 Team Gold medals and 4 Team Silver medals. My other memories of him are mirrored by those of others, he was quirky in his ideas, really not following what other’s had found to work preferring to use his own ideas some of which were good but many less so.
Euro Champs team 1989
From Paul Eisner
My memories of Dick are similar to some that have already been written.
His random approach to speed flying was not something I could follow – not making notes for instance and multiple changes to settings between flights. He was willing to try different things that most flyers pooh poohed at the time. I particularly remember the weighted intake restrictor which he used on his ops 29 powered shuttle . I copied this myself to use on a FI Rossi 15. His use of long skinny F2a wings – remember the picture in Aeromodeller of his model taking off showing the wing bowing like a banana. He made a wing bending jig that allowed him to fold wings longer than 4 feet . It was a good bit of kit. Unfortunately he then went and dismantled it and got rid of the parts after the rules changed.- only Dick could do that!
I remember him venturing into F2G . I think he found it really hard to understand the difference between IC and electric power. We had quite long e mail discussions about the results he was getting and in particular the interpretation of his speed controller logs. He persisted with his low cell count high torque/ current approach and I could never persuade him that high volts were the way to go to limit the work the esc has to do. I flew for him at the 2016 Nationals . We had a practice flight at over 265kph which was well above the then UK record. On the official flight the esc melted on over current. Knowing Dick I am not sure whether he changed something overnight between the flights ?
It was sad to see his health deteriorating from 2016 onwards.
His tobacco pipe has been mentioned before and I can remember seeing the inside of it on a number of occasions. He rarely cleaned it out and obviously puffed on the liquid contents in the bowl which looked like castor oil!
Aeromodeller report on Dicks banana wing F2A
“A model particularly worthy of note was that of Britain’s Dick McGladdery. It combined a fixed rear fuselage, which is manufactured from rolled mirralyte (1/64in) plywood, with a narrow-chord 1200mm wing, brought together in a model with a flying weight of less than 500 grams. This model was built over many long winter nights with meticulous attention being paid to mass control through design and manufacture rather than the use of exotic materials”
Dicks Banana wing F2A David Brewin photo