Fun flew all around the skies north of RR last weekend

Jack Elliott
Contributor

Some are a few inches long, some have five and six-foot wing spans. Some flutter along at butterfly gates, others scream through the air at well over a hundred of miles per hour. Some come as ready to fly kits for a few bucks, others are “made from scratch” scale-model replicas involving investments of thousands of hours and as many dollars. Some can be flown with a few minutes instruction, others take years, plus the instincts and reflexes of an F18 fighter pilot. All of them are controlled by earth-bound bodies who thrill to have their creations, under their control, soar off into the wild blue yonder.
And all of them come back to earth, either gently or with a wallet shattering thump. But no matter how severe the crash, the pilot always walks away, determined to repair, rebuild, replace, and retry.

This is the world of the Radio-controlled model aircraft enthusiast.
A quarter-scale model Spitfire MK IX authentic in every detail down to her battle camouflage and wing markings, built by John Pirozek of Kenora was just one of the over one-hundred radio controlled model aircraft gracing the infield of the Rainy River International’s Fun Fly this past weekend, here in Rainy River.
Pirozek has been building model aircraft since the 50s.
“You can tell it’s a MK IX because of the pointed rudder. I completed it this past winter, from ‘scratch’. The one beside it is a Mustang I built earlier,” he explains proudly of his latest in a long line of creations. As John’s eye sight isn’t as sharp as it used to be, he turns over the controls of this high performance bird, to friend Mark Sharp.
“It’s a little tricky to take off and land this bird, because it tends to be a little nose heavy” explains Mark, “ But once she’s in the air, she’s one sweet flying machine”
As its engine roared to life the Spit rolled down the grass runway, leapt into the air and swept into a climbing turn, it looked for all the world like one of its proud WWII ancestors scrambling to meet the foe and turn the tide in favour of Britain.
Many were the ooohs and aaahs as Mark dazzled the spectators with a series of loops rolls, power dives, and strafing runs. It was over all too soon and this little war bird with the proud heritage settled gently back onto the runway and taxied over to the infield.
Another group at the Fun Fly was the SkyHawks Radio Control Airshow Club. Veteran flyer Steve Hartwell of Mankato, MN., has been flying models since about the fifth grade. “Then I got interested in girls,” he moaned, explaining a ten-year absence from the sport.
The SkyHawks are a professional show group that has five shows booked this year, plus a bunch of local meets and Fun Flys like Rainy River’s. They do precision flying with multiple aircraft equipped with smoke for added effect. Their large birds put on a truly spectacular show.
“These planes can and will do any aerobatic a full size plane can, plus a whole bunch more,” stated Hartwell, explaining a human pilot could not take the G forces generated in some of the maneuvers without blacking out.
Hosting a Fun Fly of this scale is no mien feat and Rainy River Internationals president Bill Hagarty pulled out all the stops, conscripting every volunteer he could lay his hands on. It went off without a hitch.
Wife Joan was the chief traffic controller, maintaining strict control of all the remote control radios and registrations. Fun Flys adhere religiously to traffic and radio frequency protocols that are no less strict than those at any major airport. Each plane up has a pilot and spotter, assigned flying time, and flight rules to follow. One of the most important is if a plane’s controls or radio signal fails or malfunctions in any way, for the pilot to immediately land his craft in a safe manner or in loss of control, to crash it away from the spectators and planes. A sacrifice to the Turf God!
With a hundred plus planes parked on the field, spectator access was controlled by pilots offering personal tours and inspection of their birds, so anyone could get up eyeball-close to the real thing in a safe, efficient manner.
By Sunday afternoon the field was empty, but for a couple of die-hards. But not to worry, next year they’ll be back. And next weekend they will gather in their hundreds and thousands at dozens of other turf fields across the continent, to once again head off into the wild blue yonder.