AeroModeller – June 2018

60 AeroModeller - June 2018

Nostalgia

with 20 years of experience, E W ‘Ted’

Evans, who had a great following with his

competitive Wakefi eld model designs.

In this particular article he shows how

anyone can get well over 1,000 turns on

the rubber power motor needed for our

free fl ight aeroplanes, without the rubber

breaking. He goes on with a forecast “we

intend to have the Wakefi eld Cup back”,

so let’s learn all we can.”

In 1948, we had just had some

5 years of war and all International

competitions had been stopped whilst

we were engaged doing other things.

The Wakefi eld Cup was being run for

the fi rst time since 1939 and the venue

was Akron Field, Ohio as the USA were

still the holders. This was the era of the

‘8 Ounce’ Wakefi eld rules, with a wing

area of around 200 square inches, the

fuselage cross sectional area being

L²/100, the max amount of rubber being

4oz and the total weight of model being

at least 8oz overall, ready to fl y.

Britain had some superb designers,

but so did the rest of the world, and

after such a long break this Wakefi eld

Trophy was very much desired by

many. Throughout the modelling

community, any tips on for getting better

performances from a Wakefi eld model

were gratefully received – and

developed further.

Browsing through the

second AeroModeller

I had selected, dated

September 1948, I came

across a feature on

the full team of six UK

Wakefi eld modellers who

had won their places to

travel to America: Roy

Chesterton, F.Lt A D

Piggott, Bob Copland,

M J King, P C ‘Chuck’

Doughty, and Len Stott.

They had their diff erent designed models

for the Wakefi eld Cup in Ohio on August

26 – 27. Sponsored for the trip by the

good old SMAE (now the BMFA), those

six chaps were the envy of every serious

aeromodeller in this country.

The front cover of my third issue,

October 1948, celebrated the British

The front cover of the AeroModeller October 1948, showing the Wakefi eld

Trophy as won by Great Britain that year.

Roy Chesterton with his Wakefi eld Trophy 1948 winning Jaguar.

Roy Chesterton was a member

of Northampton MAC along

with E. W. Evans.

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