Airborne Magazine - Issue #249 | Page 26

The event was about promoting Australian model craftsmanship, sportsmanship, model aviation development and the showcasing of a fantastic piece of rural Australia. To ensure the best of the best would be in attendance, participation was invitation only. To add an international feel to this event, a number of overseas pilots were invited to attend. Two notable pilots were Ali Machinchy from the UK, and Mike McConville from USA. Both Ali and Mike represent Horizon Hobbies. Ali in his own words said he gets paid to participate in his favourite past time of flying model aircraft. Mike similarly enjoys himself immensely with his flying of model aircraft. He has the added excitement of being Horizons New Products manager, so Mike gets to design and work on all the great models that Horizon brings out. As well as an individual series of competitions, there was to be an Australia versus New Zealand event as well. It was run concurrently within all the scale classes. As New Zealand couldn’t field a full team, both international fliers, Ali and Mike were included with the Kiwis’. Part and parcel of the event was that a number of the sponsors put up retail tents so that anyone and everyone could get hold of some great aero modelling products. As at times the weather was none too kind, these tents were very well patronised. People could be seen later walking around with lots of goodies. Probably the best way to showcase this great event is to check out all the photographs and read the captions. 26 Airborne