If you go
What: Flying Circus remote control plane showWhen: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, June 27 Where: Summit Field, 4223 Old Woodland Drive, OoltewahAdmission: $5 per person or $10 per carloadWebsite: crccflyers.org
Club president Steve Shelburne warms up his F4U Corsair.Gravity-defying stunts to thrill and astound spectators will be flown Saturday, June 27, in the sky above Summit Field in Ooltewah.
The Chattanooga Radio Control Club is hosting its fifth Flying Circus remote-control plane show to benefit Siskin Children’s Institute. Summit Field, former site of Summit landfill now transformed into a softball park, provides the wide open spaces needed by the flyers. Gates open at 9 a.m., and planes lift off at 10.
The Flying Circus name originally was applied to the Jagdgeschwader in World War I. Those German fighter pilots were led by Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen – aka the infamous Red Baron. The squadron was named for its colorfully decorated planes.
Saturday’s Flying Circus will include 12 flyers, primarily club members, presenting a continuous display of colorfully decorated model aircraft, says RCC member Paul Wright.
“We constantly have anywhere from three to five planes in the air at any given time,” he says.
The show’s director is Paul C. Wright. He says there will be everything imaginable from antique biplanes to modern jets, fixed-wing models and helicopters. Visitors can watch “as a flight of warbirds scramble into the sky and turbine-powered jets roar past the field at speeds in excess of 150 mph,” he says.
Those who are inspired to try their hand at remote-control flying can do so at the “buddy box.”
“The Buddy Box is a fail-safe system where the instructor and student each have a transmitter. The transmitters are connected by wire, and if the student loses control, the instructor simply presses a switch on his transmitter and assumes control of the aircraft,” Paul Wright explains.
Both men invite everyone to bring their folding chairs and set up for a day of family fun. The model air show will include an auction and prize drawings. Grilled hot dogs and hamburgers will be sold for families making a day of it.
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.