Here are some pictures from the first Jimmie Allen comp. Report at bottom of page | Held on a windy July 9th at Old Warden |
The fliers, winner Roy Tiller 4th from left with Skokie | Wilf Peers came all the way from the Isle of Bute in Scotland to fly his JA Special |
Nick Peppiat with his immaculate Skokie. Pop up wing DT | Peter Michel and his Bluebird |
Now for some pictures from the 2nd JA contest...... | held at Middle Wallop on 27 Aug just before a big shower! |
The JA group, winner was Nick Peppiat, 2nd from right | Tom Thomson with BA Racer from Raynes Park MAC |
Winner of 1st event Roy Tiller was a keen competitor again | The moment of launch!, dark clouds were threatening |
Here are some other Jimmie Allen pictures | |
Smart JA Special by George Bredehoft, Flying Aces Club. Tissue detail effects achieved with an inkjet printer | Peter Michel's Bluebird was displayed on the SAM35 stand at Sandown |
Graham Knight, Contest Director, with his Yellow Jacket | Herb Kothe with his Jimie Allen models in the USA |
Vince Burton, USA, and Spartan Bomber, photo Charlie Reich | Herb's attractive Sky Chief |
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Ed Lamb and his Skyraider from the USA | Mike Stuart's Yellow Jacket ready for covering |
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Bill Brenchley in the USA made this fine looking JA Racer | The fictitious Jimmie Allen character was portrayed by a number of actors on radio, film and promotional material |
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Monsoon Clipper seen at Middle Wallop | |
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Promotional material included pictures of Jimmie Allen's (fictional) aircraft. Note that it does not resemble the Monsoon 800 model! | Bluebird Racer aka Scarlet Tanager, designed and kitted by George Wanner |
Report on The First British Jimmie Allen Contest by Graham Knight
Well it finally happened, after months of publicity and supplying plans, and despite dire weather forecasts
we flew the first ever British Jimmie Allen Contest at Old Warden on Sunday 9th July.
The forecasts, which earlier in the week had looked promising, go worse from Wednesday onwards, until by Friday
I really thought the whole event would have to be called off. I scaled down my plans for a whole weekend at Old
Warden to the Sunday only, and from what I heard it's a good job I did. The flying on Saturday was minimal and
heavy overnight rain and high winds would have made camping rather uncomfortable to say the least! I drove through
rain, sometimes heavy, all the way to Old Warden on Sunday morning. Arriving just before 10am the rain continued
until nearly 11am, and it became obvious that attendance was going to be well down, by 12 noon the car park was
still less than half full and the car boot area amounted to just half a dozen or so traders. A few more filtered
in through the day but overall I reckon attendance was down a good 50%.
The Jimmie Allen mass launch was provisionally pegged for 2pm depending on what the weather was doing. Just before
2pm we had a photo call for which 10 people turned out with some nicely built models, one decided he would not
fly as his model was unflown and he was unable to trim it in the 15mph wind then blowing, leaving 9 names on the
list of competitors. We all wound our models in the lee of the SAM 35 control tent and ventured out onto the field,
walking upwind a hundred yards or so to maximise the downwind area, this was important as the winner had to land
within the field to qualify. Lindsey Smith counted down, 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - LAUNCH, and away they all went in
a cloud, quickly drifting downwind, a couple climbing fast, the rest staying fairly low. Low flying proved to be
the better tactic as, although the higher air was less turbulent, the wind was stronger up there and the high fliers
drifted downwind much faster. One flew out of the field, another came down just within the boundary, the winner
though, with a time of 42 seconds landed just 2/3rds of the way across the field. Judging the last down proved
to be a relatively easy affair, although there was less than 2 seconds between first and second places, the decision
was confirmed by people standing downwind and we had our winner, Roy Tiller with his Skokie. Later in the day at
the prizegiving I presented Roy with a framed Jimmie Allen photograph, and a pair of genuine 1930s Richfield Oil
Jimmie Allen Cadet Wings.
The full list of fliers and models, in the order entered was :
Tony Johnson - Skokie
Graham Knight - Yellow Jacket
Bob Walden - Skokie
Lindsey Smith - Skokie
Roy Tiller - Skokie -----------Winner with a time of 42 seconds.
Wilf Peers - Jimmie Allen Special
Peter Michel - Bluebird
Mike Stuart - Yellow Jacket
Bob Langelius - Skokie
As you can see, the Skokie design predominated, so the odds of a Skokie winning were heavily loaded in their favour!
Special mention should be made of Wilf Peers who travelled all the way from the Isle of Bute in Scotland, by public
transport, a distance I would estimate as over 400 miles, and Bob Langelius, our token American who came from New
York. Bob is a member of the Brooklyn Skyscrapers club and was the man behind the excellent K&B Infant .020
replicas produced a couple of years ago. Everybody expressed their satisfaction with the event, despite the appalling
conditions, and those that were able confirmed their intention to fly at the second event at Middle Wallop in August.
I would like to say to everyone who turned out to make the contest a success, "Thanks a lot guys!"
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