Mmmmm, Warbirds…

After attending the Warbirds & Classics Scale RC Airplane event last year , I couldn’t wait to come back!   Between the awesome assortment of airplanes, the fellowship with old and new friends, and the incredible backdrop you get from the flying site, it is a must attend for me.  It helps that it’s local enough for me that the drive getting there isn’t too bad and I get to have a fun weekend flying with my dad.  Needless to say, this year’s Warbirds & Classics did not disappoint!  The Scale Squadron hosted event had even more pilots and even more airplanes and it was a blast!  I was there Friday and Saturday and got my fill of all the flying I could handle and filled up my memory card with pics and videos…twice!  I had my trusty A-7, Mirage , and Tigercat in tow.  I was eager to get the Tigercat out to an event.  It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle to get them all packed into the back of my Sienna, but somehow it worked!  If you weren’t excited enough to see what was at the event, here’s a quick compilation video of some of the action at the event (more pics and video further down).

Located at the OCMA  rc airplane field in Black Starr Canyon (next to Irvine Lake in Irvine, CA), the event has open flying for any scale aircraft (warbirds, civlian, jets, etc.) which includes glow, gas and electric power, but in terms of jets, no turbines are allowed so it’s electric or glow only…and I don’t know the last time I saw glow DF anywhere.  Unfortunately that’s the case for a number of fields in the Southern California area these days and the current drought situation doesn’t help things.  In fact, the water level in Irvine Lake, which has been an open fishing spot for years, was extremely low and most of the facilities were closed down.

Anyhow, as mentioned, there was an awesome assortment of aircraft at the event.  The weather Friday was sunny and warm, but strangely Saturday was cloudy with on and off drizzle throughout the day.  Regardless of the weather, there was a ton of flying had by all and the winds couldn’t have been any more ideal being right down the runway.  The beautiful thing about this event is that even with the number of pilots there, there’s usually no waiting for a space on the flight line.  So here’s a collection of pictures from the event.  I love photography, so I generally take far too many pictures.  Here’s just a few.

Scott Plummer from airshowvid.com was on hand with his camera and captured some incredible pictures!  Here’s a collection of what he took.  He is a master behind the camera both in video and still photography.

For video, I took far more than I expected.  Last year I had actually had some issues with my microphone which I was unaware of until I started going through the video.  You can understand my frustration, so this year, I made sure that was not going to happen again!  So here’s  selection of some of the videos.  This is just the first 6, I will be adding more on my YouTube channel over the next few weeks.

Giant 1/2 Scale SE5a Scout – This airplane was monstrous and awesome.  It seriously could pass as the real deal in the air.

Giant Scale F7F Tigercat – This was one of my favorites at the event (I have a sweet spot for the Tigercat if you couldn’t tell).  It was big and flew really sweet.

Giant Scale P-51 Mustang – Another monster, this flew really nicely.  It had a scale working exhaust which was a nice touch

Top Flite FW-190 Refinished in Romanian Markings – The nice thing with ARFs is that they can be a great canvas for  complete refinish.  This one was glassed, detailed, and painted in Romanian Markings.  It was beautiful!

ESM T-28 Trojan  – Well, you can’t have an event without a little carnage.  Unfortunately this was the end of what was otherwise an awesome flight!

HSD ViperJet – My buddy Pete doing what he does best, flying low and fast!

Freewing F-5 Tiger II – Another hot rod at the event, this F-5 was ripping up the sky!

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