Jim Messer

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The year was 1978 - we were flying at the Flying Dutchmen's airshow in Kitchner, Ontario - my brother and I. I was flying a 1/4 scale Sopwith Tri-plane that belonged to clubmember Woody Clapp. Brother Bill was flying his 1/4 Scale Bristol Scout. It was during the special events time, and we were the only two airplanes in the air with about two- thousand spectators watching. There weren't many 1/4 scale airplanes flying in 1978.

Bill was following along behind me when he suddenly came up on the Tri-plane, and with his propeller - cut the tail assembly clean off the Tri-plane. The Tri-plane went into an immediate spiral and was reduced to rubble when it struck the ground in the center of the runway. The Bristol Scout lost its engine, and landed in a nearby cornfield. Incidently, this is the first recorded incident of two 1/4 scale airplanes having a mid-air collission.

But one spectator was able to photograph the incident just a second or two after it happened. The attached photo is in my opinion a "fantastic" photo for that reason. In the photo, the Sopwith is still flying, and the Bristol has backed off. The plume of smoke is gasoline burning when the Q35 was ripped from its mounts. It didn't last long and the photographer (name unknown) was fortunate to snap the photo at that precise moment.

Enjoy.

Silvanskii

My Feedback: (17)

Now THIS looks realistic

Good thing it was over the runway and not anywhere near the pits/specs.