Some updates today.
We got up again at 0530 this mornings, for breakfast at 6:15 and departure
at 0700 to the practice field. We had to take an alternate route to the
practice field because there was a bike race in the local town we drive through
to get to the field. This turned out to be great because we got to see some of
the countryside taking back roads. No potholes ANYWHERE. All roads are so
perfectly paved, although most are only one lane! No trash ANYWHERE. I read
that Switzerland has the highest GNP to person ratio of any country in the
world. Firewood stacked literally at any place we saw it was perfectly cut to
within an eight of an inch an stacked meticulously. Absolutely amazing country
and people. We arrived back to Zurich around noon to prepare for the afternoon
opening ceremonies and airshow. The opening ceremony was very well done,
although it was quite hot. I spoke to several local Swiss modelers and their
wives and they said its been setting records as the hottest few weeks in the
history of Switzerland. Apparently its having an effect on the cattle
industry. The grass is drying up and the cows don't have enough to eat- or at
least that is the fear. Last year was the opposite with too much rain.
I'm very proud to see Joseph give the opening "pilot's oath" to open up the
championships. There are over 100 pilots attending this championships and it
was both interesting and fun to meet so many old friends and meet new
ones.
The airshow was way beyond what anyone expected. I first met Bernhard
Schaden in Romilly when I flew in to France to compete in their F3A
championships. He is a very enterprising man and worked hard to prepare for
this event. Bepe and Terry T would have drooled at this airshow because it
opened with a tribute to Ed Kazmirski and his Orion aircraft. There was an
exact replica which was flown to the 1960 (the first) held at this location. It
was like watching through a time machine to see that airplane flying through the
maneuvers. Next was a replica of Bruno Giezendanner's 1971 world championship
model, followed by a demonstration of a "BPA" model (I did not catch the name of
it but believe it was also one of the Giezendanner's designs from the '80s.
Emil (Bruno's brother) is at the event and very actively working with the
contest management for this event.
The airshow then proceeded to include a mixture of model and full scale
demonstrations fit to be classified as an all-out airshow. There must have been
well over a thousand people there, along with local media, news and many
community organizations and businesses.
Tomorrow is practice then first round in the afternoon. Andrew and Jason
fly in the mid-last morning and Brett and Joseph fly in the late
afternoon.
Cheers,
Don