Do you guys remember the very first time you saw a Turbine powered model, and the ultimate rush you felt (at least I did ), and where was it flown?

My first was at Jets over Deland and it was the Large Yellow F-18 named Big Red, it had a SWB turbine and I believe belonged to Jeff Seymour.

Man what memories....

I was at Deland also when the 18 flew. Flown by Bob Fieorenze (sp?) Yes, owned by Jeff Seymour

Anyone remember what year that was?

First trubine I saw thought it was very cool, but the owner was very arrogant, and a total Richardhead. Wish I could see him now. [sm=punching.gif]
Reason I try to be very open to anyone who approaches me with questions at the field.

Do remember the support equipment he had was overwhelming. He had a really large cart with all sorts of stuff in it.

Wonder where that looser is now.

.............on the positive side I rediscovered turbines 10 years later when I moved to TX, met JT, Bob Covish, Dave Hudson.............and got hooked right away. Bunch of great people> what makes the difference!!

Mine was at Heart of Ohio with Terry Nitsch Flying a JPX powered Saggiatto(?) Awsome! By the way, the Heart of Ohio Jet Scramble was a Premier Event, I only missed the first one.
Sorry to see that 2008 was the last one. Thanks guys for great memories!!!

In 1996 at Greater Southwest, Bob Violett and Garland Hamilton were flying T-33's with the JPX. None of us had ever seen anything like it. He also introdud the classic Bandit at this meet. The original Bandit had full flying stabs.

The next time we saw turbines in west Texas was 2000 when Joey Tamez came to our jet rally with a turbine-powered Starfire with a BMT. Joey put on a great show - he had the only turbine that year.

Mike Danchak

I remember it like it was yesterday actually. I'll probably never forget it.

It was 2000, in Princeton, British Columbia. After feverishly working on my new Kangaroo (my first venture into turbines) the week before, I made the 12 hour trip to Princeton jets. I arrived around 9pm on the Friday night previous to the rally. I met up with Dean Wichmann who started to mention some of the people who were at the event already. The one phrase that stuck in my mind was "Karl is here with his CAI Raptor, you're going to see some 200+ mph passes tomorrow."

Well, with the anticipation of seeing my first running turbine, as well as the anticipation of flying my first turbine jet, I could barely sleep that night. I was up early the next morning and on my way from the hotel to the field. When I got there, I saw this person who MUST be Karl, he was assembling a silver Raptor. I hurriedly unpacked my Kangaroo and began working on it (I still had to actually hook up the turbine). I kept looking up to see the nose of the Raptor pointing towards me. About 10 minutes later I heard that all so familiar vvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiip, vvvvvvvvvvvvvvippppp, vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiip WHOOOOOSH PSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and so on.

At the first sound it made, I looked up to catch the ignition of the propane and see the heat plume rising from the tail. All I could do was stop working and watch. In all my years modeling I had never been so mesmerized by a model. I watched Karl taxi the Raptor out and as cliche' as it sounds, I could envision the Top Gun theme in my head, as soon as he was hammer down on the runway it was Danger Zone! I watched this thing accelerate faster than any model I had ever seen and lift off.... To watch the gear come up, doors close, flaps go up, and that sound..... oh that beautiful wonderful sound and then........ the smell, IT EVEN SMELLS LIKE THE REAL THING!!!!

I was hooked, I watched Karl fly that Raptor hard and fast, like a porn star with a personal vendetta! His landing was perfect, as he taxi'd back to the pits, I realized that I was shaking, the adrenaline was flowing so hard just from watching him fly that I was literally shaking.

Well, it took me the rest of that day to finish up my Kangaroo. Sunday morning was my test flight. Those same feelings were back as I learned how to fire up my RAM750 for the first time, taxi out, and complete my first mission..... er, flight, sorry, caught up in the moment there. I was shaking so bad after that first flight, but I never wanted that feeling to stop.

As I progress in RC jets, that feeling is there after every flight, and that's why I still fly turbine jets after 10 years in it. I had a few runs of really bad luck where everyone thought I was done including myself, but nothing in this hobby has ever given me the rush that I felt that first day, and with every flight I have. If I one day stop flying turbine jets, it's probably only because I have stopped flying altogether.

So thank you to Dean Wichmann for introducing me to turbines (no really Dean, because I couldn't have put all that money into something more useful, like a house! LOL) and thank you to Karl Hibbs for unknowingly getting me completely hooked before I ever flew one of these things!

There's nothing like a turbine man!!!

garland hamilton, kj66, bvm t33 in the china lake scheme. lagrange tx, southwest fan fly 1998. it was stunning. barry

First one for me was Top Gun in 1991 or 1992 at the Polo Field. Byron F-16 if I remember correctly with a JPX propane turbine in it. Just blew us away.
Bill Hatcher
Hatchers Hangar Building Service

The first turbine flight I saw was in 1994 At Leeuwarden AB JPX turbine powering a Christen diffusion Rafale, the owner was a man from Hamburg Germany.

Bay of Quinte....Bob Fieorenze was flying a JPX powered Yellow Aircraft F-16. Normal procedure was to land deadstick
No one knew what he had and we were all shocked when the thing fired up. I believe this one was one of the first model turbines so nobody even expected it.

I remember it like it was last year . . . . cause it was.

I had seen videos before that, but last year was the first time I had seen one in person.

Bruce Hansen and RCU member Ricardinho came to a fly-in event at our club and brought their Boomerang Elan and Sprint with them. Bruce flew his P-160 powered Elan past my EDF like I was stuck in first gear and then told me my jet sounded like a vacuum cleaner. B@st@rd!

I sure must have liked it though because I went out and bought myself a Boomerang.

They must have liked our club too - because they both joined up.

1992 Greater SW Jet Rally Bergstron AFB Austin Tx

Kent Nogey (a NASCAR pit crew) and a JPX powered BVM Viper

same place i got to see Butch's B58 Hustler with 4 DFs would love to see that thing with a pair of Wren 44s now.

I was there too. Remember how everybody would try to crowd around when they started up? Must have been somewhere around 95' or 96'?

Ditto on that Ron! I'll also never forget those verticals Terry was doing with that jet....blew me away. Not sure what year that was but I've got a HOH plaque in the shop for "Best Turbine" (my F-4) for the 2000 event.

Craig

superman fan fly swb in F18 think it was late 80s

I got 4 HOH plaques in my shop, 1995, 1996 for best sport flights on my own designed DF Terminators. Best of Show with my Hotspot in 2005 and the one plague I wish I didn't get was "Hardest Landing" in 2008........ Ouch!!
Boy I miss the HotSpot!

Ron, I'd say you took the term "hard landing" to the extreme.

I was there too and while I was very impressed I remember asking myself what idiot would pay $3000 for an engine. Well, it only took a couple of years for me to answer my own question by looking in the mirror.

Well, It really wasn't a "landing", This is what happens when you hit the top of a tree doing 199.99mph (give or take 50 mph) !!!!

Fresno Jets 1999...Dave Fusinato, Avonds F-15.
Pulled into the parking lot after the 6 hr. drive and heard a new sound I'd never heard before. Just stood by the open car door mesmerized watching that fantastic jet .
Finally the ding, ding, ding of the "your keys are still in the ignition and your door is ajar" warning snapped me out of it. I immediately pulled out the 3-chip Sony TRV900, and my passion for shooting all things turbine was on!

Mid 1990s at Las Vegas TOC. Noon demo be Bob Violet's crew with 2 BVM DF jets modified for turbines.

Coincidentally, The first time I ever saw a Ducted Fan was also at a Las Vegas TOC...1975 or 1976. Bob Violet doing a noon demo of his Blue Angels A4 Skyhawk. I remember that the engine was not able to idle very well and each landing I witnessed was dead stick.

June 1983 well before JPX.
Saw Jackman fly the Barjay with his home made tubine.
We were all DF then but it set the target for us all.

[link=http://www.gtba.co.uk/history/index.htm]Jackman[/link]

Goldel West Models FD3-67 twin F-15 deland around the time of the SWB F-18 give or take a year. Had a couple of them and loved'em

I remember going to a model airshow at Goosedale near Nottingham in the late eighties or early nineties? the turbine was I am surea JPX, the model I am not so sure, however if someone else remebers please chime in.

The performance seemed very good, and the smell and sound, well I dont have to say do I?

This point was mentioned in an earlier post, some of the pilots / operators of the turbines at time, (not all) dare I say it, seemed very aloof, and to be honest not very helpfull.

But I am happy to say that is not the case now.