Saturday was a bit of a blustery day here in sunny Norfolk but by late afternoon it abated.
'Teddy' had been giving the Tiger Moth the once over earlier inthe day and got it ready to take to the air. It was a fabulous evening, light but steady drift across the field, the only drawback being a take off into the sun but once airborne it was a blissful and relaxing hour at the controls. Just stooging around on quarter throttle, occasionally tweaking a trim here or there,the large reliable four stroke up front running quietly and smoothly giving a sound re-assurance, truly a man is at peace with the world at moments like this. A truly relaxing evenings flying... wonderful.
The reason I'm going on like this is that this used to be my favourite pastime and one which has been sadly neglected for years due to work etc. I haven't flown anything properly for years but it never leaves you, a bit like riding a bike really.
The aircraft is a Greens Tiger Moth, 46" span , it normally takes a smaller engine than the 45 Saito special I have installed but this motor is perfect for it as it has more than sufficient torque which in turn means I have fitted a larger prop, it's more scalish and gives sufficient thrust on fast tickover to keep level flight. It is incredibly economic at these low rpm and the aircraft remains aloft for a full half hour on one tankful. As these were test flights I ran out of fuel on both occasions but made it back to the field 'dead stick',
nothing like it to sharpen up the old skills. I have to hand it to Teddy, he stuck with the kite all the way down, no sign of attempted bail out and was still checking out the instrument panel out long after he rolled to a standstill.
This is all a pre-cursor to putting my quarter scale Moth in the air, it has been languishing in my loft for long enough but I guess work will keep me from it for some time yet.
Hmmmm, there I go dreaming again... ah well, back to work.
