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I've a wonderful book called Flight Fantastic. It's the history of aerobatics up to 1986. It along with a book called "Aerobatics" written by Neil Williams are my combined "bible" when it comes to the history and basic techniques of aerobatics.

So, I thought I'd post some pic's from the book covering this amazing even - one that has never been repeated and I doubt ever will. This period was the pinnacle of competition aerobatics in Australia with such legendary Aussie akro pilots such as Guido Zuccoli, Chris Sperou and Frank Fry. It was incredible that the Russians attended and was the first time that a Yak-50 was seen in this country. I remember being literally glued to the TV at the time! I'd only just got my PPL and had done some spin training.

International pilots included:
Victor Smolin
Kermit Weeks
Geoff Selvey
Henry Haigh
Gordon Price
The "Spaghetti Team!" - Eric Muller & Sergio Dallan - flew Guido's Laser (VH-KGZ!). Apparently Guido didn't fly as he'd been too involved flying his Sea Fury.
Richard Goode

and of course Frank Fry was there (blue Laser in pic below).



Unlimited Unknown figures chosen (each puts in their selection and the Unknown sequence built up from this.



Frank Fry



Competitors



Seem to remember this was on Channel 7 - can you remember Oz RB Paul?

Anyone else remember this event?

Cheers

Adam

I've been a long time fan of aerobatics but I don't remember seeing anything on Channel 7 around then. However, I did attend a competition/event at Archerfield in 1986. I labelled the photos I took with "World aerobatic challenge" and presume it would have been part of the 1986 championship. I have only scanned one of the photos so far (an Su-26 shown below) but I do have some photos of a flypast with 5 Pitts, a laser and a Yak 50, along with other photos of the planes on the ground. I'll post more of the photos when I get them scanned.

I don't remember much of the flying apart from one of the Russian pilots not completing his rolling circle and Mal Beard (who taught me aerobatics in 1982) losing his sequence card during his flight.

Peter

Hey Peter!

Please tell me all about your flying! So you learnt Aero's with the famous Mal Beard - awesome! Do you still get to throw an aeroplane upside down anymore? Don't know Mal, but certainly heard lots over the years. Mal gets a mention in "Flight Fantastic" - have you seen this book?

That photo of that Suk is brilliant! Please post more scans when you can. What airfield was it at? I'll forward it on to some friends an identify who the owner/pilot was. Guessing it could have been Nigel Arnot possibly? He was one of the first owners of a single seat Suk here. Think there was also a guy from SA that had one for awhile too. Most Suk's left this country when our dollar crashed and the owners made a killing on the exchange rate. Nick Costan sold his Su-29 during this period.

Wouldn't 1/32 Su-26M/29/31 models be just to die for! Hopefully someone will release one soon. I do have a 1/32 Extra 330SC to build - from a Romanian company. I have some of the Airshow Models Pitts Specials still to build - S-2B, S-2C, Jim Leroy Bulldog S-2S and a Extra 300L (early mid-wing version). Most of these kits are available through Fisher Models in USA (http://www.fishermodels.com/. Check out Paul Fisher's amazing 1/24 Bugatti 100P racer! I really tempted to buy one!

Cheers

Adam

Adam,
There isn't that much to tell about my flying. I got my aerobatics and tailwheel endorsements after getting my restricted licence. It was something fun to do while saving up for the longer navigation flights to get my unrestricted licence. I only did a couple of aerobatic flights after the endorsement (all in a decathlon) but it was certainly a lot of fun and great experience. It certainly builds up your confidence in handling a plane in all sorts of attitudes but I never got very comfortable landing with a tailwheel. I gave up flying after almost 200 hours (almost all around SE Queensland) because it was just too expensive as a hobby and other life expenses got in the way.

However, I do keep flying on my PC and have spent many hours in FSX (and Flight Unlimited) flying around the world and also doing far more aerobatics than I ever could ever have afforded in the real world. There is actually a Virtual World Aerobatic Championship (http://www.flightxtreme.com) with the competition using the same type of routines and judging as the real world championship. I have thought about entering this but I would need to put in a bit more practice to get better at the sequences while also staying in the aerobatic box.

I haven't seen the "Flight fantastic" book but it sounds interesting.

Some big Sukhoi models would be fantastic - along with a Decathlon which a lot of aerobatic pilots would have flown at one stage. The Airshow/Fisher models kits look fantastic and it would be great to see more planes like the MXS, Edge, Giles, etc available in kit form in a decent scale. Sadly, my aerobatic stash consists of a few 1/72 Pitts specials which I have yet to build. The Bugatti 100P certainly is an amazing looking plane. A replica is currently being built and it will be interesting to see how it performs when it gets in the air.

Peter

I have just set up a flickr account and I don't know if these photos will appear or just the links will show up. Any of the links should take you to my flickr photos which you can scroll through the 18 photos there.
Peter

https://flic.kr/p/vfG4mD
https://flic.kr/p/uY7HEj
https://flic.kr/p/vfb7CW

Great series of photos Peter.......thanks very much for sharing.
Gee that SU-26 is lovely!!!. I would love to get my hands on a 1:48 or 1:32 SU-26 kit.
Already got a 1:72 one thanks to Adam's generosity.
Thanks again for the visual treat.
TOR
PS: and the Caribou, Sea King, Mustang, and Tracker were all a bit of a bonus

Hi Peter

Interesting hearing about your flying - very typical story. I'm currently in a hiatus as well - due to lack of time and money to practice aerobatics. I'm hopeful of getting back into aero's towards the end of this year. What did you do your aero's training in - a Decathalon perhaps? I did my aero's endorsement in a Cessna 152 "Akrobat", then moved into a Super Decathalon to do my C/S and T/W endorsements. Flew Decathalons for years and did about 60 hours in them. Then a Zlin-242 arrived down here and I flew it for three years. The Zlin is very much like a CT-4, in fact I think a little superior to a Plastic Parrot (having a Lycoming AEIO-360 engine allowing fully unrestricted inverted flight) and it spins properly. You have full roll control in the Zlin even when fully stalled.
I then realised a very long time dream and got my Pitts endorsement. It was without doubt the most challenging aeroplane I've flown to come to grips with. First attempted landed almost resulted in a ground loop - swerving back and forth across the runway three times, almost going onto the grass! I just had no idea where to look, as looking forward just rewards you with zero vision of the runway. You very soon learn to look out to 45 degrees and use your peripheral vision (using the "Force"). Everything happens much faster in the Pitts, so you have to "re-calibrate" to allow for this. You can do a circuit in three minutes in a Pitts. I flew a S-2A for some years doing over 60 hours before a mate bought a Laser (ex-Guido Zuccoli's machine) that had gone through a succession of owners. VH-KGZ (rego stands for Karen and Guido Zuccoli) has been referred to as being the most thrashed Laser in Australia! Very sadly I had to part with my share last year when the syndicate I was part of became toxic. One share holder in particular made it intolerable of the other two of us to continue owning it - mainly over fighting over a prop issue and the replacement thereof. It was a very upsetting time.
So, now I'm without a ride. A friend bases his Laser down at Latrobe Valley and the other guy he shares his Laser with owns a Decathalon and a Pitts S-2A. So, my plan is to do some flying down there in the future - back in the Decathalon, with the ultimate aim of getting back into the Laser - all time and money dependant, both of which I'm currently short of having a young family. I so want to get back into a Laser as I very much have unfinished business there. I one day want to get a decent score in Intermediate. Best overall score I was able to muster in two aero's comp's competing in Intermediate was 59%. I was doing OK, right up to flying the Unknown which I screwed up and got a few Zeros. The Unknown always sorts out those who've practiced and those who haven't. I simply could not practice enough before the comp. You can get away with a lack of enough practice at Sportsman level, but not in Intermediate where there are three different sequences to know and fly - the "Known" (can be practiced during the year), the Free (your own developed sequence with the required degree of difficulty "K") and the "Unknown" - given to competitors the night before flying at the comp. Intermediate starts to introduce the pilot to inverted manoeuvres such as inverted turns, inverted push ups and half outside loop. A half inner rolling circle can be expected as well - (rolling and turning at the same time - a pretty complicated manoeuvre).
I was very much hearted by meeting a friend of a friend at Avalon this year. If you went, you may have seen two beautiful Extra 330's there, which I spent a great deal of time drooling nearby - I was the Homer Simpson type drooling and chanting "Arrrggghhh - Forbidden Extras!". Anyway, I related my story of woe to Dieter the Extra owner and he told me he stopped flying for 17 years as he brought up and educated his kids. Henry Haigh one of the legendary US aerobatic pilots won the World Championship aged 64! So, I think I have a chance to get back into Aresti flying in a Laser! I'm just so pissed off I let owning a Laser slip through my fingers.

Henry Haigh - my laser flying hero! He retired at 54 to fly competition aero's!

http://www.mmshof.org/inductees/henry-haigh-ii/

KGZ when Guido owner it.



Me sadly saying goodbye to KGZ -



KGZ has gone to a good owner who has fitted this lovely bird with a new prop - so she's now flying better that she ever has as a result!


Cheers

Adam

modelbear wrote:I have just set up a flickr account and I don't know if these photos will appear or just the links will show up. Any of the links should take you to my flickr photos which you can scroll through the 18 photos there.
Peter

https://flic.kr/p/vfG4mD
https://flic.kr/p/uY7HEj
https://flic.kr/p/vfb7CW

Hi Peter

I am admittedly hugely biased, but I love this forum! I had no idea when posting this topic (done to try to explain the differences between aerobatics one sees at a air show and competition aerobatics) that it would produce such gold imagery! Your photos are incredible. Honestly my jaw dropped to the floor seeing KGZ in a competition environment - never seen anything like this before. Also, seeing the Russkie pic's - OMG! Having flown three Eastern Bloc aeroplanes, I do very much have a soft spot for machines from this region - quite different to their Western equivalents. I would dearly love to fly a Su-26M!

Thankyou sir so much for sharing these images. Do you mind if I email a mate and share these links to him? He's the resident president of the Australian Aerobatic Club in Victoria, a Laser owner and brilliant aerobatic pilot. Dave's also very interested in the history of aerobatics around the world and your photos are tremendous! It would be great to share your photos within the local aerobatic community - if that's OK.

Cheers

Adam

modelbear wrote:Adam,
There isn't that much to tell about my flying. I got my aerobatics and tailwheel endorsements after getting my restricted licence. It was something fun to do while saving up for the longer navigation flights to get my unrestricted licence. I only did a couple of aerobatic flights after the endorsement (all in a decathlon) but it was certainly a lot of fun and great experience. It certainly builds up your confidence in handling a plane in all sorts of attitudes but I never got very comfortable landing with a tailwheel. I gave up flying after almost 200 hours (almost all around SE Queensland) because it was just too expensive as a hobby and other life expenses got in the way.

However, I do keep flying on my PC and have spent many hours in FSX (and Flight Unlimited) flying around the world and also doing far more aerobatics than I ever could ever have afforded in the real world. There is actually a Virtual World Aerobatic Championship (http://www.flightxtreme.com) with the competition using the same type of routines and judging as the real world championship. I have thought about entering this but I would need to put in a bit more practice to get better at the sequences while also staying in the aerobatic box.

I haven't seen the "Flight fantastic" book but it sounds interesting.

Some big Sukhoi models would be fantastic - along with a Decathlon which a lot of aerobatic pilots would have flown at one stage. The Airshow/Fisher models kits look fantastic and it would be great to see more planes like the MXS, Edge, Giles, etc available in kit form in a decent scale. Sadly, my aerobatic stash consists of a few 1/72 Pitts specials which I have yet to build. The Bugatti 100P certainly is an amazing looking plane. A replica is currently being built and it will be interesting to see how it performs when it gets in the air.

Peter

Hi Peter

Separate reply in relation to flight sim flying. I've done my share of home sim flying. I did find it kind of messed with my muscle memory a little, with the stick forces being so different to what I was currently flying at the time. I do find it a lot of fun and enjoyable though. A mate has a great A-10 sim - tremendous fun flying low level and trying to blow up tanks! The main issue I have with FSX is that Microsoft have still not learnt to spin a aeroplane. You can spin a WW2 fighter in IL-2, but trying to practice competition aero's in a Fw-190 just doesn't work with the slow roll rate and general major differences in handling when comparing a WW2 fighter to a little light weight aerobatic aeroplane. Years ago there was a brilliant sim called "Flight Unlimited" that ran on DOS. You could fly a Extra, Pitts, Sukhoi and Decathalon - truly a brilliant program at the time. Did you every hear about it? You could also have a 2D, 3D views, plus external views and bring up a "box" showing flight path - in a line diagram. The program allowed you to spin and snap roll. So, I just do not understand why Microsoft can't get this function into their flight models. I do love flying the Extra 300 in FSX - it is twitchy but doable.

My main frustration with flight sim flying is that I'm on the bloody computer all day long with my work and also glued to it for hours on forums like A/CAM! So, at the end of the day (for which there is just no time now for sim'ing, due to the pressures of organising, feeding, cleaning kids, assisting with homework, getting them to bed, etc), I'm just too shagged to look at the computer anymore. All I can manage to do is plonk in front of the TV, maybe read a book and have a cup of tea! As my one time ex-Navy boss used to say to me - "Adam, it's your turn in the barrel!".

I'm very interested to hear more about your sim'ing and will look into that WAC sim'ing link you provided above. I can see myself getting back into sim'ing more in the future. At this stage, screwing with muscle memory is irrelevant and doing something to keep the brain ticking over at the right rate would be both fun and helpful. So, you've inspired me to have a look at current sim technology. There are some companies offering special aircraft add=ons to FSX aren't there - thinking Pitts Special, Extra in particular?

There is also a crowd called Aerofly (https://www.aeroflyfs.com/index.html- have you any experience with this crowd? There is software for both Pitts and Extra. I'm going to try this software and will report back. I need a new set of stick, throttle and pedals. I have a old Thrustmaster F-16 stick/throttle and pedals. Issue with this stick is it's just like a F-16 stick with little movement and high stick force. So, I need a new stick in particular with low stick forces - any suggestions anyone? I've never used those Saitek products but they seem readily available. What's the go for a half decent stick, throttle and rudder pedals?

Cheers

Adam

Adam,

Great to hear your aerobatics story to date. I did all my aerobatic flying in a Decathlon which was great to fly but not so much to land (I just needed a few more hours to get more comfortable with the tailwheel). I would love to go up sometime in a plane like a Pitts, Sukhoi, Extra, …. to find out what advanced aerobatics feels and looks like. My body may protest but that would not stop me. I had not heard of Henry Haigh – he gives hope to the ageing pilot. I’m not 54 yet but I’m close.

You must have been doing well at aeros if you were competing in the intermediate competition, even without the amount of practice that you would have liked. Loved the pics of KGZ. I never knew the letters referred to the Zuccoli’s – another name in the aerobatic fraternity that is sorely missed.

Regarding my photos, feel free to post the links. These photos have been in an album for decades and if someone is interested in seeing them, that would be great. I’ll have to scan and post more of my photos from airshows at Archerfield, Amberley and a few other places.

I hadn’t thought about muscle memory and how it would be affected by flight simming. I do know that the sim feels very different to the real world though. I am very familiar with Flight Unlimited. I spent many hours in that sim flying and learning aerobatics. It had great views and replays and I think did an excellent job at teaching the novice by having control inputs come up on screen if you got them wrong through a manoeuver. Flight models in simulation is a topic that comes up often if you are into aerobatics. Some people just do a better job than others at this.

My current aircraft of choice at the moment for aeros in FSX is a Christen Eagle (by Iris). I think it flies well (but I can’t compare it to a real one) and is a lot of fun. I also have a freeware Zlin 50 which flies beautifully and is great fun to throw around the sky. There are plenty of addon aircraft you can get for FSX to do aerobatics. Alabeo (www.alabeo.com) make some gorgeous looking aircraft – Extra 300S, Pitts S-2S, Su-26 – but some of the aerobatic components of their models were criticized when they first came out. They may have improved them by now. For Pitts, Addictive Simulation (payware) and Simviation (freeware) have models that have got good reviews. The list goes on. I haven’t seen much about the aerofly simulation but it is not as detailed (no switches in the cockpit) but the pictures from it look great. Reviews say the feel of the aircraft is good but they do not talk about aerobatics though. I would love to read a more detailed review.

My current hardware for simming is a CH Product F16 Combatstick and rudder pedals. The control force is light and it is easy to get to full control deflection. It is possible to change the springs on the Thrustmaster stick if you want to keep your current setup. A quick search will bring a video of someone doing this. The only times I’ve tried a Saitak or Thrustmaster stick, I didn’t like them but that may well have been because I have used my CH setup for so long.

Good luck at getting time to have a go at simulation. There are certainly times when other parts of life are more important, but why not squeeze in some simulated aerobatics in the downtime (just don’t make it too much of a habit).

Cheers,

Peter