Brian Dillon

Built my first model aeroplane when I was seven years old. An all sheet glider called Condor. Was absolutely amazed when it actually flew. Quickly moved onto Keilkraft Kits, The Magpie was my first foray into tissue and dope and by the age of ten had my first engine, an AM 10. When I was twelve I met Frank Dowling who introduced me to the wonders of control line and from then on was hooked into combat and team race. We formed a team and started doing local competitions using Enya 19 engines and Rogue airframes.

I can well remember our first Nats. It was at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire sometime in the late 50s. It was here I saw my first radio control job, Bang Bang radio (with valves) and McCoy 35 engine, heady stuff in those days but some of you may recall the top flyers at the time. Frank Van Den Burgh. (Radio). Brian Horrocks (stunt). Ken long (team race) to name a few. It was about this time I came to know people like George Copeman (engines) and Pete Tribe (combat). The top models around were Smog Hog. Peacemaker. Nobler. And the engines to die for were Copeman Oliver Tiger and Super Tigre G15s. Remember these. During the 60s we had some reasonable success in combat, winning a number of major competitions both here and abroad. A newfound interest in motorbikes meant we could travel further afield, but riding to the Nats was not easy with your model tied to your back. We had successes at Woodford, Ternhill, Hullavington to name a few and even made the front cover of "Aeromodeller"...(.fame at last). By the seventies I had started doing a little full size flying, Cessna 150s, Cherokees etc but was finding the cost very high. Luckily, my friend bought a share in a Reims Cardinal RG and we had many happy flights in this from Speke.