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The Blå Hallen meeting 1998

Introduction

As usual the Blå hallen indoor meeting was held in January this year. We are fortunate to have access to this large hall with its high ceiling (21 m); it is the Stockholm town hall and is also used during the Nobel Prize ceremonies. There were three competitions; Leijon Nocal trophy, Solna Flugan (Delta Dart) competition and, new for this year, a 50-öres (F1D-beginner) competition. The Nocal and Flugan competitions attracted a record number of entries, 41 and 31 respectively, with the help of a large Finnish contingent. Another event, which was popular with the public, was the indoor RC demonstration. Several WES-technik Bleriots and Wespes flew at the same time and had ample room for maneuvering in the large hall. With the availability of small commercial RC-equipment, these ultralight RC-models have become quite popular.

Competitions

The Nocal trophy was reconquered by Ginger Sjöberg, with her Bumble Bee racer. The second place was taken by Tomas Leijon, the originator of this competition. He flew a Heinkel 178, the very first jet aircraft. At 10 grams it is overweight, but clearly shows the potential of freakish models. He intends to build a lighter one for next year, so watch out! Best biplane was Sjöbergs SE5A, with flight times above 2 minutes.

The Flugan competition was flown in three rounds with 40 s max, and then flyoffs with 60 and 80 seconds max. Two attempts were allowed for each flight. In this way, the competition becomes more exciting, if also more time-consuming, than it would be if just counting the x best flights of y attempts.
The competitors left after the 80 sec. flyoff, 2 juniors and 4 seniors, then flew an unlimited flyoff. More than one flyer had broken the 90 sec. level previously, but in the flyoff Janne Laurén was the only one to make more than 80 sec. The top two seniors got the same duration, and so had to fight it out through yet another flyoff. The winners finally emerged as Janne Laurén (juniors) and Anders Håkansson (seniors).

The 50-öres competition did only attract four entries, even if there were more models around. Jonas Romblad won, but Lasse Nyberg was not far behind, and the result was not decided until after the last flight.

Competitions aside, the motto of the Blå Hallen meetings is "Fly for fun". This was done with models of every size, from Tommy Westlins peanuts and pistachios to Kenneth Barman's gigantic rubber powered ornithopters, one of which is shown below. That one, which was also present the previous year, has a span of 2 meters and weighs 250 grams. It could hold level course as long as the very short rubber motor was driving. Even if its flyability is a bit limited, it's huge dimensions make it a very impressive sight.

Barmans large ornithopter		Tommy Westlin with Albatros peanut

Results

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