THE HISTORY OF V.A.R.M.S The Annual Diary 1990 - 2009

118
H.L.G. (Hand Launched Glider)
The entries for this event were very low but the standard of flying was very
high, particularly in the case of the winner.
Marcus Stent dominated the event with his thoroughly researched and
practised discus launch technique and his flying skills.
Unfortunately one pilot was taken out of the event by a willi willi that picked up
the model from the ground and broke it.
Another was taken out when Marcus launched it using his advanced technique
and folded the wing.
Three rounds were flown with the winner being Marcus Stent and second was
Theo Arvanitakis.
Extracted from Aspectivity 396, February 2007
In the current climate of modelling, with ARF’s and similar reigning supreme, the following
article is very typical of days gone by for its optimism and appropriate modeling “highs and
lows” of a bygone era.
Eddie the Eagle
Colin Smith
It all started way, way, way back in the previous century, or to be more precise, in the good
old days when a magazine about gliding was crammed full of glider and sailplane stuff and not
those “bloody-electric-aeroplanes” as they are nowadays............. 1993 to be exact and it was all
Silent Flight’s fault and in particular the Feb/Mar edition. I even remember where I bought the
magazine .. Ballarat .. and I was up there for a model boat demo during the Begonia festival.
Sacrilege do I hear you say ... model WHAT !!!!! Yep...... I was a boaty in those days, not yet
having got back into flight and quite happy fiddling with paddle wheels and fighting ducks at the
Surrey Dive in Box Hill. It’s a good, relaxing club nowadays and if any of you are interested give
them a looksee on Wednesday mornings and Sundays, they also have the quaintest/most old
fashioned frequency system I have ever seen. But I digress, that particular magazine also contained
an article on the Habicht and I was hooked ..... gotta find those glider guys again. When I say
again, I migrated in ‘83 and brought a lot of planes with me and had written to a bloke from
VARMS beforehand about flying in general .... so I was aware of the club, in fact the Historian
presented me with “that” letter on my last visit Camperdown. It’s funny how things can bite you
after many, many years.
The next part of the saga, if you are still awake, takes place in November 1993 when
VARMS held their last expo at the old Waverley High School on Waverley road before it was
pulled down and replaced by houses. Halcyon days and it was always a bloody good expo with
plenty of displays, both flying and static for the crowds to see and do. Again I was part of the
Surrey Park mob who has a static display (they also won best stand for a few years, as I recall), and
at the second stall I bought two things from David Hughes. A plan and wing set for his Viper slope
soarer and a plan for Eddy the Eagle that a deceased member had brought into the country, I was
later told it was Martin Briggs .... seem to have heard that name somewhere? In the meantime I was