District IV
Culpeper County Airfest — October 8, Brandy Station, Virginia
By John Hunton, chairman, Culpeper County Airport Committee
The hobby of model aviation has undergone considerable technical growth in recent years. Most model airplane activity now is radio-controlled (RC), and most modern model airplanes use electric motors for power. These electric motors are quiet. For the most part, the scourge of neighborhood model flying—the noisy engine—is gone. Now we have electric-powered park flyers that are small, lightweight, and can be safely flown in small fields.
With the development of powerful, highly efficient batteries, electric propulsion is now powering larger models. An efficient electric-powered model in the hands of an experienced pilot can stay aloft for an hour or more and can perform maneuvers that full-scale aerobatic pilots only wish they could.
All of this advancement was in the air and on display at the Culpeper County Airfest on October 8. There was a flying display of models that came out of the box ready to fly, and a wide variety of these pre-built models were available at reasonable prices.
Several scale replicas and large models were shown, including:
- Handley Page HP-42 — a four-engine replica of one of the first reliable airliners.
- Scale Huey helicopter — with small figures in its gurneys.
- Scale B-25 — which dropped simulated bombs during the display.
- Halifax bomber — with a wingspan of more than 10 feet; the original Halifax delivered tons of bombs in strategic warfare during World War II.
Jet models also flew at remarkable speeds.
Attendees saw a static display of airplanes built by local modelers and learned where to find local clubs and qualified instructors. There is a great new flying field in Culpeper, owned by Culpeper Parks and Recreation and managed by the Culpeper Model Barnstormers.
Two talented high school students flew at the event:
- A male teenager who is a national competitor.
- A female student who can perform amazing maneuvers with her airplane.
As a fitting highlight, Don Szczur, an internationally ranked pilot, performed a low-level routine that defies the imagination: loops and rolls inches off the ground followed by a vertical hover — maneuvers full-scale pilots can’t do.
We hope you enjoyed the Culpeper Airfest and had a chance to view the priceless exhibits and talk to the pilots.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
