Cold weather greeted us with rain threatening all of the time. I was the first on site and Launched my 'Gemini 1' rocket. I saw Peter approaching, went to greet him and when I had come back I had lost my bearings for finding the rocket. It took me almost an hour to recover it. It flew twice more that day with Karen launching it the second time on a C6-3. Other flights were C6-5 and A8-3.
Peter plonked "Hairy H.A.R.T" on the pad and it made a dramatic marker for us raising some eyebrows from a local farmer who jokingly requested Peter does not aim it his way. Peter made a few launches with his Mustang and soon the airfield site began to greet more HART members.
Peter, Susan, Karen, Ian and Michael came to watch and Ian launched a Quest kit with the result the nose and chute nearly flew away. Somehow Peter found it.
Chris and Sam made several launches with 'Firebird', 'Blackbird', 'Thunderhawk' and 'Super Vega'. They had many close returns so people copied their launch pad angle quickly. Chris is working on a mobile launch pad design for the future.
Ivan flew several larger rockets including a 'Shadow'. His 'Viking' drifted very far and everyone lost site of it but me. I tracked it with Ivan who was about to give up when we walked straight to it. It was a bit lucky to find it after it had gone so far. This was probably the most unlikely recovery of the day.
Dave gave the new 'Enterprise E' a lift off. It weathercocked in flight and this coupled with a C6-7 engine allowed it to eject itself at speed into the ground. It suffered a broken back but Dave can repair it. His other to maiden flights will wait until next time.
Peter and Gary braved the elements as did Tony who can supply us with engines, models and parts if we wish. We also had a new member from Felixstowe turn up but I cannot remember his name - sorry.
All in all there were 20 flights from 15 people. This was an amazing turnout considering the weather which was freezing cold (it snowed that morning). This is encouraging for future events and I would like to thank all who came today.