MCRCS Opening Day

2008 Opening Day

Sunday, April 27th

People at Opening Day It’s not obvious why we call it opening day because the field never closes and we fly all winter. But it seems a good excuse for a picnic at the field and the club usually supplies hamburgers and hotdogs to the attendees. This year Armand Graziani purchased the supplies and Pat (Binky) Monacelli cooked them up. It’s hard to tell whether it’s Armand’s choice of meats, Pat’s skill at cooking, or the smell of castor oil in the air; but the hamburgers and hotdogs seemed to taste better than ever. But then it’s always great to get together with friends to eat and fly.

Fixing food While the building contest accounted for much of the flying in the morning, there was a lot of flying in the afternoon. The Dawn Patrol, although not out in force, did fill in a portion of the sky with its biplanes. The Lucianos provided additional entertainment as they test flew some large models that were not entered in the Building Contest. A Sea Fury with Canadian markings had flown earlier at the field, but had rough landing when its gear had twisted. Its flight on opening day was exciting, but uneventful. One of the others had a less successful flight, however, crashing into the corn field following a radio failure. Aircraft of a wide variety flew during the day, including a few trainers and a few electrics. And some even managed to find time for flight instruction.

Caniadian markings By any accounting, the day would have to be considered a success. The skies eventually cleared, to a large degree. All of the Building Contest contestants who attempted to fly qualified. And nobody went home hungry.