Feature

Van's Club France Fly-in

The Nuit St George Fly-In
by Barry Ward
The annual Van’s Club France VCF fly-in at Nuit St George that took place last weekend was -- in spite of the weather -- a success. The weather in Europe so far this year has not been conducive to VFR flying, so only about 25 of the scheduled 50 RVs were able to make it to the fly-in.

Each year the fly in is held at a different location so that the visitors are able to see a different part of France.Also it shares the responsibility and work of the people hosting the fly in amongst the various members of VCF.

In U.S. terms our fly-in is a laid-back affair somewhat similar the LOE fly in organized in New Mexico. We had several folks from the U.S. that either were on vacation or work in France who attended our fly-in.

Here is a link to some of the photos taken by Olivier Carbonnier of the fly in and Saturday evening banquet.

Thierry Beaumont hosted the fly in this year and if you look at the photos, you can see him as the proud owner of the RV8 which has just had the fuselage painted and awaits the attachment of the wings.

Stan Hodgins won the Grand Champion prize for his RV8 G-DUDE as well as his flying display.Martin Stevens won a workmanship award for his newly-completed RV-7.Also a German pilot Geiser Jens, (hopefully I have the correct name) won a workmanship award for his RV-8.

There were 85 people at the Saturday evening banquet, which was a great success.The mini-train ride to and from the banquet was much appreciated.After the banquet on the way back to the hotel, there was much singing helped on by the Welsh choir and Thierry Beaumont’s excellent wine from his vineyard which was much appreciated during the meal.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Avery, Van's Aircraft, Aircraft Spruce andBayo -- a French aircraft equipment supplier -- for supporting our event with door prizes.

Next year the annual fly-in is scheduled to take place in Brittany.

 

And the winners this year are:


On the left is Martin Stevens from Wales with his cup for his RV7 G-CECV. Holding the micro is Lucien Rochet president of Van’s Club France. Middle is Stan Hodgkins from England Grand Champion RV8 G-DUDE. Next is me holding a cup from the French DGAC (FAA) RV6A F-PRVM, but still don’t know why! Far right Geiser Jens from Germany with his Cup for his RV8 D-EVAJ.

And  a big thank-you to:

Thierry Beaumont,  who hosted the fly in at NSG with his soon-to-be-finished RV-8.

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