Inter-Ex 2002

A review by Gerald Lehr

Another year has gone by. We had the honour to stage the Inter-Ex, for the 5th time, out 17 times in total. Work began Friday morning as a lot had to be prepared.

The first task was to build our stand. After a few initial problems we did quite well. You need at least 6 people though to assemble and disassemble the stand as it has become quite heavy. But it worked very well. A big thank you to everybody who helped build it.

While we were still busy with the stand the first contestants arrived and spread on the camp ground. As in previous years there were many well known faces. By the time we were finished at night 20 participants had arrived.

On Saturday morning the Inter-Ex began with beautiful weather. More and more participants arrived and it looked promising to be a successful event. In total we had 55 participants this year. Praise to Roland Hansler, Manfred Franzel and Martin Orth for doing a great job in the frequency tent. There wasn’t a single duplication of frequencies for the whole event.

As in previous years there was a lot to be seen and admired. Worth mentioning are Peter Haas und Wil Snitjer, probably the must unfortunate pilots of the Inter-Ex. Wil’s Wisnicopter crashed due to a pilot error and was heavily damaged, and Peters 11 m wide und 15 m long Asparagus dissembled in mid-air and was completely destroyed.

The most advanced innovation was probably the TriBelle by Dr. Sieghard Dienlin and Stefan Dolch. Ulrich Horn’s pressed accu-packs were similarly impressive.

Another mentioning has to go to Eddie Eiblmaier’s ME 163, who gave a really fantastic performance. Peter Schmald’s Pulso was another event to look out (or listen) for.

The most technically advanced model had to be the Horten IX-V-2 by the Dutch Horten team. Due to technical problems with the turbine they couldn’t show in flight, which was a shame as it is really a fantastic show.

One participant in particular, and not a plane caught our admiration, because of his tireless flying: Raimund "Wer” Sonst (His name has the meaning "else". So we gave him the nickname "who else")

Thanks also to Jürgen Schmid, the favourite of all the children with his „sweets-bomber”. Saturday ended with a barbeque and some beautiful night-flying.

Sunday morning started off with sunshine again and it promised to be another beautiful day. Some pilots took off with the first rays of sunlight. Unfortunately the weather forecast was spot on this time, and at 11 a.m. thunderstorms and high winds forced us into our tents and our planes to the cars. Despite high hopes the weather didn’t improve and we decided to advance the presentation ceremony and finish this year’s event early.

Luckily we could do the presentation and the tombola in the open air as at least the rain finally stopped.

  • Best flight: Eddie Eiblmaier ME 163
  • Best built: Horten Team Holland Horten IX-V-2
  • Best model: Leids Junior team flying-wing-bi-plane
  • Best idea: Gerd Lang Skiflieger
  • Best crash: Peter Haas Asparagus
  • Spectators’ favourite: Gerald Lehr flying lawnmower
  • RCN trophy: Raimund Sonst for tireless flying
  • Querdenkerpokal (lateral thinking trophy): S. Dolch / Dr. S. Dienlin TriBelle

A special present was given to Aad van Sorgen by Jupp Wimmer: an original turbine wheel of the real Horten IX-V-2, in respect for his relentless work with Horten models.

After the presentation the Inter-Ex wound down and we started tidying up.

We want to thank everybody who donated one or two cakes, and to all our helpers who really worked hard. You can rest now for two years before the next Inter-Ex mission.

Highlights:

  • 55 Pilots
  • Inauguration of our new stand
  • Great weather on Saturday
Outtakes

  • The Port-a-loos arrived too late
  • The promised dish washing mobile wasn’t there and had to be fetched from Riedlingen.
  • The reservation for the cold-storage wagon and the benches and tables was lost so we had to find a new wagon and borrow benches and tables in Wilhelmsdorf.
  • One set of benches and table has been stolen.

Ok, that’s all from this year’s Inter-Ex. We had a lot of fun and are looking forward to the next Inter-Ex in two years time, on 13th and 14th September 2003 in Nederweert. I will definitely be there and hope some of you too!

Yours MFC Ostrachtal - Gerald Lehr