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Hello. My name is Simon Steggall and I’ve been aero-modelling for over twenty years. I was born in Lincoln in the early Sixties and grew up with the sound of V Bombers flying from Scampton and Waddington. Two of my friends were flying a Victor and a Vulcan, both built to 1/7th scale. As the ‘Forgotten Bomber’ was not represented, I felt duty bound to design and build one.

 Because there were very few plans or

 pictures available, I ended up with a three

 -view drawing on a sheet of A3. This at

 least gave me a start and, after working

 out the scatle of the drawing, I was able to

 design the Model.

 I started building the plane in November

 of 2003 and set myself a schedule of at

 least four hours a day. It was clear from

 the start that this was going to be a large

 model and well over the 20kg limit that is

 the maximum before you require a CAA

 licence. I registered the model with the

 Large Model Association and was assigned

 an inspector. The model came together

 over the winter and spring and, after

 numerous inspections, I was given a

 ‘permit to test’

      I had decided to power the model with

 two gas-turbine engines and not four. The

 reason for this was that I could get

 sufficient power whilst halving the

 complexity. Still, each engine cost £2,500

 so I had to get a part time job to pay for it

  I also had to design the main

 undercarriage and had it custom made in

 stainless steel in America at a cost of

 £2,400.

 The specifications of the model are as

 follows:

 Wingspan: 5 metres

      Weight: 160lbs (without fuel)

        Power: 2 Jetcat 120 Turbines

          Fuel Consumption: 2 gallons/12

 mins (full power)

 Model Features: Ailerons, elevators,

 rudder, throttle, flaps, retracts, brakes,

 landing lights.

 The model, at the moment, is unflown as

 the radio transmitter had to go to Romania

 with me. I went there to fly my Focke

 -Wulf in the making of a film called ‘The

 Drop’. I worked there with actors like

 Billy Zane (Titanic and Memphis Belle).

 Now that my equipment is back, I hope to

 have the ‘Maiden Flight’ in the very near

 future, hopefully at RAF Wittering.

 As you can see, Simon’s Maiden Flight took

 place at RAF Wyton on Good Friday, and I

 was invited to observe this event. Stood on

 the airfield, with the smell of Avtag and the

 sound of the engines, 40 years disappeared.

 Alas, only one week later, there was a ‘minor’

 mishap at RAF Honington. Luckily, Simon got

 stuck right into the rebuild and decided, this time,

 to give it the all-white scheme that we all knew.

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