Announcing a very special Watts for Breakfast?? timed to coincide with the completion of Red Thunder's Tactical Formation Clinic. This should be a great opportunity to meet the pilots and check out the fantastic Eastern Bloc aircraft.
As per usual, fly or drive to Watts Bridge for a traditional airfield breakfast consisting of bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, beans & toast all washed down with bottomless cups of tea and coffee.
Starts at 8:00am, finishes at 10:00am and costs just $10.
We are often asked if anyone can come and join in the fun??
The answer is simple: Anyone is welcome to come and enjoy the morning. You do not have to be a member of Watts Bridge or a homebase group
to come and join our airfield's hospitality!!
Red Thunder offers warbird owners the opportunity to socialise and refine their piloting skills. Several 'Eastern Block' warbird aircraft take part in these events, so accordingly Red Thunder 2019 continues it's 'Russian Flavour' in both the flying and social activities.
Aircrew will engage in a variety of training exercises which aim to facilitate the exchange of operational experiences and to enjoy a variety of navigational, flour bombing, and streamer cutting competitions.
Several of our female comrades (Natasha's) join us for the week. A vibrant social calendar including aerial and winery tours as well as luncheons and a spa day is there to be enjoyed.
Of great interest is the Red Thunder Dining In Night. A great time is always enjoyed, with participants finding the time to 'dress' for the occasion. Why not register on line and check out the Social Calendar for 2019??
Red Thunder Website: www.redthundertfc.com.au
27th April 2019
In April every year the "Sanitation Management Volunteers", (a small team of volunteer labourers), descend upon the sewerage treatment area to harvest the vetiver grass. The grass is cut on Friday using whipper snippers and a hedger. Saturday sees the grass loaded by hand on to an assortment of utes and transported to local farmers to be used as stock feed and ground cover/mulch. A final run over the area with a ride-on mower completes the job for another year.
Back of the envelope calculations:
It is estimated that approximately 30 hours volunteer labour was required to harvest the vetiver grass.
Using $50/hour (say a landscape gardener or labourer) as a basis, the job costs out at around $1,500
It's worth noting that all the equipment, vehicles and fuel was provided by the volunteers.
Each year, on the 25th April, we pause to honour and remember all Australian service men and women. The Remembrance Service, which is held at the memorial cairn, includes Bible readings, speeches and the laying of floral wreathes.
For 2019 the guest speaker was Wing Commander Greg Choma, an Aircrew Liaison Officer at the RAAF Base Amberley.
At the conclusion of the service an F/A-18F Super Hornet based at the RAAF Base Amberley performed a commemorative pass across the airfield.
Approximately 50 people attended the ANZAC Day service. A traditional Australian morning tea / light lunch was served in the AAC-QC clubrooms to bring the remembrance to a conclusion.
[ CLICK THE THUMBNAIL IMAGES TO VIEW FULL SIZE ]
If you have been down to the private hangar precinct behind the BVSAC hangar on almost any Saturday for the last 2 years or so, chances are you have seen the Ratcliffe brothers, Ian, Peter and David busily at work preparing there homebuilt aircraft for flight. The high wing Zenith CH750 was built by Peter and David with the low wing CH650 constructed by Ian.
Any aircraft builder will readily confirm that when the aircraft has been finally relocated to the hangar, it's 90% done with 90% still to go. And so it has been for the Ratcliffe's, with seemingly endless tinkering, adjusting and fine tuning of the engines, cooling, instrumentation and flight control systems. After all that work there is now a little bit of cosmetic work to be done such as repainting cowls where adjustments have been made and sprucing up the interior trim.
However: The good news is that both aircraft have now flown their initial test flights with no dramas whatsoever. As the hours are being flown off to achieve full registration, the flight envelopes are being expanded and overall performance checked to confirm the designer's specifications. So hopefully, in the very near future, there will be another 2 aircraft located at Watts Bridge, with Ian Peter and David all set to finally exercise their piloting skills as they go adventuring to other airfields around the district. Well done gentlemen!!
10th March 2019
Once again a really strong roll-up for the first Watts for Breakfast of 2019. The fly-in proved to be a great success with over 30 aircraft turning up and around 77 breakfasts being sold.
The money generated from this event will be used to fund further improvements to the shelter shed complex. We may even need more tables and chairs as it became standing room only towards the end of the morning.
Bring on 2019 and there are three new Watts based aviation websites vying for our attention. Homebase Groups the Brisbane Valley Sport Aviation Club and the Queensland Warbirds and Vintage Aircraft Association have completely reworked their sites with great new looks and heaps of content.
Red Thunder Tactical Formation Clinic are already making a lotta noise about 2019 and 2020 planning.
Click the screen grabs and have a look !
Updated 24.01.2019
Rolling on into the New Year and another chalet and hangar is under construction on the airfield. This time around it's Greg McConnell who is making the major long term commitment and investment in Watts Bridge.
Without doubt Greg is eagerly anticipating the day he can move into his new avaition complex.
Continue to watch this space for more photographs of the building project.
Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield is strongly committed to a "Fly Neighbourly" policy ensuring good working relationships with other land owners in the district.
Pilots are requested to download the Fly Neighbourly Chart to be aware of and avoid where operationally possible, noise and over-fly sensitive locations adjacent to the airfield.
Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield requests that all members and visitors using the airfield's internal roads adhere to the signposted maximum Speed Limit of 20kph.
The Speed Limit maximises safety for all motorists and pedestrians, significantly reduces damage to the airfield's roadways and minimises the generation of dust which has an adverse affect on aircraft, buildings and human health.