I had a surprise visit from Wayne Bransfield in August of last year (2021). He wanted to give me a Freewing 70mm Yak-130 with 2-4000mah Lipo batteries. I asked him, why? His answer was –“everyone seems to be flying jets, so I bought one, but I realize EDF jets are not my thing.”
I suggested that he should sell the model and get some return from his purchase. After a lengthy discussion, he told me his real reason for this gift.
Some years ago, when Wayne returned from living in BC, he had all his models and equipment stolen from his van. When I heard his story, I gave him a ready to fly Ultra Sport 1000 complete with a receiver. He said, because of my generosity, he wanted to return the favour.
Brian Harrington had assembled and test flew the model; so all I did was install my receiver and with Peter Krautter’s help, flew the jet a few weeks later with Wayne being present.
During winter, I repainted the model duplicating the Russian Yellow “04” Yak 130. As is my custom, I replaced the “04” with my current age “86”. At present I have had 34 flights on this model.
The Yak is a very fast, smooth, and quiet jet, and has a nice presence in the sky.
Thanks, Wayne, for the gift and Peter for taking the pictures and posting this article on our club’s website.
Cheers, Ted Pritlove
