Paul Hoey
My working life revolved around education in one form or another as a teacher, youth and community worker and various management roles in Norfolk County Council where I concluded my career as Head of the County’s commercial education services. I served as a Trustee and Board Chair of a multi faceted substance misuse charity for 20 years until 2021 and I continue my involvement as a volunteer supporting people in recovery. I am also active in our local church.

Aeromodelling has been a thread throughout my life despite protracted diversions into sailing, windsurfing and ongoing cycling. Like many I built Keil Kraft models as a child with intermittent success and am now surprised that they fly much better than they did 50 years ago. Maybe I have learnt something over the years.  I enjoy several disciplines and fly RC sport aerobatic models on a regular basis but my real interests are indoor scale and FF and small free flight sport models.

I am a member of the South Norfolk MFC where I am a club examiner and Impington Village College MAC. In this centenary year I am chair of the BMFA 100 planning group. The camaraderie and challenges of aeromodelling are important to me and therefore I like to be able to give something back to our great sport.

Martin Dilly, FSMAE
Started modelling in 1943 with an Airyda Blackburn Skua after first smelling doped fabric and ply and proper aromatic high octane fuel coming from rows of Whitleys and Hotspur gliders at RAF Hartford Bridge. Joined West Kent MFC and SMAE in 1948; flying in competitions ever since. Joined Croydon & DMAC in 1949, flying C/L aerobatics, speed, combat, a little R/C (bang-bang rudder), flew early R/C slope soaring in 1960s, moved on to concentrate on F/F, mainly international class F1A gliders.

Learned to glide at Detling, 1951 and to fly at Redhill and Croydon on Magisters and Tiger Moths in 1953 via a Flying Scholarship. RAF 1956-58 on ground radar, just missing Suez.

Having several expatriate New Zealanders in the Croydon club led to a long involvement with the NZMAA, first as proxy flyer and team manager at F/F World Champs, starting with Kauhava in 1965 and as NZ delegate to CIAM since about 1970. I was made a life member of NZMAA in 1987. Other CIAM work has included chairing the Information & Education Committee and serving on several International FAI juries at World and European Championships. Managing the UK teams at World and Euro F/F Championships from 1980 to 2003 with a couple of years off makes me probably the next most experienced of the species after Viktor Eskov of the USSR and Russia.

In parallel with this has been a lot of BMFA work, with an emphasis on the public relations side and the removal of inter-disciplinary blinkers, and work since 1970 towards Sports Council recognition of model flying, finally achieved about 25 years later. Despite 35 years as a TV cameraman for the BBC, Dilly Towers has always managed to avoid having a resident TV set, which may account for finding the time for it all. ‘All’ has included writing the Free-Flight and Foreign Flyers columns in Aeromodeller magazine for a period, co-founding Free Flight News, serving as BMFA PRO for two periods, editing and producing the SMAE newsletter, doing part of a TV series on modelling that still gets shown 20 years later, much to peoples’ amusement, representing BMFA on the Royal Aero Club Council, producing, editing and marketing most BMFA Free Flight Forum Reports annually since 1985, organising the Free Flight Forums, writing a couple of books on model flying, serving as London Area PRO since 1965 and as Council delegate since 1970.

I was also heavily involved in the landmark Bromley public enquiry on model flying at a local park in the early 1970s, and in drafting the Home Office Code of Practice on Noise Limitation for Model Aircraft in 1970s. I was elected a Fellow in 1977 and received the Royal Aero Club silver medal in 1992. Current flying activity focuses on F1A, where the building of some carbon bunters and ‘Russian rod’ line has led to far more consistent towing and helped to compensate for the possible lack of launch energy at the bottom end of the towline. Other interests include jazz, baroque music, Eastern Europe and food.

Steve Mason
CV to follow

John McNamara
Cv to follow

Vacant

Martyn Kinder
I started aeromodelling when I was 13 years old – in 1969, before that I built model boats. I became a SMAE member in 1971 and started flying Free Flight contests as a Junior, mainly A/1 and A/2 (as it was then) classes. My first Model Flying club was Syke Juniors, near Rochdale.

I started flying RC gliders in 1980, as I was (at the time) fortunately living only 4 miles from one of the best slope soaring sites in NW England, Blackstone Edge, off the Rochdale to Halifax road and  started R/C power flying shortly afterwards. However, I continued to fly competitive free flight as a member of Richmond DMAC until 1977 and latterly (following a change in location) Falcons Free Flight Team until 1995.

I had a few years off while my children got bigger but came back to the fold about 11 years ago flying mainly RC sports models.

I am the founder member and administrator of the UK Classic Aerobatic Association (UKCAA) which promotes the building, flying and competing of pre 1996 F3A Aerobatic aircraft and I am also a member of South Cheshire Radio Control Society, BARCS and the LMMGA. I am the club delegate for SCRCS.

My model flying interests are very broad ranging. I fly Classic F3A, R/C gliders, (Electric, Thermal and Slope) and general sports models.  As I am getting older, I am getting more interested in scale modelling and enjoy the additional challenge of building and flying this type of model.

Professionally, I design IT systems for a major UK Government Department. I have worked in IT for over 40 years. Working in the Government sector means that you need to develop a very pragmatic and diplomatic approach to working with people. This is one of my strengths, over the years I have worked very closely with a great many civil servants to develop and deliver successfully, some complex and costly IT projects.

I have also been a committee member on many local and national bodies. In fact, I first started committee work as Junior Captain of a sailing club when I was just 14 years old. I have worked on a number of committees including the British Astronomical Association and the Radio Society of Great Britain plus many club roles over the past 40 years. I enjoy working on committees and feel the time spent is a worthwhile contribution and satisfactory payback for an interest that I enjoy doing,

I was appointed BMFA-NW Area Webmaster at the end of 2017 and subsequently elected (in 2018) as Area Delegate and Chairman of the NW Area of the BMFA following the resignation of David Lloyd Jones due to ill health.

Duncan McClure
I have been an active modeller for over 40 years and I enjoy participation in many aspects of the hobby. I started off flying control line and free flight and then moved to RC, starting with a home built single channel radio. I now fly power sport, scale and aerobatics, glider (both slope and thermal), helicopters and more recently gas turbines and electric. My entire fleet is now exclusively electric or turbine.

For the last 36 years I have been a member of the White horse Model Club. I have served on the committee of this club for most of this period and have held most of the senior posts. I have been responsible for the development of training materials and have trained many members, both young and old, in power, glider and helicopter disciplines.

I have held power B and Club Examiner ratings since 1982 and I became an Area Chief Examiner in 2000. I have also been an Approved Instructor since the inception of the ‘up and away ‘scheme and a silent flight examiner since 1993. I am now also an Area Chief Instructor.

I also fly full size and hold a Private Pilots Licence (PPL A) with IMC and night ratings. I fly on a regular basis and have a share in Piper Cherokee based at a local airfield. I find full-size experience invaluable for model flying, particularly in relation to safety and training.
I worked for several years as a part time fixed wing flying instructor for ATS and the RC Hotel in Corfu, so I have gained valuable experience of training pilots of all ages and with a wide range of abilities, in both club and commercial environments.

For my day job I work as a radiation physicist for the government, and have been involved in notable incidents such as Chernobyl and the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive Polonium in 2006.

Stuart Willis
Born July 1955 in Carshalton. My father was an aircraft mechanic based at Croydon airport but was relocated to the new Gatwick airport so the family relocated to Crawley when I was just 16 months old.

My first venture into the world of model aircraft was at age 10 when I joined the School Aero Club then later in the Crawley Aero club and the SMAE, as it was then, flying control line combat models and free flight rubber models. My first model was a "Phantom Mite" constructed with the help of my father and the words that have been so true over the years: "If you built it, you can repair it".
I'm a Support Engineer for an international software house and sit behind a computer screen all day so enjoy getting out and flying whenever I can.

I got back into modelling in the late 1990's - first with helicopters and later moved on to fixed-wing models. I joined the Felbridge Flyers of which I'm an active member, being on the club’s committee as the ‘Webmaster’, as well as being one of the club’s fixed-wing instructors which I enjoy very much; seeing others being able to take to the skies on their own and enjoy the sport as much as I do is a very rewarding experience.

I fly mainly radio-controlled models, both IC and electric, and both fixed-wing and rotary. I enjoy building as much as I do flying, spending many hours in my shed tinkering with wood and glue - as my tolerant wife would testify!

John Harris
CV to follow

Allan Belcher
CV to follow

Peter Disney
Peter currently lives in Brixham, Devon and is a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy.  He was educated in Torquay and at Imperial College, London and joined the Service in 1982 as a Seaman Officer, passing out from BRNC in 1983.  After Fleet training and professional courses he moved on to be the Navigating Officer of HMS Kirkliston and then HMS Bereton before commencing flying training as an Observer in 1989.

Initially qualified on the Lynx Mk3 helicopter operating from Frigates and Destroyers, he held several appointments with 829, and 815 Naval Air Squadrons as the Flight Observer and then the Flight Commander including operations in the first Gulf War and the Mediterranean.  In 1994 he became a Qualified Observer Instructor training Lynx Aircrew and as serving as the Operations Officer of 702 NAS based at RNAS Portland.  After a final appointment back with 815NAS as the Type 23 Senior Flight Commander in HMS Somerset deployed to the South Atlantic he joined the Staff of Flag Officer Sea Training at Devonport in late 1997 as a Staff Warfare Officer conducting Aviation training at sea for RN and NATO warships.

In 1999 he returned to flying duties and completed a conversion course to the Merlin (EH101) helicopter at Westlands in Yeovil.  The initial cadre of aircrew were based at RNAS Culdrose and charged with bringing the Merlin into Service and establishing the Merlin Training System which became 824 NAS later in 2000.  As a Merlin instructor with specific responsibility for developing and accepting the simulators into service, he worked very closely with CAE, the contractor, in Canada to validate software and hardware and then oversaw the subsequent installation at Culdrose.

In 2002/2003 he was employed as the Senior Operations Watch-keeper working with the Coalition partners at the UK National HQ in Qatar for the war-fighting phase of Operation Telic in Iraq. On return to Culdrose and the Merlin he became the Senior Observer in 829 NAS, re-commissioning the Squadron in 2004 and using his Lynx sea experience in establishing links between the parenting organisation and the frigates. Since 2009 he has been back with FOST in Devonport training ships at sea.

Having started his modelling career with control line flying as a teenager in the 70s his first model was a Kiel Kraft plastic Hurricane.   He progressed to built-up models and some free flight ducted fans, but drifted away from modelling when he went to college.

Returning to the hobby and R/C power flying in 2000 when he joined the Culdrose Model Flying Group, he became the Chairman of RNMAA and BMFA representative in 2007.  In addition he is now also a member of several clubs in Devon and Cornwall and has been involved with the Devon and Cornwall Sub-Areas since 2009.  He has held fixed wing ‘A’ Certificate since 2002 and was invited to fly before the full size aviation at Culdrose Air Display in 2006, so worked-up and successfully passed the ‘B’ that summer.  He flies mainly larger R/C scale and semi-scale fun fighters at the summer shows, but is also very keen on EDF models, having designed and built several models of British aircraft from the 50s and 60s.  He also dabbles in electric R/C (up to 200W size motors), rocketry (up to E Impulse) and indoor helicopters.

Peter Edmondson
CV to follow

Ian Nelson
A retired RAF Warrant Officer, Ian spent 37 years as an Aircraft Propulsion Technician which encompasses, aircraft engines, aircraft fuel systems, fuel pressurisation and fire protection. He has worked primarily on Vulcan B2, C-130 Hercules, Jaguar GR1A, Puma HC1 helicopter, Tornado GR4A and handled a multitude of aircraft including Nimrod MR1, Buccaneer, Canberra, Shackleton MR2, Starfighter and Boeing 737 to name a few. During his service he has visited many extreme environments from the Arctic of Northern Norway to heat of the Arabian Peninsular and Afghanistan. He was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 1986, for service to the RAF community in Gibraltar and restoring the Gate Guardian, a Vulcan B2 from his first operational squadron, 35 Squadron.

Ian started his modelling career when he was 10 years old (1966) with Keil Kraft rubber-powered scale series aircraft. When he was 11 he flew a friend's plastic Keil Kraft Hurricane. He only lasted a couple of laps before he got dizzy and crashed it breaking the nylon engine mount. That cost him 7s 6d (37 1/2 p), three weeks pocket money in those days! Needing something more robust he built a Slick Schick combat wing from the Model and Allied Publications (MAP) plans service and powered it with a second-hand DC Sabre 1.5 cc diesel. At last, an aircraft that would bounce! He continued with Control Line for many years concentrating on Combat, Stunt and Scale. Indeed, at the tender age of 15, he built a MAP F4U-4 Corsair and entered it at the North West Area Rally at Woodford in Cheshire; he came 6th out of 20 contestants. He joined the RAF in 1973 and enrolled in RAFMAA in 1978 whilst at RAF Scampton, here he continued to fly Control Line with a Mercury Crusader and a plan built DH Mosquito.

In 1980 he bought his first RC set, a Fleet Custom III and a three channel trainer (Sancho). He taught himself to fly at RAF Halton, many front firewalls, undercarriages and a few pounds of epoxy later he eventually got the hang of it all. He took a three year break whilst at RAF Gibraltar due to extreme RADHAZ problems for RC gear and other diversions (see above). Returning to UK he dusted down his kit and started flying again at the RAF St Athan Club.

Immersing himself back into the hobby he started to fly aerobatics whilst at RAF Coltishall and passed his 'A' certificate (1992). He gained his ‘B’ certificate in 1997 becoming an Examiner in 2000. He has been Officer In Charge (OIC) RAFColtishall, RAF Benson and RAF Marham Model Aircraft Clubs. Additionally in RAF Model Aircraft association (RAFMAA), he has held the positions of; Secretary, Competition Secretary, Indoor Secretary, RC Power Secretary; again, sometimes all at the same time. He is currently one of RAFMAA's Chief Examiners and the Area Coordinator and an Honorary Member since retiring from his ‘day job’ in 2011. He became BMFA Representative for RAFMAA in 2016. Within RAFMAA he has been successful in winning a number of competitions in a number of disciplines and has held the Honorary Members Trophy for two years.

His civilian club for the past 30 years has been the North Norfolk Aeromodellers (NNA) where he has held the positions of Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary, sometimes all at the same time! He is currently Vice Chairman of the NNA. Over the years he has taught many people to fly RC and Control Line and examined candidates within the NNA and RAFMAA; one ‘A’ certificate being conducted on Ascension Island!

Ian still occasionally flies Control Line models; Stunt, Combat wings and Mini-Goodyear racers but, channels most of his time into RC Aerobatics and Scale. He has flown in displays with the RAFMAA team, namely Wings and Wheels, Old Warden and Ascension Island he can often be found flying in Warbird events. Additionally, Ian also enjoys Slope and Thermal soaring.