History

The club was originally formed in 1945 by three 18-19 year olds, the last of whom was an active flyer at the club up until 2019. In the beginning the models being built and flown were mainly rubber powered towline gliders and the occasional control-line model. At that time, just after WWII, a six foot (1.82m) wing span model was considered to be very large and glow engines were a real rarity as was a local source of balsa wood for building! The few model shops that existed then were usually run by a modeller as a side-line to an existing retail business such as newsagents or bicycle shop. One such in Oldham, at Rhodes Bank, was a radio component shop run by a Henry Gilbert; with Henry there was no chit-chat when buying something it was very much a case of ‘take it or leave it’!

The club’s very first (un)official flying site was at Bellfield near Hollins Green, but then due to the building of a new school at that location the club moved to Breeze Hill fields near Lees. Sometime later that site was also selected for the building of another new school and the club almost foundered as membership dropped to about half a dozen model aviators. In 1957 ‘Peacoats’ became the new club flying field - located in Beale Valley behind the old Seddon Atkinson factory and below the Sholver estate; this was to remain the home of the club for many years until in the very late nineties, Oldham Council decided that this would be compulsorily purchased as the location had been selected for development as a land-fill site and then subsequently a new golf course….in 2022 this site is still not being used by the Council for any purpose and there is uncertainty as to what will eventually happen there.

As a result, the club’s flying field moved to Compton Moor where local conservationists successfully lobbied for the club’s flying to be restricted to just a few months a year! So the club moved once again to a new field at Snipe Clough/Greenhills next to Alexandra Park near the centre of Oldham in the early noughties.

In 2021 the proposed development of the flying site by Oldham Council to make way for the proposed ‘Northern Roots Urban Eco-Farm Project’ has meant the club once again had to find alternative locations for flying.

Since its’ formation, the club has had a number of notable achievements including: British Indoor Duration Record, Representing NW England, Winning the BARCS National Cross Country and winning the BMFA Roger Bedford Memorial Trophy in 2017.

The club has members engaged in flying remote control fixed wing models, model helicopters, multi-rotor drones, gliders & indoor models of all sorts and sizes. These models are both electric and IC powered.

The club is affiliated to the British Model Flying Association, the BMFA (see www.bmfa.org) and all club members are automatically enrolled in the BMFA unless they stipulate otherwise.

 

 

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