Winner's podium 13.5 kg class

The Belgian Team consisted of 4 pilots: Philip Avonds, Wim Reynders, Renaud Leclercq and Jean Pierre Zardini. Team manager was Augustin Goddet. Both Philip and Wim competed with the same Fouga Magisters as 2 years before, while Renaud presented a brand new Hawker Hunter in the Red Devils scheme. These three models were entered in the 13.5 kg class. Jean Pierre brought a Hawk in a RAF Spitfire retro camo scheme to compete in the 20 kg class.

Belgian Team

Unfortunately, Renaud damaged the Hunter during the official practice session which prevented him from flying the model during the competition. Wim finished in 7th place in the 13.5 kg class and Jean Pierre finished in 22nd place in the 20 kg class. The Belgian Team captured a very honourable 5th place in the nation's trophy behind Russia, Germany, Switzerland and Italy, but preceeding USA and France!

The event was well organised and we enjoyed the stay at the on site camping.

Vitaly Robertus won his 3rd consecutve title in the 20 kg class, but for me, the highlight of the competition was the F-104G expertly flown by Thomas Gleissner. The model was built by Wolfgang Weber and has such a wonderful presence in the air. As a retired ful size F-104 pilot, I enjoyed each flight to the point of bringing goose bumps to my arms...

F-104G expertly flown by Thomas Gleissner

We received a special guest from Belgium: Paul Rorive who was the full size demo pilot of both Belgian Fouga Magisters in the competition. He stayed a few days with his brother Jean and surprised the spectators when he appeared in full flying gear.

Lt Col (ret) Paul Rorive in full flying gear

I was happy to see a good number of my kits represented: 3 F-15's and 3 Fouga Magisters. The F-15's belonged to Roger Thoma from Switzerland, Jason Bauer from USA and Vasiliy Eikhner from Russia. The 3rd Fouga belonged to Ewald Zauner from Austria.

The 3 Fouga Magisters in the 13.5 kg class

Below are the complete results of the two classes and the nation's trophy. Links to other websites with reports from the 2015 Jet World Masters:

Official 2015 JWM site

Dutch Jet Team site

13.5 kg class results

20 kg class results

nation's trophy results

Philip did it again, winning the 13.5 kg class at the 2013 Jet World Masters which were held in Meiringen, Switzerland. Also Wim Reynders did amazingly well, capturing second place! The Belgian Team consisted of 4 pilots: Philip Avonds, Wim Reynders, Renaud Leclercq and Jean Pierre Zardini. Team manager was Yves Van Cutsem. We had some more helpers and supporters, so the Belgian delegation consisted of 15 persons in total.

Both Philip and Wim presented Fouga Magisters in two distinctive colour schemes, Renaud presented an F-16A in Belgian Tiger colour scheme and Jean Pierre brought his BAe Hawk in Swiss Air Force colour scheme. Unfortunately, Jean Pierre experienced a flame out on a training flight right before the start of the competition. He could land the model safely but during roll out, it hit a runway sign and was too badly damaged to be able to compete...

from L to R: Wim Reynders, Renaud Leclercq and Philip Avonds

both Fouga's returning to the hangar after flying round 3

The competition in the 13.5 kg class was full of suspense. After the first flying round, where both Fouga's scored well below of what could be expected from these two pilots, Heiko Gärtner (D) was leading Federico Rosina (I), followed by Philip on place 3 and Wim on place 6. The second round was better for both Wim and Philip, although the latter lost some valuable points by rolling out in the grass following a wheel brake malfunction. Philip should have called end before that happened but he was too concentrated on avoiding a lamp post and a runway sign... After round two, Philip was still on place 3, Wim had climbed to place 5. The two leading pilots had swapped places. Everything was still possible in round three, as both top pilots already had two excellent flights and had little margin to improve. As the lowest of the three flight scores is discarded in the final ranking, both Fouga pilots still had a chance to win the top places on the podium, but only if they managed a very good flight. Weather conditions were ideal for both our Belgian pilots, and the result was a beautiful flight for both of them and certainly good enough to secure the two highest positions on the podium!

Wim and Philip receiving the medals both as a pilot and as a helper...

Quite amazing achievement of our two Belgian Fouga pilots, considering the lack of flight training. Philip had logged 92 flights on his Fouga when the model was badly damaged in the end of april during a national F4C scale competition, following a loss of power due to a clogged fuel filter. He worked hard to get the plane repaired and managed to get it ready just in time: one day before leaving for Switzerland. For Wim it was even more amazing. He had made only one single flight before leaving for the competition. That maiden flight was plagued with a flap servo malfunction, so it was done without making use of flaps (video of the maiden flight here). Both pilots made a single practice flight each on site. For Philip, it was the very first flight with the new Wren 100 turbine installed. For Wim, it was the first flight using flaps (but this time, the airbrakes gave troubles and were not used...). Renaud didn't have any practice flights on his F-16 since a long time and had only made 6 flights in total with the model, so again, you can hardly speak of proper preparation. All things considered, his ranking and score are honourable.

final results 13.5 kg class

video of three top pilots 13.5 kg class

final results 20 kg class

video of three top pilots 20 kg class

The competition was very well organised by the Swiss. A standard for the future! More info on the competition can be found on their website, with further links to photographs and videos.

Other links:

Belgian Jet Team facebook page

Dutch Jet Team

Philip Avonds is the 2011 Jet World Master in the 13.5 kg Class!

21 years after his last F4C Scale World Championship title (1990 in Warsaw, Poland), Philip Avonds succeeded in winning the 13.5 kg Class of the Jet World Masters 2011. The event was held at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, according to the IJMC rules. All final results here...

The event set new standards and we wish to express our most profound gratitude to the organising team!

The Belgian Team consisted of only 2 pilots: Philip Avonds (who also acted as the Team Manager) and Jean Pierre Zardini. They would have done well in the Team Trophy with the help of a third pilot, so Belgian pilots wishing to compete in the future are welcome (contact Philip). Here's a link to a video showing  an interview with the Belgian Team.

Three Avonds models were entered, all three in the 13.5 kg Class. Jason Bauer (USA) entered a very nice F-15C (built from the full composite kit) in Aggressors colour scheme and was awarded with the highest static score within Team USA. He finished 8th overall. We thank Jason for maintaining the tradition of at least one Avonds F-15 competing in all of the Jet World Masters so far! Derk van der Vecht (The Netherlands) entered an F-16A expertly built by Gerald Rutten and finished 6th overall. Derk is a very talented young man, we'll hear more from him in the future!

Philip Avonds entered his new Fouga Magister for the very first time in a competition. Philip especially hoped for a high static score. He was not really concerned about the accuracy of the model, having spent over ten years on the model to get that right, but he had more concerns about his flying skills and currency since he hadn't flown in any competition since the Jet World Masters 2007 in Northern Ireland. The model did indeed very well in static and it was awarded with the second highest score (only the inevitable Yak-130 masterpiece of Vitaly Robertus in the 20 kg Class received higher marks). The Fouga is a remarkably accurate model and the high static score deservedly reflects this (although a few people could not resist to question this high static score...). Philip made two practice flights shortly after arrival in Dayton and was assured everything worked well. All three flying rounds were flown without any technical problem whatsoever and the Graupner G-Booster 80+ turbine performed flawlessly. The three flying rounds were flown in a decent manner although a poorly flown four point roll in the first and the second flight left the feeling he could have done better (went so well in all the practice flights... stage fright perhaps?). Anyway, his lead in static was enough, so the title was secured even before starting the third flight in which Philip scared everybody during the two consecutive rolls manoeuvre. Loss of concentration after the first of the two rolls resulted in a near crash... 

No gyros were used on the Fouga during this competition, simply not enough time to try them out. As all flights were carried out in windy conditions, the flight scores would definitely have been better with proper use of gyros (higher realism). That's something for next competition!  Here's a link to a video on YouTube showing parts of the second flight (with poorly executed four point roll...).

The 2013 Jet World Masters will be hosted by Switzerland. We are looking forward to this event. The USA set the standard very high but we are confident the Swiss will even do better!

Below are some photographs taken during the event. Scroll down or click here to find the final results of both the 13.5 kg and the 20 kg Classes as well as the results of the Nations Trophy, the Best Static Score, the single Best Flight Score and the Team Trophy.

(photo Claudia Westerholt)

(photo Claudia Westerholt)

(photo Claudia Westerholt via Dutch Jet Team)

(photo Claudia Westerholt via Dutch Jet Team)

(photo Claudia Westerholt via Dutch Jet Team)

(photo Stephan Eich, www.modellpilot.eu)

(photo Dutch Jet Team)

(photo Mark Basel)

Congratulations to Vitaly Robertus (Russia)!

Congratulations to Team Germany!

Again, congratulations to Vitaly Robertus (Russia)!

Congratulations to Stephan Voelker (Germany)!

Congratulations to Federico Rosina and Mauro Pirotti (Italy)!

Philip Avonds Scale Jets