FLYING
TO
MUSIC
Photos provided by
David P. Andersen
www.mnbigbirds.com
DAVID P. ANDERSEN (Minneapolis, Minnesota) wrote:
A popular song in the early 1940s was “Blue Birds Over the White Cliffs of Dover.” My musically talented mother converted that song into a lullaby for me. Although the song was about warbirds during the Battle of Britain, I imagined little birds flying to its melody. At the time, I was too young to appreciate the irony of her interpretation.
Many years later, I was a member of the Twin Cities Radio Controllers air show team, The Blue Eagles. Some of our acts performed to music. Jim Miller flew a model of Snoopy’s doghouse that was designed by Al Signorino. He simulated combat with the Red Baron while we played a popular 1960s song about Snoopy and the Red Baron. After many performances, the copyright owners told us to stop.
I flew a sailplane to “Born Free,” another popular song at the time. I twisted the turns in sync to the music and caught the sailplane with one hand as the music ended. During one of my flights above a football field with a large audience, I was very lucky to be joined by a hawk while circling in a thermal. The hawk and I received a lot of applause at the end of that flight. Years later, I designed and published a sailplane design in RC Modeler magazine. I named the sailplane Borne Free.
We played “The Star-Spangled Banner” to open the show while Sherwood Heggen towed a flag with his J-3 Cub. After the music stopped, he would drop the flag over waiting hands below to keep it from touching the ground.
Our air shows were popular. Two thousand people attended some of our performances. Parking lot donations helped the club purchase its flying field. Music was a major factor in our success.
More recently, I have performed aerial choreography to my mother’s old favorite, “Bluebirds Over the White Cliffs of Dover.” Imitating her sense of irony, I chose a German fighter, the Arado 96B. Roy Maynard’s video of my performance appears on the Andersen Designs & Scale Flyers of Minnesota YouTube channel, at https://bit.ly/3MfUzLs.
Consider flying your airplane to music. Don’t merely fly around while the music is playing. Instead, move the airplane to the rhythm and pitch of the notes. For example, when flying to “Blue Birds Over the White Cliffs of Dover,” perform a long, slow roll during the phrase, “There’ll be love and laughter and peace ever after.”
Climb when the pitch of the music is rising. For example, start a loop, stall turn, or chandelle during the rising crescendo of, “and Jimmy will go to sleep,” and then dive during the descending notes of, “in his own little room again.”
Try to land just as the music ends. It’s fun to practice. You will be surprised how your performance improves with practice.
