MAAA Wingspan - Quarterly Magazine

16 Paul Deidun is amotor mechanic by trade, which certainly helps with the practicality of building jet-powered pulsejets – an unconventional aeromodelling discipline that he admits isn’t for everyone. “The noise is one of the biggest issues to start with and the other is that it’s not so readily set-up. You sort of have to adapt everything and you have to do a bit of mucking around,” he says. What attracted Paul to pulsejets was precisely the fact that it is a bit of a taboo aeromodelling discipline and one that literally steals the thunder fromeveryone else. “As soon as you fly a pulsejet, it steals the show and everyone wants to hear it. It’s all about going flat out.” Paul got into pulsejets through a Germany based event called ‘Days of Speed and Thunder’, which he has been attending annually every May since 2010. “It’s a sort of a sanctioned event that takes place at a disused airport that was used in the Cold War and that’s located on the border of Poland and Germany and not far from the Czech Republic,” he continues. “It’s not a competition, however pilots get friendlily competitive in terms of speed. It’s full on for four days, flying pulsejets.” Paul discovered the ‘Days of Speed and Thunder’ event after he experienced themisfortune of making an online purchase for a turbine wheel (for a homemade turbine he was constructing) that was never delivered. “So, I switched to pulsejets and there was plenty of control line pulsejets around, however I wanted RC and as I couldn’t buy one I had to have it built.” “I told Hubert Leubner, who was the organiser of Days of Speed and Thunder, that I didn’t want to be ripped off again and asked whether I could purchase a pulsejet fromhim. What he built for me was a work of art,” says Paul. “Then he toldme about thismeeting held every year in Germany. I mentioned I’d like to come and that was 2010 and I’ve been attending ever since.” AN AEROMODELLER EXPLAINS THE HANDS-ON APPEAL OF PULSEJET POWERED MODELS Member Story: days of speed and thunder