#flying runabout experimental design

[cluttonfred]

FRED is 60 years old today! November 3rd, 2023 is the 60th anniversary of the first flight of Eric Clutton's Flying Runabout Experimental Design aka FRED. I filmed this little clip when I visited Eric in Tullahoma, Tennessee back in 2012. Sadly, Eric passed away in February 2022 but his simple, practical, affordable, safe and fun little aeroplane soldiers on. That FREDs continue to be built and flown here and there all over the world is a fitting tribute to, as Eric liked to joke, "Stoke-on-Trent's other aeroplane designer". (R.J. Mitchell of Supermarine Spitfire fame grew up in the same town.) Here's wishing blue skies to all the FRED builders, pilots, and fans out there on this special day!

[airmanisr]

Clutton FRED Series 2 ‘G-BMMF’ by Alan Wilson Via Flickr: c/n PFA 029-10296 Built 1990 FRED stands for ‘Flying Runabout Experimental Design’. This homebuilt example is on display at the South Wales Aviation Museum. St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK 12th June 2021

[cluttonfred]

FRED plans and Eric Clutton’s books are available again!

Benjamin Mehalic, winner of the First Annual Eric Clutton Memorial Swap Meet & Fun Fly at the Coffee Airfoilers Radio Control Club in Tullahoma, Tennessee, smiles in a May 21, 2022 photo by Jonathan Holt.

While Eric Clutton passed away on February 6, 2022, he left instructions for his friend Jonathan Holt to continue selling his books and FRED plans to benefit the local model aircraft club Eric loved so much.  Plans and books are once again available and you can find the details at https://cluttonfred.info/plansbooks.  I’ll let Jonathan tell the rest:

We had the First Annual Eric Clutton Memorial Swap Meet & Fun Fly that weekend.  Our Club President, Don Cleveland, came up with the idea of “Buy It & Fly It”, which is buy the aircraft at the swap meet and fly it at the fun fly.  I came up with a criteria for judging which included content from the swap meet, effort it took to make it fly and doing it on the least amount on money.  Benjamin won the judging on all aspects.  It was fitting that it was won with a British fighter and a new generation of RC pilot to carry the torch.  It really is a perfect situation.

The young man is a club member that had only seen Eric in passing.  Eric was always gracious with his time and advice with young people in the hobby.  I’m guessing that may have came from his career as a school teacher.  I know you knew Eric from the full-scale aircraft world and so did I somewhat, but in the model aircraft world Eric was all about swap meets and building models from scratch.  He, like myself, took a lot of pride in being able to do that in as frugal a way as possible.  He would have really liked this event.

I agree completely that this is a fitting tribute to Eric in a way that would have made him smile.  Hats off to Jonathan and the Coffee Airfoilers!

[cluttonfred]

Sadly, I have to report that Eric Clutton, designer of the Flying Runabout Experimental Design (FRED) homebuilt plane, passed away last night at the age of 93.  He was hospitalized little more than a week ago following a stroke. Here he is less than a year ago smiling at home in Tullahoma, Tennessee holding a scale model Short Sterling in a photo by Jonathan Holt . Behind him you can see a framed original drawing of the prototype FRED by artist Dave Black of Albuquerque, New Mexico that Dave and I presented to Eric on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of FRED's first flight. Blue skies, Eric!

[cluttonfred]

Birthday wishes to Eric and kudos to young FRED builders!

As Eric Clutton turns 89 today, it seems appropriate to share some news about some younger fans of his Flying Runabout Experimental Design, a little homebuilt aircraft better known as FRED.  Even more encouraging is that these young enthusiasts are giving new life to old FREDs!  Not one but two FREDs are currently under restoration or construction by secondary school students in Cornwall at the far southwestern tip of England.

Newquay students hard at work stripping the wings of FRED 1 (G-BKVF)

Clutton FRED G-BKVF (aka FRED 1) has been passed around a few times (see Stray cats, dogs, and aeroplanes) but now seems to have found a home at Newquay Tretherras Educational Trust, where secondary students are restoring the plane as part of their Design and Technology studies.  The project has been supported by the anonymous benefactor who donated the plane, the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre, LAS Aerospace and other local companies, and £800 from the school’s PTA.  According to teacher Sally Pass, "The project at Newquay Tretherras continues with a strong team of students split into two groups.  We have some students working on the plane itself including paint-stripping (which is almost finished!), repairs to the fuselage, filling and sanding, painting and refitting the metalwork, which we have had sandblasted and powder coated.  We also have some students working on the engine including making a jig to drill the extra spark plugs required and dismantling and cleaning up the cylinder heads.”

Falmouth students show off their progress so far on FRED 2.

Meanwhile, just 20 miles south in Falmouth, students from Falmouth School and Truro School are working on FRED 2, a unfinished FRED project donated by the same anonymous benefactor and again with the support of the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre.  Falmouth teacher Ray Cilia, who started the Newquay FRED 1 project before moving to Falmouth, says that FRED 2 is "on hold” for lack of suitable space.  Cilia explains, “The Falmouth FRED needs a large flat area to build the wings and this proved a sticking point for now until I can reorganise my three workshops to suit.”  As there is no funding available at Falmouth School at present and a recent bid to The Ogden Trust was not successful, funds are short and resources are being focused on FRED 1 in Newquay for the time being.

I can’t imagine a better way to honor Eric Clutton on his birthday that to support these young enthusiasts restoring and building not one but two FREDs!  If you are in southwestern England and would like to donate your expertise, Ray and Sally would love the help.  No matter where you are, even a small contribution in kind or in cash would go a long way to helping these kids succeed and perhaps plant the seeds that will grow to inspire the next generation of aircraft homebuilders.  And on that note, here’s wishing Eric a very happy birthday!

To follow the progress of the Newquay and Falmouth FREDs, visit https://www.facebook.com/GBKVFrestoration/.

Photos courtesy of Sally Pass, Newquay (UK), 2017 and Ray Cilia, Falmouth (UK), 2016.