After a long spell in a Perth, Western Australia hospital, renowned free flight glider flier Roy Yeabsley passed away on August 21st 2014.
Roy was a member of the well known Croydon DMAC in the 40’s and 50’s, becoming one of the country’s leading glider exponents of the time, his Revenge A2 design being nominated as the most successful contest glider of 1950. In that year he had the distinction of winning three of the national trophies, the K & MAA, ME No. 2 and SMAE Cups.
Often confused with his twin brother Des, who died some years ago, they acquired a reputation for continually arguing on the flying field (and off it probably!). Although Roy had considerably more contest success of the two, he never managed to secure a place in one of the International glider teams, unlike Des, who qualified for the 1955 World Championships at Wiesbaden in Germany.
After emigrating to Western Australia some years ago, Roy’s interest in model flying was re-kindled and he dabbled with RC electric powered gliders until failing eyesight made this impossible. His name will be carried forward in aero modelling history as replicas of his published designs such as Sunspot and Sunbug continue to appear on flying fields, either in free flight or RC form. He is survived by his daughter Sue.
Keith Miller
Photo shows Roy (on the right) having just autographed Derek Ridley’s replica of Roy’s Super Sunbug design. This took place outside a Crawley Indoor meeting just before Roy emigrated to Australia.
