Friends of mine live close to a model aircraft field - about 300 yards from the runway. The noise which punctuates our Sunday lunch is nothing more than a background buzz and can hardly be described as an incredible racket and far less irritating than the local kids on their 50cc mopeds with sawn off silencers.
We rather enjoy seeing the little aircraft and often walk over to the field to chat to the flyers, who are a friendly lot, if somewhat 'geeky' in some ways, and we are invariably asked to share a drink with them, or we take over a thermos of tea for them on a cold day, which is always appreciated.
I do feel that they should be insured against third party damage though, one of those craft coming down and hitting a car, or worse, a child, could cause damage and injury. Not to mention the risk of a collision between two models - ouch!
Good luck to the Shuttleworth flyers, I hope the person who is behind this is outed and ..... I know someone who is quite handy with a cricket bat ...!