12/13TH MAY 2006

After much activity from Committee members in preparing the site, the first arrivals were welcomed on Friday morning. The pleasant weather conditions brought forth a steady stream of visitors with caravans and tents to begin their weekend occupation of the campsite. This pleasant weather encouraged several to fly, trying out the local conditions.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, but with a blustery westerly wind but undeterred a number of experienced flyers took to the air, whilst visitors started to assemble to watch the proceedings that were punctuated towards lunchtime by light showers.

Ivan Jordan decided, after some short test runs, to fly his Transall C160 aircraft and demonstrated it to great effect, but during the downwind approach to landing, one of the Zenoah 38cc engines stopped, with the disastrous loss of the aircraft.
This put a shadow over the proceedings until the arrival of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's LF Vb Spitfire AB910 at 14.50, wearing the colours of No303 Polish Squadron. Sdn Ldr Ian Smith flew a very spirited flypast from several directions to a very appreciative audience.

Flying continued amidst several heavy showers until the evening during this time the GeeBee Racers took the opportunity to have their first outings of the year with up to 7 aircraft taking part, racing round the pylons much to the enjoyment of the, by now, damp audience.

Top aerobatic pilots Steve Mallinder and Phil Padley continued to show their prowess with the sticks, giving stunning displays of their flying skills in demanding conditions. 

After an opportunity to have some hot food from the BBQ the evenings entertainment got underway with the 'Chairman's Quiz' and a raffle draw with prizes donated by a number of traders and individuals to whom we say a big thank you. The now regular appearance of the ' Langar Loonies', an ad hoc rock band brought the evening to a close with the audience shouting for more.

Sunday's weather forecast turned out to be as predicted with light rain to start and a 'window' for flying followed by increasingly heavy rain by lunchtime which brought events to a halt. This was not before Richard Scarborough and Ivan Jordan had flown a pair of Corsair's in formation, much appreciated by the remaining assembled spectators.

A further raffle draw in the marquee brought the weekend to a close as the rain continued to worsen. Thank you to everyone who attended and made the best of the changeable conditions.

Many thanks to David Page for his report on the weekends events .