CD's Report
For those of you who have never been (which is probably not many!) Compton Abbas is set 810 feet on top of a hill giving wonderful views of the West Dorest/Wiltshire countryside. It is also 810 feet nearer to the cloudbase. This has led, in the past 2 seasons, to considerable frustration as low cloud has prevented a proper conclusion to our activities.
Third time lucky, I guess, because all tasks were duly completed this year.
Most participants made their way to Compton on the Friday afternoon, including yours truly and Corrinne Dennis, our registrar/scorer for the weekend. Thus the admin side of life was well set up for a prompt start. The TV weather forecast was set fair so it was with some surprise that we were greeted with teeming rain when we stumbled out of the pub at 11 pm!
It was with some trepidation that I drew back the curtains at daybreak on Saturday morning. The rooftops of Shaftesbury were still damp but the overcast seemed to be pretty high, with no lower cloud evident. The forecast 2,000 foot wind was 090 at 30kt; but at least it was straight down the 080°
orientation of the box. A few people with lots of downwind hesitation rolls suffered here, but I guess if you're designing a sequence in advance it's difficult to take all possible circumstances into account. The surface wind at Compton was also down the runway at 15-20 kt and so it remained for the duration of the contest, easing in strength later on in the afternoon. There were odd patches of sun during the day and some worrying cumulus blowing in from the East, but still well above the box.
Briefing was slated for 0800, slightly delayed to 0815 to ensure everyone was in place.
The order of programme was Intermediate Free, Advanced Free, Beginners, Apprentices, Masters. Thanks to Alan for the suggestion of doing Beginners in the middle, to enable them to see what goes on before flying themselves and also to give a chance for pilots and judges to brief on the Apprentices and Masters figures. Order of flight for the first round was determined, as ever, by the computer, but for the second round the highest scores flew last.
The only unscheduled interruptions to the flying were caused by 2 box incursions, one by a Shorts inbound to Bournemouth and the other a microlight. Radio calls from the Chief Judge gave the pilots flying at the time a free break, but it can't help the concentration. A call to Bournemouth from Compton management ensured they complied with the
NOTAM.
So, what of the flying? The results show how everyone got on, but at Intermediate Free only 7 pilots
managed to get to the starting line. I don't know if it is of interest but there was only one monoplane at Intermediate, Ian Scott's recently re-winged CAP10. Tim Jenkinson saw off Clive Butler and Patrick Caruth respectively
to 2nd and 3rd. The Don Henry Trophy at Advanced was taken by Steve Carver, with Gerald Cooper and Gary Ferriman lending support at 2nd and 3rd. Beginners yielded an entry of 5 including 2 flying the Avon Robin but the block of stone was awarded to Giles Caunter, campaigning an old friend - G-BLAG.
Two Beginners flew the Standard sequence for Alan Cassidy after the end of the contest so hopefully we'll see more of them!
 So to the Air Squadron Trophy. The Masters and Apprentices series of figures were devised in order to give pilots and spectators alike a chance to see some slightly different aerobatic flying, but within the competition
environment. Attempts to run this contest have been frustrated over the years, sometimes by the weather and sometimes by a reluctance by pilots to 'have a go' but this year, everything came together to make it all work. A percentage system was devised to enable the Intermediate and Advanced pilots to compete together for the trophy (a la Tiger). Some of the flying gave the more knowledgeable spectators amusement and it seemed to entertain the considerable number of the general public who were on hand. In the event, the unique Air Squadron trophy was taken away by Gerald Cooper, with Steve Carver narrowly beating Tim Jenkinson for 2nd & 3rd.
Our special thanks to Graham Hill, Steve Green, Alan Cassidy, Patrick Rushmore and Peter Macintosh for sitting it out on the judging line. Even more thanks to their assistants, many press-ganged and suffering from the biting easterly wind. There was an interesting mix of duvets, blankets, microlight suits etc employed as they sheltered in the lee of aircraft on the line.
Corrinne Dennis maintained an even strain crunching all the numbers in with Diane Smith giving invaluable support.
Visitors included Tony Lloyd, our editor of the Aerobatic News Review. Margaret Hughes did a magnificent job keeping everyone fed and watered.
Clive Hughes gave us every facility and made us feel very welcome. We had use of the airspace to the North of the field, with all their traffic kept to the South, an excellent arrangement with the minimum of fuss. I did mention to him that a Public Address system would enable us to inform the crowd about what was going on and he does have plans to install such a system.
The Medal and Awards ceremony took place on the reserved patch of grass outside and I'm pleased to say that all those due to collect something managed to stay long enough to do so.
All in all, from my point of view, a very successful day; not without its learning points. I very much hope that we are allowed to return to this wonderful venue for many years to come.
Ben Ellis
Contest Director
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