The Duxford Trophy Meeting - 2010

For 2010 the unlimited and advanced classes set the scene, and although the very healthy entry was somewhat dented by real aeroplane problems and some of the paperwork kind we were pleased to see a few 'forriners' - Master Goggins as usual made the trip over from Dublin, we had an all-too-rare glimpse of Nick Onn's talents in his Su-26, and for the first time Castor Fantoba came from Madrid to see just what he could do. Good vibes all round, depending of course on the weather .... which was altogether not too wonderful when  Saturday's opening briefing concluded. Nick Richards - on pole for advanced - wisely kept us waiting until almost mid-day, when eventually the clag lifted and spread sufficient holes to let the party commence. From then on the varied and experienced judging panel was hard worked until the 18:00 curfew, slipping quickly back and forth from advanced to unlimited / known to unknown, and subsequently through the advanced Masters and unlimited 4-minute freestyle.

At the close of Saturday's flying we still had seven advanced pilots waiting to complete their unknown, and it became clear that the full programme wouldn't be possible. The second unknowns in each class were therefore sidelined in favour of the two non-Aresti sequences, and for Sunday afternoon the smoke-ON brigade were able to draw the attention of the Duxford audience. The advanced "Q" or known sequence was comfortably headed by Alan Cassidy's venerable Pitts S1-T, ahead of an energetic chase from Eddie's Extra-300 and Marco Kalweit in the bigger Pitts S2-C - Marco is an honorary Team Brit this year so the embryo team was well spread in 1st, 3rd, 5th, 9th and 14th places. At unlimited Gerald held sway by the merest margin - 0.02% and less than one mark ahead of Tom's similar CAP-232, whilst Nick and Castor grumbled the Su-26 around closely behind.

Sunday's weather looked a better prospect right from the start, some effort the previous evening to prepare possible 2nd unknowns for both classes however eventually having to be shelved. The second advanced unknown secured our Chairman the newly furnished Duxford Trophy by almost 2%, a very fine Spitfire casting replacing the 'Duxford-90th' picture trophy that we started here with three years ago. In unlimited Castor tried much harder with Nick's Su-26 and managed a fine second place, but the irrepressible Mr Cooper could not be dislodged and so overall it was his gold medal from Tom and the man from Madrid. The advanced Masters provided a fine win for Eddie Goggins by about the same margin he lost to Alan in the classic flights, whilst a delighted Simon Cattlin rumbled the '55M around to claim the bronze. The unlimited final Freestyle showed us just how hard a 4-minute slot can be when anything is fair game, this time Castor beating Tom into third place whilst you-know-who once again came top of the pile.

It takes quite an effort to plan and stage this event, but the rewards make it all worth while. Graham Hill's judging line saw more comprehensive calling-and-judging than I've seen at a Brit event for a while, with a stream of ever helpful scribes and assistants. The Red Bull Jones and Bonhomme Su-31 duo 'just happened by' in the morning, after which Steve had to pop off and display a Spitfire somewhere (it's a hard life for some ....!), and even an F-86 roared off at one point. Great event, lovely atmosphere, good vibes all round. See you next weekend at Little Gransden?
Nick Buckenham
Contest Director