The John McLean Trophy - 2012

CD's Report

I wondered, yet again on the trip up to the Real Aeroplane Company's airfield, just how many times I've been to Breighton ... seemingly a permanent venue on the BAeA calendar since at least the early 90's. That would make well over 20 events for some of us there, since the early days when Taffy Smith set up shop and bought a job-lot of Jűngmeisters, that gorgeous Mew Gull, a couple of L39 jets, the warbirds ... and despite a longer grass strip and some more hangars, nothing much has changed. Certainly the down-to-earth approach to life reigns supreme - the two chaps who arrived from Doncaster in their PA28 on Sunday and were firmly instructed to get rid of their bright yellow high-viz jackets got the meaning right away! The competition weather was unfortunately pretty much on the limit throughout the event, the cloud-base reluctantly scratching up to the magic 2,800ft and with scary temperatures and biting winds to boot - Stuart Walton's deeply frosted S2C wingtip (see above) provides the evidence from early Saturday morning! BAeA pilots however are made of stern stuff, and by the time the the well attended first briefing got under way the sun was almost shining ... although it did go away for a couple of hours while the straggly low stuff kept the teapot well engaged. The judges stoked up early, and the Standard class eventually got on the road at about 13:00.

 

One very welcome return to the Aresti environment this year is that stalwart Pitts BKDR - not any more with squared-off wingtips and the black-and-yellow paint job some of us remember, but still enjoying the extra set of flying wires deemed necessary for unlimited stresses over two decades ago. How time flies ... with a replacement prop at the last moment and now toted by newbie Lauren Richardson, 'KDR seemed to continue just where it left off. It was Richard Welch however heading the first sequence list by just 1% from Lauren, closely chased by Paul Elvidge's T67 and the rest. Another 'oldie' making a most welcome re-appearance was Pitts G-OODI, Bob Woods getting a late Standard sign-off on the Friday afternoon to join the fray and his first competitive event done. We moved quickly to Beginners then, and enjoyed some very smooth flying from four newcomers in the two elegant T67 Slingsby's; Al Holmes drove the Cassells SKYC machine to a fine 77%, putting some distance between himself and the followers led by Seb Tyler. Good performances people - the Standard class beckons.

 

The cloud-base was still quite marginal when Advanced got going, but improved as time went by. Gary Ferriman's magic touch held good for this first sequence, comfortably ahead of Stuart Walton's S2C and DJ's feisty Edge. Brian McCartney's frozen judging team finally returned to club-house warmth just shy of 19:00, at which point the S2C and the Jenkins Edge unfortunately had to depart for non-flying Sunday duties.

 

The original plan had two Unknown sequences for the Standard crowd, and although Sunday as usual dawned CAVOK ... by 10:00 the 1,500ft scud was firmly in place and black towering cumulus cells marching around the horizon. The temperature seemed to stay somewhere around 6°c, which is a bit below the accepted judge comfort mark ... Tom Cassells joined the judging panel for the last day; with Ian Scott and chairman Al unfortunately away for their own Sunday duties we were down to just three judges, but the standard remained good and no-one doubted the quality of work done out there somewhere to the east of the airfield. The loose plan for the Unknowns was to fly Advanced between the two Standard sequences; with a Wx forced break after the first few managed to complete, the first two sequences were done before hail at the judging line drove the judges back into the warm again at about 14:00 ... we waited for half an hour, but the remaining seven Standard pilots were much relieved with the almost inevitable decision to call it a day - five sequences in the bag despite quite unfavourable weather being deemed a worthy result. With the S2C and DJ's Edge absent for the second Advanced sequence it was Phil with the little green machine that topped the Advanced list, while in the title chase Richard kept his cool to claim the John McLean Trophy from Paul Elvidge's steady-as-ever T67 and a beaming Lauren in her first event. Perhaps KDR's experience helped! Trophy and gongs were dispensed, and the remaining 14 pilots and aeroplanes quickly departed for home bases around the country, no doubt nursing a few frozen fingers along the way.

Thanks as usual to the ever-helpful Breighton staff, the judges, their scribes, plus of course the teamakers, viewers, talkers, advisors, scoring fingers and all the rest without whom this just wouldn't work. We shall return.

Nick Buckenham
Contest Director

 Beginners Sequence
 The John McLean Trophy Meeting

Ranked by scores    

 Rank Pilot Aeroplane Registration Known Totals O/all %
 1 Al Holmes Slingsby T-67M G-SKYC 529.03 529.03 77.798
 2 Seb Tyler Slingsby T-67M G-BNSO 470.46 470.46 69.186
 3 Oliver Dale Slingsby T-67M G-BNSO 408.41 408.41 60.061
 4 Jenny Dodman Slingsby T-67M G-SKYC 393.38 393.38 57.851
 Advanced Finals
 Breighton Airfield - 14/15 April 2012

Ranked by scores    

 Rank Pilot Aeroplane Registration Known Unknown Totals O/all %
 1 Phil Burgess DR-107 G-RIHN 2071.93 2183.09 4255.02 72.488
 2 Tom Bennett CAP 232 G-IIAI 2105.48 2133.57 4239.05 72.216
 3 Gary Ferriman Extra-230 G-ROMP 2228.26 1958.17 4186.43 71.319
 4 Andrew Barlow Pitts S-1T N-85WS 2032.53 2053.83 4086.36 69.614
 5 Cas Smith Pitts S-2A G-ICAS 1723.09 1907.03 3630.12 61.842
 6 Adrian Willis Extra-200 G-EEEK 1171.43 1717.60 2889.02 49.217
 7 Mark Stewart Extra 300 G-KIII 1433.53 1213.09 2646.62 45.087
 8 Steuart Walton Pitts S-2C G-SJBI 2189.65 2189.65 37.302
 9 David Jenkins Edge 360 G-EDGJ 2128.60 2128.60 36.262
 10 Alex Smith Edge 360 G-CDDP 1825.59 1825.59 31.100
 The John McLean Trophy
 Breighton Airfield - 14/15 April 2012

Ranked by scores    

 Rank Pilot Aeroplane Registration Known Unk'n #1 Totals O/all %
 1 Richard Welch Pitts S-1S G-WIGY 1093.36 901.94 1995.30 78.555
 2 Paul Elvidge T-67M G-BKTZ 1047.80 898.54 1946.34 76.628
 3 Lauren Richardson Pitts S-1S G-BKDR 1078.97 784.86 1863.83 73.379
 4 Steve Kirton Slingsby T-67M G-SKYC 1021.64 839.07 1860.71 73.256
 5 Stephen Evans Pitts S-1E G-OKAY 976.68 878.81 1855.49 73.051
 6 Mark Bennett Extra 200 G-EEEK 886.04 891.94 1777.99 69.999
 7 Bob Wood Pitts S-1D G-OODI 912.34 825.00 1737.35 68.400
Contest Director: Nick Buckenham, Contest Chief Judge: Brian McCartney, Scoring Director: Jen Buckenham, Judges: Brian McCartney, Ian Scott, Eric Marsh, Alan Cassidy, Tom Cassells. Judges Assistants: Julie Wood, Debie McKellar, Anne Willis, Richard Jones, Julie Lawley, Steve Todd, Gary Ferriman, Adrian Willis.
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