Assuming that I was in the top ten (possible zero for roller...) I ran to get a copy of the sequence and hoped that I would not draw a low number for the running order. Number 10 came out of the bag, which meant I was last and had at least two hours to learn the Third Unknown.
It was close in the end, with the two French chaps flying Bichet 8th and Chesnau 9th and no real margin between us. The French team had a 'technical issue' that allowed Bichet to fly last after me. By this time I had become accustomed to regular 'technical issues' just before I flew and was ready for it and left unrushed. It was a tremendous relief to land and see Cas walking out thumbs up.

That night at the awards ceremony I knew I would collect a medal but was surprised to learn that one would be a Gold for the Second Unknown. This only became clear when they started playing the National Anthem and called me up to the centre podium. I truly thought they had made a mistake as I had not known the results from the Second Unknown until this point. A proud moment!

Lessons learnt include:

• The need for us all to train in a marked box
• Errors can work both for and against you! Someone must watch your paperwork: You can be sure if you do not, someone else will
• Be ready to fly with plenty of time (two ahead). Then if the chap in front drops out you will be calm and ready to go straight away (This happened to both John and I)
• NOT RUSHING!!!!!! AND ROLL STOPS WITH GOOD HESITATIONS ON POINT ROLLS ARE WHAT MADE THIS COOKIE CRUMBLE
• IF YOU WANT CREAM TOO, THEN NO ZEROS AND NO OUTS ARE REQUIRED

It was a good team of which I was proud to be a part and with which I really enjoyed flying. A great deal of thanks to Steve Green and Graham Hill for all the help and advice during the contest.

Gerald

Alan

With the cut made at number twenty-five for the Second Unknown only Adrian and I would remain in the contest for the Brits. Adrian was the last to fly from our group that evening. He flew a clean Second Unknown into a low sun with only his 180 outside roller from inverted to inverted starting as inside and then stopping with the obvious think bubble.  A hesitation before going in the correct direction earned him a low score for the figure but was overall a nice flight.

Once again the last 15 pilots were scheduled to fly the remainder of the Second Unknown the following day and we all believed that due to the 15:00hr cut off time that only the Second Unknown would be flown.

Overall, Gerald is now 3rd behind Gerard Bichet, who won the Unknown, and Fred Chesneau who won the AWAC last year. Frank Soubrane, who won the Free, picked up a number of penalties that probably included a low. There is at least one more programme to go, so there is always hope. Fingers crossed.....

Alan

After 30 minutes they found the pilot and started hang swinging the weather ship, which in itself took a further 15 minutes to get going. Thus after about an hour they agreed that the weather was indeed unsuitable.... during all this time however Cas was under constant pressure to fly. Some hours later (more pressure) the weather cleared and Cas was asked to fly again with about twenty minutes notice. It was unfortunate but understandable that when he finally took to the air after standing around all day he made a critical mistake by turning the wrong way during figure one and Zero's followed. Nobody envied him this day.

Adrian was due to fly last but flying was once again curtailed leaving him as number one for the following day. 

July 29th
Hello all,

We are now into the first flights of unknown- 1 and John has just put in a lovely zero- free effort that should be rewarded nicely. Very Tidy!!! Cas is next, maybe tonight, and says the team is currently in bronze so he is determined to do well. Adrian and myself should fly tomorrow.

After the free it has became a little unpredictable with the organisation and the internet going down on site, so my reports can't not be continued without major distraction to my flying - so for that I apologise!  Some of this script is therefore made retrospectively..... From the results of the free onwards the organisation took on a more frantic style of trying to fly regardless of conditions in order to ensure a contest.

Thanks for all the best wishes
Gerald
 

Gerald just rang me with this info:  1 Soubrane, France 79.6% 2 Cooper UK 79,5% 3 Chesnau France 79,2% 17 Howe UK 76,3% 25 Smith UK 74,2% 40 Askew UK 49,5% It appears John was flying very well, but then forgot two figures in the sequence. Such is the stress at these times...  Alan

July 28th
Hello Guys and Gals
OK the Q is now history and we move onto the free.

We have had many delays over the weekend due to the lack of a warm up pilot (1/2 day) and then weather etc. Apparently these types of delay are all normal for these events so we just sit back and watch the fun. I have found it is really a matter of timing your motivation to coincide with your flying slot which could be anytime in the next seven days.

Cas maintained his number three slot and flew a nervous sequence which has unfortunately reflected in his score, being very tentative with the rudder on the down 3/4 snap resulted in a painfully slow rotation and a zero. John inserted a five point roll into the four combined with a poor roller saw his marks tumble also. Adrian had a clean flight but with two outs saw him drop to 15th. My flight from inside was a mess, but it scored OK so I enjoyed it for about 10 min and then realised the contest starts now!

We are all in good spirits and look forward to the contest. Thanks for all your best wishes and you can be assured of our commitment.

Blue skies,
Gerald

July 26th
Greetings to you all from Sweden
Sorry for the delay in writing, but the small town we chose as our training base lacked any form of commercial internet access...... I am sure you will all have heard by now about our pre departure exploits on the " HOW NOT TO PREPARE FOR A CONTEST" front. I will not recount all the details but thanks must go to: Sherburn engineering, Tom Cassells (loan of prop), Kester and Mark (rental of prop), Alan Cassidy for sticking around until we were fixed again, and Mr and Mrs Cas for offering a place to stay whilst I repaired my aircraft.

Needless to say it was a bloody relief to leave you all behind on Tuesday 15th and arrive at Falkoping, our training base the following day. The airfield is a 1300 metre asphalt strip, bordered by two parallel grass runways used mainly by gliders and a couple of small jets. Upon arrival we were not only met by the locals who proceeded to give us the keys to the club house, Avgas and hangars, but also by the Contest Director LG. It was a good start and it proved an excellent venue with friendly locals coming to watch and a marked box.

Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th consisted of two flights per day, with either parts of the Q or our free in the morning and an Unknown in the afternoon. Monday 21st Tom arrived at 09:00 courtesy of Richard Gee's Cessna 182 direct from Sherburn, so thanks to you both for making it happen. This ensured that any bad habits were corrected before we left, and after two days we had flown our Free's and the complete Q in front of Tom.

On Wednesday 23rd  we relocated to Kalsborg (the contest site) along with Tom to give us a final box orientation and critiqued flight. The site is well marked and placed upon a peninsular which protrudes into Lake Vatten, ensuring that should it be hazy references will be few at best although the runway is centre box so we can't complain too much.

Thursday 24th - we each have another 15 min slot booked in the box and intend to make full use of it practicing our Q and Free starts, with helpful critique from Graham Hill and Steve Green. Another sunny day and a very well run contest site bode well for us and spirits are definitely high. In the evening we are called to our first official briefing and drawing of the running order which is done in alphabetical order. Adrian is 11th,Cas 3rd, Gerald 16th and John 5th. As the event progresses it becomes apparent that no low numbers have come out since Cas and due to the Czech republics' love of the latter part of our alphabet they are starting to look worried. After much hooting from us they draw 1st, 2nd and 4th..... only for Cas to realise that they all share an aircraft, which will mean an inevitable shift for him to the number one slot. Well that's the solution we have all suggested!

Friday 25th dawns in true aerobatic fashion: CLOUDY. So we are all currently located under a cold front which is fast moving and means that we may fly this afternoon or - worst case - tomorrow morning as the weather has been fairly reliable up until this point. With a total of 47 pilots at the last count it should be fun. With the Russians withdrawing all eyes are on the French (for now).

Take care,
Gerald

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