Leiceter and Breighton are arguably the aerobatic centres of UK, but Leicester is surely the Pitts centre of England. Thus it is always good to return there, on this occasion to contest the BAeA Duxford, Nigel Newbold and Gunpowder Trophies, plus the Club event, over the weekend 27-29 August 2016.

Briefing started at 0930 prompt; 28 pilots plus numerous crew was too much for the Briefing Room so all meetings were promoted to the lounge in the tower. Returning newcomer to BAeA was Rob Millinship who, as a local, briefed attendees on the facilities and requirements of Leicester Airport and – interestingly – provided a plain English TAF and METAR.

First pilot of the first of four groups – the ten at Club level - took off at 1100 in clearing weather, followed at 1330 by six of the seven at Sports level, the sixth of whom landed in rain; this then developed into a thunderstorm with a downpour as heavy and constant as I ever remember. After an hour of it some aircraft were becoming floatplanes and some folk were developing webbed feet, so at 1700, after consultation with the pilots, it was decided to abandon for the day. During this consultation it was decided that, because only one flight would be likely the following day, the first flight for the Intermediate and Advanced pilots would be the Unknown.

Briefing next day was at 0900 - again in the luxury of the club lounge – and was immediately followed by the flight of the one remaining Sports pilot. Cloud then prevented flight until it rose – seemingly suddenly – to 3000ft when flying continued with few interruptions until the last of the Club pilots finished at 1700 precisely. Thus it was that they were the only group to fly twice, which was fortuitous for they were also the largest group.

Final briefing was held soon after, when Contest Director Eric Marsh thanked all – both within BAeA and LAC, and too numerous to list here - who had contributed to the success of the event. Local man Rob Millinship presented awards to those listed above; it is interesting to note that at Sports level three of the seven pilots were H/C, but had they not been they would have ranked within the top four places. BUT...as they say, hors concours is hors concours.