The great summer of 2018, they said; the hottest summer since modern records began and hotter, even, than 1976. Hmm. It just goes to show that if you want to break a drought that has baked the country for nearly two months then schedule an aerobatic contest for the weekend.

Friday was meant to be the hottest day on record, with temperatures expected to exceed the 38.5 degrees recorded in Faversham in 2003. It even had me dusting off the CIVA rules on density altitude- related free breaks, in case it should be necessary. But I needn’t have worried. Friday brought not only high temperatures, but also humidity and weather systems that eventually resulted in storms and flash floods.

The TAFs for Saturday morning were all over the place, which wasn’t altogether surprising given the circumstances. Caernarfon, Liverpool and Manchester were respectively forecasting a cloud layer of 2000’, 3000’ and 4,500’. What they all had in common, however, was that there would be frequent outbreaks of heavy rain and very strong southerly winds. As the inevitable deluge of cancellations from pilots gained pace, I started to wonder whether we would have enough competitors left to make a contest even if the gaps in the weather actually proved to be flyable. Thankfully the cavalry arrived in the form of G-EEEK, with 4 attendant pilots, giving us a total field of 11 across three classes.

During the briefing at 09.30, I stipulated a first flight at 10.30AM, more out of hope than expectation. To my surprise, the nasty black stuff to the south west of the field, that looked like it was heading straight for the competition box, passed to the East leaving us with only the wind to contend with. Having already hit 40.9 knots before the briefing it was something of a relief to hear from pilots who had made the transit that the wind was consistent, rather than gusty, the cloud base was well above 3,400ft and visibility was excellent. The wind also happened to be more or less straight down the southerly runway.

First up was John Royce in G-EEEK flying the Sports free. The remaining Sports pilots followed suit as quickly as the flying order would permit. Most of them were flying the same aircraft, which needed to be refuelled and adjusted between flights. Whilst the wind had calmed from its early morning highs it still posed a positioning challenge to the competitors, most of whom found themselves flying the majority of their sequences to the north of the box. It also made for some impressively short take-offs and landings!

Having completed the Sports known programme and feeling more optimistic about proceedings, the judges were happy to forego a coffee break and make the most of the window we had to try and complete the remaining two classes. George Haye was first up in G-SKEW and flew a very tidy flight marred only by a mis-interpretation of aerobatic notation, electing to fly a double roll in place of the drawn 2 pointer. Tony Walsh was due to follow but discovered he had a flat battery. Attempts to swing the prop proved futile and it subsequently turned out that the battery was a secondary problem to his alternator. Sadly, Tony decided to withdraw and focus on getting home with a partial electrical system.

With all knowns and free knowns completed across the three classes by 1.20 pm we took a break for 40 minutes. During this period Jen Buckenham worked her magic on an integrated flying order which wove the three classes together to try and minimise the G-EEEK turnaround down-time resulting from consecutive flights.

By this stage, more black stuff had appeared on the horizon and the wind had risen again, surpassing the earlier peak and hitting 42 knots. An hour later it looked like the weather might be flyable again and David Brown made the first unknown flight in the revised flying order. With the worst of the weather now out of the way the rest of the unknowns were completed by 6.15pm, with the fire crew having generously agreed to stay on beyond their mandated 5.30pm cut-off.

Despite the conditions the pilots coped admirably, prompting a comment from Tony Elliott in the tower about how impressed he’d been. Particular congratulations go to the three winners, Nick Wakefield at Advanced, Maciej Kulaszewski at intermediate and Peter Begley at Sports. Maciej, had seized victory from George Haye, the leader after the known sequence, with a notably clean unknown flight.

Our thanks go out to Shropshire Aero Club for hosting the event, and to Tony Elliott and Tony Fallows who presented the prizes. Thanks are due also to Rod Herve and his dedicated team of wind-blasted judges and assistants, without whom there would be nothing for the pilots to grumble about (and, more importantly, no competition). Finally, our thanks to Jen Buckenham, whose planning and organisation make Swiss watches seem unreliable.