I am writing this in June 2005 and the Freestyle Champs were last September, my memory is not as good as it used to be. I do remember that we had a good day, although at times it was frustrating with the weather being so hot, I do remember it was plus 30deg C, and our sound man Darren was having real problems trying to keep the sound equipment cool enough for the logic to operate properly, but he did a fantastic job, you pilots coped really well with some of the slow starts to your music. The music choices varied which was great and made it that much more interesting for the spectators. I do remember someone flying to a Queen song I don't remember who it was but the flying was in time to the music and because it was one of my favourites it sent shivers down my back, well done whoever it was.

The flight line ran very smoothly which was down to David Tappin (father of Jon Tappin, who I am sure you have seen fly at Sandown Park with John Palmer doing their famous formation flying routine) David is a judge for the GBRCAA and kindly allowed himself to be press ganged into running the line for us. Shortly after this event he was off to North Carolina in the USA to judge at the Don Lowe Masters. You never know who is watching you, there can always be a talent scout hiding in some obscure place!! Don Lowe is a very old friend of mine and both David and myself had an invitation to judge in the USA, unfortunately due to work commitments I was unable to attend but it was an excellent competition so David tells me and most of the worlds top names were there.

We owe a big thank you to Alan Simmond's who did a fantastic job of sorting out the late entries to the competition, we had asked for everyone to pre-enter, this didn't happen and I think we had five entries prior to the event, this does make it very difficult to get the show on the road. So please for the 2005 event get your entry in on time I am not sure Terry can afford to be so accommodating this year. So that David Tappin could identify all the pilots Alan suggested that we take a picture of each pilot and print David out a sheet so that he could see who was who as they arrived at the flight line, you can see these pictures on the start page of this report. This really was a good idea and helped us get through the day.

We also owe a big thank you to Pete Brett not just for his judging but he also wrote me a program for calculating the scores, this was modified on the day by Martin Smith, who carried out the score entries and kept the score board up to date throughout the day together with Darren Mee.

As you will have seen from the pictures we had a great day,  made possible by you the pilots,  helpers and Terry for pursuing this competition, I really do not know where he gets his enthusiasm from to keep it going, it really is a daunting task.

We must not forget our sponsors who were as follows, without them I am not sure the event would be viable.

RCM&M  Radio Control Models and Electronics

MacGregor Industries

YT International

Weston UK

JM Network Products Ltd

Prosonic Systems

We owe a special thanks to the following people, without there help on the day it would have been a difficult task.

                                        The Judges: Andy Nicholls, Peter Brett & Bob Ailles

                                        Admin and Logistics: John Mee

                                        Scores: Darren Mee, Martin and Mike Smith.

                                        TX control: Alan Simmonds

                                        Flightline control: David Tappin

                                        Sound system: Darren Hughes

                                        Website: John Mee

Just to round off, you know who the winners were, and from the score table above who placed where. Here are a few more pictures to remind you of what a great day we had last year and to make sure your entry is in early for 2005.

From me and all involved a big thank you to Terry Westrop the driving force behind the RCM&E British Freestyle Aerobatic Championships.

John Mee