If we had taken any notice of the weather forecast leading up to the weekend no one would have turned up so we were very lucky that we had an event at all. As it turned out the forecast was not correct and despite a late morning start on Saturday and a middle of the afternoon finish on Sunday it was still possible to have a full and very varied display programme. All credit to the organisers and public who ignored the vagaries of the British weather and just “got there” with a determination to enjoy themselves.

The pictures accompanying this article will tell the story but some of the highlights included the duo display of the Victor and Vulcan which is always a Cosford crowd favourite because this is one of the few shows where there is enough airspace for them to be displayed at their best. There was also great support again from the TJD and Baldock warbird teams –the introduction of 2.4Ghz at public shows allowed some very large formations of fighters but even this was surpassed by the 16 WW2 aircraft that took part in a mass fighter and bomber formation on both days. This is a record beater even for Cosford which has had some big WW1 formations in the past. The crowd were also well entertained by Robbie Skipton with his 60% Yak 54 and Steve Holland who purchased the 40% Bronco from Tony Nijhuis a few months ago. Both these aircraft looked very realistic in the air although Tony Nijhuis did look a bit concerned when he saw what Steve was able to do with this versatile aerobatic fighter/bomber.

On Saturday afternoon we were treated to a fly past by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster – prior to its arrival there was a minutes silence followed by a bagpipe salute from the Scottish Air Corps. The LMA have made some substantial donations to the B of B fund and it was nice to see our contributions recognised in this way.

There was some extremely impressive formation flying carried out by Trevor Wood and Dave Pearson with their ¼ scale Corsairs. Both models were made from the Comp-Arf kits and were powered by the very realistic 250cc powered Moki engine. In a similar vein but completely different was the formation display by Steve Holland and Richard Rawle with their Breitling Stearmans complete with wing walkers. These are operated separately by Sharon Stiles the third member of the team.

An excellent attempt was made to re-create the re-fuelling trials of the 1930’s initiated by Alan Cobham of Flight Re-Fuelling Ltd. Both aircraft , the Handley Page W10 (Tanker) and the Airspeed Courier (being re-fuelled) were built by Don Billingham of Weymoth in Dorset and on several occasions they almost got close enough to touch the re-fuelling drogue that dangled in the slipstream below the tanker.

Although the gusty wind conditions were a challenge it did not prevent the Catton WW1 ¼ scale team flying consistently over the weekend and the Dawn patrol 1/3rd scale team put on an excellent display on Sunday when the conditions were a bit more favourable. On this occasion they were joined by the team leader Dave Tappin who flew one of the aircraft.

Cosford is renowned as one of the best, if not the best , of large model aircraft shows within Europe and it is a tribute to the organisers and pilots that despite all the adverse conditions this years show upheld that long standing tradition. We also have to thank the traders who braved the conditions and provided a mecca for a very good crowd who attend cosford to see not only the flying but the “tempting goodies” on offer for that next project.

Report by Tony Hooper
All Photographs were provided by Neil Hutchinson