Rougham 2012 Report by Dave Parry, All Photographs were provided by Neil Hutchinson

Saturday morning started cold and damp as I awoke from my pit at 6am. This is the second show of the season where the weather has not been kind; I do hope this is not the sign of things to come. After a quick breakfast courtesy of Mr Bailey in the caravan next door I went down to the flight line. Everybody was busy setting-up their models wrapped-up in their winter attire. First stop had to be the hospitality tent where you could get a hot cuppa’ and a biscuit. Looking around holding on to my hot cup of tea for dear life, I could see the scrutineer’s checking the planes, Neil and Alex snapping away with their camera’s and a couple of new faces near Dave Walker setting-up video camera’s – all eager to see the first flight of the day. They didn’t have to wait long as Mark Hinton fire up one of his many jets that he bought for the weekend, the sound of the jet engine saw the few early punters rush to the flight-line fence to watch Mark’s Cougar take to the sky.

The whole of the event was a somewhat, relaxed affair with pilots just lining up to fly. The boys controlling the flight-line did a fantastic job in keeping the slots themed. There where a couple of slots that stood out for me. First, was Mike Booth’s Spitfire ‘Connie’. Mike had come to Rougham after completing his life-long ambition to fly her across the English Channel. Well done Mike and I think we will all look forward to reading the full story in the LMA Journal. Second, the TJD team flew some fantastic displays all weekend with their huge array of fighter warbird’s.

John Greenfield’s half-scale Tiger Moth was certainly a crowd puller. When this big bird took to the sky, John displayed a very scale like aerobatic routine which was rewarded with a large round of applause at the end from the ever-increasing crowd line. Ted Allison’s English Electric Lightning was also a ‘head turner’ as the two Jetcat 120s’ spooled up to operating temperature. The crowds again hurried back to the flight-line fence to watch it take to the skies. Ted has put 6 years into this baby and was rewarded with a realistic scale flight from the man ‘twiddling’ the sticks, Dave Johnson. The weather stayed dry all day but the temperature never really changed with a very cold northerly breeze. End of day one, it was time to head back to camp and grab some tea before sampling the liquid delights of the beer tent for the rest of evening – oh, it is a hard life sometimes!

Sunday

The morning began looking promising, as I woke to sunshine but alas it was not to be ……… Within an hour or two the grey clouds had descended upon us once again, although I have to say it felt a little warmer. As I got back to the flight-line for another day, I saw the pilots were just as keen to get out there flying as the day before. The first highlight for me was Ken Bones and Dave Johnson flying a very graceful dogfight with Ken’s 1/4-scale Spitfire and Dave flying Ken Richie’s 1/4-scale ME109. These warbirds were evenly-matched in size and looked fantastic in the sky. Coupled with a bit of Battle of Britain music in the background, it made the slot just magic! Steve Carr’s 60% scale extra performed effortlessly through the sky accompanied by the music that Steve had pre-recorded for his routine. The planes never stopped flying all day and with plenty of WWII fighter’s from the TJD Team and the Baldock crew, followed by the bomber’s of Ken McCormick and Peter McKenna, plus civil and jets, the crowd was entertained all day.

It is at this point I think it is worth remembering that none of this would happen if it weren’t for the dedication of the LMA Event Team and all the volunteers that come and give up their weekends to set-up the show, stay behind after to dismantle it all -including cleaning up all the mess the punters leave behind…..! So I think a BIG thankyou should go to them.

I will leave you with Neil’s pictures to tell the rest of the story of this great weekend and all despite the weather. Will we be there next year? Well, you will have to wait and see …………

Please click image to enlarge.

On both days , Mark Hinton , a member of the local Bury club started the show with one his prolific collection of jet aircraft and gave some excellent displays

there was nonstop flying and this was in no small way due to the excellent formation flying by the TJD Models team who were always on hand to fill any gap that might have arisen

The long awaited public debut of Ted Allison’s English Electric Lightning.

The aircraft has been Ted’s soul searching project for over 6 years and in the hands of Dave Johnson our Chairman it performed magnificently.

If we are referring to realism then the flying of the ½ scale Tiger Moth and Bell Huey Cobra by John Greenfield must get a mention.

Specific mention must be made of Mike Booth who, the day before the show, had flown the English Channel with his ¼ scale Spitfire, Connie. Well done Mike.

Aerobatic precision flying performed by Steve Carr with his 60%scale Extra which is powered by a 546cc engine.Weighing 57kg the aerobatic performance looked effortless.

The bomber’s of Ken McCormick and Peter McKenna, flown by Dave and Andy Johnson put on an impresive display.

So many more pilots attended like Richard Scarbrough, Paul Needham, Stewart Clifford, Chris Wills, Ken Bones, Michael Donnelly to name but a few.

So my apologies if I left anybodies name out I am sure you will get a mention next time.

It would be impossible to name all the pilots and LMA support staff who ensured that this LMA event provided the high, and consistent standard that the public expect from LMA events but a thank you to them all made this weekend so special despite the gloomy forecast beforehand of the weather.