LMA RUFFORTH 2010 – TONY HOOPER, All Photographs were provided by Neil Hutchinson

There was an air of depression on the Friday evening and early Saturday morning of this event when the Yorkshire weather seemed determined to put the chances of flying out of our reach. After all the time and effort put in by the Events team and the good attendance of traders it seemed to be a great pity that the weather was going to intervene – then the “gods” smiled on us! The clouds rolled away, the sun came out and apart from a fairly brisk wind which was across the runway we had an excellent day’s flying although the conditions made it quite a challenge. We were also blessed with a good crowd attendance bearing in mind the gloomy forecast

On Sunday the wind dropped and it faced right down the runway – the sun was shining brightly and all was well in the “LMA world”. These conditions also attracted a large crowd which was able to watch a full programme of flying. Both day’s started off with the LMA trainer slot – on this occasion we had the “full house” with Emilly Hooper using her large “Greenley” powered by a DA 100cc engine towing the LMA banner despite the very difficult conditions, Mike Eccles with his “Genesis” , and Dave Parry and Robin Woodhead with their “Sky 120’s”.

Rufforth, would not be Rufforth without the full Yorkshire Old XXX (timers) contingent and it was heartening to see Harry Harland, Tony Woodhouse and the other members of this unique association show the younger guys how to fly models in difficult conditions. Whilst on this subject a special mention should be made of Roger Bale and Dennis Martin who are now in their 80’s and still showing that you are never too old to enjoy the hobby and entertain the public! On Saturday the cross wind conditions made it very difficult for the large jets but both Dave Johnson (Vulcan) and Andy Johnson (Victor) managed to put on one flight before deciding that it would be much less nerve wracking to “quit whilst they were ahead”. Dave shredded a number of his tyres on the Vulcan but thankfully he had brought spares. This was just as well because the conditions on Sunday were far better so that Dave and Andy , and Steve Rickett with the Comet , were able to put on some excellent displays. Whilst on the subject of jets there was a pretty good turnout of sports jets which helped to keep the show going on Saturday (well done lads) and on Sunday we were treated to an excellent display by the two Panthers of Dave Swarbrick and Harold Dowbekin.

It was good to see the Langar Club Gee Bees out in force – they put on some excellent flying displays on both days and they bring something unusual to our events. Speaking of things unusual the children were given a special treat when Terry Lee(flying Dumbo) , “Mac” flying his Dragon, and Gordon Whitehouse flying his Buzzard put on a special display. For a while Gordon was flying around with some real Buzzards which passed over the airfield in what was obviously a very strong thermal.
Throughout the whole weekend there were some excellent warbird displays – on several occasions accompanied by the bombers of Mike Eccles(Junkers), Tony Hooper(B17),and Geoff Graves(Wellington).

A particular mention must be made about our new commentator Mike Craddock, although Mike has been commentating at shows in the North East for a while this is his first season with the LMA and after a very successful Cosford he also put on an excellent commentary at this event. Mike is obviously on an LMA “learning curve” at the moment so bear with him on the very rare occasions that he may get the names wrong or misidentify a model.

Well that’s it for another year, this show just keeps going from strength to strength and we are looking forward to 2011 hope to see you there.

Please click image to enlarge.

Rufforth Highlights By N Robinson.