Flying Report Sun 13 Jul 25
It was a recovery day. With the end of the Station 75th Anniversary activities in Hangar 4 we regrouped to begin the return to normal flying. However, a few tasty aircraft connected with the event remain in Hangar 4 and will be cleared on Monday.
The two tugs that had been based at Seighford returned, KE to remain at Shawbury, with WG returning to Seighford at day’s end for more weekday tug duties.
Heatwave conditions all got too much for some of the older lads. Overflying Newport in WG on the way back to Seighford, Geoff Matt commented that the Newport Show did not seem to be well attended – err, the show was yesterday Geoff. Never mind!
At the start of the day the vehicles were recovered from the MT yard and both K21s were rigged. All remaining aircraft remain boxed until next weekend. Thank goodness that the Ex-Dear Leader had returned from the US to help out for the day and many thanks to Topsy@rafcosfordairshow who assisted with the rigging – sorry you didn’t stay to fly Topsy, you missed a good day.
With all this initial work it wasn’t until mid-day that we stepped out on to a baking hot airfield for the morning brief.
Brad had brought Cosford course mate Alfie for the day - it was his birthday😍bless……
…..and they were first away in R22, returning after 40 minutes and it was evidently a booming day.
Everyone took an opportunity to fly in one of the K21s and Alfie managed to blag two more trips, one with Nigel and one with Nick. Bit of an artful dodger is our Alfie – 3 hrs 16 mins soaring and didn’t pay a penny!!
If it was hot on the ground but it was even hotter in the booming thermals that eventually topped out at around 5,000ft with stunning views over a very dry and parched landscape..
Laura took a launch to 4,000ft to practice her aeros and took Brad along for the ride. In the process they caught a thermal to 4,000ft to have another practice run. Brilliant.
In the short flying window, we achieved 9 launches and 5h:30m of flying time. In the words of Alfie, it was an “Elite” day! Colin said it was “Bostin’!” For the older lads, when Millenials or Gen-Zers use the word “Elite” they mean like it’s the “1% of 1%” or like something that has no superior options - geddit?
Club News:
The Inter-Services Regional Gliding Competition takes place 19 - 26 Jul 25. It is hosted by the Army Gliding Association at the Army Aviation Centre, Middle Wallop. We are sending R2 with Ian and Alan and if you fancy a seat give one of them a call.
RAF Shawbury have advised that the construction phase of the airfield refurbishment should be completed on 24 Oct 25. The runways will then undergo a commissioning process that should be completed by 5 Dec 25. Our aim is to be back to using the runways as soon as the commissioning is complete and they have been accepted back into service.