Whilst high temperature and little wind tested everyone, the rewards were well worth it on this blue sky day, a day that was absolutely in line with the Met Office X-Section. With the airfield air temp reaching 28C and the runway temp hovering in the 40s there was no respite from the sun all day.

Again, we were delighted to host some Royal Navy visitors from Manchester University who joined us for the day. Well done to Alice, Lorin and Bill for helping out on the airfield in the heat. Their flying was in the capable hands of Colin Haynes and Will Dean. Whilst in the loop, Bill and Will (Not Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men! (for those too young to know, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JKKWJqFpBQ)) also got an airside view of the air display, also in the loop, at the neighbouring Sleap airfield!

With an evident cross wind Will and Bill launch on Shawbury’s impressive r’way 36 enroute to watch the air display at Sleap.

With the 2 seaters fully occupied it was the turn of the single seaters to get away, amongst them Nick Lewington in CV and John Luke in R43. Well done to Nick on going on the claim hog-of-the-day at 3hr 47min.

For those who had never flown on a “blue sky” day it was great learning opportunity to try out their skills in locating a thermal. Of course, if those didn’t work you could always go and join someone else who was already marking a thermal.

The final flights of the day were dedicated to getting Danny Robertson solo. After some low launch failure eventualities training with instructor Ian Gallacher, it was time for Danny to line up on the launch point and set off solo on a flight that lasted 26mins. Many congratulations Danny.