Nationals 2009 - 28th - 31st August at RAF Barkston Heath

Another year, another really early start. I woke up at 4am, to arrive up to collect Chris by 4.45am. We had packed the van the night before but Ian and Chris worked to 4am applying graphics to Ian's YT Internation TigerCat F7F.

9 of us travelled over this year in total, Chris and I went in my van with Alan and Stanley in Alan's van. Kenny rode over on his Goldwing in convoy with the vans. The easy option was taken by Ian, Adam, Gary and John who flew over much later in the day and hired a car. By the time they arrived at RAF Barkston Heath we had drove the 335 mile, put the tent up and booked our transmitters in and had them checked. Life's good at the top, they tell me.

We arrived on the showline for the 9am pilots briefing on Saturday morning after which we preped our models and got the models passed fit to fly. I flew first. This was the first time I flew the Elan with smoke system on my new JR 12x, and I had selected to use a different switch from the one I used on the JR 9x. Unfortunately the switch was the sprung loaded type and I had it reversed. This forced me to fly with the switch held for off, no smoke, and let it go for smoke on. This was distracting at best, but really not something you want to have to do during your first show flight at this years Nats. The weather didn't help either as there was a strong wind blowing all weekend hitting 18 mph plus. My Elan handelled the conditions without issue, testament to the great design by Alan Caldish, even the landings went unaffected by the conditions.

Chris flew his Hawk but within seconds of the take-off had a major problem. He lost an elevator resulting in full up elevator and full right aileron to fly level. Ali heard Chris telling Ian of the problem and came over to offer assistance. Chris was able to fly a complete circuit and land the model, a normal smooth landing it was too, by using the throttle to control the descent AND flare. Ali offered a very well earned congratulations on a difficult situation handelled well. The problem was traced to a servo horn failure, which was resolved with the fitting of some heavy duty metal arms. The next flight went without issue, much to Chris's relief.

Ian then flew his TigerCat. On the first circuit the model rolled, then spun, then flat spun into the ground for no apparent reason. Some other showline pilots believe he lost an engine but the damage was to rule Ian out of the remainder of the event. This was a big disappointment as Ian had spent a lot of time preparing the model to get it to the Nats, including the night before we departed.

Over the two days I flew my Elan 4 times, in ever decreasing weather conditions, with Chris getting two flights in due to the problem with the elevator.

Ali flew his A10 on a number of occasions, breathtaking every time. He ends the flight with a descending circle, levelling the wings on touchdown. The right wingtip is inches off the runway before touchdown every time.

Mark Hinton flew his F16, Su27 Flanker and Mig on a number of occasions. The Flanker is fitted with a flare system, dropping real miniature flares, each one costing £11. On one pass I counted 8 flares and each flight he did multiple flare drops. His F16 is a beautiful model for the Skymaster stable. Mark flies it with real show presence and has greeser landing every time. He told me he has a hydrolic landing system on the model that cost in the region of the price of a turbine engine that prevents bouncing on landing (within reason). During the repair on Chris's hawk Mark kindly supplied glue, drills and fixings to get Chris back into the air, very much appreciated.

Last year a scratch built hawk crashed during an inverted pass, and was completely totalled. It was back again this year, completely rebuilt with only the undercarriage and arrester hook surviving from last years model.

Late on Sunday afternoon Ian Richardson arrived with his beautiful Sabre, twice Jet World Masters winner. Despite the strong crosswind, some 30 – 40 degrees to the runway, the model was flown by Steve Elias in a very realistic manner. To even fly a model this well finished in those conditions is almost unthinkable, but to fly it so well and smoothly was amazing.

To get away from jets, there was a FW190 with a 250cc Moki radial engine that stole the show in the propeller camp. Everyone wanted to know what engine was in the plane as it sounded perfect, just like the full size aircraft. Every time it came in for a low fast pass everyone stopped to watch and listen. Although it didn't win Top Gun overall, it was second. The overall winner was two Red Arrows Hawks flown by Steve and Matt Bishop in formation, including opposed manoeuvres. I must say I agree with this award, I thought they deserved to win.

On the Sunday evening Chris and I took our flying wings into the hanger to fly. The other models soon landed as we performed high speed circuits, hitting each other at one point without crashing, much to the amusement of the crowd. The safety marshals were so impressed with this we were given our own slot at 10.45pm, when we even got a count down to take-off. Another high speed session followed ending with Ian catching my wing out of the air.

Alan, Stanley, Chris and I left for home on Monday morning at 11am, with the first class crew having more shopping time before they went to the airport to fly home. So, 667 miles and two boat trips later. Was it worth it again? Yes. Will I go again next year? Hope to.

By Peter Carson.