COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

CHAPTER FIFTEEN FU LL CIRCLE
Commodore Rod Banks and General James Doolittle. It was quite an
achievement.
I decided to give his gliding colleagues a run down on Peter in his
other incarnation and end up by poking a little fun. I had just retired,
to become a consultant, and if our earlier past history together was
anything to go by, Peter must be about to retire too!
He responded modestly, suggesting that I must have been talking
about someone else, which avoided the need to comment on his future
career.
It turned out to be a good week, with six contest days for the Open
Class and seven for the Regionals - and for Marconi Avionics too. In
a year, as this was, between SBAC 1 displays they had given high
priority to their MOD2 , CAA 3 , Service, and industry guests. A day out
for these people, with glider flights thrown in, was a major reason
behind the sponsorship and we simply had to get it right.
So Anne and I had spent many hours beforehand. Integrating
Marconi's guests with those on the BGA and Lasham lists, whose
goodwill and support was so important to gliding, and attempting to
bring groups of compatible people together. It would have been ideal
to take the total numbers and spread them equally across the nine
contest days. But the majority wanted to come at the weekends and the
second Saturday and Sunday, at the end of the contest, were by far the
most popular.
Eventually it was the team which organised and marshalled the
guests from sponsor's chalet to launch point, and the two seater pilots,
who made it all work. Until the last day, when the weather broke, they
only lost one scheduled flight, and in total they flew 380 guests.
Looking back on that first occasion was to recognise the very
considerable effort involved in organising and running a
championships, and the dedication of those who head up each
department, sometimes for years on end. A demanding enough task
even if you were to tackle it full time.
Yet it had its rewards, working with a marvellous bunch of people,
in the satisfaction of difficulties overcome - and, not least, in the
constant challenge to do better next time.
Marconi Avionics seemed to be very happy with the results and
their sponsorship was firmly in evidence the following summer - with
an important difference. Farnborough year and the SBAC Display was
less than three weeks after the championships. Chalet and guest flying
facilities were not required.
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