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The UK's Biggest Fly-In |
HistoryIn the words of Brian Milton, the first man to fly a microlight aircraft around the world in 1998 and Britannia Trophy and Segrave Trophy Winner: One man, ‘Big John’ Moore, is responsible for the birth of Spamfield on the Isle of Wight, now the BMAA’s premier meet of the year. John made it happen in the first place, and nurtured it through its entire life. He was driven to do it when the PFA Meet at Cranfield in 2001 was cancelled because of foot–and mouth restrictions. ‘I wanted a microlight Meet at the furthest point from my home town of Staindrop as possible,’ he said, ‘and there had to be a significant – but not too difficult – water crossing to get there.’ He chose Bembridge Airfield - it had a pub on site!  John took all the financial risk himself with any left over money going to a local childrens charity. John is a long term Scout leader and received the the Silver Cross for heroic actions when he saved the lives of three children in Lake Windermere. He said, ‘I don‘t do tree hugging – its got to be a kids charity’. In 2002 with word spreading about how good Bembridge had been, the event moved to its current home at Sandown. This was my first Spamfield. 160 of us turned up at an event that was looking likely to become a serious rival to Popham. Largely as recognition that year of John Moore’s central role in creating Spamfield, Big John was presented the ‘Unsung Hero’ award by Ann Welch – he was then coerced to stand for election to the BMAA governing Council. In 2003, Spamfield grew again – 250 people – and John was lucky in that Sandown airfield had recently been bought by ‘Captain Dick’ Steele, who wanted to develop it. Dick Steel saw the growth of ‘Big John’s’ baby as part of that development. By now, visiting pilots were exploring parts of the Isle of Wight they would normally steer clear of, and it became a way of saying hello to Spamfield, after pitching the tent, to go out on the Blackrock Run – once famous in hang gliding circles – and pirouette over the Needles. 
2004 – with 200 of us flying in, including two aircraft from the Republic of Eire – was marked by dreadful weather but a cheerful acceptance of the difficulties we had to live with. I remember lashing rain all the way to the Needles and back, and the bumpy journey home to St Albans, in which everyone had two attempts at getting down safely in difficult conditions at Plaistow Farm. Dozens of pilots left their aircraft at Sandown, went off to work, and made their way back the following weekend to fly away. Karaoke, meanwhile, was establishing itself, along with ear plugs for those of us not ‘gifted’ with a singing voice, and a great deal of beer was drunk. The 2005 event, the first to be offered, by Big John, to the BMAA who offered to underwrite the event thereby taking the financial risk away from John, was also affected by bad weather. A GA pilot stopped a flexwing pilot re–fuelling at White Waltham and said, ‘surely you’re not flying in this weather?’ to be told that 300 of us were heading for the Isle of Wight. It was moving to sit that evening with a beer in hand and watch gaggles of flexwings appear in the roiling low clouds from any number of northerly directions, land without fuss, and pilots turn up for a beer half an hour later. I understand that a low level flight by a lone flexwing was made through the Fleet celebrating the anniversary of Trafalgar. The policeman who turned up at Spamfield to arrest the pilot was pointed to a long line of flexwings and told, ‘take your pick’ (it wasn’t me, honest, guv’).  By 2006, Spamfield attracted 430 microlight aircraft. There were no incidents at all, not even a heavy landing or bent under–carriage. John Moore’s philosophy became firmly established, that Spamfield is for the Craic, that it’s a social event with no competition to wind pilots up, that beer and karaoke and gossip – knitting – are central to why it is there. In 2007, around 415 aeroplanes flew in and Spamfield is attracting the first significant entries from overseas. It bids fair to rival the great French Meet at Blois, SW of Paris every September as the premier microlight Meet in Europe. We are some way yet from the 15,000 aircraft that turn up for the week’s Meet at Oshkosh in the USA, but Spamfield’s unique character, not least its challenge to microlight pilots to experience that eternal frisson of crossing at least three miles of sea to get there, will continue to attract pilots. It is a Meet not to be missed. It was Big John Moore wot done it. It is an achievement in which he can take a singular pride. Copyright 2007: Brian Milton |
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