Spirit of Ayre takes first flight at RAF Sport Aerobatic competition in memory of former winner
The Royal Air Force Sport Aircraft's annual aerobatic competition – the Tony Ayre Blade Aerobatic Competition – attracts pilots from across the Armed Forces every year as they put their piloting and aerobatic skills to the test in a competition setting.
The sport of aerobatics challenges each pilot to execute individual sequences of aerobatic manoeuvres, which are scored by a panel of judges.
The Tony Ayre Blade Aerobatic Competition is marking its tenth year and also 10 years since their first-ever winner, Sergeant Anthony Ayre, known as Tony, won the competition in 2014.
Shortly after winning the competition, Sgt Ayre, an engineering technician who served in the RAF for 29 years, was tragically killed in a road traffic accident while on leave in his hometown in Scotland.
Before his death, he had begun his dream of building his own Pitts S2 aerobatic aircraft which is the same type of aircraft he won his gold medal in, and never managed to complete its build.
At the request of his family, RAF Sport Aircraft vowed to finish building his plane in his memory.
Ten years later, his plane, which has been given the name 'Spirit of Ayre', was flown at the Tony Ayre Blade Aerobatic Competition for the first time.
RAF Sport Aircraft executive, Squadron Leader (Retired) Chris Hives, said: "Tony was a special guy.
"He was a sergeant in the RAF, and he was one of these people who would be first to any event, last to leave, always willing to help out, had a massive smile on his face and a really, really nice man.
"To lose him was terrible, but something good has come out of all of this, something good has come from something bad, and he deserved to have this airplane built in his name and finished.
"It was a privilege and an honour to be asked by the Ayre family to complete this."
The competition itself saw a tight fight for the podium positions, but the Tony Ayre Blade Trophy was won by Flight Lieutenant Daniel O'Neill, who received a score of 75% from the judges who had split the first and fourth place finishers by a narrow margin of 2.8%.
Flt Lt O'Neill said: "Everyone is always so self-critical, but I think this is a good opportunity to give yourself a pat on the back.
"There were areas where I thought I could improve definitely, but it all happened so quickly and kudos to all of the competitors today.
"It was so challenging, and it was a whole aerobatic syllabus, but it was for half an hour, and I think everyone pulled it out of the bag today."
The competition hopes to continue Sgt Tony Ayre's legacy and ensure that his Spirit of Ayre plane will be available for service personnel to learn to fly and share in Tony’s passion for aerobatic flight, protecting the aircraft for future generations.
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