The Miss Demeanour Trophy is awarded to recognise the year’s “unsung hero” – this can be an individual or organisation that ‘went the extra mile’ to deliver a display or event.
John Turner (BADA) presents the Miss Demeanour Trophy to Dr Robert Pleming (VttS)
Over the centuries, Britons’ have displayed a tenacity to achieve the audacious. Countless generations of Generals, Politicians, Engineers and Adventurers have made Britain both notable and Great. Our Aircraft designers fit equally into that mould, and amongst them, Roy Chadwick was a giant. For the current generations of Britons to have enjoyed, not just one example of his historic successes, fly in countless air displays across UK, but, in one very recent year to see 3 examples of his achievement in the air, was a moment to savour for the entire country.
It is even more poignant therefore, that we all witnessed, in the Autumn of 2015, the closing of another Chapter in the history of our country’s great aviation achievements. That anyone should even have considered such an audacious scheme however, to bring back from the seemingly dead, the most iconic of all Cold War bombers, was incomprehensible, if not deemed unachievable. Yet it happened, and is now gone from the sky again.
None, of what countless spectators enjoyed over the past few years however, would have been possible without that unique combination of dogged determination and stubbornness in leadership, and a team possessing unlimited passion, belief and energy. They didn’t just go an extra mile, to achieve what they did but, travelled thousands of miles in persuading almost every citizen across the globe to support their cause and our subsequent enjoyment. It was singularly a Tour de Force of immense proportions and, for that reason, it is BADA’s great pleasure to award the Miss Demeanour Trophy to Robert Pleming and the entire VTST team for their outstanding contribution to the British Air Display Community.
