Richard Salisbury

who tragically died from cancer on March 18th 2007

Richard and I had been friends for 53 years when he sadly died before reaching his 55th birthday

In those years we did many things together including tennis, golf, holidays and many family activities but the really memorable occupation has to be the racing together in F2C Team race

In the early years we got nowhere - as much as anything because we were on our own - no local club to learn from - but we had a lot of fun !

Then, after a few years break in the early 70s we got back together and put the effort in that was needed to achieve

Richard had an immense amount of help from Steve Smith in the early 80s and suddenly we were getting results

1987 Saw us in the UK team for the Eurochamps in Sweden - and we brought back the team bronze

Between 87 and 92 we started using the Vorobiev motors from Moscow and, with Richard getting stronger and Stronger in the middle, we went forward in leaps and bounds

Then we were off to the World Champs in Czechoslovakia - July 1992 - and this was to be the height of our achievements when we brought back the Team Gold for the UK

Richard was always one of the crowd wherever we went - and we sure had some fun over the years

When we last saw him - New Years eve 2006 - he was complaining of discomfort and was rushed into hospital two weeks later in excruciating pain. There was, unfortunately, nothing they could do about what they discovered and he passed away just 8 weeks later.

He was a tremendous pilot - and a good friend for all those years - he will be missed by us all.

Andy Whorton