The medal is awarded to a member or group of members who have served the cause of model flying and the Society by their particularly meritorious or sustained endeavors.
Barry Robinson was awarded the SMAE Medal for his great commitment Control Line Aerobatics (Class F2B), and for the great number of years that he has represented the UK in both World and European Championships.
Barry represented the UK in 33 out of 43 European and World Control Line Championships between 1979 and 2024.
In 1979 he went to Marville in France, as a substitute, along with Bill Draper and Peter Tindal. He placed 6th, the best placed British flier and the team secured the Bronze medal.
This was the first in a run, achieving two Gold Team medals (1987 and 1989) and three Bronze Team medals (1979, 1983 and 1985). Barry was the best placed UK flyer in 14 of these events.
He qualified for a team place virtually every year, but financial and other constraints meant he was unable to attend all of the events for which he had qualified.
Domestically he has won the Gold Trophy for F2B at the National Championships eight times between 1980 and 2006. He has also been the highest placed British pilot when there were Foreign winners of the Gold Trophy. Barry has also won Classic Aerobatics twice adding to these achievements.
Home International events saw Barry represent England in numerous events, the majority of which were won by England.
Barry has won many other cups and trophies, competing in CLAPA events (four times champion) and events run by model clubs throughout the UK.
Barry has also been a member of the Control Line Technical Committee, and has judged the Nationals, Centralised events and many other Control Line aerobatic events.
Barry has always helped other modeller’s to improve both their models, suggesting trim changes etc. and their schedule flying. The most recent being Steve White of the Shildon Model Flying Club (SMFC), who Barry coached to become the F2B National Champion on three occasions.
Barry is also very active at club level. For ten years he has been Secretary of Shildon Model Flying Club. He has liaised with the Land Agent to secure a new flying field since the loss of their previous site in 2022, allowing for outdoor flying to recommence. He has been cutting the flying patch on his own for the last twelve years, and he assists in the running of indoor flying meetings organised by SMFC.