RETIRED airline pilot Andy Davis, from Uley, has won a bronze medal at the World Gliding Championships.

Davies, aged 60 and who was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his services to British gliding in 2005, had to withstand a marathon competition at the World Championships in Australia last week.

The competition, which concluded on Saturday, was over a series of races, although it was not necessary to win every race but rather to come out of them with most of the points available Davis competed alongside Team GB flyer Russell Cheetham, who went on to win gold.

Davis finished the series having finished in the top 10 in nine of the 11 races. The nail biter was left to the last race.

Davis said: “Phew! We and the Germans nearly blew it on the last day trying to out think each other at the start.

“We should have started earlier and would have flown the task in better conditions,”

But, by the slimmest of margins, Cheetham just sneaked in front and Davis was able to secure the bronze medal spot.

It is a great achievement for Davis who is a highly experienced and successful competition glider pilot who won World Championship titles in 1993 and 2003.

He retired from international competition in 2006 but returned to the international scene in 2012 with a win in the South African Sailplane Grand Prix and then took the Silver medal in the Open Class at the 2014 World Gliding Championships in Poland.

Davis’ wife Pami crews for him at all his major gliding competitions and their son Matt is following in his father’s footsteps, having won the British Junior title on two occasions and represented the UK in the World Junior Championships.

As well as competing at the highest level, Davis has been at the forefront of developing British gliding talent. He is a current British team coach and was one of the founders of the British Team coaching operation that has helped UK pilots to secure international medals in recent years. Davis has also volunteered to be the Championship Director when the UK hosts the European Gliding Championships at Lasham, Hants later this year.

He flies from the Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club at Nympsfield.

Davis spent a few days Down Under afterwards to celebrate his bronze medal.