Welcome to TLG and to our series of interviews from the 2021 Bournemouth Air Festival.

We were extremely honoured to be invited to the Festival’s opening ceremony which was attended not only by some of the show’s participants but also some top brass, among whom was Air Vice Marshal Simon Edwards, Assistant Chief of The Air Staff. A former Hercules and C17 pilot, he’s now responsible for ASTRA, the RAF’s future strategy. Yet despite being such an incredibly important and impressive figure, he was happy to talk to Top Landing Gear. We’d had a rather early start that morning having set off from our homes at the crack of dawn and so may not have been at our sharpest. Still, we hoped that having a former RAF pilot in our ranks in the impressive shape of James Cartner, might have stood us in good stead in such elevated and illustrious company. You be the judge.