Father and son first in air race

Monday 27th September 2010, 2:29PM BST.

Neil Cooper, right, soared to victory at this year’s Alderney Air Races. He is pictured with his father and co-pilot Ian Cooper. (Picture by James Varley)

LONDONER Neil Cooper soared to victory in Alderney Air Races.

The photographer’s win, on board a single-engine Bulldog, secured him a maiden British Air Racing Championship.

Mr Cooper, 46, dedicated the victory to father and son Michael and James Willis, who were killed following a mid-air collision in the Isle of Wight earlier this month. It was the Royal Aero Club’s second tragic accident this year, after another father and son duo, Bruce and Ian Hook, were killed in Menorca in May.

Mr Cooper said: ‘It was very gusty out there but it feels unbelievable to win. I came second here last year so it’s great to win this year, at the culmination of what has been a difficult season.