Stars of the South West aerospace and defence sector were celebrated by the West of England Aerospace Forum towards the end of June at the second WEAF Aerospace Ambassadors Awards (www.weaf.co.uk) — under the wings of Concorde at Aerospace Bristol.

Backed by headline sponsors Safran and SKF Aerospace, this event attracted scores of entries, which were judged by a panel of experts.

The Best Aerospace Engineer award went to Ben Smith, who works at Rolls-Royce in Filton; Poole-based Bowmill Engineering’s Nick Epps received the SME Star award; Liam Towills from Bath-based RPI UK was named Best Young Aerospace Entrant; Frank Bamford from Semper Aero in Weston-super-Mare received a Lifetime Achievement award; Paolo
Zanotto from Yeovil-based Leonardo MW won the Extra Mile Customer Service award; Linda Coode from Aerospace Bristol was named Best Aerospace Media Ambassador (short film); and the Legacy award was won by the late Trevor Egginton from Westland Helicopters (now Leonardo Helicopters).

Mr Egginton’s daughter Jane said: “Trevor was incredibly passionate about pushing technology to the next level throughout his career, and the fact that this has been recognised by his peers in industry today makes me incredibly proud of his achievements. This award will be cherished by the family for many years to come.”

Adrian Harding, WEAF’s business development manager, said: “The South West is a nest of innovation in engineering and manufacturing, and the individuals who have won these awards demonstrate this perfectly.”