An RAF pilot has won one of Air Racing’s most prestigious sporting events, The King’s Cup, with a light aircraft he built in his garage. With the win Squadron Leader Ben Polwin from RAF Coningsby also clinched the 2025 British Air Racing Championship, bringing the award to the RAF after a drought of 37 years.
Ben, who has just joined the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, said:
“I thought I couldn’t top winning the Schneider Trophy last year but The King’s Cup does feel particularly special. I’m particularly proud to have built the aircraft myself and it’s also special to have direct links to the aircraft on BBMF which I will be privileged to fly next year.”
In 2018 Ben started building the Vans RV-7 aircraft at his home in Lincolnshire, and after five years he started racing it with his wife Sophie, a British Airways pilot, and Royal Canadian Air Force veteran. In 2024 they won the Schneider Trophy, came second in The King’s Cup and were runners-up for the Championship.
Committing to the 2025 season and representing the RAF, they won the 2025 King’s Cup by just one second and clinched the 2025 British Air Racing Championship in the process. Ben is the first known service member to win the King’s Cup since 1988.
Talking about the win, Ben said:
“It’s been challenging and hugely developmental as a pilot. The immense concentration for hyper accurate flying over 40 minutes or so to then see all your rivals in the final corner where possible victory awaits is a feeling hard to describe. I think the reason why it has been so developmental for me is that it is such a different discipline to what I have done before. It would be disingenuous to suggest that a 22 year fast jet career in the RAF has had no advantages but it has required me to pull together some individual skills I have picked up over the years and put them together in a very different way.”
Ben joined the RAF in 2003 and flew the Tornado GR4 before becoming an instructor at Valley, operating the Hawk. He flew F-18s with the US Navy during an exchange programme before transferring to Typhoon, completing frontline tours in Afghanistan and Libya, and QRA missions in the UK.
Merging his career with his sporting hobby has been eye opening for Ben, talking about how his history as a frontline pilot has impacted his success, he said:
“Protecting yourself against pushing safety for the sake of competition I think is something I wouldn’t have been able to do a few years ago, even now it takes a very conscious effort not to let the competition environment erode my safety barriers. This is everything from weather decisions in the transit to a race, to the situations you put yourself in during the race with multiple aircraft in a turn.”
The British Air Racing Championship sees pilots compete in ten races over five months of the summer, within the season amongst the other races will be the Schneider Trophy and the King’s Cup. Competitors come from all over the country and the venues can also be anywhere, this year was Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leicester, Fishburn, Enniskillen (Northern Ireland) and Wellesbourne. Air racing is a recognised sport within the services, sitting under the Sport Aircraft Association, though Ben formally competed under the RAF Sport banner, his entry was entirely self-funded.
Ben makes videos of the races for his YouTube channel, talking about the format of the races he said:
“As you will see, we are the fastest aircraft so we start at the back and have to overtake everyone, some aircraft we have to overtake multiple times as we are several laps behind before we even take off!”
Each event is a handicapped pursuit race, which involves all competitors being on the course at the same time, typically anywhere between 8 and 15 aircraft in total. The fastest aircraft are released last, planned so that if every team flew perfectly, everyone would cross the finish line at the same time.
About The King’s Cup
The King’s Cup Air Race was established in 1922 by King George V as an incentive to the development of light aircraft and engine design. The race has been run every year since with the exception of WWII, Covid and occasionally bad weather. Along with the revived Schneider Trophy, The King’s Cup is one of the most sought-after prizes in the air racing season, hosted by the Royal Aero Club Records Racing and Rally Association.
In 1950, World War II RAF fighter pilot and equerry to King George VI Group Captain Peter Townsend famously flew Hurricane PZ865 into second place at The King’s Cup. Gp Capt Alan Wheeler raced Spitfire AB910 in the 1953 King’s Cup but the aircraft was damaged in a heavy landing during the event. Both aircraft are still flying with the BBMF.
Crew:
Pilot - Sqn Ldr Ben Polwin – RAF Pilot (Tornado GR4, Hawk QFI and 2015 display, F/A-18, Typhoon and newest arrival on BBMF).
Navigator – Sophie Polwin – Veteran RCAF pilot (T-6 Texan II QFI, A310 tanker) and now British Airways 787 Senior First Officer.