Craige Bryson always, always looked up.

“There are some of us who are simply obsessed with flying and I think that’s evident from a very young age,” Craige said.

“And they say if you look at planes in the sky as a kid then that obsession will stay with you for life.

“But I’m not sure where this love comes from. No one in my family is interested in aeroplanes but I’ve loved them since I could talk. I may have been reincarnated.”

Craige (“mum was out of it after I was born and dad couldn’t spell and that’s how I ended up with an e at the end of my name”) is the accidental winner of the 2014 Great Tiger Moth Race.

And by accidental, Craige means completely and absolutely unexpected.

“Never, in a million years, did we think we’d pull it off,” the Maitland pilot said.

But it seems other forces were at play when Craige, 39, took to the skies in an old grey Tiger Moth to take on 45 national and international pilots for the prestigious title.

“When I was younger I did a bit of work experience over at the Royal Newcastle Aeroclub under the guidance of Lance Fletcher, the chief engineer at the time,” Craige said.

“Lance took me under his wing and helped me get into all this.

"He gave me my start in many ways.

"He also used to be the scrutineer for the Tiger Moth races and he was involved in every single race except for this one, the first race since his death.”

Lance never flew in any of the great races so when Craige had the chance to take part, he took to the skies.

“Someone lent me an aeroplane (“an old girl who hasn’t seen a lot of love over the years”) and the Fletcher family, in the same spirit as Lance, lent me a propeller and some carlings,” Craige said.

“We decided, just before the race, to do it in honour of Lance and call it Lance’s Revenge. We made this decision over a couple of beers and thought how good it would be if we won. But we never thought we would.”

Craige started flying radio controlled planes when he was about nine years old. 

“Then one day in the late ’80s someone introduced me to this place (Luskintyre Airfield) and I fell in love with it,” Craige said.

“It’s an all-over grass airfield with mostly vintage and old aeroplanes and that’s exactly what I love. 

“Vintage aeroplanes have so much ­character and charm.

“We call modern aeroplanes spam cans but older aeroplanes are classic, they’ve got charisma.  

“And each Tiger is completely unique to fly.

"They have their own personality.”

Even though Craige has been a constant fixture of the airfield since the mid ’80s, he is still considered part of the new wave of Tiger Moth pilots.

“I’m still new blood but all the older ones are starting to get in their mid '70s and '80s and there are about three of four others my age and we have to keep it all going,” he said.

“Lance had been doing this for 50 years and he’s almost solely responsible for the number of Tigers that we still have flying today.

“Here in the Hunter Valley we have the largest concentration of Tiger Moths anywhere in the world and that has a lot to do with Lance so his legacy still lives on and I’ll keep going for him too.”