ASPIRING aircraft engineer Sam Walton has trumped hundreds of entrants in a technology competition after inventing an air cadet training device.

The 16-year-old from Horspath, Oxford, was praised for his passion for all things techie and wowed judges with the gadget, which lets cadets talk to each other via radio.

He was crowned Future Tech Star 2016 – a competition organised by Bloxham-based IT support company MirrorSphere – and awarded a £1,500 gadget bundle.

The prize winning gadget – a server which cadets can use to communicate during simulations – beat other entries including a reminder app for taking medication and a blind spot information system.

Wheatley Park School pupil Sam said: “I only found out about the competition when one of my teachers emailed us. I have always been interested in technology.

“I started building my server when I joined the cadets, and I thought it would be good to get it made for real.

“It was very surprising to hear I had won. The other finalists all had very good ideas.”

The teen’s gadget has now been emulated around the country as it tackles a problem of air cadets training in flight simulators independently with no way of communicating.

Sam’s design means training can now mirror that of the RAF as it allows cadets to speak via radio from within the flight simulators.

The design bagged the technological whizz-kid a bundle of gadgets including a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 with keyboard cover, laptop bag, a Pebble Steel smart watch and the Future Tech Star trophy.

MirrorSphere managing director Spencer Dauphin said: “Sam’s passion for technology stood out, and the fact that he is using it for such a great cause made him shine.

“He truly deserved to win the title. It is hugely important to us that young people are given the praise and recognition they deserve.

“We are thrilled to award Sam this prize for all his hard work and talent and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.”

Among the other four finalists was Headington School student Caitlin Burns, who was inspired by her own hayfever to invent a reminder app.

The 16-year-old said she often had difficulty remembering to take medication, or knowing which ones she can take at the same time.

The app, called Mediclock, reminds patients when to take their medication and dosage.

She said: “I have to take antihistamines for hayfever but you can’t combine them. I found out that’s a big problem for other people as well.

“Using this app you can look up the names of medication and can see if they can mix as well.”

University Technical College Oxfordshire student Toby Hall, 17, created an idea of using robots to help victims in disaster zones.

Callum Morrison, 18, designed a blind spot information system to improve safety on roads, and Headington School pupil Holly Rowland set up her own coding club to help teach younger children the coding language Python.