Bright and early yesterday morning I nipped down to the airfield to check that our group AA5 I'd tied down on Saturday afternoon was still in one piece. Thankfully it was, and it seemed to be withstanding the battering quite well, so I was able to relax for the rest of the day
Although the tie-downs were holding quite securely, our Cheetah had definitely been rotated a bit into wind. Curiously, the Archer parked a few planes up in the line which was tied down by two bits of lose string didn't seem to have moved at all. While I was there some extremely strong gusts hit and although I could see the tie-downs on the AA5 straining, the Archer just sat there solid as a rock. Weird to watch.
The worst affected did indeed seem to be the high wing aircraft. It might be that the wind is stronger that little bit higher up, but another factor is that the tie-downs you need are three or four times longer, so there's a lot more give in them. Looking up the flight line at a 152 and a 172 it was obvious they can move quite a long way before the tie-downs take effect. A strong gust would stand a much better chance of lifting a wing and really getting under it.