3/-August 1962

••

We are the principal suppliers of aviation fuelto the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom

SHELL-MEXANDB.P.LTD ~

SAILPLANE AND GLIDINGoFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATION

published by the British Gliding Association, 7S Victoria Street, London, S.W.1.SULlivan 7548/9

F. Sterrs.Si-monthly.

Committee: P. WillsVal. XIII. No. 4

Editor: Alan E. Slater, M.A.. F.R.Met-S.Assistant Editor and Production Manager: Rika Harwood

Club News Editor: Yvonne Bonham, 14, Little Brownings, London, 8.E.23.Advertisement Manager: Peggy Mieville, Cheiron Press, 3 Cork Street, London, W.!.

REGent 5301.(Chairman), G. Harwood. W. Kahn, M. Bird,

August 1962

PAGE199201202204205

P. Wickham 2192202242262272312322382412422442SO251253253254255258259263266268269270270271m2732752772,.295

'"

Good/lart

PiggottWarmingerKlemperer

Wlrite

A. J. Thorburn

Y"01I1le BOll1lomYvonne Bon/wmF. D. StorrsW. Adriaanun

A. E. Slater

G. T. Coffins

P. A. WiltsA. D. PiggoltC. A. Ka)"eAnn WelchP. Va/eminA. E. Slater1. W. Strocll(m

A. D.A. H.W. B.J. K.

P. A. WilfsAnll We/cltA. J. ThorburJI

A. E. Sloter;. Find/ater &

P. D. Lane

AUTHORH. C. N.TITLE

THOUGHTS AFTER THE CHAMPIONSHIPSManuel's LatestFair Winds for FranceCHAMPIONSHIP TROPHIESTHE NATIONAL GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPSChampionship's Weather SummaryNational Championship ResultsThe Service that Pretends the Air is FlatIt's All Yours

SCOTIISH GLIDING UNION CLUBHOUSEF.A.I. Gliding Commission NewsTHE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATIONFlying the "46]"B. A. G. Meads, M.B.E. - An Appre::;ationNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1962Early Gliding in the AlpsHigher Altitudes Without PressurizationFlying Skylark 165 in League 2Glider Trailers Blow Over!Returning Empties From the Milk RunHonOur for Fred SlingsbyMust Gliding Mean Frustration?East-West RelationsForty Years AgoSouth Africa SpoilsGliding CertificatesObituaries; Sir F. Handley Page, H. A. Pelre. A. OgilvieCockpit Insulation for Wave FlightsThe 1962 Art Exhibition and CompetitionKronfeld Club NewsGliding and Public RelationsThe Dutch National ChampionshipsGLIDER FLIGHTS ACROSS FRONTIERSCorrespondenceON BEING A YO-YO (Without Oxygen)Club and Association News

Service NewsOverseas News

Cover Photograph: Three R.A P. competitors over Astorl Dowll during practice week.

PRINTED BY S. R. VERSTAGE 8: SONS LTD .. WINCHESTER ROAD.BASING STOKE. FOR THE BRITISH GLJDING ASSOCIATION

197

THE SI(YLARI{ 4ISM CONTEST SAILPLANE

fhe final outcome of eight real"s of continuous

development work, the SKYLARK 4 is the mosladvanced IBM Contest Sailplane available as a

standard production aircrafL. II IS a dkecL

descendant of the SKYLARK 3 SHies which st.illholds a ,"ccol'cl in National and International

Competitions unapproached by any other design.

The SKYLARK 4 is now in full production at

Kirbymoorside.

r=c,:;;,,"i F(l1ITNO$EWNtJ

GAVE

S LINGSBY SAILPLANESKIRBYMOORSIDE YORK

LIMITEDENGLAND

TELEPHONE: KJRBY~'100RSIDE31 ~ CABLE: SAILPLANES

PIONEERS OF BRI1'lSfl GLIDING

198

THOUGHTS AFTER THE CHAMPIONSHIPSby Nicholas Goat/hart

A FTER being at sea for a couple ofyears and not able 10 get any

gliding, I was not. very ~ptimis~ic ab0L!lmy chances in this year s Nalionals; Itwas therefore a great (and extremelypleasant) surprise 10 find that continua,uspractice does not seem to be essentialand that I was able 10 guess the rightdecision on a sufficient number ofoccasions to get into and slay in thelead. I always look on competitiongliding as a guessing game i~ which theproblem is to guess the fight answermore often than the other competitorsand avoid making the odd fatal andirrevocable decision which will put youon the ground in the middle of the race.

To what do I attribute my success?

avoid chasing horizontal gusts. A Cook<;:ompass a.nd a,:" E2B provi~e respec­[Ivel:( tUl:mng ftl~ht and straight flightheading mformatlon. A German Arti­ficial Horizon with transistor powersupply by Ferranti provides blind-flyingcapability with a Turn-and-slip asstand-by. A.$.J. and Altimeter arestandard. This relatively simple set ofinstrumenls (with a minimum of elec­tronics) worked perfectly from the day[ put it together; full confidence inone's instruments is essential to peaceof mind, and peace of mind is essentialto successful competition gliding.

Third, to a good crew; my glider andr were well looked after throughout, andthis again is important to one's peace

"To what do I attributemy success?" Whatabout this!

First, to a good sailplane; the Olympia419. loaned to me by Elliotts of New­bury, has performance and handlingcharacteristics second to none' it turnsinside all except perhaps the' Olympia463 a.nd has a glide ratio which on oneoccasion appeared to approach 40: t.

Second, to a good set of instruments.I use a PZL variometer cn a BurtonTota! Energy and filled with a speed-Io­Oy nng; I also have a Memphis vario­mc!cr ~hich is not on total energy andwhich IS for quick response and 10

of mind. With a Three-Diamond manin the crew. onc can't realty go wrong.

Fourth, luck; inevitably one mus~ belucky 10 win: Ihere ar7 so :'"lany tl~eswhen there is very little mformatlOnto go on and vel a decision must bemade. On the last day 1 decided to crossthe Bridgwater area despite the apparentlack of lhermals. and it was the rightdecision. On the free distance day 1made the wrong decision to fly to theN.W. towards Angelsey. but this wasthe only time that the decision was

199

h' 11 wrong Fortunately'Ca~~:t~'he~cac;mpetitorsmade the same~rong decision that day,

Competitions - New Style.The new principle of dom~ as !'luch

closed-circuit racing as pOSSible IS anexcellent development and gr~a.t1y ad~hdto the success of the competitIOns. esuccess with which large numbers ~fcompetitors completed the. courses ISclear evidence of the very hlg~ standardnow being reached. Twenty-eight, com­petitors completing a 300-km. triangleis something which even five years agowould have been pure fantasy., Thecunning with which Ann Welch J1.:'dgesthe average skill of the Leagues IS asmuch part of the overall achievementas the skill of the pilolS themselves.

Another very noticeable feature, inLeague I at any rate, was the pheno­menon of ··gaggling". So many pilotsare of comparable skill and flyingcomparable sailplanes that, once in agaggle proceeding along a course, theytend 10 remain gaggled. If one goes onahead and eventually finds a goodthermal, all the others are able to take

advantage of it without I 'height searching, and thus ~hlng anystays together. It seems th e gaggl~watching out for other sa~l\ dll~ 10the same thermal, no one I Prines infast as he would alone andc 1mbs asgag~le ~oes not make a; gOod t~us th~as It might. I feel .this phenomenspr~not permanently senous and un on. IStechniques will soon m~ke their g:ggllngance. It was, nevertheless a si n~pear.feature of this year's Ch~mpiongsh~~~nl

~hings which might be improved ne Itime x

It is clear that if we make rules wemust en,force th:em. A particularexampl.e IS the helgh,t of crossing thestart hne and ronndmg turning-pointsThe rules are not absolutely clear on th"point and should be clarified, Havingestablished. a rule, it is then necessaryto enforce It; but at present this is diffi.cult, since the only alternatives are toignore the breach of the rules or todisqualify. I believe there should be ajury wl,ich should assess breaches and.depending on whether they were con­sidered inadvertent or intentional and

~oo

", cordon"A good crew ' andHookings (lefl) tllckTrevor ThOfd~~rt ;nloNicholas coothe cockpit. f "Flight'

Courtesy 0

the likely gain from the breach, shouldaward penalties accordingly, e.g. 50 Ct.toe high at a turning-point, lose 50points; o~ turned 100. yards insideturning pomt, lose 50 pomts.

The other difficult point whichrequires attention is the problem ofwhat may and may not be said on theradio. It is a pity to have to make ruleson this, since they will have to beenforced; nevertheless, there are obvi­ously some things that cannot be said,e.g. what the markers arc at a turningpoint, or where the next thermal is,using a search. aircraft out in front.There arc many other points on whichthere will be some argument as towhether information should be passedby radio, e.g. weather information fromother parts of the route, progress ofother competitors, height and distance­to-go computations on final glide.

My own feeling is that the easiestthing to do is to limit the use of radioto retrieving in'formation only, i.e.position of glider and trailer andestimates of possible or expected land­ing places. This, however, would notallow pair flying. The important thingis to start considering this point nowand have some plan to cover it by thenext Cham~ionships.

Yacht Race StartsThe level of competence now seems

to have reached the stage when it couldbe possible to hold a yacht race startand fly round a relatively small closed

circuit a numb~r of times. I envisagethe start as bemg at a declared timewith .everyone being launched at least30 mIDutes before start time. The aim~ould be to .cross the line at the starttime at maximum altitude. Initially Ifeel it would be safest not to have a!TIaxi.mum height for crossing the line~It might also be necessary for the raceto be in a series of heats of say 10gli~ers at IS-minute interv;ls. 'ButneIther of these provisos would det:-actfrom the principle.

From the point of view of the com­petitors, this type of racing would bemuch more fun since one would knowwhere one stood at all times and thefirst glider home would be th'e winner.Similarly it would be possible to drumup considerably more spectator interestsince the contestants would appear onc~each lap and the leading man wouldreally be in the lead. The mass startmight be well worth watching, too. Ifour contest fees are. to be kept down,we really must consIder how to makethe sport more attractive to the spectatorpublic.

Finally, I would like to offer my ownesoecial vote of thanks to the R.A.F.Gliding and Soaring Association andall those whose hard work contributedto the enormous success of this year'sChampionships. Their only reward isthe satisfaction of a job welt done. andyet without them we would never getoff the ground.

Manuel's LatestM R. w. L. Manuel, of Chertsey,

. whose Wren series of sailplanesdid much flying in Britain in pre-waryears and made many of the earliestcross-country flights, has built a man­po~ered aircraft in the hope of corn­petmg f.or the £5.000 Kremer prize.Photos m Shell Aviatioll News (No.287, 1962) show it to have been builtaround an ordinary bicycle. The wingsare of rat!Ier small span, with a pro­nounced dIhedral an~le, square tips andno taper, and the wmg roots meet justbelow the level of the saddle, which is

20l

at about the posltLOn of the main spar.The tail is conventional with a tallrudder. The pedals drive both the backwheel and a propellor mounted at theend of a skeleton pylon which projectshorizontally forwards above the frontwhee1. The propeller drive is geared toa 10: 1 ratio. giving 1,500 Lp.m. at 30m.p.h. The handlebars are modified toturn both the front wheel and therudder, and arc moved backwards andforwards to work the elevator; but­"there are no ailerons".

Fair Winds for Franceby Flight Liellt. P. D. Lane

;; , flLtHIl.cJltll

•,

,l~t,,/

,,,/ ,

( ,,~

.... ·A.....'

"" '.... j .. /, .rM""'~•LfM....~ ,

• IO'lU~'. ,"Bl(ll~ • I. ,

'N4nh: T.... rl t, ..,~"'-~...!Ol<J

...~I. ,Fu" LtWt P O. ~tlt

~ ,-,~~,,~p,ou~t Of fLlGlIT I~ I

5«'<1~~ll"3F, \ST~::",allT\Sl' 101_ 1lIU'l

W

• .. , ..,~u ...~, ,

-';"'.ie...",

~• ~

THE R.A.F. Germany Gliding Corn·petitions were in progress at R.A.F.

Geilenkirchcn. and 1st June, 1.9.62 ,promised to be another good competltlO,"day. At Met. briefing John Mackenziesaid that the north-westerly airstreamwhich gave a good rac~ to KoblenzlNiedermendig the prevIous day hadveered to north-east, but that the in­stability continued and would give goodsoaring conditions over most of thecoastal plain after about 10.30. Hepromised a wind from 3.30 around 20knots at 2,000 ft., tending to veer andincrease a little over France. and halfcover of shallow cumulus with a highincreasing base. Further south-west hesuggested that the air would be drier,giving strong blue thermals.

Free Distance was set to give thepilots a crack at the 300-krn. goal, andseveral nominated Plessis-de-BellevilleAirfield, N.E. of Paris.

] asked Mac what the chances of aSOO-km. distance were, and he said thatit was definitely a day to try it. I wantedto be airborne really early, but headvised a start around 10.30 to eliminatethe chance of an early fumble. Thermalswere already popping by 09.30, so wecompromised and I agreed to be awayas near to 10 o'clock as possible.

Launching was due to start at 10.30,but I agreed to have my retrieve crewsee me off and nominated Le Mans asa SOO-km, goal.

My crew chief, J IT Dave Parslowvolunteered to winch me off, and as w~towed the Skylark 3F out to the far endof the fiel~ we COUld. see a long cloudstreet formmg downwind towards LiegeI towed the Skylark a little faster in th~h~pe of catc.hing this street, droppinghIm at the Winch on the way

The winch had been D.I.'d andwarmed up ready by the Gliding Centreground crew, and I was airborne al10.~, barely a quarter of an hour afterleaVing the hangar.

Reachi~g 1,300 ft. on the launch, IfI~w uPW:lnd to a small forming Cu andchJ!lbed In weak lift for the first SOO ftTIns eventually gave me 2 metres/sec. t~

202

3,Soo ft. and I flew west to ..cloud street lying about a mil~om theCruising at 60 knots under the away.the Skylark had covered over 30 str~et.by 10.30 and. I left the street at 4S00II;Sabo.u~ Smiles S.W. of Lie e' ~.poSitIon showed me that the ~i~d ThISa slightly greater northerly componhad

than I expected, so I steered 245 (")'heading for Paris. c

I saw the small cumulus cloud COydecreasing ahead of me, but an omino~~layer of shallow strato-cumulus lay notfar away to the south over the Eiffeland I praye~ that it wouldn't spreadover the plam south-west of it. Thereseemed to be no convenient street so Istuck to the planned heading. I foundthat the thermals were becomingnarrower and my MacCready scaleindicated around 6S knots, so the Sky­lark would fly right through the ther.mals before 1 could establish a tightturn. I had to fly reciprocal heading fora few seconds to find myself in liftagain, but usually my rate of climb wasbetter than 2 metres. The lift fell offmarkedly just below cloud, but the base

had risen to 5,000 ft. by mid-day.T was still drifting south of. track and

passed 4 miles north of RheIms/Cham­pagne just before 1 o'clock, so I head~d

255 (c) and spent a few acrobaticmoments calculating my ground speed.This worked out to be around 43 k,:<:,ts,despite the fact that I was not cr~lIsmgbelow 2,500 ft. Only about two-eighthsof cloud remained to keep sun off, sosome very erratic courses ~ere steeredwhile 1 manufactured a pundit-type soar·iog hat from my handkerchief. J ex­tracted some sweets for lunch from animmensely strong polythene bag andmade a mental note to open the nextone before take-off.

At 2.15 I crossed the Seine west ofthe airfield of Melun/Villaroche withthe weather looking perfect ahead ofme so I realised that I ought to passthe' magic 500-km. line by 4 o'clock withany reasonable luck, but I would haveto alter heading considerably cross·windto reach Le Mans. I had just decided toforget the declared goal and use myhigh ground-speed to fly the maximumdistance when I realised that I was downclose to 2,000 ft. without passing throughan acceptable thermal in the last 1,000 ft.When I remembered Mac's advice tostay high, I thought [ was about to collectthe just reward of over-confidence andsink to earth. However, [ struck a bluethermal giving over 3 metres per sec. to6,200 ft. and left it heading 215 (c),downwind towards Orleans. The cloudswere becoming very scattered with abase over 6,000 ft. by 3.30 and shadowsseemed to indicate a tailwind of over~O knot~, but I thought there could behttle wmd shear where I was flyingbecause tbe thermals were not distorted.Vi~ibility was excellent and my next pin­pomt was crossing the Loire just south­east of Orleans. I was delighted to seethat I needed only another half·an-hourairborne to clear 500 km. due west ofTours.

During the next hour all cloud dis­appeared, but the dry thermals remainedvery strong. When I passed the clusterof lakes .east of Blois and had mysecond Diamond in the bag, I did acouple of chandelJes to celebrate.

I could still see the high cloud fromth~ fr~mt mentioned by Mac at briefingIymg m the south-east but the leadingedge of the cirrus see~ed to be making

WARM CLOTHINGWHILST YOU WAIT

BLACK'S p.oyide a wide renge 01 ge'lI'Ientllo keep'he cold oul both whibl YOU weil yOUI ' .... n and in

lIigh'. Fo. flxllmple,BLACK'S ANORAK Renowned '0' i'l r...ggedwea.ing and ucept;onal windprool quali'ie•. Com.plete with hood 10 giye all-weathe. plolecHon in

32" '0 4-4" che.' size•. £3 195. 6d. 'For ' ... 11 detaill o'BLACK'S ouldoor clothing end allolh.. BLACK ploducll w,ile fo. your ,.ee copy 01

the "Good Companionl" Catalogue.

THOMAS BLACK &. SONS(Greenock) LTD.

Indult/illl Eltate, Po.t Gla.gow, RenheWlhi.e

no progress to the west, so I thoughtthere should be a couple of hours' soar·ing left. Thinking of my crew phoningback from somewhere north of Paris. Iwondered if they'd guess I was crossingthe line when they got no news.

Just after 5 o'clock I had passed thearea of lakes between Poitiers andChateauroux and realised that in 20miles I would fly off the edge of mymap. I visualised my fellow·navigatorsmumbling about "lack of flight plan·ning" and thought how right they werewhen I remembered the large bar ofchocolate which usuaUy lived alongsidethe airbrake lever!

For most of the afternoon I left tbethermals at 6,000 ft. and cruised at 65knots in nearly 2 metres sink, climbingin the next thermal I found around2,500 ft. I seemed to be climbing againevery 20 minutes.

Realising [ could easily get lostand my altimeter was set to zero ontake·off, I decided to treat it with sus·picion and stay high, especially as itwas getting late in tbe day, but theride was definitely becoming smoothertowards 6 o'clock and I felt that I mightland within half an hour. There seemedto be no drift on my heading of 215,and what smoke J saw showed a surfacewind just east of north, so I stuck to it.

At 6.15 I made a slow, rather difficultclimb from 2,600 to 5,100 ft.. but thiswas the last good thermal I found, andshortly after [ was scratching around at1,900 Ct. indicated, thinking what a poorlanding area lay below me. J crossedquite a large winding river whilst climb­ing to 3,500 ft. and saw a fair·sizedtown lying on it to the south. but thesurrounding area looked anything butflat. J flew on sOllth-west, descending to

203

wasn't the sort of map for an acemeasurement. Urate

With the help of the V.S. Arm bat Braccone I sent a telephone ;es aseback to Geilenkirchen, but this unsIage

I "d or"lunate y arn,:c c~rrupt and causednearly a day s wait for my crewPlessis dc Belleville. at

After an excellent dinner with thedo.ctor, rounded off by a very appro_poate cognac~ the Skylark was carriedby a proceSSIOn down the main streetto be locked up against the unwelcomeattentions of the a.A.s. in the gen­darmerie courtyard!

Then followed the marathon retrievelasting nearly three days, during whichmy gallant crew covered 1,320 mileswith my Citroen and trailer and showeddozens of papers to more Customs menthan they care to remember. It was nottill we were on our way back and foundin the car the latest copy of SAILPLANEAND GLIDING that we realised to ourdelight that I had set a new BritishNational distance record.

I 800 ft and climbed back to 2,200 ft.i~ very·' weak lift. Down at 1,700 ft.indicated, ] seemed to .be a little lowerthan the altimeter reading and began tomake a determined search for a flatplace to land. .

I spotted the village of Hlersac aheadof me and judged it was about as faras T could safely go. so I decided on theisolated football pitch lying in a. hollo~alongside the main road. ]t was Just. bigenough and had one diagon~1 nearly Intowind so after a few warned momentswith' telephone wires on the boundary,I landed at 6.55, after 8 hours and50 minutes airborne.

I had quite a frustrating few minuteswith the crowd at first, because myFrench is virtually non-existent and Icouldn't even show a map which theycould point at, but I was able to ask ifthey had anyone in the village whospoke English, and the local doctor wasfetched.

With his help I was able 10 post guardover the Skylark and went to the gen­darmerie, where they had luckily a"Carte de France". This showed me thatI had landed near Angouleme, N.E. ofBordeaux, exceeding 460 miles, but

EDITORIAL NOTE.- Thisnow been homologated:was 460.5 miles.

record basthe distance

CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHIESwinner of Individual Championship,LoNDONDERRY CUP.- H. C. N. Goodharl, 1

League I.L. Du GAROE PEACH TROPHY.- G. W. Mackworth-Young and R. E. F. Smith,

winners of Team Championship, League I.FURLONG TROPHY.- I. W. Strachan, winner of Individual Championship, Leagu7 2.FIRTH VICKERS TROPHY.- M. Bird and D. M. Riddell, winners of Team ChampIOn­

ship, League 2.KEMSLEY CuP.~ London Gliding Club, for highest scoring entry in either League:

Skylark 2 flown by C. P. A. Jetfery.EoN CuP.- Royal Air Force, entrant of highest scoring British·built glider of

the type most strongly represented (Skylark 3 flown by I. W. Strachan):SUNGSBY TROPHY.~ Royal Air Force entrant of highest scoring British-bUIlt two·

seater glider of the type most stro'ngly represented (Eagle flown by J. Delafield).PAN AMERICAN TROPHY.-To Standard Class Champion: not awarded as no

Standard Class entrant reached 80 per cent of National Champion's score.Inter-Service Team Championship

SALMO:-lD MEMORIAL TROPHY.~ Royal Air Force winning team: Sgl. J. S. William­son, Flt.-Lt. F. D. Cretney, FIt.-Lt. G. A. Coatesworth.

Int~r~Service Individual ChampionshipEMMEIT TRoPHY.-Capt. H. C. N. Goodhart, R.N.

R.A.F Individual ChampionshipsMcEvoy TROPHY.-Sgt. J. S. Williamson (League 1).KEMSLEY TROPHY.-FII.-Lt. I. W. Strachan (League 2).

204

THE NATIONAL GLIDINGCHAMPIONSHIPS

Aston Down, 2nd to 11 th June, 1962

OTE.-We are indebted to Mr. loh" Findlater and Mr. Peter Wickham, who gavethe meteorological briefings during the Champiollships, lor the daily weather charts,and for the accompanying notes 011 each day's weather which are printed ill italics.

S,,-rvRb.o.y2,wc.,-,:z. ..t 05"'.0

Only League 2 was set a task, a 6~!­mile triangle via Burford and the W.hlteHorse Hill at Wantage, but clamp arnvedafter only three pilots had got round.They were:

m.p.h.39.825.1419.95

SailplaneSyklark 3DSyklark 2Sky

early mOrtling. To the west of the cloudlayer Strong thermals developed duringthe day alld were capped by smallcumulus from 5,000 to 7,000 ft. Thelayer of stratocumulus edged slowlywestward during the day alld by earlyevening had cast its shadow over mostof the triangle set for League 2, withthe result that only three pilots com·pleted the full course.

SATURDAY, 2ND JUNE.-An anticyclonelay over Ireland and weak frollts over Piloteastem Englalld gave a layer of strato- Strachancumulus cloud whose edge lay from PaulnOrlh to sowh through Oxford ;11 the Jeffery

205

Saturday. 2nd JuneMr.. Julian ~mery, Secretary of State

for Air, flew In to perform the openingceremony, and was taken up for thesec~:md glider flight of his life by AirCh,e.f Marshal Sir Theodore McEvoy.President of the R.A.F. Gliding andSoaring Association, the organizers of themeeting. Sir Theodore found a thermalfor .Mr: Amery and left him to carry onup In It.

TASKS were set and flown on everyday of this year's Championships

except the last, and even that eventuallyproved soarable.

Reckoning only the flights whichearned points, League 1 flew 32,889 milesin eight days compared with 32,341miles in the first eight days last year,and League 2 flew 26,082 miles in eightdays compared with 14,689 miles lastyear. The total, 58,971 miles, is a record,and much of its increase over last yearcan be attributed to the enhanced skill ofLeague 2 pilots, though this year's totalswere achieved by only 40 entries in eachLeague, compared with 50 in League 1and 45 in League 2 last year.

Hours flown were 1,269 by League Iand 1,112 by League 2. making 2,381 inall. Flights made were respectively 349and 308, making 657, so that the milesper glider were 94.2 in League 1 and84.7 in League 2, and hours per flight3.63 for League I and 3.61 for League 2.

Tasks included the first 300-kilometreT.riangle ever set in this country, and 28pilots got round it.

Sunday, 3rd June

SUNJ)A"'1'

3-~.(,,2. ....t O~oO

$,

PilotWilliamsonGoodhartD~Drummond

KahnBurgessIrvingBurton

m.p.h.35.234.832.731.931.1

30.4530.0

SUNDAY, 3RD JUNE.-TIJe sheet ofstratocumulus which reached AsfonDown the previous evening crossed thesea completely during tile night and, withthe anticyclone moving east across thecountry, the weather was set fair for agood day with thermals building stronglyto over 5,000 ft., but wilh only frag­mentary cumulus to mark them. A windshear which persisted all day in the con­vection layer made the thermals ratherdifficult to work. and sea air reachedCerne Abbas during the afternoon; butdespite these factors, conditioflS weregood enough for well over half of eachLeague to complete the long tasks whichhad been set for them.

LEAGUE 1: Race round 300-km. trianglevia Cerne Abbas "Old Man" andLasham; actual distance 190.1 miles;course S. by W., E.N.E., N.W. by W.

LEAGUE 2: Out-and-return race toLasham and back, 109.2 miles.

LEAGUE I were launched first. Exceptfor the earlier arrivals, Cerne Abbasgave trouble to many, and two pilotswere stuck there for two hours, which~as a quarter of their total journeytIme. The sea breeze had come in butdid not cause complete clamp; it loweredthe cloud base by 1,000 f1. and con­tained some small cumulus.' Only one

HIGH E.RCAlLSKll.EW5e.uF\.~""

LONG"M'I'NO

,,<

,0Y~J.Vll

OUNK£~WEll

~~__-;;C[Jl.N" AsMS

L::::'...---2=:.....-J206

mistaken by many for sea air, but thiswas a false alarm, for it provided ther­mals just as good as under the cumulusto the north. Philip Jeffery made thefastest speed but Roger Dickson, withthe help of ~ handicap bonus, beat himon points. Mike Bird and Brian Jeffersontied for second~best speed.

valley produced good thermals for theroute set for both leagues, but tlte secondleg, almost straight ifi/O a 13~knot head~

wind. proved difficult due to a lack 0/reliable thermals i" some areas. Com­petitors who reached the second turllink­poifl/ in good time were rewarded withall easy downwind final leg.

MOf'IllA.'(

4- ~ -(,2. ...t 05"'00

MONDAY, 4TH JUNJ!..-With the anti­cyclone settled Over East A nglia andpatches of stratocu11luIus moving clear ofthe area, fine conditions prevailedthough a low ;,lversiOIl limited thermalsto .4,000 ft. and prevented condensation.With moderate easterly winds the Sevem

League 2: Leading TotalsPaul 1919 Collier &Strachan 1872 Sutc1iffe 1495Jeffery 1842 Willbie 1335Bacon 1746 Rutherford 1305

Monday. 4th June

m.p.h.30.5330.4429.8529.4729.0028.9928.8128.6828.1327.6426.8926.37

1 : Fastest SpeedsSailplaneOlympia 419Olympia 419Skylark 3FSkylark 3Skylark 3sSkylark 38Olympia 419Olympia 419Skylark 30Skylark 4Olympia 419xSkylark 3F

2: Course Complete.lfSailplane m.p.lt.Skylark 38 25.1Skylark 38 23.4Skylark 3s 23.0

LeaguePilotStrachanHuntJefferson

PilotGoodhartWilliamsonJamesStoneKahnBurtonCretneyD-DrummondBurgessWillsScottDunn

League

LEAGUE 1 and LEAGUE 2: Race round231 ~km. Triangle via Shobdon (Leomin­ster) and Wellesbourne Mountford(Stratford-on-Avon). Distance 142.2miles; course N.W., E. by S., S.W.

League 2 had first launches under aclear sky; the first wisps of cloudappeared at 1 p.m. but the cumulusnever exceeded 2/8 and were becomingflat by 4 p.m. Pilots found them short­lived, but they and the thermals tendedto form in groups.

What with both Leagues doing thesame task, competitors did not lack forcompany, and for most of the way thethermals were well populated.

Sixteen of League 1 and three ofLeague 2 got round. The second leg wasthe most difficult, the landing pins onthe control room map showing the firsthalf to be the worst. Weak thermalscaused excessive backward drift. Therewere no landings along most of the firstleg and none in the middle section of thethird.

A few got lost around Shobdon, andone pilot carried on 45 miles beyond itto a point near Oswestry.

Pts.1.000

992956951936936

was ID

League 2: Leading ScoresSailplane m.p.h.Gull 4 22.75Sky 27.00Olympia 2 21.7Skylark 2 23.65Skylark 3F 25.5Skylark 38 25.5

handicapping systemforce in League 2.

PilotDicksonJefferyBaconPaulBirdJeffersonNote: A

207

206

Skrzyd­from

ill his

7:u

"Stall"lewskiPolandFoka.

Courtesyof "Flight"

L~ading Totals, 4th JuneLEAGUE 1 LEAGUE

WiIliamson 1998 StraehanGoodhart 1985 JefferyD-Drumrnond 1854 PaulKahn 1834 JeffersonBurgess 1781 BaconBurton 1764 HuntJames 1748 Sutcliffe &Cretney 1688 CollierSeott 1683 SnodgrassStone 1647 Gaze

Tuesday, 5th JuneTuESbAY

S"~~~"2 od: 05"'00

2288224722235215420581983

195219011882

TUESDAY, 5TH JUNE.-The anticyclonewas still building over East Anglia andthe inversion had lowered to 3,500 ft.with a i5-knot easterly wind in the con~

vective layer. Thermals were expected tobe shallow in depth and narrow in width,with little or no cumulus formation. ForLeague 2 the task 0/ Free Distance gavea wide choice. They could go south-westto Cornwall, which meant a cross-windleg at first and the strong possibility 0/a good deal 0/ the Cornish Peninsulabeing unattainable due to the influence0/ sea air. Altertlatively, they could gotowards Anglesey with less trouble fromsea breezes but with limited soaringspace between the mountains and theinversion level. Thirdly, they could gostraight downwind along the south coast0/ Wales, but here again sea air wasexpected to move well inland. The land­ing board at the end of the day showedan almost equal spread along all threeroutes. Some 0/ the competitors whowent to the south-west experienced severeturbulence at levels lip 10 2,000 ft. in Ihelee 0/ hills ill Devon, probably causedby rotor [fow.

LEAGUE I: 76.5 miles Triangle viaBroadway Tower (on Cotswold hilltop)and Faringdon Folly (365 trees on hill).Course N.E. by N., S.S.E., W. by N.

The ceiling really was at around 3,500ft. (only 2,000 ft. above BroadwayTower) and under it Nick Goodhart, oneof 28 to get round, scooted along con~

siderab1y faster than anyone else, taking2 hr. 16 min. Thermals were crowded

209

m.p.h.33.728.427.927.527.226.325.224.3

Philip JeOery. COllrlesy 0/ "Flight'

again: at 1.20 p.m., there were 22 sail­planes in a single thermal over AstonDown. Phi lip Wills said it was "like abarn dance: you got into a thermal witheight people and couldn't get away ­neither could they".

Unfortunately the Polish Foka wasbroken when landing on the second leg.

League 1: Fastest SpeedsPilor SailplaneGoodhart Olympia 419Wills Skylark 4Burgess Skylark 3GWilliamson Olympia 419D·Drummond Olympia 419Cretney Olympia 419Kahn Skylark 38Carrow Skylark 38

Slowest speed, 17.1 m.p.h.LEAGUE 2:Free Distance.League 2 had first launches, as they

had further to go - if they could. Withan east wind they had a choice of theCornish Peninsula (Land's End 194 miles),North ,Wales (Carmel Head in Anglesey156 miles), or South Wales (SI. David'sHead 116 miles). Actually 25 made forCornwall, 8 for North Wales, and 5 forSouth Wales. All routes led towardsmountains whose tops were not farbelow the inversion, and sea breezeswere exoected on bcth sides of theBristol Channel as well as both sides ofthe Cornish Peninsula .. lan Strachan went furthest to 5t. Evalm Cornwall, 150 miles, keeping near thenorth coast. The inversion lowered from3,000 to 2.000 ft. as he went westwardmaking things awkward along the high

210

ground from BlIde onwards, Where wind.shadow. thermals ke~t him going toWadebndge, from which he glided Outthe remaining 8 miles. 1. Delafield with119 miles 10 Bude, made third best dist.ance of the day - second best on theCornish rOllle, and his Eagle's handicapbonus gave him second highest points

Chris Wills and A. Pickles made 'asolitary group on the Dorset coast alBridport, and Peter Collier fled northfrom the sea breeze al Lyme Bay but ilgot him in the end. '

At Parkham, by Bideford Bay. RanWillbie hit a bank, put his machine outof ~ction .and hurt his nose; ~hil Jeffery,seemg thiS from 3,000 ft., Immediatelycame down and landed. As he had beengoing up well at the time, all competitorsat a subsequent briefing agreed to corn'pensate him for this gallant act bycrediting him with an extra 15 miles.

Easily the best of the North Walesaspirants was Mike Bird, who avoidedthe mountains by going round the north­east corner and along the coast to Col­wyn Bay, where he landed on a hill. Hefound it difficult all the way, and nevergot above 2,500 ft. The next best, New-

.e., ....., •. .,. .."i.•

•

"t

holme and Jefferson, landed within sightof Wales at Oswestry.

Best distances along South Wales wereboth 72 miles: by George Whit field toa spot in the mountains which the localpronunciation did not enable him totelephone through till someone procureda pencil and paper; and by Don Snod·grass to the beach at Port Talbot afterwandering across the north/south valleysand getting wind-shadow thermals off theeasl slope of each one.

PilotStrachanDelafieldBirdJefferyWillbie

League 2: LongestLandingSt. EvalNr. BudeColwynParkhamParkham

DistancesMiles150.3119.2127.2106.6106.6

Pts.1000838824665665

WEDNESDAY, 6TH JUNE.-The pressurepatte!1I had changed little from theprevIous. day, alld superficially the dayseemed bkely to prodlice similar weather.However, a flew feature was a largepatch of fog (md low stratllS movingwestwards from eastern England. As theSIlIl rose, the edge of the sheet turnedinto small cumulus, and evellluafly thewhole layer dispersed without much ofrhe low cloud reaching Astoll Down. Theair was damp alld hazy, and took severalhOllrs to warm sufficiemly to produceeven weak thermals. Not IIl1til fairly latein the afternOOIl did the thermals becomestrong. Pilots who elected to go to the1I0rth·west travelled with the difficultsoaring conditio liS. Smoke haze in therather stable air filled most of the valleysof eastern Wales.

Leading Totals, 5th JuneLEAGUE J LEAGUE 2

Goodhart 2985 Strachan 3872WilIiamson 2766 Jeffery 3J37D·Drummond 2611 Paul 2775Burgess 2563 Jefferson 2688K.ho 2525 Del.field 2588Cretney 24J4 Collier &lames 2392 Sutc1iffe 256JScott 2269 Hunt &Dimock 2133 Gregg 2444

Wednesday, 6th JuneWEbNESJ)A"'(

~-(,-(,L .i; 0,",0

LEAGUE J: Free Distance.LEAGUE 2: Out-and·return Long Mars­

ton, 64 miles; but the task was cancelledowing to prolongation of League 1launchings.

With a similar wind, the geographicalspread available to League 1 was muchthe same as it had been to League 2 theday before, but there was a strip of highcloud across the western borders ofEngland and Wales. Nearly everyonemade for North Wales, and Nick Good·hart drew a line on his map acrossAnglesey to the Skerries, but calculatedthat he would need 12,000 ft. over Snow­don to make the remaining 55 miles tothe Isle of Man, and Snowdon's summitwas in an inversion.

Only three set off for Cornwall. butthey included the day's winner, Phi lipWills who thereby raised himself from14th to 5th place. Two or three miles outto sea over Bridgwater Bay was someodd form of sea-breeze lift. providing acloud which he went into; after thatthere were wind·shadow thermals. andfinally a line of lift north of thecentre' of the Cornish Peninsula whereapparently two sea breezes met. AndyGough reached Tiverton. half-waybetween Devon's north and south coasts,and Rika Harwood crossed BridgwaterBay to Watchet after hopping alongmost of the way in thermals fromestuarine mud flats.

Most of Britain's top pilots gotbogged down among the mountains ofEast Central Wales and in western

211

\

Thursday, 7th June

THURSDAY. 7TH JUNE.-:-The S)'1I0~~:~siWatioll !lad changed /tule fro;" firstpreviolls day. though there wer~ fOceall .signs 0/ froms from fhe AI/antIC d alldThin cirrtls cloud covered Irela~~tl the,he Irish Sea bllt did "ot , "ea d thecontest area. With light winds all dryinver,\'ioll base af 6,000 /f .. st~Ollg con­fhemw/s provided good soarllfgditiofls.

League 1 : Leading Totals

Goodhart 3479 ScottD-Drummond 3086 FieldenWilIiamson 3067 JamesBurgess 3028 CretneyWills 2889 Kahn

26662656264525982550

Pis.100063054849447l475465450442441418413409397388

Free Distance ­bllt whither onthe map?

1: Longest Distances

Landing MilesNewquay 158.4Hawarden 107.1Leek 95.8Penybont 88.4L1anerfy 86.0L1anfyllin 85.8L1anmynech 84.2Weston 82.3Tiverton 81,1L1andrimo 81.0Montford 77.8Welsh pool 77.1Stafford 76.6Minsterley 75.0Minsterley 73.7

League

PilotWillsA. BurnsFieldenGoodhartBurtonD-DrummondBurgessCoatesworthGoughStarkTrvingInceMannScottDunn

~-=Shropshire. including Peter Scott., whowas trying to get as near as possible toManchester, where he had to catch aplane that eveni!lg in order to attend adinner' in Amenca next day. Many ofthem found that towns gave better ther­mats' after trying to get good ones from, .bills and mountalOs.

But Anne Burns bypassed all this.Although her crew had set off forDevon, she thought it looked betternorthwards, so struck of( due north andgot the best thermals of the day fromthe "Black Country" near Wolverhamp­ton. She then decided that, as the windmight drift her into the ManchesterControl Zone further north, she hadbetter keep west of it, and althoughShropshire's thermals were poor, thisnorth-westerly course led her to Hawar­den, west of Chester. Thus she beat allthe other pundits except Philip Wills,but only got 630 points because he hadexceeded her by 51 miles.

Others to go due north were RogerMann, who was disappointed with theMalverns and after that saw too muchcirrus to the N.W., and John Fielden,who deliberately made for the Penninesin the hope of continuing along theirwest side in lee waves, He actually foundone which maintained him at 2,500 ft.,but it was of limited length and hefinally had to glide from it down toLeek.

Wally Kahn unfortunately hit a con­cealed hump when landing on a com­mon, and remained earthbound there­after.

212

970896895878864

Pts.10001000984944935864853835834833

248604310368835923558

L: Fastest SpeedsSailplane m.p.h.Olympia 419 43.7Skylark 4 43.7Olympia 419 43.2Skylark 4 41.8Olympia 419 41.7Skylark 38 39.2Skylark 3G 38.6Skylark 3F 38.2Skylark 3F 38.1Skylark 38 38.1

League

DelafieldCarrSpouiswoodJetreryBird

L:adjng Totals, 7tb JuneLEAGUE 1 LEAGUE

Goodhart 4479 StrachanD-Drummond 4070 JetreryWi1liamson 4002 JeffersonWills 3889 PaulBurgess 3761 Delafield

PilotGoodhartWillsD-DrummondMannWilliamsonBurtonM-YoungDunnStephensonA. Burns

Eagle 37.9Skylark 38 38.0Skylark 38 38.1Sky 37.4Skylark 3F 37.0

Slowest speed, 21.1 m.p.h.

In LEAGUE I, 34 of 38 competitorscompleted the course. Philip Wills andNick Goodhart tied for first place withexactly 1 hr. 55 min. 44 sec. each, Good·hart's start and finish both being 23 min.9 sec. later than Wills's.

Bredon Hill region on the second legwas found the most troublesome spot byJohn Williamson and Tony Deane·Drummond, who did 10 minutes' lowscraping there. Brennig lames whohurried too fast and came dow~ nearMalvern, found quite large areas ofstrong downcurrent and large areas ofweak lift.

TWvRSbAVI 7-1,,-~2 "" .5".0

League 2: Fastest Spee-dsPilot Sailplane m.p.h. Pts.lefferson Skylark 38 41.3 1000Strachan Skylark 38 40.9 988Snodgrass Skylark 3F 40.9 988

LEAGUE I: Race round 135-km.Triangle via Malvern College Rugbypitch and Moreton-in-Marsh airfield(84.2 miles). Course N.N.W., £.8.£.,S.W.

LEAGUE 2: Race to High Ercall airfieldnear Shrewsbury, 75.1 miles N.N.W.

LEAGUE 2 was launched first and 36 of39 pilots got there; Delafield was first toarrive at 15.09 and ULefty" Kurylowiczlast at 16.33.

Philip WiIls's firsteC1l1est laufleh inhis Skylark 4.

Courtesy0/ "Flight"

213

Dealle-Drllmmond. /' I "COllrtesy 0/ "F /8 /t

1 : Highest Scoring FlightsProj. ODDist. Set242.2 0.0212.7 3,1208.7 0.1203.8 2.3202.2 0.8203.1 2.7t98.3 0.0205.7 I J.l204. t to.2187.3 0.0184.3 0.2t8Ll 0.0

Tony

League

Pilot LandingGoodhart LoughboroughWills C_ LawfordD-Drummond RugbySmith BadbyBurton Daventrylames DaventryCretney DaventryA. Burns NorthamptonPiggott NorthamptonCoatesworth CroughtonFielden BicesterWarminger Bicester- ..

Airfields were good for thermals, butnot as good as t~wns; and .Gcorge Bur­ton had drawn nngs on hiS map-COverround selected towns and airfields atsuitable intervals, as if choosing before_hand which of the available thermals hewould use. Reported ceilings to thethermals varied from 4,000 to 6,400 fl

Everyone was advised to put all car~and trailers into h~ngars that night, as aneighbouring agncultur.al college washaving its annual dmner, but theexpected raiding party failed to appearon target.

in the following two tables, the pro­jected distance along the set line is givenin miles; "Off Set" is the distance of thelanding point from the set line, which issubtracted from the projected distancebefore awarding points. The names arein order of points earned, and, in thecase of League 2, after handicaps havebeen allowed for.

."

Friday, 8th June

FRlbA'<8-"-1..2. .oX 05"110

FRIDAY, 8TH JUNE.-The anticyclonewas declining alld moving south-west­wards across southern England, givingstrong dry tllermafs up to about 5.000 ft.Usable thermals began at about 10.30B.S.T. and persisted umU a fittle after19.00 B.S.T., enabling long distances tobe attained. Apart from a few smallpatches of cirrus cloud the sky was clearall day.

LEAGUE L Yeovil, Lasham, then alonga line through Berwick-upoD-Tweed.

LEAGUE 2: Yeovil, Lasham, then alonga line through Great Orme's Head.

Courses: S.S.W. to Yeovil (58 miles),E.N.E. to Lasham (72 miles), N. by W.to Berwick (315 miles), N.W. to GreatOrme (193 miles).

Landing pins on the map showed thatthe first leg was easy; there was a badpatch N.W. of Winchester on the secondleg. Beyond, League I tended to landin groups: one around Aldermaston, anda big one from Oxford to Bicester, witha good soaring area beyond it toDaventry. Newbury region broughtseveral of League 2 down, and the threeto go furthest landed close together atLechlade. Three pilots were worried wereby the sea breeze reaching Shaftesburyon the second leg.

214

4 t 16

4028

.",

LEAGUE I: Out-and-Return Race toLasham and back; 119.2 miles.

LEAGUE 2: Race round 134-km.Triangle via Keevil and Membury. Dist­ance 83.3 miles; course 5., N.E. by E.,N.W. by W.

League I's track passed only a littlesouth of the third leg of League 2'5triangle, so all approached the finishingline from about the same direction. InLeague I, 30 of 39 finished the course,and in League 2, ]9 of 39. The scene atthe finishing line was exciting; manypilots only just made it, and some onlyjust didn't. Derek Piggott came to a stopa few yards beyond, and Peter Soottand M ick Kaye landed 100 and 200 yds.

SATUR.b"Y~-~-\'2 ,.± 0,"0

~

SATURDAY, 9TH JUNE.-With the anti­cyclone now to the south-west of thecourltry and Atlamic froms moving intoScotland, the upper layers were becomingunstable, and bands of cirrus and alto­cumulus castellanus lay not far to theIlorth arid west of Aston Down. Ther­mals were building strongly to 4.000 ft.by mid-day before upper cloud thinnedout the thermal population. The upperwind increased during the aftemoonfrom 5 kt. to 10 kt. and added to thedifficulties of completing the last fewmiles back to ASIOIl Dowfl.

Saturday. 9th June

3994

258014677450144034232

League 2: Highest Scoring FlightsProj. 00

Pilot Landing Di~·t. SetSpoltiswood Lechlade 176.6 0.1Kerridge Lechlade 174.9 0.0Jetferson Lechlade 175.4 0.6Evans. Kingsclere 155.1 0.0Strachan Faringdon ]67.5 0.4Dawson Woodgarston 140.7 0.2Delafield Newbury 149.9 1.3Hanneman Newbury 149.5 1.6Collins Hungerford 158.2 9.7Riddell Welford 154.8 0.6

·Hors COflcours (Irish visitor).Leading Totals, 8th June

LEAGUE 1 LEAGUEGoodhart 5479 StrachanO-Orummond 4918 JeffersonWills 4742 JefferyBurgess 4426 DelafieldWilliamson 4417 PaulCretney 4206 RiddeJl &Fielden 4190 BirdSurton 4086 Collier &Stephenson 4022 SutcliffeA. Burns 4014 Gregg &Stone 3767 Hunt

215

CoatesworthM-YoungBurgessShephardCretneyJames

LeaguePilotBurtonGoodhartD-DrummondWilliamsonWills

L : Fastest SpeedsSailplaneSkylark 3BOlympia 419Olympia 419Olympia 419Skylark 4

m.p.h.42.241. 740.238.237.6

Olympia 403Skylark 3GSkylark 3GSkylark 3FOlympia 419Skylark 3F

League 2: Highest ScoresPilot Sailplane m.p.h.Innes Skylark 2 38.3Gaze Ka-6 34.3Strachan Skylark 3B 38.0Bacon Olympia 2 30.8Minton Eagle 32.7Paul Skylark 2 31.2Sea lion Skylark 2 30.3Purnell Skylark 3F 33.9

Leading Totals, 9th JuneLEAGUE 1 LEAGUE

Goodhart 6462 StrachanD-Drummond 5857 JetIcryWills 5597 DelafieldWilliamson 5292 JeffersonBurgess 5249 PaulBurtoll 5108 Bird &Cretney 5018 RiddellA. Burns 4745 Innes &$tephenson 4698 HannemanStone 4530 Bacon

36.836.736.436.336.136.1

PIS.1000902902900866832812811

267035284522251315113

4856

48424683

216

laullching rather difficult and tellded to?reak up thermal.l· dllrillg the late mO!"ll­Ing. By early lljternooll the wind de­creased a little and themwls becamemoderately strOllg and usable. A Iso, theupper air conditiOl/s were sllitable jorthe formatiOIl of lee waves betweenabout 5,000 and 7,000 ft., and although11/0.l't of the hills 011 the task routes werenot quite in the best direction for fullu~e to be made of wave effects, mallYpt/ots encountered lee waves and JO'edthem to some extem.

LEAGUE I: Race to Dunkeswell (Honi­Ion), 75.3 miles S.W.

LEAGUE 2: Andover, then Distancealong a line through SI. Just (Land'sEnd).

LEAGUE 2's line passed jusl south ofExeter and across the middle of Dart­moor, which was the farthest anyone got.The going was very good at first, butmany came down between Yeovil andChard, 95 to 110 miles; between theCrewkerne-Chard-Honilon line and thesea, 10 miles south, there was an areaof blue sky. After that it was goodagain till Exeter Airport, 131 miles,where nine landed (Dawson, Findon,Hanneman, Jerzycki, Rutherford, C.Wills, Call ins, Hunt and Jeffery), whileseven more came down around Exeter afew miles further (Gaze, Delafield, Spot­tiswood, Strachan, Loveland, Neumannand Snodgrass). Only three got up on toDartmoor: Brian Jefferson (144 miles,0.4 miles N. of the line), Mike Riddell(l50.8 miles, 5.4 miles S.) and DavidKerridge (153.5 miles, 4.4 miles S.).

The 1,000 points went to Peter Daw­son, who landed at Exeter Airport withan Olympia 2 and got 20% handicapbonus. Others who landed there scored917 with 10% bonus or 835 witholltbonus.

Highest Scoring FlightsLallding PointsExeter Airport 1000Nr. Exeter 980Nr. Exeter 975Ashburton 970Exeter 958Nr. Exeter 940Ashburton 940Bridford 927

League 2:PilotDawsonGazeDelafieldKerridgeLovelandNeuman'llRiddeJlJefferson

l-oVI

Sunday, 10th June

SVN1>A-<10-(,,-'-2 ...:t OS-DO

SUNDAY, 10TH JUN£.-A cold jrontIlIO~ed sOllthward throl/gh the COl/1l1rydurmg tlie night. leaving the area hI afresh Ilorth-westerly airstream. The ~'Ilr­j(lce wind, Ilorth-west at' /5 kt., made

Another milk-drinking pundit: GeorgeBllrtOl1.

217

A t the starting board.

At the finishing line.

ditiOIl!.i" the early morning did not lookpromISIng for contest /lying. Uppercloud layers were rather thick. thoughbreaks. ill the layers were like~y. and infact did appear by late mor1l/ng. Ther­mals were set off. under the breaks, andwaves appeared In the stable layer jllstabove the small cumulus which formed'but sooring conditions, though goodlocally, were Ilot evenly distribmed overGloucestershire.

The weather was not expected to clearin time for even a short task to becompleted before the prizegiving cere­mony, so the ceremony was advancedto noon. By that time Sir TheodoreMcEvoy, who had taken up the prize­giver, Mr. Rex Stocken, for a circuit ina T-2t, had caught a thermal and washappily floating around at cloud base,when the occupants became conscious ofa crowd waiting for them down below.Eventually M r. Stocken reached thetrophy-laden table and, before distribut­ing the prizes, gave an amusing descrip­tion of how he had competed in the

m.p.h.43.243.040.637.537.435.434.033.632.230.430.3

League 1 : Fasl:st SpeedsPilot SailplaneWilliamson Olympia 419Goodhart Olympia 419Wills Skylark 4Scott Olympia 419xD-Drummond Olympia 419Piggott Olympia 463Gough Ka-6Burton Skylark 38R. Harwood Skylark 38Warminger Olympia 419Dimock Skylark 3F

Slowest: 21.3 and 16.4 m.p.h.

Monday, II th JuneMONDAY, 11TH JUNE.-A belt of rain

ahead of a warm froll! passed throughAston Down during the night. and con-

LEAGUE 1, who were further north,found the only troublesome area to bethe soggy North Somerset plain, .an 18­mile stretch between the Mendlp andQuantock ranges, each of which rises toa Htde over 1,000 ft. and has an escarp­ment facing S.W.

They used various techniques. Mostof them skirted right round it to thesouth near Yeovil. Some carried on., .hoping for a thermal from Bndgwater,three-quarters of the way across; somelucky ones got high enough over theMendips for their laminar-f1ow glidingangles to take them right over; and TonyDeane-Drummond noticed that some tinyhills in the middle of the plain wereproducing a small cumulus cloud or two.

Both Anne Burns and Andy Coulson.after setting out from the Mendips,thought better of it and returned to themto gain more height. Mick Kaye got awave in lee of the Quantocks in anoblique N.N.W_ wind.

216

Courtesy of "Fliglll"first British soaring contest ever held ­at Hford on the South Downs in 1922,forty years before.

The ceremony ended with three cheersfor the Royal Air Force Gliding andSoaring Association, who had laid onsuch an excellent organisation at AstonDown; for Group Captain R. R. Good­body. the Officer Commanding; and AirChief Marshal Sir Theodore McEvoy,president of the Association.

Weather &FlightA course for flyers and

meteorologists

15th - 22nd September1962

Preston Montford Field (entreNear Shrewsbury

The time will be divided between lectures

and practical work, including flights allhe

Midland Gliding Club on the long Mynd.

Details from

The Department of Extra·Mural Studies,

The University,

Birmingham, 15

The cafiteria, apopular eOrller of the{laflgar.Photos, various, byA. E. Slater.

Championships Weather SummaryTHE first week of the Championships

. was dominated by an anticyclonewh,c~ gave mainly easterly winds and acertam amount of stratocumulus duringthe first few days. followed by a periodof almost clear skies and dry thermalswhose depth was limited by the height

219

of the anticyclonic inversion. Towardsthe end of the first week the anticyclonedeclined and allowed ~ome weak frontsto cross the country. bringing alternatingperiods of broken high-level frontalcloud and convection cloud at low levelin the fresh north-westerly polar air.

National Championship ResultsLeague 1

Final Place Pilot or No. o.f Contest Day and Daft!Final Camp.

Op~n Standard 1 2 • 5 6 7 • En/ram or OwnerClass Class Pilots 3,d 4<h 5.h 6.h "h .," '.h 10th Poims No. Sailplane

I. H. C. N. Goodhart '83 1000 1000 .,. 1000 1000 983 99' 7456 " Olympia 419 H. C. G. Buckingham2. A. J. Deane-Drummond 90. 'SO '" 47S 9" "8 939 82' 6681 22 Olympia 419 Army Gliding Assn.3. P. A. Wills 171 923 "5 '000 '000 '" ." 9<9 6516 I Skylark 4 Private Ownn

•• J. S. WiIliamson '000 99. 76' 30' 935 "5 '" '000 6292 86 Olympia 419 R.A.F.5. P. G. Burges5 .45 936 782 '65 m "5 823 39' 5840 139 Skylark 3G Privall~ Owner6. G. E. Burton '0' 93. 165 4;7 .64 816 1000 m 5830 61 Skylark 30 R. Prestwich & Pins.2. F. D. Cretner m 933 725 18' S05 '03 812 ". ".. 205 Olymp:a 419 R.A.F.

•• Annc Burns 102 415 649 630 833 '" 731 5" 5334 19 Skylark 3D Private Owner,. G. H. Stcphenson 699 .41 59< 336 83' 121 616 598 5296 8 Skyluk 31' Private Owner10. A.]i. Stone 616 911 '85 333 151 551 763 391 5127 IOJ Skylark 3 H:lndJey P:'l:C11. H. R. Oimock 673 84. 6" '" 165 721 725 643 SJ21 r50 Skylark 31' Privale Owner11. F. G. Irving '" 420 '" ." 810 '0' '" '" 506' 266 Skylark 4 Pri,'ale Owner

13. I. A. D. Piagon 697 353 637 247 77' 783 797 771 S059 181 Olympia 463 A. Schmidt

14. G. Coatesworth 662 '15 560 450 678 753 832 ,.. 4916 90 Olympia 403 R,A.F.

15. D. B. lames 767 '81 644 2S3 24 812 '" 616 '90' 160 Skylark 3F Private Owner

16. 2. A. W. Gough 615 817 279 442 663 S32 772 733 485] 175 Ka-6 R.A.F.

17. R. E. Dunn 721 ,n 0 388 83S 66' '00 '11 4812 45 Skylark IF R.A.F.

18. J. S. Fjelden 623 863 622 34. '" 739 293 201 4684 200 Skylark 3 Private Owner

19. M. C. Fairman 601 "0 m 380 693 671 689 '78 4585 177 Skylark 3 Private Owner

20. E. G. Shephard 682 442 '" 0 '0' 698 820 '" 4559 52 Skylark IF Army Gliding Assn.

.1. 3. D. H. G. Inee 726 530 0 413 678 70' 78' 610 4450 100 Olympia 460 Elliotts of Newbury

2. R. A. Mann 698 206 603 '09 '44 '41 603 S02 4406 ]6 Skylark 4 Privale Owner

3. J. D. lones 670 SS> 19 348 776 677 663 m 4241 180 Skylark IF Private Owner,. C. W. Bentson '" 49' m '" 697 720 693 0 4221 161 Skylark ]F Private Owner,. P. M. Scon '" 90' 606 '" - 407 299 826 4198 10 Olympia 419:1 Private Owner

6. G. Mackworth-Young m 27 '" 721 .29R. E. F. Smith 208 23 '19 3932 13 Skylark 30 Private Owner

7. D. D. Carrow 746 '" 663 34 790 496 278 470 3912 20 Skylark 3D Private Owner

•• C. A. P. Ellis 617 18. 480 292 '" 614 747 18L 3852 9 Skylark 3 London G.C.,. D. A. Smith 84 m 617 143 7" 817 298 '" 3848 42 Skylark 30 Private Owner

30. A. H. Warminger 84 236 279 32S 741 725 713 647 3750 44 Olympia 419 Private Owner

31. H. Mettam 89 '" 6" 656R. Harwood 187 291 644 68. 3738 65 Skylark 30 Private Owner

32. N. W. Kearon 108 303 S03 32S 81' "1 615 401 3625 73 Skylark 38 R.A.F.33. C. Green 83 442 'SO 20S 642 "6 60' SOl 3583 18 Skylark 3F Private Owner34. D. M. Kaye 266 332 172 336 75' '" 299 '" 3307 60 Eagle 3 Private Owner35. E. Stark 63 240 35 441 731 698 '" '47 3014 190 Skylark 31' Army Gliding Assn.36. J. L. Bayley '" 247 34. 0 780 82 643 200 2689 233 Skylark 4 R.A.F.37. ,. K. R. Aldridge 76 2S3 '" 630 149

D. W. Corrick 0 201 243 1927 3J Skylark 2e R. H. Perron &: Ptns.38. ,. A. Cou1son 68 212 0 0 12' 44' 264 141 1262 3 Olympia 460 Private Owner39. B. J. Davey &

R. T. Cole 102 211 27 0 1" 173 239 249 1146 " Eagle Private OwnerRetired W. A. H. Kahn 876 'SS 691 " - "SO , Skylark 38 Private Owner- - -

Hors COftCOIUSRetired S. Skrzydlewski 26. .63 '6 - - - - - 1187 6 Foka Poland

2

2

22

2

2

2

,

2

Note.-A dash mdlcales that the sailplane was not flown: a zero laat the pilot flew but did 1I0t score

League 2

FintJ! Pilot orNo. of Contest Day and Dore Final Camp.

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Points No. Sailplane Enlnlnl or O ....ntrPlace Pilots 20d 3,d 4<h '<h 7,h 8,h 9<h 10th

-1. LW. Strnchan 1000 872 1000 1000 988 941 902 872 7575 165 Skylark 311 R.A.F.

2. J. Dclalield 469 813 468 838 970 9Q4 760 975 6197 74 Eagle R.A.F.

3. C. P. A. JeWer)' "" 992 630 ", 878 371 783 '" 6119 64 Skylark 2 London G.C.

4. J. B. Jefferson 230 936 968 "4 1000 989 454 927 6"8 37 Skylark 38 Private Owner

,. I. Paul 968 951 316 "0 817 640 8J2 710 5813 2 Skylark 2 Or. Kilch &. PIns.

6. M. Bird 218 936 824 864 740D. M. Riddell 417 '" 940 5796 173 Skylark 3" Private Owner

7. P. Hanneman 0 819 900 917D. F. Innes 780 '20 823 1000 5759 207 Skylark 2 RAF.

8. F. A. O. Gue 303 791 788 ". '" 689 902 980 5637 210 Ka-6 Private Owner

9. G. MeA. Bacon 790 956 312 260 728 737 900 787 5470 158 Olympia 28 R.A.F.

10. A. O. SUldiffe 602 457 842 46' 833P. E. Collier 893 609 '" 5326 78 Skylark 2 Bristol G.C.

11. l. D. Sponiswood 218 769 246 '" 89' 1000 7" 886 5317 1]2 Skylark 38 R.A.F.

12. R. Rutherford m 734 334 495 691 776 764 917 5282 41 Skylark 2 Private Owner

13. H. N. Gregg 264 744 735 815M. S. Hunt m 461 423 835 5252 70 Skylark Ja Private Owner

14. D. C. Snodgrass 463 807 731 399 988 279 720 '" 5222 168 Skylark JF Private Owner

15. G. T. Collins 0 819 768 '" "~IS 878 '" '" >082 103 Olympia 2 R.A.F.16. C. Wills 874 416 847 917

D. Scallon 223 314 646 812 3049 148 Skylark 2 Surrey G.C.

17. D. Kerridge 463 0 ,,, 99Q 970A. Pumell 735 299 811 .." 147 Skylark JF Surrey G.C.

18. V. C. Carr 241 538 896 7"D. Cunningham 792 435 615 560 4842 176 Skylark 3D Coventry G.c.

19. K. Newholme 197 883 296 641 634 700 436 744 4497 25 Olympia 29 R.A.F.20. J. R. Chandler '" 3" 642 301

P. Dawson '14 '10 924 1000 4402 113 Olympia 2 R.A.F.21. A. S. loveland 159 210 241 '82 '" 733 702 9" 4343 89 Olympia 401 R.A.F.22. R. D. Diekson 132 1000 3" 601 792 124 375 710 4088 34 Gull 4 Private Own~r23. G. S. Neumann & 79 0 270 64' 717 702 727 940

R. G. James 4080 55 Eagle Cambridge Univ. G.C.24. P. Goldney 309 384 698

J. A. Evans )93 39' 9" 479 '" 4027 12 Skylark 2 Army Gliding Assn.

2S. S. M. Morison 144 280 701 494F. W. L. Shepard 785 397 447 656 3904 58 Eagle Army Gliding Assn.

26. G. R. Whitfield '" 439 662 603A. L. L. Alexander 221 465 771 498 3794 187 Olympia 460 Cambridge Univ. a.c.

21. A. Doughty 192 432 315 358 641 598 436 665 3637 91 Jaskolka Private Owner

28. R. I. Tarver 0 76 690 268 296A. Findon 783 583 917 3613 48 Olympia 463 F. Wright & Ptns.

29. K. W. Blake 176 207 107 536 674H. U. Midwood 394 598 793 3485 201 Olympia 2 Private Owner

30. D. W. Stowe 228 ""7 485P. R. Philpot 144 476 710 518 455 3483 81 Skylark 2 Private Owner

31. T. A. McMul~jn 19 151 484 445 666 665 540 431 3401 40 Olympia 2 Private Owner

32. P. Minton & 290 91 277 650 827 0 866 321R. Martin orO. Mingo 3222 96 Eagle Imperial ColI. a.c.

33. L. KuryJowicz 0 273 573 355E. Jerzycki 126 176 6"" 917 3060 222 Mucha Standard Polish A.F.A.

34 R. Marshall 0 300 268 219 64' 631 302 665 3034 93 Olympia 2 Southdown a.C.35. R. G. Procter 121 205 701 702 I

J. E. Torode 211 31 561 378 2910 196 Bocian I R.A.E. a.c.36. A. Pickles 296 481 482 297

A. Eldridge 132 300 294 358 26"" 28 Olympia 2 R.A,F.

37. R. H. PerrOl( 60 262 5" 224G. F. Fisher 268 29 580 697 2587 14 Olympia 2 Bristol G.C.

38. R. C. Stafford Al1en 124 154 327 - 722 " 465 635& R. Conant 2531 179 Eagle 3 London G.c.

Retired R. T. Willbie 463 872 245 665 - - - - 2245 68 Skylark 38 Private Owner

Hors COnCOltrS37+ A. Heinzl 0 76 286 327

T. Evans 74 166 950 684 2563 235 Ka-7 Dublin G.C.

HAVE YOU NOTED THE NEW ADDRESS OF THE

British Gliding Association?ARTILLERY MANSIONS, 75 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, SW.!

Telephone: SULlivan 7548/9

The Service that Pretends the Air is FlatFlat as your hat - Flatter than that

(pace RUDYARD KIPLlNG)

by Philip Wills

THE reprint from The Journal 0/ TheGuild 0/ Air Traffic COlltrol Officers

of my December speech la their LondonLodge has produced a lot of lettersfrom all over the world from denizensof the more oppressed countriesdelighted to see that -in Britain thl? gliderpilot is at least allowed to put ~IS cas.e,and this article has been reprinted In

some foreign languages.Most foreign gliding organisation~,

struggling against the octopus of AirTraffic Control, with its incomprehen­sible jargon, have tended to give up indespair, and watch the life being slowlysqueezed out of them. So I propose towrite one or two more articles in anattempt to put the problem in a com­prehensible form.

The various sectors of the flying worldare riven with arguments on the meritsand demerits of existing Air TrafficControl. Professional pilots say the onlything wrong is that there is not enoughof il. Most others. sporting. club andglider pilots, say that whilst existingA.T.e. procedures may be necessary inbad weather, at night, and around the(very few) busy airports, it has imposedrestrictions elsewhere which have largelyinhibited the expansion of many impor~

tant branches of aviation in this country.These procedures have been built upalmost entirely for one branch only ofthe aviation community and haveignored the rest.

Air Traffic Controllers say the air isd.anger0".lsly overcrowded. Non-profes­sIOnal pilots quote figures Showing that,over the U.K. as compared to the U.S.it is practically em!>ty; these figures shov.:this numerically by the relative numberof aircraft, by the extremely small num­ber of so-called "Air Misses", and stillmore by the almost entire absence ofcollisions. But most of all these pilotssay, in a puzzled way. that when theyactually fly in it, they simply can'tunderstand all the talk of overcrowdedair emanating from the Stygian recessesof Control Rooms. Why can't A.T.e.peer out of its darkened cellars and see

~or themselves that the. sky is to allIOtents and purposes virtually empty?They feel increasingly indignant andeven angry that these esoteric men ofauthority keep on squeezing them Outof more and more air on the groundsthat it is "overcrowded".

Where lie the reasons for this extra­ordinary and paradoxical situationwhich, above all other~, is frustrating Ourefforts to catch up With other countriesin this important field of General Avia­tion, which in America is far the largestsector of all ?

Recently I ascribed it to stone-ageequipment. As one result I was invitedto see for myself, and was given a mostfriendly and full tour of an Air TrafficControl Centre. I must admit that atthe entrance to the cave I did no!observe the male denizens dragging intheir shrieking womenfolk by their hair.But, once inside, the illusion was notbad.

On one side a number of folkappeared to be playing something likea Neanderthal version of our child­hood's game of "Consequences", usingpencils and strips of cardboard. Onefelt that in the 20th century an electroniccomputer might play it with a muchbetter chance of getting the answersquickly. which would permit far moreaircraft to fly in controlled airspace thannow.

On the far side of the cave a numberof intent faces were lit by a flickerin:!::greenish glow, for all the world as Ifthey were engaged in making fire byrubbing two sticks together; they w~re,

in fact, peering at a number of moviOgbright dots on radar screens. These toldthem fairly accurately where each aer~­plane was, except for its height. ~'? Ifthey saw what appeared to be a colhsl/:>,n,they could not tell if the two real. alr­craCt, in the real air, had in fact collided,or whether one had passed 1,000 ft. or5 miles over the other (which, of cOlll.se,it always had) until the two b IPSserenely emerged from th~ir ~emporarycoalition. On his recent CirCUits of the

224

globe Colonel Glenn, in the eyes ofAT.C., may well have co~lided withquite a number of humble Tiger Moths.

This, of course, is one of the mainroots of the Irouble: to the A.T.e. theair is /lllt.

Immediately one envisages the: wh~leof Britain as one vast asphalt plam, withno obstructions. A reasonable guess ofthe average number of aircraft over theU.K. alone time is 300: the area is,say, 60,000 square miles. They aredashing around more or less at random.except for convergence at one or twonodal points. Surely, even now. exceptnear Ihese foci, Ihey will hardly evereven see each other? Think of 300 - or3 000 - motor cars alone in this vastobstruction less desert. Ah, but wait forthe second brilliant convention - thedril'ers are blind! Now indeed it feelsa bit more frightening, although inpractice even if it were so, away fromthe traffic centres collisions would slillbe almost non-existent.

This convention that aeroplane pilotsare blind is, of course, wrapped up inless blunt terms. "The policy of see-and­be-seen is no longer adequate protectionin view of the increased closing-speedsmodern aircraft." Immediately one seestwo 707's approaching each other headon at a combined speed of 1,100 m.p.h.Of course, they couldn't possibly swerveout of each other's way in time. Butin fact all fast aircraft are under A.T.e.control, can communicate with A.T.e.and give their altitudes, and can be keptapart (sorry, "given separation"). If onefast aircraft were to approach, say, aglider which is virtually stationary, the"closing speed" is little more thanbetween two slower aircraft fifteen yearsago, when "see and be seen" was per­fectly acceptable, And the glider pilot,who in the normal course of his flight iskeeping a very sharp look-out indeed onall the air around him, because his con­tinued flight demands it would havelittle difficulty in keeping ~ut of the way.

The diOerence between the llClllll1nearly empty air of the pilot, and theovercrowded air of A.T.C., thereforedep~t1ds ell1irely Oil the fact that, withrudunell1ary apparatus available to them,A.T.C, have had to invent a special kindof t~o-dimensional, flat air, illhabitatedby pIlots who are blind.

The British GlidingAssociation

CABLE DRUM OF 6,400 It.

15 cwt. galvanised wire rope,

pre·formed, 7 x 19 construction,

.15 diameter.

£75 per drum

DELIVERED TO CLUB SITE

ORDERS WILL BE BOOKED AS RECEIVED

Artillery Mansions, 75 VictoriaStreet S.W.I.

The facts continue to prove that thisis wrong, that the air really does go upand down as well as to and fro, andthat pilots can see in clear daylight(glider pilots can not only. see ve~y wellindeed but also hear qUite a bit). Ofcourse: A.T.e. really knows all this. Butuntil it is given equip.mcll:t which allo~sit officially to recogOlse It, what can Itdo?

The answer is: for heaven's sake SlOPtalking about your "overcrowded ai,r",because it isn't the same as the real air:what is missing is not air-space butadequate instruments and techniq~e. Todistort this is to mislead the pubilc andinfuriate the pilots. Until you have 3Dpresentation, please keep your feet onthe ground realise that your eyes (what­ever your' radar says) are 5 ft. to in.above them, so very seldom do thetwain meet, resist the pr.essure of vestedinterests that want the air to themselves.go on pressing for decent equipme~1t,and until it arrives spare us from restnc­tions that must eventually break ourspirit. It isn't as if Britain suffers froman excess of it.

225

BLOWING AWAY AND TOWING OUT

O NE moment you have a glider, and wingtips should he held until thethe next moment - there it is. mo~ent of launch. And finally, after

gone upside down and useless. After landmg, no one should get out of the30 y~ars of gliding no cure has yet been cockpit until help arrives: the stickfound for this infuriating and unneces· should be held forward and the brakessary method of breaking gliders. kept out.although some clubs have grown wily Towing out across the field with awith age, and now rarely, if ever, corn- car often seems to produce a crop ofmit this for~ of indiscretion. UnCar- minor c~mfusions in what is essentiallytunately, blowmg over does seem to be a very sImple process. The fault here isonc of those lessons which can be not so much letting the glider blowtearnt only by experience, because it over, even in an into-wind tow whichinvariably happens in the opening years obviously has to be done with greatof a new club, as though it were a sort discretion and plenty of weight on theof initiation rite. Perhaps it is, as the nose, but the towing and steering. Theact of picking up the pieces must leave car driver should proceed at walkinga tot of people feeling older and wiser. Dace, with both windows open so that

Broadly. gliders blow over for two he can hear, and at as near a constantreasons: because they are badly parked, speed as he can manage. This is par-and because the glider is held wrongly ticularly necessary when crossing dis-at the launch point when flying in continuities in the surface as runwaystronp: (perhaps too strong) winds. If edges and winch tracks. If the car .e;oesa glider is not oarked across wind with on slowly and steadily, the gliderthe into-wind wing adequately weighted. bumps gently over the roughness (withand an anti4weathercocking block to the less wear and tear than if it were land-lee of the tailskid. then no-one should ing), But if the car driver stops or slowsbe surpris.ed if it is damaged. Everyone right down in his concern for the glider.knows thiS, but fewer people seem to it merely runs into the deepest part ofunderstand how to look after a glider the hollow and then sticks there, andwh.en it i.s facing into wind at the launch has to be brou~ht out with a worseoomt, smce the glider is invariably bump, wear on the clutch. and probableblown over because th.e tail i~ being breakage of the feeble bit of clothesheld dowll. In strong wmds a ghder on line that some people use as a field rope.the ground and facing into wind (a) More important than this is the steer'shoul~ al,:"ays. have someone in the ing of the ~1ider. A moment's thoughtcockDlt: In smgle-seaters the pilot will make it clear that this cannot beshould g~t in across ~ind, and in tw04 done by the car driver, but t~at theseaters either the pupil or the instruc- maximum control can be exercised bytO,r should remain in the cockpit; (b) the t'le wing-tip holder. Instead of wander-slick should be held forward; (c) the ing vaguely along. feeling rather out onbrakes should be open; (d) someone a limb. he should concentrate ,onshould hold down t~e nose; (e) someone keeping the .e:lider's nose directly behIndshould hold the tall up by the lifting the centre of the car. and should con-handles; (C) one, or preferably both, tinue to do so even if the glider shoWS

226

signs of running into it owing to theabsence or demise, of the person atthe nose or tail. On an overrun muchmore damage can be caused by holdingback on the wing in a desperate attemptto stop the glider, since this merelymeans that the far wing instead of thenose hits the car. A dented nose cone

is preferable to a hole in the structuralleading edge.

• • •Now about something really success­

ful. Details of the first, I hope, of along line of civilised, instructor retain­ing clubhouses.

ANN WELCH.

SCOTTISH GLIDING UNION CLUBHOUSE

OVER a year ago, when the firstarticle about c1ubrooms appeared

in SAILPLANE AND GUDI>JG, we alreadyhad the foundations of our new build­ing laid. And now that a full year ofusing it has gone by, we can more thanverify the statements concerning thevalue of such a possession.

Within the past year our membershipand resultant subscriptions have nearlydoubled. Flying fees are vastly increasedfrom the extra usage of what wouldpreviously have been blank days. andthe money that was formerly handedout to local hotels for summer courseaccommodation is now directed intothe clubroom coffers.

Apart from this we have Saturdayevening film shows and lectures allthrough the winter, and a full-scaledance once a month. This brings in lotsof business for the residential side ofthe clubroom every week-end during theoff season. Needless to say, the bar doeswell after flying finishes and the B.G.A.

must find our sales of scarves, ties,literature, etc., greatly increased.

When we first settled on our own landat Portmoak, ideas for our permanentbuilding progressed through the usualstages from grandiose, concrete-and­steel erections (which had to have"flying character" built into them) tohumble little structures made of amultitude of huts. Sketches for the lattereventually looked like a collection ofbathing boxes on a beach, and one ofthe concrete jobs, which was hexagonalin form, would have looked like a three­tier wedding cake with the addeddisadvantage of heavy initial cost andlack of adaptability from the point ofview of extension and interior fitting.

Gradually it became apparent that tosuit our purpose, site, and cashresources, an "L"-shaped building ofunit construction, timber on a brickbase structure, was the answer to ourneeds. To those who argued that a brickstructure was more permanent and

_. ---- _.,'/.' i;'.

.~'. II

8/. f.--,0 ,•~- .... ---.

'I·9

UOID Il 4Dn!>~ _ 6Uw.:r"c .........-.c.... T..'" """",,"ST_.. • ~.""...,_ e(""'I!Ui4l'1rP'. 'NU ....r ,~'H lItC.F,IUT~. """" __ ...........e A,."lie~ ...-..-"'D t.. 11\'" J\It1lQ,l[.

Sc.o1T\~1'I GI.IO'-W:O V,..,.'O'" CUl6RDO~

AT PO~·$c.a."-" Jj ,...c .. 1!"..........1o..3 I ~.

:Il"'~_- ;S·"'·C·M· f'a1tT\l

•,:E,.'J;:­'·21<5­, .. ~·-'...,,~ ..t :3 'i:.•'---'---__---J

227

Wes, willd laul/ch poim alld clubroom ell/rance.Courtesy Photo Express

increase and strengthen the social tiesof our membership by remaining openevery day all the year round, and housepermanent staff. We had to have some­thing that would earn its keep in lotsof ways. The kitchen has to cater forparties up to 80 in number and thelounge be big enough to cope with agood going dance. A snug committeeroom was needed to allow those whodon't dance to drink in comfort andstill not be cluttering up the dance floor.The bread-and-butter business of courserunning while members are staying onthe site required good bedroom accom­modation (Ilot a bu"klroase) for up to30 residents at a time. And wash handbasins with hot and cold in each bed­room provide the sensible answer to amob all wanting to wash at the sa'!1etime, and it is more expensive to bUIlda separate ablutions block with nearlyas many basins in it. We planned t:-v0

shower cabinets to meet the bathlflgproblem. The bar is not just a bar, buta shop as well. and sells photo post­cards, sweets. books. haberdash7ry,badges. aspirin. razor blades, sun lotion.and all sorts of things needed by peopleon holiday. . d

With all this in mind. we deCIdethat in the absence of the K.F.T. (thenew Trust had not started) we must ftnfa sugar daddy to back an overdra tfrom our bank and before that we m~find some way of obtaining the £6.building for much less.

228

securc m gales, a Commonwealth mem- ~

ber replied that his experience ofwooden buildings in severe weatherconditions in Canada and Sweden wasthat not only could they be made per­fectly secure and last a lifetime, butthat, for a building that would standempty sometimes, when required. awooden one heats up more quickly thana brick one.

This brick v. timber argument con­tinued for some time until a worthymember of the committee, who is alsoan architect, produced more drawingsof our latest ideas for a unit construc­tion cedar building, along with pricesquoted by leading firms in England. Thefloor :area we envisaged was 2,850 sq. ft.(3t times as large as the one in thesketch in SAILPLANE AND GLIDING) andthe quotations of around £6.000 st~nnedus into silence for a bit. Our buildingfund amounted to £1,500 and theKemsley Flying Trust had just closedshop.

We got down to the busincss ofhacking down the floor area, but soongave up because lIothillg smaller thalloar first idea woald really do. It isimporta", 'hat 'he clubrooms be alleconomic working uni,. Too large forbusiness and you run at a loss. Toosmall prevents you from developingbusiness. and it becomes a fine placeat week-ends but stands cold all week. ,never earmng an extra penny. Whatwe wanted was something that would

Miraculously we found a way to cutthe cost first. Our architect knew themanaging direclor of a new conSlruc·lion firm in Perth. right on our door·step. When. he was .brought into thediscussion It was pomted out that alarge proportion of the £6.000 asked byEnglish firms was to cover heavy railcosts and subsistance allowances of theleam of builders to be sent to the job.Furthermore, it was suggested that asa convenient showpiece for his futurecustomers he could bring them intothe new building for a meal at all times.That seemed to bear fruit. because wesoon had a firm quotation from himof £4.200.

With lightning speed a local brewerwas contacted, and after he hadexamined the past records and ourestimated business with the building, hereadily agreed to act as guarantor forus on an overdraft of up to £2.750 fora period of up to ten years. The nextday Ihe firm order for the job wasplaced and spread payments over 12months from the completion datearranged.

Now. just because the pflce waslowered we did not want an inferiorjob. On the outer wall we got a doubleskin of all-weather ply covered withcedar wood, glass fibre insulation andthe usual plaster board inside. Thelarge sun lounge windows facing north,west and south are double·glazed. Thereare polished hardwood floors in thesnug and the sun lounge which is

24 x 30 it. and makes a fine ballroom.There is Swedish door furniture. Theall-in figure mentioned covered thebuilding of the brick foundation (threefeet up at the front), erection of thebuilding. all plumbing including a large­capacity hot water storage tank withtwo immersion heaters, cold water tanksIhe shower cabinets. hand wash basin~in every bedroom, stainless steel sinksand drip boards in the kitchen andbar, dual wiring for power and elec­tricity using both normal and off-peaksystems - in fact, the lot.

As the building took shape ourenthusiasm grew, but we had behind itall a sneaking feeling of inadequacywhen we thought of the cost of furnish­ings. But these worries soon vanishedwhen the Cunard liner Britannic sailedinto the ship breakers' yard near by.The S.G.U. had six excursions to theyard with trailers and wrecking tools.After having stated our needs. we weregiven a free hand to help wilh thedemolition. Beds. chests of drawers.wardrobes. splash boards, mirrors,interior spring mattresses, featherpillows. bunk ladders, light fittings.duckboards, hessian doormats, sheets ofplastic from bathroom walls and lotsmore all found its way to the lift systemin the bowels of the ship. With a bit ofpractice we packed the lift full of ourspoils, and the smallest lady memberof our party was shut in to operateit. A shuttle service to the upper prome·nade deck was run, where a crane driver

West wind launch poilll see" from the

229

lounge.Courtesy Photo ExprcJJ

Bishophill, lounge and bar.

obligingly lifted the let ashore.. Wepaid cash for the lot and took .It toPortmoak in our glider trailers. Mirrors7s., splash-backs with fitments 3s.,wardrobes £1, chests of drawers 30s.

Later we bought a reconditionedcommercial fridge at £17 and two brandnew ele:tric cookers at less than cost

price, and we were in business.Club members rolled up with chairs.

settees, tables, etc., and our final bitof luck arrived when one of our formermembers, who was selling up his linenmill, sent us first-quality linen sheets,blankets, etc., all at around Ss. each.

There is a lot more like this, but nowto a very important point. Whenadvertising for a caretaker and wife tolive in on the job, woodworkingqualifications were asked for. Fromabout 40 applicants we were luckyenough to find an excellent couple­the wife to do the cooking and house­hold management~ the husband to helpin the bar and carry out glider mai,,­tenance alld repairs.

The husband was a master joiner totrade with experience of acrolite gluesand boat-building, so now with theguidance of our own qualified groundengineer he keeps the work in hand.Apart from this his skill as a shop fittersaw him through lots of work fittingout the kitchen, bar and clubrooms.

On mid-week days we encourage localorganisations to use our catering faci­lities, and car clubs, scooter clubs, car

treasure hunts, finish up their outingson our airfield and add to the lollywhich will soon payoff the overdraftan~ start to. help refin~ment of ou~flymg operatIOns. We aim to have afull-time instructor on the site as soenas we clear the debt.

The local education authority is now

Courtesy Photo Express

sending a party of ten schoolboys andgirls along one day each week with twoteachers (who happen to be membersof the S.G.U.) for flying instruction inthe two-seaters. This is done on a groupsubscription and pay-as·you-go basis.

In spite of the capital expenditurefrom income, to supply some necessarybits and pieces - £200 for stock inhand. wages, rates, .heat and light, etc:­the clubrooms fimshed the first mnemonths with a net profit of over £600and the promise of better to come.

The flying accounts also produced a50 per cent increase in the net profitduring the nine months, due to muchmore flying being done. and this wasa shattering answer to the "stick·in-the­muds" who mumbled that we wouldturn into a "social club" when our newpalace of comfort came into operation.

It is no new discovery that comfort­able clubrooms provide a suitable plat­form from which to launch a vigorouSflying programme. and any club livinganimal-like in a barn sort of structurewill do well to plan for the ea~li.estchange possible to civilised hVlngquarters. ANDREW THORBURN.

230

F .A.I. Gliding Commission News

A RRANGEMENTS for participantsin the next World Championships

(to be held in Argentina in Fe~ruaryI963) were announced at the meetmg ofthe F.A.I. Commission for MotorlcssFlight (C.V.S.M.), held in Paris on 21stand 22nd June, by Sor. Riega, Directorof the Championships, and SOL Carao,Argentine representative in Europe.They are summaris~d below, togetherwith other mallers discussed.

World Championships, 1963Travel by sea will be by th.e ArgcT!­

tine line E.L.M.A. (Empresse LlOa Man~

tima Argentine), who have agents inevery main port. Ships to Buenos Airescall at most ports, including London,Liverpool and Antwerp. Entrants' 50%share of freight will only be payable onarrival in Buenos Aires. Approximatecosts payable (i.e. 50% of total returnfare): Passengers, 1st class $3?0, T~urist$240, Trailers $275-300. Freight IS bymeasurement, but wheels and tow-barsare probably excluded. The journeytakes 3-4 weeks.

Travel by air: all participatingcountries may obtain offers of charters,etc., and submit to F.A.V.A.V. (Argen­tine Gliding Federation), who will makethe final decision and communicatemethods selected by 20th October 1962(one quotation already obtained byOsnv equals approximately £200 perhead return, less Argentina's 30%).

Tow cars in Argentina may be hiredvia F.A.V.A.V.

By 1st August, F.A.V.A.V. requirefrom all countries preliminary advice of:

(1) Number of aircraft to be enteredin each class.

(2) Number of personnel arriving byair and by sea.

(3) Number of OSTIV personnel arriv­ing by air and by sea.

(4) Names of three most suitableports of departure in order ofconvenience.

If the above particulars indicate in­sufficient participation. the maximumentries may be increased to 4 per nation(2 per Class) and Argentina will advisea.c:ord.ingly by 20th August. The par­ticIpation fee must be paid by 1stOctober.

The General and Particular Regula­tions (including marking system) werefinalised: the original draft copy is inthe B.G.A. office. Radio is not per­mitted in the Standard Class. Barographswill be required on certain days for AirTraffic Control purposes.

With the preliminary advices on 1stAugust, F.A.V.A.V. will be happy toreceive any ideas calculated to make theChampionships successful.Records

The only change agreed is, from 1stJanuary 1963, to delete the 200-km.Speed Triangle and substitute a 500-km.Speed Triangle.

Suggested ChangesVarious suggestions were made for

alterations in Section 3 of the SportingCode, and will come up again for pos­sible decisions at the next meeting on30th November and 1st December. Dis­cussions took place on the following sug­gestions:

On the necessity of landing after goalflights, races, etc. Further views are askedfor.

That some time next year, Silver Cdistance be increased to 100 km. (62. J37miles) either in a straight line, brokenleg ("dog leg") or triangle.

That the broken leg for Gold C dist­ances be eliminated, to avoid out-and­returns.

That in World Championships. thefigure C= 1,000 (the winner's score forthe day) be reduced on certain days.This suggestion came from the. ~oles,and all nations are asked to submit Ideasand definite proposals.

It was decided to make no changes inthe regulations for the three Diamonds.

Lilienthal MedalThe Lilienthal Medal for 1962 was

awarded to A. "Pi rat" Gehriger. formany years Secretary·General of theSwiss Aero Club, organiser of the 1948World Championships in Switzerland.leader of the Swiss team in other WorldChampionships, expert sailplane 1?i~ot,and Chairman of the F.A.L GhdlOgCommission. The medal is awarded foroutstanding contributions to progress insoaring flighl.

231

THE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATIONby the Chairman

THE Bdtish Gliding Association was founded on 4th December, 1929 whichday can also be counted as th~ birthday of the British g~iding moyemeri.t. Over

the years, the B.G.A. has grown In status and ~tature, until. today It occupies aposition in spofting aviation I.!~equalled.anywhere In the world m l.he responsibilitiesdelegated to it by the authonlies, and 10 the respect accorded to It both nationallyand internationally.

MEMBERSHIP - consists of Full Member Clubs, Associate Member Clubs,Private Owner Groups, and Individual Associate Members.

Subscriptions (1962) arc: Full Mem.bt;:r Clubs, £~5; Associate Member Clubs,£15' Private Member Groups, £3 3s.; Individual Associate Members, £1 Is.

'STRUCTURE.~Control is exercised by a Council consisting mainly of delegateselected by Full Member Clubs, with the Chairmen of the various Committees. TheCouncil meets once monthly at the Association's Headquarters, shortly to betransferred (July, 1962) to: Artillery Mansions, 75 Victoria Street, London, S.W.l(Telephone SULlivan 7548/9). Here is located the permanent secretariat, under theAssociation's Secretary, Miss Frances Leighton.. The Council delegates authority in specified fields to various Committees and

Panels. At present (1962) the main structure is as follows:PATRON: H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.PRESIDENT: Lord Brabazon of Tara.VICE-PRESIDENTS: Lord Kemsley, Air Chief Marshal Sir Theodore McEvoy.

COUNCIL

CHAIRMAN P. A. Wills

Vice-CHAIRMAN Ann Welch

TREASURER B. A. G. Meads

I I I IINSTRUCTORS' AIRWAYS TECHNICAL FLYING

PANEL COVl:MITTEE COMMITTEE COMMITTEEAnn Welch H. C. N. Goodbart F. G.lrving E. J. Furlong

I I [ lACCIDENTS SITES MAGAZINE CHAMPIONSHIPSANALYSIS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE COMMITTEE

G. J. C. Paul A. L. L. Alexander P. A. Wills E. J. Furlong

[ I I IF.A.L ROYAL AERO CLUB PUBLIC O.~.~.I. ~.

REPRESENTATIVE AVIATION COMMITTEE RELATlO;'>lS REPRESENTATIVEP. A. Wills P. A. Wills F. D. Storrs A. H. Yates

The above repr~s~nts a comprehensive organisation designed to meet the needsof a co.mple~e speCialised branch of aviation activity. Apart from the permanentSecret~rLat (SIX people), every Committee is chaired and run by enthusiasts workingIn their spare time 0/1 all honorary basis.

The results of their work have created such confidence that in the UnitedKingdom .r~sponsibility: i!1 nearly every field is exercised by the RG.A. ins~t:adof the Mmlstry of AVlatlon. Alone amongst the nations of the world the Bntlshgliding movement is not subjected to governmental control, but itselr' handles all

232

matters connected with (a) Aircraft Registration, (b) Certificates of Airworthiness(c) Pilots' Licen~es, (d) Pilots' Medi~al ~xami~atiol)s, (e) Instructors' Categorisa~tion (f) InstructIOn Standards, (g) Pilots Quahficatlon Standards. In addition tothis' formidable I!st, ac~i.dents are reported to .aI'!d analysed by the Association(serious ones are III ad~ltlon reportabl~ to th~ MI~lstry), and Airworthiness require­ments have been es~a~lts~ed by t~e Air RefpstratlOn Board in the closest consulta­tion with the ASSOCiatIOn s Techmcal Committee.

International Records and sporting matters and the award of internationalPilots' Badges (laid down by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale) aredelegated to the B.G.A. by the Royal Aero Club.

C~i'HROL.-MC".lber Clubs and .G~oups bin.d th.emselvcs to abide by theOperatiOna} ~e~ulatlOns ,?f the Assoclatton, and ID this lies the core of the self­impose~ dlsclplm~ on whl~h.our. good name has been founded. These OperationalRegulatIOns, formmg the distillation of over 30 years' experience, are as foHows:-

OPERATIONAL REGULATIONSApplicable to Member and Associate Member Clubs unless relevant Service

procedure and discipline is in force, and to Private Owner Groups.

GeneralG.6.- All Club local regulations, in addition to the B.G.A. Operational

Regulations, but not in place of or contrary to them, must be posted in a visibleplace in the Club premises.

G.7.- All Clubs shall compile and keep such log books and flight time sheetsas to enable an accurate record of the Club's flying operations to be kept.

G.8.- All gliders shall be covered by third party insurance for at least£10,000.

Qualifications and LicencesQ.4.- No pilot may fly more than 5 miles from his take-off point unless he

has a C certificate and carries with him maps marked clearly with the Airways andControl Zones.

Q.5.- Before going solo, a glider pilot is required to sign a Declaration ofPhysical Fitness. Before starting to give instruction, the Declaration must beendorsed by the instructor's own doctor, or, if this is not possible, he must producea medical certificate. Exemption exists for pilots holding a Private or CommercialPilot's Licence, or Service personnel holding appropriate medical certificates.

AirworthinessA.2.- All gliders flying at Club sites shall possess one of the following which

shall be valid:(a) Ministry of Aviation Certificate of Airworthiness or Permit to Fly;Cb) B.G.A. Certificate of Airworthiness, or Permit to Fly, with card displayed

in the cockpit; .(c) Equivalent Service document;(d) Equivalent document for visiting aircraft from abroad.

Exemption exists for test flying carried out by or on. behalf of manufacturersapproved by the Air Registration Board or RG.A. (details from the B.G.A.).

A.3.- All Club gliders shall be inspected each day by a club-approved person,who must sign that the glider is serviceable before it is flown ory thal day..

. A.4.- Except as otherwise permitted by the B.G.A. T.echmcal Com.nllttee, allgltders flown from club sites shall be fitted with aulomallc back-releasmg hooks.L?cking of such hooks is prohibited, except for sJ:!ecial occasion~ ~~ch as aerob':l.ticdisplays by experienced pilots or instructors. 1I IS l.he responsibility of th~ pilotwho has flown with the hook release locked to free It before anyone else files theaircraft.

Launching EquipmentL.2.- All equipment used for launching, including the WIre, rope or cable.

mmt have been inspecled and approved as serviceable each day before being

233

used. Winches and tow cars shall. as a rnlmmum, be checked for sufficient fuel oiland water. for the proposed launches. and that there is a serviceable cable cuitingor releasing mechanism. . . ' .

L,3.- A weak link. not exceedmg 1,000 ~b. m breakmg load or !n accordancewith that soecified in the C. of A. of the ghder to be launched. whichever is thelower shall be used on every launch other than bungey launches except wherethe strength of the cable. as manufactured, is below this figure. (Note: In 1961there were no gliders on which a 1.000 .Ib. rope could not be used.). .

L.4.- The glider end of all !aunchmg ca~les mu~t be fitted With Im~ed ringsdesigned to fit the release mechamsm on the gilder. DIstorted or cracked flngs maynot be used.

L.5.- To ensure that the winch or car driver can s.e~ clearly when the cableis released. the glider end of the cable must be made vIsible by a flag, parachuteor similar device.

L.6.- On multi-cable winches, the engine must not be run while work is beingcarried out on any cable.

L.7.- On twin-drum winches the end of the left-hand cable, seen from theglider end, shall be coloured red.

L,8.- If cable runs are nearer to each other than 200 feet.:(a) only one glider may be attached to a cable at anyone time, and(b) after every launch the used cable must be drawn in to the winch before

another cable is used.

SignalsS.5.- An adequate system of communication must exist between the person

in charge of launching and the winch or tow·car driver, or tug pilot.S 6.- One of the following procedures must be used for all launche<;, other

than bungey launches, unless a serviceable telephone or radio system is installedbetween the person in charge at the glider end of the cable and the winch or cardriver or tug pilot:-

ONE BAT METHOD.- Bats to be easily visible at the distance required(a) Take up slack, take-off path being clear: one bat moved to and fro 10

front of the body.Cb) All out: one bat moved to and fro above the head.(c) Stop: one bat held stationary vertically above the head.Two BAT METHOD(a) Take up slack, take-off path being clear: one bat moved up and down.(b) All out: two bats moved up and down.(c) Stop: two bats held vertically above the head.liGHT METHOD(a) Take up slack. take-off path being clear: dashes of one second duration

and three seconds interval.(b) All out: quick dots at one second interval.(c) Stop: steady light.Li'thts may not be red or green.5.7.- When t~lephonic. or radio signal~ing is used, means must ex.ist for an

em~rgency stop signal which can be received notwithstanding the nOise of theengme.

S.8.- When aero-towing, the order of the tug pilot to the glider pilot tOdrelease shall be the rocking of the tug laterally. This order must be obeye

immediately.S.9.- The signal by the glider pilot that he is unable to release shall be

that he flies out to the left side of the tug as far as is practicable and rocks theglider laterally.

FlyingF.8.- No persons may fly in a glider unless they have individual harness which

IS kept fastened throughout the flight. . .F.9.- A glider joining another in a thermal shall circle in the same dlrecllon

234

~s that eSlablished by Ihe first.F.IO.- No glider shall enler cloud within a radius of 5 miles of a gliding site

except from at le~st 200 feel below the lowest part of the cloud.F.I t.- No glider shall enter cloud unless all its occupants are wearing service·

able parachutes and have been instructed in their use.F.12.- Any newly rigged club aircraft, or any club aircraft which has been

subjecl to adjustments or repair. since its last flight, must be first flown by apilot approved by the ~.F.1. or hiS deputy for that purpose.

F.13.- The launchmg cable must not be attached to the glider until the pilotis ready to be launched, and the launching signals must not commence unless theprojected take·off path is clear.

F.14.- All pilots must report any suspected defects or heavy landings toIhe instructor in charge before the aircraft is flown again.

Flying InstructionI. 1.- E~ch qub which accepts flying rl'I:t'mbers whose experience as pilot In

charge of gliders IS less than 10 hours shall mform the B.G.A. of the name of itsChief Instructor, who shall be the holder of a current B.G.A. Instructor's Categorywith a C.F.1. Endorsement (details page 18 of Air Law). '

1.2.- Instructor Categories shall be held also by professional instructcrs andby instructors in charge of ab initio courses, except where the course is for fullflying members of the instructor's own club. Taking charge involves, in this casebeing on the site and accepting full responsibility. '

1.3.- The C.F.!. shall register all his Club Instructors with the B.G.A. beforethey start to give instruction to pilots and pupils who have not yet gained theirC certificate.

1.4.- No Instructor shall be the C.F.1. of more than one Club, unless theyoperate from the same site.

1.5.-AII flying instruction given shall be III accordance with the B.G.A.manual and syllabus.

1.6.- All pilots shall be required to keep a log book at least until they havecompleted their Silver C certificate. This shall be made available to the instructorbefore flying. .

1.7.-The C.F.1. shall have an overall responsibility for all matters concerningflying on or from the Club's site, and no flying may take place without hisauthority. His decision in flying matters is final.

1.8.- The C.F.I. may appoint deputies to carry out his instruction if absent,but he remains responsible for all flying activities.

Aero-Towin~T.7.-The sum of the tows made by the tug pilot and the glider pilot, in their

respective capacities, shall be not less than six. . .T.8.- It is the responsibility of the tug pilot to ensure Visually that the gilder

is, in fact, released.

AccidentsP.2.- All accidents. and all incidents which might have. caused damage .to

machine or pilot, must be reported on the card or forms supplied by the Ass?cm·tion for the purpose in less than a month from the occ.ur~ence. If the. aCCIdentis of sufficient severity to be reported to A.I.B .. the ASSOCiation must be mformedof its occurrence within 24 hours.

NOTE.- Incidents which should be reported include.: fo~ling c::f the cablewith the glider during the launch. wrong or mista.ken Slgnalhng, failure ,?f anypart of the glider during flight, damage 10 the gilder whe.n gr,?und-handllng .nrigging. etc., or for which there is no obvious explanatIOn. illadequate dallyinspection, near collision, etc.

H must here be stressed that anyone in our free ~ount~y wh<;, wishes to mayglide: he or she may construct a glider to their own Ideas ill their own backyardand fly it from their own ground. But if they wish to fly from B.G.A. clubs, theymust conform to B.G.A. standards.

235

RESPO:,\/SI6IUT1ES OF COMMln'EES.- Perhap~ the most. concise way to sketchthe break-down of the work amongst the various Committees and Panels IS toquole their Terms of Reference. These are as follows:-

TERMS OF REFERENCE OF COMMITTEES, PANELS AND OFFICERS, 1961-62Flying Committee .. .

I.-To examine the Rules and RegulatIOns for ChampIOnships, Competitionsand Contests, and to make recommendations to the Council. .

2.- To examine propose~ amendments. to the F.A.1. Re~ula~ions for Recordsand Gliding Badges, Operalional Regulations and the legislation affecling theOperation of Sporling Gliders in the U.K., and to make recommendations to theCouncil.. 3.- To examine any other ma.tlers affecting glider flying which are notcovered by any other B.G.A. Committee.

4.~To deal with any unusual problems in connection with the award ofGliding Certificates and Badges. ..

5.-To examine. and recommend 10 the Council, all claims for the homologa-tion of gliding records. . .

6.- To examine and make recommendations to the CouncIl for claims toAnnual Awards.

7.- The Chairman of the Committee is empowered to make decisions on Items4 and 5 above without reference to his Committee.

Technical CommitteeTo advise the Council on technical matters, ID particular to supervIse the

Airworlhiness Scheme.1.- Supervision ef the issue of Certificates of Airworthiness.2.- Supervision of the Approval of Inspectors.3.- Consideration of all technical problems.

Magazine CommitteeThe Magazine Committee is responsible to the Council for the efficient running

of the Association's magazine, and for assiSlance and advice to its Editor. Editorialpolicy, however. is independent.

World Championships Master CommitteeResponsible for the supervision of all arrangements for sending a British Team

to compete in the World Gliding Championships.The Chairman of the Committee also to be Chairman of the Pilots Selection

Committee and any other sub-committees formed in connecticn with the WorldChampionships.

Instructors' Panel. I.-To assist Clubs in all matters of gliding instruction, including the arrang-mg of lectures, courses, etc., and the circulation of information.

2:-To lay down standards for qualified gliding instructors; to appointexammers. and to carry out such tests as are necessary to maintain these standards.

Routine matters to be left to the Chairman to deal with without referenceto the Panel.

Sites CommitteeqENER .... L ~URPOS~S OF TH~ .COMM1TTEE:-To facilitate the acqUisItIon ~nd

~et~n!lOn of SUitable sItes for gildmg by gliding organisations of all kinds includlOgmdlVlduals and the B.G.~. To ser:v~ as a go-between as regards clubs, individuals.owners of land and pubhc aulhofltles as they affcct land for gliding.

In furtherance of the above purposes:I.-To ad~ise .anyone .in~erested. cn the suitability of a proposed site..2.-To assist ID negotiations with the owner of a proposed site for ilcences.

leases or purchase.3.-To mediate in any dispute arising between any gliding organisation using.

236

or proposing to. use, any S!tc and other persons or organisations.4.- To ad.vlse and ass.lst on all other matters affecting sites, such as rating,

taxation, planmng and public health.5.- To in~ur expenditur~, to be defrayed by the RG.A.. on visits. corres­

pondence and 10 oth:r ways likely to further ~he above purposes, such expenditurenot to exceed £50 10 any calendar year without the express authority of theTreasurer of the RG.A.

Airways Committee1.- To provide RG.A. representation o~ all relevant Ministry of Aviation

working parties or Committees Concerned with the allocation and use of U.K.designated airspace.

2.- To provide. B.G.~. specialist representation as may be necessary at allformally convened dIScussions on these and related subjects, including "air misses".

3.- To maintain personal contact with planning, and introduction of changesin U.K. controlled airspace.

4.-To negotiate direct with the Ministry of Aviation departments on mattersaffecting changes in controlled airspace, seeking local concessions and the like.

5.-!o maintain a con~inuous watchi.ng bri~f on all matters concerning COn­trolled airspace and to advise the Council on Important problems as they arise.

Management CommitteeTo deal with matters of staff, administration and the Secretariat other than

those which are the normal responsibility of the Secretary, and to give the Secretaryany advice she may need on such matters.

Accidents Analysis OfficerI.-The responsibility of the Accidents Analysis Officer is to assist Clubs

to eliminate accidents by analysing and reporting upon all relevant infcrmaticnavailable.

2.- The Accidents Analysis Officer is to do this by:(i) Receiving all reports rendered in accordance with RG.A. Operating

Instructions, Paragraph 29.(ii) Taking all possible action to ensure that the cause of each accident is

revealed and eliminated.(iii) Ensuring that the Chairmen of the Instructors' Panel and Technic~1 Com­

mittee receive copies of reports which affect their work, or on whIch theymay be required to take action.

3.- In addition to this, the Accidents Analysis Officer is to: .(i) Maintain a record of all Accidents and Incidents reported to him.(ii) Render an Annual Report to the B.G A. Council.

(iii) Report to the Council at their routine meetings any. event, .action. orconclusion which he considers should be brought to their attention.

4.- Reports rendered by Clubs are confidential and the information containedin them is not to be revealed to anybody. except insofar as is necessary to performthe duties described in paragraphs I to 3 above.

INCOME OF THE ASSOCIATION.- A comparatively small part .of the income ofthe Association derives from Membership fees. The balance IS ma:de up fromcharges made for Pilots' Certificates and badges, and a large proporh0!l from thesal7 of books covering every aspect of the sport, gliding ties, va.rious mIscellaneousarticles of equipment. and the publication of o~r own magazme, SAILPLANE ANDGLIDING. This also is done on a voluntary basIs (SAILPLA~E has never yet hadto pay for an article). and is undoubtedly the bes~ magazme devoted solely tothe soort in the world. It is sold in over 60 countnes.

The success of the British gliding movement lies large!y in this fact: that weare trusted to Control ourselves and do it better (we thlOk) and much cheaper(we know) than any other natio'n in the world.

237

Flying the "463"by A. D. Piggol/

Winner of rhe Sfandard

I HAVE always been an advocate ofsmaller and lighter gliders and was,

therefore particularly pleased to begiven th'e opportunity to fly a newOlympia 463 for this year's Champion­ships.

The result was indisputable. With the463 J was able to compete on at leastequal terms with the Skylark 3'5 inall ccnditions. Furthermore. I had morefun and flying for less wo~ry andtedious ground-work than with anyother ffi3chine [ have ever flown.

The increased wing chord and otherdetailed alterations on the 463 are theanswer to the criticisms of the earlymodels, and the performance has beengreatly improved. The very Iow totalweight of 380 lb. (a little more than aTutor) makes rigging and ground­handling simple. Unlike the present-dayIS-metre gliders, it would be well worthrigging the 463 on a marginal day oreven for a few circuits!

The wings weigh under 100 lb. eachand the wing-tip is light enough feryour wife or girl-friend to carry withoutstrain. Rigging is very similar to anormal Olympia. except that expandingcollets are used instead of the largertapered main pins, and that most ofthe safety-pins have been eliminated.

Class Champiollship, 1962The folding tailplane is an added Can.venience. as it takes only a moment tounlock and .fol.d up alongside the fin.

The cockpit IS roomy. and adjustablerudder pedals make it comfortable fortall and short pilots. The shoulder_wing position gives the pilot an excellentview in all directions, including behindThis proved a great comfort whensharing thermals with IS or more othermachines.

The fuselage has been designed forstrength and low weight, and is notvery beautiful to look at. The nicelyfaired ply and fibreglass nose and cock­pit changes behind the wing to the veryrugged flat-sided fabric-covered rearfuselage. The main wheel has a veryefficient internal expanding brake andis mounted well forward with a shortskid in front and a faiting behind it.This arrangement prevents the wheelrunning into a hole or step. It alsoeliminates any risk of skid or bulkheaddamage in heavy drift landings. as thelanding shocks are taken on the wheel.The landing run on dry ground provedto be very short.

However, it is in the air that the out­standing features become apparent. Theturning radius is incredibly small. andit is possible to turn inside and OuI-

Tilt! Olympia 463 ill which A/ldy COU/SOII compeled ill

23.

lhe Championships.COllrtesy 0/ "FlighJ"

COSIM VARIOMETERSneed no introduction

Where there is Gliding there are COSIMS3,000 in use all over the world

Records gained af National andInternational Championships

Also

"Cook" Elcctdc V:uiomctcrs"Cook" Compassc!I"Irving" Vcntuds

"Cosim" Best Speed Scale HoldersWater Traps and Nose Pilots"Burton" Total Energy Units

leaflets from

Cobb-Slater Inst. CO. Ltd."COSIM" WORKS, DARLEY DALE,

MATLOCK. DERBYS.Telephone Darley Dal .. 2138

The performance at high speeds wasobviously up to standard, as on severaloccasions I flew 50-60 miles with theBest People in their 419's and Skylark4's until usually I made a stupidblunder and was forced to fumblearound in weak lift while they dis­appeared into the blue.

In marginal conditions the 463 provedexcellent, and I only hope that none ofmy pupils were watching as I climbedaway from 350 feet over the edge of theairfield on the practice day, or, worsestill, near Ross on Wye. On severaloccasions I watched most of the near-bySkylark 3's go down, and I always feltthat I was competing on at least equalterms with them.

After over 40 hours of intensivecompetition flying, I am convinced thatthis machine is a great step ahead inputting the fun back into gliding. Witha lightweight and inexpensive trailer(Andy Coulson's weighed under 7 cwts.with the glider inside) it can be retrievedby any 8-10 h.p. car and is a veryattractive proposition for both clubsand private owners who want more funand more flying.

•••

Chips from the ChampsCompetitor, to fellow competitor who

had charged close beneath hIm the daybefore: "O'you want the paint back offyour rudder?"

Question asked at briefing about turn­ing-point heights: "How do y~u kn~wif you're at 3,300 ft. when you re go109round a big curve starting at 5,000 andending at 2,000?"

Team member: "Crewing for *.. israther like jury service: when you'vedone it you should be exempt for sevenyears...

Slogan on paper tea-mugs in theCafeteria: "Keep your eyes on yourwork! ... Safety first!"

Philip Wills, describing his flight onthe day when both Leagues had thesame task and every thermal along theroute was packed with gliders: "A mar­vellous day - but, my dear, the people!"

Meteorologist concluding his lastbriefing: "Prizegiving will be dry and Ishall be going home at half-past eleven."

239

climb almost any other type of gliderin narrow thermals. The controls aremuch lighter and crisper than in otherBritish gliders, and accurate centring ismade very easy by the quick initialresponse to aileron movements. Oncetrimmed. it will circle continuouslyhands~off in thermals. and it showed nosign of lack of stability or twitchiness.

The low all-up weight, low drag andhook position make winch launches of1,600-1,800 feet normal, and on mostdays an aero-tow is a quite unnecessaryexpense.

The stall seemed acceptable, and when~hermalling tightly the pre-stall buffetIS very obvious a few knots before thestall. Control is very positive up to the!ll0me~t of stalling. and the recovery isImmedIate. Measured by flying in close~orm~tion, the stalling speed was almostIdentical to that of the Skylark 3.

I found the nose-down attitude athigh speeds rather deceptive and, duringthe first few days of the competitions.I was tempted to suspect the A.S.1. ofunder-reading, and so flew too slowlybetween thermals.

•

THE FABULOUS,

,

"- \\' '--,

V

,

IS HERE

The world's most advanced 15 metres span production

sailplane is available NOW!

For all inclusive information write or telephone­

NORCO ENGINEERING LIMITED,

62 Church Road,

Burgess Hill,

Sussex.Telephone Burgess Hill 85678

Sole Concessionnaires 'or MOTOIMPORT POLAND240

1. PETER MACKENZIE,Chairman. Derbyshire and LancashireGliding Club.

A FTER 25 years' faithful service,Basil Meads has relinquished his

position as our Chairman. We wouldnot like this occasion to pass withoutputting on record our appreciation andthanks to him for all he has done forus. Who better to put our thoughts inprint than Cyril A. Kaye, who hasworked with Basil from the very begin·nings of gliding at Camphill? Basil isnow our very active President and weall feel privileged to have a man ofsuch experience in this importantposition.

M ORE than 25 years ago the writerand other members of the Com­

mittee agreed a proposal that the subjectof this appreciation should be the firstChairman of the Derbyshire and Lan­cashire Gliding Club.

Now, after more than 25 years ofcontinuous service in that office we havelost that Chairman but we ha~e gaineda President. This is perhaps no badexchange since it leaves us still inharness, one who has been' identifiedwith this Club from its inccption, andmoreover one who has been identifiedw!th flying since long before that. bothwith and without the aid of engines.

In those far-off days when "Kronfeldon Gliding and Soaring" was the only

241

B. A. G. Meads, M.B.E. - An Appreciationauthority for those who wished topursue "the effortless spon", a youngenthusiast known to his familiars justas Basil was caught up in the pursuit.Whether he was present when Kronfeldfirst demonstrated the art at Scar­borough and elsewhere is not onrecord, but it is highly probable, fornot long afterwards there began toappear certain gliding activities in theDerbyshire Peak, motorless aircraftwere observed being towed along thehighways between the Stockport districtand the Peak. and certain "build andrepair" activities were noted in theneighbourhood of Manchester. allassociated with the Manchester branchof the Royal Aeronautical Society andthe name of B. A. G. Meads.

By peculiar chance the same nameoccurs in the early annals of the Lanca­shire Aero Club coincident in time withthe names of Bert Hinkler and certainlong-distance projects which thenattracted the public eye. of Ray Dobson.later to become the boss of Hawker­Siddeley, and of Ray Chadwick, towhose credit were later to stand thedesign of some very famous bomberaircraft bearing the name of AVRO.

The founder members of theD. & L.G.C. were not to know of this- did not in fact know of it until longafter they had learned that there werenot many names in the aircraft ~o.r1dwith whom Basil was not on Chnstwnname terms. Tt was also not realised.and certainly not appreciated. that manyimpossible problems in Club develop­ment owed their apparently J!liraculoussolutions to the personal geOlus of theChairman and his ability to call on theresources and experience containedwithin this vast circle of knowledgeablepeople. "Ask Basil" became the acceptedcourse for puzzled members when theirown resources proved unequal to theunpredictable crises which arose withsuch regularity in those days, as indeedthey continue to do.

That this should have led to abenevolent dictatorship was perhapsone of the strongest factors in the firstquarter century of the Derbyshire andLancashire Gliding Club. No one was

beller placed than the writer to observeand aopreciate the value of a leaderwho ..vas not only able in the spheresof organisation, finance, diplomaticnegotiation and practical know-how butwas also a pilot and instructor of nomean repute in aircraft of all sortsand sizes and. withal. was quite happyto take his coat off. sweep the hangarfloor, lay concrete. mend ~roken glidersor improve the bar takmgs as needarose.

Sometime about Ihe mid-point in thequarter century. a speaker at an A.G.Mproposing a Vote of Thanks 10 th~Chairman. said of him, "No othermember put more into this Club thanour Basil; none took out less". On thosewords the writer may well close thi<­appreciation, knowing they are as tru~now as then, and knowing also that itwill be the intention of our newPresident that they remain so.

C. A. KAYE.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1962Aston Down, June 2nd-11th

by Ann Welch

considerations - a rare possibility InEngland!

The problem of selecting turninj!­points for triangles in weather in whichrecords may be possible is, however, anightmare, even if a considerable amountof work is done prior to the meeting.For competition purposes it is necessaryto have a turning-point at whichObservers can be stationed, and whichwill not be easily confused with somesimilar feature. It is quite a differentproblem from that of the lone pilot whocan select, say. a railway junction ina town to photograph. Surprisingly.suitable competition turning-points are

W ELL, it happened again, nine daysof continuous soaring weather.

After the dreary cold spring whichseemed an interminable continuation ofwinter. it was unbelievable that the anti­cyclone (and a warm one, too) shouldarrive precisely on the day required.Now. after five consecutive goodweather Nationals in England, surelysuch luck cannot continue.

Before the Championships began,t,ere were various misgivings about thesite at Aston Down and the organisa­tion. which was going to have to setitself up on an empty station, but thesewere soon dissolved. The airfield wasexcellent. the surrounding countrybeautiful. and the R.A.F.G.S.A. had.with immense hard work, set up anenlirely adequate base. Throughout theNationals their organisation ticked oversmoothly, resulting in flying arrange­ments to everyone's satisfaction. Theyare t? be congratulated on a very happymeeting.

The task-setting policy of moretriangles and out-and-returns, with fewerdistance flights, paid off, and resulted incheaper championships for competitorsas well as less exhaustion all round. Itwas fortunate that the weather sup­ported this policy. because with the bestwill in the world it is difficult to settriangles in strong winds! At ASianDown we had some days on which therewas practically no wind at all. and itwas even possible to include change ofscene for the pilots into the task·setting

242

Courtesy of "Flight"

Write to: Dept. SG.• Irving Air Chute of G.B. Ltd., Letchworth. Herts.

fairly hard to find, but the difficultiesare increased by the F.A.1. rule whichsays that each leg must be at least 28per cent of the total distance. Even asmall latitude here to. say. 26 per centwould help and still give a well-shapedtriangle. It is not, of course, necessaryin championships to comply with thisrule, but failure to do so will preventanyone claiming a speed record for theflight.

A further result of the "reduce ther~trieving" policy showed up on thepIlots and crews. the latter becomingfairly uniformly sunburnt while thepilots had only brown fac~s and righthands.

In ser.ieus ~ompetitions, starting-lineand turning-point ob:iervation has alwaysbeen a bit of a problem. There is theneed to identify the gliders and alsoto check that thev do not exceed thepermit.ted heighl With a large number?f gh~ers, or hazy conditions. it isImpossIble to guarantee not to misssomeone. particularly if gliders areforced to fumble about in the arealoo.king for Iif!. Puttinr. OUI markerswhich have to be noted by the pilots is

not wholly effective. since it is oftendifficult to site them so that they cannotbe seen from afar.

The problem of height checking atthe turning-points is made greater bylhe high speed at which the gliders mayround the point, sometimes diving from5,000 feet and rounding at their maxi·mum permitted speed before pulling upagain. It is necessary to have an opticalrange-finder at the start line and eachlurning·point. but these cannot copewith a numb~r of gliders al the sametime, and in any case a reading maybe taken inadvertently while the glideris still diving or climbing. Clearly afoolproof answ~r muSI b~ found. becausethis problem IS becoming greater. butat the same time it is essenlial thatcostly equipment is avoided as far aspossible. Having observers. a range­finder and ground markers works per­fe:tly well in reasonable conditions. butthere are times when it becomes toodifficult. It would be made easier if theglider was required to do a complete360 0 lOrn round the point at a conslantspeed: although this would be anunpopular requirement in marginal con·

243

oditions. For big championships the Swissidea of doling out a small camera eachday to each competitor is a good one.This would obviously have to be usedin addition to the observers and markers,but it could provide valuable evidenceon both the rounding of the turning­point and on the height. Ideally thecamera should have a pistol grip.

At Aston Down we were able to com­municate with the turning points by anh.f. radio link. 11 was an experiment.but the results showed that it was avaluable aid to the observers, as well asincreasing the amount of informationwhich could be given to the public.

The unseen observers who go outbefore flying starts and arrive back longafter it has ended, probably just intime to hear someone complain thathe was not seen, deserve particularthanks, It should not be thought for onemoment they merely lie in the sun allday. At one point, one of them ran upa tower at frequent intervals to get abetter view of doubtful or distant glidersand was firmly charged 6d. each time bythe custodian!

Related to the question of start linesand turning~points, some sort of penaltysystem for exceeding the maximum1.000 metres needs to be thought about.It is obviously not necessary or desir­able to disqualify the whole flight. Thestart line penalty is not really a problem.since a glider's incorrect or unobservedcrossing can be timed from the take-offer release time. For turning points the

penalty could be something like fiveminutes for any infringement plus twominutes for each 100 feet. Thus a pilotturning 500 feet too high would have15 minutes added to his time.

This year with good weather we hadno troubles with X (the minimumdistance to score). It never had to beless than the usual 20 miles. I think thatthere are advantages in keeping X lowprovided that is it difficult to exceed ina straight glide, as it ,gives more freedomwhen setting into-wind tasks and on dayswhich turn out to be more difficult thanwas expected. The disadvantage of alow X is that a very poor day can countas a contest. This, I think, can be over­come by requiring that 20 per cent ofthe competitors exceed twice X in orderthat it should be a contest day, ratherthan the present rule that 20 per cent ofthem need merely score. This has theadvantage, also, of reducing the marksstep between those who just exceeded Xand those who were, say, one field less.

At Aston Down our weather servicewas. as usual, excellent. We are tremend­ously lucky in this respect, and we shouldbe thankful for the Met. Office supportwhich allows us to have better fore­casting for Nationals than can be foundin many World Championships.

Finally. although our Nationals arelarge, with an astonishingly high standardof flying and fierce competition, they arestill fun. The primary object is to getgood flying and enjoy it. Long may thiscontinue.

Early Gliding in the Alpsby Paul Valen/in

Director, Gstaad Sports Centre

A few m01/ths before the world's first prolonged soaring flights ill 1922, a glidingcompetition was held in Switzerland, and although 110 soaring was done by thecompetitors, all entertaining time was had by all.

AVIATION was still in its infancy where powered flying showed morei.n 1922. .in comparison with present promise. At that time, ski-ing was still

techOlcal achIevements. Above all. this quite tiring to the legs of the manywas the time of the debut of motorless courageous men who practised it; t?nflight. It is true that the first attempts the other hand. the sport of .. sal1-F:O back to 1910. but for many years flight" provoked general stiffness andthey went no further than "hops ", aching, and tested them even more. Butdemonstrated he~e and there in Switzer- the pioneers were, and still are,land to a sceptIcal public at meetings indefatigable, and fought to keep them-

244

monoplane with lattice tail, a mono­plane with overhanging fuselage, anda biplane with two pairs of struts. Theirnames: H. Schmid, F. Chardon,Cuendet and Spalinger. The take-offground was the embankment of the skijump course at la Matte, near EgglLTwo inhabitants of Gstaad were engagedfor 20 frs. per day as "porters" 'forthe planes. Most of the gliders broughtto Gstaad were not, of course, yetcapable of flying, so that there wasmuch scattered wood at the take-off.On top of this, the deep snow preventedthe sailplanes from acquiring thenecessary take-off speed, so that break­ages were inevitable.

Robert Gsell made this report on thefirst demonstration of sail-flying ID ourcountry:

"The interest shown by the touristcommunity and the hotel keepers ofGstaad - the leader of the competitionand the participants were given freeboard and lodging - dictated the choiceof this station, as well as the hope ofbeing able to make easy and safe take­offs because of the sloping snow fields.

"As a result of the late arrival ofthe pupils, the teacher, WiIIy Pelzner,defended the reputation of the organizerssingle-handed for three weeks, against the

,

Valentin

~. ~.

" "'*". '\. -"'-'1.One way to fly,

Courtesy Paul

........

selves for a few seconds in the air onboard apparatuses which they had madethemselves. Of course, breakages andrepairs were frequent. But "if at firstyou don't succeed, try, try again ",Several unshakeable men did notabandon their project. Enthusiasmknows no limits.

We were recently looking throughE. Tilgenkamp's book "Schweizer Luft­fahrt ", and we found that it is exactly40 years since the first winter sail­flying camp was held at Gstaad. The" Mittelschweiz" section of the AereClub organized an • International courseof motorless flight for beginners ",from 15th February to 15th March,1922, and a Competition from the 8thto the 15th March,

Why did they choose Gstaad as thesetting for this sensational demonstrationof flying? For this reason: "A greatdeal was expected from this demon­stration, not only for aviation, but alsofor international tourist publicity, andthis is, in fact, why Gstaad and theSwiss Tourist Centre were brought in,"

And so the well-known promoter andinitiator of Swiss sporting aviaticn.Robert Gsell, and the chief designer ofthe Federal aircraft works, engineerA. Haefeli, applied themselves withenthusiasm to the organization of thiscompetition. After they had managedto engage the famous German recordholder, gliding instructor Willy Pelzner,they finally enrolled four participants,who met at Gstaad with five gliders ­a biplane with single strut, a braced

245

sceptics who were not lacking amongus - 10 the point where the lis~. cCflights for the opening competltlongrew to an eXlraordinary length. Wcmust recognize the obslinacy with whi~h

Pelzner endlessly carried oul repairsand climbed up again and again on newslopes in Ihe snow. in order, in .spite ofall difficulties. to carry out flights ofup 10 42 second.s. . .

.. Spalinger did not arnve until theIsI of March. with an unfinished mono­plane with seat, and wilh the biplaneglider which he had already used foryears, and for which he had providedsnow runners instead of wheels. Unfor-

day to the Sunday, because of his workas a test pilot; this is why he was unableto win the first prize, to which hecertainly could have attained. TheThoune sailplane. starting off from quitehigh places, would doubtless have estab.lished amazing times.

"The phrase used in judging, . tOtallength of flights of more than 10seconds', which was chosen for this firstdemonstration so that activity would beas intense as possible. gave the greatestchances of winning to the laboriouscompetitors making short f1igh,s, as thetransport of the machines to greatertake·otf heights, in snow reaching up to

tunately the two olanes were notfinished until Quite a time after thebeginning of the competition, and thefirst damage incurred in take-off couldnot be repaired in time, so that the, favourite' was eliminated.

.. Mr. Schmid, who also had someexperience in sail flying, suffered a moreor less similar fate. His machine alsowas only ready towards the end of thecompetition, and the first trials finishedin splintered wood, which could not bereplaced in the short time remaining.Cuendet. onc of our oldest and mostexperienced power pilots, was unfartun.ately only able to come from thc Satur.

Chordo" 011 his way to the loul/ching poillt.COllrtesy Paul Valelltill

hip level, would have caused great lossof time. le is not surprising that thedeep fresh snow caused serious diffi­culties to those gliders which hung onthe pilots' backs, for as soon as oneleg slipped free and plunged into thesnow, a lower wing came into contactwith the snow. which always led to acrash because of the launching speed.

.. Although the deep fresh snow madetrouble for the 'hang' gliders, as hadbeen anticipated it facilitated the take­off of the sailplanes with seats. mo~ntedon skis. Ski take·otf permits simplesliding over fast slopes; all that wasnecessary was an imperceptible pull on

246

Well up with a IIof1"1I1/111011 undercarriagc.Courtesy Palll Valentin

the joystick, and the machine rose aboveU;ie ground.

"Though at first, for the reasonsstated, the flights were few, their numberincreased astonishingly during the com­petition period. t 37 flights and a totalof 1.876.1 flying seconds is a hearteningresult for the first trial of motorIessflying. if it is compared with the firstperformances abroad. The best per­formances are most certainly not to becompared with those which are at themoment being accomplished elsewhere.

•. The winner of this competiticn was

--=.~

Francis Chardon, with 51 flights and atotal of 617.2 flying seconds: average.12.1 seconds".

And today?

For some years, the Berne andLausanne sections of the Swiss AeroClub have organized a soaring camp onthe military aviation post at Saanen,near Gstaad, every summer. Pilots ofmotorless aircraft are still enthusiasticabout the possibilities offered by thisregion. and they affirm that it is idealfor sailflying.

•

Ins/ruc/or Pelzner sllOws how it should bc dOl/C.Courtesy Paul Valefllilt

247

Higher Altitudes Without Pressurization

W HEN Paul Bikle put up the inter­national height record to 46,267

feet on 25th February. 1961, in Cali­fornia. it was generally assu':lcd ~h~the had rC:lched the physiological hmuof what cculd be achieved without apressurised cabin or a pressure sui.t..

But there are still a few ways of hftlOgthe limit 10 greater heights before resort­ing to pressurisation, and they have beenset out in a recent research paper· byDr. Bruno 8alke. of Oklahoma, thoughhe is concerned with cabin pressurefailures in supersonic transports rath~rthan height records in sailplanes. HISmethods are: (a) hyperventilation, (b)acclimatisation, and (c) pressurisedoxygen.

HVPERVENT1LATloN.-]n response tomental or other stress, pilots are apt tobreathe faster without being aware ofit. and thus reduce the normal ration ofcarbon dioxide in the lungs. This canbring on unpleasant symptoms such asdizziness. tingling, cramps. impairedvision and even unconsciousne<:s. Butpeople who fly under stress. like jetpilots. who often over-ventilate theirlungs. do not get these symptoms, andOr. Balke says they can be avoided bydaily practice in forced breathing for30 to 60 minutes during two weeks.

If a glider !,ilot cares to go to thistrouble. a table of figures shows whatadvantage he can expect if he is ofaverage constitution.

Breathing ordinary air, his normalaltitude limit of 18,000 feet can beincreased to 25,000 feet by deliberatelyover-ventilating to 3 times normal.

Breathing 100 per cent oxygen, whichproduces sea-level conditions at 34,000feet. gives him a normal limit of 44000feet. Giving his lungs 2; times theirnormal ventilation raises the limit ab(we44,000 feet. and 3 times normal ventila­tion raises it to 48.000 feet.

ACCLlMAllSATION.-Living at 12000•"

·"Human Tolerances", bv Bruno BalkeM.D., Chief. Biodynamics Branch~Federal Aviation Agency. AeronauticalCenler. Civil Aeromedical ResearchInstitute, O.klahoma City, Oklahoma,U.S.A.; Apnl. 1962.

feet causes the body to adjust itself tothat altitude, mainly by increasing thered haemoglobin content of the bloodso that it can pick up more oxygenfrom the lungs. Full acclimatisation plustolerance to hyperventilation producesthe following results:

"Tolerable" level: 50,000 feet withfour times normal lung ventilation.

"Critical" level (Loss of consciousnessimminent): 52,000 feet with 5; timesnormal ventilation.

BREATHING OXYGEN UNDER PRESSURE.­Although this gets more oxygen intothe blood, it interferes with the mech­anics of the blood circulation. Breathingin is an active process by which air issucked into the lung, and then reducedpressure inside the chest helps to suckthe blood from all parts of the bodythrough the big collecting veins backinto the heart. Oxygen delivered to thelungs under pressure interferes with thisprocess. and if the positive pressure isas much as 30 mm. of m::-rcury (1/25of an atmosphere), the blood circulationis likely to stop completely. However.there is a remedy: immediately aftereach forced expiration, a short, vigorousinspiration is made: this. Dr. Balkesays, enables the pilot to regain "afeeling of security".

Using this technique in addition tohyperventilation and acclimatisation, thelimits are:-

"Tolerable": 58,000 feet; "critical":64,000 feet.

So that is the absolute limit. If yOllinsist on going beyond 64,000 feet. ~ou

really must do something about geltlOgvourself pressurised. A. E. S.

Saill)lane &Glider Ser"icillg

(WARREN STOREY)

*Thruxton Aerodrome, Andover

{WEYHIll 588

Telephone: ANDOVER 3857

250

Courtesy 01 "Flight"

M y last day's score in the 1961Nationals had been a mere 9

per cent, so on 2nd June I was hopingfor some improvement. The weatherlooked really cracking and the taskwas a loo·km. triangle. I was amongthe first away and had two strongthermals to be first round the turn atBurford. Unexpected Stratocu made melow on the second leg, but the turn atWantage was completed after a decentclimb north of Swindon. returning tothis position to climb for final glide.Only five thermals, all strong. gave anaverage of 40 m.p.h. and 1,000 points.

The next day our task was Lashamand return, which I cempleted in therather slow time of five hours. I madea tactical error in going round the edgeof a large blue patch between Newburyand Lasham instead of pressing onthrough. At one time J was 15 miles offtrack south of Andover. Polaroid glassesmight have helped me spot the drythermals. and my detour dropped me tosecond place.

June 4th saw a 230-km. triangle setto airfields near Hereford and Stratford.The first lellt I did in fine style. flying''Theoretical'' speeds between thermalsle~ving lift when it weakened. and notusmg weak stuff at all. This workeduntil Hereford. where I started an hour'sscrape which took me at low altituderound the turn and ultimately to anall·time low of 300 ft. near Bromyard.

Flying Skylark 165 in League 2by lan Srrachan

League 2 Champion, 1962

H~ving somehow climbed away fromthl~, J gave up all thoughts of speedflymg and coasted round eventually atan average of 25 m.p.h. In fact, fromWorcester onwards I was over-cautiousa~ thermals on track were regular des­pite the late hour.

The following day was Free Distanceas the Met. was not up to much. andthe problcl!' was to decide whether tog~ downwl.nd to St. Davids, or cross.wmd to either Anglesey or Cornwall.The lattcr gave the greatest possibledistance so this was m.y choice, and Iwent away as soon as It was soarableBristol was not as good as expectedbut Taunton Vale was better and aftersome straight and level flyin'g in whatwas probably a sea breeze front toGreat Torrington, 1 struck off into theblue on what I thought would be afinal glide. However, a series of drythermals took me as far as SI. Eval.Five" hours' flying and no less than 47thermals. showing the shallow depth ofconvection. During the retrieve, whichended at 7 a.m.. J mused on theannounced policy that "long distanceswould not be set unless 300 km. wason". One consolation was 1.000 pointsand a good lead overall. Fortunatelythe next day did not boil up and League2's task was cancelled.

June 7th saw a race to High Ercall.near Shrewsbury. I soared locally forIt hours before crossing the start lineat 2 p.m.. which time I judged to bebest for strong thermals. As r had agood lead r tended to be a little over'cautious. taking too much height for thefinal glide.

The following day wc had distancealong a line through Yeovil, Lashamand Great Orme's Head. Once againr was away early. but it was difficultto know whether to fly for speed orjust to coast round. I was low on severaloccasions after attempts to shake othergliders off my tail. My final thermaltook me to 4.500 ft. over Newbury, buthalf an hour later three Skylarks had1.000 ft. more in the same place and soflew a few miles further. The lead

25\

short races I waited until thermals westrong before crossing the line Finr~glide calculations were done' on a"0.1," calculator of my own desi afser:'d S.A.E. 10 me ~ia .B.G.A. for detafl~If mterested) and If It was possible Iallowed for 5 kt. more headwind thaf!?recast and glided in at the spce~d~ctated by ~y .Iast thermal. When thealffield wa~ m SIght, r used its positionon the wmdscreen as a marker andchanged speed as required in ordeto come over the finishing line at 20 rror so. .

lnstruments.- I .made up my Ownp~nel an'! my vanos were a CrossfellWith AudiO, and a P.Z.L. on "Burton"Tot~l.Energx. The Crossfell is the mostsenSitive vano that I have Rown with~md wh~reas this very sensitivity makesIt unsatisfactory on Total Energy with­out T.E. it is the best instrume'nt forscraping that 1 have met. I have flownsome 70 hours with its "Audio"~ttachment and thoroughly recommendIt a~ a most valuable aid in all sortsof circumstances. especially in crowdedthermals and when trying to map-read

increased to 1.1 00 points as PhilJeffery. who had been flying his Skybrilliantly. came down on the secondleg. One wonders in thesc circumstancesjust how much luck comes in to thesematters, for I too could so casily havebeen down in the same place.

On 9th June we were set anotherlOO-km. triangle. which r went roundcautiously at 38 m p.h. I left the airfieldearly. which proved to be a bad decisionas high cloud prevented really strongthermals on the first leg.

The final task was distance along aline round Andover to St. Just. League2 was to be launched first. and withsome Stratocu coming in. most pilotsseemed to think it unsoarable. Jadvanced my take-off and was soon atc10udbase at 4.000 ft. and first roundthe turn. J led the field until Exeter,where I found very broken and unus·able dry thermals, which brought medown. Most pilots found similar condi­tions, and the machines with a handicapbonus won the day, although theyarrived an hour or so after the Skylarks.i maintained a good lead, however, andJohn Delafield with his Eagle movedinto second place with Phil Jeffery third.

Tactics.- Even in League 2 it isessential to Ry for speed if conditionsare anything better than marginal. Weakthermals must be rejected and strongones left as soon as they reduce instrength. My speeds between thermalswere governed by the P.Z.L. "Speed­to-fly" ring, normally as follows:-

If the last thermal was. say. 6 knots(600 ft./min.), then I would set the"Speed-to-fly" arrow on 6 kl. down to4,000 ft., on 4 kt. down to 3,000 ft.,on 2 kt. down to 2,000 ft. and to zerobelow 1,000 ft. In practice before theNationals we had several days of con·sistent and very strong thermals andon these occasions I left the arrdw ona high selling right down to 1,000 ft.On the average, however. r was using.t, .500 ~t. as my altitude for mentally

changmg gear", and below this 1accepted weaker lift. I found that thelo.nger ~ could discipline myself to flyWith wmgs level, even rejecting quitestrong thermals, and the lower 1 was~repared to go in a search for goodhft, t.he faster was my average speed.On distance tasks and the longer racesI went away as early as [ could, but on

252

The Cross/ell AudioA'ITACHMENT TO THE

Crossfell Electric

Variometer

gives audible indication oflift and so enables a

sailplane pilot to maintaina good lookout and flymore accu I'atel y while

thermaIJing. It is an invaluableaid to soaring.

*Cross'e" Variometers,Vernmore,10 Borrowdale Road,Malvern,Worcestershire

in weak lift and bad visibility. T.heP Z.L. is an extremely fine Horn vano­~eter and its "Speed-ta-fly" ring isQuite' invaluable. Units used: knotsthroughout.

Navigation.- I used Fablon·covere:thalf and quarter million maps. The"quarter mill." is useful for approach­ing turning-points and for accuratechecks on final glides, and the more

standard "half milL" for everythingelse. Before take-off I marked in arcsfrom goals in 5-mile steps and checkedthe two scales of map against eachother to ensure that no mistakes weremade.

Radio.- Quite invaluable for cross­ing start lines, cutting down retrievefumbles and keeping pilot and crewIn a more relaxed state of mind.

Glider Trailers Blow Over!DURING wimer 1961/62 the insur­

ance firm of Sedgwick, Collins &Co. have dealt with five claims aroundthe country, where parked trailers havebeen moved or overturned by highwinds, causing damage to both trailerand the aircraft therein, and they areaware of at least four other incidents inwhich they have not been professionallyconcerned. Tn several cases too, move­ment or the overturning of a trailer ina line of parked trailers has damagedone or more of its neighbours, and thisinevitably leads to. at the least, recrimi­nations and bad feeling.

There have been particularly highwinds last wimer. and inevitably withthe increase of gliding and of syndicateownership more and more trailers arebeing left out. the most shelteredcorners get filled up, and trailers haveto be parked in exposed positions.Certain precautions are taken at somesites, but these have on occasion proved

inadequate: certainly the mere secunngof the ball hitch to a stake or rail hasproved by itself insufficiem to preventoverturning.

This problem, the firm states, is prov­ing to be a general one, and not con­fined to either hill sites or flat airfieldsites, and they suggest that if trailershave to be left outside, then as a generalrule they ought to be fullv picketeddown. One method might perhaps be tostake the ball hitch in the usual manner.to have the parking brake fully on (andworking!). and then to run ropes orchains from the tops of the wheels out­wards to stakes in line with the axleand a couple of feet out from the sideof the trailer. An alternative methodmight be to pass strops right over theroof of the trailer - this is the customat Camphill. The exercise of individualingenuity by owners will. no doubt.provide many satisfactory solutions.

Returning Empties from the Milk Runby George Col/illS

A T Perranporth the sky looked goodon Saturday morning, 16th June,

but the wind was N.W. about 12 knots,which a telephone call to St. MawganMet. confirmed and also added a dismalaside to the effect that cloud base~ould not go above 2.000 feet until wellmto the afternoon in Cornwall.

Dr. Pat Pearson said he would retrieve... the Tiger was out and Piu Phillipswas read v to tow. so Lasham was decided.I cast off at 2.000 ft. a.s.l. slightly above

cloud base. and to remain airborne wasquite a tussle. Between 1.800 and 2.300feet I slowly worked away to the northaccording to plan. Undoubtedly the seabreeze would rule out getting past Dart­moor on the southern side. The lift wasweak and a few feet inside cloud wasall that was given . . . the trailer hadleft ... we hoped for better things tocome!

Eventually. about 2t hours later at apoint about 4 miles north of Okehamp-

253

NYLON PARACHUTES

Passing near Winkleigh, things werestill better and the smoke from a fireseemed to be curling up without mUchdisturbance from any wind. Approach_ing Dunkeswell, we went easily intocloud again and made 5,300 feet andsoon after another cloud took ~s to5,700 feet. Pressing on well to Yeovilour ground speed worked out at nearly40 m.p.h .. but the clouds showed signsof flattening and merging, so no heightwas given away and we floated gentlyon for about 25 minutes, when fOrlun­ately the sun broke through again andthe cumulus quickly re·formed andwere better than ever.

Salisbury ahead, Chilbolton withplenty of height. and then there wastime to look lazily at the countrysidefor the first time and wonder how thecrew had fared on the busy roads. TheSkylark was now enjoying the libertyof being allowed to fly level.

We landed at Lasham after aboutsix hours. and the reception was morethan kind and extremely practical. Mycrew, Pat Pearson and Dennis Bolton,had really fought a nightmare battlewith traffic jams in the usual places. soit was su~gested that I be aero-towedback as far as Thruxton to meet thetrailer en route. This was done. but itwas still after 10 p.m. before theywearily drove into the aerodrome. Theirretrieve is a story in itself, certainly amagnificent effort on a very hot day.

As for the flying. perhaps the baro­graph trace will tell most of the story.Undoubtedly there are good days to getout of Cornwall and this one was notthe best ... and yet it was good enough!

U"..,.idu.,£32

FLYING SUITS

H.P. TERMS AVAlLABlf

Up to 5' 8" height5:.1, height .nd ch'$l mNJurltm.nll

also IRVIN GLIDERb3Ck type Mk. 32 parachutes

recently released by Air Ministry

£8 u~•.",.,U.K.

with (tcent ai, worth·inus ctrti!icolt - only

Back. or Stat typeSuperb condition

--

ton, things did quite quickly improveand cloud base was obviously goinghigher. I found my next thermal muchmore lively, and to a snatch of "SouthPacific"-"Once you have found hernever let her go" -I hung on andwatched it turn into 400 f.p.m., intocloud to the top at 4.900 feet. This wasbetter, and I courageously worked outmy ground soecd. which was a miserable24 m.p.h. I also gave an interestedglance at the new Airway.

B•••, 50' A. 40'New _ NlW -

p. & p. 3'6 Nch

TARPAULIN & TENT M/g. Co.101-3 Orixton Hill London S.W.2

hl.phone TUlle Hill 0111 (. lines)

HONOUR FOR FRED SLlNGSBYThe Royal Aeronautical Society s and was given to Mr. Slingsby for .his

'Silver Medal was presented to Mr. F. N. "practical achievements in the designSlingsby at a ceremony held at the and construction of sailplanes". He ~asRoyal Aeronautical Scciety on May 24th. been building sailplanes for over thirty1962. in London. by the president of years. and. with the founding of the firmthe Society, Mr. B. S. Shenstone. of Slingsby Sailplanes, began large-scale

The Silver Medal is awarded for the production and the development of manyAdvancement of Aeronautical Science. new and successful designs.

254

Must Gliding Mean Frustration?by Derek Piggott

L EARNING to fly in a glider isusually a frustrating and time-absorb­

ing business and it is not surprising thatonly a relatively small percentage etpupils persist ~ong .cnough to becomecompetent soanng pilots.

Apart from the delays caused bydecrepit launching vehicles and badweather, there is the fundamental diffi­culty that after each landing the glidermust be manhandled back la the launch­ing point ready for the next launch. Thistakes time and energy_

Unfortunately the maximum launchingrate at most gliding sites is limited bythe amount of room availab!e for launch­ing and landing. But in spite of the frus­trations, more people are joining glidingclubs each year and it is becoming verydifficult to provide enough training flightsto satisfy their needs.

It is somelimes suggested that theanswer is to use two-seater gliders ofhigh performance and to launch them byacro-towing. This increases the durationof the flight and enables thermals to be

used more frequently. However. it isdifficult to provide the necessary pilotsand serviceable tow-planes to cperatecontinuously seven days a week, and themethod does not really provide muchcheaper and quicker training fer thebeginner.

A power-driven, self-launching two­seater trainer does provide this andwould eliminate the wasted time andeffort of ground handling. At the sametime it would relieve the winch launchingfacilities of most of the instructional air­craft.

Numerous gliders have been filled withsmall engines in the past, but the resullswere usually disappointing or expensive.Most of these machines were either low­performance solo gliders converted intorather under·powered light aeroplanes. orwere attempts to maintain the originalgliding performance by retracting theengine and propeller after use.

The possibilities of fitting a dClachablepower "egg" to standard two-seatergliders does not seem to have been fully

Derek Piggo1f adds a model motor fO his

255

modd Capstall.Photo by S. 8. Wilfs

exploiled. Il would seem to offer a real lhe correct climbing attitude, togetherhope of speeding up glider lraining. with a small amount of rudder to Over-

The performance of both Slandard come lhe yawing effect of lhe propellerT-2IB (Sedbergh) and the latest T-49 and slipslream.Capstan lwo-seater gliders has been e~ti- If the engine CUlS, the nose mUSl bemated with the McCulloch 72 h.p. engine lowered to get into the normal glide. Onmounted externally above the wing. A any normal-sized gliding site, an enginecomparison belween the cost of operat- failure is no more hazard than a cableing these aircrafl and gliders is also given. break on a glider, and it is dealt with inThese show that for any kind of glider lhe same way by making an S-turn Orlaunch. the COSl of a short training flight circuit as necessary.is aboul 6d. to Is. per minute, or only A great advantage is that the launchslightly below lhat for a normal light can be continued to whatever height theaeroplane. In most clubs, the cost of instructor desires. When practising thesome of these flighlS is subsidised by landing, a quick circuit can be made,entrance fees and subscriptions. climbing to abollt 500 or 600 ft. If the

The powered trainer also costs about landing area is large enough, twoIs. per minute, but it could achieve more attempts at the touch-down are possiblethan twice the amount of flying than a before climbing up for another circuit.glider launched by winch. This is par- At the top of the "launch", the throttlelicularly important if the cost of profes- is closed to lhe gliding position, leavingsional instruction has to be taken into the engine idling. This power sening isaccount. matched to produce the normal gliding

In order to appreciate the potentialities angle of the T-49 glider and lhe perform-of this type of trainer. il is easiest to con- ance and handling arc almosl identical.sider a converled T-21e or T-49 in use. The airbrakes are used Quite normally

Look forward a few years and imagine for the approach and landing, but mustthe. T-49 Capstan fitted with a 70 h.p. be closed before attempting to take offengine :- or climb away again. Providing that the

The engine is mounled on struts above machine is still moving when the decisionthe wing and swings a pusher propeller is made to go round again, it leaves theof 45 inches diameter. The mounting ground after a very short run.Slruts pick up on the normal wing root The engine is never stopped in flightfittings so thal the engine can easily be excepl for inslructor training. The ratherremoved for servicing or in order to use high drag of the engine and mounting is,the aircraft as a normal glider. The power therefore, no serious disadvantage during"egg", consisting of the engine, propeller descents, as it is always counteracted byand mounting, weighs aboul 100 lb. The lhe thrust of the propeller as the enginefu~1 tank ho!ds 6 gallons of pelrol-oi! idles at about 1.200 r.p.m.mIxture and IS mounted in the fuselage Very little strengthening cf the fuse-near the centre of gravity. lage has been necessary, as lhe traditional

There are three engine controls in the loads have been calered for by down­cockpit: lhe ignition switch, fuel cock grading lhe powered T-49 10 the Nl?n­and lhrottle lever. The throttle lever is cloud-flying Category. Winch launchlf~ggated to provide two settings, climbing is permined with the engine idling Inpower for the launch and slow running order that inslructional launches can befor the glide. made without the need 10 remove the

The only other visible modification to power plant when a two·seater glider isthe glider is the addilion of a small pair not available. A full power, never-exceedof wheels to the main skid. These project speed of 6S knots is necessary to preventb~lo~ lhe skid sufficiently to reduce the overspeeding of the engine and to k~epfriction at the beginning of the take-off the tailplane loads within the designrun. limits.

The take-off from a standing Slart takes The aircraft is regarded as a self-aboul 200-300 yards and lhe climb al 45 launching glider. Unlike a normal uUra­knots .gives a climbing angle in still air light aircrafl. even if the engine sto~Sof I 10 7 and a rate of climb of over altogether the gliding performance 1$600 ft. J?Cr minute. A firm backward little worse than the T.31 Tandem Tutorpressure IS needed on the stick to keep glider_ and the powerful airbrakes enable

256

il 10 be landed in a very small spacewilhout difficulty. ..

The greatest a~vantage of this mac~meis Ihat it curtails most of the tediOUSground handling and the time wastedpushing the ordinary glider bac~ to thelaunch point. Only one helper IS neces­sary to hold Ihe wing-tip for the firsttake-off of eac~ training sortie. Onepowered T-49 does the. w.ork of at le~sttwO gliders, and the majority of the lram-

!n~ c~n be done by this aircraft. AlthoughIt IS mtended mamly for ab i"it;o instruc­tion, soaring and map-reading exercisesare also simplified.

The powered two-seater can be kept!n a trailer and operated at a nearby fly­109 club or disused airfield, as it fits ineasily with normal light aircraft traffic~nd ~ero-tow launching, leaving the glid­109 site les~ congested and able to satisfyIhe launchmg needs of the solo gliders.

Self-launching Two-seater TrllinersT-21B

1,050 lb.T-49

1,250 lb.Ma::imum all-up weight of glider .Estimated weight of engine, tank, controls and

6 gallons of fuel.......................................... 150 lb. 150 lb.Maximum all-up weight of powered machine 1,400 lb. 1.200 lb.Maximum LID of glider without engine I : 24 I : 20LID with engine, propeller stopped I : 15 I: 14Climbing speed 47 knots 38 knotsClimbing angle in still air I : 7 I : 5Rate of climb 620 f.p.m. 810 Lp.m.Stalling speed with engine idling 34 knots 30 knotsENGINE: McCulloch, 4-cylinder two-stroke, 72 b.h.p., weight 75 lb. (approx.).De-rated power for normal use 62 h.p.Estimated propeller efficiency for climb 65%Assumed drag of engine and mounting struts at normal climbing speeds 25 IbStalls and incipient spins permitted.Non-acrobatic; spinning and cloud flying not permitted.Winch-launching permitted with engine idling.

Comparison between the Cost of Gliding and Powered TrainerAssuMPTlo:"ls.-lnitial cost of T-49 £1,600, T-21s £1,000, Engine £400. Insurance

11% p.a.: depreciation 5% p.a.: servicing airframe 5%; winch operating cost 2s. perlaunch; aero-tow cost 15s. per launch: engine servicing 30s. per hour. fuel IOs.per hour. Average flight time: T-49 to minutes, T-21s 6 min':ltes per ~aunch.. Noallowance has been made for the salary of an instructor. tow pilot or wmch dnver.

Hours flown Type of Launchper year

Cost per hour

Powered trainerPowered trainerPowered trainer

300500

1,000300500

1,000300500

1,000

Winch orCarUnlikely to beAero-towAverage flightof 30 minutes

T-4935s.25s.

achieved.52s. 6d.44s.

37s. 6d.67s. 6d.56s. 3d.47s. 6d.

T-2IB35s.30s.

58s. 6d.51s. 3d.45s.

Approx. costro Club Pilot

60s.

45s. (subsidised bymembership fees)

) 60s. to 655. for approx.f same profit

NOTE.-The manufacturers of both gliders and engine have not been c::msultedon these possible projects, which are intended only to show the advantages of Ihepowered trainer.

257

tion just in case. That 8 miles upwindmight well come in useful if the otherend isn't quite reached. At 11.00 hrs.near Swanton Morley and down toI 200 ft., a landing back seemed inevit­able. On the boundary, however, thefirst lift arrived and at cloud base2 300 fl. I set off down a street., Fifteen minutes later I was in trouble

again over N. Pickenham airfield - itcertainly seemed the wrong day to havedeclared Perranporth; however. thearrival of lift in the order of 400-500 ft.per min. rather helped matters, and sooff to the edge of the Fens aroundFeltwell. A thermal and a cloud streettook me safely across and, with arising cloud base, things progressivelyimproved; by the time SI. Neots wasreached. I had decided to ignore liftless than 300 (t. per min., and with anestimated air speed of 48 m.p.h. for thefirst hour, pressed on on a course o(270 0 M. to compensate (or the northin the wind. Bedford, Cranfield, Bicester,sailed merrily underneath, and a timecheck at Bicester suggested that lOOmiles had been covered in the firsl twohours in soite of the initial difficulties.The thermals that had been bitty anddifficult earlier were now strong andlarge, the wind rather less as progresswas made to the S.W. Heights variedbetween 3,500 and 6,000 Cl. with basearound 4,500 ft. - no anxiety whatso­ever. A glance down at Bicester withall the trailers on the ground and nogliders. suggested that the R.A.F. Rallyhad also ideas o( Cornwall and haddeparted earlier - Brize Norton. Broad­well. South Cerney airfields all came andwent, and on reaching the outskirts ofBristol my speed from Cranfield workedout at 60 m.p.h. - 123 miles. 123

East-West Relationsby A. H. Warminger

This {fight is only the fourth ;nBritain 10 exceed 500 kilometres

O VER the last five years, with lenserious attempts behind me, includ­

ing onc flight of 258 miles to the fringeof Dartmoor, the early spring stand-byperiod was once again upon mc. Wouldthere be a chance this season for a flightto the south-west? 1961 was a poorSpring; the only real day was duringthe Nationals when lots of League Iwent on the day of the year from Lashamto Cornwall. Ena, my wife, had toldme on the telephone how good it hadbeen in Norfolk, too. Ah well. at leastthe run with the others had shown methe lie of the land and what Perranporthlooked like from a sailplane - but toget to the story.

Saturday, 14th April, started off over·cast but the wind was in the N .E. andfresh' at 08.00 hrs., when I finallystarted to do somelhing about it, theslrato-eu was 8/8 with little sign ofloosening up or changing. Still, a N.E.was nol to be ignored; loo many timesI had regretted an indecision caused bysimilar weather outlook. By 09.15 hrs.,with Chris Delf duly collected, we wereon our way.

Arriving at Swanton Morley, thestrato-cu was changing character, open­ing up and beginning to street. BillReekie, our C.F.I., was already gettingthe Skylark 2 out with Peter Salmon;Taffy Rich. the Power CF.I.. fore­warned, was anending to the Tug. By10.30 atl was ready - Bill came acrossand said. .• Alf, the wind is marginaland Tafl'v says it's not on for hisTiger". Off to the Clubhouse - Taffysaid.., Sorry AIr, it's too rough". ., Allright, I'll tug myself off", I said. Helooked at me and grinned, "That shouldbe worth watching - get into yourcockpit, I'll be ready in five minutes ".

And so off into the Wide Blue Yonder• •upwmd to Reepham Town for the cast-

off, with the local police down belowbriefed to act as observers. In clear airat 2,500 ft. I pulled the plug and tooka couple of shots with the camera (time.10.25) - nothing like a bit of duplica-

256

Consult the Specialists foryour requirements

"WINTER" Barographs and Instruments

"PFEIFER" Winches for launching andCable-retrieving

"INTERWOVEN" Launching Cableetc., etc.

Thermal Equipment Ltd.33b Eceleston Sq., London. S.W.1

minutes, On past, the Ched~ar Gorgeto Bridgwater with the hIlls aheadgiving good visual cloud developments.Being slightly south of track for mostof my journey, I now eased a littlemore southwards to keep in from thecoast - though the cloud was formingbetween me and the sea, so it shouldbe safe.

As J approached Exmoor, conditionschanged - clouds pct.ered out, visibilitydeteriorated to 3-4 miles and the moorhaze seemed to hang h~avy in the sky;obviously I must adjust my tacticsaccordingly, so again just sufficientlyin from the coast to stay clear of thesea breeze and not too far in to getinvolved in the c1ag, I slowed down andchased every little morsel of cloud thatlay in the right direction. By 15.50 hrs.I pinpointed myself at Winkleigh,height still in the 3,000-4,000 ft. a.s.1.bracket but relatively high moorlandunderneath; with something like 66miles to go and about 2 hours of prob·able thermal time left, the game wasstill well and truly on. Play safe seemedto be the thing. Bridgwater to Wink·leigh airfield, a distance of 46 statutemiles, had taken I hour.

Now I was getting tired and sufferinga little from anxiety neurosis - I satalmost crouching, hardly daring to moveexcept feet and hands, working lift of100 ft. or so a minute. At last DavidstowMoor airfield came in sight and mypulse quickened as I realized 1 was instriking distance: bUl 2,000 ft. was nogood. even if 1 did have 8 miles in handby the tow upwind. Gradually the wind.which was blowing straight down the

Forty Years Agoby Woljgallg B. Klemperer

A VIATION, dream of mankind for. thousands of years, which became

reahty and even commonplace duringthe present generation, has many facets.One of the most romantic of these isSoaring Flight. Vivid memories wereevoked in me when, on 30th August,1960, almost to the day forty years aftermy first glide of 2.2 km. from theWasserkuppe in the Rhon Mountains,

coast from behind the aircraft and prob­ably a bit stronger because of the sea.took me to St. Mawgan airfield andNewquay and then, as the moors wereleft behind, so visibility cleared cloudsformed in a path along the ~oastlineahead and .soon the 419 was lifting easily~md gavottlng up to 4,300 ft. Straighten­Ing out, we sailed effortlessly to Perran­po~t~, hardly losing any heightarriving at J7.10 hrs.

Flying past in order to get up sun.t took photos of what to me will inall probability, be the finest sight I shalleV,er see - my goal by the Atlantic, 320mdes and 6 hrs. 18 mins. after releasingfrom the tug with the North Sea in view.

Landing at 17.20 hrs., the familiarand excited faces of the Perranporthitesgathered around; eager hands helpedto take care of the 419, Bernard Warm­ington and George Call ins were up fromthe village within minutes and insistedon my leaving the aircraft for theirmembers to attend to. George literallybrought out the fatted calf, but that'sanother story, Suffice to say that tilehospitality, kindness and assistance givenby our gliding friends in Cornwall mademe feel very humble and very proud tobe a colleague of theirs. One instancewhich I must quote, even if it doescause George embarrassment: the nextmorning I had eggs and bacon for break­fast, brought in by George and friedby him!

By 10.00 hrs. Chris arrived with AlanPengelly of the FenJand Club. Theyhad spent the night at AJan's home inPlymouth. And so back to Norwich.arriving home at 01.00 hrs. on Monday.

through the courtesy of Mr. AlexSchleicher of Poppenhauscn, I was givenan opportunity to make a short com­memorative flight from the same spot.These memories go back to the veryfirst Gliding Contest or Encampment of1920, and to the heroic labours of theAcademic Aeronautical Science Societyof Aachen at Professor Theodor vonKarman's Aerodynamic Institute whichproduced, under the stewardship of Dr.Paul Stock, the first canlilever mono­plane glider; design and constructionwere pushed forward simultaneously, soas to arrive at the Wasserkuppe barely

259

The time tested, all weather-metal construction of Schweizersailplanes is unique - guarantees years of maintenance free,safe flying - excellent performance with minimum depreciation.

The availability of the 2-22C two-place trainer and 1-26 onedesign sailplanes in kit form offers clubs and individuals, ATC'dsailplanes at substantial savings.

Schweiler 2-22CBest Flights:

Altitude - 17,000Distance196 miles

BACKED BY 25 YEARS OF AIRCRAFT EXPERIENCEWrite for free literature, prices, and deli'f'ery schedules.

_ EXCLUSIVE EXPORT REPRESENTATIVES

AVIQUIPO, INC.

Schweiler 1-26 Kit or CompleteBest flights: Attitude _ 36,000Distonce - 373 miles

1-23H & StandardClou H-1SBest Flights:Altitude _ 46,200Distance - 450 miles

Featuring Unique AII­

Metal Construction

SCHWEIZER SAILPLANES forPERFORMANCE, DURABILITY

l

AmderdamCOrGCClS

luondaPori,

90 Broad Street New York 4, New YorkTelephone WHitehall 3·6580 _ Teletype: NY 1-2684

Bongkok Brune15 Buenos Aires ColcutfClFronkfl,lrt Lima Lisbon London Los Angeles

Modrid Milon Montreol Mo'Zombique New YorkRio de Janeiro Santiogo Tokyo Washington, D.e.

260

COOK VARIOMETERsummer of 1921, a real contest amongseveral competent teams came to takeplace during which the first notable per­for~ances of soaring flight wereachieved and attracted wider attention.

Many famous visitors came to theWasserkuppe to watch the flying. Amongthem were Anthony Fokker, Dr. Lach­mann, and Sir Frederick Handley Page'Professors Prandtl. von Karman andHofl; Or. Offerman, Or. Madelung.Among the contestants were Lippisch.Brenner, Martens and Blume. Manynew ideas were tried out. One of themwas Koller's trial flights without avertical tail fin (on the strength of theargument that the birds have none) andprecarious direction control by splitwingtip brakes, though the Munich groupeventually, ruefully, returned to the con­ventional vertical fin and rudder system.Other innovations appeared on thescene: the tailless job of the" Welten­segler" group which unfortunatelyfailed structurally in a dive, and variableincidence control of the wings insteadof elevator and ailerons.

By far the most ingenious and tech-nologically advanced sailplane thenmaking its debut was the Hannover"Vampyr". The fuselage and theforward wing structure were made ofplywood, and it was the first stab athigher than conventional aspect ratio(10: I). Its performance was convincing.This was the year of long-stretchedglides of several minutes duration. TheAachen group had been less daring andcontented to bring the repaired "BlackDevil ", and a refined version of it calledthe "Blue Mouse" (the colour accord­ing to the hue of the fabric, the mouseafter the shape of its nose). Unable tomatch the glide ratio of the" Vampyr'with the" Blue Mouse ", I concentratedon the exploration of slope windsstrong enough to stay aloft in soaringflight. The culmination of these effortswas my flight to Gersfeld around thenorth slopes of the Wasserkuppe and theEube in a little over 13 minutes, over­climbing the take-off site by what thenappeared as a spectacular altitude. Thiswas the flight which surpassed theprevious rec?rd of 9 mi~utes of. slope·soaring attamed by Orvllle Wnght atKitty Hawk in 191 I.

The news of the first motorless cross·the country flight prompted L. Beach. the

261

Writ. la, descriptive leaflet.od addren of our.gent in you, count,y to,

The Cobb·SlalerInslrumenl Co. Iold.,

Darley Dale, Matlack,Derbyshire, England

Accuracy is not affected by temperaturesbetween _15°( and .45°C.

Cook Variometers are nol damaged byheavy landings or vibrations and fiveyears world-wide experience has provedit to be the most reliable instrument of

its kind.

The first lour plocfls in the /961 NationalChampionships were taken by pilots who

c.ued Cook Vortameters.

in time before the meet would close. Itwas with this ultra-light glider, despiteits modest aspect ratio, that we were ableto prove that soaring in a slope windwas not only possible but also exhilarat­ing. Imagination was stirred and thecontinued encouragement of soaringRight trials by staging annual contestswas assured. Take-off by rubber shock­cord on the windward slope was provenand accepted as a practical method, but~he necessity of systematic pilot trainingIn the handling of gliders was alsobrought home by various accidents.

In 1920, the Aachen glider .. BlackDevil ", reflecting the emulation ofProfessor Junkers' cantilever mono­plane prototype, was engineeringwisean advance over the gliders brought tothe meet by the other participants, someof .whom had power plane experience,whJie some did not; some were artisans,others students some merely hadfantastic ideas.' Now. however, theseed was sown. Serious engineeringefforts were applied by various groups,so~e o.f them organized at other collegesor institutes of technology.

Thus, in the second year, in

organizer of the Air Show in Omaha,Nebraska to cable us to pack up. ,immediately and to come to Amenca,all expenses paid, and d~monstrate ~hesailplane in flight on this forthcommgoccasion. Unfortunately we were in nocondition to accept this invitation withinthe time available. Instead, we con·centrated on new designs: one was thevery sleek gull-winged .. Rheinland",which, unfortunately, was plagued byelevator fluller' the other was a two­seater side-by-s'ide, very daring Canardtype ~th slotted ailerons and with anarrangement to bank the front wing inlieu of rudder action (which, however,proved too sluggish), These troubleshandicapped our team. My recollectionof the chronological sequence of eventsof the years 1922 and 1923 is not Quiteso clear, perhaps because we occasion­ally went to the Wasserkuppe for flighttrials in the spring, between contests.This was indeed 40 years ago!

Of the 1922 contest events and thenew faces and new designs I do remem·

ber the following: Prince Heinrich (brother of the last Kaiser) w the

h ' as aspectator muc mterested in tech 'details. Fokker brought a two- olcalbiplane from which the first mse~ter

, k' Otlonpictures were ta en m motorless f1i hby passenger ,Seeka~z, Harth came g tfrom the Heldelstem with his the oVt"f t 'I1 reo_ore secre sal p ~ne unconventionallcontrolled by varymg the wing incide Yand camber; Wolf Hirth and ~heD,armst,adt, ,group's ;. Geheimrat ", als~w!th mdlv,ldually variable incidencewmgs, which worked satisfactorily'Gottlob Espenlaub with a crudel'carpentered 20: I aspect ratio wi/which. eventually flew; BUdig with ~beautifully made twin-boom biplaneCa~ard with many original featureswhIch he was, however, not courageousenough to c0rTl:mit to, fre,e flight; Zeiseof ,Hamb1!-rg With a blrdhke COntraptionwhich qUickly came to grief, and vanLiittwitz with an even more fantasticbird imitation which, fortunately, didnot get off the ground; conventional

The Vampyr, wi'ich made 'he first soaring flights of one, tlVO and three hours.

~62

types flown by E. Meyer and P. Brenner;Ferdinand Schulz new his primitivebroomstick contraption and severalothers. The Hannover group broughtits much improved .. Vampyr" and anew exceedingly smooth-looking butaerodynamically disappointing ., Greif ".It was with the Vampyr that Martensand Hentzen made the famous first one­hour and three-hour flights cruising inthe slope wind over the N.W. escarp­ment to the enthusiastic applause of themany spectators.

These flights, exactly 40 years ago,established beyond a doubt that slopewind soaring was a sport worth p'r~~t.is­ing and that the endurance posslbllltleswere practically unlimited. They con­stiluted the next milestone in the historyof soaring. In the years to follow, therecame a systematic succession of develop­ments, namely soaring from hillside tohillside; cross-country; the tackling offronts and thunderstorms; and eventu­ally the discovery of thermal soaringand wave soaring. It was also at thattime, 40 years ago, I believe, that interestin soaring as a sport and as a scientificpursuit began to be aroused in othercountries, particularly in England andFrance, but soon all over the globe. Itis gratifying to observe that a bond offriendship has grown to pervade thefraternity of soaring flight enthusiastsof all nations.

South Africa Spoilsby J. K. While

Yorkshire Glidillg Club

HOW can you be spoilt in three short. weekends? Try visiting the Soar­Ing Centre at the Johannesburg LightPI?ne Club. Keep your nose to thegrindstone for six days of the week withb?rely a peep at the magnificent dailydisplays of regular blue sky daubed withcumulus based at 12.000 feel, then bega lift out to the Club on the Saturdayaft~rnoon. Walk out to the launchingPOint and you'll find them all there ­Boet Dommisse. Eddie Lehmann TimBiggs. Pat Bcatty and all the namesyou've read so often. I suopose youcould do the same thing anywhere in foe

263

THE

British AviationInsurance

COMPANY LIMITED

•The oldes! and

largest office specialising in

CiYil Ayiation

•HEAD OffICE

3-4 LIME STREET.

LONDON. E.C.3

world and come across the local peopleyou already know but have never met.Such is the nature of gliding and longmay it remain so.

Hang around for a while and have alook at their selection of ., birds" ­but don't expose your snow-white skinto the sun at 5.800 feet (aerodromeheight) for more than half an hour ata time or you'll blister like new paint.You'll probably be offered a ride intheir Schweizer 2-22, an all-metal two­seater which takes an awfully long timeto aero-tow to 1,000 feet, and then atrip in one of the solo machines.

Or you can stroll back to the Club­house and, if you are really energetic,play tennis or squash and finish off witha dip in the swimming pool. One of thenative boys will be pleased to bring youa drink. You'll be told - if you needto be - that the weather is monoton­ously superb. In the summer, day afterday of bright sunshine with theoccasional humdinging thunderstorm.warm in the evenings - ideal for drinkson the lawn and late night swimmingunder the Southern Cross. In the winterit is even dryer and in the eveningscooler, but good thermals all the yearround.

Don't forget to put a jacket or blazer

Aerolite gluesused exclusively by Britain's leading glider manufacturers

CIBA (A.R.L.) products include:•AEROLlTE•AERODUX•ARALDITE

•REDUX

•AEROWEB

the only glue used by the R.A.F. for wooden structures.

resorcinol glues to withstand conditions of extreme expOsure.

epoxy resins and adhesives for bonding metals, providing protectivecoatings and for the production of glass*cloth laminates.

metal-to·metal bonding for aircraft structures and for bonding vehiclebrake linings.

metal honeycomb for ultra-lightweight structures.

CIBA (A.R.L.) LIMITED, DUXFQRD, CAMBRIDGE. Telephone: Sawston 2121

264

Lasham Airfield, Alton. Hants.hl.phone He..;'rd 359

See Ken Fripp at Lashallt for

10-YEAR INSPECTIONSC. OF A. OVERHAULS' REPAIRSMODIFICATIONS' RE-SPRAYINGFULL B.G.A. APPROVAL

Southdown Aero Services ltd

because the next time you go to theClub you may, as a gesture of gratitudefor having been allowed to fly theirbirds, offer to go on a retrieve. And ifyou do you'll be delighted ~o discoverthat, superb though their gUding condi­tions are, spectacular though theirachievements have been and brilliantthough the design and construction ofthe 8J·2 is. they are as fallible as theworst of us in the matter of retrieves.Perhaps it's because they nearly alwaysget back.

You now may be wondering if thereis anyone in the bar sober enough to runyou back to your hotel in Jo'burg, but,reluctant to leave with the prospect ofanother day's sport on the Sunday, youenquire about Slaying the night. Thisyou will find is quite common and inno time at all you will be presentedwith a towel, soap and key to yourrondavaal which is a semi-sphericalbuilding containing three bedrooms anda bathroom with shower.

And so with your head in the cloudsthe time comes to leave South Africa.You reflect on the many advantages oflife in that country - low income tax.wonderful climate, no washing up, anda gliding club par excellence. Perhapsyour route home will take you amongstgiant cumulus with the Boeing pilotflying at 40,000 feet and still having tododge the tops. Perhaps you'll stop atLeopoldvilte and witness a tropicalthunderstorm at night with lightningflashes that would make the tail end ofa Redstone rocket look dull by cam·parison. But one thing is certain, you'"be so spoilt that you'll either have toforget it all or put it down toan hallucination caused by too muchexposure to the sun.

on later for your five-course ~ix-shiIIingdinner in the Clubhouse. Shirt sleevesare breakfast only.

Now where has everyone got to ­the bar? Yes, but no ladies a.llowed.They sit in the lounge and kmt. Butthe talk in the bar won't be aboutknitting. You'lI hear about the SouthAfrican Nationals at Kimberley inJanuary when about a dozen lucky menhad a bill of fare that you should notattempt to describe when you get home.It would be too much like enthusingabout oysters to a man who has livedon cockles and mussels. You'll find iteasy to believe yourself, but don'tattempt to recount, that one of the com­petitors with eigh.t hour.s' gli~ing. timeprior to the meetlOg fimshed It With aGold C and Diamond.

As the evening progresses you'll hearabout Pat Seatty's bird, the 8J-2,designed seven years ago by a localGerman wizard and built by Pat himself.This really is a hot ship, but Pat ­who became South African championflying it at Kimberley - will tell youthat the Fowler flaps give you the bestof both worlds. The weight of thecentre-section is 270 lb. You willearlier have admired the superb finishon this centre·section and Pat willcalmly tell you that the ply skin is-hth~ thick - so you just don't getwavlOess.

More beer, but be careful - don'ttreat a bottle of the local cold Castleas a half-pint or you'll find yourselfdoing involuntary barobatics, and theyhave a special bar stool for such victims.with control column, rudder pedals and"aircraft" log book which you will berequired to complete.

You may think that Pat is pure boffinand it is worthwhile trying to get. himto intone the adventures of "Poor LittleAngelina", a ditty of which he knowsan apparent endless number of entranc­ing verses. But he is more likely to betalking to Tim or Boet about animproved 8J·2 - all-metal to avoidwood shrinkage in the hot sun? - full­spa\! Fowler flaps instead of on centresectIOn only? - who knows? Perhapsyo,:,'!1 .understand why a Fowler Rapwhich Increases S by 25% can increaseC\S by nearly 100%. Anyway. makethe most of your evening in the bar

265

MORE CHAMPS' CHIPSDon Snodgrass, after Jancti.ng by Port

Talbot on League 2'$ Free Distance day,saw an old tyre lying on the beach.Taking its purpose for. grant.cd.. heappropriated it and placed It on hiS wmg·tip. . h'

Hugo Trotter. soarmg at Las am In aT-21 with a passenger on the first Sun·

day, ~udde'.lly saw '.he air around himfill with gliders. noticed Some colouredstrips on the ground below, concludedthat Lasham was a turning-point for theChamps., and decided to hurry down Outof the way. So he foun~ a good ID ft.!s~c. dow~current and circled in it. TohIS surpnse, three of the competitorsimmediately came and joined him.

Dare17.1.6214.4.62

Completed17.1.6214.4.62

Club

NameP. M. ScottA. H. Warminger

Gliding CertificatesCOMPLETE DIAMOND BADGES

Name ClubP. M. Scott Bristol Gliding ClubA. H. Warminger Norfolk & Norwich Aero Club

DIAMONDS FOR DISTANCEClubBristol Gliding ClubNorfolk & Norwich Aero

No.78

No.1/111/12

No. Name3/30 P. K. Ghose

NameA. R. T. CruickshankP. K. GhoseJ. E. Duthie

D. F. HoldingJ. ArgentRika HarwoOdS. B. MeadP. D. Kevan

No. Name1112 J. G. B. Daniell1113 C. D. Wales1114 G. P. Mc Broom1115 J. E. Baker1116 R. Jones1117 L. S. Hood

Date11.12.61

14.4.6214.4.6231.5.62

1.6.621.6.62

Date14.4.6214.4.6214.4.6214.6.6231.5.621.6.621.6.62

17.5.62

Date18.2.62

11.12.6118.2.62

Completed31.3.6231.3.621.3.629.4.621.4.62

13.4.62

DIAMOND FOR ALTITUDEClubSurrey Gliding Club

DIAMONDS FOR GOAL FLIGHTClubSwindon Gliding ClubFulmar Royal Naval Gliding ClubSurrey Gliding ClubLondon Gliding ClubSurrey Gliding ClubLaarbruch R.A.F. Gliding ClubFenland R.A.F. Gliding ClubMidland Gliding Club

GOLD C HEIGHT LEGSClubScottish Gliding UnionSurrey Gliding ClubScottish Gliding Union

GOLD C DISTANCE LEGSFulmar R.N. Gliding ClubLondon Gliding ClubSurrey Gliding ClubLaarbruch R.A.F. Gliding ClubFenland R.A.F. Gliding Club

SILVER C CERTIFICATESClubBristol Gliding ClubBristol Gliding ClubBristol Gliding ClubLondon Gliding ClubWessex R.A.F. Gliding ClubLeighton Park School

266

NameJ. V. InglesbyD. F. HoldingL. CheesemanF. CollingsplatRika HarwoodS. B. MeadP. D. KevanR. H. Prestwich

No.2/1012/1022/1032/1042/1052/1062/1072/108

1118111911201121112211231124112511261127112811291130I I 3I113211331134113511361137113811391140

A. J. NurseF. R. FleuretG. F. LloydA. G. BurneR. NeepK. C. MorganJ. W. L. JarredR. G. ChubbJ. R. W. KronfeldR. WhiteG. A. RassD. M. HollidayW. MayH. V. JonesA. G. V. BlackburnJ. BowerP. K. GhoseJ. S. Stuart-MentethB. R. WatersA. ChapmanK. RylandsP. W. GardnerAnne E. Vince

Bristol Gliding ClubCambridge University Gliding ClubBristol Gliding ClubKent Gliding ClubCoventry Gliding ClubLaarbruch R.A.F. Gliding ClubWindrushers R.A.F. Gliding ClubDevon and Somerset Gliding ClubImperial College Gliding ClubLondon Gliding ClubMoonrakers R.A.F. Gliding ClubScottish Gliding UnionCoventry Gliding ClubMoonrakers R.A.F. Gliding ClubBristol Gliding ClubYorkshire Gliding ClubSurrey Gliding ClubBristol Giding ClubEast Midland R.A.F. Gliding ClubMoonrakers R.A.F. Gliding ClubMidland Gliding ClubSurrey Gliding ClubSurrey Gliding Club

C CERTIFICATES

14.4.6224.3.6227.3.6214.4.6222.4.6228.4.6229.4.6214.4.6229.4.62

7.8.6125.4.6220.5.6220.5.6224.3.6212.5.6218.5.62

14.12.6112.5.6220.5.6223.5.6220.5.6230.5.624.6.62

Gliding Club or Gliding Club or Gliding Clllb orName A.T.e. SchooL Name A.T.C. School Name A.T.C. SchoolB. J. Hughes Cornish K. Morris Suffolk S. J. Barton WindrushersJ. D. Greenhill Bristol P. J. Bnttan Empire Test A. H. Cun MoonrokersH.Orme Fenland Pilots R. W. Bullock CranwellW. M. Smedley Wessex J. W. Barbeary Portsmouth P. K. Fuller B.E.A.R. D. Brown Wesse" Naval M. M. Weeks Cornish1'. Perry 631 G.S. D. M. Alsop South Wales 0.1. Harnden East MidlandsD. McKelvey 631 G.S. N. I. Lovie Aberdeen R.A.F.J. M. Parkin 631 G.S. D. C. Fothergill 6150.5. K. Green B.E.A.T. K. Taylor Norfolk M. E. Dry Laarbruch J. Stokes DoncasterV. D. Vanson Southdown J. Bonellie Scottish R. M. Molesworth SurreyJ. D. A. Charteris Crusaders D.1. Mythen 622 G.S. O. Hackett 633 G.S.B. Quarman 613 G.S. J. W. Hoyland Nimbus G. W. Goffin SouthdownS. Hayes Ooncaster J. E. Rooum Cranwell R. O. Collis EssexN. G. Thomas E. Midlands D. Viney Moonrakers C. W. Lyons LaarbruchK. W. Bruce Norfolk K. Blake Laarbruch W. T. Oartl<lnd KentN. Hadden White Rose M. Fenton Surrey E. H. M. Alleyne OxfordB. C. Hockley Essex R. M. S. Harwood Surrey J. Abbot! LondonW. D. G. Bennett Coil. of Aeron.1. R. Hammond Portsmouth 1. C. Foster WessexD. A. N. Holland Southdown Naval B. D. Baldry SurreyK. E. Gregory Derbyshire & T. E. CO" 6420.5. P. I. Wilson Portsmouth

Lancashire P. E. D. Dunning Surrey NavalN. H. Dug~an Bristol H. R. Phythian Perk;ns G. G. King Coli. of Aeron.D. W. G. Carter CIl'11bridge B. lones 642 G.S. F. G. Fermor 613 0.5.A. A. Bell Fulmar H. Apoleyard Doneaster W. Foster FulmarJ. G. Smith East Yorks. P. A. Stirk (WiIlert)Doncaster J. G. F. Tebb 611 G.S.G. H. Watts Surrey J. C. LarlZe Midland K. Targ YorkshireA. Pen2elly Fenland G. A. E. Meader Swindon B. Kay ClevelandsA. K. Hall Windr',shers W. G. Illingworth 622 G.S. W. C. Lombard ClevelandsW. E. Sheppard West Wales A. K. Grayhurst Swindon E. P. HodlZe KentD. P. George West Wales J. W. Sharp Surrey .T. F. Morris Four CountiesD. M. Thomas. K. Zmitrowicl White Rose J'. J. Manny 6350.5.

Ellam Surrey F.Oarkins Surrey S. J. Terry SurreyL. C. Magnus La.sharn J. C. Rieley Tmp. ColI. M. S. Armstrong DCTbyshire &G. Barrett West Wales G."R. Downing Cambridge LancashireK. E. Michael Nimbus T. F. Kerry Wind rushers T. A. Spurlin~ East AnglianD. Havhurst Cambri<lge P. J. Pratclli Oxford J. H. K. Clark YorkshireE. C. Neighbour Derbyshire & R. I. Simmonds E. AnJ,!lian C. E. Saunders Crusaders

T. WenbLancashire B. C. G. Lockwood Norfolk C. V. Harvey Kent

~eottish D. W. Rnberts Crusaders J. N. Baker BristolB. G. Di" Kent K. E. J. Teison Midland .1. F. FaTley CranwellM. J. Trasler B.E.A. O. M. Maclure 614 G.S. J. G. Ferguson Bristol

267

OBITUARIESSIR FREOERICK HANOLEY PAGE

THE career of Sir Freder!ck Ha.nd.leyPage. C.BE., both 10. aVlat!On

industry and in the early ploneenngdays. has been well described in manyobituary notices of his de:at~ on 21,stApril at the age of 76. HIS Interest In

gliding evidentlr J.asted as long a~ thatin powered aViatIOn, for he ~U11t anartificial hill for the use of glld~rs ~nhis first flying ground near BarkmJ,; m1909. He was on the Gliding CommItteeof the Royal Aero Club from 1920 to1923 a period which included the fi:SlBrili~h soaring competition. When ghd~iog was revived in 1930 he used to cometo the early meetings of the LondonGliding Club near Tring, bring,ing hisfamily, but [ do not remember hIm evertaking a flight. He also appeared at anearly auto-towing demonstration byC. H. Lowe-Wylde at Hanworth: hewas riding a horse! More recently hecame to the London Gliding Club topresent the prizes at the 1958 AerobaticCompetition, making an amusing andprovocative speech about the aviationindustry.

Sir Frederick did much to encourageand help the Handley Page Gliding Clubwhich operates on his firm's airfield atRadlett. The Secretary of the club, Mr.A. C. Wordsworth, writes as follows:

"The immediate thought that springsto mind was his personal gift to theclub of our Skylark 38 and trailer onthe firm's 50th anniversary, our firsthigh-performance sailplane; this, we feel,was our transitional point from a circuitstype club to a soaring club with thefinest equipment available. Our othergliders, incidentally, were provided forus by the firm - of which he wasManaging Director. In addition to this.he assisted the club in allowing us theuse of the firm's hangars and airfield.He showed encouraging interest in theclub. and we always felt that there wassomeone up top who looked sympa­thetically on our activities. Sir Frederickwas President of the gliding club fromits inception in 1946."

MAJOR H, A, PETRE

H· 'ENRY PETRE, who died on 24thApril at the age of 77, was not

only one of .the earl.ie~t aviation pioneers,but came IDto ghdmg soon after itsrevival in 1930, and soon became apillar of strength in the London GlidingClub not only being its chairman from, .. .1932 to 1935, but glvmg It much valu­able legal advice, particularly in thedifficult matter of acquiring its land.

One of the aeroplanes exhibited at theOlympia Show of 1910 was designedby himself, his brother, and Mr.Howard-Flanders (later the B.G.A.'sfirst Secretary). It had a movable mainplane and a propeller behind the tail.on the advice of Sir Hiram Maxim. Inthose days Henry Petre was known as.. Peter the Monk" and his brother as"Peter the Painter". In 1912 he wentout to Australia with E. Harrison tohelp to start a School of MilitaryAviation, and can therefore be describedas a founder of the Australian AirForce. After that he returned toEngland to become a solicitor.

On 12th September, 1961, the RoyalAero Club, on whose committee he hadbeen for countless years, gave a dinnerin honour of Major Petrc's 50 years offlying, as he had gained the Club'sAviator's Certificate No. 128 on 12thSeptember, 1911.

His A gliding Certificate was gainedin November, 1930, and his C on 4thMarch. )931. On 24th May, 1931, flyinga Professor over Dunstable Downs, heput up a British duration record of3 hours 28 min., just breaking the Iorf!lerworld's duration record of 3 hrs. 21 mlns.set up by a Frenchman, Alex Maneyrol,at the 1922 contest on the South Downsat Firle Beacon. He also put up aBritish gain-of-height record of 785 ft.on 27th September, 1931, in a Tern atJngleby Greenhow in Yorkshire. At theLondon Club he was part owner of theCrested Wren for a time; he flewregularly throughout the pre~war yearsbut never tried thermal soaring. In1943 he became an A.T.C. glidinginstructor' then he flew for the lasltime at th~ club just after the war.. BUJhe could not keep away, and continueto visit the club several times a year.

268

A. E. SLATER.

LT.•COL. A. OGILVIE, C.B.E.

READERS will remember the article"Golden Jubilee of Soaring" pub­

lished in SAILPLANE AND GLIDING lastDecember, which included extracts fromthe diaries of Alec Ogilvie and OrvilleWright descri~ing their expedition toKitty Hawk In Octob~r, 19! I. whenOn/ille put up a world 5 soaring dura­tion record of 9 mins. 45 secs., andOgilvie made several similar flights, thelongest of which were 59 sccs. on theday after Orvillc's record, and 1 min.5 secs. the following day. We regretthat his death on 18th June, at the ageof 80, has now been reported.

Alec Ogilvie was onc of the earliestBritish aviation pioneers. He had,according to report. begun experiment­ing with gliders in 1901, and then, withthe beginning of serious powered avia­tion in Europe in 1908. he decided toorder a Wright aeroplane. But beforeit was delivered to him in October 1909.be began practising in a glider ofsimilar design, which was illustratedin the December article mentionedabove. He obtained No. 7 BritishAviator's Certificate on 24th May, 1910,and thereafter remained faithful to theWright design throughout his active

flying career, which ended in 1914 ­though he sometimes went up as a pas­senger in other types. and one of theseoccasions was a flying expedition up theNile to Khartoum in a four-seater Shortseaplane.

Col. Ogilvie continued his interest inthe aviation world, and was one of the~tewards a! the 1922 soaring competi­tIOn at FlTle Beacon on the SouthDowns. His prize of £50 for the longestBritish flight on the first day of themeeting, 16th October, was won byF. P. Raynham with a flight of 1 min.58 secs. Next day Raynham flew forI hr. 53 mins.. a duration which wasonly beaten on the last day by theEnglishman, Sqdn.-Ldr. Gray, with2 hours, and a Frenchman, AlexManeyrol, with 3 hrs. 21 mins.

Col. Ogilvie kindly invited me to hishouse in 1954 to clear up somehistorical points about the 1911 soaringflights. It was a beautiful house in themiddle of an estate in the New Forest,and the walls of the hall. staircase andlanding were covered with old aviationprints and framed documents, many ofthem signed by famous figures of theearly flying days.

Cockpit Insulation

for Wave Flights

H EARING that 27,500 ft. a.s.l. had will benefit from considerable solar heat-been reached in a wave to leeward ing except for the legs and feet, which

of Pike's Peak in Colorado by Capt. are in shade.Wally Leland of the V.S. Air Force "We insulated the Cherokee cockpitAcademy on 25th February, members of completely with one-half inch of Fibre­Kansas Soaring Association arranged an glass in plastic-film bags. We also built aexpedition to the region from 11th to new and tightly weather-stripped canopy.17th March. Writing in the K.S.A. News- The double pane was made by simplyletter about their preparations, they say: stretching a IQ by 15 inch sheet of Milar. ''The~e are several factors in wave fly- plastic across the inside of the wind-mg which require careful preparation. screen and taping it securely in place.Oxygen for at least two hours is a must. This left an air space approximately one-A strong ship, of course, with a tight quarter inch deep, well sealed all around.cockpit and a double-span windshield to The insulation and tight canopy notward off frost. Radio is highly desirable, only keep the cockpit snug. but reducedbut not necessary. Warm clothing is a noise to a minimum. With this treatmentmust, especially for the feet. Fleece-lined the Cherokee is almost silent at speedsboots, period. In a snug cockpit the pilot up to 60 m.p.h."

269

Send 1s. for 16ppbook. list

-"===

20 Ridge Ave.Winchmore Hill §London - N.21 §

11111I11Il11I11II111I111J1111fII1lI111lI11ff.

MODEL

REFERENCE

• HISTORICAL

•• TECHNICAL

•

..

which will bl? followed in September banother film In the same series Y

The Annual Dinner-Dance' has nobeen arranged and will be held Ow

Friday 5th October. a~ the Ecclesto~Hotel. The .two pnnclpal guests areqroup Captatn Goodbody, R.A.F.. andColonel R. L. Preston, C.B.E., Secretary_General of the Royal Aero Club. DOubletickets price £2 ] Ss. and single ticketsprice £1 10s.. which are available fromthe club and other ticket sellers areslightly ir:tcreased, but the menu' willbe much Improved.

The Photographic Competition willbe held between 5th and 12th Octoberand th~ rules and ~egulatidns were pUb~Iished In the May Issue of the KronfefdKronic/e. Jill Walker is in charge ofthis particular matter, and any furtherinformation can be obtained from herat the club on any Wednesday evening.

Diary of Lectures and Film ShowsWednesdays at 8 p.m.

Aug. 1. "Gliders used in the Invasionof Europe", by Derek Wallace.

8. "Gliding Miscellany." Talks,films and slides of topicalinterest. Anyone with anythingto say or slides or films toshow is invited to come along.

" 15. "The Fighting Lady," a colourfilm record of an aircraflcarrier's routine.

" 22. "The Guild of Air Pilots andNavigators," by Vivian Varcoe.

" 29. Mobil Oil and BOAC films.Sept. 5. Wait Disney film, "Man in

Flight"." 12. Championship Flying, by Cap!.

Nicholas Goodhart." 19. "More Diving in the Med.", by

F. Irving and D. Tomkin.

ENGLAND'S ONLY AERO BOOKSHOP

BEAUMONT270

---------------------------

KRONFELD CLUB

DURING the summer the club hasarranged a very full programme. and

attendances have been well maintainedex~e~t for the period of the NationalGildtng Championships, when most ofthe meJ!1bers were to be found either ascompetitors or crew members at AstonDown.

We hope at in~ervals of roughly everyfour months to tntroduce a well-knownfeature film into the programme andthe. first of these was "Hell's An'gels",~hlch was so popular that three show~tngs had to be arranged to accommodatethe 122 club members who saw itAnother inter~sting film shown recentlywas Wait Dlsney's "Man in Space",

the 1962 art exhibitionand competition

THE fifth exhibition of aeronauticalart to be organised at the Kronfeld

Club will be opened on Wednesdayevening, 14th November. at 8 p.m. byLord Brabazon of Tara.

The competition for amateur artists.which is run in conjunction with theexhibition will be judged by a panelfrom the Society of Aviation A~tists.

Now is the time to start putting pen,pencil charcoal or brush to paper Icanvas, and he hope you will, as thecompetition is open to all amateurs andthe subject can be gliders, aeroplanes oranything aeronautical. There are severalprizes to be won, including a challengetrophy and a prize for the best firstentry.

Needless 10 say we shall be glad tohear from professional artists who havesomething to exhibit.

Entry forms have to be in by 31stOctober, and these and the full rulesmay be obtained from Mrs. Yvonne Bon­ham, 14 Little Brownings, London,S.£.23 (Tel. Forest Hill 9390), or fromthe club. Y.c.B.

V. G.

83 Wickslead Avenue, Lulon, Beds.

For all types of aircraftrepairs and spares,

estimates

Gliding and Public Relationsby F. D. Storrs, Publicity Officer, British Gliding Association

THE very phrase Public Relations !1cw sites? Do clubs have a necessaryoften seems to arouse a host of Interchange of technical organisations

distasteful misconceptions, so before and financial knowledge? Is the tech-considering what it could mean when oieal excellence of this country's gliderapplied to the gliding movement in this industry widely enough known? Therecountry, Ict us define what we are talking are other questions all relevant. Let usabout. Publicity alone, good or bad, is not suggest that the answers to thesenot Public Relations; although it can questions at the moment are necessarilybe an important part of them, the same pessimistic, but a major reason thatcan be said of advertising.. Public. Rela- they are not is merely the enthusiasmtions is what it says, relatIOns. with the and stalwart energy of a few individuals.public, either the general public or the In a sport in which 5,000 people arepublic relevant to an individual, a com- actively involved, in which this countrymercial enterprise, a governmental is expert both technically and in itsauthority, an amateur organisation or flying, it is surely not only unfair, butwhat have you. It is thus essentially a ridiculously shortsighted to rely entirelycommunications system - and this on the individual, both to the personimplies a two-way flow of information and to the sport. In a movement where- between a body and its appropriate there is probably no equal gathering ofpublic. In the case of an organisation individualists, such a statement may notthey can be both internal and external. be popular, but it is true.It needs little imagination to see the What, then, can be done to improvedifference between the public of, say, these lines of communication and toa film starlet, a company producing make sure that those who glide obtainhorizonal jig borers, and a national a fair hearing of their interests? View-association of coffin nail platers. Equally ing firstly the external requirement, onethe methods of serving and servicing task is to ensure that the image ofsuch audiences differ immensely, and gliding as a good safe sport, run respon-the methods used vary from the most sibly and effectively, is put over both toimportant matter of personal contact to the general public and t'? the. relevantsophisticated and complex mechanical national and local authofltles 10 whosetechniques of print and every sort of control the life of the movementvisual presentation. ultimately lies. If this ca\! ~e done, the

From this brief definiticn of what growth and support of glIding from thepublic relations is, let us now examine general public - members. and moneywhat possible good might be found in - will be assisted and the !lfe and heal~happlying some professional P.R. practice of the movement - freed~m of the air,to the gliding movement. First, partly to ability to set up new slte~~.assure?satisfy those who will cavil even at the The B.G.A.'s part in projecting thiStitle .of this piece, let us put some picture is most important, and steps arequestiOns. Is the movement as healthyas it could be? Are there clubs lookingfor members, money, sites? Is glidingunnecessarily restricted, or is it going tobecome so in the next few years by thepowerful interests of commercial, busi­ness and private aviation, all of whichare. growing fast? Are the running andpolIcy of the British Gliding Associationunders~ood by the clubs, the responsiblegoverning authorities, and are suchpolicies adequately presented? Issafety understood? Do local authorities~nd interests understand what ismvolved and required when clubs seek

271

being taken to reorganise the informa­lion services available and 10 ente,: aphase of press liaison and promotIOnof the key aspects of the sport.

However the clubs too have a neces­sary pan to play in keepiryg the. B.G.~_informed of any happemngs In theirown sphere either detrimental t~ themovement - when help can ?~d will begiven - or when opportumtles occurlocally for good national publicity, andalso in ensuring Ihat their own publicrelations is of a high standard. To takea facile example - if a local papershould misreport a landing as a crashlanding. an annoyed letter or telephonecall 10 the edilor pointing out the utterignorance of his ways a~d of hi~ ne~s·paper will produce nothlOg but 111 wd!.A courteous letter or, better still, avisit, explaining the whole business a.n?offering him or his correspondent a VISitto the club and a trip, may well resultin a feature and will certainly ensure agood press at some later date when theclub may need its interests properlypresented.

The whole Question of internal com­munications is more open. There are

already cenain lines in existenceBG C 'I -th,. .A. ounCI meetlOgs and SAII.PAND GLIDING~ which do valuablel.ANE

, bl 'b S '11 . andcredlta e JO s, h. It does seem thclubs - and the B.G.A.- Could ~l.tfrom a greater and perhaps mgam

'ft R f' f orespecl c cross ow 0 In ormation of 11sor~s, not only i':1 pUb!icity, but also ~faccidents. techmcal IOformation (a'craft, winches, etc.), financial (metho~­of financing clubs, site~, h~ngars, campssetc.), and we are conslderlOg setting upa regular t,wo-way newsletter on thesesort of subjects.

These are a few of the thoughts onhow Public Relations can help the glid­ing movement. The subject is long andreasonably complex, and this piece hasmerely ~rus~e~ the surface. The objectof printing It IS to set people thinkingand to m~ke them aware of the subjectas a subject. There are many glidingand Public Relations experts who mayread it. Both from those and from thetyros we expect ideas, suggestions andadvice, because we honestly feel that ifgliding in Great Britain is to have afuture, then it is essential that we alltake steps to assure it.

The Dutch National Championshipsby W. Adriaansen

THE Dutch National Gliding Cham­pionships were held at Terlet from

19th May to 2nd June inclusive. Outof 32 competitors - all possible candi­dates for Argentina - flying a Sky·lark 2, 27·year-old Ed van Sree, PilotOfficer R.N.A,F., gained the victory.

On the first contest day, MAY 20TH,a, race w~s set to the new Dutch glidingsite at Wltten, near Assen, a distance of112 km. Be~ause of a strong cross-windo~ly two pilots succeeded in reachingthiS goal, J. C, Berns~n (Skylark 2) andG. J. Ordelm.an (Sagitta), the latter inthe shortest time.

No contest on MAY 21ST' race toBorkenberge set. '

A ra.,ce to Oerlinghause.n (190 km.) on~AY _3RO became a victory for PimSlerks (Skylark 2), who completed thistask af~er 2.22 hours' flying. Thirteenother pilots landed at Ocrlinghausen inalmost the same time, among themOrdelman, van Brec and Bernsen.

MAY 24TH.-Task: out-and·returnflight to Winterswijk (162 km.). In spiteof a strong cross-wind and weak ther­maIs, one pilot, John van Melzen (KA·6)completed this task after 3t hours' fly­ing. Second was our English guest, E.Lusted from Laarbruch Air Force base,who landed only 20 km. short of Terlet.Because of the bad weather no task wasset on May 25th and 26th.

A 190-km. triangle on SUNDAY 27THwas completed by two pilots, John .vanMelzen and Ed van Bree. Most pilotswere forced by a big thunderstorm toland in the neighbourhood of the secondturning-point.

MAY 28TH.-Task: free distance. bulas no pilot succeeded in flying 50 km.there was no contest,

On MAY 29TH again a race was. setN ' Ilotsto Borkcnberge (99 km,). Ine P let

reached this airfield. Fastest was TerInstructor Jos Krols.

272

A proullsll1g sky atTerle/.Photo W. AdriaQIlSell

(KA-6), who landed after nearly ID hours'flying 650 km. from Terlet.

MAY 30rn.-Task: free distance. Thegreatest distance was flown by van Bree,who landed near Himbergen (345 km.);two other pilots flew more than 300 km.The 31st was a rest day for returntransport. Terlet Instructor Groeneveldused this day to make a 300-km. goalflight to complete his Gold "C".

On JUN~ 1ST the weather changedunder the influence of an area of highpressure over Denmark. The windbecame N.E., and so goals were declaredin France. Cloud base 4,000 ft., goodthermals. On this day of days five pilotslanded at their goal and J. Jungblutcompleted his Gold Badge with threeDiamonds (F.Al. No. 235). Five pilotsflew more than 500 km., three of themeven more than 600. The greatest dist­ance was flown by John van Melzen

Leading final positions:Pilot Sailplane

I. E. F. van Bree Skylark 22. G. J. Ordelman Sagitta3. J. van Melzen KA-64. J. H. G. Selen Skylark 25. J. C. H. Bernsen Skylark 26. H. H. Fernhout KA-67. R. A Breunissen Skylark 28. J. Krols Skylark 29. H. van der Salm Skylark 2

10. H. Sierks Skylark 211. A. SchetIer Skylark 312. J. Jungblut Sagitta13. A Breunissen Skylark 214. J. D. Brouwer Skylark 215.1. Mailing KA-7

Points5.4605,1384,9024,9004,8974,7614,4604.4364.3624,3004,2964,1914,0683,8473,743

GLIDER FLIGHTS ACROSS FRONTIERS

Conference. nowthe participatingrecommend the

A CONFERENCE "for the purposeof. !inding means of simplifying the

fo.rmahtles for international flights bygliders'" when they land on airfieldsother than Customs aerodromes wasorga~ised by the Federation 'Aero­naullque Internationale at Berne in 1961.Countries represented were Austria,Western Germany, France. Great Britain,Holland, Yugoslavia, Sweden and Swit­zerland.. The report of theIssued, states thatCOuntries agreed to

following procedure:(J) The obligation to take off from or

land on a Customs aerodrome to besuppressed.

(2) Before taking off the pilot mustconfirm, in writing, that he is taking withhim only personal articles, food and thenecessary instruments for air traffic con­trol and safety in flight (barograph, para­chute, radio, etc.) and no articles whichare subject to Customs duty or othertaxes in the country of destination.

(3) For each flight in which it isintended to land abroad. the pilot shall

273

complete a pass form in which he willconfirm that he is not carrying any mer­chandise which is subject to Customs orother duties. The officer in charge of theaerodrome of departure shall confirmthe pilot's declaration by certifying thepass form.

(4) As soon as he lands on fore!gnterritory, the pilot shall do t;Verythlflgwhich is necessary to protect his aircraftand must then go to the nearest policestation and submit his pass form for avisa. He must also get in touch with thenearest Customs authorities, if theNational Regulations require this to bedone.

(5) The triptique or the Customs car­net for the gliders, as well as for thetowing vehicle and trailer necessary toreturn the glider to its country of origin,to be suppressed.

(6) Whenever required, the pilot mustbe able to present:

(a) the pass form in duplicate;(b) a valid pilot's licence;(c) the airworthiness and registration

certificates for the glider (forgliders from Great Britain insteadof a registration certificate, adocument proving ownership).

(d) A certificate of insurance forthe glider covering third partyliabilities (participating countries

intend to examine the posS'b"of fixing a uniform total I f Il~tysurance and each State is 0 in­to make proposals for this). asked

(e) The necessary aeronauticalshowing controlled air.~aps

and forbidden and dange~acezones. OUs

(7) In case of nc:ed, ~he crew mustcarry passpo~ts bearmg visas, or identitycards accordmg to th.e rc:quirements ofthe c,?untry of destmahon (interestedcountries, ar.e asked to examine whether!he ~l1ot s licence can be accepted as anIdentity document).

(~) The gliders m.ust bear the identifi­cation marks of their country.

(9) Flights must be made under con­ditions of visibility. Any departures fromthis rule must depend upon the regula­tions of each State.

(10) If the glider is towed back to itscountry of origin the return journey canstart only after the necessary Customsformalities have been completed.

(11) Photographic or other recordingapparatus shall not be authorised exceptby permission of the competentauthorities.

(12) The authorities of each countryare requested to give every assistance tothe holder of a pass in order to com·plete his mission.

Bow 10 gel "SAILPLANE AND GLIDING""Sailplane and Gliding" can be obt~in.ed in the U.K. at all Gliding Clubs. or se"d

2~. (post free) for an Annual ~ubscnptl,?n to; The British Gliding Association. 75Vl~tor3a Street, London, S.W ..I, Smgle C:0Ples and most back issues are also available.price ~. 411. (post free). EnqUiries reg~~mg ~ulk orders of 12 or more copies, at whole-sa e pnces, should be made to The Bntlsh GiLding Association.

Street. Md·Australia.Single copies

HOLLAND;

NEW ZEALAND:

U.S.A. &OTHER COUNTRIES:SCANDINAVIA:S. RHODESIA:

OVERSEAS AGENTSAUSTRALIA; Stockists: Technical Book Co. 295 Swanston

bournc, C.l, Victoria. B. Rowe Waikcrie, SouthPlcasc apply dircct to British Gliding Association.3s. 4d. or 20s. annually.J. van Eck. Tijgerstraat 203 Nijmegcn Postrekening 1007247,Abo"nementsprijs Ft. 10.50. 'Please apply direct to British Gliding Association. SinHle copies3s. 4d or 20s. annually (50 cents or $3 : 00 annually).Hans Ellerstrom, Nicoloviusl;atan 5A Malmo, S.Y., Sweden.Enterprise Bookshop, 13 Murandy Sq Highlands Salisbury.S. Rhodesia. ."

Red Leather Cloth. Biodu. takiog 12 issues (2 yeara): 15s. Ed. post free fromWill also hiad your D.G.A. Personal Pilot LngbookJ.

B.G.A.

274

ON BEING A YO- YO

(Without 0XYBen)

by Ant/rew J. ThorbumScouish Gliding Union

For all your repairs ana overhauls in theNorth WestCONSULr,

Speedwell Sailplanes(formerly Sm,th & Se"iou,}

Speedwell Works, Bosden Hall Farm,Hazel Grove, Cheshire

Telephone, Stepping Hi!157.42

7 day C. of A. Seryice

SPEEDWEll lightweight TrailersEYerythinlil to keep you airborne

pated. Either we had with us a hydro­gen producer plant in operation, orsome unusual form of lift had to cometo our aid. Reaching out for the slopesof Benarty, we quickly climbed to3,000 ft. in the best patches of lift, andI then decided to investigate the possi­bilities of wave lift out over the water.

As we slowly drew away from thehill into wind, the coarse texture of theair changed to the classical silky smooth­ness we have become accustomed to inpast flights of this kind, and with a slickgrin I suggested to my companion thatwe might manage to transport ourselvesupwards even unto ten angels. Fromhis grunt of response, I gathered thathe obviously did not believe me - soI shrivelled further into my small cornerand manipulated the controls gently asone must on such occasions. In a matterof minutes the green ball was at thetop of the scale and indicated steadyunbroken lift of more than 20 ft. p.s. soas the altimeter hands started to chaseeach other rapidly around the dial theastonishment of my passenger changedto enthusiasm. We floated up past theforming edge of the wave cloud aboveand behind Benarty and soon, at8,000 ft., looked down. upon its crests.

By 10,000 ft. my triumph was com­plete and the panorama of waves waseasy to see for miles beyond the

By Monday, 3rd July, No. 5 .Instruc­tion Course had gradually slowed

down to full stop - after the usualwinch frustration, and a howling wetgale that day. On Tuesday. however, theoscillation of the T-21 Up and downto great heights was the stuff dreamsare made of.

By mid-morning the sky developedcopy-book lines of wave clouds lyingacross the north-west wind of about25·30 knots, and the flight from cabledrop at 1,000 fl. to the hill lift onBenarty, one mile across Loch Leven'sstorm-lashed surface, presented momentsof doubt, which had to be concealedfrom the greatly impressed pupil. Onarrival, however, the bowl producedthe usual supply of strong UP, and afterhalf-an-hour, another simple soul wasdeposited back on Portmoak, firmlyconvinced that soaring is the Sport ofthe Age.

The next two pupils, both light­weights, had to be satisfied withextended circuits over the Loch andback as we just couldn't make it to thehill in the strong wind. When pupilDumber four squeezed into the T-21 thenose bit the dust as his 15+ stone,wrapped up in 6 feet 4 inches of brawnand muscle, reduced my share of thecockpit to something less than thebreathing space generally allotted to atame mouse. With a jolly quip aboutmidgets, and an inward sigh of resigna­tion, 1 prepared to float the load asgently as possible upwards on our verytender launching cables.

At 800 Ct. (200 less than the 1,000 ft.usually needed for the over-loch tripto Benarty), I thankfully dropped thec~ble still intact, and started off on ahIgh-speed short circuit. Over the loch,however, we still had green cn thevario and it soon became apparent thatour increased cruising speed, due togreat weight, was not producing theplunging downward flight I had antici-

275

Kllots22252629364449

Direclioll330330340340340330330

aro~JDd a.t 2,500 ft.. all mornin .vanous pilots, w~s still in the air~ With

Back on the hili, I worked the re3,()(X) ft. an~ set off once again ovelrt~owater to pick up the lower level e[h AI " s 0I e wave. most Immediately COnt

was made and as I climbed rapidly a~:the usual 20 up, the other sail plandisappeared below. Cs

Words cannot express the ease withwhic~ it all took p1ac.e - the only effortreqUIred was to deCide when to COmedown. At 14,000 ft. the sense of well­being developed as before, and by 1S000deep breathing an~ heightened p~lserate came as a warn.lOg that old men of51 are more susceptible to altitude thanthe younger members of the species,

Southwards lay wave after wave anda following wind of about 40 knotsA nice day to do a Nick Goodhart tripin reverse: What of Course. No. S?Poor devils! Not another mstructoravailable - paid cash for the week. too,15,700 ft., still going up at 15-20 fl.per sec. - 16,000 ft. focusing my eyesbecame a distinct effort. Seems funny ­better get down - sense of respon·sibility wins the day - or was it fear?Out came the spoilers at 16,200 ft., nosedown to 65 - into the sink area, and sorapidly back to Portmoak - all in 6Sminutes. Barograph trace is perfect, and

.shows maximum of 16,200 ft.; gain ofheight 15,000 at least. Gold C height- three times in one day! Highestsolo, and highest T-21b in the S.G.U,

Blimey! Must ask Santa for anoxygen bottle this year.

For the EggheadsLeuchars met. conditions on 4.7.61

at 12.00 hrs.WrNDS:

Feel2,0003,0005,0007,000

10,00014,00018,000

LAPSE RATE:Dry adiabatic up to 5,500 (I.

Isothermal up to 6,500 ft, Ralher lelts

than saturated adiabatic at 16,OQO r'Lower air mass: cold with slight lnve ­sion at about 8.()(x) ft.

Grampians and. sO,uth to the Cheviots,The lift was sllll Just under 20 ft. persecond. and as we neared 13,000 I as~edmy friend what effect he expected highaltitude to have on him. He answe;redby saying he spent weeks at a timeabove 10,000 ft. in the Alps every y~ar.

At 14.000 Cl. he assured me that If 1passed out he would be able to ~et, medown. At 14,500 I thought: Ihls IS alark, higher than all other .S.G.V. effortsin a b----y two-sealer with a ten-tonpassenger! At 15,000 ft. I thought:Hell! - no barograph - still, it's fun_ FU !? 15,200 Cl. - No BARO-. . ,GRAPH? The gnn on my compaOlon sface disappeared as I reached for thespoilers, pushed down the nose, andreduced climb to a mere 3 ft. per sec.Gradually we progressed into the down­draught in the lee of the cloud .ahe~d,and soon the red ball was JaZZlOgaround the 20 mark.

As we came back to land at Port­moak we noted that the time in the airfrom start to finish was 61 minutes.This will give a very clear idea of thepower of the lift encountered.

Two more circuits with another pupiland then back to Benarty with a newcustomer. This time the lift on the hillwas partly cancelled out by the downfrom the lee of the wave cloud justahead, but after a struggle to 3,000 ft.,progress ahead was made, and oncemore over the loch the altimeter startedits wind-up.

Pleased to be able to make fresh con­tact for my pupil's sake, but appalledwhen I thought of the Skylark and baro­graph down below, I suggested that7,000 Ct. would be enough. The look ofscorn in his eyes sent me back to thebest lift, and at 10,000 I suggested thatthe scene would nOI improve withheight. " But I might not get back hereagain ", he said, so I dutifully took himhigher until at 12,250 ft. my hand firmlyclutched Ihe spoiler lever, and down wewent once more. This time the triptook 1 hr. 12 min. (We had dawdledquite a bit on the hill searching far thelift).

This was too much to bear - so Jpleaded with the Course to release mefor an hour. They did! Out came theSkylark 2 and we were off. In the mean­time the red Oly, which had been nosing

276

CorrespondenceBIRDS SOARING IN WAVES

The followillg letter IVas published in "Soaring".Dear Sir,

Until recently we believed Phil. Wills on his statement (reference "Where NoBirds Fly") that "'For some unexplamed reason birds do not fly in waves". Todaywe got proof to the contrary. The best part is that Paul Bikle also seems to agreewith him!

The story goes like this. On 7t~ January, here in the San Francisco Bay area.we had our customary north-east wmd that develops a fair-size wave almost overour field, Sky Sailing Airport, where Les Arnold has his school. Since 1 help Leson week-ends, 1 had the chance to spend over six hours giving instruction on wave­soaring in seven flights that took us from 2,500 it. at release to 10,000 it. at top.Well, aside from the fun of seeing the towplane (Jim Freese at the controls) out­climb (with prop stopped) my student in the TG-3A, we encountered the wave·soaring birds. The birds in question were ... seagulls. They flew parallel with usfacing always into the wind and almost at our rate of climb (800 Lp.m.). Our head~wind was about 40 m.p.h. and it seemed that their "penetration" was not the best.because they were sacrificing their better minimum sinking speed in order to keepstation in. the wave. They were not flapping their wings or circling ... they werewave-soarmg.

Other fellows flying the wave that day also reported seeing the birds. I sawthem from about 4,000 to 8,000 ft. above the terrain on almost every flight.

Around our field, since it is almost touching the bay, we have a great manyseagulls. These birds replace the dust devils to mark the thermals, and they aremuch cleaner.Santa Clara, CaUl. PAT PAGE

BIRDS, WAVE-SOARING AND ANTI-COLLISION RULESDear Sir,

With reference to the interesting letter from C. J. Pennycuick about JohnBarlee's observations of gannets circling in wave lift behind Little Skellig, BassRock and Ailsa Craig, has anyone ever met birds making intelligent use of wavelift above cloud? I have met gulls wave soaring on several occasions at about 2,000 ft.above Camphill, but only when the wave lay directly over the slope and neverabove the lowest cloud level.

At Dunstable, on an east-wind soaring day in late 1953, I watched a flock ofgulls flapping from the north-west under a 500-ft. layer of haze and cloud. Onen~ering wave lift they squawked with excitement, started thermal-circling andqUickly drifted into the wave sink. They flapped into wind again and the samesequence repeated itself. On the third pass through the same wave over the sameflat field, they carried straight on and turned south in sink just short of the Dow.ns.although wave lift parallel to their track lay only two to three hundred yards behmdthem. This flock quite clearly misunderstood wave lift and tried to treat it asthermal lift.

I do not imply that gannets, by circling in waves, show that theX d,? not under­s.tand them. Obviously they flew eccentric circles in order to remam m the wavelI~t, and there was no possibility of mistaking the nature of the lift in this case.Circling a.ppears to be preferred to a very short beat consisting ,?f n?th!ng mo~ethan contmuous "S" turns because the collision hazards are less m clfcltng. It IS~y impression that gannets observe a strict slope-soaring rule when conditions aredifficult with a narrow band of lift and an oblique wind. Those on the upwind beathave right of way to the best lift and must turn outwards at the end of their beal.The ~ownwind beat is flown in the sink just upwind of the lift zone and an inwardturn IS made into the lift-note that the latter conflicts with human slope-soaringrules. This is in effect an eccentric circle with one-way traffic rather than the human

277

O. W. NEUMARK

figure-of-eight plan with inevitable crossing flight paths. Thus the obliqueness ofthe short wave would indicate the direction of the circ;le.

It would be interesting to hear wheth~r Pennycl!'lck and Barlee would agreewith this hypothesis, and also whet.her their observations of gannets and possiblystarlings can c~n.firm th'.lt these bIrds actually use the newly-proposed CalvertfHollingdale colliSion avoidance manoeuvres.Derbyshire &: Lancashire Gliding Club.

THE BLACK LINE: AN EXAMPLE OF A REFRACTIVE INVERSIONDear Sir, ..

M. Landi, of the French gildIng ~cntre at SI. ~uban, has tak~n some veryinteresting photographs during wa.ve fllght.s at that s!te. They a.re 10 colour. andshow a very sharp thin black hOrizontal hne~ level Wll~ the hOrizon. The altitude(about 15,000-20.000 ft.) and the absence of light-scattering rule:s out the I?ossibilityof smoke or dust, so that the phenomenon must. be S0!TIe variety of, optical stria.PUlling in the values of a fairlY standard ascent IOto Blot and Arago s formula, itwill be seen that with increasing altitude the refractive index of air falls at firstfairly rapidly. then, between about 15,000 and 30,000 f~ .• fairly slowly, then in thestratosphere fairlY steadily falls again. It will appear hkely, then, that a layer ofmoist or cold air in the zone 15,000-25.000 ft. could produce a refractive inversion.Le.. a layer of low refractive index sandwiched between two layers of slightly higherrefractive index. If this zone is sufficiently thin (as it will inevitably become bydiffusion and conduction), an observer situated in this layer will see a dense blackhorizontal line on the horizon, since horizontal beams of light will be refractedupwards or downwards into zones of greater optical density. This is presumablywhat Landi saw.

The phenomenon is too rare for one to plan a project to take rdractive indexreadings while flying through the altitude in question; however. if any soaring pilotobserves the phenomenon I would be grateful for details of time and place so thatthe altitude of the black line can be compared to the relevant meteorological ascentdata.Cherry Orchard. Marlow Commol/, Bucks.

D. BRENNIG lAMES

BRITISH SAILPLANES OVERSEASDear Sir.

We read from time to time of the excellence of British sailplanes and of theirsuccess abroad. We are also given lo understand that a large number are exported.Jolly good.

I .~as lucky enough t? visit three countries last year and contacled some ofthe ghdmg clubs. I found ID Holland that the gliding movement is taking deliveryof a considerable number of Ka-7 and Ka-6 machines. The Dutch had long beencustomers for British gliders.

In Egypt, a1t~ough they said British gliders were preferrcd they explainedthat. because of high cost and difficult foreign cxchange, they we;'e buying glidersfrom East Germany. They already have many West German gliders.

In New Zealand ( found several clubs with lhe "Rhonlerche" for lraining andthe talk was of Ka-6·s. whenever an import licence could be obtained. Many peopleI spoke to were very mtercsled in the promising new British ISm machine. Neitherthey, nor the local agent, can extract any information from the manufacturers.Letters .go unanswered. A colleague brought back exactly the same sad story fromRhodeSia.

We. read of the generosity of t~e Argentine Government in organising theInlernatlona.ls next year. They have thirty Ka-6's for competitors and two Skylarks.The Arge~tlDe was another traditional U.K. market for gliders.

. In thiS count.ry there are two. good European high-performance two-se~te~savailable, at conSiderably lower pnces than the British-built counterpart. ThiS IS

278

even when transl?ort and import. duty are take.n into account.The conclusIOn 1 come to IS that our gllders are too expensive and that we

are losing, or have ~Iready lost, many overseas markets to foreign manufacturers.Is there a brighter sIde?Camberley. Surrey.

Rov G. PROCTER

SUNGSBY SAILPLANES writes: We ~ave concentrated in the first place on modernreplacements for t~~ two-seater (which we were adv~sed was the most urgentlyrequired by the BrItish movem~nt) and .a thoroug~-golng redesign in the 18·metreclass where we have had so wide a national and International success.

bur export~ in the. 18-metre field have continued satisfactorily, and indicationsare that they wJiI co~tmue to dl? so: we have a long list of outstanding orders totake up our prospective productIOn for some months ahead. The same is the casewith the T~49 two·scater.

Since we could not do everything at once, we left the IS-metre machine forthe time being to competitors; we expect to tackle this problem next but two newmachines in 1962 are a formidable design and development com~itment for asingle firm to undertake. But don't forget the 13·metre Swallow-we delivered fourlast month!

As regards correspondence, we could show Mr. Procter convincing evidence thatthis complaint does not apply to us. Regarding price, quality must also be con­sidered. Bracketing the two, we are clearly competitive, else we should not be here.We try and get the market of those who are prepared to pay a little more to geta little (or a lot) better machines. So far we have succeeded.

New Zealand orders would be forthcoming tomorrow, but no currency what·ever is available from the New Zealand Government for the time being.

Please don't blame us if countries like Egypt can find zlotys but not Sterling:shops in Kirby won't supply goods to our staff against the former, and they must eat!

CONTEST MARKINGDear Sir,

I was very interested in Max Bacon's criticism of the present "X" rule andLome Welch's comments thereon (SAILPLANE AND GLIDING, June 1962, p. 168).

There are other serious objections to the present "X" rule, often accentuatedat Regional Competitions, when the number of competi!ors. is usually f~ir1ysmall, the standard of the pilots more variable, and launchlOg IS often by. Winch.As Lome Welch points out, a short X of, say, 10 miles (nearly doublmg thegliding distance from the top of a winch launch in skll air or with light w!nd)~an produce a ridiculous position of having a contest day when the longest fhg~tI~ about 12 miles. This very nearly occurred at the Midland G.c. Easter Competl­tI~ns when the longest flight was, in fact, 12 miles and the fourt.h best was 9.8miles.: X was 10 miles. Had a long X been given in, sUf:7h conditions, say 20 or30 mIles, an equally ridiculous position might well arIse If 20 p.er cent exceed Xby. a .few miles whilst competitors who just failed to cx~eed X ~aJ1ed to scor.e, th?sbnngmg about the very situation that Lorne Welf:7h nghtl):' Wishes to aVOid, VIZ,a very large difference in marks for a very small dtfference In perform~nce.

A further example of the unfairness of this rule was seen In the 1961~ationals in League I on the day of the Free Distance after r~undin~ Bensonairfield. X was 20 miles and the leg to Benson was almost dead iOta wmd. A~ aresult. a pilot had to fly a distance through still air of probably 40 or more m!lesbefore starting to score marks. Pilots rounding Benson then flew. downwlOdc~veri.ng the miles to count at probably twice the speed they were flymg throughstili air. The penalty for failing to round Senson was clearly unfaLfI.y severe.

Lorne Welch's suggested improvement to the present rule IS undoubtedlysl?und, but I would prefer to see the X symbol completely divorced from thedistance required to be flown by 20 per cent of competitors to constltute a ContestDay, and a new symbol introduced -let's call it "Q".

279

In marginal days a large Q could. then ,be .given. say ~O. miles, whilst XId b d ccd to the mlntmum compaltble with It. beyond ghdm~ distance from

~~~ lOP eoCC t~e Ja,unch: If winch launching was being used, this mIght well be aslittle as five or SIX miles. d d 1 f 1If something on the above lines were a optc, ec sure that the many and

, b' cl ions to the present rule would be overcome.genUine 0 JeMid/mId Gliding CII/b. G. BENSON

CONTEST MARKING

Dear Sir. hIn the April. 1962. issue of SAI~PLANE AND GLIDING t. efe a'ppe~red a potent pieceby Boris Cijan entitled "Outstandmg ~roblems of Soarmg .Fhght .

Reference was made therein to cerIam factors, S for soaring, M for meteorologicaland A for aerodynamic. which it is necessary to know for the purpose of evaluatingthe performanc~ of. any giyen sailpla~e or, more accurately, the performance ofany given combmatlOn of pI~O.t a~d sailplane. .

Before the illusions and disillusIOns left ~y Aston Down J962 sllp to~ far belowthe level of conscious memory, I would hke to make the request, Sir, that youcommission some knowledgeable person to analyse the performances of the sail­plane types there represented an~ publish these results in SAILPL~E AND GLIDING.The less erudite amongst us will then b~ better placed to decl~e whether theshattering performances, good or bad, of Pilots X, Y and Z were In fact due to:

(a) the favour of the taskmasters,(b) the Hand of the Lord in the shape of thermals not vouchsafed to others.(c) secret devices not vouchsafed to others,(d) superlatively good (or bad) sailplane design - Factor A,(e) superlatively good (or bad) flight planning - Factor S,(t) any of the possible combinations of (d) and (e),(g) meteorological conditions which favoured machine A but not machine B -

Factor M,(h) pilot fatigue, or the absence of it,(j) team management, or the absence of it,(k) luck, or the absence of it.Having regard to the present fashion for closed-circuit flying, it is perhaps per­

missible for an unprejudiced observer to remark that an "Out-and-Return" is twogoal flights in one, and a "Triangle" is three goal flights in one. Failure to com­plete this pair or trio of goal flights, as the case may be, carries a penalty oflost marks for speed which would seem to enhance out of all proportion the valueof the A factor postulated by Cijan, since of two machines one of which com­pletes a closed-circuit task while the other fails by 100 yards' to do so. the mark­down of the ~econd pilot/machine combination is grossly disproportionate to ~heperformance given. Jf the successful machine in fact succeeds by virtue of superiordeSign features, .then the marks given by the taskmasters must surely constitute anass~ssment of aircraft performance, whereas the unenlightened observer has alwaysbelleved that the function of Championship task-setting was to assess pilot per­formance.

There is a catch in this somewhere but where?From. the. taskmaste~s' point of vie~ there are, ~o doubt, certain virtues in selling

~losed-clrc~1l tasks which, .by bac~-pegging those pilots who are not 100% suc.ces~fulID com.l?letmg t~e ~asks, give .a Wide. scatter of marks, but whether or not this k~ndof MU~lcal Chal~S IS as effective a pilot assessment as non-return tasks is a questionon pwhich more mf?rmation would be invaluable.

erhaps the services of the knowledgeable person previously requested could beextended to evaluate the marks-scatter for each of the tasks set at Aston Down?Derbyshire & Lancashire Gliding Club. C. A. KAYE.

[We suggest Mr. Kaye should accept the commission.-Eo.J

280

TONY DEANE-DRUMMOND.

PILOT RATING FOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSDear Sir.. "

I note with mterest that the Pilot Ratmg scheme is to be reviewed at the endof Ihis year. I would like to congratulate the Committee on producing an excellentfirst shot. . .

As someone wh9 IS high up on the present list and who has always flownlarge~span gliders, may I make a plea for those who choose to fly Standard Class?They badly need enc~uragement.

J need not go IOta the arguments for smaller gliders - these afC obvious_ quite apart from the cost. May J suggest that the gliding movemenl mustbroaden the base of the pyramid and thereby improve even further the standardof pilot who emerges at the top. '"

The argument that the more expenSive ghders Just need a few more in thesyndicate to ,buy ,and to operate them. d!Jes nO,t hold water. Even less "flying"gliding per pIlot IS then gomg on. This IS particularly serious in England whennot every day can be guaranteed as soarable.

The present scheme to award a cup for the winning Standard Class pilot isan attemp~ to give some. enco~ragemen~ to. this class. But having painfully(?)reached this standard of pilot skill, who IS gomg to be content with a second-bestpot for second-best marks; particularly when he might have won in a big glider?

J suggest it is better to award the Standard Class entry in League I anadditional weighting, which gives the pilot the number of points he might haveearned in a big glider. One method of arriving at this weighting might be tocompare the results of all Standard Class gliders when competing with Open Classgliders on the same task. The last time when this was done (in my ownexperience) was in Poland in 1958. I understand that if the top two-thirds ofresults were taken (to cut out the fluke entry or sheer bad luck) the differencebetween Open and Standard Class at this meeting was about 7t per cent overall.It also shows just how good modern Standard Class gliders really are whenflown by top-class pilots.

May I suggest that some such figure be used for 1963? It would give hopeand encouragement to surprising numbers of excellent pilots who at presentcannot face the costs involved of buying and operating Open Class gliders. In afew years. this should have an appreciable effect on pilot quality.

[ agree with our B.G.A. Chairman when he says that the price of getting tothe top can be considerable, and not everybody will have the resources to attemptit. But, for goodness' sake, let us all keep a sense of proportion, or else we willprice ourselves out of existence.

MINIMUM SCORING DISTANCE AND PILOT.SELECTED GOALDear Sir•

. The principal object of the minimum scoring. dist~nce is .presumab~);' toehminate the effects of a glide·out from launch-height m marg.m.al con~lllons.

Although 1 agree that it should not be possible to score unless a mlmmum distance(X) has been covered I believe that this distance should not be subtracted fromthe marks. If X == 20, it is palpably absurd that the p~lot who goe.s 22 r:'iles shou!dscore double the marks of the pilot who goes 21 mdes. Tn relative skill the ratioof 22: 21 is much nearer than 22: 11. .

In the case of Pilot-Selected Goal (still, in my view. one of the most dehght­f~lIy tantalising tasks in the book), the X situation is even more anomalol;ls. ApIlo.t who flies 23 miles to a selected goal need only over-fly one more nule tobegm scoring again (if X == 20). . . .,

T would therefore propose that X should remain a mlDlmuf!l sconng dIstancebut should not be deducted from the miles flown when calculatmg the marks forany task.

There are two possible further refinements:!h~ f~ctor of 1.3 by' which the marks ,!f a Pilot-Selected Goal task are

multlphed If the goal is reached might be vanable by the task·setters. so as to

281

put greater emphasis on reaching the goal in certain weather conditions ortopographical circumstances. .. .

The second modification (suggested by Bill Wills and others) IS th~t X mightvary with glider performance. Presumably X would then be the. distance anyparticular type of glider can be expected to reach from launch helfl:ht, ~odifiedby the wind direction along the first leg of the c~urse, or by ~onslderahons ofairfield height. Thus the basic X fi~ure for each ghder (which might be based onthe glider's handicap) would be varied by a percentage declared by. the task-settersat briefing. 1£ this figure had n.o. longer to be deducted from the distance flown incalculating the marks, no add1l10nal load would be placed on the long-sufferingcalculators.The Wild/owl Trus(, SUm bridge, Glos. PETER SCOlT.

ACCIDENT ANALYSISDear Sir,

In any flying o~ganisation, surely tbe. criterion for judging !he accid~nt rateis the amount of flymg done, compared with the number of accidents. Air Com­modore Paul, however excellent are bis tables, has always seemed to miss thispoint.

In my enclosed table, I have ignored costs and shown purely the accidentrate per hour and launch. T think you will agree that the results are interesting.Throughout the last five years we have had a steadily. j":lprovin~ rate; in fact,it is probably safe to say that 1961 was the best ever. It IS mterestmg to note thatthe best year contained the most Categorised Instructors, but that the next bestyear (as far as hours are concerned) had the least number. This leads one tothink that quality is equally as good as quantity.

Please don't think that I am decrying Air Commodore Paul's efforts. Ithink his presentation of the accidents is excellent, and without his data ] wouldnot have been able to compile my table. I think he goes as;ray in trying tomeasure accident rates by cost alone. ]n the Affluent Society costs will alwaysincrease, due to circumstances beyond our control.

How would I reduce the accident rate still further? By improving the standardof solo-supervision and by using two-seaters for more frequent checking of solopilots at regular intervals up to at least Silver C standard. I would also insist on aproper course for all new instructors.

How would I reduce the costs? If T knew the answer to that I would bethe next Chancellor of the Exchequer! We could, of course always try to buildcheaper gliders. 'Woking, Surrey. ROGER A. NEAYES.

Number ofB.G.A.

CategoristdInstructors

14698859697

in 1957

454265314249186

accidents

Numbtr ofHOllrs

P<'Accident

AvoidableFlying

Accidents

TotalLmmches

Avoidable Accident Rate from 1957 to 1961Number ofLaunches

P<'Accidenf

Tota(Hallrs

Ytar

1961 24,564 139,826 54 2,5891960 19,094 122,557 72 1,7031959 22,937 121,196 73 1,6611958 17,808 99,448 70 1,3921957 17,996 96,139 97 991

AT.C. and Service not included. Accurate figures of avoidableand 1958 are not known, therefore an average has been used.

AIR COMMODORE G. J. C. PAUL replies:- Your correspondent introduces ane~ f~ctor when he refers t~ "Avoidable flying accidents". His analysis on thatbaSIS IS ex7ellent; bu.t the au:n of my work is the prevention of all accidents.wh17ther flymg, to trailers, or ID the hangar; consequently statistics relating to allaCCidents are relevant to my work; and since their cost wherever they occur,affects everybody's pocket, largely through insurance rates' cost is also relevant,,

262

not only statistically, bU~ ~s the most effect~ve means of indicating to each andevery member of the ghdlOg movement their own .personal stake in eliminatingaccidents of all so~ts. If everybody was as well mformed and alert as yourcorrespondent, my Job woul.d bec,ome l;lnnecessary. ~nfortunately the continuingwaste of money through, thlOgS like gllders. and traders blowing away indicatesthat many people are still unaware that accident prevention concerns everybody.

BOOK REVIEW50 Modeme SegeUlugzeuge. Published 1961 by Luftfahrt-Verlag

Waiter Zuerl, MUnchen 19, Landshuter Allee 49, W. Germany. PriceDM 3.50.

This neat little booklet, 10 x 15 cm., gives a good selection of the most modernand interesting sailplanes of many countries, most of them having been flown inWorld Championships. Each machine has a page of principal data, facing a photo·graph of it on the ground. Skylarks 1 and 3 and Eagle are included. At the end isa table of principal data of 71 other types, including Olympia 402, Sky and Swallow.

A.E.S.

HE BEAT THE PANEL

M R. LAURIE BITTLESTONE, the Assistant County Commissioner, Air Scouts, forHampshire, whose home is at 56 Grove Road, Basingstoke, beat the panel on

BBC's TV programme "What's My Line?" on Sunday evening. His occupation, whichthey failed to find, was-Gliding Instructor (Air Scouts), He received a certificatenoting his success.~Hants and Berks Gazette,

TheLong Mynd,Shropshire

BRITAIN'SFINEST

SOARING

Home 01 the MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB'fOU WANT IT! - WE HAVE IT!

lAOO It.a.sJ

SITE

Fleet: Prefect, 2 Swallows,2 Olympias, Skylark 11, 2 T·2Ibs,

T-42b and Tugmaster

Subscription £9 Entrance fee £3

Ab initio trainingAdvanced instruction

Aerobatic, Blind flying training5-hour duration, Silver "en Height

Ridge soaring thermals, wave flyingExcellent residential clubhouse

Good food Bar launches 3/-. Flying fee 12/- per hr.

RESIDENTIAL SUMMER COURSES

Write for Course Brochure and Membership Prospectus to:"ENQUIRIES".

Midland Gliding Club Ltd•• Long Mynd.CHURCH STRETTON. Shropshire

Tel. linley 206

283

.-Id\'f!'rtist'mtmIS "'i/h(Rege"t 5301). Rflfe

remir/mrce should be u,,/ 10 Cheiron Press Lld., 3 Cork. St., London. W.l1/_ a ....ord. Minimum 151-· Box nllmbers 4/- extra. Replres to Box nUlI1ber;

should be UII/ to the same address.

PUBLICATIONS

"MODEL AIRCRAFT"-Official Jour­nal of the Society of Model Aero­nautical Engineers. Features co~test·winning model designs, constructionalarticles. photographs and reports ofinternational and national contests. 1/6monthly from any newsagent. Send f~rspecimen copy free from "Model Air·craft", 19-20 Noel Street, London, W.!.PUT yourself in the Picture, Buy AIRPICTORIAL each month for the worldair view in pictures and fea~ure~. ~eportsand photos of aircraft of histone. mterestalso modern light aircraft and sailplanes,military aviation news, sputters' note­book, etc. Price 1/6 from your news­agent. For free specimen copy ~end 6d.in stamps to Dept. S.G., Magazm.es. andPublications Ltd., 2 Breams Bulidmgs,London, E.CA.SLOPE SOARING with a radio controlmodel sailplane is a fascinating past~meand a typical phase of aeromodelhng.Read about this and other aeromodellingsubjects in Aeromod~Jl~r, the w<;>rld'sleading model magazme, pubhshedmonthly, price 2/·. Model AeronauticalPress Ltd., 38 Clarendon Road, Watford,Herts."AUSTRALIA GLIDING" monthlyjournal of the Gliding Federation ofAustralia. Editor, Peter Killmier. Sub'scription 30 shillings Australian, 24shillings Sterling or 3.50 dollars V.S. andCanada. Write for free sample copy,"Australian Gliding," Box 1650M,G.P.O.. Adelaide."THE GLIDING KIWI" - Iltustratedquarterly journal of the New ZealandGliding Association. Annual subscription8/- sterling or $1 United States orCanada. Write the Business Manager, 4Barlow Street, Ham, Christchurch, NewZealand... SOARING" - Official organ of theSoaring Society of America. Edited byL10yd M. Licher. Obtainable from Soar­ing Society of America, Inc., Box 66071,Los Angeles 66, California. Subscription$4.00 in North America and S5.OO else­where; apply to your Post Officc for aform.

FOR SALE

PARACHUTES. Seat or back type, cam.plete with pack, harness and quick.release mechanism. £10 plus 5/- Carr.Ex-R.A.F. surplus. sent on approvalagainst remittance. THOS. FOULKES(SG), Lansdowne Road, London, E.I!.Tel. LEYtonstone 5084.CLUB BADGES. CAR badges andSELF·ADHESIVE stickers_ CLOTHbadges for flying suits or blazers. Sendfor Price List to P. and R. Publicity(Dept. 13), The Broadway, Pitsea, Basil­don, Essex. VANge 2123.SKYLARK 3p No. 150. £1,200 com­plete panel with horizon. Winner Mid­land Competitions, 11th in Nationals.View Lasham. Dimock, 26 BeechcroftRoad, Gosport.BEAUTIFUL Skylark 3F for sale, avail­able mid-August. Built March 1961, 150hours, 100 launches. C. of A. until April1963. Basic panel, £1,250. Trailer £175.Box 123.

For SaleComplete Gliding Outfit

con5i5ling of

OLYMPIA 28 with instruments/leu III.n 200 lIour5)

Specially dCl$igned Trailer which converts 10

a four'berth Caravan having built-in beds, sink

unit, cooking stove, lighting, cupboards etc"

complete with all necessary bedding, crockery

and cutlery. Enlire equipment in finl dan run'

ning order. Ori9inal cost £2,000.

Offer5 in writing 10-

Soaring Holidays (Glider Hire) Ltd.

121 Commercial Road. Southampton

284

FOR SALE (Cont.)WILD WINCHES complete with 2,000ft. of rope, powered by F.oFd V.8 engin.e,complete, in perfect conditIOn, packed In

original sealed cases. Only £ 155 each.J. T. Leavesley Ltd., Alrewas, Staffs.Phone Alrewas 354/5/6.

WANTEDWE ARE LOOKING for a pair ofwings for SZD 8 !ER Z-O eyen in badcondition but repalrable.-Wnte to Mrs.Fran90is Leduc, 178 rue Henry Blex,Namur (Belgique).

RHONADLER sailplane in good con­dition, preferably without trailer. Pleasereply stating price to H. B. Gliding Club,P.O. Box 773, Hastings, New Zealand.

INSURANCELIFE ASSURANCE WITH PRIVATE& COMMERCIAL FLYING COVERINCLUDED AT NO EXTRA COSTHouse Purchase and Relirement Pro­vision. Competitive terms for ServicePersonnel, Instructors and Test Pilots.City Assurance Consultants Ltd., 46Cannon Street, London, E.CA. Tel. CITy2651.

Pilot Signposted.-" Giles Bulmer had a 'practice run' to Sudbury and landednear a place which bears his name. The retrieving crew were rather astonished whenthey found a neatly painted signpost saying 'BULMER - I MILE'."- CambridgeUniversity Gliding Club Newsletter.

PEN PALS WANTEDMr. G. P. Kesan, of 39, Car Street, Madras 5, India, would like to correspond

with people interested in Gliding. He is aged 26, and is a B.Sc. (Geography andMathematics) of Madras University. A gliding wing is being started by MadrasFlying Club.

SLlNGSBY SAILPLANES LTD.KIRBYMOORSIDE, YORK

AIRCRAFT MATERIALSWe suppLy all types of air­craft materiaLs in any quan­tity to all parts of the WorLd.

In addition to a wide rangeof basic materiaLs our Storesstocks over 6,000 differentaircraft parts.

Our customers vary from anenthusiast building a gliderin the North of Scotland, toCompanies ManufacturingLight Aircraft in the Far East.

However large or small yourenquiry it will receive ourprompt attention.

The following are always in stock -

Aircraft Spruce in all grades. Aircraft Hardwoods.Aircraft Birch Ply. Aircraft Gaboon Ply.

Aircraft Steel and Dural Bars, Sheets, Plates, Tubes.

Aircraft Fabrics, Dopes, Finishes.

Cables, Pulleys, Shackles, Turnbuckles, Clevis Pins,BoIls, Nuts, Washers, Split Pins, Solid Rivets, TubularRivets. Unions, Catches, AGS Parts, SBAC Parts,AS Parts, etc., etc.

Perspex Sheets, Perspex Mouldings, FibreglassResins and Cloths, Fibreglass Mouldings. All typesof Adhesives.

285

A s usual this issue reports the activities of those who were not lucky enoughto be at Aston Down. All mention of the Nationals has unavoidably had to

be cut since the event is already fully reported elsewhere in the magazine.We are also pleased to see several pages of news from distant parts and par­

ticularly from Brian Masters in Odessa, Texas. Overseas clubs please note, we arealways imerested in reports of your activities.

In this issue for the first time we welcome the Ouse Gliding Club, who operatefrom Rufforth, Yorks.

The last date for copy for inclusion in the October issue to reach me (at 14 LittleBrownings, London, S.E.23) is Wednesday. 220d August.

By the way, apologies to those of you who did not get a reminder for this issuedue to my annual holiday. '

YVONNE BONHAM,Club and Association News Editor.

ABERDEEN

THE arri~a.l .of the Tiger has increasedour activIties and our C.F.I. Angus

Macaulay and Duncan Ross have been~ept ~usy as tug pilots. On the pub­itcHy side, our Chairman, Gordon White­head, appeared on ITV from the localGrampian Studios in connection with aprogram~e which presents local topicsand sporting activities.

.After a 20-minute tow behind theTiger, the north face of Benachie wassuccessful1y soared by Gordon in theclub S.walIow, ~taying airborne for 2 hrs.20 . '!llns., until the trailer was seenarriVing at the foot of the hill. Sincethen, .he. has carried out two cross­countn~s In the Syndicate Weihe.

MentlO.n m.ust also be made of aI-hour flight In the Swallow performedrecently. by Robin McGregor, while allother aircraft slid earthwards.

Congratulations to lain McDonald andPaddy Kelly o.n their solo flights.

The Olympia Syndicate have been

getting in plenty of practice in their newcraft and several soaring flights havenow been logged. Charlie Lawsonmanaged to disappear into a late snowshower which descended upon him, butmanaged to find the field O.K.

A party of club members are going tothe S.G.U. at Portmoak for one week inJuly again this year, and we hope to seeone or two 5-hour legs logged at last.

Our nine Summer Courses are nowwell filled, and the Robert PerfectTrophy has now arrived and each of theinstructors' wives are, in turn, havingthe pleasure of keeping it polished.

F.C.M.

BLACKPOOL AND FYLDE

W E are very satisfied indeed wit~ ournew and additional gliding site at

Samlesbury Airfield which lies along­side the Preston-Bl~ckburn main road.Although still not very far away fromthe open sea it is most certainly a great.' . .Improvement _ so far as soanng IS

286

CAMBRIDGE

THE characteristic feature of ouractivities this year has been a refresh­

ing. eagerness to fly cross-country. QuitetYPIcal was the day of departure of theclub meet for the June Camp at theLong Mynd, when several pilots hadthemselves launched into an unpromis~ing, cloudless sky in an attempt to reachthe Mynd by air. John Brenner managed90 miles to Lichfield in the Sky andColin Mitchell 50 miles in the Skyl~rk 2.

The most outstanding performancefrom Cambridge was John Brenner's 201­mile goal flight to Winkleigh in theOlympia on 14th April, which startedfrom a 700-ft. cable break. Anothermeritorious effort was John Firth'sattempt at an oscillatory Gold C course,Cambridge-Rugby-Cambridge~Rugby, ofwhich he covered 155 miles in the Skyon 4th June.

Ten of the flights from Cambridgewere closed circuits of an average of45 miles, most of them by John Firthand Ralph Ismail, who have becomeexperts in "triangulation".

Silver C distances were flown byDavid Clark, Giles Bulmer, Harry Boal,Ray Haddon and Douglas Heyhurst. Thelast two pilots have meanwhile com~

pleted their Silver C's.On one of our two days of great

climbs. 24th May, Graham Pratt andJohn Firth reached 14,000 ft. and gainedtheir Gold C height legs.

The Eagle went both to the SwantonMorley Easter Rally and the NationalChampionships, where it was joined bythe Olympia 460, the latest addition toour fleet of club-operated aircraft. Theprogress of the pilots at these two eventshas been reported elsewhere. However,it remains to be said that the teams hada most enjoyable time and were veryimpressed by the efficiency with whichboth contests were nlD. At the Nationals.the club's two entries shared 68 hours'flying and about 1,100 cross-countrymiles.

A valuable addition to our member·ship is R. L. Fortescue, who was electedChairman of the Committee at theAnnual General Meeting in June tosucceed Wing Commander J. E. P.Thompson, who has left Cambridge afterfour years with the club. R. L. For-tescue learned to fly with the Cambridge

287

J.S.A.

A.L.S.

BRISTOL

A PART from the excitement of theCamps. (including the roaring party

held at Nympsfield on the Saturday), inwhich our teams performed reasonablywell but with no great distinction thistime, the only noteworthy events havebeen the following flights:

Silver height: Roy Owen, Mike Coram,Pete Fuller;

Five hours: John Ferguson;Distance (Silver C): Alan Blackburn.Jane Warter did her Silver distance

and probably had enough height to com­plete her Silver C in a flight to Lashamon June 16th, the first female memberto do so at Nympsfield. On June 16thTed Chubb in the Skylark 2e flewNympsfield-Lasham out~and-return andback again to complete his Gold C witha Goal Diamond. Tony Glaze flew toChelveston in the KA-6 via Norwich onan out-and-return attempt but was100 km. short of the 500. '

Earlier in June, Peter Scott and GeorgeB~rton each completed a 200-km.tnangle Stratford-Didcot-Nympsfield.

On the social side two of our newermembers, Thelma Caldicott and RodneyBanett, were married on June 9, andYOur correspondent Alf Samuels marriedthe typist of these notes, Liz Williams,on May 19.

concerned - compared with our HomeSite at Blackp~ol (Squires Gate) Airport,which is practically on the sea shore.

Unfortunately for us, Blackpool Air­port is becoming busier than ever thesedays and on April 1 the airport washanded over by the Ministry of Avia­tion to Blackpool Corporation, whichimmediately resulted in many economymeasures. It is, however, still an idealsite for dual training and first soloflights on account of the spacious andsmooth grass areas alongside the fourvery long runways.

It would be remiss to conclude thesenotes without mentioning our sincerethanks to our President, Herbert J. Liver,for his continued support in all flyingmatters. Also our grateful thanks toTony Kemsley and John Gibson forbuilding the excellent trailer for ourOlympia 2B.

University Air Squadron on Avro 504's,before the days of ~hc Tiger Moth. Heis a lecturer in Englneenng.

As the tenth instructor of the club.Maurice Pleasan~e was granted a FullB.G.A. Instructor s Category.

G.5.N.

CORNISH

C ONGRATULATlONS to Alf ~ar­minger on his fine 500-km. flight

from Swanton Morley to Perranporth on14th April. He arrived with so muchtime and height in hand that he flewon westwards and came back to landlater in the afternoon. Those of 1..!s onthe airfield that day not only enjoyedgood local soaring but had t~e pleasureof welcoming two other PI~ots fromdistant places, C.P.O. Holdmg fromBicester and L. Cheesman from Lasham.who rather had their thunder stolen byAlf.

Another very welcome visitor on theLasham-Perranporth "milk run" wasRika Harwood, who arrived on 31stMay after a 5i-hour journey.

Our C.F.I., George Collins, has beena very busy man this season. He hasmade a pretty extensive tour of the clu~sin the South of England, competed Inthe Nationals and Lasham Spring Rally,but this has not been enough. Thisbusiness of the Gold C "milk run" beingan exclusively east-west trip has irkedhim for some time now, but on 16thJune he could no longer tolerate it.Needless to say, when the news camethrough from Lasham that George hadarrived there, thus completing his GoldC and gaining his second Diamond, wefelt that he had added to the club'sprestige, and our congratulations to himare of a very patriotic kind.

Pip Phillips, Dave Pentecost and AlanBrook have also been active, taking theMeise and Avia on tour, and the Kite Ialso spent a pleasant day at DunkeswelI.

Club operations from Davidstow andNewlyn have been very worthwhile, andwe are looking forward to more daysthere. On the home front, at Perran­porth Bernard Broughton and DavidLanghorne have gained their A and B's,David's being flown on his 16th birth­day.

J.E.K.

COVENTRY

THE last two months have given us afair amount of soaring; several memo

bers gained A, Band C certificates. andonc a complete Silver C, by Ken OwenRcg Neep, Bill May, Doe Hearn andPhill Winklcy all made croSS-COuntriesto finish their Silvers.

In addition to these we have had three5-hour legs, flown by Bert Jenner, Nor­man Marriot and Mike BagnaIl, whena party from the club went to the LongMynd for a week's course, taking theclub Prefect with them. This sortie alsoyielded a lot of flying and a C for JohnLarge. The normal course of club flyinghas also led to a crop of Silver heights.

Apart from the Nationals there havebeen other flights worthy of mention.Lou Glover took the Viking on a goalride to Reasby and Vic Carr did a rapidrun to Edgehill and back as a practicefor the ationals.

At the East Midlands Gliding Clubcompetition Mike Smith made an out­standing flight which unfortunately didnot score as no one else made any pro­gress. However, the next day Doug Sad­ler came second.

The Tiger Moth and our band of tugpilots have been very busy and haye justestablished a new record by domg 38tows in one day. At the same time ex·periments proceed with a ~iew t~ con­verting the winches to use pl~no Wire, sothat we can cut costs and IDcrease ourflying still further.

~.~.~.•J.

DERBYSHIRE AND LANCS.

THE first cross-country of the yearwas an attempt on a Sliver C by

Steve Osborne who fell short nearMansfield, in ~arly April. M ick. Kayethen set a high standard by fiymg toNympsfield on 29th April in the T-4?

The 20th May produced a west. wlOd:with a resulting crop of 5·hour aspirants.the successful ones were John Riddle andEric Boyle, who also attained his SilverC height. Austin Wood tested the bott~dfield after two hours when the WIDbacked to south·west. Richard Hare: ournew winch-master, flew his Ol.ympla. toStocksbridge and landed after IOspectlOgthe marshalling yards. . e

Saturday 16th June saw John Rlddl288

G.J.K.

DUMFRIES AND DISTRICTW E have been operating from the

runways of the old aerodrome atDumfries for the last two months andeven using the Wild winch: the numberof launches is very much bener than weever achieved at Thornhill. Wear on therunway has caused far too many cablebreaks, and we hope auto-towing willbe the answer.

Between the runways a crop of barleyis being raised, and it is difficult toprevent the end of the cable from fallingacross it - especially on cable breaks.We may therefore have to move back toThornhill until it is harvested.

Good progress has been made withtraining, and Bill lrving got away solo.The Tutor and Prefect have both donesome thermalling, but we have no cross­countries to report yet.

KENT

THE weather in Kent has given usplenty of soaring recently. Ro~in

Wilson Charlie Harvey, lan Napler,Paul HOdge and Vic Ovenden have allsoloed.

C certificate flights have been made byDon ConnoUy, lan Napier, Joh!! Bu!"t,Paul Hodge. Bill Garland, GavlO 01)(,Neil McHarrie and Joanna Dannatt, thefirst lady member to gain a C since theclub left Lympne.. .. .

Cross-country flymg IS tncreaslOgsteadily with many more members n!'wqualified to go away and good soanngconditions to encourage them. Tug Burneflew the Syndicate Skylark ~ to FI.rleBeacon on 14th April, a flight whichgave him Silver dist~nce, and comp,letedhis Silver C a fortOlght later ~~ Tlben­ham. During the same expedition. twoother members of the Skylark syndicateflew Silver C distance, Denis Crabb andGordon Crabb.

The Skylark has also been flown fromWest Mailing to Hawkinge by the C.F.I.,Roy Hubble, to Little Chart, near Ash­ford. by PhiHppa Buckley, an~ to Thrux­ton by Denis Crabb. Glyn Rlchards alsolanded the club Olympia not far frl?mAshford the same day. Ran COUSinSmade the first cross·country in the blueand white Olympia to Stone Street. nearHythe, on 16th June. Glyo also .had atry for the duration on 8th April, but

28'

DONCASTER

THE cross-country season was openedthis year on Good Friday by Wilf

Coulsey taking the T-3l to the race­course (! mile). This record stood untilEaster Tuesday, when Jack Tarr mis­timed the tea break at the local powerstation and landed at Sprotborough(3 miles).

Spurred on by this. Jack Bowers tookthe 3F to Husbands Bosworth. 80 miles.and this was followed by Jack Tarragain with 112 miles to Bassingbourne.Jobnson has taken the Buzzard for itsannual outing with 52 miles to Withern­sea, reported to have crossed the Hum­ber, landed and said, "Je suis un aviateurAnglais". Peter Grime took the darkhorse Skylark I to Newton upwind (38miles), and the club Olympia has doneCressweU (15 miles), Lees (28 miles)and Uncoln (30 miles) in the hands ofFisher, Plane and Usherwood respect­ively.

After the most difficult period of aclub's life - the first three years ­~ughie Haswell has handed over theJob of C.F.I. to Mike Usherwood. Ourgrateful thanks for all Hughie has done,and all he has taught us. A.W.O.W.

d Jeff HarrisoD off on Silver C cross­~~unlrY attempts, both succ,:ssfully, Johnlanding at Spita!gate, 55 miles, and Jetfat Boston, 75 miles. ..' .

The competition sl?lfIt stili burnmgbrightly after the Nationals saw a two­league task being set on Sunday 17thJune, League one was set a 100-k~.triangle, Bolsover-Ashbourne-Camphll!,aDd League two a race to Sutton Bank.The forecast proved wrong and a freshsouth-caster and spreading cloud feUedLeague one, Mick Kay landing at thesecond turning point, John Tweedyturned the first and came home, KenBlake landed at Dronfield on the firstleg. League two task was completed byPaul Newmark in the club Skylark 2.

Work has now started on improvingand repairing the old workshop building,and the new workshop in the hangar isnearing completion. The high level ofenthusiasm amongst members and theimproved facilities augers well for thefuture and we look forward to a highlysuccessful year. K.B.

----------

---------~

-----------------

"Tell Marjorie I've hit a thermal ...so she can start dinner without me.Saw Char/ie go down ahout ten milessoulh of Bedford."

This is a Burndept Trarumiuer/Reuiverspecially developed jor Gliding and LightAircraft enthusiasls. 50-mile range .guaranteed under all condilions and withan overall weight of less than 10 Ibs.Send for details today.

I

-----

------

--------------­

~--

-------~-­ -----------------

Tr' n.miner/Reeli.,.er, trlns'sto,i.ed, lI-ch.nnel

nC1.i':J TRANSCEIVER EQUIPMENT FOR GLIDERS & SAILPLANES

8 URNCEPT with the future NOWr........)

BURNDEPT LTD., UUTH, KENT, ENGLAND Tele"hone Erith 38121

290

was very unlucky in having to land afterhe had soared on the ridge at Detling(or (our hours.

Sunday 6th May and Sunday 13thMay were spent by club members atthe new site at Charing. picking up treetrunks, rocks, etc., preparatory to thesowing of grass.

The club's social activities have notbeen neglected amidst all this flying; thesixth birthday party was held at WestMailing on Sunday 28th April, and wasvoted a great success by all whoattended. The birthday cake was madeby Joanna Dannatt, the social secretary,and cut by the Hon. Chairman, HughGardiner, who also made a speech.

P.B.

LAKES

DURING the winter months ourefforts were concentrated on over­

hauling equipment, and we are nowbeginning to see results in the shape ofincreased flying activity.

J. Paley and D. Millett have eachmade flights of over an hour in theOlympia, and one fortunate pupil hashad a flight of 50 minutes in the two­seater. Other notable performances havebeen put up by E. Dodd and G. Wilsonin the Kite, and H. Woods in the Tutor.

On Whit-Monday we succeeded ingetting four of our fleet airborne at the~ame time, a feat rarely accomplished10 the past, but one which we hope torepeat or exceed in the future. R.F.

LASHAMAFTER a disappointing May the

weather picked up in time to allowa f.ew days' practice flying for theNatIOnals: a number of competitors infact. arrived at Aston Down by glider.

Rlka Harwood got her Gold C dist­ance and Gold Diamond with a flight toPerranporth, while Pat Garnett and PhilGardner completed their Silver C's.

Good use was also made of the fineweather during the Nationals week by~hose lucky enough to find themselvesI~ one of the few gliders left at Lasham.SI.lver C'~ were completed by Anne Vincewith a flight to Old Sarum, and by Ron~alker, .who sta~ted gliding in 1937,with a fhght to his home town, Yeovil.

The month's prototype was the exotic

Polish Foka, which was unfortunatelydamaged early on in the comps. Newgliders delivered recently have been Sky­lark 4's for Frank frving's and RogerMann's syndicates, the Polish Club'sMucha Standard, Anita Schmitfs0Iympia.463. in which Derek Piggottscored highest marks in the StandardClass, and a Swallow for the School. TheB.G.A. Capstan is also at Lasham start­ing its career of instructor training.

J.N.C.

MIDLAND

W HEN compared with last year, ourcross-country efforts show a con­

siderable improvement.Ric Prestwich gained his second

Diamond with a quick trip to GreatYarmouth in his Skylark 3. Mike Randlewas unlucky to come down at CravenArms on the return leg of an out-and­return to Aston Down.

Silver C distance has been flown byLouis Rotter, Ken Rylands. NatalieHodgson, Bobby Neill and Tony Caveen.Bobby had an aero-tow retrieve and wehope to use this civilised way of retriev­ing more in the future. Tony, who hadan aero-tow from nearby Condover.reached his goal at Rhyl on a day whenthere were very few soaring flights fromthe Mynd.

Jack Minshall and John Knotts pulledout all the stops on a recent course andachieved 138 winch launches in a day.This is a splendid effort with one single­drum winch.

Among the visitors whom we havebeen pleased to welcome to the M yndrecently are the Cambridge Club for theusual fortnight in June. an Olympiasyndicate from Camphill and a Sky­lark 3 from Sutton Bank.

The club hopes to support the Augustcontest at Camphill with a club machineand two private machines. K.R.M.

NEWCASTLE

THE second quarter of 1962 hasbrought a major step forward in the

activities of the club. The hangar wascompleted and occupied in May and hasample room for all club and privatelyowned aircraft.

On 29fh April the Olympia did 1O-i

291

planes are joined by those of the Fen.land Club and No. 611 Gliding SchoolDuring th~ week No.. 1 Gliding Centr~use the aIrfield to tram cadets and in­structors..In ~dditio';l, a great amOunt ofpower flymg IS earned out.

Our Easter Rally was very successful'we were blessed with much bette~weather than last year. As most peoplein the gliding world know, Alfred War­minger made a magnificent flight to Per­ranporth the week·end before the RallyOur airfield is ideally suited for longflights in a north-east or south-east windand we hope for more good efforts thisyear. Scilly Isles next stop! We havetwo fulHime flying instructors availableto give aero-tows together with a groundengineer and assistant.

Peter Smith, Ted Jenness and JerryHarrington have all gone solo, and thelatter two are flying the Olympia. Tedand Peter have both been trained entirelyby aero-towing, Peter having won agliding scholarship given by our Chair·man, Norman Brett. The Syndicate Sky·lark 2 is now available to club memberswho have the necessary experience.

On May 20, Chris Delf took theOlympia to Seething for the WaveneyFlying Group's Rally. There is a greatdeal of interest in gliding throughoutNorfolk and Suffolk, and we are oftenasked to give displays. C.R.D.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

THE period under review started badlywith strong cold winds on most week­

ends; however, conditions have recentlyimproved and some successes have beenachieved.

R. Harding and D. Wilcox have gainedtheir C certificates and at the end ofApril J. Baker completed his Silver Cwith a duration flight of 5* hours atDunstable in a Grunau Baby.

Cross·country flights have ~eenattempted whenever conditions permittedand on Easter Sunday deputy C.F.l.

NORFOLK AND NORWICH Hacvey B,illen coached Hocsham St.(Swanton Morley) Faith in the Skylark. Other flights hawv,

been made in the Swallow and .DURING the last few months Swan. Mason took it up to Upwood, F. Rowell

. ton ~,!r1ey ~as become one of the to Biggleswade ann W. Petch to RearsbY·bUSiest ghdlOg aIrfields in the Country. We were pleased to meet K. owenOn Saturdays and Sundays our five sail· from the Coventry Gliding Club, who

292

hours' flying in one day to gain 5·h0!Jrlegs for Adam Dodds ~nd Andy Hardle.On this day Messrs. Lllburn and Taylorwent solo in the Tutor.

May 13th was almost a 7arbon. copyof the above with Bob Martmdale m theTutor and Albert Newbury in the Swal·low completing their 5-hour flights andTom Shepherd and Ron Donaldsongoing solo and gaining their B cer"tificates.

On 15th April a new ridge was soaredin a nonh·east wind which producedwave lift to 6,000 ft a.s.l. after passingthrough cloud tops at 3,500 ft. a.s.1. Toreach this ridge a crosswind flight of twomiles was required with little chance ofreturn if not soarable.

Maurice Wood was persuaded to makethe attempt, and after carfeul prepara·tions he set off. From a J,200 ft. winchlaunch he lost very little height and onarriving at his goal he gained heightrapidly to 2,000 ft. The T-2J quicklyjoined him and several hours' soaringwere achieved.

A members' course was held duringthe week ending Easter Sunday. A fairamount of hill and thermal soaring wasdone over Easter.

The R.A.F.G.S.A. at leeming visitedus over Easter with an Olympia and atthe end of their stay Alec Glover tooka launch to 1,000 ft. in a south-east winda~d w.as last seen h~ading for LeemingWith ltule loss of height. He landed sixmiles short of leeming after finding alee·wave which produced reduced sink.

The June course coincided with theNational Championships and excellentthermal conditions prevailed throughoutthe week with gains of height up to5,500 ft. a.S.1. Silver C height wasatt~ined by Albert Newbury. BarryBnghton and Peter L10yd soloed in theTutor.

A visit by a Tyne Tees Televisioncamera crew gave the club a five·minutespot on the local Independent Televisionsports programme. A.P.

SCOTTISH

O UR various sub-committees areshowing considerable activity, and

among these is noted the building of anannexe to the clubhouse to house thestaff. On the airfield. work is proceedingon the clearing of the recently acquired8 acres at the S.W. end. and this areashould be in service in the next fewweeks.

Winch facilities have not been at theusual level of efficiency, and the eagerly-

flew in on 16th June 10 complete hisSilver C distance.

P. Pozerskis entered his Eagle at theSwanlon Morley Easter Rally and wasquite successful. . . "

The Whit competItIOns mentIOned In

the last issue were unfortunately spoiltby poor weather and practically no liftat all.

Some members under the direction ofHarvey Britten have formed a syndicateand purchased a Tiger Moth. We arcnow once again assured of acro-tows.

R.N.W.K.

OUSE (Rufforlh, Yorks.)

THIS is the ftrst IcUef you have hadfrom the Ouse Gliding Club, chiefly

because we have felt that our achieve­ments in our one T-31 B, proud thoughwe are of them ourselves, were hardlyof the sort to create a stir in glidingcircles. Our first public meeting was heldlast August, after months and months ofwork, setbacks and successes, and wewere delighted to find that despite theprognostications of the experts, 80 peoplewere willing to pay a six months' sub­scription "on spec". Of these 80 onlyabout 10 had ever been airborne before,and of the 10 only three or four hadbeen in gliders. However, on 12thNovember, in pouring rain, we flighttested the T-3IB with Chris Riddell inthe "hot seat". All went well, so thenext week-end flying was available tom~mbers, and all through the winter, inram, hail, snow and ice, membersqueue.d enthusiastically for their turn,ably mstructed by C.F,I. lohnnie Maw­son, Malc.olm Hall, Stan WaltoD, BrianDalby, Mike OToole and Chris Riddellw~o all suffered agonies of cold andmisery to teach members to fly. Theirreward is the fact that 15 members haveg~ne solo, so now we have a secondaIrcraft, the Tutor, for solo flights. anda tremendous enthusiasm amongst allour members for the club and gliding asa whole.

It is difficult to single out fromamong the many people who havehelped the club to start those whom wemost wish to thank, but we would liketo. exp~e~s our deep appreciation to the~Ir Mn:ustry, the Royal Air Force. andIII partlcula~ the Commanding Officer,of R.A.F. Lmton on Ouse, for allowing

293

us to use their magnificent airfield atRu~orth, a,nd for letting us put ourequipment m their equally magnificenthangar, "0: well as for help in other ways'also to Mr. Slingsby and Slingsby Sail~planes Ltd., for unliring assistance, adviceand finanCial Support; to Chris Riddelland John Reussner, and many othermembers of the Yorkshire Gliding Clubfor assIstance in innumerable ways andlast but certainly not least to JotmnieMawson and his staff for teaching usto glide. P.A.C.

PERKINSTHE last few months have been fairly

eventful for us. In February we heldour ~nDual Dinner-Dance, which wasorgamsed by Terry Sismore and enjoyedby everyone. A less happy occurrencewas the bending of our T-21 when blownover in a high wind in Apri1. However,we now have it back from John Hulmeand are going ahead with training again.

On Easter Monday we received a visitfrom seven competitors, including AnneBurns and Peter $cOlt, flying in theS~anton Morley Easter Rally, who were~smg Westwood Aerodrome as their goalIII a race.

Three of our members have flowntheir 5-hour legs from Westwood in thespace of two week-ends. On Saturday,9th June, Roy Taylor completed overfive hOtus; on the Saturday following,Tony Casbon managed his duration leg.and the following day Chris Falkinbridgeflew the Olympia locally for 5 hours2 minutes. Another Silver C was com­pleted during May when Stan Hicksondrove south along the A I to land 50miles away in a field next to R.A.F.Henlow. C.C.D.

been re-instrumentcd and now inclUdesan artificial horizon with the Walkertransistorised inverter system and aCook vario. This latler really does showyou what is going 0!1 in a thermal andhas proved a revelation to most pilots.

Expeditions with the club's hireableOlympia have proved even more popularthan last year and expeditions havealready been made to Edgehill, Tibben_ham and Shoreham aerodrome. A fur­ther trip is being planned to explore thecliff soaring near Beachy Head in asouth-west wind.

Apart from the Nationals, when RayMarshall represented us, competitionshave been giving our pilots valuableexperience, and teams were entered forthe Lasham Spring Rally and SwantonMorley Easter Rally. P.W.

SOUTH WALES

THINGS are starting to move nowthat we are operating a two-seater

and a single-seater. Eight members tookthe G.B. to the Mynd in the first weekof May. Ivor Shatlock assisted with theinstructing and Cs were gained by DonProut, John Hughes, Danny Roberts andDerek Alsop. All except Oerek did theirfirst solos earlier in the week, Johngetting as many as 29 solo flights beforethe week ended.

The G.B. has been a great success atthe site, with 21 flights over 20 minutessince the return from the Mynd. DenisBryan-Jones and Alfie Williams havegone solo and on 10th June Don Proutdid his Silver C height without a baro­graph. On the next flight, Adrian Thomasmade sure and reached 4,800 ft. for theclub's first Silver C leg on the site. Hewas followed to 4,000 ft. by the 31 withIvor Shattock and pupil Norman Evans.

D.E.F.

WEST WALES

M EMBERSHIP IS still increasi.ngsteadily - we now number 96 ­

and our few instructors are kept fullyoccupied, with little time for foolingaround in the high-performance aircraft.L10yd Edwards, our Chairman, is n.owa VIT instructor, as is Wynn Da,,:les.and we hope they will be categorl~ed

recently very soon. Alec King, Gamer Phllhps294

WAS.

Olympia has

SOUTHDOWN

A PRIL produced our best flying figuresfor several years with 101 hours' fly­

ing. Tim Tucker gained his 5-hoursmainly in thermals and timed his flightcarefully so that it fell between milkinglimes on his farm. Mike Squires con­verted to the Olympia and Tony Wraightre-soloed on the Tutor. Val inadvertentlymade his first cross-country by landingout after attempting his five hours onthe ridge. Flying was attempted on oneday from a narrow strip on our old fieldlaunching towards the Beacon in a north~westerly wind. It was good to fly off theold field again, and the latest news isthat we should be able to have the useof it next year.

The "away"

awaited new winch from the Benny·Lawson-Milne-Rozycki stable has nowappeared and is undergoing trials; thiswinch has been named "Bloody Mary"and must be seen to be appreciated. sinceit sets a new standard in winch design.

The expected increase in flyingactivities has brought on a spate ofpromotions, and the new Swallow (No.2) has greatly eased tht: loading onSwallow (No. 1).

The Club Championship Table is in avery healthy state with a number of newnames appearing among the toppositicns. a recent l7ader in this be~ngFit. Lt. D. M. Holhday, but a postmgto foreign parts has put paid to hischances for the next few months.

Cross-country flights in the past m'!nthhave increased in number, and retrievecrews have had an easy time due to pilotspicking airfields for an aero-tow retrieve.The most popular of these has beenR.N.A.S. Arbroath.

On Sunday J7th June two Olympiasmanaged to get away from the pack,the syndicate Olympia from Londoncompleting 78 miles to a point south ofAberdeen. A later start by an S.G.U.Olympia made a flight of 55 miles witha landing at Fordoun Aerodrome foraero-tow retrieve.

Visitors during this period have in­cluded Basil and Queenie Meads, LionelTate (Newcastle), J. Diamant (Israel) andtwo syndicate Olympias and crews fromDunstable.

and Owaine Davies have soloed, andPat lames, Howard Ione~ a~d RhodaPartridge have $amed their. C s, Rhodataking hers whilst on hohday at t~eMynd. We have made 1,365 launches 10

the last three months and thf? Tugmasterhas provided 154 aero-tows m the sameperiod.

Gil Phillips and Peter Wulff madetheir epic flight to Holland and towedback the Sky. Needless to say, ~h.e Skyhas proved a very welcome addition toour fleet and came into its own whena party of five membe.rs ~ent to nearbyTempleton airfield, which IS out of r~ngeof the sea breeze front that sometimesdamps the thermals at Withybush.

We held our first Open Day on EasterMonday, which proved very popularwith the public and is likely to berepeated. David Benton came down fromthe Mynd to help out with the aero­tows and we're most grateful to him. Atthe moment we have a standing engage­ment with the Tenby Round Table toprovide a periodical aerobatic display,the first of which was most creditablydone by Bill Nicholas in the Swallowand was filmed and shown on TV. Afterlanding on a section of the beach, theSwallow was exhibited to a veryinterested public who paid for theprivilege, the proceeds going to RoundTable charities. Our own raffle of aholiday for two in Switzerland orMajorca is also in full swing and doingvery nicely. May we send you a ticket?

H.J.

Tony Smallwood. We have also seen thefirst solos of Bob Nicholson, GrahemKeighley and our architect, DavidLeckenby.

Although there was no YorkshireClub entrant in the Nationals this year,our C.F.L, Chris Ridden, took his Sky­lark 3 to Switzerland to compete in theSwiss Nationals, and came back withvery stimulating reports of soaring themountains over there.

This year we have had the opportunityto aero-tow with the syndicate TigerMoth, and this has proved to be mostsatisfactory. Most of the towing hastaken place from Wombledon airfield,but it has been possible in certain con­ditions to tow out to Sutton Bank with­out much difficulty. The opportunity foraero-towing has shown clearly that thescope of gliding at Sutton is going tobe increased considerably, and we areworking on tentative plans for a waveproject for the Pennine waves, whichoccur very frequently, and they rise oftento great heights.

Two aircraft will be taking part inthe Northern Championships at Camp­hill - the club Skylark 2 is entered andalso the new syndicate Skylark 4. Thiswas flown for the first time on Sunday17th June, and we are certain thatSlingsbys have got a very fine sailplanehere. I.CR.

Service NewsYORKSHIRE BANNERDOWN (Colerne)

AT Sutton Bank many marked changes THERE has been nothing spring-likehave recently taken place. The most about spring. In consequence our

conspicuous is the steady progress of activity, although respectable, was wayour new clubhouse, which started life below plan with 488 launches for 68tlooking very much like a gas-holder, is hours. There were no flights of real note,now taking on the form of a most desir- though Vince Griffith found a decentable residence. We hope it will be ready thermal on a visit to Bicester andfor use by the end of the summer. recorded Silver height.

Our annual dinner was the opportunity The A.G.M. went well; all membersfc:'r our C.F.L to stand up and tell club of the present committee were re-electedpilots it was high time they did some with in addition Equipment Member~ross-collntry flying. This has resulted F ILt. M. Lanng ~nd Deputy TechnicalIn a most gratifying number of cross- Member Corporal M. Channon. Briancountries, and during the week from I] th Campbell was presented with the Ban­to 17th June, five Silver C's were com- nerdown Trophy and it was certainlypleted by Harold Salisbury, Jim Hods· good to see esprit and hard work soman, John Iceton, Brian Hartness and rewarded.

295

Recently your Scribe had to be inStockholm for a few days, and m~t upwith the local gliding club. Much mfor­mation and gliding talk was exch~f!gedand a smart lesson in condlllonsexperienced. By. 11.30 . a ..m. on theappointed day mcely bUlldmg ClI pro­duced visions of Gold legs and othergliltering baubles: by 12.00 the sky wasabsolutely clear and the Baltic sea b~eezefront was to miles inland. A 7-mmutekite-like aero-tow in a Bergfalke wasfollowed by a 7-minute descent in.any­thing up to 20 down. but the exp~nence

was well worth it. and it was noticeablethat aircraft already up and away wereall back home smartly without incident.

The smartest retrieving story we heardis the one where Max Bacon landed ata wealthy farm. After a swim and. a fewpints of beer he thoug~t th~t t,hls ~asreal gliding. but the traJler dldn t arnvetill midnight with a distraught crew h~v­ing fixed a damaged tyre and an elusiveshort in the electrics. The de-rig anddeparture were so quick that the under­pants which had served as a swimsuitwere forgotten and now presumablyadorn the farmhouse as a trophy.

P.H.

CLEVELANDS (R.A.F. Leeming)

THREE members, namely Mike Baker,Alex Glover and Ron Pledge, spent

a most pleasant Easter week-end withthe club Olympia at Carlton, home ofthe Newcastle G.C. The weather was un­exciting but the wintry conditions weremore than offset by the warmth andhospitality of the Newcastle members.Alex attempted to fly back to Leemingon Easter ~~mday evening in practicallystable condItIOns - there was evidenceof wave - but he failed to contact andfinally landed at Brompton, four milesshort.

Our R.A.F. members have dwindledsomewhat in number in recent monthsdue to postings, latest departure beingBruce Coutts, to whom we wish the~est of luck and hope that he will con­tmue to get some gliding in.

Our Chipmunk has returned after"tugging" at the Nationals, and we hopeto have a Skylark 38 within the nextfortnight. R.F.P.

EAST ANGLlAN(R.A.F. Dux£ord)

W E are plc",:sed to report increasedsucce~s m the cross-country

attempts thIS m.onth. P~te Dawson earnstop honours with a flIght of 204 milesto Usworth, near Newcastle, giVing hima qOld. distance and Diamond goal.Pete s ~Ife,. Maureen, fl.e~ 60 miles toBoston m Lmcs., thus gettmg Silver dist­ance. Jim Morris and Paddy Hogg bothobtained Silver height and distance withflights to Clacton and Ipswich reSpect­ively; many congratulations all roundPete Brown and Ed Edwards both soloedin the Tutor, and gained A and B Cert.Jock Frame took the Tutor to 6,000 ft(with a barograph this time) and got ~well-earned Silver height.

We are experimenting with the "shuttlelaunching" idea of the Irish club andwe hope it will serve to increas~ ouroverall efficiency.

Chris "Microbe" Morris has left usto go to Cosford, and we wish him thebest of luck with his future gliding.

A.H.W.

FENLAND (Swanton Morley)

A s reported elsewhere in this issue,lan Strachan managed to win

League 2 of the Nationals. Meanwhile,Pete Kevan did a Goal Diamond flightto Yeoviiton in the Olympia, and will bemaking a great effort to increase hisRG.A. Rating points by entering con­tests this summer.

We now have the 17-metre Olympia403 at Swanton and hope that we willbe able to utilise it.

AI Pengelly has completed his Silverdistance and height, Terry Donegan hisheight, and C certificates have beengained by Norman Pealing, Rick Atkin-son and Roger Hodgson. LW.S.

PORTSMOUTH NAVALIT is some time since news of ouractivities appeared. At the A.G.M. our

secretary, Peter Davies, resigned, andwas presented with an engraved tankardin appreciation of his work for the club.He was also awarded the GoodhartTrophy for the club member who haddone most for the club during theprevious year. Leslie Vine is the new

296

secretary. He will hav~ the ass~s~ance ofPeter Davies, who IS com~mmg theduties of treasurer and assistant sec­retary. The new Committee is JohnLimb Keith Morton. John Townsend,Alan 'Williams ap? Peter Wilson.

Soaring conditions at Lee-on-the­Solent have been somewhat better thanlast year, and already we have hadseveral C certificates. .

Trevor Thomas, our ground engmeer,recently completed his Silver C with aflight to .Lewes. a!1d Kcith Mortonachieved Silver C height.

Several pilots have converted to theSkylark, and the other ~<?Ia pil~ts, nowflying a Tutor. are awattlng dehvery ofan Olympia 2. L.D.Y.

WINDRUSI-IERS ANDR.A.F.G.S.A. CENTRE (Bicester)

THE activities of the club and centrehave largely been in abeyance dur-

ing the last month because most of themore active members have been at AstonDown, not only in the limelight as com­petitors but also crewing, flying Tug air·craft and working in the background inevery other capacity. Some of our clubaircraft went to Aston Down and helpedform the R.A.F.G.S.A. Staff Flight whichprovided local soaring for non·com­petitors, and the T·21s were used to givesoaring and aero-tow experience to pilotsat an earlier stage of training. The StaffFlight achieved several Silver C legswhile at Aston Down, including a dura­tion gained by Group Captain Good­body, local soaring in the Olympia overStroud. Group Captain Goodbody hassince completed his Silver C by flyingfrom Bicester to Pershore.

We are presently dealing with theaftermath of the Nationals and havingto cope with minor repairs and overduemaintenance to aircraft, trailers andvehicles. R.P.S.

Overseas NewsBaby 3. Were it not for the bush. Kitwewould also be to the fore in distanceflying.

Salisbury Gliding Club have also in­creased their number of aircraft, andtwo K-6's from Germany are on order.but will not be here until next year. Theyhave another two Gold C pilots ­Jimmy Arnott and John Sanders. Thelatter two pilots both competed in theSouth African Nationals.

Bulawayo has pur.chased a Goe~ierfrom Holland and IS now recovenngfrom a run of bad luck. Two-seatertraining has recommenced and towingfacilities have been arranged on a morepermanent basis.

Midlands Gliding Club have struggledvery hard to build a ~trong club and arelooking now for a smgle-seater to aug­ment the T-31. They have a very goodfield and well placed for cross-countryflying.

Que Que is hoping to start a clt.J~ andUmtali are in the process of repUlnng aT-31 and may start operations again inthe near future.

Vic Brierley, C.F.1. of Copperbelt.recently took off in a standard GrunauBaby club machine in an altempt on

CENTRAL AFRICA

THE Association consists of all glidingclubs in Northern and Southern

Rhodesia. This year the Association willhold its first championship since 1956.It is certainly hoped to be the largestever held in the Federation, as glidinghas progressed rapidly in the last fewyears. The latest clubs in action areBindura and Marandellas. They havestarted the hard way with winch launch­ing and vintage Kranichs and Grunausfrom Sweden. Bindura's progress hasbeen incredible, as the town is relativelysmall to support a flourishing club. Inlittle over a year they have purchased orrebuilt a Grunau, Kranich, Tutor (theonly truly indigenous aircraft in Africa),H-I7, Skylark 2 and a Swallow.

Kitwe Gliding Club now have prob­ably the highest performance aircraft inthe Air 100. Their aircraft are in splendidcopdition and Kitwe should prove for­midable opposition in the competitions.They also have a very interesting air­cr3;ft in the gull·winged H-28. VicBneley, the Chief Flying Instructor. gavethe whole movement a considerableboost wilh his record climb in a Grunau

297

HOLLA D

A FTER a very bad start to the soar­ing season the weather improved at

the end of April. On the 28th the firstGold C distance was flown by A. Kelder­man. Two days later was a great day:

Philip Wills wirh members of the Salisbury Gliding Club, he takes off in a Grunau10 sample a bush {ire.

either the world gain of height record up at 18,000 Ft. a.s.1. and, althoughor the DiamOl"ld C gain of height. He worried at first, I found that I could flywas towed to a height of approximately at the correct speed by ear. I was now5.660 fl. a.s.1. (Nkana Airfield is 4.160 Ft. using oxygen from my cylinders anda.s.l.) and reached 35,560 ft. a.s.1. would have felt really cold had I nol

After release in indifferent conditions. had to work so hard at keeping theduring which he lost about 500 ft., Vie Grunau Baby on an even keel. I wasencountered light lift, and this was being buffeted by the extreme turbulenceexploited up to about 12,000 Ft. a.s.1. and ice started forming on the wings a.ndHe flew on for about one and a half canopy. Big lumps of snow and Icehours waiting for the expected storm pounded the machine and the persp~xcloud to develop from an area of canopy bent visibly under the stralO.roughly 4 square miles in which the mass Lightning was flashing all round me andof air was ascending at a fairly steady the g:idcr became very stiff on the con-rate of I ft./sec. and the area "felt" trois and nose·heavy. I assume that. th~unstable. His patience was rewarded ice build-up changed the centre of !tft.when at last a "cu-nim" started to form So things look very bright for ourwith a flat base and a rising billowing sport in the Federation and we hope tocrown. give a full report later on our. Cham-

. From here Vic Brierley takes over in pionships, which will also dec!de ~urhiS own words: "I entered the cloud at participants in the World ChampIOnshipsabout 11,600 rt. a.S.1. at a rate of 2 ftl in the Argentine. G.H.sec. for about another 1.000 ft. Thenth,e r~al lift started with my variomcterclimbing to 2~ ft./sec. and sticking therefor the remainder of my flight in thiscloud. (In fact the baragraph recordedup to 35 ft./sec. rate of climb.)

"My air speed indicator became iced-

298

fI

I I

I

been with the club about 12 months.during which time he had organised theTreasury down to the last letter. He hadmany friends both in and out of theclub and he will be greatly missed by all.

On 10th May we were honoured by avisit from Air Commodore Walker. theDirector of Movements, who we aregrateful to for indulging most of ourequipment out here.

The summer weather is now settlingin and we are still open any week-end toa visit from any gliding type passingthrough Cyprus. Contact Fit. Lt. J. Hay,Officers' Mess, R.A.F. Akrotiri, Cyprus,B.F.P.O. 53, then we will be expectingyou.

Since the departure of Roy Salmon,changes have been made in the com­mittee, and Jock Hay is now Officer i/ccum chairman with Brian Clisby assecretary /treasurer.

During May we moved on to thenearby salt flats to test their suitabilityfor gliding. The first attempt proved veryencouraging and over Whitsun a campwas held which was very successful fromthe operating side due to our being un­interrupted by aircraft movements atAkroliri.

We now have a further four A's andB's off, one of them, Sadie Saunders.being our first lady member to fly solo.and two C certificates. Recent conver­sions to the Swallow include Mick Hollis,Jan Zapasnek and Tim Sullivan.

The end of May saw the return of ourfounder C.F.I., Bill Owens.

The latest experiment to be tried ismixed towing with auto and winch. Thisproved all right as long as the cablesremained in good serviceOlbility. but thewear on an auto-tow cable along a run­way is terrific - it was suggested weused barbed wire as it possesses legswhich would keep the main cable clearof the runway! G.LK.

CRUSADERS, CYPRUSDURING March very little soaring

was done. but early in April con­ditions improved slightly and the clubrecord was raised to I hr. 55 mins. byCon Greaves in the Swallow. Soaringwas then to be had at some period ofevery week-end, but usually consisted ofa small early morning sea breeze frontor a late afternoon thermal. In MarchGerry Kemp went to Bicester and got a USAB cat.; he is now back with us. . . .

Our Easter week-end was the most FIVE Diamond. altitude f1ight.s we~esuc~essful public holiday yet, during made in April at Tehachapl. Ca It­whtch we amassed a total of 350 fornia. using Schweizer 1-26 sailplaneslaunches over a four-day period. rented from the Holiday Soaring School.

A deep depression hung over Akrotiri The lift used was provided by a wavelate in March when we learnt of the system that persisted for several days.death of Ollr Treasurer. Fg. Off. Andy the same wave used by Paul Bikle inMarshall, in an air accident. Andy had setting the world soaring altitude records

299

Rob Vulling flew from Teuge to behindChateauroux in a Skylark 2, ,:overing adistance of about 700 km. In 8 hrs.42 mins. This is a new Dutch record.about 140 km. better than the previousone of 561 km., achieved on 27th May.1957 by Wim Toutenhoofd. The sameday 'the two-seater distance record of201 km. was improved upon twice, firstby A. Szabo and F. Brackcl on Rhon­lerche (255 km.) and later in the day byour new National Champion, Ed vanBree, who flew 287 km. with his wifeHenny on a Ka-7 from Woensdrecht toDieppe. Their original plan 10 cross theChannel westbound from Calais provedto be impossible.

Two Gold C flights were recorded alsoon this Queen's-Birthday-Holiday: lanFranken, who completed his with a flightof 346 km. in a Sagitta, and J. MoIling,who flew from Venlo to Fontainebleau.418 km. The Nationals brought somegood weather again and a number ofDiamonds for Goal and Distance wasthe result.

On 5th May the R.N.A.F. GlidingClub at Woensdrecht celebrated its 10thanniversary with a one-day contest. The114-km. triangle task proved a bit tooheavy for the weather, so only Ordelmanon a Sagitta completed it.

After the Nationals the good weatherpersisted, and it was on 6th June thatJack van Eck flew a Skylark 2 fromTerlel to Abbeville, 350 km.

J.Th.v.E.

The first ",:,cck in June I tried f5OO-km., did 210 miles in fa h mylanding at Childrcss Airpor~r Tours.Forced down by a tornado 'I· cxas.h · meadeavy ram on a 50-mile from A nbefore that ALEC ALDOlT did' th weekflight, 265 miles, and had thee sameweather conditions. same

AL PARKER has now his Gold ..award; .did it all in a 222C trainer If;G. RatiO.

~n May we. have had five Gold "C"gams. Most pilots got to 17 000 ft .clear blue air. '. In

B.M.

a year ago. The lhree f1ighlS made onthe Saturday were with the same ~ail­plane. averaging It .hours each. A sixthDiamond altitude gam was made on theSunday but the Peravia barographaboard'ran out of paper before the gainwas recorded. As the wave weakened onSunday a seventh pilot was able toachieve a 12,800 ft. gain for Goldaltitude. The Diamond flights achievedheights of from 29,000 to 31.200 ft. withgains of from 17,000 to 23.500 ft. Theairport elevation is 4,000 CL and releasealtitudes were from 9.000 to 12.000 ft.a.s.1. The flight with the best gain hada low point after release of 7.400 fl.a.s.l. or 3.400 ft. above the airport. Therewas no roll cloud present and no tur­bulence encountered on any of theflights. Peak altitudes were attained justunder a large lenticular cloud.

The Soaring Society of America isinaugurating a new soaring training pro­gramme in June of 1962, which willfeature the A, Band C badges asachievement awards. The programme willbe implemented by specially qualifiedinstructors with the various clubs andcommercial soaring schools who will bedesignated SSA instructors. The basicrequirements for each of the badges willbe for the A solo,. for the. B the earningof the F.A.A. private gilder pilot cer­tificate (qualificatio~ to carry passengers)and for the C soaring and demonstrationo.f spot landing proficiency in prepara­tIOn [or cross-country flights. L.M.L.

WEST TEXASOur visitors from England have in­

cluded A':AN YATES, who did two cross­country flights of 132 and 160 miles in aS~:-",eizer I-26 in very poor weather con­ditions.

PETER MILLS, an old pupil of minefrom Lasham w.ay back in 1957. Overhere to stu~y 011 w~lIs for six months.J:le got hiS Amencan private gliderlicence and a "C" award.

JOHN LoWENSTE1N~ ex-London Club.spent a few days with us in the earlypart of the year.

Sgt. ~AN OE~ SALM, Dutch Air Forcewho missed hiS Gold "C' . b 'few feet. gam y a

I myself missed my Diamond gain by900 ft., got up to 19,500 [to in the J.23H.

300

Bristol Gliding ClubNYMPSFIELD. GLOUCESTER

We 0111' l,.c.lI.n' I".,mll. hill Ind wave lc.,ing I1l,le o~ 'h. WI.tl,n .dgl 01 '''e Cohwold•• Nea, SI,oudFlee' Include.•.Skyla,k 11,. Olympi., Swallow, '.afact Ind

Du.1 T,a,","g Mac"lnu. AI,o'owing IVlillbl•.Comlcrt.bl. ClubhoulI, 'illt-cl.n Ca,"nn, Bunk..ou••

and B.,.Summer Gliding Holiday. lor .b·initio Non·Memb"•.

Wr;le 10: BRISTOL GLIDING CLUBNYMPSFIHO, N,. STONEHOUSf, GLOS.

r.llp"on.. UlEY 342

DO YOUR GLIDING ON THE CORNISH RIVIERA

THE CORNISH GLIDING CLUBOf'.u COUI:" b.'w..n 10lh APRIL .nd I3t.. OCTOBU

On ill m.gniliClnl cOI".1 Cliff SOI.ing Si'.in ,,,.....'1 of ,hil f.m.d "olid.,. .,N

2 'no',udon - numb.... limiled '0 82~ mile, of golden ..nd•• 'ha bl" ,u., ba.hing buclle.in '''a counl,y _ .nd .11 Ihe u.ua' holidl" Im."i.....

Vi.i'oll I'WIYl v••y w.lcom.Id..1 10' f.mili•••nd f,i...dl

Apply. LT.-COl. G. E. TUSONHOlMAN'S CROFT ROSE. N,. TRURO. CORNWAll

P"one, '.".npo,'" 3361

The Derbyshire and LancashireGUDING CLUB

Camphill. Greal Hucklow, Nr. Tideswell,Derbyshire

The Club .... two du.l con••ol mu..inall nd olle...I.m,n·I.,y. in'a,m.dia•• and high p"lo,m.nc, flC~ili.,. P,iv'!'Own." .,e c.t".d for .nd. full'iml GlounG' , ..gin'" 'demploy.d. T". com'o,'.bl. Club HoulI, OOlmi'.....'·..dC...,.....,. u..d•• ,,,, C.,I o•• Ra.id... ' St,,.,ard ,.n"St_••d.u. A' C.mp"iU '''.,1 .,••Urholl ."ilg' ","Ie

lIIIh r". complel. Gliding Clubl

W.il. 10 'h. S.c••,••y 10' dl'.ib c;l Me",b...hip andSummit COU"el.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

AdvoncedKENT GLIDING CLUBfo, soaring and ab-initio training '" ,

friendly club atmosphere al

WEST MALLlNG. KENT

only 30 mites from London via the A20

Furtl'ler details from:

The Secretary, Kent Gliding Clu'),

18 Redcliffe Square, London sw.IQ

Scottish Gliding UnionPORTMOAK, SCOTlANOWELL, BY KINROSS

Training f.om eb-inilio to advanced" fisling.heellenl hill, the,mal and Wlve .oarinll in beautiful

surrounding.Club fleel indud•• ,

T.21'o, TUTORS, SWALLOWS. OLYMPIAWell appointed Clubrooms

h. Ir. c. in all bedroomsSumme, Cours.s-Fully Booked

ViIi to,. and Yi,iting .i'Clllll wekomefull Membership or Associate Membership e",ailable

Write 10 lhe Secretary 101 hlllh., deleil.

Lasham Gliding CentreA Federation of seven clubs operates atlasham with communal Training, launching,and Social Facilities provided by the LashamGliding Society.

THREE FULL-nMEPROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTORS

FOUR TWO-SEATERS FOR DUALAND EARLY SOLO TRAINING

INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCEDSOARING WITH THE CLUBS

INSTRUCTORS' COURSES

ADVANCED COURSES

FLYING EVERY DAY

*New ab-initio members welcomeUnsurpassed facilities for private owners

and syndicate groups

W,ite 10 I

J. N. COCHRANE, G.ne•• l M.n.g."LASHAM GLIDING CENTRE, ALTON, HANTS

, .

/• •Ins truct/on

including cross-countryflying, in high performance

"fDgle" 2·seDterL _

/LONDON GLIDING CLUB

Surrey Gliding ClubHigh-performance gliders available forthermal soarmg " Lasham 00 almost

every day throughout the year.

Training with Lasham Gliding Society_

Fo, det.il, w.it. to:

THE SECRETARY, SURREY GLlOING CLUB,LASHAM GLIDING CENTRE,

AL TON, HANTS.

YORKSHIRE GLIDING CLUBSite: S... llon B.nk. Think, No.th Yo.kshi,. (1000 ft .•.1.1.)Exc.ll4ont Hill, The.",..1 .nd W.". So.o,ing ..... ilabl. on

Ihe Hembledon H,lh.full T•• ining Co.....e••".ilabl. for beginne...nd 'S'

pilo," in lumme••eason.Good Club Hou•• lecilitie., including dOlmilo,iel.

Fleel incl ... de"

SKYLARK 11, SWALLOW, TUTORS T·2l.

Vi.ilclI welcome. W.it. 1o' fu.th., deteil.:SECRETARY, SUlTaN BANK, THIRSK, YORKS.

Tel. Sulten (Thirlk) 237

PLEASE MENTION "SAILPLANE. GLIDING" WHEN REPLYING TO ADVERTlUMENTS

BRITAIN AT ITS BEST

Gfidmg: a Slillgsby Skylark 3F QVer Hampshire

FROM 60 launching points in all parts of Britain, some 6,500 enthusiasts take to the air

to enjoy what is perhaps the most solitary of modern Sports-gliding. But peaceful as it

may seem to the onlooker, gliding nevertheless has its thrills and if the glider suddenly

loses its 'lift' a quick search for an uncluttered field may be called for. Under the very best

conditions, however, a really skilful pilot can make the most remarkable heights and

distances. The British National Gliding records, for example, arc 37,050 feet and 462 miles.

SENIOR SERVICE $arisfI