Sailplane .. .fj/_ .and Decemberl962

Gliding .

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SAILPLANE AND GLIDINGOFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATION

Pablisbed by the Britisb Gliding Association, 75 Victoria Street, London, S.W.!.SULlivan 7548/9

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

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

REGent 5301.Committee: P. Wills (Chairman), G. Harwood, W. Kahn, M. Bird, F. StOffS.

Vol. XliI. Vcl. 6. December 1962 Bi-Month1y

TITLE

1962-1963sea Breeze SummerSon of Retrieve NocturnalWot! No Trailer Design?Instructional Lectures at the Kronfeldhford Reunion: 1922-1962Twitch?Vasama: Finnish Standard Class SailplaneNordic ChampionshipsImproving Thermal Soaring Flight TechniquesA Two-Drum Diesel Winch'Artificial Horizons and InvertersDunkeswell Through Rose-Tinted Sl'CetaclesSpecial Category Ccrtilicates of Air......orthinessMajor OverhaulsIt·s All YoursKronfeld Club''The World·s Sailplanes"Suggestion for Securing a TrailerGliding CertificatesB.G.A. NewsA Continental HolidayThe "Ten Ycar Plus" OverhaulFirst Hour Without MotorJingle Bells at 7l.09 m.p.h.Cable-TanglesThank You, BerneA Rational Approaeh to Air Traffic Control1cing i~ Standing WavesEdelweIss: A French St.ndard Class SailplaneCorn:spondence

BOQk Reviews H. C. N. Goodhart. A. E. SlaterOST1V Standard Class PrizeObituary: Allan Pratl. J'. D. Carse"Masefield on Safetv .Argentine Entries .Sixty Years AgoWhat Flying is For1962 Christm.s CrosswordA Hundred Years AgoClub and Association News

Ser.yice NewsOverseas News

AUTHOR

P. A. WillsJ. E. SimpsonA. D. PurnellM. WilsonYvonne BonhamA. E. SlaterM. Bird

P. B. MacCreadvM.A.HiII .R. Brett-KnowlesP. M. SeottF. G. JrvingF. G. IrvingAnn Welch·Yvonnc Bonham

J. Wheeler

P. A. WillsR. Stafford-AllenA. MartensM. BirdG. J. C. PaulD. ScarfeP. A. WillsA. E. Slater

A. H. Twigs. M. Hum••P. Garnett, F. KnocfD. B. James. A. Pentelow

H. ZaeherA. Coulson

A. E. SIa.terO. Slew'rtP.A. WillsA. E. Slater

PAGE375376382385385386391393393394403404406410411412414414415415418419425426428429432435436437

438441442443444444445445448451452462465

Cover Photograph by Guy Mannering: A Skylark in New Zealand

PRINTED BY S. R. VERSTAGE 6< SONS LTD•. WINCHESTER ROAO.ElAS1NGSTOKE. FOR THE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATION

373

THE SKYLARK 4I8M CONTEST SAILPLANE

fhe final outcome of eight years of continuousdevelopment work. the SKYLARK 4 is the mostadvanced IBM Contest Sailplane available as astandard production aircraft. It is a directdescendant of the SKYLARK 3 series which stillholds a record in National and InternationalCompetitions unapproached by any other design.

The SKYLARK 4 is now in full production 3t

Kirbymoorside.

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TELEPHONE: KIRBYMOORSlDE 312 CABLE: SAILPLANES

PIONEERS OF BRITISH CUD/NG

374

R. L. NeillT. W. E. CorbettSurrey Gliding Club

1962-1963<!CHRISTMAS is here again. and we look back on a year with its quotaof triumphs and disappointments.

Aston Down was a triumph. Summer took place that week and no other.82 aircraft flew 60,000 miles in over 2,300 hours. How unbelievable wouldthis have seemed to our founders in 1929!

Our new aircraft appeared in the air: the Skylark 4 a resounding suc­cess from the start; the Olympia 463 is now appearing in numbers andshould have a glowing future in the Standard Class; the Capstan experi­enced last-minute troubles which have been at length overcome. In thehands of the many instructors who have now flown the prototype it hasshown convirrcingly that it will be exactly what is needed.

At the time of writing the 1963 World Championships in Argentina arestill on, in spite of the many (non-gliding) troubles of this unfortunatecountry. Our planned team, pilots and aircraft, will be one of the strongestwe have sent for some time.

New clubs have appeared, and one or two clubs have achieved the basicpre.requisite of stability-,security of tenure.

The battle for ail:-space goes on-as it will go on, for ever and ever.At last we have formulated a line of approach which, if common-senseis allowed to intervene, should succeed in rationalising the problem (seepage 423).

SAILPLANE AND GLIDING continues On the up-and-up. I hope, dear reader.you noticed that our August issue gave you over 100 pages and this issuenearly 100 for the same price as before - probably your cbeapest buys ofthe year.

And so, for a short time, our pens drop from our ink-stained fingers.and before we doze off in a mist of holly and rum punch. we wish all ourreaders everywhere, as usual:

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS APPEALApproximately another £1,000 are urgently needed for this fund to meet the

expenses of ~ending a British team, and it is not too late to send contributions tothe British Gliding Association. A total of £76 6s. has already been gratefullyreceived from the following;

Sir Theodore McEvoy Flying Officer RevellJ. A. MacGregor R. PartridgeT. W. Bevan J. V. InglesbyM. Wilson _ Aberdeen Gliding ClubR. D. M. Harper A. Coulson

375

Sea Breeze Summerby John Slmpson

M ANY of us find it difficult to do members of Gliding Clubs near ·the coast. three or ftlur things at the same know, it will "damp down" thermals,

time until we have practised dQing. it so often for the day. The land for manyoften that it has become automatIc. In miles from the coast will slowly bemy own case. for example, it was at least flooded with stable air.two years before I was able to circle in a If the gradient wind is parallel to thethermal, read a map and be sick out of coast, then more attractive things maythe window at the same time. happen. The meeting line of the land and

So far, only a very few of the Masters sea air may remain quite sharp forhave been able 10 tune their minds to several hours, a "self-stoking" sea-breezehill, thermal, wave and sea-breeze lift front being formed. As most glider pilotsin the same flight. To most of us, sea- know, the ground is hardly porous atbreeze lift is. still in .the class thM wave all, so the incoming s~.air must movewas 25 years ag<r-"unexplained lift". upwards at the front. In winds up to 20

I made a short sea.breeze flight on knots paraJiel to the coast, a line of13th May, 1961, and in 1962 I was for- cumulus or even cumulonimbus maytunate enougl:J, to be able to spend the form for several hours, a few miles in­whole summer at Lasham chasing the land.sea breeze as my main occupation. These If the g.radient wind is offshore, i.e.notes are a preiiminary report. has some component towards tbe sea,

Sea-breez.e lift was first used as lo'og then the frontal effect is 'likely to be moreago as 1938 by Philip Wills on his intense. If the gradient wind is less thanpioneering flights to Cornwall. He about 10 knots, then the front may movesoared along tbe meeting line between inland, its precious line of rising air beingthe on-shore sea-breeze and the N.E an essential factor in keeping itself going.wind O\lt over the sea in Lyme Bay. Sea-breeze fronts in the tropics haveThe lift w.as marked by a line of fat been traced inland as far as 100 miles.cumulus. In England they rarely penetrate m~ore

Sea-breezes are likely to occur ·on the than 50 miles. Conditions seem favour­kind of day which distral;1s a glider pilot able on the E. coast, especially in thefrom his other work. After some hours southern part near Felixstowe. The S.E.of sunshine, the air above the land be- coast is better still, especiaUy in Hamp­comes heated to varying heights, witb shire.consequent expansion. So at the 2 01' 3 The behaviour of sea-breezes nearthousand foot level there will be a the coast has been studied quitegreater mass of air overhead inland than thoroughly in many parts of the world.over the sea at the same height. There- but very little has been published abouifore the pressure there will be greater and the bebaviour of the front as it travelsa flow of air will start towards the sea. far inland.This will have the effect, however, of J. K. Mackenzie, flying at Lasham onmaking the pressure over the sea al 6th July, 1956, in a soaring flight ofground level greater than that just above about three hours, used lift from thethe land, and hence a flow will start in- front, and in a very interesting articleland at the low levels. in SAILPLANE AND GUDING described his

The nature of this flow inland will findings. The main feature was a narrowdepend greatly on the wind pattern due line of rising air, too narrow to circle into the general preSSure gradil;nt over the properly, on the inland side of a line ofcountry (called the "gradient wind"). thin ragged curtain-like clouds. These

If the gradient wind is already off the were forming a thousand feet below thesea, then the sea-breeze will merely normal cloud-base of the cumulus in theslIghtly reinforce this wind; but, as dry inland air.

376

Two years later, Aylett MooIe flewalong a sea-bree~ front at a height ofabout 3,000 feet. In this case the frontw~ only marked by a haze line, thepoorer visibility being in the sea-air.

John Corbett's flight from Lasham toDunkeswell and back on 4 August, 1959,was a fine ac-hievemenL For the retumjourney he used lift under long sausage­shaped clouds associated with the sea­breeze, arranged parallel to each other,roughly at right angles to the coast.

An American meteorolQgist, R. E. Ste­venson, spent tbe summer of 1959 in­vestigating the coastal sea-breeze atFlamborough Head. The locals said "itblows every day", but he only found itproperly on 13 days. The only reallyvigorous day was 19th July, 1959, andon that day he traced the front inlandto its maximum depth of 1S miles. -It isinteresting to note that on the same dayPeter SCOll met what appears to havebeen a s;milar front over Norwich Inhis 419.

Some studies were made round about1930 by S. P. Peters,. the meteorologistat Worthy Down, near Winchester. Hefound that a sea-breeze front passed thestation on the average about 9 days ayear, and that the most likely monthswere May and June. The most frequenttime of arrival was just after 6.00 p.m.(B.S.T.). He found wind changes vary-

ing from 0 (just a slight intensification)to 180 degrees. There was a slight fallin temperature in half the cases. -In two­thirds there was clear increase of rela­tive humidity, up to a maximum of 30per cent. In nearly all the cases there wasan incIease of vapour pressure or dewpoint. Half the days had cloudless skies,and on the others there were small de­tached cumu,lus, but no noticeablechange in cloud at the front.

He investigated records at Larkhill(near Salisbury) and at S. Farnborough,and found 6 cases in 6 years when thefront was traceable at both these stations,showing the front had penetrated 35miles inland over a zone at least 45 mileswide.

From balloon ascents be found theheight of the sea breeze to be over 1,000.feet. On the four Larkhill-Farnboroughdays for which he published records itis noteworthy that the sea breeze had thegreatest vertical extent-over 2,500 feet.On one occasion he recorded a fact whichI think may be very significant. On 29thMay, 1928, a balloon ascent half-an-hourbefore the arrival of the surface sea­breeze front showed the presence of thesea breeze, not at 1,000 feet, but between2 and 3 thousand feet.

This presumably means that tbe sea­breeze front had a "nose" elevated OVeI

1,000 feet from the ground, a form de·

LASHAMAN EXPERIENCED GLIDING INSTRUCTOR wishing to broadenhis own knowledge will find a wonderful opportunity in a SHORT PERIODVACANCY next Summer.

PERI,OD: March to September 1963 inclusive.DUTIES: Mainly running Courses for o,wn Members, Members of otherClubs and the Public. He will also assist in the 1963' "Nationals" organisation.Opportuni.ty for instruding in advanced two-seaters.QUA.LIFICATIONS: B.GA category (or equivalent) plus vast entluisiasm.Preferences for a tug pilot.

nRMS: Attractive salary for the right man. Accommodation available onsite. 5 day week. Weekend normally free.Apply with Jull@st d@tails of qualifications afld uf'@,i@nc@ to-

David Carrow, Chairman, Lasham Gliding Centre, Near Alton, Hants.

377

From this it appears that the averagerate of advanc:;e along a rne from Thor­ney Island to Lasham was about 4 knots,roughly half the speed of the sea breezeitself.

Altogether, f[(!lID April to Septemberinl:~'lJsive, I obEerved some sigm of thesea-breez.e front il:l HampshjreQn 28days. Glider pilots used lift at the fronton 7 of the 8 days when it passed Las-

ducecl to be present in some large.scale by D. E. Pedgley at Ismailia, 30 miles io-cold fronts. This was the only occasion land.he recorded, but without a very close My work in 1962 has in general re-sequence of balloon ascents it would be suIted in more questions than answers-an easy phenomenon to miss. . but here is a summary of it.

This "nose" was also observed HI Five thermographs and hygrographsballoon ascents during sea-breeze were installed in shelters between Lashamstudies. near the coast at Gdansk (Danzig). and the coast, and some records of tem-The moving spirit in this work was Dr. perature, humidity, and wind obtained'Harald Koschmieder, who' had pre- from sev€ral Met. Office stations. Forviously worked at the Gljding Research the 8 days when a sea-breele frontInstitute at Darmstadt and published .reached Lasham in 1%2, dew po:mts werework on "Upcurrents fOF Sailflying". His worked out at hourly intervals for allresearch was on a large scale with five the stations. The changes in dew pointground stations, 1;>alloon ascents and together with wind records and any ;jthermeasurements from light aircraH. evidence when available were uss:d to

Koschmieder established that the speed plot the position of the front at hourlyof passage of the front was just over intervals. The map shows the averageh.:.;a,:::l:..:f....:('-0....:.6..:2:.:.)_o:..:f:.....:.th:.:.e:......:c...:.o:.:.m~poc...:..:n=-e:.:.n,:::t_o:..:f:......:t,:::he.::.....:s:..:e..:a __.;:p~os;,;;jt:.:.io;,;;n:.:....o;,;;f:......:t;;,;h;,;;e..,front on these 8 days.

SEA-E>REEZE FRONT1962

Fig. 1. Averageposition of sea-breezefront on the eightdays in 1962 when itreached Lasham.

breeze at right angles to it, and distin­g,uished between the sea breeze and the"sea-air" as a whole. The top third of thesea-air was moving towards. the sea, thecause of this being frictivII and entrain­ment with the offshore gradient wind en­gaged in piling up the cold air. This toplayer was, of cOllrse. mot easily detect­able as sea air by plain balloon ascentsonly, but the two parts were distinguished

378

Sea-breeze front near Winchester, 8th A Ilgllst, 1962, J3.00 hrs. Looking sOUlh,showing "curtain clouds". (Photo John Simpson.)

ham Gliding Centre. about 12 knots; to ,the south it wasThe ,first day was Easter Sunday, 22nd S.E, 8 knots. Most pilots had difficulty

April, when a distinct sea-breeze front with cloud obscuring -the turning-point.passed Lasham at 7.10 p.m. Gerry Bur- The base of thl: Cu to the north wasgess rdeascd from a winch launch to 800 about 4,500 fcct; at the front, which wasfeet and soared along the front for 30 marked by intermittent patches of lowminutes, seeing streamers of haze be- "curtain cloud", the base was about 2,500Death him, like smoke. About an h<>ur feel. There was no cloud to the south oflater the wind at ,Farnborough changed the frontal area. Uft was found to thefrom 4 knots, 250 degrees, to 10-15 knots, north (landward) side of the front. Some180 degrees, in a few minutes. The day pilots found only 1!-2 knots; the besthad been mostly cloudless at Lasham, lift anyone found was 5 knots, obtained"IS in O1ost of the cases recorded in 1952, by circling in and out of the cloud onbut theJ'c had been cumulus developing the I.andward side.at a convergence nne over Stoney Cross Patches, of Ht were usable along theto 5 or 6 thousand feet, and isolated line of the front from about five milescumulus turrets had been visible from east of Cl:rne to about 30 miles west.Lasham to the south. Lift was limited Nick Goodhart in particular rejoinedduring the day to about. 2,500 feet. 'the front 3 miles north of Blandford,

Two of the sea-breeze days fell during was able to climb to 4,000 feet and to flythe Nationals, early in June, and most straight at 60 knots for about eight milesof League I pilots have been kind enough along the fronl.to send me accounts of their experiences Inland it was necessary to fly somewith the sea-breeze front near Cerne on way north in order to find good lift MostSunday, 3rd June. pilots flew north as far as Salisbury, and

An a,nticyclone covered the country, there was Iiule cloud from there to Las-and there were light N.E_ winds in the S. ham.of England. The sea breeze moved in- The front also moved in past South-land from Poole Harbour in the morn- amplon and Thorney Island, reachinging, ~nd from. about I to 2 p.m. the front Lasham at 5.30 p.m.. 20 minutes after thewa.s In the ne:ghbourhood of the turning- last pilot had passed the aerodrome. ItPOlOt at Cer~e Abbas. it lay W.S.W.- just reached S. Farnborough, where auto­E.N.E.; the wmd to the north was NE., gl"aphic records showed a very gradual

379

change, with at first some slight reversals.Dry air reached Petersfield at 6.30 p.m.A vigorous sea-breeze front, however,travel1ed to the RN.W., passing Portonand Boscombe Down with a suddenmarked wind-change after 7.0 p.m~

reaching Lyneham by 10.30 p.m. In theFarnborough section the sea breeze wasS.E., up to 10 knots: in the BoscombeDown area ,it was S.S.W., 5-7 knots. TheCrawley tephigram fQr 11.30 G.M.T.shows limit to convection at 3,500 teet,with a possible break-through to 7,500feet. The lift actual1y found by gliderpilots reached to 5,000 feet

On 30th May and on :16th June, shortlybefore the passage of the surface frontat Lasham. streets or "bar clouds"appeared, about four or five miles apart,in the direction of the gradient wind.They appeared to have darker Cu em­!Jedded in t!llem, a pattern also notedby Anne Boms on the Cerne day. Pilotswho climbed up ,and used the lift be"neath them reported passing througha layer of turbulence and finding thewind a1 cloud base still from the land.

I have taken some time-lapse filmsof the cloud forms, speeded up about50 times. On days of moderate cumulusof perhaps a thousand £eet depth the"curtain clouds" appear at irregularlyspaced seotions on the front, formingvery rapidly in patches up to a quarterof a mile long.

On three days of light winds and smallflat Cu forming at an inversion level,

the cloud forms at the front wel1 southof Lasham were small isolated "turretclouds" of greater vertical developmentthan the land-air clouds, with both lowerbases and higher tops. They showedmuch more vigorous growth ,than the'land-air clouds.

So we have apparently three distinctcloud forms associated with the fronLthe "curtains", "turrets" and "bars".Are they evidence of ,three different pro­cesses at work, either at the same ordiffer,ent times?

Although the general line of the frontis detectable, and has in fact been "seen"as such by radar by Dr. Eastwood fromChelmsford, it seems likely that somenon-continuous pl,occsses arc at work.

The cloud forms do not appear reg­ular and smooth as ,in the cloud formedfor instance at the advance of the coldair from a precipitation downdraught.I have seen one of these lines arrive asa 30-knot squa!l, marked by a sinister,smooth, grey shelf-cloud, perfectlysmooth from horizon to horizon. Thesea-breeze front does not produce asmooth non-varying pattern like that.

Fig. 2. s,hows a possible picture forglider pilots to confirm or pull to piecesin the bar in the winter and during thenext soaring season. The slope of thefirst section may be at least 1 in 3 orl in4 to 2,000 feet, and behind tnatal I in100 for three or four miles horizontally.These figures are partly based on Kosch­mieder's finaings and on the fact that

3000

2.000

1000

Fig. 2. Section of sea bl'eeze front.360

we have had pjlols soaring 4 miles awayover Alton under the 1Yar clouds just be·fOl:e the surface front arrived at Lasham.

The layer of turbulence found is pre­sumably the shear Iarye be~ween the~eabreeze and the sea'alr whlchls floWIngback- with the gradient wind.

The front moves forwards. pushing upcurtain cloud or haze lumps, producingan intermittent nose at different places,like fingers Or even waves funning up thebeach. These noses must collapse moreor less regularly due to their native in­stability, sometimes with consequentturret clouds. This drawing of a sectionby a plane at right angles to the frontcannot give ,tbe whole picture in a non­steady motion, and we must also thinkof the plan-view from above (see Fig. 3).

aided and abetted me on several occa­sions, to the' kind individW;lls who ma~n­

tained my recorQing stations, and to themany meteorologists and glider pilotswho have assisted me.

ReferencesC. E. Wallington, 1961: "Meteorology

for Glider Pilots." John M'urra,y, Lon­don.

J. K. Mac.kenzie" 1956: Sailplane andGliding, YoJ. 7 No. 6, (Dec), p. 294,"Sea Breeze Front at Lasham",

'S. P. Peters, I938:Prof. Notes, Met.Office, Vol. '6, No.86, "Sea Breezes atWorthy Down".

H. Koschmieder, 1936, 1941, 1942: Dan.ziger Met. Forsch. Heft 8, 10, 11, "Dan­ziger Seewind Studien, I-Ill".

of sea breeze ftmJl.D. E. Pedgley, 1958: M.O. Report No.

19. H.M.S.O. No. 621c, "Sea Breeze atIsmailia".

Dr. E. Eastwood and G. C. Rider, 1961;Nature, Yo!. 189, No.4679. 1'.978, "Aradar observation of the sea-breezefront",

1. Corbett, 1959: Sailplane & Glidirrg.Oct., 1'.268, "Out and return using thesea breeze".

R. E. Stevenson, 1961: Met. Mag., Yo!.90, p.l53, "Sea-breezes along the York,­shire Coast in 1959".

Fig. 3. Plan viewRidges directed into the gradient wind,but moving along lhe front, wou!d ex­plain some features of the bar clouds,and some rhythmic changes of abouthalf-an-hour period in dew point re,corded at Petersfield and Sclborne; alsothe effect seen in some anemogr:ams whenthe front is reaching the end of its run.

I must thank the Flounders Trust andthe Goldsmiths Company for their grantsand the Royal Meteorological Societyfor assistance in the porchase of film. Mythanks also go to Gordon Bookings who

381

"You did say just down the road?"uYes."

"Are you sure?""Yes, I think so;""You think so,"

"Gee, that sure was a tough one.""Here we go again.""A village at last and a signpost as

welL Which way?""Thataway.""What a bleak road. We must be on

the hills now. Pitch black. No moon.It's getting really interesting. Anybodywanna go home?"

"The house should be just down theroad."

"Surprise, surprise. Here's a house,Try here, John. You got us here-youenquire."

"Where on earth have you been,John?"

''Trying to get some sense out ofthem."

"Really! ""They said a long trailer has already

gone by and collected him.""Ohl""They also said the glider is just down

the road, first lane on the left, and wecan see it easily."

Son of Retrieve Nocturnal'by Alan Purnell

.SAILPLANE AND GLIDING. October 1958, p. 268.landed the Skylark at "Good, we're clear now."

"Be more careful next time.""Well, you should have warned me

earlier.""O.K. The next junction should have

a turn to the left.""Well, it seems to have a turn 10 the

right.""Anybody got any bright id~s?""This place has never h.eard of sign­

posts.""We'll keep straight on. Much better

road anyway.""Ah! Here's our turning.""We'll never get round there.""We'll have to try.""Left hand down a bit.""Stop!"

"Alan, Peter's'Thresholds'."

"Good oh! Where's 'Thresholds'?""Four miles from here near Leebot­

wood.""Not too far. How's the Club's trans­

port problem?""U IS, of cotirse!""Better take my car. We'lI need four

volunteers-you, you, you, and you.Right, let's get cracking. Onl)' an hoor'sdaylight left."

"All set? Did anyone check whetherthere's another Skylark in the trailer?"

"Do the lights work?""They do? Fantastic!""Cheerio chaps! Save us some

supper."

"Excuse me, can you tell us where'Thresholds' is, please?"

"'Thresholds'? Aah, yer goes on uprood 'ere, then shaarp left before yergets tQ the pub-before, mind yer- thenover 'ill and through Smethcott then .. ."

"Hey, wait a bit! How far is that?".. 'Bout five mile I'd say.""But that's further than when we

started. Can you show us on the map?""Go 'long 'ere, up 'ere and .. .""Say, look there's 'Thresholds' marked

all the time and in the middle of thosehills."

"Hope Peter's landed near a road.""Well, thank you for your help-let's

go.""You going to navigate, John?"uo.~"

''1'11 go wherever you say.""I should think so, too.""Fork coming up!""Right. Left.""Too late. I've gone right.""Left hand down a bit.""Right hand down a lot.""Stop!""OK. I'll start again,""Stop! You're going into the hedge.""Stop! Now you're going into the

ether hedge.""Why didn't I ever learn to reverse?"

382

"But it's pitch dark!""I know.""Oh!""Queer about the trailer."....yes.""Who could have sent it?""I dunno. There's no more at the

Club.""I reckon they were batty. Let's look

for the Skylark; the},r directions wereclear enough anyway.

"Well, here's the turning. No sign ofa wingtip against the sky. Search aroundthe nearest fields. Who's got a torch?"

"Torch?""Torch?""Torch?""Well, at least I've got one!"

"No use~nothing here. What to donow?"

"We'll have to telephone to see ifPeter's given them another message andalso to .enquire about that trailer. Queerabout that trailer."

"Yes.""Yes."

"The telephone should be just roundthe corner."

"Hey, I{)()k, isn't that Peter in theroad?"

"Hello, Peter. Where's the Skylark?""Back. there.""Oh no, more reversing. Do you

know anything aoout another trailerpicking you up?"

"No.""There you are, I told you they were

batty.""What's all this about another

trailer?'"

"Hop in. We'll tell you on the wayback."

"So the Skylark is at the end of thatlane, is it? Can we turn round downthere?"

UNo.·''''Oh! 1 suppose it's steep and boggy,

too?""Yes.""Oh!""Sounds as if we should have brought

the tractor.""Well, I'm not going down there with

my car until I've seen it myself. I'mwalking." -

"Let's all go."

"It's not too bad, considering there's,a sheer drop on one side and a water­filled ditch on the other. I reckon wecould turn the trailer round here, thenrun it up that slope then turn the l:arround there then move the trailer overthere then .. ."

"Sounds like an engine and truckss.hunting pwblem."

"I thought they were for armchairmathematicians only."

"Not this time they"re not.""I'll go and get the car. You lot can

take the Skylark to bits. And mind thosecowpats."

"Now turn the trailer.""Easy now-swing round gently.""We're stuck at the front.""We're stuck at the back, too.""Oh!""Try again further along.""Should be O.K. this time.""That's what you said last time!""At least we're more than half-way

round. How much room your side?""(lags of room.""Stop!""I thought you s.aid there was bags of

room.""There was if you had pivoted on the

other wheel.""How much clearance left?""None. We're in the ditch.""Anyone got any bright ideas?""Hurry up. I'm standing in a foot of

water.""Stop exaggerating. It's only six

inches.""We'll rock it from the back. You lot

383

stop it going over the cliff when it comesfree. O.K.?"

"It's all right for you.""No it's not. We're standing in a foot

of water." ."Heave. Heavens, it's not budging.""Shall we take the brake off?""Yes, you ...""And again. Heave. It's coming."uHeave.u

"And again. Heave. It's coming.""Heave. There we are. You chaps still

with us?""Yes-just.""We'll get round if we pivot on the

other wheel this time.""Good. I'll go and turn the car

round."

"I think we've forgotten something.""What?""We've. got to get the car past the

trailer.'""Ohl""Lucky we remembered before we put

the Skylark in."

"Everything securely packed? Right,

let's go."

"Not too far now.""Hairpin bend ahead,""What angle?""About one hundred and seventy-nine

and a half degrees.""Unhitch !""Coward!"

"Hitched again? Good.""Easy-slowly forward.""O.K.""Stop!""What's wrong now?""The trailer is leaning over at forty­

five degrees.""Oh! What's stopping it toppling

over?"uI am.""Oh!""Ease slpwly back.""It's clear of the bank now.""l;Iome, here we come.""What's the time? Eleven? Four

hours-not bad for a four-mile retrieve.What does the trip mileometer say?"

''Thirty.''

3M

Wot! No Trailer Design?by M. Wilson

AFTER a fully equipped sailplane, thenext most important sinile piece of

necessary equipment must be the trailer.Looking through several years of SAIL­PLANE & GLlQING one can find manyarticles on instruments, aircraft design,flying techniques and the like, bu~ whatdisappointment for those who Wish todesign their "dream" trailer! Only twoarticles are apparent: on the TrailerDesign Competition in December 1955and Nick Goodhart's Trailer BuildingNotes in December 1957. Why? Can itbe that trailer-building is such a "one­otr and individual business that it isnot considered important to impart infor­mation to the masses?

Whichever way one looks at it, a lotof trailers have been built in the lastseven years (the period under considera­tion). But how many have had the samedesign and workmanship put into theirconstruction that the rest of the equip­ment has? How many have had axlescome adrift, roofs leak and so little tor­sional rigidity that they were only stiffwhen the glider was put inside to holdthem together? A typical comment is,"Oh, well. we needed a trailer quicklyfor the Co·mps." Or, "We had some woodleft over from building the clubhouse".

No, the glider trailer is, with thepossible exception of the winch, the poorrelation of gliding impedimenta. This isa . terribly short-sighted policy. It isalmost as expensive to construct a poortrailer as a good one, and certainly moreexpensive in the long run. The trailer

v. G.For all types of aircraft

repairs and spares,estimates

83 Wickstead Avenue, tuton, Beds.

385

design competition requirements ofDecember 1955 still hold good, and sumup to a light, stiff and stable trailer.Some of the best designs of recent yearshave emerged from Dunstable, showinggood structural design (i.e. every pieceof wood working for a living and notjust going along for the ride), lightweight, extreme torsional stiffness andexcellent suspension.

Perhaps the answer is to have a Stand­anI Class for 8-metre trailers; but it mustbe worth any potential buildet"s time tolook at the two articles in SAILPLANE &GLIDING, and then inspect two or ,threereally good trailers (a list of approvedones can be sent under plain cover!).This might prevent a rush to the work­shop and the production of yet anotherhardboard-skinned, plank-floored, heavy­chassised, twisting horror!

Let's design trailers with an aero­pautical approach rather than an agri­cultural one.

INSTRUCTIONAL LECTURESAT mE KRONFELI)

In response to many requests a threemonths series of instructional lectureswill be held at the Club on Mondaysat 8 p.m. startin~ the 7th January, 1963.

The series which will include lecturessuitable for both ab-initio, soaring pilotsand pundits will open once again withtwo lectures by Derek Piggolt on "TheTheory and Technique of Soaring" andwill also include four talks on elemen­tary meteorology, two on advanced met­eorology and a series on navigation, andsuch other titles as glider maintenance,glider instrumentation and regulations.

The fees will be as follows: For anyfour lectures booked in advance:10s. Od. to members, £1 to Don-members.

Single lectures: 3s. 6d. to members5s. Od. to non-members.

Registration forms and further detailsare available from the KRONFELD CLUB,74 Eccleston Square, London, S.W.I. .

Y. C. B.

Itford Reunion: 1922-1962by A. E. Slater

TH~I?E participa~t.s in the first Britishglldmg cornpetwon spoke at the

Kronfeld Club on October 17th, fortyyears later, ·of the.ir recoHectioJ;1s: EricGordon England, whose soaring ex­perience went back to 1909; Rex Stocken,another competitor; and Geoffrey Dor­man, who reported the meeting for TheA.eroplane and helped me to locate someof the participants. Five others .intendedto come if they could. but were pre-

could not come on that day but hopesto pay a visit later. John Jeyes, who flewthe Aachen, was travelling and got myletter just too late, but ca.lled on me thefollowing Sunday and spent the day atthe London Gliding Club. Frank Court­ney wrote an amusing letter from LaJolla, California, wishing he could bepresent; So did Frank Entwistle, the offi­cial meteorologist, who was traced fromCossor's at Ramal(, Nova Scotia, to his

John Jeyes (centre) transporting his Aaehen mO/loplane on ils trolley at the ltfordmeeting; showing a stre.amlined "leg" on the left. (Photo Daily Mail.)

vented at the last moment for variousreasons: Hubert Broad, who flew a DeRavilland monoplane; Sir SydneyCamm, who designed Raynham's ma·chine; Clarence Winchester, Who entereda non-flying biplane; Paul Bewsher ofthe Doily Mail;. and John Yoxall whophotographed tile meeting for Flight.

Alec Gray, pilot of the "Brok.ker",

386

new job as Director of Oivil Defenceat Yarmouth, N,S, Both wanted to beremembered to their old friends. Ent­wistle reveals that he and Alec Grayorganized a gliding unit in the R.A.F. in1923.

Correspondence involved in trying tocollect all these people amQunted to 44outgoing and 33 incoming letters. There

previously given to the B.G.A.One of Geoffrey Dorman's stories

concerned Maneyrol's winning tandembiplane. -It looked so unairworthy thatthe officials were reluctant to let it fly;then someone suggested this might leadto war with France. So it was allowedto ~ake off in the hope that it wo-uld holdtogether-which it did for over threehours. .

were three failures to contact. HarryKnott entrant of a pedal-driven machine.who flew gliders over 30 years ago onthe present site of tbe Swansea GlidingClub was well known in the district bUIcould not be found. H. S. Dixon, en-.trant of an omithopter and later groundengineer to the London Club, had lefthis old firm of R. F. Dagnall for thePneumatic Tent Co., but they had notheard of him for six years. DonaldHerne of the warping wings was re­puted to be in America, but Courtneycould only remember that he had abrother, T. Elder Herne, who was aprofessional magician; so I contacted theMagic Circle, but they had ·no record ofHerne's brother on the:r books.

Of 'the five pilots who soared for overhalf-an-hour, four are no longer alive;Maneyrol died in 1923, 'Fokker in 1939,Raynham about seven years ago andOlley about five years ago.

Following are condensed accounts ofwhat the speakers said, and extractsfrom letters by two who could not bepresent.

E. C. GORDON ENGLAND

SINCE Eric Gordon England had. soared a glider 13 years before any

of the Itford competitors, he began hisremini6Cences with his first entry intoaviation at the age of 18, ushered in byan immense family conclave called t<>­gether by his maternal grandmother todissuade him from doing anything soabsurd. But when Grandma brought outher trump card: "If the 'Lord had in­tended you to ·fly, He would have fittedyou with wings", her grandson irreve­rently replied: "Grandma, if the Lordbad intended you to go by train, Hewould have fitted you with wheels".

The two were not on speaking termsGEOFFREY DORMAN for the next 18 months, but Gordon

"rHE idea of holding the Itford gliding England entered aviation through theJ. contest was born when Paul Brew· first British Aero Show which opened at

sher of the Daily Mail came to see Geof- Olympia in March, 1909. He tackledfrey Dorman at the editorial office of the various exhibitors for a job. HandleyThe Aeroplane (then in Piccadilly) to Page offered him one but said he hadtalk about ,the remarkable gliding feats no money to pay him; Howard Wrightin Germany. Dorman took him to see said the same. But 'Pemberton BillingC. G. Grey, the editor, and Grey sug- exclaimed: "That's the spirit-you've gotgested that -Bewsher should tackle Lord a job!" and offered him 25s. a week asRothermere, who had recently taken aerodrome manager. On the aerodromeover the paper from his brother Lord was Jose Weiss, having trouble with hisNorthcliffe. So Rotbermere was re- motor. So Gordon England made it workminded of how his brother had given and became Weiss's mechanic, as by that£1,000 for the first cross-Chanoel flight tlme Pemberton BitLng was finding thein 1909 and £10,000 for the first aero- 25s. a strain.piane flight from London to Manchester And this is how Gordon England camein 1911, and was persuaded to follow to make the first British soaring flight onin Northcliffe's footsteps and offer .£1,000 June 27th, 1909, on Weiss's first man­for the longest glider flight in Britain carrying glider called "Olive", at Hough­exceeding half-an-hour during a week's ton Hill, a few miles north of Arundel.competition. It had behaved well in short glides. so

The. Daily Mail kindly made a number they waited for a wind and then he wasof ~nnts from their old 1922 photos, launched from the hill top by a pushspeCially for showing at the Kronfeld from behind by Weiss. The glider wasClu~, and Geoffrey Dorman used these a crescent-shaped "flying wing" (seeto Illustra.te ~is own amusing accounts SAILPLANE AND GLIDIN<l for June, 1939,of . t.he hIghlIghts of the Itford com- p.) 72) with 15 deg. wash-out at thepelilion, 'together with slides he had tips; it had no lateral or longitudinal

387

control, odng very stable, but could besteered directionally by actuating twolittle drag flaps on the wings. Weiss toldhim to keep it straight, which he dId, firstgaining he:ght in the slope lift and thensinking slowly to 'earth, landing after aflight of 58 seconds.

"We were awfully pleased," GQrdonEngland told the Kronfeld Club, "but

need was the immediate establishment ,ofa school on Flr:e Beacon if the Move­ment was to be protected, sla.bilised andput on a firm foundation. One pleadedthis cause with all the kind vis:tors whocame to wish one well. How differentwould have been the history of glidingin this country if only at that enthusias­tic moment the steo had been taken,"

Eric Cordon England makes a trial flight at Itford on October 15/h. the day beforeIhe competition opens. (Ph% Daily Mail.)

we were more interested in power, sowe look it into the shed and Jose Weissdecided to put an engine in"'-ao An­zani.

Coming to the ltford contest of 1922,Gordon England said he built his gliderhimself and, apart from its being a con­ventional straight-wing machine with atail, modelled it as far as pessible onWeiss's "O!ive", with the same weightand other dimensions.

He made four competition flights atItford, as weil as preliminary trials, buton the last day he was blown back intothe curl.over, stalled and hit the groundat a steep angle. He tried to pull up hislegs, but one foot got stuck and took the[uH impact, and he was surprised to seehis shoe upside-down in front of him.At the hos)'lital in Eastbourne, the housesurgeon said the foot would have tocome off, but the visiting surg;eon, anex-Navy man, said he had onc,e removeda foot unnecessarily in a similar case,and he wasn't going to make the samemistake again, and 1he patient wouldsoon be playing tennis.

Writing in the 10th anniversary issuecf THE SAILPLANE AND GLIDER, Oct.14th, 1932, Gordon England said :- "Re.f1ecting in hospital subsequently, it wasclearly borne in my mind that the one

388

R. H. STOCKEN

W HEN Air Chief Marshal Sir Theo­dore McEvoy took up Rex Stocken

for a ride at this year's Championships,before the latter presemed tbe prizes, itwas not the first time they had met. Fortyyears earlier, Sir Thcodore had beenS-tocken's mechanic when preparing theglider for 'Hford; but the Air Ministrywould not give him leave to attend thecontest.

Before it started, Stocken went roundwith the meteorologist, Fran.k En1­wistle, letfng off met. balloons to locatethe best lift, which they found on aportion of Beddingham Hill facing N,N.­E. They entered these observations on asix-inch map, which Rex Stocken hasvery kindly presented to the KronfeldClub, along with a photo of RobertKronfcld in his Wien taken eight yearslater, probably on the same site.

On his first trial, Stockeo came to astop on the brink of tbe hill and rockedto and fro after a shaky launch, but hewas still more shaken on seeing an am­bulance brought up.

When at last ~e got a proper launch,all went well until there Was a crack andthe rudder bar snapped in half. But heglided on and on until he touched downat the bottom, whereupol'l all the piano

wires went "ping ping" and the lo":,sene.dwing slid forwards and blocked his ~Xltfrom the cockpi·t. But he c1ttncated hIm­self pulled the wing back int{) position,and' made the whole thing look intactagain, for fear some Royal. Aero Clubofficial should come to Inspect thewreckage and stop him flying it anymore. This flight earned him a distanceprize from <::oJ. Bristow. . .

The machlllc was repaired dunng thenight and was about 10 be launched intothe fierce wind next day when a RollsRoyce dro'o'e up and out camc a gor­geous creature exclaiming: "Rex, darling,how marvellous to see you again." Butbefore all was rcady Once more for alaunch, a sudden gust from one sideturned the glider right over on top ofthe lady.

F.T.COURTNEYThe fol/owing eXlracts are from aleller from Frank Cour/ney. an 1/­ford competitor, who writes from.California:-

FROM a technical standpoint I thinkthe most interesting feature is some­

thing most of us tJ:ied to fO'rget not longafterwards. At the time ,the meeting wasorganized, most or all of us seriouslybelieved that the Germans (whose glideractivities had been forced upon themby Peace Treaty conditions) had dis­covered some new and secret aero­dynamic principle which enabled themto keep their gliden; up as loog as theywere doing. In (act. I am sure the DailyMail prize was offered with a vague ideathat Britaill couid penetrate this secret.

To come 10 OUr own S.C:W. effort: itwas feeble enough but no more feeblethan most of the others. I forget howit came about that Maurice Wright andI got this deal started and joined upwith Bill Sayers to do the aerodynamicand structural design. It was originallyknown as the C.W.S. glider; but afterthe twenty-third idiot had asked uswhat the Co-operative Wholesale Societyhad to do with it, we switched the ini­tials: Bill, quite soundly, plumped for acantilever wing, but we didn"t knowenough then about torsional stiffness.Y(hen Maurice and I tried it out, theaIlerons were simply acting as tabs whichwarped the wing, and we got reverse

The Cross/ell Audiowas used with considerable

success by several competitorsin the

1962 National Championships.

This audio presentation of thefast indications of the

Cross/ell Variometergreatly facilitates soaring

especially in weak and difficultconditions.

*Crossfen Variomaters.Vam_ra.10 Borrowdafa Road.Malvern.Worc_tershire

lateral control. Sayen; worked his slide­rule until it practically melted, but wehad to faH back on external struts. Bythe time we got them fitted the show wasover. After the competition Wright andI kept the ~hing at Itford (with muchfarmer trouble) in an old canvas hangar,for further experiment. One breezymorning we went from London to It­ford for some flying; ,the hangar hadblown down on the glider, which wasbeyond repair.

A notabie feature of the meeting wasthe arrival of the Great Tony Fokker. Ialways enjoyed trying to come as nearto being rude to him as he was to every­one else. One evening, at ·the bar, 1 toldhim that he owed me a drink becausethis was October 21st, the seventh an­niversary of the day that Immel!"'1~nnshot me down with Fokker's lousy lmlta­tion of a Morane which he called theE.2. Fokker (who di,dn't drin~ himself)gave a loud and long explanatIOn of thefact that he was not personally respon­sible for what Immelmann did, andseemed slightly afraid that I w~s goingto sue him. I had a lot to do wllh Tony

389

in New York in later years, and 1 triedthis on him a couple of times more-Inever did get my drink.

As we all know, the victory of Maney­rol over Gray and the Brokker wassimply due 10 a good breeze and thefact that the Peyret went up first. ButTony tried to spread a subtle impres­sion that the German "secret" was em­bedded in the ancient Fokker wing.

PAUL BEWSBERThe following account of a {light of

7 mitl. 3 5ec. itl Antony Fokker's two­sell/er, on fhe first day of the Itford con­fe.ft, has been sent by Paul Bewsher oftire "Daily Mail," who thus became thefirst passenger to be carried ifI a gliderin Britain:-

I HAVE the most vivid recollectionof my flight as a passenger in Fok­

ker's glider. I sat on a very narrow stnpof wood and held on to two woodenstruts on either side. Fokker, a round­faced genial Dutchman, sat slightly be­low me, with his head agilinst my chest.

Fokker was a superb pilot, and also avery humorous one. He was talking most

of the time as we soared and swoopedjust beyona the crest with the wires ofthe glider whistling loudly.

The conversation went something I'kethis:

Fokker: "Vind! Vind! Good! Vind!Up! Up!"

(A pause)Fokker. "No vind! No vind! Down!

We go down! No vind!"(A pause)Fokker (excitedly):-"Vind! Good! Up

Up! We go up! Good! ..."And then, alas, there came the final

"No vind" and we got definitely out ofthe up-currents, and we glided rightdown to the bottom of the hill where.with superb "hands', Fokker actuallybrought the fl:lseJage through an opengate as he landed--very gently ...

P.S. There is a legend that a photo ofmyself being launched with Fokkershows me looking terrified!

EDiTORIAL NOTE.-The table shows theofficially timed flights (described inOctober) but omits test hops and Fok­ker's evening glides on the 20th.

TIMED FLIGHTS AT ITFORD - OCTOBER, 1!)2%

Mon. 16 Tues. 17 Wed. 18 Fri. 20 Sat. 21 TotalPilot & Glider h.m.s. h.m.s. h.m.s. h.m.s. h.m.s. h.m.s.

A. Maneyrol (Peyret) - - - - 3.21. 7 3.21. 7F. P. Raynham

(Handasyde) - U8 - 3.1 S - - -. 8.30-.11.23 U3.2 -.I 1.54 2.30. 2

G. P. Ofley (Fokker) - - - -. 3.21 -.49. --.38.47 1.31.8

A. 'Gray ("Brokker") - - - - I. O. 4 1. O. 4A. H. G. Fokker (Fokker) -. 7. 3

-.37. 6 - - - - -.44. 9E. C. Gordon England

(Own) -. 4.32 -. 2. 7 - 131 - -. -.52 - 9. 2J. T. Jeyes (Aacben) -. 3. I - -. 2.47 - - - 5.48R. H. Stocken (Airdisco) - - - -. 3.18 - - 3.18E. D. C. Herne

(De Havilland) - 2.38 - - - - -.2.38H. S. Broad

(De Havillaod) - 2.18 - - - - -.2.18

Total per day 1. 9.59 1.58.24\

-. 4.18 I -. 6.39 6.10.14 9.29.34

390

TWITCH?AN INDEPENDENT SURVEY OF GLIDERS ON TODAY'S MARKET

(Definitely not appNJvl!d by the Flying Committee or anyone else)

by Mike BirdCourtesy LoruJon Gliding Club Gazette

M U<;;H i~l-informed talk has b~enCircUlatIng about the very high

accident rate in 1961, the work, it issaid, of careless and irresponsible pilots.We of TWITcH? resent this imputa­tion. It is not yet realized that mOst ofthis widely-publicised prangery has beena planned progtamme of testing carriedout by the secret TWITCH? te.st group.Without regard for personal safety orrepair biUs these devoted and fearlesspilots have been compiling reports onthe stalling, spinning, bouncing, bend­ing, breaking and repairing character­istics of every type of glider in Britaintoday.

Most official glider-testing is ofthe namby-pamby, stalls-at-S,OOO-feetvariety. .. What use is. this ", one mayask, .. when compared with t!le true-to­life conditions under which TWITCH?test-pilots operate - whenever theycan get off the two-seater!" How true;TWITCH? pilots simulate the averagepilot's stupidity with immense skill, sothat you can hardly tell one from theother. A TWITCH? pilot's briefing wnsroughly as follows:

10.30: RIGGING - Trailer doorsdeliberately left open all week; air­craft's resistance to rain, rats, etc., notedcarefully. Attempts at rigging in smallspaoe with one helper too few. Omitspip-pin/locking-wire/safi:ty pin accord­ing to taste. Pulls glider behind car tolaunch point on short wire rope withnobody &t nose of glider.

11.00: READY (?) TO LAUNCH ­Spends 15 minutes talking to pret,tygirl/ 10 sec-onds .getting into glider andeocKpit-checking as cable arrives.

I US ; LAUNCH - Spinning on thecable takes skill but is not beyond thepowers. of ·our team; having the brakesOpeDIS a great help. Remember tomake up your mind firmly before takingoff that in the event of a cable-bre<lkyou will invariably attempt a circuit.

11.1.5: GENERAL FLYING - The scopefor mgenuity is wJde open here..

TWITCH? pilots have a saying: .. Firstto give way is chicken". On no accountuse new batteries for cloud-flying. Thosereliable old ones have served you wellenough for the last five years, haven'tthey? -

13.00 ; ApPROACIJ AND LANDING ­Why use brakes on the approach whenthe rate of sink at stalling-speed is justas good? Now for a really snappylast turn boot the rudder bard and keepthe wings level, that's what the aileronsare for.

TWITCH? pilots who survive thisfar are all set for a landing that willbring the others all running out of thebar. You may:

(a) Round out at plus ten feet;(b) Round out at minus ten ~eet;Cc) Catch the wing on a fence, a

parked glider, a cat, the C.F.l. orthe ground itself.

If possible, walk away from the gliderafter landing. Left to itself it. will, wjthluck, blow over on its back.

First glider TWITCH? tested was theGenTIan Fohnschleppa, an all-iror\' two­seater. Mischa Byrdbrayrte (specialist inheavy landings) reports: .. The problemof repairing iron gliders had been muchdebated when we smuggled the Fohn­schlepper into Britain in the gUise ofVo!kswagen spares. We s~w that it wasour duty to put these theories to thetest. Landings in category (a), (b) and(c) were carried O\)t with the sameobserver aboard to take no-tes. He wasconspicuo1Js by his refusal to sit do,wnat all for two weeks after each test. 'Thelarge rubber h.ammer and amateurwelder's kit given away with each modelproved to be value for Deotschmar~;the glider recovered in rather less timethan the pilots",

Then followed the Strogonov 6 fromPuritania. Veteran bender Alfred Crumpreports: "We soon sorted out whicbknob was wbich on this superficiallysmart and modem machine before wewere half-way through the aero-tow,

391

including the undercarriage retractionwhich was tested early in the take-offrun and proved somewhat noisy inoperation. On releasing we dispensedwith the illegible dago handling notesand went into a few inverted flickmanoeuvres and terminal velocity divesat 180 k.p·.h. (or was it knots ?).This treatment, which is meted outimpartially to British and foreign glidersalike, soon brings out any signs ofshoddy workmanship that might other­wise lie hidden beneath the surface ply.

"An unpleasant vicious streak in thismachine revealed itself when hardrudder was applied to speed up therather sluggish last turn. The wingdropped and the machine needed all of50 feet to recover. Sad to say, themanoeuvre began at 40 ft. Naturally theremains could not be given a C. of A.,and they were posted back to Auto­Export Inc. with the laconic telegram:'Tough !' Being foreigners, they seemnot to have taken this in very goodpart ".

A sounder proposition altogether isthe British Buglark 5 (Ellingsby Cor­poration, 20 metres, £2,000).

EJII-A..A.F. modernuHr.-ligh,wei.gh'lype",ade of e)(lremel'yh.,dwu,tng liOhtblue, w8snabl.,f.bric.Soft I•••h., e.rpadJcont.in Iow-impe­dance 54tal.d dyna",ic••rpieces, .nd .-ch~d is retained bypress studs 10 providesimple removal (orhelmet du.ing. far""Jliece-s are ccnnectedby ubi. loom wirhItandard R.A.F. lypemicrophone sockot."dNATO j.ck plug.

LIGHTWEIGHTrl.YINGHELMETS

Helmet only 12'6(.,padsand phones 12'6.Loom aDdNAro ptug 7'6Add 1/6 post.,. and pecking on Single it.m ~nd

2/6 10' .H ,h,..

PROOPSPROS. LTD.52 TOTTENHAM CQURT ROAD, LONDON, W.l

LAN 01'1

Neddy Nurgewater (veteran of fivesolos, five prangs) reports: .. The pro­gressive policy at Crasham field allowedme the privilege of taking up this com­pletely untried design on my first solo,making an exciting day both for me andMr. Ellingsby. The small size ofCrasham aerodrome and the generousairbrakes were to blame for a slightundershoot on my first circuit; how­ever, I am glad to say that, due to theteak construction throughout, the Bug­lark 5 took the downwind boundaryhedge in its stride. I made up for thiserror by overshooting on the secondcircuit. Again, Buglark 5 made shortwork of our flimsy hangar doors, suffer­ing a few scratches.

"Rigging the Buglark 5 soon sortsout the men from the boys ~ it takesten of both. The controls demand rathermore effort than flying the Southamptonman-power,cd project. Altogether I wasvery grateful for the free set of CharlesAtlas ex:ercises that came with the hand­ling and rigging instructions ".

Finally we examined the Fletcherette(or Super Priifling), 10 metres span, £50f.o.b. Hong Kong. The only memberto have six crashes while still on thetwo-seater, Myrtle Ken-Ash, reports:.. I was all of a flutter when they saidthey saw no reason why I should stayon the two-pew any longer. Solo at last!Strangely, the instructor didn't send meoff on a dub machine but said that Mr.Fl-tch-r, who was on holiday, would notmind the teeniest bit if I had a littleflip in his Super PrUfling.

"Wetl, I took a nice high launch nnddid my circuit just like on the two­seater, but I seemed to be no nearer theground and so I did another circuit;it was awfully bumpy - and another,and so on round and round andround ... It was a very hot sun, so Idecided to toddle along in the shade ofa bit of cloud which seemed to stretcha long, long way. This went on for agesand I got bored as anything - it beingtea-time by now and me being a grow­ing girl and that, so I crossed the <:Qn­trois and slithered down on a niceflat bit of field not a bit like rough oldDunners. Then a man came up andsaid, . Have a stick of Plymouth Rock,deary '. Well!"

TWITCH? says: Best buy, Fletcher­et/e.

392

VASAMAFinnish Standard Class Sailplane

THE original prototpyc of the Vasama(type PLK 16b) had a ..v·' tail. but

this has been changed to a more con­ventional type. Four samples have nowbeen built by the Finnish AeronauticalAssociation at Jiimi Flying Sehoe!.

The wing is of laminar-f1ow rype, witha maximum thickness of 14% and awooden main spar situated at about 36~{,

chord. The preduction version has fabricaft of the main spar, shortened air­brakes of Foka type, and a leading edgeof sandwich construction. Ultimate loadfactors are +7 and -4. Principal data:

Span, 15 m. (49 ft. 2-} in.).Aspect ratio, 19.2.Weight empty, 185 kg. (408 lb.).Max. load. 110 kg. (243 lb.).Wing loading, 25 kg./ sq. m (5.1 Ib./

sq. ft.).Glide ratio, 34.5 at 85 km./ll. (52.8

m.p.h.).Min. sink, 0.6 m. (I ft. I Ii- in.) per sec.

. at 73 km./h. (45.4 m.f1.h.).S!nk 1.0 m./sec. at 11.1 km./b.Smk 2.0 m./sec. at 14.6 km./h.

NORDIC CHAMPIONSHIPS"rHE first Nordic Gliding Champion­.L ships were held at Vesivehmaa air­

field, 20 km. N. of Lahti in SouthernFinland. from 15th to 2'4th June. Com­petitors' were Ib Braes (Denmark), LarsFredriksson, Gate Olsscn and StureRodling (Sweden, and Juhani Hormaand Matias Wiitanen (Finland). flyingtwo Ka-6, two Zugvcgel IV and twoKajava.

Bad weather allowed only five com­petition days. and the tasks given were2 x 108-km. triangle, 236 km. out-and­return. 150 km. out'and-return, 107 km.goal flight and a 60 km. triangle. Finalresult,: J. Horma, 4,067 (Nordic Cham­pion); Ib Braes. 3,457; M. Wiitanen.3.289; S. Rodling, 3,150; L. Fredriksson,2,516: G. Olsson. 2,31 I.

The Finnish team competition. heldsimultaneously. with 20 participants, waswon by the Hyvinkaa Flying Club.

The total distance flown during thecompetition was about 8,000 km. (5,000miles) in about 350 flying hours.

393

Improving Thermal Soaring Flight Techniquesb'y Paul B, MacCready

President, Meteorology Research, Inc., Altadena, California.

This paper first appeared in the OS.T.1.V. Section of the Swiss "Aero Review", andis reproduced here in response to many requests. The author was World Gliding

Champion in 1956, and has been Unl'ted States Champion three times.

L OCATING and utilising thermals are. obviously vital factors in efficient

soaring, and yet it seems that rather littleattention is being paid to the subject.When one considers the tremendous in­vestment in time and money throughol,ltthe world dev,oted to improving thebreed of sailplanes it does seem odd thatmuch greater effective performance bene­fits obtainable through improving flighttechniques are neglected. Perhaps it isreally not surprising. for aerodynamicsand structures constitute scientific fieldsin which accurate calculations can bemade, while the subject of "thermals" isa vague thing based at present ,on incom­plete physical understanding and is afield in which accurate equatiolls cannotapply to a specific case.

Finding and using thermals in anefficient manner can be thought of asinvolving a system approach based on(1) knowledge of the characteristics ofthermals, (2) developments in instrumen­tation, and (3) intelligent use of theknowledge and equipment. This articleinvestigates these factors in hppes thatit may help stimulate some enthusias.tsto help develop this field in a logicalfashion. Various of these techniques caneasily and inexpensively be utilised by,and imprQved by, the average sailplanepilot.

Thermal FactorsGENERAL-In brief. thermals can be

considered simply as rising volumes ofair which carry aloft some air from nearthe ground while mixing somewhat withthe environment. Thus a thermal hasvalue to a sailplane because irt representsa vertical velocity; for locating, and usingit, one can consider this vertical velocity,the factors causing it, plUs other charac­teristics of air flow and symptoms of .itsorigin near the ground. All these itemsmust be considered in their relation to

the surrounding env~ronment and in theirvariations in the thermal throughouttime and space. Obviously there are toomany variables and interrelationships topermit detailed investigations, but somemain features stand out.

Many of the points to consider stemfrom the fact tbat the initial roots of thethermal core are near the ground wherethe source of heat lies. There the ther­mal acquires eharacteristics associatedwith the ground air-higher temperatures,and more water vapour, space chargedust, turbulence, etc. Later on andhigher up, that air parcel, althoughgetting somewhat mixed with the en­vironment, will be distinguishable fromthe environment because the envin1)n­ment does not have those items in thesame concentrations.

BUOYANCY FACTo~s-TemperatureandWater Vapour

(a) The buoyancy which powers thethermal depends, both on the temperatureand water vapour content. at all ·eleva­tions~ tberefore measurements of tem­perature plus measurements or assump­tions about water vapour can giveinformation .on buoyancy and on thefuture actions of the thermal.

(b} Near the ground the temperatureexcess is large, and the water vapourexcess generally small. High up in thethermal, the water vapoUr excess oftenbecomes large relative to the drier airoutside the thermal, and the temperatureexcess may be small (or even reversed).These characteristics have direct bearingon the use of thermal detector deVices.

(c) The air temperature in the rootlayer is closely related to ground tem­peratures-so predictions of ground tem­perature as it varies with ground cover,cloud shadow and topography and actualmeasurements of ground temperaturewill aid thermal seeking.

394

LocatiD2 Thermals fmm 11 Di$taneeAscertaining the definitive existence of

an upcurrent while still a distance away

thermals by good source regions, andbecause of the tendency for upcurrentsto line up along the wind when there isa pronounced wind shear, it is oftenbest to hunt for thermals straight upwindor downwind from where you arealready using one..

FOI'e'Clll~ing with MeltsQl'emelJ&$Since the primary .cause of thermals

is the heating of air as it blows ·overthe ground, exact knowledge of the SUr­face temperature will help immeasurablyin the locating of thermals, The tem­perature depends on the past history ofradiat'ion at that point, reflectivity,evaporation, heat conductivity, spel;jficheat, and surface structure-so trying toguess at the temperature variatiqns isusually impractical. However, the recentd-evelopments in infra-red radiationequipment imply that a radiometer maybe worth considering. Portable equip­ment is available to measure temperature'remotely, but at present costs more thana sailplane. Using wavelengths in whichthe radCiation from the air itself causesno prOblem, the instrument reads essen­tially temperature of the ground (orcloud) at which it points (say with a 2 0

beamwidth). For sailplane use, relativetemperatures are adequate, which cangreatly simplify the appara.tus. Theinstrument would be pointed ahead anddown; it could be pr('lgrammed to sweet'laterally or longitudinally, or could berigid in the sailplane and the sailplanemanO(:uvred as required.

With absolute accuracy, and with prierknowledge" of the temperature lapse rateof the air mass, the ground temperatureunit tan even show whether or not anythermals would be expected over abmad region. Relative measurementswould per-mit determining the most likelylocal sQurce region.

The subject of infra-red measurementsis reviewed in the Proceedings of theI.R.E., September, 1959. Reference 5describes a portable instrument andvariQus manufacturers such as BarnesEngineering, Servo Corp. of America,and WiIliamson Development Co., havedevelopments along this line.

FLOW FACTORS - Vertical Velocity;Lateral Velocity; Turbulence

(a) Vertical velocity constitutes thepayoff for the glider pilot and so is themost important thermal factor and war­rants the best possible instrumentation.

(b) Lateral velocity of inflow can helplocate the thermal, especially the inflowin the root region. Knowledge of rota­tional velocity and lateral velocity withinthe thermal may assist the pilot in find­ing the optimum spiral.

(c) Near the ground there is a lot ofenergy in small-size turbulent eddies, sothis turbulence could be d!;emed a ther~

mal symptom. The situation is com­plicated because this initiaJ turbulencedecays and simultaneously t~rbulence

develops from the thermal motions. Tur­bulence therefore may be of little valuefor locating thertnals, but the' way itaffects other factors should be under­stood.

ROOT SYMPTOM FACTORS-Dust; ForeignBodies; Smells; Ions and Space Charge;Conductivity; Condensation Nuclei

(a) Since the source. of many vapours<Ind particles is at the ground, the ther­mal Core can contain higher concentra­.tions of these items than does theenvironmental air.

(b) Space charge can be detected froma distance; the other items are on.lymeasured at the sensor.

(c) Space charge, conductivity, nuclei,and chemical constituents can vary intime due to other factors than dilutionwith environmental air, which corn­"Hcates their use as "identifiers".

ForeC3$tiolll without Measuremea&$. Consideration of topography, wind

~Ireetion, stability and the whole synop­tIC weather situation and forecast ·cangive dues as to the specific areas wherethermals. are most likely. This subject,wh~ch IS beyond the scope of this~rtlcle.. is touched on in ma.ny articlesID sailplane publications, for exampleReferences I, 2, 3 and 4. In general. innon:flat land the high elevations provideear!ler and higher thermals. Good sourcereglon~ tend to produce upcurrentsregularly-so a good spot to try is onewhere clouds have shown thermalsearlier or experience has shown ther­mals on similar previous days.

Because of the regular pr.oduction of

395

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396

from it requires a measurement based a thermal may have a charge in it. ofon radiant energy field of some type. between 1 and 1,000 elementary chargesPassive measurements would be (I) per cubic centimetre. By conductivityvisible light; the appearance of a cloud about half of the charge wiJI leak awayafter it has fanned, or optical effects in 20 minutes near sea level (in just aassociated with the nuclei or contamin- few minutes at 3.000 metres), so theants in the rising air, (2) radiation in the charges from "old" thermals slowly dis­infra-red spectrum, from air which has appear and only new thermals area different temperature, water vapour, charged. Theoretically, at least, thiscarbon dioxide, or ozone content, (3) charge should be detectable from a dis­acoustic radiation, or (4) the electrostatic tance by measuring the electrostaticfield due to electric charge in the ther- field from tbe sailplane. Such potentialmal. A non-passive measurement would gradient equipment has been developedbe by radar where the energy source is for aeroplanes (see, for example, Refer­at the sailplane-the echo would come ences 6, 7 and 8), and in Reference 9from the radio refractive index fluctua- application to soaring is suggested. Thetions due to turbulent mixing in the apparatus can be light and relativelypresence of a gradient af water vapour. simple. Two standard techniques areThe radar and infra-red techniques may available. In one the air voltage (relativeoffer real pTomise, but are beyond the to the aircraft) at a probe is measured:scope of the average sailplane enthusiast the probe is "coupled" to the air via ato pursue and so will not be consideTed radioactive tip which males the airhere. Infra-red equipment for finding within a few inches of it highly con­ground temperatures is more simple and ducting, and this coupling lowers thepractical. Acoustic methods do not probe-t,o-air resistance enough soappear operationally frui.tful. .ordinary electrometers and insulations

The visual use of 'Cumulus clouds as can be employed. In tbe other thethermal indicators is the main thermal gradient at the surface of an objec.t (saylocating technique. The cloud simply the wing or fuselage) is detected bymarks the top of a thermal. The detailed cyclically covering and uncovering aappearance of the doud gives clues as conductor and noting the bound chargeto the upcurrent characteristics; large that enteTs and leaves it. In either case,sile, firm edges, and a dark, well-defined two sensors must be adjusted andbase usually mean a strong thermal. The located so that the potential gradientmost accurate way of getting theTmal caused by charges on the sailplaneinformation from cloud a'ppearance is to affects each probe equally and so iswatch the shape and size change over a automatically cancelled when the probeperiod of a few minutes. voltage differences are measured.

When no cloud is visible, there may There is a vertieal fair-weather fieldstill be other things which show visually of about .} to I volt per centimetre andthat a thermal is present. Sometimes con- the instrumentation must not be con­densation nuclei will become visible in fused by this field. In thunderstonns thean Ualmcst cloud", when a true cloud charges in clouds can give gradients out­does not quite form but the air does side clouds of many hundreds of voltsshow a fog-like character. Soaring birds per centimetre but during such con­or other sailplanes can mark a thermal. ditions the cloud appearance tells evenDust and foreign objects swept up from more than electrical measurementsthe ground can also make it Visible. A would. In ordinary conditions, a recorn­dust devil is an extreme example. Cer- mended method would be to measuretam shades of dark glasses or polaroid the gradient along the direction of theglasses can apparently make "dusty" line of flight, for tbis line stays dosethermals more readily observable (and to horizontal (say olile radioactive probedistant cumulus clouds, too). at the nose, one at the tail). Then if

Even in fair weather there tends to the sailplane is flown i~ a direct!on ma~­~ a weak, net positive charge in the ing the observed gradient maXimum, Itair near the ground, residing on ions should be heading towards (or awaycolJected on condensation nuclei. Thus from) the charged thermal.

397

Figuring out a Thel'lQal from M'easurl- be a recorder which plots a continuousments of Vertical Velocity trace of the variometer reading, within

Every soaring pilot ,has wished he easy view of the ,pilot, with about 100\;ould fly into or through a thermal and seconds of the record visible at onethen know immediately just where to time. With judicious use of a pilot­manoeuvre in it to get the ma(timum operated event marker 011 the recoroerclimb and know whether it will be to show the sailplane is entering a cloudgetting stronger or weaker. Measure- or on the north edge of a sJ)iral. thisments from the sailplane, cQupled with recorder can greatly assist the pilot inintelligent interpretation, can go a sur- determining the thermal structure with­prisingly long way toward providing the out lost motion. Even without a recorderinformation. it is not difficult to remember the read-

The definitiQn of a thermal-and its ings at the four cardinal points duringuse to the soating pjJot-is its vertical circling flight, so as to estimate thevelocity. Therefore, vertical velocity is direction to the thermal centre.worth measuring well, and the state of There is a large variety of usefulthe art permits this. precision manoeuvres which the pilot

The vertical velocity of the air, ratller can compute and prattise in calm con­than the sailplane, is what the pilot ditions. Most would involve tightreally wants. A standard rate-of-climb precision turns, at fairly low veIocity, atindicator shows the vertical motion of bank angles of 30-45·, for strong, sharpthe plane. The indication is corrected thermals-and even a wing-over orfor airspeed changes by a "total energy" Immelmann may be optimum for a fastventuri or diaphragm unit, and can be efficient direction change. For large ther­corrected by drag loss (ordinary sink) mals more intricate probings would beby a throttled pitot. The basic subject appropriate. For example, with an 18­is reviewed in Reference 10 jlod the new second turning rate, and a turning radiustotal energy device is discussed in Refer- R of about 65 metres (:;t 30-45'· bank),ence 11. Reference 12 shows how to a 270' turn to the left then a 90' turnimprove the total energy unit still more to the right brings you ,back along theby filtering out the effects, of the longi- original flight Jine about 18 secondstudinal turbulence on the "total energy" after you start the ma,l'Ioeuvre, meetingcorrection. References 13 and 14 offer the original line a distance R back. Forfurther pertinent information. To sum- setting up a paraUel reverse course, amarise the situation now, excellent variQ- 1'80' turn, in 9 seconds., establishes ameters are available, and with special reverse COurse 2R djstant from thecorrection techniques they can give original course. If. your bank anglesatisfactorily fast amd accurate readings changes, say from 4S to 30', the turnof vertical air vel0city under any typical radius changes by over 50%, soflight condition. The electric variQmeters precision manoeuvres must be cacefullyare especially fast acting, such as the done. Gyro instruments are helpful. TheCrossfell unit (see Reference 15), any total flight patterns you select willof which can be obtained with a total depend on what tile variometer andenergy diaphragm corrector. other instruments are sho,wing you. In

The biggest' single improvement in most cases you will want a straight passthermal ~oaring performance can come through the thermal so as to learn asfrom optimising the use of tbe 'vario- much about it as possible-but this ismeter. This means manoeu.vring the only best if you interpret and utilise thesailplane jointly to get the maximum information properIy. Sharp turns. arevertical motion and the maximum infor- most efficiently done at slow speeds~mation about the thermal. The ,average Another aid for visualising exactlypilot does not know how to get back what is in a thermal is to mark it asto a particul~rly good spot in a thermal you fly through. You can release paper,through which he has just traversed. balloons, bubbles, or smoke,' TheThis, requires a good memory of the bubbles and smoke ,can be released con­variometel' fecord and experience in tinuously by small special gadgets. Theprecision manoeuvres. To obtain. a good bubbles may be the best method becausememory. a logical tool to utilise might each bubble remains for a minute or

398

two as a discrete entity, while smokecan quickly diffuse .u.ntil it is in~isible.To help preserve VISible smoke, It canbe released along the outer trailing edgeof the wing where it is rolled up intothe tip vortex and protected from diffus­ing until the tip vortices interact andbreak up.Thermal Growth Measurements

If tbe air within a thermal is muchwanner than the surrounding air at thesame level, the thermal has buoyancyand will be accelerating, becoming betterand better for the soaring pilot. Becausewater vapour is lighter than air, if thethermal has significantly higher humiditythan the surrounding air at that level itwill have buoyancy just as though itwere warmer, and thus be accelerating(a thermal is more humid than theenvironment, and more so the higher itgets, reaching 100% at cloud base), Thedrag of the surrounding air slOWS doW])the upward acceleration, so the measure­ment of buoyancy is not a perfect pre­dictor; also all the environment andthermal characteristics should be con­sidered as they vary ·in height (perhapsin one minute the buoyant bubble willrise to an environment where it is nolonger buoyant). Many of these factorsare as yet the subject of considerablecontroversy in convection theory, butfrom the' standpoint of the sailplanepilot one can summarise: a thermal witha good buoyancy is likely to stay asstrong or get stronger in the next minuteor two, while a thermal with littlebuoyancy or even negative buoyancy islikely to weaken.

To summarise the acceleration due tobuoyancy (neglecting drag, which hasan unknown effect at the centre of athermal): .

[Ti- To1Acceleration;o g -r::- +0.6 (Wj-wo)

wh~re g is the acceleration of gravity,T ~s absolute temperature, W is the massratio of water vapour to air and thesubscripts Hj" and "0" refer to insideand outside the thermal respectively. Ina typical case. I°C_ of temperatureexcess will cause an upward accelerationof about 100 metres per minute velocitychange in one minute, and near cloud­base the water-vapour buoyancy effect

may be about as big.Measuring the buoyancy terms

requires measuring Tj, To, Wj and wo'all at the same height. One can getuseful information by measuring onlyTj and To because one knows that themoisture buoyancy tcrm is alwayspositive; the humidity inside the thermalis always greater than outside, and themaximum amount can be predicted as afunction of height reasonably well fromprevious knowledge of air mass charac­teristics and thermal. theory. In tem­perature measurements, dynamic heatingof the probe should be corrected bymeans of a vortex housing. The bigproblem in measuring Tj vs To is thatyour height changes as you traverse athermal, and so you encounter tem­perature changes due to the temperaturegradient from adiabatic heating of theatmosphere. What you want is a "poten­tial temperature" thermometer, one cor­rected for altitude by subtracting about1°C. per lOO metres. One approximateway to provide this is to have .a tem­perature difference sensor measuring thedifference between outside air and aircontained in an expandable balloon orenvelope. As you ascend or descend theballoon air expands or contracts andcools or heats adiabatically, providinga compensated reference temperature.Because of conductivity heating at theballoon walls, an error will slowlyappear, so with this system one wouldadjust for zero diffierence just whenentering a thermal, and the readingswould be valid for perhaps a minute orso later. It is possible that the aircapacity for the variometer would sufficeas the balloon, "breathing" rather thanexpanding, but its small size might makeconductivity effects too great. Alter­natively, an altitude correction can bemade electronically (with some ·com­plexity) with the altimeter.

Turn Direction InformatiOnIf the centre of a thermal is warmer

than the surroundings, then logically onecould measure the temperature differencebetween the wing tips and so determinewhich way to turn to head toward thecentre. Many people have constructed"thermal sniffers", but definite accountsof their suc<:essful .application are hardto find (see References 16, 17, 18 and

399

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400

could give thermal orientation clues.The difference in vertical velocity

between the wing tips also obviouslywill show the direction of the thermalcentre (with some "noisc" signal, how­ever). Accurate measurement of thevelocity gradient in a sailplane is diffi­cult, although in extreme cases a stronglifting of one wing shows the pilot whichway to turn. It seems likely that aninstrument indicating this variable quali­tatively could he developed, at least foruse in straight flight.

19). The previous discussion of buoyancypoints out one problem-a thermal ~anbe buoyant due t? ':Vater vapour wIth­out being warmer inside. When the ther­mal is warmer, it may be so by only anaverage of say -t°C. in 1,000 metres-asmall amount to measure-and yet ~an­

dom turbulent temperature fluctuationsexceeding this amount can be present as"noise" on the instrument. Thus follow­ing the "thermal sniffer" would have aweak tendency to direct you properly.but with many false instructions in­cluded. Finally, when you bank towardan imagined .centre, the lower wing goes Optimizing Flight Man(2uvresinto warmer air~since the vertical tem- Some of the factors in manoeuvringperature gradient is generally an. order in tbermals have already been discussed.of magnitude greater than the honzontal For improving your knowledge of a par­temperature gradient, making the pilot ticular thermal, precision manoeuvresobserve a false favourable indication. are a must. The optimum manoeuvresReference 20 discusses recent develop' in probing and utilising the thermal mayments with a "thermal sniffer". be rather complicated to compute, as

There are improvements in tip telT!- the factors of instrumental performance,perature sensors to overcome some of turn radius, turn time, sailplane perform­these problems, but t.he value of even ance and control, and drag energy loss,an ultimate unit is sull a questIOn. To should all be considered with respect toeliminate tip speed dynamic heating meteorological factors.effect and tip elev.ation differences, In tbe case of true dynamic soaringTemple developed a trial syste~ wbere (getting energy from horizontal orat each tip the temperature difference vertical gusts) performance gains arebetween the present time and one second conceptually feasible but actuaIly Dotearlier is measured. practical. The subject is thoroughly

Other gradients than temperature may covered in Klemperer's classic paper,be more meaningful. Consider water Reference 21.vapour content. It may vary by 500 per Por determining the best speed forcent across a thermal, While temperature flight between thermals, tbe use of anvaries only by a fraction of a per cent. optimum speed selector is now stand­Near the top of a good "dry" thermal ard. It is based on tbe downcurrentthe moisture in the 'surrounding air may strength, the sailplane performancebe 2 grammes of water per kilogram of curve. and the expected strength of tbeair, and 8 grammes per kilogram in the next upcurrent. With the drag correcti~nthermal centre. A fast-responding water device built into a total energy vano'vapour sensor at each wing tip mignt meter the speed selector can be re­thus indicate the direction to the centre designed and will immediately indicateof the thermal far more reliably than the optimum speed (rather than indicat­a temperature-activated "thermal sniffer" ing just faster or slower) and so permitcould, even though turbulent fluctuations faster and more decisive flight correc­will still cause lack of reliability. Fast tions (see References 10 and 22). Variouswater,vapour sensing poses instrumenta- mechanisms can be constructed to maketion difficulties; tiny wet-bulb thermi~- the indication even more readily avail­tors are feasible. and several expen- able to the pilot-say, having optimummental methods show promise. speed indicated as a second. needle 0!l

Other variables could conceivably also tbe air-speed indicator-and In the ultt­~c. used. Ions, pollutants and condnc- mate a servo could eveD be ~de tottVlty are characteristic of the inside of supplant the pilot. Reference 23 cites anth~r~als due to the thermal having its automated approach.. .ongl~al roots in air representing surface In any case, in rou$h air the effec~veconditIOns. Thus variations of these glide ratio of the saIlplane can be ID-

401

22.

23.

20.

practical) instrumentati<>n, try adding avelocity rt;corder, presenting optimumspeed automatically, installing a tem­perature buoyancy device, fitting on abubble generator, adding a potentialgradient "director", and devising water­vapour gradient instrumentation. Theinfra-red ground-temperatrue instrumentmay prove' economically feasible-andit offers such great promise that it shouldbe emphasised.

21.

ReferencesWill.. P. A.: "On Being a Bird", MuParri.h, London. 19S3.

2. MacCrcady, P. B.: Hills Are Thermal Pto­duce.... Soaring. Jan.-Feb. 19S7.

3. Piggolt, A. D.: "Gliding", MaeMillan Co.•19S8.

4. Welch. A. C .. Welch. L.. and Trving F. G.:"The Soaring Pilot". John Murray Co., 19S5.

~. Hit.ehfeld, W.: On the Measurement ofCloud Temperatures from the Ground byInfrared Radiation. Tech, Note No. MWf-4.MaeDonald Physics Lab.. McGill Univ.,4D246048. Oet. 1960.

6. Vonnegut, B.. and MeC:ra:g, D. A.: AirplaneInstrument for Measurement and VectoriaIPresentation of Electrical Potential Gradient,Journal of Geophysical Resea¥ch, Vol. 6S,No. 7. July 1960.

7. MacCready. P, B.: Equipment for FieldStudies in Cloud Phys:C•. Instrument S""ietyof America Preprint No. 8-SF60 (May 1960).

8. Clark, J. F.: Airborne Measurement ofAtmospheric Potential Gradient, Journal ofGeophysical Reuarch. Vol. 62. 61.7 (1957).

9. Jame•• D, B.: Prospe~ts of Distanl ThermalDetection. Sailplane and Gliding. June, 1960.

10. MacCready. P. B.: Measurement of VerticalCurrents. Soaring. May-June 19S4,.

11. Irving. F. G.: A Total Energy VariometerOperated by Pitot Pressure. Swiss A erORevue, June 19S9.

11. Woodward. Betsy: Horizontal Gust. andSensitive Total Energy Variomcter. SaiJp/DIU!and Glidinf(. October 1960.

13. Goodhart. H. C. N.: Calibrating Variometen.Sailplane and GTiciing. October 19S7.

14. Selvidge. H.: .. Instrument.... Cha.p\er "f"S.S.A. Soaring Handbook". 1961.

I~. Davey. P. G.: The Crossfell Variometer.Sailplane and GlIdinf(. June 19S9.

16. Temple, P.: On Finding a Thermal, Gliding.Winter 19S3/ S4.

17. Piggott. A. D.: Soaring In.truments. Gliciing,Winter 19S3/ S4.

18. Dimoek. H. R,: Wingt'p Thermister P'rojeet.Sai/plcme anci Gliding, Feb. 1960.

19. Raspet. A.: Temnerature G"diometer, Soar­ing, Jan.-Feb. 1944.Jirvi. J.: A Sensitive Instrument for Measur­ing the Temperature Gradient in ConvectiveAir from a Sa]plane. Swiss Aero Revue.Feb. 1%1.Klempcrer. W, B.: Theory of SODting Flight.,Soaring, 1943, 1944 and 1945.MaeCrcady, P. B,: Optimum AirspoedSelector, Soaring. Mareh·April 1945.N~umark. O. W.: Best .... ir Speed Indicat.ori9gl/I2~C Air Variometer, Gliding, Winter

creased by fast optimising control. Thiscan be considered a form of simpledynamic soaring. However, the mag­nitude of the effect is very small, Anerror of 5 m.p.h., o( even 10 m.p.h.•from the optimum speed makes sur­prisingly little difference in the effectiveglide ratio or average flight speed inthermal conditions. For example, witha Schweizer 1-23 in a 4 Lp.s. down­current in a 5 Lps. thermal situation,the net cross-country speed decreasesonly 2% if the pilot flies at 70 m.p.h.or 90 m.p.h. instead of the optimum80 m.p.h.

Horizontal gusts constitute a differentsituation. Here fast speed (altitude) con­trol may be more beneficial, for it isthe entering or leaving the new flowregime which is imJXlrtant. rather tbanthe time in it. Because lift is a non­linear function of velocity, the sailplaneobtains more energy as its airspeed isincreased in a horizontal gust than itloses in an identical airspeed decreasefrom the same original speed. Fast andaccurate pilot control of optimum air­speed, perhaps aided by a "0" sensitivebob weight in the control system toemphasise G-forces, can thus presum­ably inc;;rease the effective sailplane per­formance-bul the net effects would besmall except UDder unusual circum­stances of large variations in the hori­zontal and vertical motions of the air(see Reference 21).

The FutureWith some practical, available, inex­

pensive instrument improvements, andwith some careful practice, a pilot coulddecrease his sink between thermals, havea better chance of locating the positionof the next thermal from a distance, andwith one pass through the thermal couldestimate its future actions and select andreturn to its best part. In a typical flightthe gains from these techniques mightgreatly exceed the performance dif­ferences between typical contest sail­planes.

The most vital instrument is a fastvariometer with velocity change anddrag corrections and with an optimumvelocity unit. With this instrument, andwith some trainil1g in manoeuvres, biggainseould be made. For further gains,but with more complex or new (but still

402

A TWO-DRUM DIESEL WINCH

M. A. HILL

THE normal method of launching atSouth Marston has been with tow

cars operating on the runways or byTerrier tug. Under certain conditionsauto-launching is not the most suitablemethod. A two-drum diesel winch hasbeen .built by club members to meetthese conditions and to provide a mobilefau{lching equipment for future visits toother sites.

METHOD OF OPERATION.-The cables.are anchored at the launch point and thewinch is driven at approximately 15m.p.h. to its launching position. In thisway the cables are laid in place as thewinch proceeds. Solid cable (11 gauge) isproving satisfactory.

CONTROLS.-These comprise electricstarteT. hand-operated clutch. handthrottle. and independent brakes for each~rum. The cable-released gravity guillo­tines have H.S. steel cutting blades with35-lb. weights acting on case~hardenedanvils.

TECHNICAL D"T....-Winch engine:A.1?C. di~sel engine type A.l73, 6·cyhnder-7.7 litre; 95 h.p.; 1,800 r.p.m.rnax.; max. torque 330 ft.-lb. at 1,000r.p.m.

The winch is mounted on a steel framebo.lted to the lorry chassis. The eoginednves through its standard clutch and

403

gearbox-top gear (straight through I : I)being used to launch. The drive is thentaken through a Bedford gearbox (re­versed), third gear being permanentlyengaged, giving a step up of I: 2. Thisin turn drives a modified Bedford rearaxle of ratio 7.4/1. The axle has beenmodified to allow for push-pull half­shafts, only one of which can be en­gaged at a time. The driving half-shaftlocates on extended studs in the wheel.

The drums are built up from Bedfordcentres and tract·or rims with additionalflanges giving effective circumfe~ence. of10 ft. The drum flanges are 7 10. high.4 in. apart. The present length of cableis 6,000 ft. on each drum, but up to20,000 ft. per drum could be accom­modated. Maximum revolutions ondrums are 500. or approximately 51m.p.h.

Each cable is fed through a fixed in­clined gate of gravity rollers, round one17·iocb car wheel centre and past theguillotine at the entrance to a 5-inchdiameter steel tube alongside the winchcab. Exit fr·om the tube is controlled byanother fixed gate of gravity rollersbefore the cable passes on to the top ofthe drum. The cable finds its ownposition on the drum.

Artificial Horizons and· Inverters

a fast erection button IS fitted, which,on being pressed, applies correction ata rate of 120 degrees per minute in bothpitch and roll, regardless, of the amountof error existing', This button should notbe pressed in a turn or when tbe gyro isrunning slowly, and for no longer tbanone minute as the torque motors don'tlike the overload that they get with itpressed. '

The torque motors are single-phaseand are connected between pins Band C.Of the remaining pins, A is a.c. supply;C must be linked to F to give fast erec­tion voltage and D linked to E to givenormal erect' on.

Mark III has normal control with noprovision for correcting turn errorelectricaJiy (gyro is offset from verticaland slightly pendulous), nor has it a fasterection button. The remainder of theseries, which have suffix letters, have aroIJ mercury switch cut-off when the gymis rolled more than 10 degrees relativeto the case (i.e. 0.18 eentrifugal K in aturn), and a fast erection bullon in casemore than 10 degrees roll error shouldexist on run-up or during straight flight.The same remarks on the use of thisbutton apply.

The torque motors are again single­phase, but are connected between pinsA and C,and B is the other a.c. supplylead. Of the remaining pins, D links toE to give normal erection voltage, butF must be left blank, for it us used toshor1 out 1he roll cut-out when testing.

Bendix J8 and Anschutz Wendehori­zont have normal control wi-th no rollcut-otT, but manual caging of t.he gyr~ isprovided. The Anschutz also has a' turngyro and a slip indicator. The torquemotors are 3-phase.

Gyro Precession ControlMark IV series have pitch-bank con­

lrol, which means that during a turn, ifmore than 0.18 g of centrirfug'al acceler­ation is applied, the roU correction motoris disconnett,ed from the roll sensingmercury sw;,tch and transferred to thepitch mercury switch. The reason forthis is that the gyro has a false roll datumdue to g in a turn, and if there should beallY roll error, after 90 degrees furtherturn this roll errOr will be converted intopitch error, for which it is assumed thegyro has a correct datum. So roll senseindications are mis)ead;ng, whereas pitchis correct. The quickest way to restorefhe gyro to vertical is to use the pitcherror signals to cause precession in bothpitch and roll. When no pitch error ex·ists at all positions of the tum, there canbe no roll error e:ther, due to the. inter­change of pitch and roll error every 90degrees during the turn.

This transfer of the roll motor to thepitch mercUry switch is not an unmixed Power Suppliesblessing, for if, on run up or during All instruments except the Anschutz re-straight flgbt, more than 10 degrees of quire 11 ;-v<:J)t 400 cycles per second 3­roll erroJ (equals 0.18 8 in a (urn} exists phase a.c. The Anschutz, run on its ownwithout any pitch error, 110 correction rotary inverter (Umformer), gets 37 vocltsof roll error will take place unli,1 the at 500 cycles (at any rate mine dQes!) butaircraft starts to turn. To obviate this, will work adequately on 400 cycles.

404

by R. Brett-KnowlesCo-ordinator of Instrument DeYelopment

M OST pilots wm agree that cloud­. . flying without an arti!i~ial hori~on

is difficult, and that the addItIonal weIghtand bother of a horizon is well worthwhile. The purpose of this first article byme in my new capacity is to describe thefeatures of the various types that areavailable.

Thcre are four varieties generally inuse in England at the present time,namely, the Ferranti Mark IV series,Sperry Mark III series, Bendix J8 andthe Anschutz Wendehorizont. Futureappearance of the ,Ferranti Mark VIseries on the surplus market will be wel­come, and the firm propose soon bring­ing out a similar type, but less exactingin its power requirements, needing onlysingle-phase a.c. drive.

Present pra~tiee is not to use rotary in-ncrs, which are more efficient elec­

tricaliy and are Iig~ter. There are pitfalls,however. The easiest type of inverterto make generates ·a single-phase squarewave, and a fixed capacitor is used tosupply the third phase ·Iead. For BendixJ8 and the Anschutz, this works salis­[actoril¥ at moderate efficiency, bUt theFerrantl and Sperry instruments requireO.75,UF for start and O.25/UF forrunning, unless one is prepared to waita long time for enough gyro speed topermit safe operation of the fast erec­tion button.

Use of square waves means morethan necessary heating of the gyro andtherefon: less efficiency than if a sinewave Invener were used. An 85 per centeffic'ent siDe wave inverter can be madeand commercial A.R.B. approved modelsare offered in the £60 to £70 ranoe of\~hich the Fcrranti FIl4 and EKCO"E.2I0(illustrated) are typical examples. Both

more, as there are two gyros, workingout at about 22 walls. Bendix needs 12watts.

Private constructors produce invertersat about £10 to £12 each, and addressesof makcrs can be forwarded to interestedowners who are not in a position tomake their own. One point to watchhere is that some home-made invertersuse a principle known as saturating out­put transformer to switch the transistorsat 400 cycles. The use of tills prindplecauses the circuit to draw heavy currentat each s,,:itching period, and this heavycll!rent Will upset any radio which is~smg the same battery and can interfereIII some cases even when a separate bal­te~y IS used. Betier is the saturating basedrIVe transformer, and even better stillt~ou~h not so simple is the sine waveCircUIt.

. While only the fringe of the technicalSide has been touched here, through the

The EKCO type £210 . .- transistor Inverter, which can supply Mark III or Mark IVArtificial Horizons.

need 24 volts d c d th E2.10 _Aphase-splittin " an .e .' n~s a generous assistance of the firms con-qUired for ~ac~ndI~nser. lhe pow~r r~- c~rned, further information can be pro­about 18 w r I and IV senes IS vlded on request to the B.G.A. or 1>yfast erectio~ItS tAo run

hand 75 watts for personal contact with me at H.M.S. Col-

. llSC ulZ takcs a little lingwood.

405

A Howidunit by Peter Scott

Dunke'swellthrough

Rose-tintedSpectacles

SO I said to myself: . "Somethin~'s gottn be done about It. Maybe If you

didn't have to go to New York fordinner, and if you watched those finalglides.... " And the next thing 1 knewwe were on our way to glorious Devonwhere John Fielden and his merry men,women and children, were about to runa smashing comp. with a field of 23.

The tasks, they said, would all beclosed circuits, so the first contest daywas Free Distance, with the LondonControl Zone as a bunker in the fair­way. It was one of those murky dayswhen there constantly seemed to be nofuture ahead, and I started one "finalglide" after another. From one of themnear Upavon at 500 ft. above the downs1. crept up again under the lash of AlfWarminger's progress report on theradio. He was on a parallel course 20miles further south and already ap­proaching Lasham. At the Goring GapI made a determined effort to deflect

him round the north side of the ControlZone. "Ir is very difficult," I told mycrew, "to decide which way to go, buton the whole I think it looks morepromising to the north." If Alf came(00 it would put him at least 15 miles

406

astern of lI1e, so 1 was well pleased whenhe called his crew and said he too haddecided to turn north. Ten minutes latera wholly misguided sense of fair playmade me tell my crew that a great blackcloud barred the northel"O route, andimmediately Alf announced that he hadchanged his mind, and was now goingsouth of London. 'Pity, but it had beena good try. A powerful weapon thisradio if used without scruple.

The great black cloud meant a final"final glide", along the edge of the Chil­terns to a gravel pit where they weresailing. Perhaps 1 could have a sail whilewaiting for Mike Garside and LizDouglas to arrive-though the 600 feetI still had wou!d lake me another coupleof miles; and then, two miles ahead,up came Halton with gliding in progress."Always flop among friends," PeterCollier used to say, so down I floppedamong the T-2i's and T-31's of theA.T.C., 127 miles from base. Alf landedsoon after at Godalming which washappily a mile or two closer to Dunkes­well.

Whatever may have happened in thepast to Camphill's weather, we learnednext day that Dunkeswell can, on oc­casion, be damp as well; and on the dayafter that We spent several hours tryingto persuade some other obdurate pilotthat there was no future in beinglaunched at the time he had selected."Sky looks hopeless to me for the nexthour at least, don't you agree?" There

were glitlering displays of guile anddeception as the discs hopped over eachother like Halma men, By these dubiousmeans I managed to' get myself theworst possible launch-time, and set off atonce to escape from the circle of dead

air which seemed to sit firmly over theplat'eau with the aerodrome at its centre.In next to no time I was on the groundat Upottery and soon afterwards play­ing halma again.

My relight was at 3 o'clock and I flewon tiptoe, cautioned and at the sametime encouraged by the news that theWarminger 419 was on the ground atYeovil just short of the turning point,after which the line turned north-eastthrough Stone in Staffordshire. Byspecial request we were asked to circleonce over the turning point. Because ofthe bend in the line the turn was in ex­cess of 4000 and I made mIne in fairlystrong sink at 1,000 ft. After that every­thing depended on the ritlge leadingtowards Castle Cary. A little bluff pro­duced an unusable thermal with whichI dallied for ten minutes, and a tinyvillage produced another when I wasalready below the top and couldn't makeanything of it. So out I went into thevalley to get On to the line and landedin the furthest field of a farm at NorthCadbury.

"Ar," said the cowman who walkedthe mi1e·and-a-half with me up to thefarmhouse on the hill, "there wasanother one of them gliders over 'ereabout a hour ago--'igh up, 'e were,"and there were two more he hadn't seen.But none of them had got much pastCastle Cary, so my fourth still pro­duced a reasonable number of points.

August 1st was as difficult as it lookedf~r a flattened lOO-km. triangle, up­~lDd to Crediton first. Three thermalsIn a. clamping sky took me to the firstturnmg-point where I popped out ofcloud to find the marker almost directlybel<?w, rounded and popped back ina~alD. But the cloud had spread out andTlverton. failed me. So, too, as a lastresort, dId a row of straw fires at Chevi­thorn where I came to earth-thoughthey .Worked a treal for Chuck Bentsonon hiS way out an hour later, and he:faent on. to m~ke the best flight of the

y--Whlch did not quite reach thesecond turning-point. Although fourSCOred, there Was no contest.

i The fOI~owing day seemed no less~fficnlt, With some prom:seof improve­

eot to the eastward. We were to turnat Thruxton and come back to the west,

407

if possible as far as SI. Just. More Halmaat the take-off board and I came backfrom my jlrst scrape having seen ChuckBentson and Brennig James go off, andwatched Alf Warminger land at Upot­tery. Soon after 2.00 I was away againin rather better conditions. The cloudswere working well if you got to themat exactly the right time, and I had two7,ooO-ft. climbs at better than 500 ft. perminute. Between clouds it was gloriouslyclear with Berry Head and Channelshipping visible on one side and SouWales on the other, and a c1earcutSteepholrn rising out of the BristolChannel.

Although the task was along a line,it was necessary to go far off trade tomake any progress, and at one stage Ifound myself heading for a cloud overWells, more than 15 miles north of theline. The gaps were awe-inspiring, butSalisbury Plain was good arid by 4.30I was on the way back fortified by anencouraging report fmm Alf that he was"delayed" near Boscombe Down.

My crew had waited at a high pointon the A,303 east of Mere and soon Icame bac~ into their sight-but by nowthe sky was overcast ahead of me andbefore long I was On a final glide whichbrought me almost to their feet. Brennighad landed only two or three milesaway, but two hours earlier. He andhis crew arrived at my field and to­gether we watched Alf creeping to­wards us to land only a few fields short.Chuck was stopped by the same over­cast after a flight of many hours andmany diversions. And so to a convivialdinner at the Pepper Pot at Ilchester.

August 4th was a day of days, andwe had a splendid race to Swan ton

QCbristnul5 cf9rtdinnsto all ~Iibing jfrienbs'tbttpwbtrt anb ~t5t

Milt~bts fo'r 1963 froml\ika anb ~obfrtp

~arwoob

Winter Waves need a"Winter" Barograph

Order now and avoid frustration. Price(inc. U.K. import duty) £40. Export priceon application. Height ranges O·6000m. x2.000m. - 12,OOOm. Write for details ofthis and other instruments and gliding

requirements.

THERMAL EQUIPMENT LTD.33b Ecdeston Square, London, S.WJ

Morley. The first hour had somethingof the sticky quality of the J!1orning be­fore, but I 5tayed high, flying fromcumulus tower to cumulus tower, allabove 5,000 ft., and covered 48 miles.There were 12-1:5 kts. of wind whichwe had to cross at about 25 deg. Thesecond hour was better at 53 miles. Thedowns from Devizes to Marlboroughproduoed the best conditions of theseason-indeed as good as any I canremember in this country-with 600f.p.m. under every cloud and 800 undersome. 57 miles in the th,ird hour and59 in the last-224 miles in 4.00 hoursflat at an average of 56. There is atreJ):lendous exultation to be had fromflying fast with the comfortable cer­tainty that the next cloud will be at leastas good as the last. Cloud base was highenough for the crossing of the airway tobe quite painless, and the only regretwas having to land at 3.25. 500 kmswould have been simple but for theNorth Sea.

A concession to the crowded roadswas a special dispensation allowing apart-retriev,e by aero-tow, so half anhour later I was heading for Cambridgeon a 50 ft. tow-rope behind a Tiger­an hour of pretty intense concentrationand very bumpy too. I released at2,000 over MarshaU's, having failed toraise my crew on the radio. No soonerwas I in free flight than they came upat Hitchin. I scraped va1iantly andstruggled a few miles upwind towardsthem, landing beside the Royston Roadsouth of Trump:ngton. We stopped fotsupper at Dunstable and were back atDun'keswell about 1.00 a.m. Althoughmy time had been the fastest, a remark-

able flight' by N. Stevenson in a cookingOly gave him the thousand points onhandicap.

On August 5th John set us a lOO-km.triang'le in deteriorating conditions dueto an advancing warm front. Thanks toa Berring Gull which lead me to ahumdinger soon after release, I wasable to make a rac:ng start at maximumheight (4,120 ft.) at 100 m.p.h., thoughI was down to 1,500 ft. before I foundanother acceptable one over Merryfield.It took me to the first turning point atIlchester and very uncomfortably roundit with four other gliders, all no doubtfeeling as gloomy as I was. The onlything seemed to be to stay 00 course,g.rit one's teeth, and push on into somesunshine on the outskil"ts of Yeovil­sunshine which happily worked l"atherweakly until, back at 2,000 ft., I movedunder the edge of a spreading patch ofdark grey cloud and boosted the climbfrom 150 to 450 feet per minute.

Ahead the sky looked very unpromis­ing. A few miles inland from the southcoast was a line of cumu!us trailing acurtain nearly 2,000 feet lower than theinland cloud base. Somewhere under orbeyond it was the second turning-point­an orange tent in the middle of a hill·top field a mile or two from a virtuallyunidentifiable village that was alsohidden by the curtain. Alf Warminger(who was my nearest rival on points) re­ported to his crew first that he was indifficulties at the first turning-point anda little latcr that he had climbed up.but that conditions over the secondturning-point were so poor he intendedto hang around .and wait for an im­provement. This, no dOUbt, was de­signed to slow me down but I refusedthe bait and pressed on 'into the murk.

I had taken rather too much heightin the dark grey cloud, and as I emergedand the lift stayed with me for half amile, I. realised that even by selectinga gap ID the sea-breeze curtain ahead inorder to read the map all the way, Iwould still be in cloud at the turningpoint if I flew a.t the correct speed. Toget through the chink ill clear air I hadto fly about 5 miles at 90 knots andwith the dark sea-breeze cloud ~bout100 ft. above me, I came to the secondturning-point. Another glider was also

408

approaching it, rather uncomfortably 600 Lp.m. on a day of poor c()nditionslow, 1 thougot. As I watched him reach with plenty of sink. around, there is athe orange tent he suddenly stopped. great temptation to take a trifle moreHe had landed 30 yards away from it. height than is strictly necessary for that

I had less than 2,000 H. as I turned final glide. it was a temptation I oouldback to the west and "flew the length f10t resist.of the sea-breeze cloud, trying various By the table I must fly in at 70. knotsditTerent lines. Under the blackest part -but I look 1;0.00 feet extra in caseseemed best, but this was only slightly the wind was stronger than I thought,reduced sink. I came to the upwind end and another 500 for good measure. Atof the cloud at Crewkerne, no more 6,500 I set off and flew the first 5 milesthan 1,500 fl. above sea level, and then in cloud. When I emerged, DunkeswellI saw the Swifts. They were hunting still seemed a long way off, so 1 reducedinsects high above me under the cloud, to 60. Chuck Bentson, they told me onand as I turned towards them I flew into the radio. was just arriving. Though hegentle 200 f.p.m. Four turns and then had, started before me, no one seemedI moved more directly under the Swifts to know how long before. I stuck theand "wallop"-I was in 6 knots up. nose down to 65, then to 70 again and

There is an incomparable feeling of finally to 100 for the last mile. I hourtriumph and relief in a gQod last 30 minutes at an average of 42, withthermal. This was going to get me home, Chuck taking 2.17 and Brennig 2.29.and fast. Now when once you haveground to a hall 150 yards short of a As far as I was concerned it couldfinishing line and lost 580 points by rain the next day-and it did. But whatdoing so, and when you are going up ata smashing comp. it had been!

DUNKESWELL COMPETITIONS: PROVISIONAL RESULTSThe official results of the Regional Competitions at the Devon and Somerset Club

are not yet avail'aNe. Tile following table, for which we are indebted to' Mike Gar­rod. gi,ves the provisional results issued during the meeting.

Filwl Pitolor Comp. Dale (July' or A.ugusl) TolalPos'n. Pilols Sailplane No. 29lh 3/sl 2nd 41/1 51h PoilfU

~

I. P. M. Seoll .. .. .. .. Olympi~ 419 10 668 493 1000 985 1000 41462.. A. H. Warmin"e·r .. .. . . Olympia 419 44 512 183 987 892 802 33763. D', B. James .. .. SkyJ~rk 3 160 - 545 852 842 789 30284. C. W. Benrson .. .. .. Skyl~rk 3F 161 III 245 911 864 810 29815. M. P. Garrod .. .. .. . . Sky 64 78 580 179 884 768 24'796. C. DUlhy.J~mcs& M. J. Smith .. Skyl~rk 30 176 0 564 182 840 745 23317. P. O'Oonald & P'. W. Jame. Skylark 2 56 0 0 811 652 802 22658. O. Oayton & P. Berriman Skylark 3 200 542 474 422 177 115 17709. J. N. Slovenson .. .. .. Olympi~ 20 208 0 0 239 1000 352 159'1

10. J. Cardiff & G. Camp Weibe 167 0 441 66 911 164 158211. C. R. Hurst & L J. Smoker Skyl~rk 2 169 89 0 282 884 352 150712, J. Matheson &.1. Moekenzie .. Skylark 3 171 0 0 243 534 606 138313. Rcdman & Brenner Sky 206 82 362 85 81 298 90314. T. J. Lapham .. Swallow 151 11 0 150 254 404 819..16. H. Tarnow & A. MeOonald Skylark 30 20 65 - 365 89 195 11515, M. I. Gee Olympia 2B 109 0 0 63 279 310 652..17. Anita Sohmidl Olympia 453 181 0 0 197 403 0 600..18. S"lisbury.Jones, D. Lowe & Olympia 20 170 0 0 335 78 48 451

O. RoberlS .. ..19. M. Aspinall & R. Ludgatc Olympia 2B 154 13 0 0 60 281 31420. P. Wildbur & R. Walker Olympia 2 93 0 0 0 21 204 22521. N. A. BTOlI Skylark 3. IM 0 0 77 109 0 186.. .. ..

40')

Special Category

Certificates o·f Airworthinessby F. G. Irving

Write for d_escrip'liv. I.all.el and .-ddr.n of cur

Igtn' ill your cownhy 'to:

The Cobb-SlaterIDslnllllenl Co. Lld.,

Darley Dale, Matlock,Derbyshire, England

Accuracy is nol affected by temperaturesbetween -lSoC and +45°C.

Cook Variomelers are nol damaged byheavy landings or vibralions and fiveyears world·wide experien,e has provedit to be Ihe most reliable insJrument of

ils kind.

The first four places in the 1961 Na1ionalChampionships were taken by pilots who

used Cook Valiometeu.

COOK VARIOMET'ER

maintained. -and overhauled to thenormal B.G.A. standards. The B.G.A.considers it sa1'e within the condi­tions imposed by the C. of A."

ProcedureIf a new t,ype from a reputable source

is imported, it will be subjected to thenormal B.G.A. procedure for certificatingforeign gliders. There ar,e then threePQSsibilities:(a) It receives a full C. of A, possibly

with some modifications to the limi­tations or other conditions.

(b) It is rejected.(c) It receives a "Special Category" C. of

AIn this context, it is unnecessary to dis­cuss (a) any further.

It is likely that (b) will be unusualif (c) is a possibility.

IntroductionVarious foreign gliders of reputable

origin, enjoying full certification in theircountries of origin, do not necessarilYmeet -British Civil Airworthiness Require­ments. In general, the policy of the BGAhas been to assume that such gliders aresatisfactory from the stressing point ofview. possibly with modified limitations.The granting of a BGA C. of A is thenmainly dependent on satisfactory hand­ling qualities and. engineering features(e.g. installing Ottfur tow-hooks). Evenwhen B.C.AR. are interpreted in the mostliberal fashion, some machines cannotreasona'bly be granted a C. of A sincethere is no formal correlation betweencertification and the degree of skill ofthe pilots who will fly the type in ques­tion. If such machines were certificatedsolely on the basis that they were con­sidered airworthy in their 'countries oforigin. British manufacturers couldreasonably claim unfair competition.

The consequences of this policy are:-(a) It strongly discQurages examples of

interesting foreign gliders beingbrol,lght into the country, s'nce prat­~ly nobody is prepared. to- risk hav­109 a type refused certIfication.

(b) If sOmebody does have the courageto bring in such a machine, they maybe faced with a great deal of. expenseif certification is refused, or withoperation under restricted -conditions.Not surprisingly, they point out thatpilots in Ruritania seem capable ofdealing with the machine's idiosyn­crades, so why should British pilotsbe so mistrusted?

The B.G.A Technical Committeehas therefore approved a new cate­gory -of C. of A. to overcome most ofthese ditIicui ties.

This "Special Category" C. of A.WQuld convey the following $ignificance:

"This machine is properly certifi­cated in its country of origin, al­though it does not meet British CivilAirworthiness Requirements. It is

410

Conditions(1) The proposed importer must notify

the Techni~al Committee beforeimporting the machine so as toseek their advice on whether (a),(b) or (c) above is likely to apply,or (iii) or (iv) below.

(ii) Only gliders in current productionwith certificates of airworthiness ofthe country of origin will be con­sidered.

(iii) Because a "Special Category" Cof A. implies that a machine doesnot fulfil B.C.A.R., only one ex­ample of the type will be certifi­cated. If another example of thesame type imported, it will not becertificated.

(iv) It is recognised that a given typemay be modified so that its charac­teristics are sufficiently altered tomake it a different "type" for thepurpose of these conditions.If an applicant wishes to submita modified example of a type forcertification ab initio, he must satis­fy the TechnicaJ Committee thatsufficient modifications have beencarried out to render its character­istics (in so far as they preventedthe granting of a full e. of A)substantially different from thoseof the original example.

(v) If the Technical Committee agreesthat the machine is likely to re-

ceive either a full Or Spec:al cate­gory C. of A., the usual documen­tation for the certification of for­eign gliders must be submitted, andsuch flight tests as the Committeemay require shall be carried out atthe applicant's expense.

(vi) If a Special Category C. of A. isgranted; the Technical Committeereserves the right, in doing so, tomodify the limitations and condi­tions of the C. of A. of the countryof origin. and to impose such ad­ditional limitations or conditions asthey think fit.For example, a S.C.c. of A. mightbe granted subject to:

Reduced never-exceed speed.More restricted e.G. limits.Silver C pilots only.

(vii) At the discretion of the TechnicalCommittee a ·S.e.C. of A. may begranted to a machine of Britishorigin (e.g. a single prototype whichjust fails to satisfy B.C.AR.).

(viii) The S.C.C. of A.. should not beconfused with an Experimental C.of A The latter is intended to applyto a machine which is continuoUfilybeing used for experimental pur­poses.

(ix) On making application for certi­fication, a fee or £15 15s. is pay­able to the ]:l.G.A.

Maior Overhauls'"rHE Major Overhaul scheme, com­~ monly known as the "Ten Plus", has

now been in operation for several years,and both the Senior Inspectors and theTechnical Committee have now accumu­~ate~ considerable experience of operat­109 It.

<?~ the basis of Senior Inspectors'opmiOns and the evidence of their strip~eports, the Committee has decided thatI'.' future Major Overhauls shall be car·ned out as follows:

(a) The first Major Overhaul to takeplace ten years after the date ofconstruction of a glider;

(b) Subsequent Major Overhauls toI take place at intervals of five years.n the case of most gliders, this means

411

that Major Overhauls will take place atintervals of 10, 15, 20 . . . years afterthe date of construction. However, thereare some gliders of pre-war or imme­diately post-war construction whose firstMajor Overhaul took place more thanthe ten years after the date of con­struction. In such cases, subsequentMajor Overhauls will still be required atfive-year intervals after the first one, SOthe sequence might run at 12, 17, 22 ..•years, for example.

Owners and Senior Inspectors are re­ferred t-o Ray Stafford-Alien's notes onMajor Overhauls on page

F. G. IRVING,

Chairman, Technical Commi/l-ee

THE British Gliding Association haeye. appointed John Everitt. as National

Coach. It is hoped thM he will start workwith the Capstan in the near future. Johnhas very extensive experience as bothamateur and professional instructor onhill and flat sites, and is also a tug pilot.He has been a member of the Instruc­tor's Panel for several years, carryingout Category tests, and is well kno.wnin the gliding movement.

His work will include touring roundthe CQuntry, assisting dubs with theirinstructor-training programmes, andtesting instructors. He will be avai!ablealso for giving cross-counuy flying, in­strument, and aerobatic tral.ning to in­structors and exper:enc·ed pilots in clubswhere fadlities for advanced flyjng donot yet exist. New clubs may also ob­tain his services to help start their in­structional . and operational methods onthe right lines. In addition, the Coachwill run a small number of ab-initiocourses in order to keep in touch withelementary training practices. One ofthe problems is going to be to ensurethat he gets enough days off, an.d is notworked to a standstill.

In the next few weeks all clubs willbe circularized to ask what their re­quirements are likely to be, and a pro­gramme will then be made out to fiteveryone's requests as nearly as pos­sible, priority being given to smaller ornewer clubs in the first instance.

We are most grateful to the Ministryof Education for making possible theappointment of the Coach, and to W. D.and H. O. Wills for the Capstan. Theyhave provided the greatest possible op­portunity to ·improve our instructionalstandards throughout the country, with

the far-reaching benefits of fewer ac­cidents, and the capability of eflkcntlytrajning more pilots, particularlyyounger ones.

I .am sure that everyone will want towish John tne best of luck in this in­teresting and valuable job.

EFFECT OF EFFECTSMany clubs have a rule that a pup:1

may be sent solo only aher check flyingwith the C.F.!. If the instructing hasbeen carried out by someone who in allother respects is, regarded as competentto teach, and to take full charge of thelaunch point, this check is unnecessaTy.It may well reduce the effectiveness of'wme instructors, since they may feelthat the subsequent safety of the pupilis not wholly their responsibility-theC.F.!. will ,always pick up any inadver­tent gaps. For those instwctors who canaud want la take the responsibility­and all goOd instructors do-then tohave to pass their pupils on to someoneelse deprives them of the sense of satis­faction in hav:ng completed a job well.

More important than when and bywhom a pupil is actually sent solo is tbecare and intelligence wjth which the firstbasic lessons in flying are given. So oftenthese first lessons, when tbe instructoris doing the take-off, cEmb, and landing,are given to new or less experiencedinstructors to do. Such instructors rarelyappreciate the impact of the experienceon the pupil, or the vital need, not onlyfor putting over the right informationwell, but to tailor these lessons with allthe skill that they can produce to therequirements of the particular pupil.

These first lessons are preparations

412

for flight, inclu~ing cockpit check, effectsof controls; theIr co-orwnatlon ID gentleturns, and speed control, and the philo­sophy of gliding an~ it~ ohjecti.ves-or,in simple \~ords,. ~aslc ~lrmanshlp..Theymust be given wIth skIll andpahence,and above all they must not be hurried.There is an idea at the present timethat pupils should be doing the wholeflight with prompting in a circuit or so.I am sure ,that this is wrong. There is agreat deal which is new to .the pu~il inflying and he cannot take much In fora surprisingly long time. If he is givenloo many things too soon, he may feelthat he is getting on quickly, but in facthe is not. The basic grounding is notsufficiently established, and later, whenhe has circuit planning and everything

else to think about, he will fi:td him­self getting stuck and often muddled.

Take-offs, etc" done by the instructorearly in the training are not time wastedfor the pupil. They should be given asa demOJ1straCon, so that when the pupilgets on to them himself he has a yard­stick, and knows better what he is tryingto achieve. .

If the firStt basic l.:ssons are given withgreat thoroughness by skilled instructors,or the C.F.I. himself, and rega'rded asthe most important part of a pupil'straining,,:he . later stages will containfewer difficulties, and the early soloflying will be safer. Effect of controlsis not just a rather simple exercise; itis the foundation of all subsequent flying.

ANN WELCH

HOLLAND:

NEW ZEALAND:

U.S.A. &OTHER COUNrRIES:S. RHODESIA:

FRED FUMBLE

.....~....•..' , ,,'.

.•... ~ S·····.~.7' .•,...... ~,-.::.,:-

Bow to get "SAlLPJ.ANE AND GLIDING""Sailplane and Gliding" can be obtained in thc. U.K. at all Gliding Clubs, or send

20s. (post free) for an Annual Subscriptjoo to: The British Gliding Association, 75ViClona Street, L""dolt, S.W.I. Sinl;l" copi~ and most back issues are also avail.bIe,price 3s. 4<1. (p<>st frl'c). Enquiries regarding bulk orders of 12 or more copies, at whole­sale prices. should be made to The British Gliding Association.

OVERSEAS AGENTSAUSTRALIA: 'Stockists: Ti:~hnic.l Book Co., 29S 'Swanston Slreet, Mel­

bourne, C.I, Victoria. B. .Rowe Waikerie, South Australia.Please apply direo.t to British (i)idine Association. Sinllle copies3s. 4d. or 20s. anoually.J. van Eck. Ti'jgerstraat 203 Nijmegcn, Postrekening 1007247.Abonnemcntsprijs FI.IO.~.

PIease apply direct to British Gliding Association. Single copies3•. 4d. or 20s. annually (50 cents or $3 , 00 annually).Enterprise Bookshop, 13 Murandy Sq., Highlan<ls, Salisbury,S. Rhodesia.

Red Leather Cloth IIlader. tlIkiDl! U ilI_ (2 , ....): 151. 6d. POlt r_ fro.. B.G.A.WiD ..... hi.... 10ar B,G.A.Peno""l Pilot Logbooks.

Types, he is quite keen.Whilsl we would hesitate to label any­

one "accident prone", things do seem togo wrong for Fred more than for mostpeople. At present he seems to be gettinga bit snarled up with the "Laws andRules".

We hope that this series may serve asa reminder, not only 10 the would-beC pilots, but also to the experts wh.o havelong since forgotten "all that stlU/I".Perhaps you may even profit from Some

. '. is an average (well, almost) of "Fred's Fumbles". Incidentally, youGliding' Type, and, like most Gliding will find him on pages 430 and 434.

413

Y. C. B.

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

Nov. 28. "Helicopter Marine Com-mandoes." Talks by Cds.Murray-Hayes, R.N., and others.

Dec. 5. "Victory at Sea" film.12. Air Touring by John Furlong.19. Club Christmas Party. All

members and friends welcome.26. Club closed.

Ja~. 2. "Victory at Sea" film.9. Philip Wills (provisional).

16. Post-war glider development,by Frank lrving.

" 23. I!.~ Film, "Friendship 7" (pro­vISIonal).

prevented from attending through ill­ness-we Wish him a speedy recovery.

Other speakers were Philip Wills, CliffTippett and Hugo Trotter.

Also on the same evening Ken Owenof "Plight" opened the club's 3rd Photo­grapbic Competition and on the fol­lowing Wednesday the entries werejudged by John Yoxall and the winnerswere as follows:- Black and Whiteprints: 1st H. Hilditch, 2nd W. F. Jordan.Colour prints: G. McA. Bacon. Colourslides: 1st P. A. Wills, 2nd R. WilIbie andHon. Mention W. F. Jordan.

Another most notable event was theevening organised by Dr. Slater to com­memorate ltford Hill. This was probablyone of the most fascinating evenings wehave ever held (see page 386).

To end on a sad note, as many mem­bers will already know the club hasbeen given notice to quit next spring bythe new owners of 74 Eccleston Square.althol.\gh we are still hoping we mightbe' granted a new lease.

STOP PRESSArt Competition winners:OVERALL WINNER.-Margaret Kahn.OILS.-GLIDERS: 1st, Margaret Kahn;

2nd, Ann Welch; commended, B. War­ren. POWER: 1st, J. Palmer; 2nd, H.Cooper; commen<1ed, F. Tosoni.

WATER COLOUR.-lst, V. H. Veevers;2nd. Rawlings-Smith; commended, D.Wilkes.

GOUACHE AND POSTER.-Ist. T. Eccles;commended, A. Achard.

LINE, PENCIL, -CRAYON, ETC.-1st, T.Wykes; 2nd, T. Shreeve; commended. C.Coy.

101 members and guests greatly en­joyed. the club's annual Dinner andDance beld at the 'Eccleston Hotel onthe 5th October. The occasion alsomarked the 40th Anniversary of the firstgliding competition at Iliord Hill and asurprise item on the menu was a giantglace gateau ablaze with4() candles andtopped with a splendid model of theglider that won the competition, madeby Ferelith Wil1s. John Stanley designedtbe excellent Menu card which also de­picted many old types.

The guests were Colonel and Mrs.Preston and Dr. A. E. Slater. Unfortun­ately Group Captain Goodbody was

414

"The World's Sailplanes"

"The World's Sailplanes" has been outof print for some time, but so manyenquiries have been received by OS-flVf,or copies that it has been decided toproduce a reprint of Volume r by theXerox method. This is a paper-backededition which will be identical with thefi~t volume as originally printed, exceptfor the disappearance of the advertise­ments and the introductory technicalnote. This Xerox method of reproduc­tion does not give a fully satisfactoryhalf-tone. so that the photographs arenot as good. as they were in the originaledition. but all the figures and .line draw­ings are entirely satisfactory.

The reprint is obtainable from: TheLondon Gliding Club, 22 Half MoonStreet, London W.1., and the BritishGliding Association. Artillery Mansions,75 Victoria Street, London S.W.I. andthe price is 10s. per copy including post­age for OSTIV Il)embers, 12s. per copyincluding postage for non-members.

Payment must be sent with the order,as it is impracticable for the LondonGliding Club or OSTIV to provide credit.It will be noted that the cost of thisreproduction is considerably less thanthat of the original publication.

Suggestion for Securing a Trailerby J. Wheeler

THIS device can be m.ade with four would be an inexpensive m.eans oflengths of angle iron, fixed to the anchoring most trailers.

frame so that they may be folded into The smaller drawing shows a simplethe sides for travelling. Launching cable method of fixing to the chassis; slackencould be used as the "guy ropes", being the nut for folding, and tighten whenrun over the top and secured to the extended for rigidity. But various fixingssides about the positions shown to pre- could be made to suit different trailervent the trailer moving under the ropes. frames.Securing pegs to be driven into the The idea came through seeing anground at an angle. Th}s sbould provide illustration of a large light load lashedsufficient leverage agamst most strong down in a similar manner, as a deckwinds. With various modifications this cargo.

ON TI-IE. ROAO : BOOMS !='OLDE.D IN

/'SECilON

THROUGH CHASSISSHOWINGASIMPLE

~~c""::~~~_~~~~§i~~~--~17~~WAY 01= FIXING:- <~ ~__ m;HTE/l WlltH tmlIPEO

SHARP ANGLE. -IRON PEGS ARE. EASIER TO WITHtmAW FOI'.RHilPtTV

Gliding Certificates

Date4.8.625.8.625.8.624.8.625.8.625.8.624.8.624.8.623.6.62

DIAMONDS FOR GOAL FLIGHTClubBristol Gliding ClubCoventry Gliding ClubOxford Gliding ClubRoyal Naval Gliding and Soaring Assn.Bristol Gliding ClubBristol Gliding ClubBannerdown R.A.F. Gliding ClubLondon Gliding ClubRoyal Air Force, Germany

415

NameJ. R. PhilpotM. J. SmithC. R. HurstJ. N. StevensonT. PentelowK. R. BrownG. MeA. BaconJ. D. CardiffE. J. Lusted

No.2/1192/1202/1212/1222/1232/1242/1252/12621127

2/128 E. J. Chubb Bristol Gliding Club 16.6.622/129 E. J. Meddings Bannerdown Gliding Club 25.8.622/130 S. Redman Cambridge University Glilling Club 25.6.622/131 P. Hanncman R.A.F. Bicester Gliding Club 5.8.622/132 E. B. Jerzycki Polish Air Force Gliding Club 5.8.622/133 D. A. Benton Midland Gliding Club 4.8.62

GOLD C CERTIFICATESNo. Name Club Completed

99 M. J: Smith Coventry Gliding Club 5.8.62100 C. R. Hurst Oxford Gliding Club 5.8.62101 E. J. Chubb Bristol Gliding Club 16.6.62102 P. Haoneman Royal Air Force, Bicester 5.8.62

GOLD C DISTANCE LEGSName Club Date

J. R. Philpot Bristol Gliding Club 4.8.62J. N. Stevenson Royal Naval Gliding and Soaring Assn. 4.8.62T. Pentelow Bristol Gliding Club 5.8.62K. R. Brown Bristol Gliding Club 5.8.62G. MeA. Bacon Bannerdown R.A.F. Gliding Club 4.8.62J. Matheson Oxford Gliding Club 4.8.62P.O'Donald Cambridge University Gliding Club 4.8.62J. D. Cardiff London Gliding Club 4.8.62E. J. Lusted Royal Air Force, Germany 3.6.62E. J. Meddings Bannerdown R.A.F. Gliding Club 25.8.62S. Redman Cambridge University Gliding Club 25.6.62E. B. Jerzycki Polish Air Force Gliding Club 5.8.62D. A Benton Midland Gliding Club 4.8.62

SILVER C CERTIFICATES

No. Name Club Date1194 W. D. Evans Oxford Gliding Club 3.6.621195 J. R. Simeons Southdown Gliding Cluo 20.7.621196 M. Wood Newcastle Gliding Club 8.7.621197 C. 1. Wride Moonrakers R.A.F. Gliding Club 23.6.621198 A. E. Whaten London Gliding Club 5.8.621199 L. G. Stanbridge Nimbus R.A.F. Gliding Club 29.7.621200 J. S. Aked . Blackpool & Fylde Gliding Club 4.8.621201 M. P. Wilson Kent Gliding Club 18.8.621202 C. M. Morris Moonrakers R.A.F. Gliding Oub 10.8.621203 A. C. Wood Derbyshire & Lancashire Gliding Club 5.8.621204 G. Mackie Ulster Gliding Club 12.8.621205 G. Harrison Derbyshire & Lancashire Gliding Club 31.7.621206 S. J. Curtis Midland Gliding Club 4.8.621207 N. Marriott Coventry Gliding Club 4.8.621208 A. J. Vincent Handley Page Gliding Club 25.8.621209 D. C. Reynolds Windrushers R.A.F. Gliding Club 22.8.621230 P. W. Winkley Coventry Gliding Club 22.8.621211 S. A. Southam Oxford Gliding Club 9.8.621212 R. F. Holland Cambridge University Gliding C-lub 21.6.621213 P. Goodwin Moonrakers R.A.F. Gliding Club 18.8.621214 J. Steel Dumfries & District Gliding Club 1.1.621215 P. J. Bullivant No. 616 A.T.C. Gliding School 2.8.621216 D. J. Baldwin Perkins Gliding Club 5.8.621211 A. R. Jury Bannerdown R.A.F. Gliding Club 12.8.621218 C. L. Ryan LondOD Gliding Club 8.7.62

416

1219 D. C. Sad1er Coventry Gliding Club 18.8.621220 A. A. Bowen Norfolk Gliding Club 5.8.621221 W. J. Hall Coventry Gliding Club 30.8.621222 M. J. F. .Bagnell Coventry Gliding Club 18.8.621223 I. L. A. Eyers B.EA Silver Wing Gliding Club 13.7.621224 L. E. Rotter Midland Gliding Club 9.9.621225 R. Cousins Kent Gliding Club 16.9.621226 R. Wilson Yorkshire Gliding Club 16.9.621227 J. S. Fielden Devon & Somerset Gliding Club 19.9.62

C CERTIF1CATESGliding Club or Gliding Club 0' Gliding Club or

Name A.T.C. School Name A.T.C. ScI,ool Name A.T.C. SchoolD. D. Gay South Wales W. R. Cirin RAF Swanton J. A. J. Turner CornishR. Seaman 100G.S. Morley G.O.Ell.iot 611 G.5.G. J. Wedgwood R.A.E. W. E. Delahunty 635 G.S. G. A. Kirra!:e SUrFeyR. C. Cobbold Norfolk W. R. Bowers Coventry D. S. Tyler EssexM. W. Morgan 633 G.S. P. T. S. Brown East Anglian A. Ker Milne Devon &A. Billington Crusaders P. E. Kumar Imp. Coli. SomersetJ. Stringer Midland A. B. Watson Wind rushers S. J. Coy 621 G.S.R. G. Harding Northants R. l-!artoll. London H.HiIJ NewcastleM. P. Taknow London C. A. 0" Talbot London W. S. E. Monks DoncasterJ. Bushnell Cambridge K. C. Asto" Moonrakcrs M. D. Singer FulhamG. Clark Doncaster D. W. Avery London R. A. Rice Derbyshire &R. E. Thomas R.A.E. C. F. Devon Cambridge LancashireP. O. Gray Pcrkins C. D. Mackenzie Adcn Services R. F. Whittak.er Red HandT. J'. Ward 644 0.S. K. H. Doctscb Imp. CoIl. H. Budding OuseE. R. Undcrwood Nonhams J. H. Scrivcner London T. N. McGeen LondonJ. G. Paxton Midland A. D. H. Embling London A. R. Walker LondonT. B.Grcen Coventry W. J. Causland Empire Test W. Fuller 643 G.S.M. J. Butterficld 643 G.S. Pilots S. L. Butt OuseK. M. Wallace 614 G.S. A. A. Vincent Essex Jo. D. Waters FenlandD. E. Cadiseh London D. C. Kel1y 6310.S. K. L. Edwards Moonrake-.sG. A. Ncvisky 635 G.S. KT. Blank Lasham R. P. MacAllan Red HandJ. Burt Kent A. Parker Yorkshire R. A. Woodward PerakM. A. Seabrook London R. A. Jones Cambridge H. A. Bellingbam Cru$adcr~B. M. W. Fletcher Suffolk S. 1. Matthews Yorkshire M. Berridge PonsmouthA. J. Middleton Aberdeen D. Bryan-Joncs South Wales B. V. WiIliams PonsmouthA. J. King Fenland G. R. Smith. Midland D. 0. Bcnnett 643 G.S.R. G. Gardner Coventry B. W. Brighton Newca5tlc J. F. Lomas RAF CentreR. A. F. Edwards Four Counties P. M. Rama- Empire Test S. R. Canncll LondonG. R. King London chandran Pilots D. Williams 633 0.S.H.C.H.Whitcside 6350.5. D. S. Prout South Wales R. C Jevens 6;11 G.S.A. M. Hcwitt Cornish R. L. Mcrritt Empire Test V. Cronk 642 G.S.A. P. Pool East Anglian Pilots R. F. J. Spier MidlandD. S. R,gby 635 G.S. C. F. Dance Kent D. O. H. Messcnt DoncasterJ. M. Nagda 663 G.S. G. E. Croft SUll'ey A. J. Stones RA.F Kinon.

~: ~~~~~:~t Coventry R. C. R. Chesters London in-LindscyEssex M. J. Wilshere Midland J. A. Lynes Fetlland

W. J. Morris 631 G.S. P. D. Ransford Windrushers K. A. Ward WcsscxB. R. Hunt 633 O.S. S. D. Mitchell Phrenix H. R. Hobson LashamB. J. Bigham 6320.5. C. H. Ottley E. Midl.nds H. D. V. Leech WcsscxP. Morris Condor R. C. Atkinson Fenland M. Truman NewcastleH. P. Nunes 'Essex R. H.2Powell Crusad'crs 1. Harrop 633 G.S.J. S. M. Dannatt K1cnt P. T. C. Bush 6;110.S. F. H. Wooldridge MidlandA. A. Cummings East Anglian M. J. Baker Imp. Coil. P. V. Mooney FulmarD.A.S.MacLaren Scottish A. J. M. Stoncley 621 G. S. J. M. Ridlwel1 LondonJ. Wilkinson Kent B. P. Keeler 6110.S. G. C. Greenslade SurreyA. V. Wiper 646IG.S. D. S. Jackson 621 G.S. J. L Williams EmpiroTestK. S. Fowler 635 G.S. D. G. Thomas Cornish PilotsH. C. Ctark Scottish A.Davie London J. H. Whitncy NimbusP. Oainton~Whitc Swindon C. D. Laming RM Hand J. H. H. Barrow CornishH.G.Griffin Essex W. T. Bailey Doncaster K. Taylor LondonM. R. HOllis Wind rushers A. P. Rowe Halesland M. Bialkicwicz PolishD. C. Mi11ard CoventrY A. RowelJ 635 G.S. P. I. Normand West Wale>J. G. Smith Scottish' K. A. Bevcrton Doncaslcr J. H. Minchin West WalesC. C. Handley Condor G. N. Halliday Four Countii:5 D. M.. PiUam Derbyshire &P. Ran-Davis Windru$hers P. Hunt Suffolk LancashireR. Craig Bristol F. Bell Devon & A. Freeman SurreyV. K. Valdeo London Somerset L. G. Dobson Yorkshire1<. J. hitch cad 631 G.S. C. ft. Gardner Devon & G. G. Bedword LondonT. Shcphel'd . Newcastle Somerset B. P. Hugllins London

D. L. Ray Windrushers

417

B.G.A. NewsAnnual best flights

Last year, unfortunately, several Cupsand Trophies were not awaIded becauseno one had put in a claim, although itwas known that some good flights hadbeen made.

Please put in your claim this year,even though you may think you haveheard of a better flight. Some claimshad to be disallowed because of in­sufficient evidence, and some flights hadnot in fact achieved their rumoured end.Claims to be sent to the office not laterthan 7th January, 1963.

Records homologatedBRITISH NATIONAL DISTANCE: 460.5

miles by P. D. Lane in Skylark 3F.Geilenkirchen (Gennany) to Angouleme(France): 1st June, 1962-

UNITED KINGDOM 100 KM. SPEEO:86 miles by M. Bird in Skylark 3F,Camphill to Ingoldmells in I hour 13minutes, speed 71.09 m.p.h.; 4th August,1962.

RegioDaI Competitions 1963The following Clubs have been given

approval to run Regional Competitions,the result of which may count for PilotRating.

MIDLAND GLIDING CLUBThe usual Easter Competitions will

be held at the 'Long Mynd from Friday,12th April, to Tuesday, 16th April, 1963.EntIy fonns and regulations will beavailable from Ist January, 1963, andentries will close on 1st March, 1963.

No acceptance of entries will be madebefore tbe c!osing dJlte for entries. Ifmore entries ate received than can beaccepted, the entries will be reduced tothe acceptable maximum by selectionbased as foliows:-

(a) To obtain a fair proportion ofpilots of all grades from the mosthighly rated to the unrated.

(b) Consideration will be given tothose pilots and clubs that havesupported the competitions overthe past years.

Entry forms and regulations may beobtained on or. after 1st January, fromLieut.-Col. G. BensQn, D.B.E., Marston,

418

Pembridge, Leominster, Herefordshire(Tel: PemQridge 203).

LoNDON GLIDING CLUBAugust Bank Holiday: 27th July to

5th August, 1963. Details will be an­nounced fater.

NORFOLK & NORWICH GLIDING CLUBEaster: 12th April-18th April, 1963.

Entries after 1st January.

Coach and CapstaDJohn Everitt has been selected as the

National Gliding Coach from a numberof outstanding candidates. We wiSh himevery success in his new appo:nlment.

Tissandier Diploma

A T the Athens General Conferenceof the Federation Aeronautique Inter­

nOlionaJe, a Paul Tiss'an<lier Diplomawas awarded to Cedric O. Vernoo .. ofthe B.G.A. Technical Committee, i'forh's technical work in connection withglider airworthiness:'

Annual General Meeting altd BallSaturday, 9th March, 1%3

As reported briefly in the last issue,the A.G.M. and otber Meetings willtake place at the Duke of York's H.Q.,Chelsea, on Saturday, 9th March, 1963.These will be followed by a Dinner alidBall at the Kensington Palace Hotel towelcome home the British team fromthe Argentine Championships. Tickets,whicb will cost 30s. each. will belimited and will nnt be available afterMonday 4th March. Seating will be attables of eight, so why not get up aparty, but do apply for your ticketsearly, and do remember to tell us whosetable you wish to sit at Tickets forstudent members for dancing only(10 p.rn.-I a.m.) will be available atl2s. 6d. each. The Annual Awards willbe presented at the eod of the DiJ"'OCTand it is also hoped to have a shortcabaret. Ticket application forms will befound in all clubs or tickets may be pur­chased direct from the B.G.A. or aMember of tbe Committee.

YVONNE BoNHAM,Chairman-BaU Ccmmittee.

A ContinentalHoliday by Philip Wills

.GRENCHEN C~ERNE

X SlJSTEN PASS

XSI 6~-WE~~~~:ns

XSIMPlONPASS

.BASE.L

MAJ<TERHORN6TStBERWA'i PASS x

MtROSA

M~LAIiC A~S1A

t Bla·

~:~HM-EL

MflARADISO .MILAt.J

Grencben is the centre of the Swiss watchmaking industry. A beautifulgrass airfield at the foot of the Jura. Lots of light aeroplanes and twogliding clubs with Ka-6's, Mucha Standards, a Foka, a Phoenix, andso on. Hangars, bar and clubhouse. A terriffic Olympic-standard swimming

pool next door.

419

~ A greatthey got outher: 20-metreflaps, up-andthe lot. Terrifithe romplicatio

From Grenchen through Berne andJnterJaken, and over the Susten Pass.Mungo and Racy Buxton and Kitty peerover the edge whilst the Vanguard is• given a breather.

Down the other side of the Susten. tbenup to Andermatt. and over the SI. Gott­hard. A bit of overtime involved withthe steering-wheel, snaking down fromthe top to Lugano and Italy. ...

Pass.. The Vanguard went man­towmg the trailer.

me at Varese. whereEolo and let me fly• retractable wheel.ailerons. V-tail

rformance - but oh.

Out of the hangar. over the road and on to the airfield. whichruns down to the lake.

• I delivered the Skylark 4 to Adele Orsi, to supplement my"Three" which Georgio Orsi bought last year. So two Skylarksin the Wills' colours now sit side by side, eyeing each otherin a friendly way. When Spring comes ...

On the terrace at the Orsis'house, a meeling between(I. to r.) Professor Georgii,Mr. de Lange (OS-TIv).General Nannini (head manof Italian gliding) andGiorgio Orsi, discussing pos­sible future OSTIV activitiesat Varese.

The Blanik (Czech) two·seater at Aosta. All-metal,beautifully constructed, verynice to fly. A low sinking­speed even with the flaps,air-brakes and wheels alldown! Radio in all aircraftat Aosta.

422

Renato Vitelli was at Varesefor the day, and everyonetold us we simply must, onour way home, visit the newGliding School at Aosta, atwhich he is chief instructor.(He speaks English, and hasa splendid sense of humour.)

423

.A. In a M-lOOS, 4,000 ft.over the airfield at Aosta.looking west up the valleyto the town. Mt. Blanc.15,800 ft., is half-right outof the picture. The Gt. St.Bernard Pass is to the right,up the valley out of thetown.

• 5,000 ft. over Aostalooking south towards Mt.Paradiso, 14,000 ft. TheM-lOOS is an Italian Stand­ard class design, excellent tofiy and of good perform­ance and simple construc­tion. Being built also inFrance under lie e nee.Designer, P. MorelIi.

Waves occur through 180 0 of wind directions, over surrounding mountains upto over 15,000 fL I anticipate climbs to awund 40.000 ft.

Control tower, restaurant and sleeping accommodation, baths et al., for 10s.a night! A glider to yourself for a week at 15s. an hOlilr! Courses throughoutthe year. The address: Centra Penna,nente di Vola Veleggeato di Alta Quota,

Aeroporto Regionale di Aosta, Northern Italy.

424

The \\Ten Year Plus" Overhaul

FROM many conversations lately it isclear that there are a lot of ~ople

who are still a bit in the d<1rk about theTea Year Plus Overhauls on gliders. Allidea persists that this overhaul is somesort of super C. of A. in which the glideris torn open a'nd generally stripped downto the last degr!,)e. This is not the i.dea atall.

The rule is that when a glider is tenyears old the C. of A. shall be signed. bXa Senior Inspector, and the TechmcaJCommittee of the B.G.A. have decidedthal this shall be repeated every fiveyears thereafter, Just that and nothingmore.

The idea behind the establishment ofthe Senior Inspectorship was simply thatthe need was felt for a corps of inspec­tors who had rather more experiencethan average, and in particular, whocould be considered experts in the. de­terioratiolt o,f materials, glues, etc. andin the detection of corrosion.

The idea of the Tel1,. Year Plus Over­haul should now be fairly obvious. Itis to catch the badly maintained Qr re­paired glider or the machine that hasbeen badly stored, and tQ see that it isput into a servict.'able state before itsdeterioration becQmes dangerous. Iwould stress that, in the case of the pro­perly maintaineu machine, which has- gotall its repairs an~ adj1)stmr:nfs properlysigned up in the Log book by an ap­proved person, the Ten Year Plus shouldnot be much more than an ordinaryC. of A. Th!: Senior Inspecter has fullauthori,ty, of course, to decide exactlyh?w far he shall go in the way of strip­Ping down. but if the state of thema~hine or! inspection is good, and themamtenance is fuUy signed up in thelog. book by an approved person, thenhe IS perfectly jllstified in accepting therna.chine as beimg in good strueturaJ con­ditIOn and in taking the closed COm.PQll­ents fairly on trust.

However. if the machine does notappear in good conditiojl, and the logbook does not supply the evidenCll ofthe maintenance dl:lly signed by an ap­prOved person, then the unhappy in­spector has. nothing to go on. He is

425

failing in his duty if he does not openup pretty extensively until he is ab­solutely certain. tba'! there is no deter­ioration inside the machine. and thathe has chased out and elirninat(:d allthe l;orrosion.

The Technical Committer: did notstart this idea for fun. Several cases hadcome up of machines that had beenfound to have deteriorated te an extentwhich made them high)y s~pect. Thelog books of these machines were veryreticent on the subject of who had dpnewha't to them and when. It was felt thatto allow this state of affairs to go on wasasking for troub l -.=, and this Ten YearPlus scheme seemed the simplest wayof dealing with the problem. ~

I wQlJhl repeat that the properlymaintained machine has nothing to fearfrom this scheme. The badly main­tained machine is the one that the schr:mewill penalise, and it is the purpose ofthe inspection to prevent that mal;hinefrom becoming a death trap.

R. STAFFORD-ALLEN,

for Technical Committee.

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First Hour Without Motorby Arthur Martens

Just forty years ago, the art of prolonged soaring flight was mastered at a com­petition held on the Wasserkuppe$ mountain in Central Germany. Here is atranslation from an account of the world's first motorless flight of an hour, whichthi? pilot wrote for a newspaper immediately after the event. The flight won hima prize of 100,000 marks (the currency being inflated at the time) for the firstmotorless {liglrt of over 40 minutes. In the same machine the world's "ecord wasraised next day to 2 hours and on August 24th to 3 hours 6 minutes by F. H.Hentzen, who is believed to be now in Cairo, but we have been unable to contacrhim so far. Martens unfortunately lost Jris life in an air liner crash in 1937.

r: is August 18th, 1922, late in the figure of a single observer following myafternoon. The Wasserkuppe gleams silent bird thmugh glasses. Now J was

in the bright sun. A wind of 6-8 m/so poised high above the Pferdskopf and(l3t-18 m.p.h.) blows across the plateau. began to turn the machine sloWly backShortly before, it had turned sharply towards the launching point.to the west - a good chance for an With a sudden sharp turn I was offattempt on the big prize. towards the launching point at great

I announced to the officials: .. Flight speed with a partial tail-wind, andin the Vampyr, attempt on the big while some way off I heard the criesIndustrial Prize". Quickly the machine of several hundred voices which grewwas lifted off its trolley and stood ready louder and louder. Now I was 100for the launch. A short look-over, a metres above the launching point and,quick test of the controls, and amid with a sharp left turn above the massjokes and laughter I was forcibly helped of spectators, headed once more intointo the cockpit - for getting into OUT the wind.sailplanes was not so simple for anyone How long had I been in the air? IequIpped with long legs. looked at my watch and realized I had

.. All ready?" forgotten the starting time. Already I

.. All ready! " came the reply. was back over the steep west slope and

.. Wind strength?" had to be careful not to shoot out too

.. Fluctuating between 6 and 8 metres far over the valley and lose the liftinga second." power of the wind. I let the big bird

The launching rope hung from the drift across win,d onto the previoushook. The launching team were all in track. Again I saw the lonely obs.ervertheir places. We could start. on the Pferdskopf sink lower and

.. 7 - 7 - 8 - 8t", shouted the lower, and hovered silently like a greatman with the anemometer. Clear and antediluvian bird above him, turnedsharp from the cockpit came the com- again, flew over the crowd, quickly sawmand: .. Look out - ready - off!" the great massif of the Kuppe comingThe machine came to life. It rolled at me, tipped the machine over and waslightly on our special chassis, made of once more above the starting point.inflated .. Conti" balls, over the gently .. How long have I been flying?"undulating ground. Lightly our big I shouted down. They heard me andwhite bird lifted off. became silent I called again, and then

The wind blew fairly steadily, so that hundreds of voices shouted indepen­I didn't have to work the controls much, dently and I could make out nothing.and the proud bird climbed, mocking For the fourth time the sailplane setgravity, towards the blue sky. To the course for the starting point. There Ileft I could see the Pferdskopf, a pro- saw a strange sight: on the groundmontory that stands out clearly from there lay a giant number .. 1'8". Athe mountain massif. It sank lower and brilliant idea! Enthusiasts had laid outlower and. with the machine lying the number with their bodies - aoblique to the wind, I came nearer to number that lived, gesticulated andit. On its summit I recognized the shouted wildly. For me this moment of

426

wireless intercourse with the earth wasone of the fine~t of the whole flight.

For a fifth time I returned - low,very low. Thoughts came and went. likelightning! What had gone wmng?Had the wind let up? Had it veered?Was I flying badly? I tried by .everypossible means to regain height . • .. invain.

I flew over the scarting point with25 metres toO spare, Below lay a living.. 24". Shouts ... q,uestions came up,but I could only understand fragments.I called down: .. I can't hold it; thewind is dropping." Silence below... What is the wind strength downthere ?" A single voice called out loudand clear: .. Wind's much less, 3 to 4metres a seoond" (7-9 m.p,.h.).

So I should have to give up ~ anunpleasant feeling, after the goal hadbeen in sight.

I held the controls perfectly still,with nerves tensed to snatch any kindof airstream that would lift me again.With alarm and sadness I noticed thatthe machine had almost sunk belowstarting level. I lookl:d around at thecountry.side . . . ,qujet . . '. dumb . . .apathetiC. I could have cned.

Suddenly the machine gave a jolt andJ felt. myself heaved up as in a lift. Astrong gust had seized the machine andthrew it higher, higher, even higher. On

AT/hur Marlens (left) and F. H. Hent­::'<'11, wQrld record /rolders in 1922.

the left the Pferdskopf sank lower.Suddenly I felt a strong wind; the climbbecame surer, gusts struck the machineblow upon blow. Swiftly I tried tocapture as much energy as I could fromthe gusts.

Again I was high above the pferd­skopf and made my .sixth tum over theWasserkuppe t.o the accompaniment ofloud jUbilations from below. At thisheight a stronger ,and almost unifprmwind was blowing. tn the west the sunwas sinking; haze enveloped the valley.By the Eubeberg a pair of buzzardscircled sliently at my height.

Over the Pferdskopf for the ninthtime, I saw a living number in thedistance and heard cheers from theexpectant crowd. I approached, andmade out the number - it was" 40" !

I shouted: they became silertt, andheard from above the words: .. Now Ishall go into the valley and fly toGersfeld '''. A confusion of' voices, thenup came a clear voice: .. Don't fly toGersfeld; the distance is too short."

Another tom, then over the Pferd­skopf, and then I set off towards thevalley and the setting sun, leaning backand holding the controls still. After awhile I turned my. head and saw theWasse:rkuppe massif outlined againstthe evening sky. Deep, deep under methe village of Poppenhausen went by.Dogs barked, hens fled to their coops,men looked up and shouted ... shouted.I approached the Ebersburg on the leftand looked down on the ancient castleruins. I must have been in ,the air 50minutes. The thought. suddenly flashedthrough my mind: .. I must completethe hour".

I avoided every unnecessary movementof the controls, .sacrificing height inchby inch (Zoll fitr Zoll). Out of thehaze emerged a white church towersurrounded by houses. That must beWeyhers. I looked at my watch:Hurrah! the hour bad passed - byhow much, I knew not. I estimated myheight as 150 metres and decided to land.A few hundred yards ahead was ameadow; beyond it a brook, and by ita water mill clattered. I put the nosehard down. The wind began to whistle!I dived the maehine to just above theground, charged across a cornfield,arrived over the meadow at high speed.

427

and floated ., . . floated . . .Just above the ground I threw the

machine onto its left wing, which wasgrasped by the earth; then the greatbird fell exhausted onto its, inflatedConli balls. A short jolt, a sharp leftturn, and it came to a slop just before

a cornfield. I sat in the cockpit for amoment, re-living the experences oJ theflight, then tore' off the wind protectorand was joyfully received by thevillagers, who surveyed the great monsterfrom the Wasserkuppe in astonishmentwith unbelie..ing eyes.

Jingle Bells at 71.09 m.p.h.by Mike Bird

BEFORE I forget, here are some basic. details. Date: Saturday, August 4th.

Aircraft: Skylark 3p. Distance: 86 mil~from Camphjll to Skegn~s (lngold­mells). Time of start, 13.44; finish, 14.57.

The other relevant fact is perhaps thewind, which averaged 28 knots over thecourse at an angle of track which gavean actual downwind component of 24knots,

There were three distinct phases tothe flight, all of which helped to makeit quite short. Firstly, a, dash through liftmarked by several competitors over thefirst 15-20 miles; secondly, a set of shortbut powerful cloud streets; and lastly, a30-mile final glide which left 200 ft. tospare at the goal.

While pressing upwind to make aproper ,racing start, I saw out of thecorner IJf my eye a 'string of other gliders

circling vigorously at regular intel'valsdownwind of the site. These markerswere too good to lose, and I turned anddashed obliquely across the line at1,900 ft. through heavy sink to' the firstmarker. A couple of circLes and on tothe next glider-but in steady lift. With­Put circling we reached numbers threeand four at Sheffield, 12 miles out in10 minutes.

In a few more minutes, however, thesky was empty of gliders, and I had tofind my own thermals instead of stealingthem. Howe..er, I now had an idea ofwhat to expect in the way of streeting,thermal strengths and sink. The rate was75 knots across the gaps, 55 knots inzero sink and 40, no circUng, in lift upto 400 f.p.m. One serious climb wasmade, 2,000 ft. in 3 minutes, just shortlilf Linco'ln. Here, I learnt later, some

423

Mike Bird (left)with his whrningSkylark 3 atCamphill.

people happily continued on to 8,000 fLor more, but with 35 miles to go itseemed about time to think about com­ing down rather than going up.

When I emerged from the end of thatlast exhilarating street there were 30m~les left and 5,500 ft. in hand. Therest was an anxious minute-by-minuteplotting of height against distance usinga tatty piece of graph paper taped to aquarter-inch map. I don't believe muchin glide calculators which make exactassumptions about glider performance,but prefer to mark height lost againstdistance covered on a graph; you canmake instant visual checks of whetherthe achieved glide-angle can be pro­jected to the goal or safely beyond it.If not, the extra height needed can beworked out in a couple of seconds. Nomoving parts and no polar curves.

The worst bit was not knowing pre-

Cable-TanglesTHIS year has provided, in addition

to the usual crop, a smalI growthwhich seems to be distinguishable as anew growth, or perhaps more correctly,a survival of a weed wh:ch it was hopedhad been eradicated. I have now labeIledthis growth as the CABLE-TANGLE.

The first of this year appeared as areport of an auto-tow cable which, be­coming entwined with a winch cable,lying too close to it, puIled the lattertaut; tbe winch cable then broke free,and in doing so damaged the tail planeof an adjacent aircraft. The second con­cerned a Tutor which, during the launch,drifted, so released its cable to one sideof its expected track. The inexperiencedpilot cannot be blamed, but the piloto~ the tug of a TigerlSwaIlow com­bination, taking off close behind theTutor, was ,obviously in an unsafe posi­tion, because tbe dropping cable feUacross the combination, wbich broke up10 disorder.

Number three in this series is bestdescribed in ,the words of the pilot in­volved, and of an observer. The pilotreported thus:-

"The launch appeared normal.At about 500 feet above take-off

429

cisely where Ingoldmells airfield wasexcept that it was right next to BillyButlin's-which looked about 10 mileswide when we arrived. It came into viewto my intense relief when I had 700 ftleft and three miles to go.

Postscript OD future recordsIt seems that 70 m.p.h. is really pretty

slow assuming a good tailwind and afinal glide covering a third of the dist­ance. A determined attempt to make areally fast speed (say 100 m.p.h.) wouldbe to choose a goal exactly 62.1 milesdownwind and to start when a massivecloud street was in the right position.Such attempts would be freaks, ofcourse, but they could be a way ofenjoying cracking conditions when thewind is too strong for a closed-circuitand you are too broke to go a very longway downwind.

the pull on the launch cable ceasedin a manner consistent with winchfailure. I pulIed the release cabletwice. and was satisfied that thecable had gone. I started a right­hand .circuit. The speed fell -offrapidly and it required forwa_rdstick pressure to maintain a satis­factory speed. I checked thetrimmer lever position and foundit in the normal take-off position.I put it fully forward. This had noeffect. Now I heard a whining noise,as though a cable was draggingover some part of the aircrafL Thisstopped, and was replaced by aslight irregular jerking movement.I pulled the release knob again tomake sure that the cable had reallygone. I had now completed about90 degrees of my right-hand turn,and had lost height rapidly. I con­tinued my turn which took the air­craft beyond the western boundaryof the airfield, and after about 200degrees of turn, back over it at aheight of about 70 ft. I took off·turnto land straight ahead. The whiningnoise restarted, and it became diffi­cult to maintain flying speed. Theai'reraft finally refused to fly anymore, and without altering its at­titude, which was quite nose down,

FRED FUMBLE

EXTRACT FROM "LAWS AND RULES"

·'F./4.-All pilots must report anysuspected defects or heavy landings totire instructor in charge before the air­craft is [town again."

430

seemed a con­and struek theforward speed

it dropped whatsiderable distance,ground with nowhatsoever. "

The observer, who was wing-tip man,repOlted thus:-

"The glider before taking offfouled the adjacent winch-launchingcable with its tailskid. This cable,which was staked at the launchi'ngend, cut a groove in front of theskid plate, and became firmly at­tached, pulling the \'itake out of theground. The launch continued,despite a stop signal, and the deadcable was carried up with theglider, the parachute hanging about200 feet below it. At about 500 feetthe winch driver saw the cable at­tached to the tailskid, stopped thelaunch, and guillotined the deadcable. The pilot, presuming a winchfailure, released the live cable andattempted a circuit."

Report number four describes alaunch in which the pilot of a T-3ldropped his wing to' a degree whichsomehow permitted his tailplane to foul

another ca,ble. and to become entangledwith it. The fouled (dead) cable waspromptly cut, and the launch and circuitther~fter proceeded norma\Jy.

These four accidents suggest to methat tbere are Clubs, Instructors, pilots,winch drivers, and Launch Masters whoare no longer as alert as desirable to thelethal properties of an uneontrolledcable. The precautions necessary whenabout to launch are all quite well known.May I now, as your Accidents Analyser,respectfully suggest to all those Clubs.Instructors, pilots, winch-drivers, andLaunch-Masters who have not beenalerted by' being involved in these fourparticular incidents, that you have alook at your launching arrangements.Lt may save you some money; it couldsave something far more important thanthat.

G. J. C. P.

EOlTOIlJAL NOTE.-Since writing the fot~­

going article, Air Commodore Cbris.to­pher Paul has resigned from the officeof Accidents Analysis Officer.

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431

Thankyou,Berneby Major Donald Scarfe

H AVING been persuaded by the'Other Half' that for two weeks out

of the fifty-two She was to be permittedto spend my off-<luty moments else­where than "on a ******* airfielq",I took the family to Lake Thun this lastsummer. Besides, I'd read in the Mag.about a chap with a gliding centre at aplace called Gstaad, and that t<?osounded as if it could be somewhere mSwitzerland. Like the rest of you, I hadof course alsG seen a photo of ourChairman airborne over an Alp,so itlooked as if the trip had possibilitiesif played carefully... . .

The first day was InevItably a blIndmgdash down the autobahn, under a per­fect sky ... it would probably havebeen quicker by Ka-7 . . . and t.henight was spent in a hotel at M ulhelm.Incidentally, we chose the !totel becauseof a display frame full of gliding photo­graphs which my youngest spotted onthe wall, and happily the enthusiastturned out .to be the cook. Steak aupoivre a Vol a Voile is now a firmfavourite with us.

Arriving at Faulensee, we spent aday on our backs resting .and watc~inga resident Cu over the Nlederhorn Justacross the water. That evening a gliderappeared under the Cu, and I resolvedto organize a mystery tour by car thefollowing day. The 'O.H.' rumbled thedestination at once, but was sweetenough 10 pretend to be mystified! Thiswas, in fact, the first of maJ.ly such tours,each of which was unfrUItful, and al­though we certainly saw a bit of th.eBcrnese Oberland, at least one SP!fltwas getting pretty low. Then one eveningI watched a U.K.-based Auster land atthe local airfield (situated rather quaintlyin my opinion in the Thun rifle range),and the pilot, who was out for a few

u.uu A strange word she broughtf.rom the Navy.

days' holiday, told me that there wascertainly gliding at Berne, where he hadjust cleared customs.

At 9 a.m. on the Sunday, I reachedBerne airfield in time to see two Ka-S'sand a Rhonlerche being towed simul­taneously behind a jeep lo the launchingpoint. A quick word with the dnver,who turned out to be the elegant MaxFischer, duty instructor, and I was madewelcome by all present.

What a field! Restaurant, bar, hangars,a commercial aircraft concrete strip, avast grass area for gliding, all sur­rounded by farm land stretching awayto wooded slopes on three sides andthe city on the fourth. Quite the mostmagnificent two-cable winch I've comeacross, purring away quietly, and aero­tows from about 11 0' clock, "after mOstpeople have been to church". The windwas unfortunately very feeble, but itdid change direction during the pro­ceedilJgs-to our disadvantage, as itseemed to come away from all threeslopes.

I was given the first flight in theRhonlerche as a check, and in almost

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432

no time we were at 400 metres.What a view! A whole line of snowy

peaks above the yel.~ow cornfields andgreen trees, Eiger, Mom:b, Jungfrau ...the sun blazing out of a blue sky and... hullo! 150 metres, cut in a bit andland back at lhe launching point. I sup­pose in the end one can overlook eventhe Alps, but for a dual check theyconstitute an additional hazard, evenwhen 30 miles away.

After a while out came the tug, andorr in a Ka-8 for half-an-hour of hilllocked thermal. -This was my first ex­perience of aero-[owing without a hori­zon-I was released at 400 metres abovethe strip, but still below the height ofthe surrounding hills; happily the ro~

was over 100' feet long and not the20-metre job so popular now inGermany.

Meanwhile a thTice diamonded Volks­wagen had arrived at the launchingpoint and its owner had disappearedupwards in the only Sky in the country,leaving his wife to sunbathe. She wascharmingly decorating. a chaise tonguebeside the car from whieh dangled thehand set of the radio, giving what

seemed to me to be continual reportsof 2 metres sink at 30 miles distance.Pcople like that make me see red, theway they fly without thermals.

All except the sun bath and the radiocontact stopped for the customary con­tinental lunch "hour" which I bad al­ready run up against at Fontainebleau,and as the afternoon attendance hadgrown to quite a milling crowd I de­parted shortly after three leaving some­one else to put 'em away. Don't thinkharshly of this, however because Bernegliding is on commercial lines--one re­ports la the LuftpoLzei office for a billat the end of the day-and I'm sure thata visitor is nof expected to take part instacking.

Ccrtainly the welcome and thefriendly atmosphere were greatly ap­preciated, and so was the kindnessshown to my efforts at Frcnch. I shallbe watching next year's WorldChampionships with even greater in­terest than usual to see whelher theSwiss National Champion ever cameback to collect h's wife! Good Luck tohim, and to a delightful club. Thankyou, Berne.

Write to: Dept. SQ.• trying Air. Ch.uta of GoB. Ltd~. Letchworth. Herts.

433

FRED FUMBLE

...---

EXTRACT FROM "LAWS AND, RULES"

"F.2.-A pilot on meeting haza"dolls conditions in flight shall, assoon as possible. report to the appropriate Air Traffic Controlinformation helpful to the safety of other aircraft."

.134

I HAVE over the past year been writ­ing a number ·of articl~s on air safe.ty,

and particularly in relation to the nskof air coliisions. Some of these havebeen widely published in many co~­tries, because the problems of ~Jr"fraffic Control have been frustratmgthe growth of aviation all over theworld. .

These articles have all been leadrng upto the folfowing proposal, since this isthe best line of approach we can see toa solution of these problems .on com­mon-sense lines, permitting the maxi­mum growth of ,the use of the air con­sistent with known and acceptablestandar~s of safety.

I hope that this article may also bepublished in other countries, f?r thisis an international problem, and IS mostlikely of solution if we all a1tack it inthe same way.

Existing A.T.e. policy is perforcebased largely on emotion, in the ab­sence of sufficient factual information.The pressure of vested interests hasproduced a conviction that collisionrisks are too large, and ought to be,and can be, reduced by increasing re­strictions as fast as additional equip­ment makes it possible to do so. In­creasing restrictions lead to decreasedUse of the air by those sections of avia­tion which are unable to afford or carrythe necessary airborne equipment. Thetechnical state of the science is still soinadequate that A.T.e. proceeds largelyon the assumption that the air is fllit(sinGe altitudes are not normally mea­si!red from the ground) and tn.at allpilots are blind, and So unable to avoidcollisions, ev·en in clear air, by simplylooking out of their windows. Hencethe paradox that, whilst A.T.e. declarest~eir special brand of air is overcrowded,pilots (Other than professional ones whoare not worried by the cost) find thatthe real, three-dimensional air is quitee:upty, and resent their growirng exclu­Sion from increasing volumes of air­space.

Appeals of these pilots to the factsfall on ears almost deaf, partly perhaps

* '" '" A Rational Approachto

Air Traffic Controlby Philip Wills

doe to the feeling that these f.acts havenot yet sufficient background to bestatistically reliable, but mainly to theenormous impetus the current philo­sophy has achieved, and the vast andexpensive plans in the pipeline towardsfurther controls.

Since the number of. collisions in t.heworld involving airliners and glidersremains at zero and thi~ figure is hardlysusceptible of im!,IOvemenl, the dead­lock between opinion and policy basedupon it, aDd fact, appears to be com­plete.

Attempts to break it founder uponsuch disingenuous statements from otherinterests as: "There can be no com­prom;se with safety". The kindest thingthat can be said. aboot this is that it isdangerous nonsense--dangerous becauseit is nonsense. To achieve the benefits ofa.viation everyone-public included-isforced. to accept a compromise withsafety-the only completely safe devicewould be a padlock put on the hangar,and the key thrown away. Every timean aircraft takes .off is a compromisewith safety: the operation is carried outwithin certain safety standards whichcould equally well be called dangerstandards.

In the design of an aircraft factorsar·e called for involving risks of theorder of 10-8 (one in a hundred million)of such things as simu:taoeous enginefailures, spar failure and the like. Higherfactors would involve higher costs,which are considered socially undesiF­able. The benefits of technical progressare devoted mainly to improving ser·vices, either to cheapen flying or tospeed it up, and safety standards arehardly increased at. all.

In A.T.C. matters, however, such anapproach is instinctively rejected, andit has been very difficult to produce re­liable figures. If they could be produced,

435

of taking an actuarial risk of I collisionin 250 Yeal'"S, restrictions acceptable toaa could be based on this formula, andan immense advance would have takenplace in this at present most unsatis­factory field.

If this policy were accepted, theBritish Gliding Associat;on is preparedto advance formulae applicable to glid­ing for study.

A.E.S.

Icing in StandingWave

AT an Aircraft Ice Protection Confer­ence at Luton, a B.E.A. Vanguard

was reported ·to have experienced "ex­tremely severe" icing when climbing outfrom Madrid on the way to London,resulting in a loss in performance equi­valent to 40 per cent of the maximumavailable power. The ice formed inabout 10-15 minutes during the climbfrom 6,000 to 14,000 ft. "The probabi­lity of meeting icing conditions of simi­lar severity"', it was stated, "is in theorder of once in 20 years of airlineoperation."

The incident is said to have occurred"in standing wave conditions in advanceof a warm front" on October 6th, 1961.The sloping surface of a Warm frontusually dilIers little from the horizontal,and if the "warm" upper layer IS abovefreezing point and the "cold" lowerlayer below freezing, rain can fallthrough from above on to an aircraftill the lower layer and immediatelyfreeze. If the front is thrown into waves,the rain could be concentrated into theregions near the wave crests.

Examination of the surface weatherchart for -this day shows a warm frontapproaching Madrid at noon, lying in adireclion N.E. by N. to S.W. by S. Thisis just about the course along which theaeroplane would tly, and if the waveswere approximately parallel to the lineof thc' front, it could have been flyingcontinuously in the region of concen­trated rainfall. The pilot saved the situa­tion by asking for clearance to a lowerlevel.

the whole situation would be revolu­tionised, and pilots, the public, and theauthorities would be in accord on therestrictions necessary to keep the col­lision risk within known limits. Dis­cip!ine in the air would be improvedand hence safety.

Traffic density in U.K. airspace iscurrently so low that the risk of col­lision in much controlled airspace aris­ing from human -error may well begreater than the random risk in un­controlled airspace. Hence we get theremarkable suspicion that in someareas air tralfic control achieves in­creased accountability for collisions ata cost of increasin-g the risk of them hap­pening.

Before we glider pilots suffer from afrantic exodus of commercial trafficfrom their exiSting control1ed airspaceinto our free air, may I quickly pointout that risks in both classes of airspaceare exceedingly small.

Current risks of a fat.al airliner acci­dent from all causes are believed to beof the order of I in 500,000 hours offlight, within which figure the risk offatal collision is an infinitesimal part.Efforts are of course constantly madeto improve this record, but not at thecost of seriously contracting the wholescop.: of aviation, For instance, no oneovertly states that all forms of a"'iationexcept military and commerc:al aviationshould cease, although if this were doneobviously risks would be reduced, ifonly infinitesimally. No one requiresthat all four-engined aircraft should atall times be able to reach an airfield inthe event of three engines failing, be­cause the cost ef such increased safetywould be prohibitive.

When we consider the conflict arisingfrom this cause between public safetyand private flying, we must distinguishbetween the degree of risk the publicmust accept to achieve the benefits ofaerial transport, and the additional riskthey should be subjected to in order toachieve the much more diffuse nationaland social benefits arising from, say,private flying and gliding. Th's is a diffi­cult equation, and one that is politicalmore than technical.

If, for instance, it is agreed that glid­ing was nationally valuable to the extent

416

EDELWEISS - A French Standard Class Sailplane

THE SIREN Company, known since1952 for its production of equipment

for diverse aircraft, has launched out intothe production of sailplan~s, beginningwith a Standard Class machme, the Edel­weiss. The Company's President-Direc­feur General is E. Gottot, and its Direc­feur des Etudes et Fabrications is J.Cayla - a name well kno~n .in. }hegliding world. It has centres d actlvlte .atVersailles (S. & 0., 13 rue SamtHonore), Argenton-sur-Creuse (Iodre),

and Bl"ussels.Series production of the Edelweiss is

expected to begin in spring 1963, andmeanwhile the prototype is destined forthe World Championships in Arg~ntina.

The general structure is of sandwichconstruction with a filling of plasticfoam. This allows maximum reductionof !ongerons, frames and ribs, and sosimplifies repairs. The pilot lies back,allowing a small fuselage cross-section.The tail is of V-type.

C...AAcrlAISTlQUU atNf."AL'E!....."..... '5.M.ue. t2.s.­aUOAfII'""t 18...__ 7.1-

\tu.,..

m.lu•.cou,le 'uHl... l 0,10 •

Principal DataWI G

Span 15 m. (49 ft. 2t in.).Area 12.5 sq. m. (134 sq. ft.).Aspect ratio 18.Dihedral 4 0 •

Taper 0.375.FUSELAGE

~ength ,7.6 m. (24 ft. 1I in.).Max. dlam_ 0.6 m. (I ft. 1I tin.).

Fax. height 0.72 m. (2 ft. 10 in.).

. rontal area 0.35 sq. m. (3.77 sq. ft.),

TWetted surface 9.7 sq. m. (104 sq. ft.).

AIL

Projected span 2.8 m. (9 ft. 2 in.).

437

SIR ENC. 30 "EDELWEISS"

PlANEUA MONOPlACE DE COMPETITION

CLASSE STANDAAD F.....I.

Area 2.2 sq. m, (23.7 sq. ft.).Aspect ratio 4.25.

WEIGHTSEmpty, 203 kg. (448 lb.).Equipped, 290 kg. (639 lb.).All-up, 380 kg. (838 lb.).Max. wing loading, 30 kg./sq. m. (6.14

lb. /sq. ft.).Pf,RFORMANC!'

Best gliding angle I in 34 at 95 km./h.(59 m.p.h.).

Min. sink 0.7 m. (2 ft. 4 in.) per sec.Sink at 120 km./h.• 1.2 m/soSink at 140 km./h., 1.8 m/soSink at 160 km./h., 2.7 m/so

Correspondence.TRAINING WllH AN ENGINE

Dear Sir,May I, as an ex-founder member of Mr. Hickson's club, be permitted to com­

ment on his letler criticising Derek Piggott's article on curing frustration?'1 would venture to suggest that frustration is more usually caused by lack of

team spirit and club politics than by -the type of machine to be used. Surely, inthe early stages, active participation and time in the air do most to build enthu­siasm and whet one's appetite for the better things; and any machine, whether partpowered or not, cannot faD to help in this direction.

Perhaps if Stan reads Derek's article again he wiII find that it said the per­formance would be identical with the ordinary glider, so how this would lead tosuicide later on I cannot imagine. In what sense does he use the word "suicide"?Suicide to fly the thing, or the death of soaring as a sport?

As the membership wastage and "crashery" of Mr. Hickson's club must surelybe one of the highest in the Country, I would say there is a problem. Let us doa simI>~e sum: Gliding equals Time plus Money. Any person, however enthusiastic,at some stage will say, "Is i·t worth it?" A considerable number apparently do notthink it is.

Also, the suggestion that those who win through emerge whiter 'than white isa fallacy-I would say 50 per cent true enthusiasts and 50 per cent "I'm an rightJack" type.

Statistics, it is said, can be made to prove any point of view, but it would beinteresting to sce some unbiased figures on the relationship between pilot rating andpersonal income, for competence at anything depends so much on practice, whichin turn usually means financial outlay. No doubt there are ways around the cost,such as passenger fiying, whether or not this be disguised as instructional flightsfor day members. This latter cannot fail in the end to frustrate all but the fortunatefew who enjoy this subsidy, and so turn away from the sport people who wouldbe enthusiastic and hard-working club members.

Although this sort of frustration has ended my active participation, I still thinkit is the greatest spon there is, and would certainly welcome any means found byDerek Piggot, or others, in getting more people interested and into the air with theminimum of frustration, be the frustration due to weather, equipment or clubpolitics.

A. H. TWIGGPeluhorougll, Northants.

A DISAPPOINTED VISITORDear Sir,

The great British gliding centres are held in high regard by overseas pilots,generally speaking. Accordingly, I quite casually passed by the French centres inthe south-east this September, and made directly for the best known of the Englishareas. I was most .impressed by the equipmen~ and facilities for the ab-initio pilots.the private owners and the members of syndIcates. I hastened to pay my ·five shil­lings, and made my way in a state of considerabre elation to the instructor incharge, where in a retiring fashion I stated my qualifications (ex-R.C.A.F. pilot,12 hours on a Schweizer 2-22), and my need, which I felt was for dual time inan advanced two-seat aircraft-in this case, the Eagle. During the next four andone-half hours I retrieved countless T-2Is, and onc Swallow countless times. Thislalter aircraft was d-riven by a young man of pyknic habitus who was apparentlyCUltivating command presence. Shortly after 4 p.m., without having been off theground, I was retrieved by my host, a 8.0.A.C. captain, who whisked me off to anear-by public house where suitable tranquiJizers were administered in adequatedosage.

438

MACKENZIE HUME

FELIX KNOEF

In retrospect, with the hackles a little flatter, and bearing in mind the advancebookings and need of the students, does it not seem that visitors from abroad,keenly interested in the continued happy state of British gliding, might be fitted,however briefly, into the day's flying activities?

New Hampshire

HUNDREDTH SILVER CDear Sir,

Congratulations to the Cambridge Club on their hundredth Silver C!Though proud of our nine completed Silver badges this season, no one in the

Surrey Club knew what our grand total was, as we doo't keep a Notable FI·ightsbook. However, Ken Machin's chailenge in the October issue just had to beanswered if possible, so a member was dispatched post baste to Artillery Mansionsto look through the old B.G.A. files. Her researches revealed that 119 Silver C'shave been completed by Surrey Club members to-date, though prior to 1953 thearchives are a little sketchy, Working backwards from thIS figure through the re­cords, it seems we unknowingly achieved our century in August 1960.

PATRICK GARNETTChairman, Surrey Gliding Club

BRITISH SAILP(,ANES OVERSEASDear Sir,

After making the acquaintance of Roy Proctor at Masterton, New Zealand,I read with interest his observations on the growing imports of foreign gliders intoerstwhile predominantly British markets and Slingsby's Comments thereon.

Of the 50 gliders registered in this country in November, 1961, no fewer than23 were of non-British origin. Of these 23, nineteen were (W) German (9 Rhon­lerches, 5 KA-6's, I KA-7, 2 Bergfa!kes, I Spalz and I Weihe).

The time when the Slingsby T-31 was 'the only basic trainer used by the emerg­ililg N.Z. gliding movement <:ame to an end in 1958 with the appearance of thefirst Rhonlerche, and by dint of its manufacturers offering a full range of follow-ontypes, clubs and private individuals have since tended to at least consider its light­we:ght, low-priced stable mates as well.

It would be correct to stale that British manufacturers have lost at least partof the export market through the neglect of the light-weight basic trainer field.(The T-31 is regarded as obsolete in this country). In New Zealand, where manya new gliding club finds its first wings in a ronust, low-priced German two-seater,a paHern may be established for future purchases and the local "Buy Bri6h"slogan may have little effect.

Certainly, Slingsby's have held their own in the narrow 18-metre class and weeven have two Swallows and an Eagle flying here, but most of these machines areOwned by private individuals {)r syndicates.

Import restrictions have now been lifted and about twenty new gliders are onorder at the time of writing. The only British gliders ordered so far are, to myknOWledge, aB single-seaters for private ownership; practically all club aircraft areag~lI1 coming from Germany and for one obvious reason: a h:gh price-performancerallo rather than high performance at any price.

Upper HUll, New Zealand.

SLINGSBY SAtI.PI.ANES writes: Our business (our manufacturer's business)<Iepends primarily on the home market. In this country it is a highly soph;sticated<lte:. the clubs require a machine capable of training to an advanced standard, in­C udmg blind f1yin~. wbich is not permitted in Germany. Such a machine must cost;nore, although in Ope'l~aclOn it may evenLuaIly cost less. Hence the T-49. The Rho/1­erche does not sell in England, presumably for this reason.

439

We do realise the world needs both types of aircraft, but we could not affordto build a type only for export, which com,titutes !lbout. 30% of our trade, nor couldwe develop and service it to the standards. we consider essentiaL

We think the ~videncc shows that in our own field we have succeeded-Mr.Knoef says rather over 50% of gliders in New Zealand are British. We believe muchmOre than this percentage of the really big flying in his country-records and soon-is done on OUr ~ircraft. ,But don't think we are complacent--we would muchrather have 100% of the market, if we could'

COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS FOR COMPETITORS?Dear Sir,

It is suggested that commemorative medals be struck for presentation to partj­cipants in British gliding contests as is the custom in continental and internationalcontests. These woufdcon.stitute souvenirs which would make an interesting ~ollec·

tion for pilots to make ove'r the years. As a refinement the contest winner wouldhave a gold-plated medal, day winners would have sjlver-plated medals and thosefailing to finish in the first ten would have their medals specially tarnished ortwisted.

D. B. JAMESlvIarlow, Bucks.

BEST SPEED TO FLYDear Sir,

May I, through your columns, make some comments. about the "Best Speedto Fly" on a cross-country flight? First, I would like to state that the rate of climbas measured over the whole flight or part of it, or the anticipated rate ,of climb ofthe nex-t thermal, are not very reliable criteria for assessing the best speed to fly.The only criterion which is important is the achieved average speed through the air.This speed can be fairly easily assessed by measuring ground speed and makingsome al·lowance for wind speed. The steps leading up to the above conclusion areas follows:-

I.-A slightly higher average speed is achieved if the best speed to fly is gearedto the average rate of climb over the whole fi;ght rather than having a cruisingspeed varying with each thermaL

2.-The average rate of climb when calculated should include not only thethermals used but also time spent investigating thermals which are subsequently dis­C'arded and, more important, any height lost uver and above the normal sink rateof the aircraft while crUising through sinking air. With these last two included, theaverage rate of climb is virtually impossible to calculate.

3.-lf the chosen cruising speed is 5 knots higher or lower than the best speed,then average speed onl~ suffers by half a knot.

4.-Thus by choosing a cruising speed depending on whether the day appearsbad, medium or good, a factor readily assessed after the first two thermals, theaverage speed will only suffer by, at most, I knot. After, say, the first hour, tbeaverage speed achieved can be measufed and an adjustment made to the cruisingspeed.

The table below shows ·the best speed to fly agajnst average speed achieved fora Skylark 3F.

A vaage speed achieved through the air Speed to fly10 kts. 48 kts.20 k ts. 52 kts.30 kts. 59 kts.40 kts. 69 kts.50 kts. 80 kts.

To sum up, therefore, I feel that theories such as choosing a cruising speedon the anticipated rate of climb of the nexl thermal or on the achieved rate ofclimb over the first 500 ft. of a thermal are only devices for getting nearer to the

440

average rate of climb achieved during a flight. The most reliable measure of thisaverage. rate of climb is 'the average speed achieved, and this should be used forcalculatmg the best speed to fly.

I would be interested to hear other readers' comments on this subject.TONY PENTELOW

Fincdon, NorlhwlIs.

Avoid Newmarket HeathThe following letter has been received I>y the Air Traffic Control Officer, R.A.F.,

Swanton Morley.Dear Sir,

I will be grateful if you will drilw the attention of the Flying Club at SwantonMorley to the fact that considerable inconvenience is caused when gliders comedown on Newmarket Heath. which is the private property of the Jockey Club andis used solely fOr the training of racehorses. Vehicles are not aHowed on the heathas they cause damage.

At 2.30 p.m. on 27th July, glider No. IXW 35& came down on the traininggrounds and of CQurse had to be towed (lff.

W. N. GRAY.Agent 10 the Jockey Club

Book ReviewsAmerican SoaTing Handbook, CHAPTER 6, "CROSS COUNTRY AND WAVESOARING." Published by Soaring Society of America, Box 6607. Los Angeles66, California. Price $1.00 (75 cents to S.s.A members).THE Soaring Society of America is producing a series of booklets to cover various

phases of gliding activity. Each booklet is one of the ten chapters of theAmerican Soaring Handbook.. So far only Chapter 4 (on air towing) and nowChapter 6, have been pUblished.

Chapter 6 is in two sections written by different authors. Dick Johnson has writtenthe se<:tion on cross-country soaring, whi1e the wave-soaring se<:tion is by Bill Ivans,and one could not ask for more qualified authors than these since Johnson cur­rently holds the Werld Distance Record. 535 miles, and until re<:ently Ivans heldthe World Heigbt Rt:rord, achieved iF! the Bishop Wave.

The soction on cross-country soaring is not quite what one woulcl have expectedto find; basic information for the beginner on the techniques of su<:cessful cross­COU~try flying is condensed into 10 pages, while some 14 are devoted to a mathe­matical discussion of the technique fOr best speeds between thermals; this latter sec­hOIl IS based on an assumed downdraft between thermals rather than the generallyaccepted technique based on the instantaneou.s downdraft. There is a good deal ofvery useful informali9n for the budding cross.country pi!ot, but it <:annot be saidto approach a complete guide to cross-country f1yitng.

. The section on wave·f1ying is excellent. Here is a real guide ,to all the p~oblemsWhIch ~eed to be discussed before indulginS in this particular kind of soanng. OfCO.ursclt js written from the point of view of flying in the really big waves, ~ut~hls IS not to say that these problems should not be considered before operatmg11 OUr B.ritisb waves. In ScOtland, particularly, there seems to be a good probability~ reaching very respectable heights where cold and oxygen problems, .not to ~n.IOn turbulence and e10ud cOVer, could easdy get the unprepared mto senous

trOUble. The booklet is well printed on good quality paper with good photographs

441

included. Anybody who wants to improve his general knowledge on cross-countrysoaring or get fully informed on the subject of wave' flying should not be withoutthis bargain.

H. C. N. G.

Flieger Kalender 1963. Price DM 5.80. Wer Oiegt was? Price DM 3.40.Der Wetterschliissel. All published by Luftfahrt-Verlag Walter Zuerl,Mtinchen 19, Landshuter Allee 49, W. Germany.

TJIE calen~ar has a photograph for every fornight; one, shows a sailplane overthe Alps, and another the Southampton group's man-powered aircraft, photo­

graphed this year in a Hattield hangar. "Wer f1iegt was?" is a list of registrationletters of all German powered aircraft, including 24 helicopten; and two airships;the list includes at least 7 tugs owned by gliding organizations - 4 Pipers, 2 Jodelsand a Klemm. The "Weather Key" gives all the weather codes, a long section ofquestions and answers, and a dictionary which appears to be correct except for theclassic mistake of translating Aufwlnd "up wind" and Fallwind "\lown wind".In English; "up wind" means against the wind, and "down wind" is with the wind;a vertical movement of air is not a wind but a current.-A. E. S.

OSTIY STANDARD CLASS PRIZEworthiness Requirements for StandardClass Sailplanes", available from OSTIVSecretariat, but at least with the follow­ing information: Limits of trimmable

As in Leszno, Poland, in 1958, andCologne, Germany, in 1960, the best

Standard-class sailplane will be chosenin Februa.ry 1963 by an internationaljury in Junin, Argentine. FOT the evalua­tions, an example of each competing typein standard condition must be availableand flown by members of the jury.

Each competing type must be regis­tered in writing to Dipl-Ing. H. ZacheT,8 Munich 8, Erminoldstrasse 149, Ger­many, before 20th January, 1963. Thefollowing data in French, English orGerman should be sent as soon as pos­sible to the same address, or at the latesthanded to the jury in Iunin at the begin­ning of the Championships:

(a) Confirmatjon that the registeredsailplane conforms to the approveddesign and the "Draft Specification forEAI. Standard Class Gliders" which isavailable from the OSTIV Secretariat,N.L.M.~Atoomgebouw,Schiphol Airport,Holland.

(b) Data sheet as used in "The World'sSailplanes" and available from the OSTNSecretariat (see also Swiss Aero Revue.December, 1959).

(c) Performance data with an indica­tion whether they are guessed, calculatedor measured, In addition, the positionerror is to be given.

(d) Flying qualities report, if possibleon the lines described in OSTIV "Air-

442

THE BRITISH GLIDINGASSOCIATION

Artillery Mansions,75 Victoria Street, London, S.W.1

Christmas Cards6'· per dozen

Because of stocks, we are able to offerChristmas Cards from the last two years.These are obtainable from the B.G.A. olliceat 6'· per d<>zen with a discount of 1'6 per

dozen for Clubs.There are two kinds of cards, one in

black and white, an~ one in colour. Pleasestate which is required when orderinSj, other·wise you1 will automatically receive a mixture

of the two.

DiariesYou are reminded that the 1963 B.G.A.

diary is nowonsaleat the B.G.A. office, price5'3 includinSj postaSje. Please place yourorder early to avo:d the Christmas rush.

-

~

See Ken Fripp at Lasham for

10.YEAR INSPECTIONSC. OF A. OVERHAULS' REPAIRSMOOIElCATIONS' RE·5PRAVINGFULL B.G.A. APPROVAL

Southdown Aero Services LldLasham Airfield. Alton. Hants.

Telephone H."iofd 359

speeds at forward and aft centre ofgravity positions; general appreciation ofthe controllability in low and high speedflight; spinning characteristjcs; time forreverSal 'of bank from -45 0 to +45 0

at V= lA Vrnin; effectiveness of air­brakes during approach and in a steepglide; and remarks on any unusual fly­ing characteristics.

(e) Completed "Air Brak,es Document"according to the "Draft Specification forF.A.I. Standard Class Gliders".

(f) Reports, drawings, pkotos and otherdata considered by the competi,tor to beof importance.

The sailplanes are to be available tothe jury for at least two days. A crewmust be available for ground transport

and assembly. Every jury pilot must havethe opportunity of making at least oneflight in each type to a height of 1,500metres (5,000 fL). These flightf> will takeplace during the Championships, butearly in the mornings bef0re the dailycompetitions begin.

The evaluation on the ground includes:DesignMaintenanceUseful loadGround handlingAppearanceEase of assemblyPriceCockpit arrangementPracticability for home-building

taking into account data supplied by thecompetitions.

In the flight testing, the feel of thecontrols, low speed and high speedBight, turn reversal, side-slip, lanaingcharacteristics, the ge~eral handlingqualities and all subjective impressionswill be evaluated.

Sailplanes which are removed by thecompetitors before completing the Jury'sflight testing, or for other reasons arc:not available, will be considered as with­drawn from the competition for theOSTlV Prize.

H. ZACHER.

A. CoULSON

much .testing of various prototypes, put­ting in countless hours at Sutton Bank.He shared a Kite 1 with other mem­bers and flew it occasionally, but mostof the time he was "duty-bound" to theT-21.

The loss of this dynamic personalitywill be deeply felt by his numerousfriends whose sympathies go out to hiswido,w, Sylvia, and tWQ sons in theirgreat sorrow.

ObituaryALLAN PRAITWITH the passing of Allao Piatt,

Chief Flying Instructor of theNewcastle Gliding Club., on Thursday,18th October, as the result of injuriesrecelV(~d in an accident at Carlton whenthe l'-21 was. blown over, the movementhas lost one of its most dedicated wor­kers. Al1an was not just an enth~sia~­he was obsessed with gliding and droveh.m1self unmercifully. In his compara- JON D. CARSEY:,,"ely short life he managed to instil '1 A-S we go to press, we learn with much°le of soaring in many hearts which regret of the death of Jon Carsey.

Wl I grow and ;:;ndure. formery President of the Soaring SocietyC Allan. first flew with the Air Trainil\g of America. According to the Kansas.orps 111 1945 at Usworth and con- Soaring Association Newsletter. it hap­~nued_whilst in the R.A:F. in Germany, pe-ned on September 11 tb following anl~taJOmg his Silver C in 1948. From operation. Mr. Carsey was in England onS 4t to 1954 he worked for Slingsby the occasions of the 1954 World Cham-

31 planes as a draughtsman and did pionships.

443

"AT the annual convention in Bourne-mouth of the Guild of Air Traffic

Control Officers, Mr. Peter Masefield,managing director of Beagle and a for­mer chief executive of B.E.A., was bluntabout the matter, averring: 'Safety doesnot come first, otherwise we should neverget out of bed.' The statement was (juali­fled by Group Captain Bader, who said:'If we really want 100 per cent safety wewould not only not get out of bed, wewould not lie on a raised bed at all incase the mattre~s fell off.'

"The point both were making Wasthat, in spite of the startling increase inair traffic in Britain since the war, theair is still fairly empty-Mr. Masefieldhad worked it out at one aircraft toevery 20,000 cubic miles of controlledair space, or the equivalent of only25 cars on ·all roads in Britain. There.fore the aims of safety must be keptID balance with those of the widest pos­sible use of the air.

"AiJ' space must be so regulated as to

Masefield on Safety

a.S.T.LV.(Organisation ScientltiClU••t Technique

Intemational. du Vol. \loil.)

has pleasure in announcing that a

Xerox Reproduction of the First Edition

of

"THEWORLD'S

SAILPLANES"Volume I

is now available

Price

To Members of O.S.T.l.V. 10'·To Non-Members 12.'-

Orders, together with remittance, should be liei'll to:

O.S.T.I.V., c/o LONDON GLIDING CLUB22 Half Moon Str;eet, London, W.l.

cope adequately and without undue re­strictions with a predominance of generalaviation (rather than airline) movements.An acceptable standard of safety assomething less than the absolute must bedefined."-The Times.

Argentine Entries

NEws has beeD received by Joe Ort­ner in Buenos Aires that 30 different

countries have already entered 85 sail­planes for the World Championships atJunin in February. From various othersources we have heard of the followingpilots being chosen:GREAT BRITAIN

H. C. N. Goodhart (Skylark 4)J. S. WiJliamson (Skylark 4)A. J. Deane-Drummond (Olympia 463)

UNITED STATESR. H. Johnson (Sisu lA)R. E. Schreder (HP-I I)John Ryan (Austria Standard)

POLANDJosef Pieezewski (of Lodz)Jerzy Popiel (of Jelenia Gora)Edward Makula (of Katowice)

SWITZERLAND HOLLANDHans Nietlispach 1. SeJenRudolf Ha-chler A. BreunissenMarkus Ritzi J. Krols

ITALY FRANCEVergani C. LabarBrigliadori D. BarheraPronzali F. Henry

GLIDING ROMANCE

A FEW years ago, .a member of KentGliding Club, while soaring along

Detling ridge, proposed by radio to amcmber of his ground crew dQwn below,and was accepted-also by radio. Nowtwo members of the Yorkshire GlidingClub have gone one better: Stuart Cox,who came over from Australia to take ajob as instructor with the Club, took upMiss V.ictoria Stothard for ·a lesson inthe T-2l oyer Sutton Bank. After anacrobatic descent they announced thatthey had become engaged to be married,and dashed off to buy the ring before theshops shut.

444

P.cific Aircraft Comp-any

59.2 " ... ehida Chamnoz.le )011., C.lil .• U.5."A.

BUILD Ihe 1;111••n·m...1 0·8

sailpt.no. 32fr. span. Easy tobuild-ru9ged. Engineeredbvdesigner of world - famousaircraft. Plans including fullscale rib and bulkhead layoutsonly £to.t91. Specs. 3·...iew.t

description-]I.

What F'Iying is For

EXTRACT~ from an a:ticle by OliverStewart m the Dally Telegraph:

"The only journeys I have comp!etelyenjoyed as an air passenger were those(between London and 'Paris) made inthe Handley Page 42 airliners which Im­perial Airways introduced in September1931. They were immense, untidy-look­ing, four-engined biplanes and they wereso old-fashioned that, when cruising,they did not even do 100 m.p.h. Butwhat relaxed and enjoyable travel theygave! ...."

"Look at the faces of those boardinga modern high-speed jet liner. Do theyappear relaxed? Do they seem t<? bekeenly looking forward to the flight?Have they the ,jollity of, for instance, acoach party? Or do they look as if theywere about to face their doom? .. ."

"Until operators an~ manufact~r~rslook on aviation as an aid to good hVlngrather than a tool fOT commercial ex­1'loitation, it will continue to be a dis­appointment."

land's soaring flight over AmberleyDowns on June 27th, 1909, which lasted58 seconds, was not only a record forBritain, Europe and the Eastern Hemi­sphere, but came within 14 seconds ofbeating the world record. The next glid­ing record known to history was OrvilleWright's 9 min. 45 sec. on October 24th1911. It was first beaten by WolfgangKlemperer's 13 minutes on August 30th,1921, in Germany.

Sixty Years Ago

DJRING 1902, Wilbur and OrvilleWright were flying gliders at Kitty

Hawk North Carolina, and statementshave ~ometimes been published that theymade soaring flights of up to two min­utes in that year. However, examinationof "The Papers of Wilbur and OrviIleWright" (edited by M. W. McFarlandand published in 1953 by McGraw-HilI)shows this to be incorrect.

They first made short glides in 1900down Kill Devil sand dune, 100 ft., highwith a slope of I in 6. In 1901 they wereback there and their longest glide was389 ft.

The 1902 machine, a biplane like theothers, had a span of 32 ft. with a wingarea of 305 sq. ft. and front elevatorarea of 15 sq. ft. Empty weight was 116}lb. It made between 700 and 1,000glides and was only once damaged,though they flew in winds of up to 35m.p.h. The longest glides were made onOctober 23ro, 1902, in a wind blowingat 11 m.p.h. at first, but oropping later.The longest of the day was 622t feetoy Wilbur Wright and lasted 26 seconds.

Longer times were put up in 1903,after they ha(! returned to Kitty Hawkin mid October, two months before theirfirst successful aeroplane flights. The firstglide to exceed a minute was by Orville~right on October 21st; he put up Iminute and half a second in a wind blow­ing 24 m.p.h. at the hill top. Then, onOctober 16th, out of 20 glides, six ex­ceeding one minute were made. Thelon~est of these was 1 min. 11.8 sec. byOrville Wright, and he wrote that theWind at tbe hill-top was "probablya.bout 13 m./sec." (29 m.p.h.) at thetIme of this flight, and added: "In oneo~ my glides when up at a considerabledistance the wind suddenly struck thet?P of the surface, jerking the machineCh ear away from under me excepting my

old on the front rudder bar. Winds~requently shifted 45 or more degreesIn a second or two, sometimes two or~hree times in a glide." Most of thef~~hts were "at heights f~o.m 40 to 60

et, by far the highest ghdmg we haveCV.er done."

It follows that E. C. Gordon Eng-

445

Advt!"lisC!mt!nt~ MJilh remillonce should ~ sent 10 Cheiron Pren Lld., 3 Cork S, .. London. W.).(R~r"1!1 5301). Ra1~ 1/- a "'ord. Minimum 15/-. Box numb"r! 4/. "xlra. R"pli"s 10 Box numb"rs

should In sml 10 Ih" _ addr"...

PUBUCATlONS

SLOPE SOARING with a radio controlmodel sailplane is a fascinating pastimeand a typical phase of aeromodelling.Read about this and other aeromodellingsubjects in A eromode//er. the world'sleadihg model magazine, publishedmonthly, price 2/-. Model Aeroncmtica/Press Ltd.• 38 Clareodon Road, Watford,Herts.

"MODEL AIRCRAFT"~Official Jour­nal of the Society of Model Aero­nautical Engineers. Features contest­winning model designs. constructionalarticles, photographs and reports ofinternational and national contests. 1/6monthly from any newsagent. Send forspecimen copy free. from "Model Air­craft". 19-20 Noel Street, London. W.!.

FOR SALE

CLUB BADGES. CAR badges andSELF-ADHESIVE stickers. CLOTHbadges for flying suits or blazers. Sendfor Price List to P. and R. PU'blicity(Del't. 13). The Broadway. Pitsea. Basil·don. Essex. VANge 2123.

PARACHUTES. Seat Or back tYpe. com­plete with pack. harness and quick·release mechanism. £10 plus 5/- carr.Ex-R.A.P. surplus. sent on approvalagainst remittance. THOS. FOULKES(SG). Lansdowne Road. London. E.Il.Tel. LEYtonstone 5084.

1959 Iaskolka in top quality condition,with instruments. 12 months C. of A.Sliding canopy. Flaps. Dive brakes. Re­tractable wheel and quantity of spares.Complete with first-class trailer. £1.150.Replies to Dou~hty, 66 Ellerman Ave.•Twickenham, Middlesex.England's finest WEIHE, with trailer,parachute. instruments. Complete outfit£750. Box No. 133,.EAGLE 3B. New condition. Approxi­mately 160 hours flown. Prang free.£ I,400 including trailer, basic instru­ments, and parachute, Apply F. Pozers"kjs, 24 Exeter Street. Kettering, North­ants. Telephone daytime, Kettering 5552,after 6 p.m. Kettering 2995.

T.31 spoilered mainplanes, lis new. £200,.n.o. T.31 and tutor main struts. othc

spare components. Warren Storey,Thruxton Aerodrome, Andover.

T.31 B with instruments and spoilers, 10year inspection and C. of A. in progressnow. FQr details write Main, 141 FauldsGate, Aberdeen.

SKYLARK 2. Comp. No. 41, all-redfinish. Excellent condition with currentC. of A. and full competition instrumentpanel. £780 or near offer. R. Ruther·ford, Ollerton Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire(Knutsford 3149).

MOTOR TUTOR (Mod.) G·A KEYfor sale. Current permit, take-off 5{) yds.•excellent condition. A gift for £340. AlsoV. W. Ardem aircraft engine £59. Sparemotor Tutor fuselage £20. Rudder ele·va10r stabiliser £7. Swinn, West Moor.Aislaby, Nr. Eaglescliffe, Co. Durham.Te!. Eaglescliqe 2411.

For SaleComplete Gliding Outfit

co....iJting 01

OLYMPIA 2B with Instruments(le.. lha. 200 hours)

Specially designed Treiler which conYerh to

• four-berth CaraVln having built·in bed., .lhI<

unit. cookln••tov., lighting. cupboards .tc••

complete with.It neces.sary bedding, crockery

and cutlery. lnt....quip....nt In first class run-

ning ord.r. Original cost £2.000.

Offers in writing to-

Soaring Holidays (Glider Hire) Ltd.

121 Commercial Road. Southampton

446

FOR SALE (Cont.)

City AssuranceCONSULTANTS LTD.

Life Assurance for PILOTS and AIRCREWincluding Private and

Commercial flying c:over

AT NO EXTRA COST

Competitive terms for Test Pilots.Instructors and Servic:e Personnel

WA.....ED (Cont.)

46 CANNON ST., LONDON, E.C.4 CITy 2651'2'3

Pair TUTOR WINGS in good conditionwith or without spoilers. Please advisedetails apd price. Box 132.

MODERN advanced sailplane, full par­ticulars to Wheattey. Mill Lane, York.OLYMPIA 2a, also' trailer, barographand parachute. Box No. 129.

EAGLE T42c complete with instruments,Oxygen equipment, radio aerial, gara­chute a,nd Sling.shy trailer. All .as ne~.Slingsb'Y mamtamed. C. of A. tIll ApnlJ:963. £1.350. W. Lawson, 1 DavidsonRoad, ~dinburgh 4.SKYLARK 3. Some instruments. Win­ner League 2 Nations 1962. £975. Traileravailable £165. Norman Brett, 42 SaintGiles Street, Norwich.NEW' Lightweight Trailer, 28 ft. long,£150. J. Pavelin, Suttons Farm, BarlingMagna, Essex.Si(YLARK 2, 500 hrs'- flown. Yellow,red tips, seen Nympsfield. £800 withinstruments. Samuels, 1 Upper BelgraveItoad. Bristol 8.

SWALLOW, Nov. 60, privately owned,basic panel, C.. of A No. 63 .. Offers. BoxNo. 131.

WANTED; TII Fuselage only. Second­hand. Repairable condition Box No. 128.

SITUATIONS VACANT

"'TELEcOMM" Portable VHF Radio­telephone, fully transistorised, weight4 lb. including battery, £150 complete.Radio Communications Company, Tele­comm Works, Crewkerne,. Somerset.

WANTEDWANTED: a secondhand Olympia orsimilar glider built after 1950. PetIegAlexander, .Ilfar Bitzaron, Israel.

WANTED. Ka6, Weihe, or similar in~Od comdition. Without instrome.nts.14~lte to A.N.C.U.P.A., clo H. Stouffs,_. Av. Ad. BlIyl, Brussels, Belgium.Sell . me that old OLYMPIA 11. Fulldetails pl;ease to Goldshrough, 50 Second~. Calster'on-$ea, Norfolk.

COURSE INSTRUCTOR (B.GA Cate­gory) reqd. for 1963 courses commencingApril 1st. Or qualified Ground Engineerwith category full time. High salary.Devon & Somerset Gliding Club, Hun­ters, Foxdown, Wellington, Somerset.LONDON GLIDING CLUB. Applica­tions are invited for the position of Glid­ing Instructor' for the 1963 season atDunstable, commencing March 1st.Applications, with full details, to theManager.

PERSONALA NEW Air Cadet Week-end GlidingSChoQI shortly to form at R.A.F. Man­slen will provide gliding training toATC/CCF cadets living in Kent. Vacan­cies exist for instructing staff. Posts arehonorary (but certain out-of-pockets andtravelling expenses are paid) and shouldappeal to ex-Service pilots with or. ~i.th­out gliding experience and to .clvlliangliding enthusiasts. Purther details ma.ybe obtained from Headquarters AirCadets (TRG 1), R.A.P., White Wal­tbam, Maidenhead, Berks.

I 11 rill. Of cou'Se. be .ullderJlood IIral lhe Bmis!. 'Glidinlf Association cannol accept ,up"nJibilil)/or I le claims made by ad"'ertisers in H Sailplane &. Gliding".

---------------------441

1962 Christmas Crossword

A Gliding Tie or Square (depending on the sex of the winner) will be award(ldto the sender of the first correct solution. These should be addressed to: The BritishGliding Association, Artillery Mansions, 75 Victoria Street, London, S.W.l-eachenvelope being marked "Crossword" in the bottom left-hand corner. All envelopeswill be opened on Monday, January 7th. Solution in our next issue.

I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 lZ 13 14-

15 IlO

17 18 19 20 21 2l.

123 124 flS ;1.6

2,7 128 29

30 3t 3~ 3.3

34 35 36 37 3B

39 -40 41

42. 143 44 45 46

147 ~ 49

SO 61 S2. S3

~ 5S

ACROSSI. One of 11 (11).9. Pronoun (2).

12. Invariably the last item on the'lgenda (3).

13, 24. Wild rhyming (5, 5).15. Seen in fancy stones (4).16. Murmured by bees on a summer's

day? (5).

448

17. The boss (3).18. How to make friends and influence

people (4).20. The offer of a wild artist? (5).23. No knocking? It sounds like her.24. See 13.27. See 30.

29 Number of German refusa: (4)."I' Casual flight (4).) . (2)32. Preposition .33. Monster lake (4).34. Tear the epitaph (3).36. Feigns (7).39. See 5.40. See 43.41. Poetically smother (6).42. See 42 down.44. Presumably cockner 9 lived here

(2).45. Pats (4).47. $$ (7).49. Behold, I gush (3).50. Seats for spinsters? (6).52. Install (4).53. Weather encounter (3).54. Circles to port (11).55. "Poems are made by fools

like--" (2).

DOWN2. Prelude to fire (6).3. One of IJ (11).

4. Finger or toe.5, 39 across. One of 11 (5, 4).b. One of 11 (b,4).7. It's a rumour (7).8. Up with war! (3)9. See 41 across (3).

10. Jane's heroine (4).11. A 30, 27. (5, 5).14. The chap who offers in 20 (2).

(2).19. One of 1\ (8).21. One of 11 1I0),22. One of 1\ (9),25. Stores a hundred bids (7).26. Not in the least a description of a

Service restaurant (5).28. The basis of all the fun (3).30. 27. 11 is one (5, 4).35. Public relations (2).38. Assert (5).42. How the bell-boy gave a 42

across ? (4).43, 40. Inclusive (3, 2).46. PrereQ'uisite of all gliding clubs

(4).48. In massed array (3).5L To Latin (2).

FOR PENETRATIONthe high-performance sailplane STANDARD AUSTRIA S

model 1963 with approved type certificate.Delivery time only 4 months

SCHEMPP-HlRTH KG 7312 KIRCHHErM'TECI( WEST GERMANY

449

E,nqulrle. to:

IndePendentSUSPENSION

FOR ,GLIDER TRAILERSWith this Rubery Owen Axle Unit, you can have independentsuspension on your glider trailer. No chassis modifications arenecessary for fitting. Everything about this axle is designed forcomplete running efficiency. .Laminated square torsion bars allowing4" of wheel movement provide a supple but well damped action.Ground steel sleeves running in fabric bearings ensure long life.Continental standard high efficiency brakes, lower chassis heights,and lower centre of gravity give exceptional handling. HydraulicDampers are available as an optional extra.

Why not specify these axles for your trailer.

RUBERY OWE.TRAILER

EQUIPMENTDEPARTMENT

P.O. BOX 10. DA~LASTON,WE'ONESBURY, STAFFS. Tel.JAMES BRIDGE 3131

450

A.B.S.

A Hundred Years Ago

A MOTORLESS flight to more than. 30,000 f·eet by two aeronauts with­

eut oxygCI1, from which they both gotdown a!i\·e,. was made over England100 years ago this year.

On September 5th, 1862, JamesGlaisher., a scientist aged 53, and HenryCQxweU, balloonist aged 43, ascendedat 1.03 p.m. from the Wolverhamptongasworks in a balloon of 90,000 cubicfeet capacity, made of American cloth.The instiI"Ument board, as illustrated in"navels in the Air" (published 1871),supported 24 scientific instrume.nts andother pieces of apparatus but no "stato­scopl;" (the balloon:st's equivalent of avariometer).

At 1.13 p.1l1. they entered a cloud layer1,400 ft. thick, and emerged at 1.17 undera cloudless sky. Freezing level was at10,000 ft. Coxwe11, the more active ofthe two, began "panting for breath" at18,000 fl. Glaisher, whose only ex.crcisewas noting observations and occasion­ally working the aspira:tor for the hygro­meter with his foot. found difficulty insee'ng clea.rly at 27.000 ft., and afterpassing 29,000 ft. his arms becamepowerless; soon after, he fell backwardsagainst the basket, then he blacked outand finally he became unconscious. Thi~happened. he 'estimated, at 1.56 .or 1.57.

M.eanwhile Coxwell felt insensibilityeommg on, and decided to open thevalv~; he had to climb into the riggingto ~lsentangle the valve line and then,h~vmg lost the use of his hands, pulled itWHh his teeth.

.At about 2.04 Glaisher regained con­SCIOusness, and at 2.07 .he began observ-

Sailplane &Glider Se...~iciD;;'

(WARREN STOREY)

*Thruxton. Aerodrome. AndoverTelephone, { WEYHILL 588

ANDOVER 3857

451

For all your repairs and oyerhauls in theNorth We.tCONSULT,

Speedwell Sailplanes(Fotrnerly Smilh & 5"'''0:1.1')

Speedwell Works. 60sden Hall farm.Hazel Grove. Cheshire

ToIOjihone, Stepping Hm 574~'

7 day C. of A. Seryice

SPEtDWELL Lightweight Trailersf"erytlllng to ke.p you .irtl<>m.

ing again, finding the balloon was at26,600 f.t. and descending at 2,000 it.a minute. At his last observation at29,000 ft. at 1.54, it had been going upat 1,000 ft. a minute, and these rates ledhim to estimate I\e had been up to36,000 or 37,000 ft., especially as a "verydelicate" minimum thermol1leter readminus 11.9 deg. F., the temperature to beexpected at 37,000 ft.

Difficult as it is to believe that bothwere conscious and active at 29.000 ft..it is almost incredible that Coxwell couldhave been still conscious at 37,000 feet,or either of them still alive. They couldhardly have become acclimatised bytheir only two previous ascents to 26,200and 24,000 ft., and modern opinion isthat they could not have gone muchabove 30,000 ft. It may have been an­oxic lack of judgment that inducedthem to kcep throw'ng out sand, andthe last lot was flung overboard at 26,500ft.

Anyway, any reader t·cmpted to emu­late these two gentlemen's oxygenlessfeat in a gJider should re-read FIt. Lt.R. P. Saundby's article in SAILPLANEAND GLIDING for last FebruarY on "Oxy­gen Equipment in Sailplanes,", and startusing oxygen between 10,000 and 15,000ft., "otherwise conscious.ness will pro.bably be lost just a,bove 20,000 ft."

The balloonists landed at 2.45 at ColdWestoo, 6 miles N.N.E. of Ludlow. Al­though the Ordnance map 'shows a "ColdWeston Court" near by, they were un­able to 'find a conveyance, so while Cox­well looked after the balloon, Glaisherhad to walk all the way to Ludlow-asfar horizontally as he had just cl'mbedvertically.

SEVERAL Clubs appear for the first time in this issue_ On page 466 we havethe Clonmel Gliding Club who are now flying from a site in the Comeragh Moun­

tains, County Tipperary. The 'Glasgow and West of Scotland Gliding Club who havebeen getting gl)ing over the past three years, a.lso repo'l"t progress. We welcome amost interesting report on the A.T.e., now called the Air ,Cadets in the Service Sec­tion, In the overseas section we have news from Brian Masters (ex Lasham) nowin Hollywood and also news from Japan. .

Very best wishes for Christmas and good soaring in 1963 to all Club Newsreaders and contri'butors throughout the world.

The final date for copy to reach me (at 14 Little Brewnings, London, 5.£.23.)for inclusion in the February issue is Wednesday 12th December.

YVONNE BONHAM.

Club & Association N.ews EdiTor

ABERDEEN

ONCE again the so-called summerseason is over, and there is great

speculation amongst our members as towhat sort of results are going to be ob­tained when the unstable Northerliesstart to blow. The total IlUmbe.r oflaunches so far this year has alreadybroken last year's record, and moresoaring flights have been accomplishedthan ever before.

A recent e;;pedillon to a site nearTurrifI produced excellent results. Dur­ing the afternoon of O\:tober 7th, con­ditions gradually improved and flighttimes became longer and eventually BobGordon was launched in the Swallow,and contacted wave which took himrapidly to 5,500 feet. Our grateful thanksgo to the land-owner, Mr. GeorgeAnclerson. whose co-operation helped tomake the week-e.nd a success.

A new club trailer capable of carry­ing a T.21 or similar two-seater is now

taking shape, and many willing handshave contributed to its remarkably rapidprogress. The two drum winoh is aboutto undergo a well earned overhaul andengine change and annual aircraft in­spections are about to commence.

F.C.M.

BLACKPOOL AND FYLDETHERE is little doubt that the summer

of I%;l has been the worst on re­cord since the Club was re-formed inI95{). The all too frequent gales andheavy rain c.oupled with the temporaryunavailability of our Home Site atBlackpool, and ,the non-existent ac­commodation at Samlesbury where wehave been flying since the end of March,have all contributed a measure of frus­tration particularly to Members who arenot quite true dyed-in-the-wool en­thusiasts.

Samlesbury is, in many ways. an ex­c.e11~nt sit.: and we are exceedingly grate­ful for its continued availability to us.

452

We shall be returning to our Home Siteat the end of October by which timeour two-way .radio-now compulsory­will be operatIonal.

During July, Howard Stunock, HalTYHargreaves and Martin Fish gained Bcerllhcates and Bill KendricK, AlanHoward and Tony Hewiu secured Cs.Jack Aked, who has been requiring anofficially recorded "Height Leg" forfourteen years, not only remembered tofit a barograph but also managed tomake it record for his final "Leg".

Later in August, Gordon Bleasdale,Ivor Stretch, John Gibson, Gil Haslamand Shirley Clapham set off for Lashamwith our Olympia 2b. They covered the270 miles in the day and, before dark,aero-towed check flights had commencedin the Ea g I e. Unfortunately ourNorthern brew of wtlather followedthem to Lasham. The Motor Tutor wasmade availab:e and· was flo\v" byGordon and Ivor.

l\1or provided the high-light of theCamp by taking an aero tow behindStuart Morison's tug a~ far as Andoverwhere he released and set off to his de­clared goal, Wislcy. All went well untilhe reached Aldershot where a landing

was made inside the old Tattoo ground.We introduced our English Electric

Flying Club friends (who are affiliatedto us) to a taste of two-seater flying. onSaturday, 23rd September, in return forthe frequent lectures and film showsgiven in our Club-house. A recent talkby their Communications pilot Mr. D.Moore on Airways and several Polishgliding films were much appreciated.

J. S. A.

BRISTOL

THE sun does short circuits round thegrey sky, the thermals have gone

into hIbernation. and the members intothick sweaters. The workshop hums withactivity and the bar fire attracts an in­creasing number of chilly mortals.

Some talk of wave expeditiofls, and infact, Oil the last week-end in September,a small band of hopefuls armed with anoptimistic forecast, three gliders and aTugmaster, set off to the Gaze ranch atCaradoc, near Ross, in search of theelusive waves.

Lift of IOft./sec. was found by DenisCorrick after a tow to 7,000 ft. but hedid not allow for the 75 m.p.h. windand was blown back to Nympsfield. No

The syndicate Swallow "Kiwi", built by Ray Jefferies, Joe Grime:; and GordonM ealing (all in foreground), afler its first flight at the Bristol Club.

453

other contacts were made but with a bitmOre ex[X:rience these Black Moulllainwaves should be usable.

lncidefltally Tom Bradbury flew outof the side of a large cu. over Ross onAugust 22nd, stra·jght int(} wave lift andclimbed to 11,000 ft. in a series of waves.Shows it can be done!

Amongst several recent solos, we havehad two more of the fairer sex elevatedto the ranks of the two gulls, namelyMary Kerridge and loan Walker.

Quite a 'bit of syndicate swopping hasbeen going on as people get more am­bitious, a.ithough some of the arrange­ments at the momeJlt are "in the air".Latest aircraft to inhabit the site is them(}dified Oly 242, which was rebuilt byRalph lones and partners from a write­of[.

C's of A are pr(}Ceeding, the Scud hashad a' few more ply panels glued on.and the magnificent new winch con­structed by Brian Mumford and dazzle­painted by Joy Jones is due for itsmaiden flight.

Other jobs in hand are levelling partsof the fie!d and painting the hangarstructure.

It is with deep regret that we recordthe death of Shaun de Sal is. He hadflown with us at Nympsfield since 1957and obtained his Silver C e.arlier tbisyear. He took a great i"teJ'est in all as­pects of flying and was a member of theTiger Club, which in itself was recog­nition of his flying abilities. It was whileperforming with that club at a displayin Ireland that he was involved in anaccident.

Two more members have just quali­fied for the reduced joint sub.; con­gratulations to Ray and Pat Bishop ontheir mauiage.

The bar has acquired a three-handledfoUr pint tankard for which the recordstands at 4 min. 55 sec. Anyone keento make an attempt on this can do so atthe Christmas Party which will be heldat Nympsfielcl on 15th of December.

A.L.

CROWNAGENTS

Peter Fawcell fromNigeria and MikeWilson (with hat) dis­cuss with Bill Go/chthe {lying qualitiesof tire Crowl! Agents'Swallow.

CAMBRIDGE

W HATEVER other clubs have to sayabout this year's weather, we seem

to have thriven on it. For us 1962 hasbeen a record year for flying hOUTS andabove all for cross-country miles. Inabout 100 flights, the seven Club-

454

operated sailplanes covered 5800 miles,more than three times the annualaverage of the last 10 years.

About 30 per cellt of the year's mile­age was flown in closed circuits, i.e.in triangles and out-and-returnflights.We also gained a record number ofGold C legs, 4 distances and 2 climbs.

M.C.D.

set out fo( Stratford but fell short. Pre­viously to these end of the season effortsKen Davies had followed the exampleof the rest of his syndicate 'by doing hisSilver distance to Podington.

Bill Hall has had his efforts crownedwith success when he completed hisSilver C by flying to Cranfield. One ofour younger pilots, Clive WiUiams, flewthe club OIYITlpia to near Sywell.

Apparently this 'Was just too short tobeat the 'ane per cent rule' for his dis­tance leg. Ab initio training has pro­ceeded steadily so that we have beenable to take in more new members; weare now ahead of last year's figures formembership.

The club's hard-worked. and volun­tary, ground engineer, Reg Ludgate, hashad to resign from the post, fOT non­gliding reasons, and whi!e we wish hissuccessor well with this task he will findthat Reg has set him a high standard tomatch.

A very pleasant buffet dance was heldin mid-October. This was organised byElsie and Bill May, who have alsoundertaken the running of ,the annualDinner-Dance in December.

C. D. D.-J.

DONCASTER

THE 3 cable launching s}'lStem is nowwork;ng well and we had passed last

year's total of 5,500 launches by tbe endof September. We hope to do about6,000 this year which will be an averageof about 60 per member.

There is not much soaring going onnQw but the odd scrape is still possiblebut other events are worthy of mention.Brian Fox who· has only one arm com­pleted his A. and B. at the beginning ofSeptember and two days later waslaunched into a "Mugs Thermal" andby the time he had found his way outhad qual;fied for his C. Apart from thishis dexterity with tools has to be seen tobe believed and his fully transistorisedall mod. con. push button control vanis one of our most useful assets.

Bernard Thomas paid us a visit tocheck out lohn SUrk and our first"Home Grown" instructor is now inpossession of a brand new provisionalcategory.

G.S.N.

Our 18 C flights and 31 Silver C legsshow that the budding soaring pilot hadhis share too.

The most outstanding flights at theend of t~ cross-<:ountry ~ason werelohn Firth s ISO-mIle dash In the Sky­lark 2 from Nympsfie!d into Norfolk011 24th August, and two trips round the67-mile Slazenger Triangle by John Firthand Ralph ISl1lail five days later.

The September Camp at the LongMynd gave 35 .mem~ers a total of 163flying hours. FIve pIlots logged 5-hourflight;;, among them Harry Boal whothereby completed his Silver C. We dotre;lsUre our excursions to this splendidhill site.

After four years with the Club, theEagle has now been sold by its owner,Stcwart lohnstone, who had it shippedto South Africa. A vote of thanks toStewart for letting us operate this fine,versatile sailplane.

This summer Stanlcy Woolston aga:norganised five Elementary GlidingCourses at Marshall's. Ted Warner, ourres i den t Instructor· and G r 0 u n dEngineer, was very pleased to have somehelp with the Courses by other Clubinstructors, notably David Braham,lohn Deas and Jack Aked. Two of theCourse members who went solo gainedtheir C certificates, and Jack Aked com­pleted his Silver C.

COVENTRYTHE most outstanding ev,ent of the

.last two months has also been an im­portant mDestone in the club's history.We have been successfu1 in buying ap!ot of land and obtaining outline plan­nIng permission to use it as a gliding site.

[ThIS, of course, is only the beginning

o a new base and the date for movingthere is still uncertain as there is stjl\

IamUCh work to be done to convert the

nd to a site for a club.As the best of the year goes we have

ha~ a slight slackening of the tempo of~Ylng. particularly since our tug is awayOr a rathe~ prolonged engine overhaul.oesplte thIS' the first week-end ofMctober produced two C flight;; by

C;Ssrs. Rateman and Longstaff.. .shOn the same day Ivor Tarver ~id a.

Ort out-and-return and Alwyn FlJldon

455

DORSET(formerly Blackmore Vale)

N o sooner do you build a hangarlarge enough to house the Club .fleet

than the '/leet expands, new syndlc.ateaircraft appear, and you have t<;' thinkabout extending the hangar again. Wenow ha"e two syndicate ownedOlympias, and look forward to .somefriendly rivalry betwcen the syndIcates-a trophy is ·being presented for t~ebest performance in a syndIcate alr­crafL

The first C to be gained at our newsite goes to Ted Andrew, who was. takenup by Olympia 110 for 50 mmutes.Several soaring flights have been madefrom the site, and the prospect for nextyear's soaring looks good, although thesea breeze seems to arrive rather early,as we had expeeled. . .

We were very pleased to, be .vlsltedby Ann Welch and John Eventt re­cently. Ann put on a Slide show andMap reading exercise. We were able toget some advice and ideas about oursite from the experts.

It is with regret that we announce theretirement of our Treasurer, John Jack­son due to pressure of work. John hasbee~ a tower of strength in the firstyear's operations, and we. hope that .hewill still be able to find tIme to adViseand restrain the committee in the future.

His place as treasurer has been filledby Chas Wesley at very short notice,and we extend our thanks to John forhis work in the past, and our best w:shesto Chas in taking on this onerous andresponsible position. G.B..W.

DUMFRIES AND DISTRICT

W E have now done about 1,400. launches this year, which is a gr~at

improvement and the figures ~or .flYIngfees and running costs are beginning tomake sense. The Humber is still doingwell although in no wind conditions theT.31 can sometimes only make about600 ft.

Alastair Grierson and Bill Gibsonhave got away solo and we are lookingfor some newcomers to add to the two­seater list.

A successful skittles evening was heldand further social activities are planned

456

for the winter.The Cbl!v' winch and tractor are ready

at Thomhill and a further work partyis required before hill soaring can beresumed. Several keen types are champ­ing at the bit to get up on that ridge.

G.J.K.

EAST MIDLANDS (Leicester)

T HE Club organised its first expedi­tion during October, when four days

were spent at EdgehiU with the intentionof introducing our members to the gentleart of hill soaring.

Unfortunately, the 'high' which hadbeen absent alt summer chose this periodto exert its influence, and no ridge workwas possible. However, the outing wasvoted a success and we are looking for­ward to further ventures in th's direc­tion.

Keith Moseley chose more suitahleweather when he took the Club Olympiato the Mynd on August 21 st to gain his'five hours' and he went on to .completehis Silver by /lying "Jacobs Ladder" toSpaldirrg on September 16th.

The "Ladder" had already coveredmuch of this route on August 4th whenChris Simpson reached his goal of In­goldmells, watching John Brooks arrivein the Club Olympia a short while later.It would seem that an this Olympiaactivity has been set off by Ivap Vesty,who took his Grullau Baby 70 milesfrom Baginton to Lincoln on July 20th.

The four hours which Ivan spent onthe flight proved but a small proportionof his Grunau time that day, since hedecided that it was unsafe to leave theaircraft, and it was only by chance thathis unattended van and trailer were dis­covered at Baginton-at midnight!

C flights have been made by Messrs.Furr, Holmes, Newbold, Reichenbach,Richards, P. Smith, E.. Tracey; and JillMachin has become O.or first ladymember to gain her C.

An Olympia flight of over 4t hoursby Chris S;mpson on June 23rd, and aT21 ride to cloud base of 7,500 feet byMike Smith on July 8th have, it seems,finally dispelled the rumours thatRearsby does not produce proper lift.and we are eagel"1y awaiting the 1963type thermals.

Arthur Luff, Peter Martin and Keith

Moseley have been categorised, ~ndPeter Reichenbach has accepted the Jobof Transport Oliker, from which JohnWhiteJey, to our regret, has had to re­sign art the social s'de, a succl';ssfulparty on October 12th was organisedby the ladles. P. M.

ESSEXT

HE o. & M. man has certainly madehis mark in the club. We have now

appointed. projcct leaders r~sponsible foreach major Item of equipment used.This has not meant regimentation to astandstill, but a fresh girding up of loinsso that every flying member has anadded responsibility to each. other.

This, coupled with the purchase of asingle drum Wild winch, has enabledus to increase the number of launchesto 94 on the first day of operation to arecord-for the club-of 117 on thesecond day. Members are highly de­lighted with this step up in the numberof launches.

The club-house has taken the air ofthe: alTIuent society since we fitted outthe dining room with some very smartfurniturc·--easy clean tops to tables andupholstered seating.~he record for meml1ers achieving

thelr A and B has been increased by 5more including, E. Bully, R. Tanner,J. Wheeler and F_ Sage, whilst bothD. Tyler and R. S'mpson have gainedtheir C.

We would like to extend ChristmasGreetings to all our friends throughoutthe GltdlOg World, coupled with thethought of stronger thermals next year.

M.G.R.

GLASGOW (Balgairmoor)THRO;UGH the three years of our

CI~b s hfe, we have gained immenseexpenencc-from brick building andsand shifting to club organisation-fromh~rntents of sheer exhilaration to utter

s raltonth~~rough it all the 'hard core' of en­untilla~ts has kept the wind sock flyingsonabl ow we have a 1'2IB Cadet, rea­cable e wlO?h, tractor, plenty of goodUse ,a retneve winch almost ready forof 'b~t Small hangar, and the usual hostFo~ s and pieces-and all paid for.

these past 3 years we have

operated at Carnwath, Lanarkshire,but we reali.sed !ro~ the beginning theS!l~ .~as limited m size and soaring pos­slblhtles, and was also subject to fre­quent flooding from a boundary river.

After a great deal of prospeeting, wehave now moved to a much better siteon Balgair Moor, close to the FintryHills, north of Glasgow. Here we arehoused temporarily in a wooden hUL. The atea offers tremendous possibili­

tIes for thermal, hill and wave soaring­our 1'21 has already had several hourson the nearby Fintry escarpment.

Our next main projeq is a largerhangar. Howt:ver, Like all clubs, one ofour two major problems is finance-­the other problem being that of quali­fied Instructors.

D.C.s.

KENTSINCE the last notes were written. David Ward, Keith Lester, Frank Wil­

Itamson, an~ Peter Trivett, have soloedand A~an Mlddleton has qualified for hisC certificate.

Recent cross-countries have includedone to Otford by Denis Crabb anotherto Wye by Ken Brissenden and anotherto Charing by 'Philippa BU~kley. On thesame day as the last two, Ron Cousinsfl~w to Ickham and so completed hisSilver C "~ac" Macpherson has alsoflown th.e thlrc leg of the Silver C withS hours m the club OIYplpia.

The latest piece of equipment to ap­pear on. the field at West Mailing is anautomat.lc Signaller devised by theelectromcs expert, Bill Gartland.. New privatc owner syndicates are be­JOg formed in th.e Club, and the resultof one. of these, In the shape of another­Olympla, should be appearing On thefjeld soon. Other syndicates are plan­nm~ -to purchase new machines nextspring.

P.B.

LASHAMTHE main change at Lasham this

yea~ has undoubtedly been the in­crease In aero-towing. Our four Austertugs will have completed well over fourthousand tows this year. Our overarIlaunch rate including auto and winchl~unches is running level with last year.Silver C legs are substantially up on

457

any previous year and with various ex­peditions planned for tbe winter, weexpect the Gold C height legs to showa marked increase as well.

The nine clliJlls which make up the"Lasham Gliding, Centre" are still goingfrom strength to strength. It is notgenerally realised that the Centre trainspupils up to a certain solo standardwhereupon the pupils are acceptedback into their respective clubs in orderto fly the club's high performancemachines. Tbe Imperial College Clubdoes not take part in this scheme astheir members are trained on a T.42and will next year convert to a shinynew Skylark 4.

Our staff at Lasham have performedwonders again this year and we are allextremely grateful. Bob Lintern-thatbearded gen~us who nurses our M-T.equipment, has been given an QldGrunau Baby which he is partially re­building on his days off (there ought tobe an anti-biotic against the gliding bug).It is rumoured that the drawing roomwall in Derek Piggott's house is coveredwith plans of a new 15 metre glider,Toon or Indian Diamond C height bar-

man has taken unto himself a wife,Derrick "Goddard is preparing a newwhip for next year's crop of tug pilots,Don Gerard our excellent winch/towcar driver is preparing a new set oflectures for would-be launch;ng punditsand John Cochrane and Kathy Rams­dale in the office are busily sharpeningpencils fol' next season's admin.

W.K.

LONDON

A NEW development in summercourses in I%2. was the two-week

intensive Training Course, designed forkeen new members who wish to become'compleat soaring pilots'.

Having sent 80 per cent solo duringthese courses we feel justified in cuttingout all the short Holiday courses in1963. In fact the word 'Holiday' is nolonger used. It all sounds deadly grimand earncst, but the inmates love it.

Other plans for 1963 include aRegional Competition, wh'ch we hopeto hold iIt the August week.

The main change in our ground equip­ment in 1962 was the purchase of twosmall David Brown 2D tractors. These

Thelong Mynd,Shropshire

BRITAIN'S.FINEST

SOARING

Home of tJle MIDLAND GLIDING CLUBYOU WANT ITl - WE HAVE /11

1,400 ft.a.s.!.

SITE

Fleet, Prefect, 2 Swallows,2 Olym-pias, Skylar.k 11, 2 T-2lbs,

T·42b and Tugmaster

Subscription £9 Entrance lee £3

Ab initio trainingAdvanced instruction

Aerobatic, Blind flying training5·hour duratipn, Silver "C" Height

Ridge soaring thermals, wave flyingEJlcellent residential clubhouse

Good food Bar Launches 3/-. Flying fee t2/- per hr.RES/DENT/AL SUMMER COURSES

W,ite fo, Cou,n Broe"",. atul M.rtI1H,s/tip P,os~dus to:"ENQUIRIES".

MidlOI'!d GDding Club Ltd.. Long Myncl.CHURCH STRETTON. Shropshire

Tel. Linley 206

458

look more like i~sects than the monsterswe have been USIng for years, but for allurposes except pulling winches they

~re ideal, using a fraction of the fuelconsumed by the old ones.

If you feel like dr<;>pping in at Dun­stable dunng the wmter months, youwill not be ~isappointed. It may not al­waYs be hllI-soarable, but there areevening entertainments laid on by anenergetic Hou~e Committee, .wit~ pro­grammes raDgmg from pundits III theflesh to Gregory Peck on celluloid.

M.B.

MIDLANDTHE second visit this year of the

Cambridge University Gliding Clubbegan with a Sunday of excellent waveconditions. A Cambridge m em b e rreached 11,500 feet with Midlandmembers Louis Rotter and Mike Randlereaching over 10,500 feet and 10,000feet respectively, whilst most of the Qubfleet w.as above 6,000 feet, all a. s. I.

Impressed with the' syndicate 463which is on the Mynd; the Club nowhas one on order.

The 1962 course season has nowfinished and our sincere thanks for mak­ing the seasOn a succ~ss ar:e extended toall the staff. to the Club Instructors andwinch driv'ers who volunteered theirservices and last but not least ta theCOurse Secretary, John Harnden.

We congratulate Norman GroUcUtl,Michael Rand!e, Ken Woolley andBeaObbY .Neill on gaining their B.G.A.

tegones.We shall be holding our Christmas

Dinner at the Club-house on the 23rdDecember. -

After Christmas we shall be p'easedto welcome various dubs who havemade arrangements to spend a week OJm?re on the Mynd in the hope of someWlDter soaring.f The Easter Rally will be held as usual12~h the five days of th.e holiday, i.e.

-16th Aprij 1963 inclusive.K.R.M.

NORFOLK (Tihenham)W~ have progressed quite happilyOUr SL~ce the last newsJetter and withrllgufncllent but trusty Tutor being flown

ar y on Thursdays as well as at

week-ends, we have every intention ofmaintaining the satisfactory launch rate-2,400 launches being made over thefirst half of the year.

Training continues well, with a steadyrecruitment of new members to replacethose who. have graduated to "higherthings", Recent solos have been IvanEsgate, D. Hrdlicka and Martin Pum­phrey.

·By the time this is in print we shallknow the result of an experimental"passenger flying for the public" week­end which has been organised to en­thuse a few more of the uninitiated intoour sport.

Our friends from Southdown havepacked up camp again ior the sea onbut we hope to see them again nextyear_ 1 hope they enjoyed their stay asmuch.as we did having them.

'B.C.G.L

NORFOLK AND NOR~CH

(Swanton MorIey)

THINGS have been fairly quiet duringthe last tWQ months. The only flight

of note has been Alfred Warrninger'sout-and-return to Henlow on the 13thSept·ember. He covered the 144 milesat 32 m.p.h. Ten field fires, caused byburning stubble, all produced thermalson the way back.

A 100 Km. triangle was set on the1.st September, but conditions de­teriorated and Barrie Go!dsbrough sankamongst our friends at Tibenham after48 miles.

Alfred Warminger has twice beenaero-towed Out of fields lately, showingthe useful size of some local fieldswhen the corn is cut. Th~ first time wasbecause rain forced him down only onemile short of the Club aner a 62 mileout-and-return to Great Yarmouth OnSeptember 16th.

Messrs. Reekie and Goldsbrough pot­tered up to ar.Qund 8,000 ft. on 8thSeptember, but we do not seem to havecontacted any really good clouds thisyear. As late as 29th September, how­ever,. the.re was lift up to 6,500 ft

We have been pleas~d to have .a Swal­low syndicate flying wi,th us and someshOlt cross-countrys indicate that wemay get some more Silver Cs next sea­son.

459

OXFORD

THE first full year of our "GroupScheme" should have enabled the

ordinary member to ful'fil a pent·updesire to go somewhere and although thecross-country mileage for club ownedaircraft is greater than for many years,the total of 332 miles by 9 of the 23pilots eligible for such tasks is dis­appointing.

However, despite some very exoeUentperformances by our private ownersat other sites, the comparative figure of397 miles flown from Weston on theGreen by 8 of 16 members owning 4aircraft suggests that if there be anyfaua in this matter it lies elsewhere thanin ourselves.

'Ibe end of September saw our opera­tions down by 400 launches but thetotal flying time of 657 hours is onlythree hours short of the equivalentfigure for 1961.

It has been our pleasure to welcomeSkylark 3F. No. 168, into our fleet sinceit has now been purchased by a newsyndicate, Messrs Adams, Pratelli,Roberts and Simps.on who, at one time,seemed to have one at least .of everynew aircraft on a drawing board onorder. The times produced by theirfamiliarisation flights in marginal con­ditions suggests that they should domuch to swell the private owners figuresfor next year.

We learn that a group of service typesis forming a club with the object of de­cending from great heights in thesh<?rtest possible time and they may re­qUire our aerodrome for their purpose.

As a result our officers may -have toassume a biblical role and lead us downthe Bicester Road into a wilderness ofploughed up aerodromes and derelictrun-ways.

Already from Lasbam comes agenerous alter of assistance for whichwe are most grateful. May we soon havethe pleasure of celebrating with themnews that help is no longer required.

LA.S.

PERKINSTHE last three months have been~ rather uneventful. In July Dennis

Baldwin completed the fourth live hourleg at Weslwood this year, thus com-

460

A Capstan is on order for deliverynext spring, and our faithful Kran'ch isfor sale. We are also looking for some­thing in the "Tutor/Oly" range.

After the success of our Easter Rally,we are p!anning a 10 day, B.G.A.Regional Contest next year. J.B.G.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

N o cross-country flights have beenpossible during the two months

under review and only local soaring hasbeen possible from our flat site at Pod­ington. Ted Lewin however obtainedhis C certificate at the end of Augustin the Cadet.

Four members-E. Underwood, R.Harding, P. Dunmore and D.ILudding­ton have transferred to the Swallowfrom the Tutor and C. Letts has gonesolo.

A ·Summer draw was held this yearwhich resulted in a nice contribution totbe club finances.

Work on the conversion of a van intoa mobile C.F.I.'s office, store and cableanchorage continues and systems ofcable recove.ry are being investigated,together with the possibility of launch­ing by auto-tow in the event of winchfailure. Details of any other Club's ex­perience in auto towing would be wel­come.

Harvey Britten's Tiger Moth syndi­cate has continued to provide aero towswhen required. R.N.W.K.

OUSE (Rufforth, Yorks.)

A NOTHER accident to our Tutorhas reduced us once again to a one­

glider club, but luckily, although thefuselage is a c.omplete wreck, neitherthe pilot nor the wings suffered anydamage. Repairs are now in hand.

We are all looking forward to ourfirst Social event, a dinner-dance or­ganised by Adrian Guerri, at which Mr.Fred Slingsby has kindly agreed to beOUr chief guest and speaker.

The Anthony Forster Memorial Cuppresented to the best all round clubmember under 25 has been won by AlanPark. We aU congratulate him on hissuccess, and our congratulations also goto Syd Butt for his C certificate flight.

P.A.c.

WAS.

look back upon the season's a~t.ivities:sometimes in the light of promises ful­filled but, all too often. in the light of"things we intended to do but neveractually got round to".

Al1hou o h the number of hours flownhas imp~oved considerably and thenumber of Silver C's gained (vide listsin other portions of SAILPLANE h DGLlDINO) has also increased, far toomuch has, as usual, been left undone.

Far too many out-and-returns havenot been undertaken: far too many goodsoaring days have been wasted and, ingeneral, progress has conformed withthe writer's school reports which usuallyused to say "he has not fulfilled hisearly promise".

Probably this was written in a moodof "fin de saison Iris/esse" because wedo have a lot to be grateful for but,really, why do gliding clubs invariablyseem to intend to do something to­morrow Or ha ve done something yester­day but never seem to be doing anythingto-day?

Perhaps it was with this feeling inmind that a scheme for permanent cross­country competitions on Saturdays nextseason has already been submitted toSurrey Committee for consideration.

The weather at Lasham has not beenvery soarable for some time and thisspurred Roy Brigden to take his Sky­lark on aero-tow to the ridge JastSaturday where a very enterprisingthree hours soaring was obtained. Weare not sure of the longest flight atLasham on this day but it must havebeen a very me.re fraction of this.

AW.B.YORKSHffiE

A UGUST and September were very. successful wave months at Sutton

Bank. On the 23rd August, Ron Helli­well climbed to 13,500 ft. a.s.1. in theClub's Skylark 2 to qualify for h;s GoldC Height.

Ron's flioht which lasted three hourstook him ~ight acr~s to the. Penninesalthough he found hiS best height overSutton Bank. The waves on this occasionwere extensive and -Ron felt it wouldhave been possible to have flown up toScotland in them once he had reachedthe Pennines.

On Sunday the 23rd September, Bob

letinO his Silver C.p Do~g Phythian and John Bro~n havebeen promoted to passenger f1ymg andthe Olymp;a. George Bell. Colin Donaldlid Roy Taylor tool<; their B.G.A. In­

=tructor Categorisation on Sunday 14thoctober.

C.C.D.

SCOTTISH

THE late sumlJoler activities ~roduced

some interestmg events thiS year.Noteworthy among these were the twoScout Courses, where Tuck. Shop re­ceipts bettered the Bar receIpts of theHoliday Courses. In ret~rn for glidinginstruction. some of our Instructors wereinitiated into the mysterious habits ofthe Chiff-chaff and other wild life.

The tbird week of September saw thestart of the first S.G.U. "Meteorologyand Gliding" Course, and according toall accounts, this was enjoyed both bymeteorologists and pilots alike.

The unwary visitor during that periodfound himself pressed into 'Met' servicefor the duration of his stay, as DaveLowe and Toon Ghose found to theircost. It seems likely that this course willbe repeated next year, this, at the de­manu of this year's course members.

One practical result of tbe study ofwaVes was a flight by Charlie Ross inthe Skylark 3F to Yeadon Airport, adistance of 170 miles. This flight putsCharlie in the lead in the club champion­ship.

Wave flights during this period havebeen quite frequent, notable amongthese being an Out-and-Return flightby J. Rae to the West Coast while oscil­lating from 5,000-10,000 ft. C. Ross­a local flight to 8.500 ft. and JohnM~Laughlan (Swallow) to 7,500 ft. togam his Silver C height leg.

.A group from Turnhouse complete:-"Ith Weihe bad a successful visit earlyIn October, when Tom Moffat com­~eted two Silver C legs (Height and

uratlOn) and another member of tbegroup, a duration leg.

SURREY.OCTOBER is very much the NewC 'Year's Eve of club secretaries and0mlnittee members who together with

many other club mem'bers, tend to

461

Wilkin rose to 7,000 fL in the Skylark 2while Joe Provins, John Iceton andTony Smallwood all got above 4,500 ft.in wave conditions.

This was the same day that CharIieRoss flew from Portrnoak to Yeadonand it was possible to fly in the weakwave conditions all over North York­shire.

Our Club House is now nearly com­plete with the exception of decorations.Club members have been putting in agood deal of work paintjng it over re­cent week-ends.

Among the recent solo flights hasbeen one by Christopher Stothard whowent solo OD his sixteenth birthday.

Christopher is the son of Ralph Stot­hard, ono of OUr Senior Instructors, andChris has been a very useful memberof the Club for some years. We are verypleased that be has gone solo so sooo.

In addition Hugh Hayes went soloa few weeks ago. Hugh is a convertfrom sailing to Gliding.

Stuart Cox ,the Australian who hasbeen with us this summer as AssistantInstructor is leaving us shortly with abrand new wife. Stuart gets married ina few days to Vicky Stothard and theywill be going back home to Australia.We wish them both every happiness intheir new life together.

J.e.R.

The new Yorkshire clubhouse, designed by a local architect.Photo by J. E. G. Harwood

Service News

AIR CADETS

I T is a long time since this columncarried any news from what used to

be called the A.T.e. gliding schools. Itis intended to contribute a few notes ineach future issue and by way of intro­duction this first effort is intended tobring the record up to date.

Many readers will have been giventheir first launches at A.T.e. Glidingschools in the days of wheezing balloonwinches, beaverettes, low hops and highhopes. They would hardly recognise theorganisation now. Even the name has

now been changed.

The Air Training Corps and the R.A.Section of the Combined Cade.t Forceare looked after by one headquarters­Headquarters Air Cadets, and the glidingschools are now called Air Cadet glidingschools.

Our gliders. with 'Air Cadets' in foothigh letters on the sides, are a familiarsight at 28 airfields up and down thecountry. We still use Sedberglts, Mk.11l's and Prefects but our ground equip­ment has improved a great deal in thepast four years or so.

462

BANNERDOWN (Colerne)

T-- HE mo~t exciting flight, p~oductive ofDO certificate but a promIse of great

things in s.tore, was Alan Yates's 9thSeptember launch at 1430 hours. Afterthermalling to 2500 Alan contacted waveand climbed to 7800 ft. a.s.1, then flewforward and climbed to 5600 ft. in thenext wave upWind-wind direction wassouth south west 18 kts at the surface.

011 the same day the A.T.e. were wavesoaring at 5000 ft. over the Mendips atHalesland. A careful record has beenmade of the met. conditions and now thatMet. Officer 'Chalky' White has his A &B Certs you can bet he will say whenthe Mendips will be waving to us.

Also to solo were P. Fincham andP. Willimont, J. Stockwell had over anhour in the Tutor; Alan Jury flew Bi­cester-Duxford during the comps weekto complete his Silver. Your Scribe scrab­bled off to Ashampstead, 47 miles.

Mention of equipment brings us tothe new Meddings mobile motel whichmust be the most luxurious retrievevehicle in the country. Based on a Com­mer chassis this motorised mansion has7 seats or 4 berths, lounge, wall andeaves cupboards, table, cooker, watersupply, radio, all mod. con. a telescopicroof and does 20 m.p.g. on tow. Imaginede-rigging and trailerising in the middleof a field at 4 a.m. to the sound andsmell of 'eggs and! The Iis.t for volunteerretrieve crews closed weeks ago!

CLEVELANDS (RAF. Leeming)

SINCE our last report we have biddenfarewell to our Chairman, G lCapt.

James, who leaves us, bound for theAir Ministry.

High spot of our flying this year wasDick Feakes second placing at the R.A.F.competition at Bicester. Flying our trea­sured Olympia he covered a total of278 cross-country miles and brought itback without a dent.

Two new instructors whom we wel­come to the club are J. Kemp and MikeHol!is, both fr01;Jl the Crusaders. Cyprus.Mike contacted a wave after an aero­tow to Bedale recently and climbed to8,500 ft.

Willy Ta'ylor and Danny Kaye alsosampled the delights of wave flying on

463

Each School now has two Landrovers,a one. ton truck and two excellent twin­drum winchcs specially designed forour use. On ~he whole t~e aircraft wehave were desIgned for thClr presen·t taskand we see no reason for radical changesbut we have recently introduced a ba.J­last modification for the Sedbergh so thatit can be flown solo.

Our Schools and full-time Centres be­tween them clock up about 120,000launches a year and train 2,400 aircadets to the A and B standard. What isperhaps not so widely known is that wealso train about 200 boys each year tothe C standard, and another 60 Or soto an Advanced standard of our ownsomewhere between B and C.

The popular misconception of anAir Cadet instructor teaching his pupilto fly mechanically round the circuit bytracking over specified landmarks ismany years out of date.

Our instructors number 400 devoteeswho give up most of their weekends tointroduce cadets to the delights of glid­ing; and I mean delights, because nothrill compares with that nrst solo. Thesecharacters acc~pt with surprising goodg~ac~ 'the inevitable paper work, res.tflctlOns and discipline that must go withany Service organisation.

Many of them are young ex-eadetsWho learned to glide at the Schools~her·e they now teach, many are alsoIOstrUl:tors at Gliding Clubs; all of them~re gIven a thorough examination in!~lruction skill and allied ground sub­jeep,ts each year by regular Royal Air

Orce otlicers.To keep their categories which, for

example in the case of a B instructormeans that he has at .Jeast 759 launchesand .fo~ an A. 1500, they must reach aconVincingly high standard in theirannUal test or go down a grade.qu~:Aarge number of our instructors area '" cd on a.erotowing and we haveT~ess to. several hoo~ed Chipmunks.Cadecom.bmatlon of ChIpmunk and Airdi I t ghder has been seen at many airCrsp ays this year and last. Even morein:iuent are t.he occasions. when OUTair ructors collect legs for SJlver C's inin c;a~t ~hich are rather more at home

slnkmg posture.M. A.

I. W. S.

Peter Dawson, East A nglian Club. readyfor his Diamond Goal flight.

very well this summer in view of theweather. .A number of us are now look­ing forward to some wave soaring. inthe Lake district during thecommgwinter months.

J. G. S.

FENLAND (Swanton Morley)

D JRING our brief ownership of the)Iympia 403. Peter Kevan did very

well to come fourth in it during theNympsfield July Competiti,on. The 403is now with the Bannerdown Club, andwe congratulate Max Bacon and EdMeddings on their goal Diamondsachieved in this aircraft.

Terry Donegan completed a well de­served Silver C with a climb 10 9,000 fLwhich enabled him to go from Biceslerto Oakington (Cambridge). and Al Pell­gelly comp!eted his with a five hourthermal flight in the Swanton area.

George Ross has joined us fromMoonrakers and adds his Silver' C andInstrUctors Category to our list, as doesDennis Edwards who has done most ofhis gliding in Germany.

Meanwhile Peter Kevan has left uson a course. lan Strachan may well beleavip.g shortly too.

Chrls Delf, Rick Atkinson and !votDIrey are taking the Olympia to a ridgesite for a week. We wish them the bestof luck with 5 hour attempts.

EAST ANGLIAN(R.A.F. Duxford)

O LD cable, non-existent spares andbad weather have somewhat cur­

tailed our activities over the last twomonths. AlLhea Braithwaite and RogerPralt both soloed in the Tutor andg:ained their A and B.'s.

Jim Morris and Graham Martin con­verted to the Skylark and "Marty" ourail American friend is carrying pas­sengers_

Paddy Hogg and Danny Daniels bothreturned from Bicester with C cate­gories, and are supplementing Our ever­growing band of instructors. OurOlympia was unfortunately written offwhen it spun in from 300 ft The pilotwas unhurt.

John Hulme has kindly modified OUrSkylark trailer to carry a T21, so nextsummer we can expect some cross­countries by Barge. New members todate are the Morely family and SteveWolf, yet anotheT American.

'A. H. w.EAST YORKSHIRE (Driffield)

SINCE OUr last newsleuer we havehad quite a few interesting occur­

rences to report. Bill Bailey has got hisSilver C. Two Silver heights were gainedby Pete and Jim Smith, they both gotover 6.000 ft. on the same day.

lan Matthews has gone solo (after along wait for' his 16th Birthday), he alsogot his C 5 days later. Tony Hockley gothis C o~ 6th October when he took theTutor up to 2,500 ft. (with a flight of43 minutes).

Bill Ott has returned to the States, hispost as C.F.l. is now filled by DougBridson. At the time of writing theGrunau and T.31 afe undergoingthorough major inspections, keeping LesManley and Ray Poxon very busy,

Looking back we seem to have done

464

R. F. P.

the same day-the club Grunau beingput to good use.

Recent conversions: Willy Taylor tothe Olympia and Dave Arum and DaveMesser to the Grunau. Dave Amm alsocollected his C in September. Messrs.Franklin and Zurek have joined the soloranks.

PORTSMOUTH NAYAL. .

WEhave been expenmentlng wIththe "reverse launching" sys-tem de­

tails of which were kindly supplied byDublin Gliding Club. It deals adequatelywith our single seaters but has, so far,not been too successful with the T21.However, we shall persevere.

Jim Gunter, our C.F.l., took theSkylark to Rye on 25th August.

Sandra Williams and Denck Marpol.ehave been converted to the OlympIawhile June Swindell so!oed recently.peter Gay took the Olympia up longenou"h. for his C certificate.

A Club tie has been designed and it ishoped to have i,t available shortly.

L. D. V.

WIND.RUSHERS ANDR.A.F.G.S.A. CENTRE (Bicester)

THE economics of all glider opera­tions, as of any other aircraft opera­

!ions, depend on aircraft utilisation. Atthe Centre this year we have made g,reatefforts to improve utilisation in orderto redl)ce costs. With ,this in mind we areproud of OUr August statistics, duringthat month wc flew 401 hours from1,650 launches.

lhe secret of th's lies ill good reliable

winches and aerotQws for the soaringaircraft. One of Our winches now hasa diesel engine which launches for ana!1 time low in fuel costs and we hopeto convert more winches to dieselengines. Aero-tows continue using theChipmunk and Tiger Moth.

Recently Dick Stralton brought ~Beagle Terrier over and we expen­mented with double to·ws. This hasproved perfectly feasible provided thepil'ots arc properly briefed.. The tak.e­off performance is reducea and dIS­cretion must be exerc:sed when operat­ing from small gra~s aerodromes inlight winds. ,

Club news is that th~ Novices Trophyhas been awarded to A. C. (Botl'.) Hall.A. C. Hali has been flying since lastwinter and by virtue of keenness anda great deal of hard work has progress-edat a remarkable rate. He is also oneof our most valuable members.

Another ,notable new member thisyear is Squadron Leader Burgess whohas almost abandoned golf to spendevery week-end gliding. Recently he dida very creditable flight when he liet offon a cross-country under very poorconditions and made 25 miles neverclimbing above 3,000 ft.

R. P. S.

Overseas News

The "two-s-eater hybrid" glider thatMiss Russell refers to is no such thing!It is a Corocoran-designed WW2 typeCinema two-place training glider. Thereare at least three in active training usein Western Canada, and a greater num­ber are in use at the various U.S. train­ing, sites.

Her report also mentions that at Vir·den the pilots "have not as yet exploredthe delights of soaring". This too is notQ<ver!y accurate, for the form.er C.F.I.,Murray Wood, soa~ed the C!nema onseveral occasions, hIS best bel/lg a. 30­minute flight from release of 1,000 it.Since that ti.me such people as InstructorLewis Monteith , in early July of thisyear, soared for over an hour, while ad-

465

CANADAMR. BILL YANKEWICZ, of theC Virden Flying and Soaring Club in

anada, writes to correct some mis­~lJings iD the accounts of visits toa~ada published in our October issue.

~tfJtten by two British visitors, Tedark and Aothea RusselLThe 39S-mile flight mentioned by Mr.

~ark Was by Julian Audette from Pin­er Creek to Moose Jaw, near ReginaMno.! by Odett from Panther Creek to

d oosJoe J?ear R~joiner. The flight wasescnbed In Soaring for June, 1962.

V·Tdhe club visited by Miss Russell was"Ir ken .m Man!toba, not Wirden. Mr.

an eWIC2; COntinues.:

J.P.

vance<! st'\ldents have consistently had 20and 30-minute flights. All of this beingdone with only a standard light-planerate-of-c1imb indicator and sensitive alti­meter and no variometer. You can justimagine what the boys would do withthis -gadget!

The further report, "a mere 200-oddmiles, shattering the pilots at that dubwho did not believe such a thing pos­sible in a clear blue sky," again shouldbe clarified. Certainly all the membersknow that soaring is possible and that"200-odd mile flights" are also possible;Didn't we ha.ve one of the top Canadianpilots give freely of his own time andknowledge to get the dllb started? Wehave had some of the finest sailplanepilots in Canada, other than JulianAudette, visit us and give freely of theirknowledge.

CLONMEL(Co. Tipperary~ Eire)

THE Clonmel Gliding Club was estab­lished twelve months ago, and the

task of equipping a !';lub in a provincialarea, where little or no interest had beenshown in aviation, appeared to be for­midable. Hard work by an energeticcommittee, however, resulted in the clubbecoming operational last september.

The Permanent site, donat~d 1>y Countde la Poer, Vice-Chairman of the club,is a large expanse of heath, 1500 ft.a.s.l., beautifully situated in -the Corner­agh Mountains, about 6 miles from Clon­me!. A hangar has been built and thearea bulldozed.

The club's initial purchase has beena two-seater Rhonlerche n, and thec.p.!., Marti·n MUlhall, hilS a new Ka-8.A very efficient launching winch has beenconstructed by club member WilliamStone. Communication is by field tele­phone with the lines laid permanentlyalong 'the runways.

We have broken new ground (in theRepublic, at least) by employing a per.milnent. winch operator. During the win­ter it is planned to build a retrieve winch.to replace the car being used at present.Ideas on the best method of constructionwould be greatly welcomed.

Our site is ideally situated for ridge­soaring, and, geographically, as II take­off point for cross-country flying we ex-

pect it to be in great demand.Some @f our members plan to visit

Britain for g-Jiding courses during thecoming season., and we., in turn, hope tohave visitors from the Unite<! Kingdom,to whom we (;an offer, not alone glidingfacilities, but a holiday in an area ofgreat soenic beauty, with excellent fish­ing, shooting, boating, etc. in an atmo­sphere of traditional Irish hospitality.

Inqui.ries may be s.ent to:- Jim Phetan.13, O'ConneIl St., Clonmcl, Co. Tipper­ary.

EAST AFRICA(Nakuru, Kenya)

C ONDITIONS of late have beenmoderately soarable-and C certi­

ficates have been gained by "Taf!"Davies and Collin BUiot!, both in theCadet. AI George, George O'Meara andWiUy Wilson all qualified for their Aand 8's.

Our fleet at present consis.ts of a T. 31 ;Cadet Mk. I and a Grunau Baby, untilrecently syndicate owned, but !'lOWthrown open for general c1u.b use.

Providing the Nuffield Trust help theforces element in the club, we hope tohave a T 21 and an Olympia 463 in thenear il!ture.

Our regular evening Storm Prontshave been providing the usual, and e}(­peeted 20 ft/sec. lift, for the GrunauPundits, but unfortunately our othertwo aircraft are not suitable for theseconditions, as our C.'F.I. John Rydefound out a couple of weeks ago, Hehad a rather nervous lady passenger inthe front of the T 31 and ran into thestorm front from an 800 ft. laurtch. De­spite full side-slip and 55 knots indicated,the aircraft was ascending at a steady3 ft/sce. so John very wisely disappearedinto the wild-grey yonder, depositinghimself and his thrilled passenger 6 milesaway, in a farmer's field. Belated con­gratulations on Brian Hext's Silver Cheight, obtained on the Cadet Mk.l.

C.R.E.

JAPAN (Osaka)

W. ITHgreat appreciation we readevery issue of SAILPLANE AND

GLIDING which a friend from Coventryhas sent us.

466

We have gliding clubs here in Japanbut their activities are not sO remarkableand many nave no gliders 'or glidingsites. Nevertheless, we have sent a pilotto the Internationals in France, Polandand West Germany. It is very sad that

of 26 and uses the NACA 65 (sub 3) 618airfoil. Two-thirds span flaps deflect 90degrees for braking and the ailerons droop15 degrees for thermaJling. Maximum(L/D has not been measured yet but isexpected to be 42 to I.

Y.O.

Members of Osaka Glider Club: Mr. Yasuo

this is our only sufficiently qualifiedpilot to be able to enter in World Con­test.~.

We have no officially supported glidingclubs or schools in Japan. Launching ismostly done by auto towing costing about6s. per launch, we have no tow planes.

We have regular training twice amonth and in summer we have two dayCourses. There are two SIingsby Sky­larks in Japan; one was bought by theSony ElectriC Co. and the other by Honda~ngJneerjng Co. Both are the representa­tJIVe Companies of current industrialapan.

Oishi is 4th from left in back row.

The new all-metal, two-place Schweizer2-32 flew Ior the first time on JUly 3rd.It is currently undergoing flight telitingwhile a cost study is being made beforeputting the sailplane into production.

Comments from those who have flownit indicate that the all-moving horizontaltail with anti-balance lab makes it a realpleasure 10 fly and the ball-bearing push­rod aileron controls hell' keel' stick forcesdown.

Performance has not been measuredbut appears to be close to 35 to t. ErnestSchwclzer, the designer, was one of thethree V.S. recipients of an 'EA:I. Tis­sandier Diploma this year.

Another new sailplane first took to theD.S.A. air on October 6th, Irv Prue's Super

D Standard. This is derived from the PrueIc;K SCHREDER'S. latest all-metal Standard but has a different air[oiJ, a

V hl~h-performance HP-tl features a more shallow fuselage, and a conventialthee tall and a water ballast system so empennage.57 Wing loading can be varied from It is thought that the slight increase inin 7 to 8 Ibs./sq.ft. The water is carried drag from the third tail surface will moresI' tubes extending over the full wing than offset the extra induced drag a Vee. ~ of 52 ft. tail gives in circling flight, because ofn nfOrtwlately, the l>allast system was both "rudders" being deflected.stot . °hperational for the contest. The Comparative flight tests with the two

ralg t tapered wing has an aspect ratio prototype Prue Standards (which placed

467

LM.L.

4th and 5th in the Nationals) will bemade before deciding which configura­tion to put into production.

Brian !'v!a~·ler.r wriles from Hollywood:-

THE Agva-Dulce SoariDg club, whichis a 50-minute drive from my home

is situated high up in th.e San Gabrie1Mountains and has thermals up to12,000 ft. and good winter waves.

The school has been operating about

a year ana IS owned by Gene Hann andthe fleet consists of a Schweizer and L.K.two-seater and one solo machine. Thelongest flight so far was by a Mr. Thom!,­son, 211 miles to Las Vegas.

The country is very rugged withmountain:>, then desert and no roads forhundreds of miles and soaring in thisregion cans for a high degree of skill.

I have left gliding as a fun timejob and am now a charter pilot andinstructor.

INDEX 1'0 ADVERT1SERSBristol Gliding Club 468

British Aviation Insurance Cd. Ltd. 425

British Gliding Associ.t'on 442

City A~surance Consultants 447

C1..ssifieds 446, 447

C'obb Slater Instruments Co. Ltd. 410,432

C"n1ish Gliding Club 468

Cross-fell Variomctcr~ 389

Derbyshire &< Lancas:,ire Gliding Club 458

Devon & Somerset GLding Club Inside Back Cover

Gallaher Lld. Back Cover

V. Ginn 385

G.&LlliM~ GIrving Air Chute of G.B. Ltd. 433

Lasham Gliding Society 377. Inside Back Cover

London Gliding Club Inside Back Cover

MidIa.nd Gliding Club 458

Motoirnport 400

O.S.T.LV.

Pacific Aircraft Co.

Proops Bros. Lid.

Rullery Owen & Co. Ltd.

Schempp-Hirth

Scouish Gliding Union

Schwcizer Aircraft Corporation

Shell Mex & RP. Ltd.

Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd.

Soaring Holidays Ltd.

Soulhd'own Aero SerY,«s Ltd.

Speedwell Sailplanes

S\l'ffo.y Gliding Club

Th.erm.1 Equipment Lld.

Warren Storey

Yorkshire Gliding Club

444

445

392

450

449

I nside Back Cover

396

Inside Front Cover

374.431

446

443

451

Inside Back Cover

408

45t

Inside Back Cover

Bristol Gliding ClubNYMPSFlELD. GLOUCESTER

w. orrer eJtcollent tbermal, h.i11 end w....e soaring 'I' .,site on the western edge of the (ohwoMs. N.e.r S',oudFI... includes Skylark-lit Olympia, Swallow.. P,.'.-et and

Dual Training Machines. Aerotowing ......i1ablo.Comfortabl. Clubhou5e, firs'·cI.u Can'ee", Bunkhous.

and a.r..Summer; Gliding Holidays for ab-in;tio. Non~M.mb.rl.

Write to: BRISTOL GLlDIN,G CLUBNYMPSFltlD, Nr. STONEHOUSE, GLOS.

TeJephon. ULEY 342

00 YOUR Gl1DllllG ON THE COANISH RIVIUA

THE CORNISH GLIDING CLUBOffo" <0<1"" ibet.oon Unci APRil oncl ~Jh OCTOBER

on ils ",ag"ificenl coe,••1 Cliff SOIJling Sit,in the hMI' 0' this famed holiday a,N

2 In'lru.dors - numb.rf limited to 821, milcs of golden ..nds, the be*, surf bathing beachesin Ihe ccuntry - and .11 Ih. \lsual hQliday ~ll!oenilies.

Visitors 'always "tery welcomeId_I for families ~nd friends

Apply: MrS. L. S. PHILUPS1~ KENWYN STREET, fRURO, CORNWAll

Phon.: I'UIO 3892

The Derbyshire and LancashireGUDING CLUB

Camphill, Great Hudlow, NT.. /ideswell,Derbyshire

The Club h.s Ihr180dual control gliders and offors elemen­~ary. intertn.ediate a"d high perft>rmln:c. fuiJiti., andtraining. Privale OW'MfS catered for. The comfortable ClubHouse, Dormitories end C."teen are under the care of ..Resident Stutard and Stewardess. At Camphill there are.It thole things whiJ:h make I'ho J:D:mplate Gliding' Club.

Write to the, Se"CI.'.ry Ior del.its of Me..,bership .ndSummer Courses.

468

1963 GLIDING HOLIDAYSDevon & Somerset

Gliding ClubDunkeswell Aerod,ome, Nr. Honiton, Devonane 01 Ine finest thermal so.ring sites in Engllnd. CloseI lhd Sowlh. COI,I Reso,t ... Cou,s•• throughout SUlnm.r~rb~gin"...., and solo pilots wnd., profession.1 Instructor.Fees. inclusive of Holel Acco,"modalion.

16·20 gM. per _et

Brochur. fro.. , COURSE SECRETARYHUNTERS, FOXDOW:-I, WELLINGTON, SOMERSET

Sottish Gliding UnionPORTMOAK, SC:OTlANDwn~. IY KINROSS

Training from ab·initio to advanced ratingsExcellent hill. th.rmal Ind 'Wlve SOIIring in belluliful

surroundings

Club FJeeI includes I

1.21'" TUTORS. SWALLOWS, OLYMPIA

Well appointed Clubroo""h. & c. in ell bedrooms

Visitors and visiting .ircraft 'WelcomoFull Memb."hip or Auoc"'. Membership eVllilllble

Writ. 10 'he Secretary lor tu.rlh., det.i1s

Lasham Gliding CentreA Federation of seven clubs operates atlasham with communal Training. Launching.and Social Facilities provided by the LlIshamGliding Soc:iety.

THREE FUll,.nMEPROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTORSFOUR TWO.SEATERS FOR

LEMENTARY AND ADVANCEDTRAINING

INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCEDSOARING WITH THE CLUBS

INSTRUCTORS' COURSES

FLYINO 1:VERY DAY

WINTER COURSES AT R£DUCEDRATES

*New ab-initio members welcomeUnsurpassed fac:ilities for private owners

and syndic:ate groupsWrit. to, J. N. COCHRANE. Gen....1 ""n.~..,

_ LASMAM GLIDING CENTRE. ALTON, HANTS

............................................1963

TRAINING COURSESInstruction by QuaUfied Instructors

Advanced Instruction IncludingCross Country Flying in high pel'­formance-

'EAGLE' 2·SEATER-COURSE DATES-

No. t 1/~/63-12/~/63 No. S1'7'63-12'7' 63

No. 2 22/~/63-3/5/63 No. 612/ 8/63-23/ 8163

No. 31J/5/63-2~/SI63 No. 72/9'63-13'9' 63

No. 4 10'6'63-21'6'63 No.823/9'63-~/10'63

Apply to the Manager for brochures andfull details

LONDON GUDING CLUBDunstable Downs. Tring Road.

DUNSTABlEr.l.phon. Dunstabl. 634/9............................................

Surrey Gliding ClubHigh·performance gliclws aYai~l. fOTthermal soaring at lasham on almost

every day throughout .he ye~r,

Training with Lasham Gliding Society.

For det.ils write to t

THf SECRETARY. SURREY GUDlNG CLUB,LASHAM GUDING CENTlE.

ALTON. HANTS.

YORKSHIRE GLIDING CLUBSit.. Sutton Bank, Thi,.,k. North Tork.,,". (1000 It, •.•.1.)Excellent Hin ThM.-l ••d W.... s-tn~ ."",",,Wo on

• "'" H i>Mdon Hill..FuU Training ea.rws illble for begill.-n .IId '8·

piIota in IoU." .....Good Club Hou.. JodiIi iocludiae dor.iIorin.

fleot ..cl .

SKYLARK 11. SWAUOW, TUTORS T·21.

YisilOf's w..co..... W,ite for furt_ "'Y'ISECRETAllY. SUTTON BANK. THlRSK. YORKS.

T.I. Sullon (Think) 237

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