~mowELL ...__........::..~ ~_AILPLANES

Office and Works:

SHEPLEY LANE, HAWK GREEN,MARPLE, Cheshire, SK6 7JWTelephone: 061-427 2488

C.A.A. - B.GA - P.F.A. Approved StaffLight Aircraft & Glider Repairs

The latest all-metal trailer -from Speedwell for Libelle andother light 15M Sailplanes.

"Near Zero" Maintenance. Best quality materials.Weight with spare wheel and fittings only 6001bs.Continuously refined design over six years production andstill the best trailer available anywhere.

LOW WEIGHT - GREAT S1'RENGTH - LOW MAINTENANCE

PERFECT TOWING

Don't just take our word, ask anyone of our satisfied customers.

SAILPLANE&. GLIDING·OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATION

Editor: Oeorge Lock.

Consultant Editors: Alan Slater - Rika Marwood

Subscriptions: Frances Tanner

Committee: A. W. F. 'Edwards, Chairman - R. Q. Barrett - M. BirdG. Karwood - P. Wills

Advertisement Manager: peggy Mlevllle, Cflelron Press,8'10 Parkway. London, NW1 7AD Tel. 01·267 1285

CONTENTS

362363365370371372373375378378381334402

.. 404-409410412416416419412424430431432435

436

437442453

Plloto by Lama Minton

R. Q. Barrett

A. E. Slater; R. C. StaffordAlien

R, Lunt: J. Davies: J. Sellats;O. Neumark; A. Deane-Drummond

Rika Har.o....

Platypus

P. Ross

Ani' WelehA. Eo Slater

R. WilierMarion Toft

Ann WelchRhoda Partridie

Club NewsService News

Co"u pllotograpll: Tug breaking OWO)' at'er a Kestrel 17 releases

Corrc!pondcncc

World Championships FutureHallo Glau BroomstickStubble Fires Rescue Daily Telegrapb CompetilionTrimming for Take-otIDelivery CompleteHow The Young Sce UsA Pilot's Guide to the RevolutionOstiv Congress 1972Sailplane &: Motor Glider News

The MOlor Gliders at Burg Feuersl~in

Sailplanes at the World ChampsVrsac. 1972

Final ResultsThe World Championships Illustrated

Platypus Scribbles AgainGeneral & BGA NewsOverseas N,ws

Development of Intemalional Club Class PhilosophyUS Nalionals Results

Equipment NewsLetlers From Dunstable

Sport/Club Class Nationals ResultsLasham Regionals ResultsDorset Regionals ResultsObituaries: Wolf Mix; Jack RushtonBook Review.

Published by the British Gliding Association, 75 Victoria Str••t, london, SWl H OIBPrinted by HlIunpshjre P,i"teu Li"'ited, Rankine Roed~ Basi"g,tok.., H.nts.

ToI. 01·799 754819

Vol. XXIII No. 5 361

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FUTUREBy ANN WELCH

THERE are always questions in needof an answer after every World

Championships, and 1972 was no ex­ception. With increasing entry costs,organisation of an increasingly profes­sional standard is expected, so how muchfreedom should organisers hav,e in deter­mining operational rules and procedures?The CIVV code covers the controlframework of a championships, but eachnew organiser is allowed to select fromalternative systems (launching, retrieving,turning point evidence systems, etc) thosewhich it considers best for its localcircumstances.

The question is a difficult one toanswer because however detailed orprecise the CIVV rules, the success of achampionships is still dependent on suchthings as the quality of the task settingand the skill of the local meteorologists.Good task setting is a matter of under­standing and experience and cannot bemade so by rules. Nevertheless, thereare some championships rules which infuture will have to be fully considered,such as cloud flying, or which will haveto be more closely tied down by CIVV,such as procedures for turning pointevidence.

CLOUD FLYINGOf the questions that aroSe at Vrsac,

perhaps the most important is whethercloud flying should, or should not, bepermitted in world championships. Therewas a collision, it was in cloud, andsomeon.e was hurt. But cloud flying, is nota matter which Can be decided upon inisolation. For example:

(a) If there had been no cloud flyingat Vrsac, would there have been aChampionships, in view of the weather?

(b) If the organisers had complied withthe CIVV rule requiring that wheneverpossible the two classes be given differenttasks, would the collision risk have beenacceptable?

(c) If the organisers had retained theoption to offer Prescribed Area Distance(Cat's Cradle) tasks, and used this task togive greater freedom to go around

362

thunderstorms, would the collision riskhave been less?

In Australia 1974 cloud flying may beuseful on perhaps one day in 10, andthen f'o~ perhaps only a few pilots. Soshould It be bamled (assuming that theAustralians can. obtain I!ermission any­way) or should It be permitted? Whateverhappens, it is important to the future ofchampionships that any decision taken isbased on sQund reasoning and not onemotions.

TURNING POINTEVIDENCE

Evidence of reaching the turning pointusing photography is simple and effective.However, it is essential to appreciatethat the purpose of a championships isto find the best soaring pilot and not .thebest photographer. The rules and 1'1;'0­cedures must, therefore, be simple tooperate by the pilot, and the organisersmust be able to do the processing andanalysis quickly and accurately. The onlysystem that has so far fulfilled these re­quirements is the one used at Marfa1970 and which is incorporated in theCIVV code.

Firstly, the use of a random china­graph or grease pencil mark on thecanopy opposite the camera lens avoidsany need to seal the cameras or to have~fficial~ running rou.nd collecting themImmedIately on landlOg-both of whichax;e time consuming.

Secondly, the point from which thephotograph has to be taken is designated.This enables the organisers to chooseclear and easily recognisable groundfeatures which make it easy for the pilotto take his photographs from the rightplace. It also means that checking ofphotographs is simple and quick becausethe photo-interpreter is looking only forones which are different-all thosegiving the same picture are ob,viouslyOK. Even photographs taken off the linebetween the. design~ted ~hoto positionand the tUFOlOg POlOt object are likelyto be closer to that line than to theedges of the 90° sector. This is important

because the big difficulty is in assessingprecisely (he point from which an air toground photograph has been taken with­out specialised and sophisticated equip­ment.

In a gliding championships it shouldnot be necessa,ry to have to obtain suchequipment, but unless the procedure usedfor obtaining the TP evidence effectively

discouFages pilots talcing marginal photo­graphs, it will have to be acquired.Otherwise incorrect assessrpent of somephotographs will be inevitable.

These are some of the points t,hat willneed to be discussed by CIVV inNovember, because at this meeting theRules and Scoring System for Australia1974 will have to be finalised.

HALLO GLASS BROOMSTICKBy RHODA PARTRIDGE

YOU doni't h~ve to believe everythingthat men teU you. I paid my deposit

for a Std Cirrus in April 1971, and theystarted to tell me all about it: "Sheground loops dreadfully on take-off;impossible in a cross-wind. 1f you domanage to get her off the ground she'sso twitchy' that you'll get Rhoda inducedoscillation on tow. She overtalres the tugtoo, she's so clean. When it comes to·thermalling you'll find that she stalls ina turn at 45kts. You have to thermal hera.t 50 to 60kts and you'll fairly be pullingg. You know, of course, what happensif you get rain on the wings? She be­comes unmanageable and flips over ontoher back in a turn. And the landing. HaHa, the landing! Ineffective brakes andshe floats until she hits the far hedge."That's what they told me.

Before I tell you what actuallyhappened I'd better say a bit about myflying: More hours than sense. About470 hours and some 750 launches. Verylittle cross-country. Some good heights inWave. Very little courage, 'very littleambition, just happen to love, love, lovebeing up there. An addicted rabbit.

First flight, June 17. I'd taken her toCompton Abbas because I like th:c peoplethere and because I wanted our relation­ship to start on aerotow. Fifteen knotcross·wind and I ground looped on take­off. So "they" were right.

Try again. Up this time and a veryrough' tow, full control movements andno RIO. Handles beautifully. Releasedin cloud at ] ,200ft. A short, fraughtflight, but long enough to know that thisglider is a honey. The next day I gotcaught in a rainstorm and had to landwith it stiU lashing down. Scared stiff

when it first enveloped me-would sheflip over onto her back like "they" said?Tremendous noise of heavy rain beatingagainst her and then an almighty bangand a rushing sound. Panic! But it wasonly that the wheel had dropped down.She likes to go faster when wet (she hasa very definite pre-stall buffet) and shecomes down pretty swiftly, but shehandles fine.

The landing did take a bit of sortingout. Flying from the' Mynd I've got intothe habit of d,oing short steep finals andget a kick oUI of that swooping-in feeling.Glass Broomstick likes to be flown onthe approach slower than she is usuallyflying between thermals and she likes herspeed carefully ,contrQIIed. She picks up·IOkts in a wink with very little changeof attitude because she's so clean. Shehates her tail skid to touch before herwheel and she likes to be kept straightwith lots of rudder. If you get it rightit's a most delightful landing. If youdon't, you may end up facing the wrongway with yout hair standing on end. Iground looped on three of the early Iand­i!1~s and I'd never ground looped in mylIfe before. Fortunately they build themremarkably strong.

The Compton Abhas mob had bulliedme into entering their Dorset Regionals.Otto von Gwinner (a very clued-up com­petition pilot from Hamburg, flashingwith Diamonds) came over to shate theflying. He test flew to check the newPZL vario he'd put in (mine had beenregistering 6kts up regardless) and ex.·plained that my Althalls Venturi wasfaulty (I'd done about 10 hours in 12flights by then, using my Crossfell variouncompens'ated, and had thought my

363

poor thermailing was just lack of skill).He removed my panel and installed hisown, the centre-piece of which was apeeping, moaning, clicking Swiss corn­p,uter on which he flew most brilliantlythe first three days to stand in the lead.I had a try on Day 2 but with no reliablevario to monitor the computer I'dnothing to give me information. Day 3,we got' a total-energy diaphragm for thePZL vario and I had a couple of hourslocal soaring to find out what the com­puter was trying to t~1I me. Days 4, 5, 6and 7 I flew.

At the ·end of the competitions peoplekept saying "Well, Rhoda, did you enjoyyour first competitions?" Enjoy! Theyhad to be joking. I've never been soscared in my life. Force 8 in a smallsailing boat, 140ft down scuba-diving atnight into a cave, childbirth, near misseson the road (there are some remarkablypoor drivers abo'ut)-nothing has everfrightened me like competitions.

The horrors of the grid. After-an houror two brooding on the impossible task(usually changed at the I'ast moment)"Zot" Zotov would be sent off to see ifhe could stay up. 'Now everyone knowsthat Zot will thermal happily if there'sjust one person on the ground smoking acigarette. Doesn't mean I stay up. AAdtalking of the ground, the farmers hadgot their colour-s.cheme wrong. Theseason had been s,o wet and 'cold thattheir spring sown corn was the samecolour as their grass and their autumnwheat was the same colour as theirmowed hayfields (few and far betweenand mostly littered with bales}. They hadalso left cows and sheep all Qver theplace, with the result that when I was upI was peering anxiously about wonderinghow on earth rd get down again. Thenthe brutal take-off. Snatched off in for­mation, dumped in the DZ with ail thosemilling gliders. Thermalling wincinglywith crazy glass ships twirling round me,tails up' anI! teeth bared.

Enjoy? Huh!Day 4. Task Nympsfield, Newbury

Race' Course, home. I got as far asHuIlavington and thoroughly ,enjoyed myfirst cross-country in my beautiful GlassBroomstick. Mistake: Left the thermalwith. other gliders in it to find a lovel,yfresh ooe just for me, lost height andWaS lured by the smooth green expanse

364

of HuJ1<\Yingtoo with its beckoning wind­sock.

Day ~. Task Chilbolton, Aylesbury andInkpen. Landed in a nice field just southof Wallingford. Mistake-got a bit lostand went too far west

Day 6. Lasham, Bath RacecQurse.home. III visibility dark as the pit andthick as treacle. Pilots who had flown incompetitions for 20 years said they hadnever seen Worse. After Chilbolton I hadmy hair parted by a Chipmunk at cloud­base and decided that the risk was notacceptable (my husband! My five child­ren! My grandson!). Landed at Lashamwhich loomed up directly below me.Mistake: Chi,ckened out.

Day 7. To North Hill in scratchy bluethermals. Landed in. a hayfield nearHoniton. Mistake (and this ,one makes mereally cross because I had enough heightto get in, if I'd only known where "in"was). Sneaked off down the valley to geta last thermal from the town so I couldhunt for the sit.e and the tQwn hadn'tgot a thermal for me.

An overall mistake was only to usemy radio wheA I wanted to transmit andto switch off as soon as I'd had a reply.I missed a lot of help and good advice(and some insults too!), but I found thecha~ter intrusive.

So, did I enjoy my first competitions?No, Like I said. But am I glad Ientered? Oh 'yes, very. In eleven yearsI'd done five cr·oss-couiitries-in fourdays 1 did four. I had wonderful helpaod kindness. and good advice. I metpeople I reaUy liked and shall meet again.I 'learnt a helluva lot. I enjoyed the partyon Saturday night. Mike Tolman who hadcrewed for us with patience, efficiencyand kindness, presented me with aminiature witches broom which nowhalilgs from a beam in my pottery. Ahappy souvenir.

And what about Glass Broomslick?Dreamy. Beautiful as a piece of sculpture.Perfectly adapted to purpose. ~JjssfullycomfortabIe. Fantastic high speed per­formance. Impeccable handling. (Crisp asfrost and neat as a dancer), but steadyand docile with it. Worth every one ofthe six thousand or so pieces of potteryI had to' make and sell in order to earnher. She has promised that she will takeup my education where my darling K·6Eleft off and will try to teach me to fly.

(L.RI Helmut Reichmann,BGA Cllairman ClJris Simpsonand the lale Prince Williaminspectiltg Reiclrmonn·s LS-IF(Plloto courtesy Doily Telegrop~

STUBBLE

FIRES

RESCUE

DAILY

TELEGRAPH

COMPETITION

THE original idea of the ,contest whichwas to become The Daily Telegraph

European Gliding Championships, (heldat Dunstable from August 19 to 28), wasthat it would assist selection of theBritish team for the World Champion­ships to be held in Australia in January,1974.

It turned out to be an excellent con­test. The weather smiled more often thanit frowned. A number of distinguishedpilots from the continent of Europeparticipated. The organisation. was un­obtrusively smooth and effiCient. Theatmosphere was pleasant.

The only trouble was-it far fromassisted team selection. A group of eightor nine pilots emerged as very strongcontenders for places but there was nogroup of four to stand significantly apartfrom them.

By the time this appears, the 20 Britishparticipants will have placed their votesfor the selection of the pilots.

They will have been supplied with thecomplete results of the 1971 and 1972British National championships andpr~vious World Championships placings.Each will have thought deeply about the

subject. Part of each pilot's answer willhave been supplied by statistics of per­formance. Part - because pilots arehuman beings-will be supplied by other,less definable factors.

Whether the best team will be selected!t is impossible to say. What is certai~IS that ~ Slrl;)Og team will be picked-andone wh~ch IS so. close to being the bestthat qUibbles Will only be minor.

The competition, as far as the weatherwas concerned, fell into three parts. Thefirst three days saw comfortably soar·able and, OD one day, near-eJassic oon­ditions sufficient to cause some of theoverseas visitors to express delight. They~ad not expected such good conditionsm.late August, especially in England. Themiddle four days had stabilising, hazy,near-blue anticyclonic conditions withinversions and late starts. One visitor saidthat the resulting smell of pollution madehim feel sick. The final three werecovered by a nC.ar-unbroken lid of strato­cumulus cloud which made fiying veryscratchy and open 10 elemellts of luck.Throughout the contest, stubble fireswere to be found, and these helped.many competitoFS, often providing the

365

strongest thermals. But they were notalways to be trusted. Although there wasa natural tendency to expect a constantflow of lift from a fire, many competitorsarrived at them to find no lift at all.After landing, they would be chagrinedto see other gliders climbing away a fewminutes later.

The final line-up on the opening dayconsisted of nine Open and 19 StandardClass gliders. There was only one over­seas entry in the Open-the teamcnttyof Henryk Vinther and Ejvind Nielsen(SHK) from Denmark. Hans-WemerGrosse had decided not to come as heobjected to cloud-flying being permittedduring the contest.

Former World Standard Class Cham­pion Helmut Reichmann, who was tohave flown alone, flew in partnershipwith Rainer Schneider in the LS-IF whichhe had flown at Vrsac. Another refugeefrom Yugoslavia was Poland's FranciszekKepka, flying a Cobra IS, while ,otheroverseas pilots in the Standard C~ss wereGeorge Defosse (Belgium, Std. Libelle),Jacob de Meyere (Holland, K-6E), PeterKaasjager (Holland, K-6cR), RudieStussi (Switzerland, Std Cirrus) and KlausTesch (West Gennany, LS-l).

UNSTABLE ..•

Saturday started inauspiciously, withlow doud cover over Dunstable whichmade it difficult for Prince William ofGloucester, due to open the contest at10.00, to find the site. However, he sawa glider in a field through a hole in thecloud and correctly concluded that itmust be Dunstable. (Prince William wasunfortunately killed in a light aeroplanecrash a week later.)

The weather improved, however, andboth classes were given a l67km trianglevia Chipping Norton and Olney. Thewind was from the north-west, about15kts, cloud cover was about 5/8 cu andstrato-cumulus, and thermals mainlymoderate, with a few generated andboosted by stubble-fires.

Most pilots completed the course; JohnWilliamson, flying a Kestrel 19, arrivedback before 15.00 to make the fastesttime, 80.6km/h. The bulk of competitorsarrived en masse shortly after 15.00, pro­viding an untlsually exciting finish forthe spectators on Dunstable Downs.George Button (Kestrel 19c) Was at

366

79.8krn/h only slightly slower thanWiIliamson, while Con Greaves (StdCirrus) and Bernard Fitchett (Std Cirrus)made the fastest Standard Class times(72.9 and n.5km/h respectively). Kepkafinished fourth in the Standard Class, andReichmann's partner Schneider 10th. TomZealley had a late take-off as his brand­new Kestrel 19 was undergoing last­minute fettling, and he failed to completethe course, as did Kaasjager (K-6cR) andTesch (LS-I). Kaasjager was also a lateslarter because of effecting repairs to hisglider which suffered trailer damage.

Stubble fires made or broke a numberof competitors on Sunday; several landedshort of the goal after reaching fireswhich did not work. The wind was lightand conditions were rather patchy forthe dog-leg goal race to Lasham viaeither Oakley (l04.5km) or Didcot(I06km). The Standard Class had thepleasure of the first launches; local con­ditions were patchy with overdevelop­ment and large gaps to cross, but werebetter away from the Dunstable area. Agood number of the pilots were hesitantabout setting off, and crossed the startline two or three times before taking theplunge. Some did not leave until 14.00,and may well have left it too late. TwoO~n and nine Standard competitorsfailed to make it, including Goodhart(Std Libelle) and Kepka, who landedonly a few kilometres short.

That many competitors had a struggleto get to Lasham at all is borne out bythe spread of finishing speeds - from73.2km/h by Delafield (Kestrel 19),70.3km/h by Williamson, 68.4km/h byReiclunanl'l, Standard. winner and67.8km/h by Fitcbett through Warm­inger's 42.5km/h (the slowest Open) and35.3km/h by Leigh Hood (K-6E), theslowest Standard Class finisher.

The three main British team contendersin the Open Class were now finnly inthe lead, with Williamson setting the pacewith 33 points, followed by Delafield(31) and Button (27.5). In the StandardClass, Fitchett now led with 56 points,challenged by Greaves (47), White (46)and Cardiff (43).

A frontal system crossed the countryon Sunday night, leaving a sparklingMonday which turned out even betterthan expected. Winds were forecast toreach 15kts at soaring heights, from a

northerly quarter. The few cumuluswere expected to disperse by about 14.00,leaving the remainder of the day withblue thermal conditions. In the event,there was a little more cloud than ex­pected. The Open Class was set a 257.2kmtriangle via Stradishall and MarketHarborough (which complied with the28% rule) and the Standard Class a210km triangle via Duxford and MarketHarborough which didn't.

The first leg was easy, with streetingall the way to the East Anglian turningpoints. The first part of the second legwas rather blue and required caution,but conditions improved as competitorsapproached Market Harborough, andwere very good back: in the Dunstablearea, with cloudbase up to 5,OOOft. Allcompetitors completed the task: saveDefosse, who landed near Oundle, andsome very fast times were put up. FourOpen Class pilots beat the United King­dom 200km record held by John William­son: Delafield (79.7kmjh), Burton(82.2km/h), Ralph J.ones (Nimbus 2,83.7km{h). But fastest of all was, appro­priately, WiJliamson himself, setting anew speed of 85.5kmlh to retain therecord and win the day. The fastestStandard Class speed was put up byGoodhart (80.1km{h), with Greaves,Fitchett, Orme, White and Cardiff closebehind.

STABLEAfter Monday, the air stabilised pro­

gressively, filled rapidly with homo­geneously distributed noxious particlesunderneath the inversion and made

, in the top (ALL-METAL) league

visibility poor. It was so poor on theTuesday, in fact, that although a taskwas set and conditions became soarablein the afternoon, it was cancelled whenthe snifter declared that there would bea collision risk if everybody waslaunched. One or two pilots who subse­quently had ufun" flights confirmed thewisdom of the decision to scrub.

Vi.sibility was poor locally on Wednes­day as well, but conditions improvedand became soarable after lunchtime,with some cu up to 4,Oooft. Most com­petitors completed the task, a 204.5krntriangle via Winchcombe and Silvcrstone.

An experiment was made by the 01­ganisers. It was to ban relights from out­landings for the first time in a Britishcompetition. This is the practice in anumber of continental countries. Good­hart suffered badly as a result of this; heleft too early and landed at Bicester.Although be would have been able toreturn to Dunstable by road in time fora second attempt at the task, the experi­ment prevented him from doing so andhe lost a lot of ground as a result.

Ralph Jones, the one contestant whoheld on to his water ballast, won theOpen Class at a speed of 69.3km{h, withDelafield, Burton, Williamson andPozerskis close behind. Gatrod, BritishNational Standard Class Champion, wonthe Standard in his ASW-15 with a speedof 63.9km{h, with Reichmann, Fitchett,White, Greaves and Cardiff close behind,

Will.iamsoD retained the Open leadwith 62 points, but Delafield and Burtonh~d narrowed the gap and Ralph Jones,With 52, was keeping the leaders in sight.

The Standard Class situation remained

367

unchanged, with Fitcheu. on 1~4, 10points ahead of Greaves, with ~hlte andCardiff breathing down their necks.Reichmann/Schneider remained in. 5thpla,ce and Garrod moved, up to sIxth,but at '76 he was 22 points behind Cardiffand had a lot of ground to make up tostay in the running. Goodhart's un­f;Qrtunate outlanding dropped him to' 10thplace overall, with 58 points.

Thursday featured a second experimentas well as hazy conditions which onceagain only became soarable in the after­noon. A 127.8k-rn triangle for bothclasses w,as set via Didcot and ShepherdsFurze, and conditions were very weak­basically blue and the cumuli which didexist did nQt always work, Only Burton,Jones and Zealley of the Open pilotsmade it back, and that by the skin oftheir teeth., Cardiff got a timely boostfrom a stubble fire which produced IOktsto make him the only Standard pilot toreturn home.

The experiment Was to prevent theStandard Class, which was launched afterthe Open, from crossing the start lineun'!il 10 minutes after the last machinewas released, This resulted in the forma­tion of two or three farge gaggles whichlooked very beautiful as they circled,silvery-white, in the hazy blue sky towait for the gate to be opened.

Burton's speed of 49.8km/h took himto the top of the' Open league with 70.5points, half a point ahead of Williamson.Jones took over third place from Dela­field; ,the next nearest competitor was 20points behind. Cardiff's win in ,theStandard Class, at 39.1 km/h, took himto secQnd place overall, to points behindFitchett, who retained the lead with 139.White remained in third place, butGreaves dropped to £'ourth, with 119points. Schneider did enough to keep theGerman team in fifth place, but Garroddropped back, letting Orme, who landedjust short at Edlesborough, to take oversixth place with 98.

The Swiss Pilatus glider, in Britain ona demonstration tour, came to Dunstableand, it is believed by many, inadvertentlyrendered the start and finish lineobservers an inestimable service. In themorning, oefore contest .launching, itgave a display of aerobatics. A combineharvester was working in Farmer Pratt'sfield, which .Ijes between the airfield and

368

the knob of Dunstable Downs' famousbowl. It is believed that the driver was arapt spectator of the aerobatics. Just asthe Pilatus finished its disrlay with aninverted run along the hil towards thebowl, the harvester sought to' emulatethe glider and turned over, bursting intoflames. Fortunately, the driver wasthrown cleaT. From then on, the wreckedmachine was used as one end of the startand finish lines.

Friday's 'task (a short triangle via theWatford Gap M 1 service station andOlney) was cancelled because of poorvisibiHty, but it was announced that pilotscould fly if they wanted -to and a prizewould be given to the winner. Eleventried, but most not very seriously, andonly Jones completed it. taking nearlytwo 'hQurs. Rudie StUssi undoubtedlywishes he hadn't tried-he broke thefuselage of his Std Cirrus on a field land­ing undershoot. Reichmann and Teschrounded the second turning point beforeland'ing.

CLAMPEOOn Saturday, much to the relief of

any incipient sunburns, the weatherchanged. Not much, but the, high moveda little north, allowing a continuouslayer of strato-Cll to cover the country_It looked quite unsoarable. However,there might be a few brea,ks in the ,cloud,and a wind o,f up to 15Jt~s from thenorth-east dictated a ,task towards thewest. It was set as a race to Cosford viaStratford upon Avon and Shobdon. atotal of 228.9km. Looking at the weather.the natural reaction was riba'ld laughter.The minimum scoring' distanc,e was set at60km instead of the usual 40 in view ofthe day's unceJ'tainty. The Open Classwent first and the Standard Class hadtheir task reduced to a race to Cosfordvia Stratford only-l 52.3km.

Visibiljty was poor,_ therrnals in themain weak, and many pilots were in apermanent state of "landing now". Butst'u~ble fires came to the r,escue many atime and surprisingly good distances wereachieved. although nobody completed therace. Burton won the Open Class with197.4km, while Delafield, Williamsoo andJones all exceeded 190. The Standardpilots, launched after the O~n, had amuch harder time of it, and nine pilots

failed to exceed the minimum scoringdistance, including poor Stiissi, who wasflying a borrowed K-8. Goodhart madethe best distance, l46.3km, with Reich­mann second, with l34.6km. OnlyGreaves of the Standard front runnerswas up with the leaders, and he squeezedinto second place a point in front ofCardiff but still eight points behindFitchett.

Sunday was pretty much the same, withthe same overcast, a light north'easterlyand even weaker conditions. The task wasa short triangle via Watford Gap andOlney (129.6km), and the minimumscoring distances maintained at 60km.Only three Open and two Standard pilotsexceeded it. Delafield made the bestdistance, 80km, and WilIiamson second,77.4km. WilIiamson's five points put himinto the lead over Burton, who failed toscore.

Fitchett won the Standard Class with

OPEN CLASS UNHANDICAPPED

71.3km, increasing his lead slightly, butthe placings were unchanged.

A task: was set on Monday, which hada similar look about it, but conditionsdid not prove soarable sufficiently early,so it was cancelled, leaving Mr H. M.Stephen, managing director of The Dailyand Sunday Telegraph's, to formally closethe contest.

The first three in each class wereawarded trophies donated by The DailyTelegraph. The winners received silversalvers; the runners-up in each classreceived cut glass decanters with a silverbase; and pilots coming third "Churchill"silver plates.

In addition, the Winfield ChallengeTrophy, awaFded by F. W. Woolworth& Co Ltd to the competitor who madethe fastest time during any of the com­petition tasks, was won by John WilJiam'son (Kestrel 19) with his 8S.Skm/h 200kmtriangle record-breaking flight.

I19.8 20.8 21.8 23.8 24.8 26.8 27.8 Toral

Pi/o/(s) Sailplan~ 17 18 17 15 15 16 5 poitlls

1 Williamson. J. S. Ke'trel 19 17 16 17 12 8 14 5 892 Burto1t. G. E. Kestrel 19c 16.5 11 15 13 15 t6 0 86.53 Delafield.1. D. Kestrel 19 13 18 12 13 8 15 5 844 Jone•. R. Nimbus 2 13 8 16 15 14 13 0 805 Zealley. T. S. Kestrel 19 2 14 8 8 12 2 2 486 Goldsborough, J. B. Oiamant 18 10 11 10 5 4 5 0 457 WarnUnger. A- H. Ke.trel 19 6 6 5 5 8 12 0 428 Pozerski•. P. Cirrus 8 4 5 12 4 8 0 419 Vinther, H. H. (Denmark) SHK 4 - 1 - 4 - 0

Nielsen. E. E. - I - 2 - 5 - 18

STANDARD CLASS UNHANDICAPPED-

19.8 20.8 21.8 23.8 24.8 26.8 27.8 TotalPi/ot(s) Sailplane 29 27 33 33 31 19 4 poillts

I Fitch~tt, B. Std Cirrus 29 27 29 29 25 0 4 1432 Groaves, C. M. Std Cirrus 29 18 29 28 15 12 0 1313 Cardiff. J. O. Std Libelle 19 24 29 26 31 I 0 1304 White. S. A. Std Cirru. 25 21 29 28 23 0 I 1275 Schneider. R. (W. Germ) LS·IF 15 - 24 - 23 - -

Rcichmann, H. - 27 - 30 - t6 0 1226 Ormc. H. Std Cirrus 19 0 29 21 29 16 0 1147 Goodhart. H. C. N. Std Libelle 19 6 33 0 25 19 0 102~ Gar,rod. M. P. ASW·15 15 14 14 33 10 0 0 869 Glossop. J. D. J. ASW·15 11 13 19 13 19 12 0 18

10"'Sandford, R. A. Std Cirrus 19 4 15 17 20 0 0 75lO"'Tesch. K. (W. Germ) LS·I 2 21 15 21 12 4 0 7512 Kcpka. F. (Poland) Cobr. 15, 24 8 21 6 9 6 0 7413 Hood. l... S. K·6E 11 10 10 19 11 12 0 7314 Ddo..e. G. (Belgium) Std Libelle 11 0 2 22 16 8 0 5915 Dobson. B. Std I,.ibelle 23 0 22 3 12 0 0 5516 SW..i, R. (Switz) Std Cirrus/K·8· 7 2 7 13 21 O· O· 50:7 Dc Meyere. J. <J{oll) K·6E '7 15 5 9 8 0 0 448 Lee. G. Cobra 15 15 0 21 3 4 0 0 43

19 Kaasjager. 1'. (H.olI) K-6cR 4 0 6 9 2 0 0 21

369

TRIMMING FOR TAKE-OFFBy RODNEY WITTER

CA

EVER since my first lesson in a glidertbe principle of setting the elevator

trimmer forward for take-off on a winchlaunch has been emphasised and untilrecently accepted by me. Careful thoughtabout the question, however, brings oneto the conclusion that this may notalways be the best procedure with alltypes of trimmer.

The first design principle of anyelevator trimmer is that it should adjustthe amount of stick force required tohold the aircraft in any particular stablepitch attitude. This is achieved in anumber of ways, such as the adjustablespring bias on the control column (K-6)or, more commonly, tbe trim tab ofeither normal (Olympia, Blanik, etc) ordifferential (K-7, K-8) design. •

In the case of the movable ta6 type oftrimmer there is an important secondaryeffect whereby ,the trimmer itself acts asa pitch control surface if the elevator isheld steady. This is most noticeable inthe K-8 where the trimmer will producevery substantial nose up or nose downpitch changes if operated while theelevator is held rock steady. The interest­ing point is, of course. that in this con­dition trimming fully forward will raisethe nose while moving the trimmer fullyaft lowers the nose, as reference tothe figure wiJl show. And this, after aroundabout lead in, is the starting pointof my argument.

For the aerotow launch there is noproblem in that a fairly neutral combi­nation of elevator and trim is set for tbeclimb out. For wioch launching howeverwith the stick hard back and trimme;fully forward, the control surface com­bination is as shown in diagram C. If thecable should break in this situation avery strong nose up pitching moment willbe applied to the aircraft (due to thecombined control surface action of theelevator and the trimmer) in the intervalbefore die stick is pushed forward forrecovery action.

The usual reason quoted for trimmingforward for take-off is to assist the ele­vator to go to the nose down position00 a cable break. However, the force

370

produced by the trimmer on the controlcolumn is very small compared with thefirm positive action with which the pilotwill push the stiCk forward to recover.Of more importance is the nose up pitch­ing contribution of the trimmer whilstthe stick is still held back before re­covery action is taken. This extra noseup moment could make all the differencebetween stalling the aircraft and makinga smooth recovery.

In conclusion, therefore, it could beargued that the optimum position fOT thetrimmer on a winch launch is in a mid,neutral setting. neither assisting (orhindering) stick movement, or providingany secondary control surface effectwhich could aggravate the marginal con­ditions existing after a cable break.

As a cQro]]ary to all this, it is seenthat limited pitch control of an aircraftmay still be retained in the unfortunateevent of the elevator control jamming.Indeed it might be that enough controlremains to land the aircraft if the un­natural effect of trimming forward raisingthe nose and vice versa can be got usedto.

A further point is that of entering aspin. Occasionally, on a reluctant air­craft, enough up elevator cannot beapplied to help enter the spin. Applyingforward trim may then just provide theextra loss of speed necessary to stall theinner wing when the yaw is· applied.

Jl. /]I

C....-B -1C ~ jI

c~c---c:J

DELIVERY COMPLETEBy MARION TOFT

AFTER two months of being ignoredby every thermal within a five mile

radius of Church Broughton, I concludedthat the June "happy event~ (see S&GAugust, p299) was a mistake. That is,thermals had mistaken me and the K-13for someone else. The mistake was notrepeated.

One day in August Camp Week of ourclub, Golf Romeo, the tug, was roaringon the runway and it was my turn tofly. The barograph had just been re­moved from the K-13 so that the smokedfoil could be replaced. Now I ask you,with my record of flying feats, wouldyou have waited for the barograph tobe replaced? We)], I didn't.

Now read on ...As usual, Tony the tug pilot pro­

mised to drop me in the biggest thermalhe could find, but at 2,OOOft when I pulledoff the lift was inverted. In no time atall I was down to 1,500ft and wonderingwhether to head for a big cloud in theopposite direction to the airfield.

-It's bound to have a thermal," Ithought.

"If it doesn't you can't make it backto the airfield," said my geemlin.

"Oh shut up," I said.Height trickled away as the cloud'

came closer. The sink started. As theairfield receded in the distance, I lost mynerve. turned tail and ran for home. At1,200ft I was looking for a suitable field,wondering what the CFI would say and

Mrs. M. Toft, of Burton andDerby Gliding Club, wishes toannounce the safe arrival of thesecond leg of her Bronze C. Earlydifficulties almost led to anabortion, but with help fromabove the heights of ecstasy werereached and the delivery completedsatisfactoriIy.

how long I would be grounded for.There was a violent kick from under­

neath and the vario screamed. I turnedthe K-13 on her wingtip ,and suddenlythe altimeter began to wind up. In 10minutes I was at 5,OOOft, cloudbase,frozen, deafened by the vario and ecstatic.

With all that height to play with,flying was easy. I practised using instru­ments to fly in and out of cloud. Eachtime the K-13 fell out of the cloud, shejust climbed back in using tbe thermal.

Tired of clouds, I trimmed the K-!3to 42kts, took hands and feet off thecontrols, and let her fly herself.

"Spin if you dare," I told her.She flew straight and level for about

10 seconds, then turning gently, centredon the nearest thermal and started climb­ing. My gremlin said that the K-13 couldfiy better than me anyway.

After an hour I was aerobatting off4,ooof1. to get to the airfield ahead of anapPFoaching rainstorm. 1 landed to arattle of rajn and a roar of thunder,with my Bronze C complete and a Silverheight into the bargain.

That was when I remembered thebarograph.

TRAILERS

8m. Shell £388

Fittings £70-£95

LANDSMAN'S (CO-OWNERSHIP) LTD. Buckden,HuntingdonTel. Huntingdon 810287

371

HOW THE YOUNG see us

H OW do the young see glider pilots?Through rose-coloUIed Polaroids?

We reproduce below some extractsfrom Gliding, a school project bookprepared by Charlotte Simpson, aged12, daughter of Chris Simpson, the chak­man of the: BGA.

The book is a most comprehensivepiece of work, profusely illustrated withdrawings, photographs, press cuttingsand excerpts from S&G, and is presentedwith such an instinctive appreciation ofthe principles of lay-out that we aretempted to offer Miss Simpson a job inS&G's office.

Priorities "Anybody who owns a glidertreats it like a real person, It comes firstwhatever happens!"

Radio "Every glider has a radio andthe car that goes retrieving has ()ne too.So that all the different cars and- glidersdon't get muddled up they have to havenames. The glider and the car have apair of names, eg Rhubarb and Custard.

"Everyone can hear everyone talkingon their radios. Once there was a manwho thought he was testing hjs radio bysaying '1,2,3,4,5. 1,2,3,4,5. 1,2,3,4,5 .....Another man heard him aDd got verybored, so he said 'Stop saying 1,2,3,4,5!'Then the first man said '6,7,8,9,10'. Andthen he shut up!"

Women's lib "Any glider can enter acompetition. They have to have a crewof 2-4 men to do the retrieving. Usuallya woman is brought to cook the break­fast and the supper!"

Competitions and the figllre"An ice­cream man often comes and everybodyputs on weight!"

World championships "The team con­sists of fOUT pilots, their crews, somewives, the manager, the chairman of theBGA and the vice-chairman. They havea uniform (ordinary Marks &. Spencersclothes). The year before last the teamwent to Texas.

"All the pilots had to carry drink be­cause it was so hot ... It was very, veryhot in the cockpit and so the pilot hadto be able to stand the heat very well.

"The fo04 at Texas was so awful thateverybody tipped it into the dustbins'! Arich ranch owner asked the team over for

372

a day; They had superb steak and wentriding. We have a slide of my fathersunding by an oil well (as though itwas his own) in a big hat. It is' veryfunnyl

"The beer was about 60p a pint andeverything else was remarkably cheap."

Motor gliders '''Many people wantedto put motors into gliders, so that theycould skip the aero-tow queue."

Tail parachutes "Tail parachutes areused as a sort of brake. Pilots use themfor landing. They are stored just under­neath the tail. My father put out his tailparachute 000 early and he just wentstraight down and ruined the under­carriage! This cost him £200 repair."

Carnaby STreet "It is usually cold andwindy on an airfield, so it is best to weartrousers and a thick sweater and ananorak. Your shoes shQuld be quitetough. The men quite often wear greyboiler suits which have huge pocketswhich are very useful for putting thingsin:'

FLYING ON ABUDGET?

Our credit terms forinsurance need cost

you nothing

"Don't Delay-Ask Today"

Trafford Facilities Ltd.Associated Insurance Brokers

(Dept SG)

151 HATFIELD ROAD,ST. ALBANS, HERTS.

Telephone No$.; 548&7 & 5239&

A PILOT~S GUIDE TOTHE REVOLUTION

By ANN WEl.CH

W HAT is an aeroplane, a glider, aparachute or a kite? Suddenly it

is no longer clear. The streamlined single­minded, increasingly expensi...e, sport ofgliding has produced offspring. Probablyin time the offspring will de...elop afamily likeness, but at the moment somemay feel that there is little that isrecognisable. CeJ"tainly, to the hot shippilot reclining comfortably at lOOkts6,OOOft up, the thought of running downa hill hangin,g on to some floppy de...icedoesn't seem like the same thing at all.

Basically the re...olution has, or is soonlikely to" produce means of motor.lessflight in three categories-sailwings, rigidaerofoil. gliders with the pilot taking offon his own two feet, and more con­ventional light wind soarers launched byhand, bungey or other sources of urg~

SAILWINGS

These are single surface wings whichtake their aerofoil shape onl,y when air­borne. The Rogallo is a typical andeffecti...e example. Using a paper-dartshape its construction is extremely simple.

This type is basically safe althoughthe aerofoil can collapse if the angle ofattack is reduced too far. Some pilotsha...e bought the material to build asailwing on a Saturday morning, gotdown to work, and jumped into the airon Sunday e...ening. The Rogallo is suited

nly to slow flight, and although it hasbeen towed by speed boats and aero­

lanes this requires great skill on thepart of both pilot and dri...er. For or­dinary fun flying use of such power for

ROGAL1.0 TYPE SOARINGHANG GLIDERS

Full details ftom:MclROOM SAILW~(jS LTO.

12 M.nor Court' Drive,Horfleld, Sri.to:l '7

any phase of sailwing flight should beexcluded. Sailwings ha...e been soared butthis is difficult to achieve for reasons ofboth controllability and performance.

The typical spim is 14ft or 18ft; glideratio 3:1 and speed 25mph. Materialsused are bamboo or aluminium tubingwith a covering of I·} oz Dacron or 4thou polythene.

RIGID AEROF01L AIRCRAFT WITHOWN FEET UNOERCARRIAGE

Quite a range of aircraft are encom­passed under this heading. At one endthere is the tailless swept biplane hangglider learus, controlled longitudinallyby weight shifting of the pilot's body,and Ia.terally by tip drag rudders.

Then there is the Volmer; still a hangglider but with conventional controlsurfaces and weighing 501b.

Lastly come the next generation ultra­lights with a cockpit and conventionalcontrols, but with the pilot taking offusing his own legs for both power andundercarriage. After take-off the legs canbe retracted and the landing made onskids. A wide variety of aircraft con­figurations and experimentation withnew materials ean be expected in thisgroup.

The span of learns is 29ft, weight 55Ib"wing loading I.3lb per square ft with a1461b pilot and speed 20mph. Thematerials ate aluminium tubing, half-inchpolysty~ene ribs with ply cap strips, andcovering Itoz Dacrol'l or 4 thou pOly­thene.

373

LIGHT WIND SOARERS -

These are aircraft that have alwayshad a following, but whose developmenthas been overtaken by the passion forspeed. The Windspiel of 1932 was aconventional glider with a weight of only1211b, and a wing loading of 2.4lb persquare foot. It could effectively use bothlight slope breezes and small and weakthermals for soaring; its longest flightwas ISO miles.

In 1935 Harold Penrose built thePegasus. It weighed only 13Slb, but atthe expense of a small wing so the load­ing was higher, 31b per sq ft. In the lastissue of S&G, Pat Moore described bowhe had set out with the intention ofbuilding a light slow s.oaring aircraft,but had been diverted by the desire forspeed.

With today's materials a light windsoarer could be built cheaply providedthat the top end of the speed scale issubstantially curtailed. We should notforget that VNE of the Kirby Kite wasonly 70mph, and it was capable of a147 mile goal flight. However, it wouldnot be unexpected to find that today'shigh speed soaring pilots, or the manu­facturers of their craft, would say thatthis is not for them. But for the manywho cannot afford high speed ships, andwho are prepared to forgo the delights.of racing around a 300km triangle, thecheap light wind soarer could be theanswer.

Slope and local soaring in a glassexotic is not often m'llch fun because".. -

GeoO McBroom's Rogallo-Iype sai/wing

374

the performance of the aircraft is outof scale with the terrain, but soaring ina light wind soarer along the Downs.or the Chilterns can be much more of areal challenge because the aircraft ismore "in scale" with the hill. The dinghyowner may prefer an OCean racer, but ifhe cannot afford it he has a lot of funwith his little boat on a lak.e. Of coursethe inability of the slow glid~r to flyeffectively upwind is a disadvantage, butretrieves from gentle ambling cross­countries are not the end of the world.

So why do I call the hang glider andthe prospect of the light wind soarer arevolution? Because revolutions takeplace when a sufficient body of peoplewant something different from thatwhich is on offer. But most revolutionsin due course swing back. to a greateror lesser extent to the mainstreamdirection. I think that this will probablyhappen with hang gliders too, but witha load of good fresh new ideas alongthe way.

However, unless established manu­facturers concern themselves with theneed to produce some much simpler andcheaper gliders, such aircraft will bebuilt by newcomers. They are likely tobe some of the people now experimentingwith R.ogallos, who have a growingknowledge of light materials and cheaperstructures. New ideas are essential taany movement, but so is experience.Gliding will be best served if those withexperience also appreciate that glidingdoes now need to cater for a much widerrange of customers.

(Photo: Ann Welcil)

OSTIV CONGRESS 1972By A. E. SLATER

FIFTY-ONE papers and two symposiamade up the Conference of the Or­

ganisation Scientifique et Technique In­ternationale du Vol 11 Voil~STIV forshort-held at Vrsac during the WorldChampionships. As their titles andauthors alone would take up four pagesof S&G. onJy a few can be describedhere, but you can read the full text ofmost of them in the OSTIV supplementsto the Swiss Aero Revue during the nexttwo years.

Dr George R. Whitfield of ReadingUniversity was presented at the openingceremony with an OSTIY Diploma forhis paper on "Automatic Recording andAnalysis for Glider Performance Test­ing". Diplomas were also given to PaulF. Bikle of USA for a paper on "Sail­plane Performance Measured in Flight"and to Omitry A. Konovalov of Lenin­grad for a paper "On the Structure ofThermals". All these papel'S had beenread at the previous Congress.

These presentations, together with theOSTIV Plaque for 1972 to Paul Bikle.were made by the Presidelit, L. A. deLalige, who ill his opening speech pleadedfor more co-operation between OSTIVand CIVV, the Gliding Commission ofthe Federation Aeronautique Inter­nationale. He ended with the words: "Atlong last we heave tOllched down in thecountry from where your brilliant com­patriot Boris Josip Cijan served theOSTIV with all his heart for so manyyears".

Cijan himself read a paper on a subjectwhich brings history to mind: What. isthe optimum gap between the wings of atandem monoplane? (This type of gliderWon the ltford contest in 1922, and J. J.Montgomery had one launched from aballoon in 1905, while S. P. Langley triedto launch a motorised version in 1903.)

A paper on "Dynamic Analysis ofDolphin-Style Cross<:ountry Flight", byDr Jozef Gedeon of the BudapestTec~nical University, was the mostorlg.mal contribution in the opinion ofBons Cijan, who has kindly furnishedthe following summary of it:

"A dynamic computer study of sus-

(ained thermal cross-country flight usingthe so-called dolphin technique" (ie flyingstraight ahead, going slowly in lift andfast in sink) "has been started- Thethermal model allowed for the sinkingzone surrounding the core as wel!.

"Preliminary results show the necessityof allowing for the different flight modesin the computer programme. The bestpoint for beginning the pull-up was foundto be at some distance before enteringthe thermal core.

"Optimising for the best normal loadsequence in doing the pull-up and thepush-down calls for more computer work.Relevant studies are going on andresults will be compared with circlingcross-country flight performance calcu­lations."

Slides and a film of the Sigma wereshown and explained by C. O. Vemon inplace of Nicholas Goodhart, who wasflying. He said the first rigging took 25to 30 minutes_ The cross-section of thefuselage was kept as small as possible toreduce the "wetted" surface; but onequestioner expressed surprise at its greatlength. Another asked why the flap wasused in only two positions-in and out;but Mr Vemon replied: "If we hadwanted to use it in intermediate positions,we would have done something about thegap."

Dr George Whitfield read two papers,and I am indebted to him for the follow­ing summaries of them:

"Dr Whitfield described his measure­ments of the performance of the Falkemotor glider, both with and withoutpropeller. These showed best glidingangles of about 18:1 with the propellerstationary, and 20:1 without the pro­peller. In fact, in spite of its small size,the propeller contributes 2()% of theCoo, the drag coefficient at zero lift.

"He also described a hysteresis effectthat appears in some of his glider per­formance tests. The rate of sink at oneair speed depends on the direction fromwhich this speed is approached. At highspeeds, the performance is better if thespeed is increased to the test speed, whileat low speeds, below about 50kts, it is

375

better to slow down to the test speed.This effect Was shown by the Skylark 4,Boc;ian and Falke; it was absent in theDart, T-53B and BG-135 sailplanes. Itis a small effect, typically 5% or 10%difference in rate of' sink, which is Ii ttlemore than the eltperimental error; butit deserves further investigation."

The tendency to flutter in glass-fibresailplanes is much reduced in the newerones, said the author of one paper, butthere is still a risk of this happening ifthere is much play in the various jointsconcerned in the action of the controls.This is due to the surfaces of contactbeing too small, so that they wear awaytoo quickly and the contrQI surfacesbecome loose.

One of the most interesting of thetechnical papers was "Thoughts on Sail­plane Design from Nature", by FranciscoL. Galvao of San Jose dos Campos,Brazil; but George Whitfield, who wasfascinated by this paper, found theauthor's English with a Brazilian accenteasier to follow than I did; once againlam indebted to him for the followingsummary:

"Francisco L. Galvao pointed out thatprogress in any field takes place in aseries of steps. The initial rapjd improve­ment due to a new idea or techniquequickly slows down as the technique ispushed to its limit and becomes subjectto the law of diminishing .returns. Thedesign of gliders is clearly approachingsuch a limit, and new ideas are needed.It is worth while looking at flying andswimming creatures for possible newideas.

"The drag of gliders could be reducedif laminar flow could be maintained overa larger part of the surface. There issome evidence that dolphins' sltin hasthe necessary resilience to damp oscilla­tions in the boundary layer and delaytransition, and. it is possible that birds'feathers and fishes' scales function in asimilar way. The problem is to provideacoustic damping over the range offrequencies at which the bOl:lndary layeris unstable, and it might be solved by ateam of biological. acoustic, aerodynamicand plastics experts.

"Another possibility is the tailless sail­plane, saving the weight and drag of rearfuselage and taiJ~few of the moreefficient birds have large tails. Lowaspect ratio sailplanes can be designed376

with excellent stability and controlcharacteristics, using new wing sectionswith low positive or negative pitchmomentS. With high aspect ratios, pitchstability becomes critical, but can beobtained by using a very short tail. Theresulting glider WOUld. retain the lightweight, low cost and low drag of theflying wing, and with good pitch controland low moment of inertia might alsobe capable of dynamic soaring in bubbles,gusts and wind gradients."

The MeteorologicaJ sessions weremostly held in the late afternoon, whenone had to be on the airfield collectingthe news, and the OSTIV meeting wasin the town three miles away. But fewMet papers are in plain language thesedays, and most of them, especially aboutwaves, consisted of mathematical equa­tions on the blackboard resulting fromcomputer analyses. Moving waves, aswell as stationary ones, are being in­creasingly studied.

Our Tom Bradbury gave a progressreport on the compilation of an "OSTIVForecasting Manual", about which aConference had been held at Zell am Seelast year; but it isn't ready yet. A reporton Mike Field's flight to 42,500ft overEngland was included in the section"Thermal Wave Soaring", A section on"Atmospheric Research by Instrument(dGliders and Light Aircraft" included anAmerican paper on "Sailplane Measure­ments of Atmospheric Electdc Fields inThermal Convection"; and Dr J. Milfordof Reading University had one on"Some Thermal Sections shown by anInstrumented Glider".

The usual half-time excursion was, thisyear, a trip down the Danube to seeEurope's biggest Dam, for which thedelegates bad to catch a bus at Vrsacat 4.30am.

At the winding-up C1)Oference on July21, publications came up for discussion."The World's Sailplanes No 3" js ex­pected in 1973; the Soaring Society ofAmerica intends to publish a journal"Technical Soaring" four times a year,and Jane's "All the Worlds' Aircraft" willbe available to members at a 33 %reduction in price. Hans Zacher raisedthe subject of including a 13-metre Classon the Australian model into WorldChampionships, and estimated lhat itwould take two or four years toestablish.

SOARING IS FUNFor the holiday of your life combine the joys of a glidingcourse with beautiful scenery and interesting activities at the

SOUTHERN SOARING CENTREWe CV! the frustration out of launching which means

MORE FL.YINGMORE INSTRUCTIONMORE FUN

FOR YOUThis is achieved by an all aero-tow system and your instruction is handledby two resident fully rated B.G.A. instructors. Courses are restricted to five

persons per 2 str. thereby ensuring maximum flying - for youBetween flights, you may care to relax and watch (or join in) the thrills ofparachuting and pleasures of power flying. Our modern restaurant is opendaily, and comfortable accommodation can be arranged nearby if desired

So for the holiday of your life why not drop us a line for further details atTHE SOUTHERN SOARING CENTRE (Oorset Flying Club)COMPTON ABBAS· AIRFIELDSHAFTESBURYDORSET Tel: FONTMELL MAGNA 328

A DREAM COME TRUE

YOU R OWN CAPTIVE

THERMAL-A HOT AIR

BALLOON

If you enjoy gliding then you

would certainly enjoy ballooning­

Want to know more about this sport? AWrite to the largest manufacturer in Europe •

CAMERON BALLOONS LTO.1 COTHAM PARK, BRISTOL. aS6 6BZ

Telephone, BRISTOL (0272) 41455

377

SAILPLANE &MOTOR GLIDER NEWS

THE MOTOR GLIDERS ATBURG FEUERSTEINBy PETER ROSS

rAIRFRAMESSchleicher The ASK·16 side by side two­seater with two main wheel retractableundercarriage and feathering propellerwith fine and coarse pitch control wasnot entered in the contest, and did notarrive until the end of the weeJ( after Ihad left. The first production aircraft hasnow flown. With the low wing and re­tractable undercarriage it looked as if awheels up landing could be expensive.

One ASK·14 was fitted with a SachsWankel engine.Sporfavia Fifteen of the new RF-5aSperber have been built, and one wasentered in the contest. Flown by HugoJannichen, it was remarkable how slowlyand tightly he was turning. The per­formance with feathering propellerappeared equal to tbe SF-28.

One SFS-31 Milan was entered. Thismarriage of RF·4 fuselage and SF·27Mwings flies well but lacks the performanceof the lighter single-seaters.Scheibe The Tandem is now in produc­tion, and three examples were flying.Major changes compared with the proto­type which flew last year are the lowposition of the wing, which has madeforward sweep unnecessary (and the rearseat much more comfortable!) and tbeadoption of the 60bp Limbach engine asstandard. Rudder loads are reduced by

378

an aerodynamic balance. Performance isnow equal to some of tbe single-seatmotor gliders.

The SF-27M single-seater with Cirruswing has not entered production and ex­periments continue so as to find the idealpower plant. The prototype now has atwo cylinder Hirth engine with coggedbelt reduction and a propeller from anRF-5a. The .thrust is equal to the Falk:e,and the engme must develop over 40hp.It had been fitted with nylon outriggerwheels a~ the semi span, and using theblast of I~ powerful engine, taxying waspoSSIble WithOut a steerable tailwheel.

A stan~ard SF-27M was flying with thesame engme but with direct drive. This issomewhat lighter but not so effective.Both have electric starters which mayalso be fitted to the four-cylinder Hirth.

(Photos: P. Ross)

Prometlzeus An 18m Diamant with aMicroturbo Eclair jet engine took partin the ~ompetition. A joint companyformed by the makers of the sailplaneand of the engine inten~ to market atwo-seater, and this motor glider hasbeen built to obtain practical experience.

The best position for the engine is themain problem. On Prometheus the hightail is out of the jet blast, and the finreaches an acceptable temperature, 70·Cbut makes the rudder rather sensitivepower-on. Take-off is lengthy, but onceclear of the ground the rate of climb isgood, and top speed, (airframe limited)of 137mph on 80% of the 80kg thrust(at 47,500rpm) is spectacular, as is thefuel consumption of 8OIitres/br. Fuel iscarried in the main spar water ballasttanks, and enough is carried for 20minutes. Gliding performance is good atlow speeds, but the drag penalty in­creases considerably at speed.

The engine has given no trouble at all,but bauery condition is critical forsuccessful starting, and caused a landingat the second turning point on the firstday.Akaflieg Miinchell The 20m MG·2~ be­trays the many years which have passedsince the design was started, and the per­formance of this tandem two-seater withVW engine is similar to the Falke. Theretractable undercarriage gives it a verystrange appearance on the ground. It wasnice to see that the Munich TechnicalCollege is still using glider design as partof the syllabus and it is to be hopedthat the next design will not take so longto be turned into a flying machine.Raab Kriihe The prototype of anImproved Kriihe, plans of which were

shown as long ago as the motor gliderrally in 1965, was present and fitted witha two-cylinder Rotax engine. In viewof the low performance compared withmore recent designs, this is unlikely tobe more than a design for home con­sumption only.Sirius This was also a Don-competitor,and arrived after I had left. Ann Welchreports that the high propeller efficiencyof this twin Wan~el engine ducted faninstallation appears to be offset by thehigh fuselage drag. The high pitchednoise was unsatisfactory.

This prototype has attracted a largegovernment research grant, and this isthe cause of some bad feeling amongstthe other constructors who have devel­oped more practical aircraft withoutsubsidy.K-8s Entered for the second year wasthe K-8 fitted with two Stilil chainsawengines. Although unacceptably noisy,this represents a very cheap and reliableway of obtaining a single-seat motorglider with negligible performancepenalty.

ENGINESMicrotllrbo Eclair The version fitted toPrometheus weighs 35kg and is a sm.allerversion of the lookg thrust mooe] usedin the Caproni two-seater. (See also underPrometheus above.)Sachs Wallkel Capacity is 508cc andoutput 28bhp. It sounds like a muchmore powerful four-stroke engine. Weightis more than the 26bhp Hirth four­cylinder it replaces in the ASK-14. Theelectric power needed for starting stillappears to be the major problem.

SF-18

379

RODbKrii/re

Limbach and Stamo These VW-basedengines are still the main source ofpower for all but the lighter single­seaters. The Limbach in 60 and 68bhpversions has an electric starter, and the45hp Stamo can be deli.vered with eitherhand or electric starting. Both' have analternator to charge tbe battery whenfitted with electric starter.Hir!h The 26hp Hirth four-cylinder two­stroke remains the standard source ofpower for the lighter two-seaters, andmay be converted ,to electric starting.Without an impulse magneto the need foran electric starter is probably greater thanfor the four-stroke engines. We may ex­pect the 634ce model 171R engine toappear on a production motor ~idef

before long.Various In the static exhibition a VWengine was shown with a reduction gear,and several small two-stroke engineswere shown by the ECE Company, onetW<rCylinder horizontally opposed enginegives 18hp at 6.000rpm for only 13.2kgsweight. Two of these were fitted to anageing Specht two-seater which chargedabout the airfield on the ground makinga fantastic din and demonstrating thatmotor gliding, as with most sports, hasits lunatic fringe.

SUMMARYAlthough not a year of startling

technical innovation, the improved per­formance of the two-seaters showed theresult of steady development Not. seenthis year was the Schleicher K-13 two­seater fitted with retractaBle Hirth 171R

380

engine which made its maiden flight atFeuerstein last year.

With the possibility of internationalcompetition for two-seater motor gliders,this development is likely to increase,and a retractable engined Scheibe Berg­bike IV with 1 in 34 glide angle is amouth watering prospect.

GERMAN TEAM BUILDINGSIQMA-TYPE SAILPLANeA VARIABLE geometry glider with anestimated performance of over 50:1 at9O/IOOkm/h is being developed in Ger­many and hopes to be flying next year.It is of all-metal construction, has a 22mtwo-piece wing aod a T-taH which com­prises an "all-flying" elevator and an"all-flying" rudder. It is estimated thatthe empty weight will be 35O/400kg, andit is designed to take up to 40kg waterballast.

The wing sections used are Wortmann:the flaps-in aspect ratio is 40 andextruding the flaps increases the wingarea by 30%.

It is being built in the basement of aplumber's workshop, and is financedsolely by the three men who have beenbuilding it over the past four years:Designer Michael Meier, HerbertLoehner and Klaus Tesch. Tesch re­cently broke the world distance to apredeclared goal record in an LS-l, andparticipated in The Daily Telegraph com.­petition. held at Dunstable (see 1'365).

About £7,800 have been spent on theproject so far.

SAILPLANES AT THE WORLD CHAMPS

OrlOD codpir

impression of elegant, coherent design,and Wroblewski and Kepka were veryhappy with its performance.

The fin on both Jantar and Orion isupright, unlike the swept-back form ofthe Zefir and Foka series, and they havethus lost what has become known asthe "Polish look". No plans for produc­tion of the OriQ" have been announced.

ASW-17On the ASW-17, Frank Irving reports~

"By a quirk of the launching order, we(Bravo Papa and crew) found ourselvesclose to Alpha Juliet (A. J. Smith'sNimbus) and Alpha Sierra (Dick John­son's ASW-I7). The latter had the greatgood fortune to have Gerhard Waibel ascrew which was probably just as well,because the ASW-17 has a four-piece20m wing with surprisingly small outerpanels and correspondingly heavy wingroots. Waibel is happily endowed bothwith design expertise and great strength.His '17' conveys an instant impression ofbeing a very clean, elegant and coherentdesign. Its air-brakes are a total revetsal

381

52D-37 JANTAR 19M

POLISH sailplanes and pilots hold animpressive record in. world gliding,

which was maintained at Vrsac.In the majority of world champion­

ships since 1958 they have come equippedwith new sailplanes or developmentsthereof and have been able to go homejustly proud of the achievements bothof their men and their machines.

Adam Kurbiel, the 36-year olddesigner of 1antar, started it in 1969 andit had its maiden flight on February 14,J972. It is the first Polish excursion inglass-fibre and GRP. With the test-flyingprogramme completed only just beforeleaving for Vrsac, the pilots flying itwere only ab!e to get ,a couple of dayspractice in it beforehand. The final resultof 3rd and 8th places overall as well aswinning the FAl 19M Clip thus maintainsthe Polish success story,.

The 1antar is not unlike the Cirrus orKestrel in looks, and has a nice, un­cluttered cockpit. Headrest, backrest andpedals are all adjustable in the air andall controls are pnsh-rod operated.

The T-tail is fixed and has a spring trimlever on the side of the control column.Flaps and ailerons work in conjunctionand water ballast tanks are fitted. Sofar just the two 19m machines have beenbuilt, plus two with a span of 17.5m;production plans are in their preliminarystages.

Technical' doJa JanturSpan (m) 19Wing section. FX K67-l70/tSOWing area (m') 13.3~Wing loading (incI ballast) (kg] m>j 36Aspect Ratio 27Empty weight (kg) 275All up weight (kg) (incl w/ballast) 490Minimum sink at 75km/h (m/scc) 0.5Stalling speed (km/h) 65Maximum specd (km/h) 250Glide ratio at 95 km/h (without w/balIast) 47:1

52D-43 ORlONThe ISm Standard Class Orion had its

first flight in December, 1971. It is a~ixture of wood, metal and GRP and,lIke its si,ster, only the two which flew atVrsac have been made.

Again, like the 1antar, it gives the

Technical dOlO

Sp~n (m)Wing section. FX61-168/FX60-126lWing are. (m2)

Wing loading (incl w/balJast) (kg/m')A.pect ratioEmpty _ight (kg)All up weight (incl w/ballast)Minimum sink at 84 km/h (mrscc)Stalling speed (km/h)Maximum speed (km/h)Glide ralio at 90 km /h

Orion15

11.63819.4

255442

0.6269

25040:1

A-/523.118.4838.128.9

475702

0.4564

25250:1

Centar, 26300Sigmund Flug­West Germany.

(Photos: R. Harwood)

duhoployno TecuickiVrsac, Yugoslavia ortechnik, 6950 Mosbach,

CALlF A-15A notable entry at Vrsac was the

hitherto unannounced Caproni Calif A-IShigh performance single-seater_ Franklrving comments:

"The only metal glider present was the23m variant of tbe Caproni 'Calif', al­though nowhere did its finish betray thenature of the structure. The wing had avery long parallel centre-section withshort tapered tips whose geometry lookedsomewhat improbable. The wing trailingedge was liberally endowed with controlsurfaces which (unlike Sigma, alas!) fittedsuperbly well. The ailerons looked to beof remarkably short span and it wasreputed to consume undercarriages ratherrapidly but, nevertheless, it worked. Thisleads one to the thought that, apart fromtbe excess drl,lg, problem, it was just aswell that we didn't take Sigma. To coina phrase, the mind boggles at the pro­blems of extracting Sigma from theSerbian and Macedonian mud, and ofkeeping it even faintly serviceable had itsurvived the first field."Technical dQtQSpan (m)Wing area (m')Wing loading (rnax) (kg/m')Aspect ratioEmpty weight (kg)All up weight (kg)Minimum sink at 75 km/h (m/sec)Stalling speed (km / h)Maximum speed (km/h)Glide ratio. at 92 km/h

Coli! A-15 empennage

of the ASW-12 philosophy: they are bigconventional brakes and no tail parachuteis provided. like several of the latestgeneration of glass-fibre ships, its seatingposition is far from extreme and thecockpit is quite roomy. Indeed, designersin general are re-discovering the meritsof uncramped c'ockpits,. reasonable viewand sensible brakes, in the interests ofameliorating the man-machine interface,if you see what I mean.

"Other distinctive features of the '17'are the very sharp nose, the slender rearfuselage and the vast vertical tail. Asharp nose can provide gentle pressuregradients to keep the boundary layerhappy-pmvided it is pointing the wayit is going. Here Waibel says it doespoint the right way in pitch, thanks tothe flaps, and no doubt the enormousfin helps to deal with the yaw situation.The slender rear fuselage is a good dealstiffer than it looks, having a sandwichconstruction, and the rudder massbalance helps to keep it flutt~.free.

"On the way home, we .paused atPoppenhausen to see ASW-IS's and -ITsbeing built. Very impressive, althoughone might suggest that the built-indouble-skinning of the cockpit area (un­like the 'Kestrel', where most of the in­ternal skinning unscrews) discouragessubsequent inspection and maintenanceof the machinery."

SSV·17 MOTOR GLIDERThe prototype of a new metal-spar,

glass-fibre side-by-side two-seater wasdisplayed at the Vrsac World Champion­ships. Designed by G. Sostaric of Yugo­slavia and A. Vogt of West Germany,it has been built at Vrsac's AeronauticalTechnical Centre with the co-operationof Sigmund Flugwerke of Germany. Itis expected to go into production aftertest-flying has been completed.

It is fitted with a 60hp, 3,200rpmFranklin engine with electric starter andalternator. The two-wheel undercarriageis retractable and it is claimed that itcan be landed wheels up.

Details available so far: Span, I7m;wiFlg area, 1805m2; take-off weight 700kg;cruising speed, I50-I 6Okm/h; stallingspeed 65km/h; fuel consumption, ISL/h.Glide ratio without engine, 29:'1.

Further information from Vaz-

382

VRSAC, 1972INTRODUCTION

THE August issue contained the barebones of the news from Vrsac. This

report will give a better idea of the trialsand tribulations of the 1972 WorldChampionships, and should be read inconjunction with the last issue.

The contest was noted for failed races,the majority of which became distancetasks, and there is no doubt that it pro­vided the toughest and most demandingconditions with which pilots have cv.erhad to cope.

There are thunderstorms and thunder­storms. Those experienced at Marfa in1970 were rather different from theYugoslavian variety. True, they affectedthe task setting in Texas, but at Vrsac itwa~ clear that the tasks set had beenplanned in expectation of good weather;no changes were made, however; despiteMet forecasts of cu-nims on course orcu-nims actually arriving much earlierthan predicted. Moreover, these Yugo­slav cu-nims were of a vicious' typecovering vast areas of sky.

Bearing these conditions in mind itmust be said that the officials were muchto blame for their failure to conform tothe Code Sportif recommendation respect­ing collision risks for, despite a reminder,it was only on two days that the classeshad different tasks. It is obvious that theorganisers were not aware of the pre­cautions needful to minimise the risks ofcompetitive cloud flying. On the otherhand, it is more than likely that hadcloud-flying been banned then the worldchampionships would have resulted in a"no contest"!

During the contest, including thepractice week, a total of 172,65Ikmsand 7,733 hours were flown. Many dayswere very chancy, but in spite of thisboth Garan AX, (Nimbus 2) the 30-yearold Swedish airline pilot, and lanWroblewski (32) of Poland (Orion)managed to be consistent enough tokeep them at or near the top throughoutthe contest. Both pilots have been on thepodium before: Wroblewski in 1965when he became Open Class Championat South Cerney, and Ax in 1968 whenhe was runner-up in the Open at Leszno.384

By RlKAHARWOOD

Wroblewski has tbus the distinctionof being World Champion Standard Classand past World Champion Open Class.He is only the second pilot to have wona world tide twice. Heinz Huth ofGermany was the first, having won theStandard Class in 1960 and 1963. For thenewcomers, however, it was probablythe worst possible occasion to make theirdebut. Lt was therefore good to see afirst-timer in the _Open Class on thepodium as well as four newcomers inthe first lOin the Standard Class.

As for the sailplanes-because of thelack of speed days it is difficult to drawdistinctions between the leading mach­ines. The pilots were all delighted withtheir mounts but, owing to the weather,racing techniques could seldom beemployed. In general the water ballast(a total of about 5 tons of it werelaunch~d each day) was often dischargedon the first leg.

The Poles can be especially proud oftheir men and machines; not only didthey win the Standard Class and 19 metreCup, but also Kluk and Kepka camethird in their respective Classes with theJantar and Orion gliders, both of whichhad been finished only just before thecontest started.

Russia deserves special mention.Rudensky with the ASW-15 achievedsecond place in the Standard Class, thehighest position this country has everreached. Kuznetsov, also with anASW-15, finished in 8th place. Twomonths prevlously he had been in greatdanger when, carried up unexpectedly(shirtless and without oxygen) in anASW-15 to a height of more than22,OOOft, and with heavy icing he lostc<;>ntrol and the brakes sprang open rip­ping away the under-surface of the wing.Fortunately the spar held firm and helanded safely.

It is unfortunate that there were somany faults in the bedrock of the organi­sation. This was perhaps not surprising asno member of the organising committeehad been at a recent world champion­ships to take note of the requirements forrunning such an event.

Briefings were on the whole very dis-

COPITf:S1 DAY2 J

CONTEST DAY

5 6

Leading pUOI~ day to day progress chart.

S'andard Class Key:A Wrdb!ew.ki (Poland) OrionB Rudensky (USSR) ASW-15C Kepka (Poland) Qriono Teuling (Holland) LS-!E Cartry (France) Std LibclleF Renner (A;ustralia) Std CirrusG Ragot (France) LS-IH Kuznclsov (USSR) ASW-15J Green. (USA) Std CirrusK Webb (Canada) Std CirrusL Nolte (East Germany) Cobra 15M Innes (Guernsey) LS-(N Motfat (USA) Std Cirrus (19)P Reichmann (West Germany) LS-1 (24)

Points552952J9510750944959478747344687459044784476447542293912,

Open Closs Key:A Ax (Sweden) Nimbus 2B WiitanCn (Finland) ASW·17C Kluk (poland) JarHarD Goodhan (GB) Kcstrel 19E Johnson (USA) ASW·l1F Burton (GB) Kestrel !9G Holighaus (West Germany) Nimbus 2H Musczeynski (Poland) JantarJ Schubcrt (Aumia) Kestrel 604K. Ncubert (West Germany) Kestrel 604L Mereier (France) Nimbus 2M Satny (Czeehosl) Kcst,cl 19N Jinks (Australia) Kestrel 19P Smilh (USA) Nimbus 2

Points58!65779576056Q9545152845219515351305077S046494448464829'

organised. None of the interpreters had,for instance, any knoWledge of gliding,or its terminology. The Met interpl'eta­tion was almost unintelligible, especiallyas the acoustics in the briefing hangarwer,e bad. In the circums.tances the prin­Cipal girl interpreter, Vera, coped very~e)l. (One of my notes. reads: "If EnglishIS an 'official' langllage does. CIVV checkthat organisers can translate into English?If not, they should in future".)

It was also neces.sary for sever,alteam managers to get together to pro­duce a list of important points to whichthe organisers were asked to ,giveImll'lediate attention. Most of them wereaccepted and brought in after the thirdContest day. They included having startan~ finish times on display; turningPOIDt ph!'IOS available for inspection,more retr-Ieve telephones and i7Jlterpretel's,

landing reports to be made out and puton display, 'etc. It was also a seriousomission that provisional results were Dotpromptly issued; the bulletins publishedwere the only way of discovering thecumulative scores, and these were alwaysseveral days behind. The scoring itselflef! much to be desired. Had it not beenfor some team managers and Presspeople getting together to work out theprovisiol:lal scores I doubt if we wouldhave had any idea of what was happen­ing day by day.

A matter tor which the oTg;misers can­not be blamed but was nevertheless mostupsetting to the people involved was thatat least three pilots had their camerasstolen when they left their gliders totelephone, and with no photos of theturning points they could not be givena score! -

385

386

We're ready for 1 973 - are you?Accelerometers, 2r £15.00. 3t" £6.75.Airspeed Indicators, Smiths 138AS, surplus, tested, 140 knot £12.50. P.Z.L.,New, 220 knot £18.50. P.Z.L., New, 140 knot, £18.50. Winter 160 knot 07.40.Altimeters, sensitive, surplus, 50,OOOft, tested £20. 50,OOOft, with releasenote £30.Aerials, t wave whip, new, aircraft £2.65.t wave magnetic, car mounting with co-ax £10.00.Ball BaDk Indicators, Winter, new, 5cm x 5cm or 5cm x 2.5cm £5.so.Barograpm, new, Winter IOkm, l2km £64.00.Motor Glider type with solenoid operated pen £67.80.Barognpb foils, packet of 50 £1.00.BatterieS, Exide 3.EV.ll 6 volt, 12 a.h. £4.83-Books, British Gliders'" Sailplanes, 1922-1970 £3.25.Camera Mounts, twin, for Instamatic 25 or 33 camera £3.00.Canopy Cleaners, perspex polish 20p tube.Clocks, 2·1-" surface mounting £6.00.Compasses, Lufft, stick on canopy £5.00. Airpath 2t" £12.00. Cook £17.30.P.Z.L. 2t" £21.60. E2A, surplus £6.30.Electric Audio Uoits, P1EP-works with P.Z.L. vario or on its own £35.00.Electric Variotneters, Ball, 3r, with T.E. diaphragm £87.00. Ball AudioUnit £27.00. Crossfell £30.00. Westerboer VW5KB £216'. R. Chesters A.D.e.Price on application. rFlight Computors, Glasflugel for 19M. Kestrel £17.68.Gyro lostruments, Ferranti Mk5 or Mk6 Artificial Horizon, ex Bueanneer,£85. 12 volt inverters for same £25. Tum and Slips, P.Z.L. 4.5 volt 2*" new£65.20. Gauting 12 volt 2t" new £83.51. Ex-R.A.F. 3t" 24 volt but workon 12 volt £16.50.Oxy&ea, 530 litre Oxygen Bottles, Walter Kidde, Lightweight £37.12. Re­gulator Heads, Kidde, complete with pressure gauge £34.40.Parachates, Security, ultra thin and comfortable, new £212. McElfish, re­assembled U.S. surplus, repacked, £70.Radio, GENAVE Alpha 100/360360 channel air set, 12 volt £280. GENAYEAlpha 10, fitted 129.9 and 130.4, 12 volt £157.00. Ditte!, FSG1S, 12 volt,2 watt, 12 channel, fitted 129.9, 130.4, 130.25 £289.00. FSG16, ditto, 5 watt,£333.90. Becker, 7 channel fitted 129.9, 13004, £319.00.Sailplanes, Kestrel 19, August '73 delivery; Falke Motor Glider, immediatedelivery. LibeIle, one available in March 1973, as at press date.Tape, white vinyl for sealing It" 91p per roll. 2" £1.15 per roll. PT.F.E.Coated especially for sealing ailerons and flaps 60p per metre.Tie Pins, Libelle £2.50. Ties, various Gliding £1.20.Total EIIergy Units, Burton, up to 100 knot £5.00. P.Z.L. up to 140 knots£8;75. Total Energy Venturis, Althaus £6.00. Brunswick Tube, anodised,non ya,w sensitive fin mount £4.00.Trailers, -Speedwell, all metal for Kestrel, less fittings £S85.00.Glassfibre, low profile, for Kestrel, fully fitted £750.00.Tubing, P.V.C., Rubber, T Pieces, connectors etc.Variomefers, P.Z.L. ± 10 knot £34.50. Winter :1= 10 knot £31.18 completewith flask. Fibreglass variom.eter bottles 450mls £3J8. $olfahrtgeber com­bined AS1 and Variometer for 40: 1 to 43: I glide ratio £74.50.Wheels, Tost 6" £37.00 to £55.00. 5" £45.00 to £50.00. Tyres various sizes.Solid nylon for trollevs 5" £1.30. 8" £2.30.

Many other material. i." a muttitude of Ilzes a.re In stock­write for our catalogue 40p refundable with orders

SLlNGSBY SAilPLANES KIRKBYMOORSIDETelephone 31751 Telex 57911

The tuggin,g, with Citabria Cbampionsand Vtva 66's, was first class, and obser­vation :at start and finish lines superb.There was e"cellelit accommodation forthe pilots in the airport hOtel, and forthe Crews in the local sohools. The foodprovided was good, although per~ps notto everyone's taste, and some saId thatthe packed lunches became monotonousafter a time. And it required some skillfor a pilot to open a tin of sudines while

rossing the start line!There were plenty of open air terraces

affording excellent opp0rtunities for meet­ing people or to reI'ax. The music andsinging was enjoyed by many-aI'thoughthere were some complaints that it wastoo near the sleeping quarters.

Everyone of tbe organisers, 0fficials andhelpers at Vrsac was anxiolas to helpand to please. They were the nicestbunch of people Olle could hope tomeet and their hospitality will ever beremembered.

PRELIMINARYThe organisers were put on a spot on

Wednesday, June 28, when the mainpart of the British team arrived totallyunannoun'Ced three days before theywere due. (Nick Goodhart aod his crewcame out separately sev,e,ral days later.)

It had been our intention to get someextra practice in at a site nearby, andwe were led to believe that Pancevo wasthe place to go to. Letters to that effecthad been sent ages before we left andalthough no answer had been received weassumed that it would be all right whenWe turned up.. Little did we know that the site in ques­

tion was military. This was madeabundantly clear when, by mistake, ourthree trailers drove onto the aimeldthrough a back entrance leaving GerryBurgess and me to find the main gate toreport our arrival

Soldiers barred the way and made usrea Iise we were most unwelcomcC and thathaVing got in we were certainly pot to~eallowed out. After some considerabletIme the CO "arrived and he made it veryclear that we should get the hell out ofIt, and so we found ourselves somewhatshaken and back on the road.

What to do now? The thing was to go

on to Vrsac with many apologies for ouruntimely arrival. The Director was 'mosthelpful and within minutes two verycompetent people from the lnex. TouristBureau turned up and booked us intothe Hotel Serbia at. Vrsac which wasundergoing extensive refurbishing, theplace being full of scaffclding. Stev,eand Vukki, the two helpers, had beendelighted to solve their very first problem.Although the rooms were primit1veeveryone was happy to be able to havea wlj.sh and dean up.

Meanwhile, our fully laden RangeRovers and tuilers were ,outside andsuffered the attentions of 'local souvenirhunters who had already stripped all theUnion Jacks off cars and trailers. Thiswas not too bad, but obviously it wasnot safe to leave them unattended, sowe drove back to the airfield wherethey were put under armed guard for thenight, and we took .a couple of ,taxisback to the hotel where we had dinnerin the garden room before retirin~ to bed.

This morning, Thursday, we are backon the airfield, waiting patiently for agliding official to ~me. He t~lls us. thatwe can't fly. The pIlots are dlsappomtedas it is a nice day and the Yugoslav teamarc practising. They have alreadyamassed about 120 hours ,each and 6,000cross-country kilometres over the lasttwo months. Nobody was allowed to fiyuntil the official practice week, duringwhich the Yugoslavs did not fly.

We have another problem-what to dowith all our spares, etc. Arrangements. atthe airfield are not complete-but Withthe help of the 'X'ugoslav toam !T'anagera leckable room IS put at our disposal.

Friday, June 30. We are allowed tomove to the airfield hotel-brand new,well-fumished, showers" loo, the 'lot. Thewater has been turned ,on, as George andKathie Burton find. They are beingliterally flooded out of their room af~erall their luggage had been moved m.

Several other teams roll in .on Satur­day, and the organisers, though nowherenear ready, are coping very well in thecircumstances. We British are beginningto feel it a blessing in disguise to, havehad the two extra days to sort ,ourselvesout. There is still much to be done andpatience is an obvious virtue.

Sunday, July 2. Today is the start ofthe official practice week. Th,ere is a,

387

briefing at lOam and, f.or those who wantto fly, a lOOkm triangle is set. Teams arerorJing in fast. The narrow road is fullof trailers with traffic jams everywhere.

We hear that Zoli's trailer with theCalii A-IS Qverturned on the way hereand had to be ta,ken back to Italy. Ithas taken 20 people 36 hours' hard workto repair both glider and trailer. Zoli isflyiqg in from Milan and will be heretomorrow, and the tl'ailc:1' the day after.

Our three pilots all flew the task andare happy to be airborne. The rest ofour tearn h.ave arrived at Belgrade air­port and are coming by bus to Vrsac­we are busy sorting out their sleepingquarters in a local school.

Early on Monday morning ChrisSlmpson brings news that two of ourRange Rovers have been broken intoduring the night. Quarter lights broken,cameras, binoculars, light. meteTS, etc,have all disappeared; something will have

, to be done about seourity. The Austrians'also' have had their car broken into.Luckily on the same day the culpritswere found and everything has beenreturned. .

The Poles have also arri:ved and' theirteam manager is happy to have theJantars on time. They are only justfinishe4 and the pilots ar.e anxious to getsome practice in.

At today's, briefing the same task asyesterday is given and launches are avaif-

able from 1130. There ,are only twolaunch directions and yesterday's had astrong crosswind component. A questionregarding this was answered with: "Ifyou don't like crosswinds you do nothave to fly!" There is high ,cover at13,OOOft and low pressure to the westIsolated thunderstorms are expectedafter 1600hrs. No startline will be,operated until the 5th.

Tuesday, July 4. A short out-andreturn for today. Our pilots all comple,tein good times, many go round twice orpractice c;1oud-f1ying. I still can't findout anything about Press facilities andthe "ziggurat" styled control tower isstill a shell. There will be a teammanagers' meeting at 1900hrs.

The fish restaurant near the pilots'hotel, and referred to as the "pivo" 'bar,is the internafiona! meeting place. Thereis music, dancing aod singing and a happyatmosphere until late at night. No doubtteam managers will object to, the latenessof it all; the pilots sleep only a stone'sthrowaway and will want till go to bedearly once the competition has started.For the present they all seem to, enjoyit and everyone is relaxed.

At the team managers' meeting it isannounced that the music wifl stop at11pmas from tomorrow, the first officialpractice task day.. All briefings during thecontest will be at 8am with breakfastfrom S.30-7.30am. There wiII be-divergent

Launching patterns, etc, at VrSQC

388

take-off lanes, one for the Opeo and onefor the Standard and they wiII belaunched simu'ltaneously. As there havebeen complaints about slowaerotows thetug pilots will fly faster. •

The maps issued, of 1958 vint~ge, can­not be replaced! This is rather seriousas many reser,!oirs, canals and roads. arenot shown. Frantic calls to vanousembassies, etc, go out to try and obtainmore up-to-date maps. (We British havebrought our own, thank goodness.)

Very sad, news reached, us that duringthe afternoon the four-year old daughter'of Fritz Seyffert, th'e Dutch teammanager, was drowned in a swimmingpool accident. Our sympathy goes toFritz; his wife Minke, and all themembers of the Dutch team.

Wednesday, July 5. Plenio Ro\!esti, thewell-known Italian meteorologist, is illwith pneumonia but 'slowly improving.David Innes had gone deaf from highaltitude flying. He has bad ,his earsyringed and now tells everyone to ~top

shouting at him! Unfortunately he hjlsdriven over his canopy and it is beyondrepair. (He flew to Dannstadt [Germany]in his Cessna and two days later turnedup with a new canopy, hoping that hisluck had changed and his problems wereover!)

A 308km triangle with startIine pro­cedllre was the official task for today.Most of the pilots took part, but launch­ing Was still on a first come, first servedbasis. My own time has been spent tryingto organise a Press conference to get.some answers to the many queries pilingup. I Was at the Press luncheon given bythe Mayor of Vrsac, at which I was toldthat the c,osts of the championships sofar are in the region of 4,000,,000 Dinar,equivalel')t to apPfoximateIy £100,000.There is no Government subsidy as suchbut a large cr,edit is at the disposal ofthe organisers. Also eight local firms~onated large sums of money and thereIS, every indication that they can keepWlthlO their budget.

The Inex Tourist Board employs 20,000people plus another 2,000 abroad. Theyare in full charge of all tourism and' arestat~-ow~ed. They did a tremendouslyeffiCIent job throughout the period andwere one of tbe mQst competent bodiesWe came across.

Thursday, July 6. Although briefing

was scheduled for 8am it finally began atabout 8.45. We later learned that theDirector had been taken ill with hearttrouble during the night. jf only they had,told us he W:;IS, taIcen ill ,everyone wouldhave understood; instead, chaos resulted.

Today's task was a 414km triangle.The Danes elected on the forecast to tryinstead for 500km national records butalthough they completed their lask,s norecords were broken. Dick Johnson(USA) crossed the finish line in grandstyle after 3hrs 56min making everyonerather worried about such speed. How­ever, Dick owned up q\lickly that he hadflown a shortened course!

The music and late night parties in thepivo bar ar,e still goi,ng on well afterIlpm. A team manager who shall benameless has just said, "If only we hadleft the pilots at home, we could havea jolly good time."

Friday. July 7. Local isolated thunder­storms are expected today after 1600hrs.But tbe sky this morning does not lookat all promising and in fact storms arebrewing over the site as early as 14.45.Many pilot pract.ise ~Ioud-flyi.ng, He~utReichmann reachmg 18,7ooft 10 a cu-mmto gain his Diamond heigh,t.

Today is a national holiday in thisarea and communications arc' moredifficult than ever. The storms causemany pilots to land out and retrieves arehard work to say the least.

Wetli (Switzerland) landed 120kmfrom base but it took the retrieve car404km to get "to his I"nding place acrossthe Danube. John Firth (Canada) landedacross the border in Rumania and had amost unusual time, tinisbing up with aprocession of about 50 "militia" to carryhis dismantled glider to the frontierabout 3km away.

Many pilots did not bother to fly onSaturday. What with a similar weatherpattern to yesterday's, a ban on flyingafter l600hrs, and tbe stories of landingsin muddy fields witb difficult retrieves,there was little inducement to do otherthan take things easy. Nick Goodbart,who had landed about 40km out, did notget back until 2am, while Cees Musters(Holland),. whose trailer got bad,ly stllckin the mud, only returned after thismorning's briefing was oVer.

Nick's story was that he lost radiocontact with his crew, the name of the

389

(Maps and diagrams by John Glossop)

village near his la,nding field was not onthe map and the field was unsuitable foran aerotow retrieve. After telephoning inhe found on his return that the canopycover had been removed, tbe cockpitrummaged through and both camerasused, but, luckily, nothing taken.

At last tbis evening we had the Pressconference. My list of questions was aslong as my arm, and I got some sort ofanswer to many; but the trouble wasthat the interpreter had no gliding know­ledge and so could not understand orconvey the meaning 'Of the questions. Theofficials were all most anxious to hell'and to please, but had no experience ofdealing with foreign Press representativesneeding accurate and prompt informationin order to meet deadlines.

Sunda.y, July 9. The opening day wentby quietly with everyone attending to lastminute chores. A very good air displa,ywas given after the official opetling. Per­sonally 1 did 1I0t like the demonstrationof genuine target bombing at rthe end.Apart from being dangerous to the by­standers it was noisy and too rea.listic. Nodoubt it was good propaganda for thelocals, however. I to'Ok the opportunity to get what I

thought would be exclusive photos of theeight ex-World Cl1ampions entered forthe contest. This took several hours toorganise, to get them together in the sameplace at the same time. Wbat happenedthen is quite an<>ther story!

Participating ~x-~orld champions (R-L):

Persson, Sweden, 1948Goodharl. GB. J956Hossinger, Argenlina, J960Wroblewski. Polano., J965Wad(, AuslriA. J968Smith, USA.. J968MOIJRI. USA.. 1970Reic11mann, w. German..,,·,- 1970

FIRST CONTEST DAYMonday, July 10. Task both classes:

3S8.2km triangle.The first take-off at 10.00 Was, by Dick

Reparon (Holland) ,in the Standard Class.On the whole pilots found the conditionspretty well as forecast with the inversionlevel at' over 7,OOOft.

Those who went' north round Belgradedid slightly better than those whorounded the city to the south, and anunexpected bonus for many were thestubble fires which produced strongthermals.

Crews ha,d retired to the local bill,about 2,OOOft high, and :so were able tokeep in radio contact throughout theflight. A handful. of pilots were backbefolle 1600hrs, including George Moffat(USA), the Standard Class winner.

In the Standard only ex-world cham­pion Wodl (Austria) and PerQtti (haly)

~\

\.~ RUM".NIA-....\ ....~

II"

.~.

. "?:'('):;o "9 t.oA '£t,l;£

YUG09-AVIA

HUNGARY .1"."

._':.t .... _J

390

Be.1 spetds Slandard Class and point rangekm/h & kmlh Points

14 pilots between 87.79 80.05 \000-87817 78.95 75.63 860.80812 74.60 70.00 791-7194 69.70 60.22 715·565

SECOND CONTEST DAY

Tuesday, July I I. Task both Classes:Goa] race to Bitola, 450km.. With a forecast of weak to moderate

lift and cu·nim development later in theday in the mountainous region to thesouth the setting of this task so early inthe contest, arduous enough for the pilotsbu.t especially so for the crews, was re·ce~ved by some with displeasure at thebnefing. But tbey laughed and clappedWhen Vera, the interpreter mistakenlycalled it an out'and-return r~ce!

landed out while in the Open Class allgot home.

As there were no official start or finishtimes available many of us were furiouslyworking out who had done what and whowere the leaders. Luckily we had doneour sums right and we knew the firstthree in each Class.

In general the favourites were allpretty close together and the differencein points would not be all that great.However, when by next morning theprovisional' scores were put up manypilots and their team managers had avery nasty shock. No fewer than 11 pilotsin the Open and 10 in the Standard hadtheir scores reduced to zero because offaulty TP photographs. For such a largenumber to fail was unheard of, especiallyin world championships. A pilot likeNeuberl (Germany) who had never yethad a TP photo queried to lose hisscore? It could not be true! Complaintsmade at once by.the team managers keptthe scores provIsional so tbat the mattercoul~ be sorted out. By the time theofficIal results were published severaldays later the penalties had been reducedto three instead of the original 21. Whatfood for tholWlt!

Best speeds Open Class and poinl rangekmlh & kmlh

7 pilots between 98.94 90.0610 89.95 85.8!JI 83.66 80.139 79.75 72.59

PoinlS1000·868867·806774·722716-610

First take-off was at 10.30 and fewpilots wasted time to get going after thestartline was opened as cond.itions oversite did not look too promising. In manycases they set off well below maximumstarting height. With crews leaving evenbefore their pilots the base becamealmost deserted and only team managerswere t<> be seen, trying to solve theproblems of yesterday's results.

Dick Johnson after being given anegative start found that his radio wasnot working properly and could not hearconfinnation of a good start. He used histhree permitted starts to make absolutelysure, and because of this was one of thelast to leave the site at 11.46.

Little did we know at that time thatthere was no proper system for landingreports to be logged or passed on. It wasnot until much later, when a few teammanagers had taken their receivers upthe local hill to listen ouI, that it wasrealised that some pilots had alreadylanded. They could only hope that thecrews had maintained radio contact.

One of the early landings was by StigOye of Denmark awut 30km away. Hetelephoned in and then sat back to waitfor his crew, meanwhile being entertainedby the local burgomaster. They shouldnot be long, or so he thought. The crew,having lost radio contact, phoned backat regular intervals but each time weretold-Uno news". It was not until 8pmwhen they had reached the Skopje areathat they got the landing report, so theydrove 900km for a retrieve of 30km!

During the afternoon some landingpins started to appear on the map, oneof them being Ben Greene's (USA). Hehad obviously managed to get throughquickJy, and we learned that his StdCirrus bad been damaged and neededurgent repair.

Skopje, about l00km short of the goal,became the haven for at least 28 pilots.Thunderstorms, low cloud over themountains, the dearth of suitable landingfields, etc, had forced pilots who had al­ready overflown Skopje to return thereto make a safe landing. George Burtonwas one of these. He had 7,5OOft overSkopje and flew on along a narrow valleyfor about 4Okm, but there was s.till an8,OOOft peak to be crossed. On failing tofind a landing field he reluctantly hadto turn back.

391

Moffat (USA) landed in the Skopjearea but in such powdery ground thatthe whole glider was completely coveredand stopped in two lengths. He was con­vinced he was upside down! Renner(Australia), on realising he was off course(nr Albania), crossed an 8,OOOft mountainwith only 600ft to spare. This enabledhim to get back on course. The crewhad a stroke of luck dter having beenout of contact all night. A local toldthem next morning that there were twogliders in a field nearby-ooe of themproved to be their pilot.

By 23.00hrs there were still 25 pilotsunaccounted for. We knew that all theBritish pilots were down and that Nickhad landed with the leaders of the day.

In fact his tiny 140 yard field, withpower wires and trees on the approach,was shared by Kluk and Musczczynski(Poland) and Link (USSR). The latterdamaged his undercarriage, whileMusczczynski after a dreadful,gfound­loop was lucky not to have sustainedany damage.

Dick Johnson (USA), the winner ofthe day, nearly made tbe goal but notknowing what lay behind the last rangeof mountains which he still had to cross,and in view of the deteriorating con­ditions he decided to call it a day. A. J.Smith (USA) finished up in an extremelynarrow valley, in the only landable field.He only found out after his return thathis fuselage had buckled.

Hauenstein (Switzerland) probably flewthe longest distance of tbe day but landedabout lOOkm east of the goal in Bulgaria.He was later scored to the border. Thetwo Russians shared a win in theStandard Class with Wedl (Austria) third.Wedl who had landed at 18.00hrs, tele­phoned four times, but his crew did notget his landing, report until 4.30am nextmorning. He had to remain with hisglider for 18 hours! Children, and latercattle, prevented any rest. He returned toVrsac on the morning of the 14th. Nodoubt it recalled to his mind his Mariaexperience of being un-retrieved for mor,ethan a day.

The Swiss, experienced mountain fiyersas they are, became exceedingly anxiouswhen caught up in the storms and Iowcloud in the mountains. I was told thatat one stage they had considered jumpingout if lift was not found soon.

392

John Large, crewing for John Cardiff,left base well before his pilot aDdmanaged to keep up with him for about300km. He stopped for a time on highground and relayed messages for all theBritish team. Hearing nothing more heassumed John had landed as pre­arranged on the other side of the valley,which involved crossing a fast-flowingstream about 60ft wide.

A recce with the Range Rover with­out trailer proved the crossing possibleso he went back for the trailer, crossedthe stream and finally got trailer, gliderand all back without mishap. John Firth(Canada) who had landed in the samefield was then given similar treatment.No other retrieving vehicle in this con­test could have performed such a featand it waS probably one of the best Un­rehearsed publicity stunts ever achieved.Not surprisingly the Range Rover wason everyone's lips and very muchadmired.

Not everyone was so lucky with theirtransport. Stouffs (Belgium) had a wheelbearing seize up and in the end had tohave another car, while D·avid lones(Guernsey) had axle trouble and had tospelild much time and money to sort thisout. Kathie Burton and Bill Swift hadtheir ingenuity tested when after thetrailer had jack-knifed urgent repairs hadto be carried out. Despite languagedifficulties, etc, they were back on theroad within a couple of hours - atremendous effort.

Perhaps the unluckiest.. crew . wasUrbancic's. Both ArgenlI01an pilots,Hossinger and Urbancic, had landed atSkopje but Hossinger's car, which hadbroken down, was miles away and soUrbancic's crew made the trip to Skopjetwice, thus covering well over 2,OOOkm.Hossinger was a late reserve. entrant.Araoz having withdrawn, and had hadto find and hire a Cirrus and car whichtook him most of the practice week.

As for the pilots, the unluckiest wasperhaps Timmermans (NZ). A trailertyre was damaged by hitting a kerbwhile driving during the night and ,caughtfire soon afterwards. In trying to put itout Timmermans burned all his fingertips, and they were covered by blisterson his return!

The stories about this day's retrievesare unending and will not be forgotten

(Car/oon by Erich Wlcd"er. A.ustria)

THIRD CONTEST DAY

Sunday, July 16. Task both classes:250km triangle.

Briefing was particularly trying, withthe microphones booming horribly andthe Met unintelligible. Renner (Australia)expressed it in quite another way an~

feels that they are lucky to have thellown Met man. Much of the briefing wasincomprehensible. For instance, appar­antly out of the blue, the "old hands"were asked to stick to the rules andregulations and to be an example to thenewer pilots. To what they were referringI never found out.

Petterson (Sweden) pointed out thatthere was a difference of location by7km of one of the TPs between the re­cently issued 300,000 and the 500,000maps. Which was right? The 300,000.

Many pilots came .back over base. toobtain their best heIght after crossmgthe start line. With Skt thermals theyclimbed quickly to around 8,5OOft. Oncourse and with a good tail wind theycovered the ground rapidly. But not asingle thermal was encountered OD theway and they came to a grinding haltbefore the first turning point. What adisasterl And nothing can be done aboutit. There are Moffat, Reichmann, Greene,Rudensky, Kuznetsov, Renner all leaders-all on the ground. This will cost themmany points! It is not until half an hourlater that the next lot can find some veryweak lift in that area.

We hear that Neubert (Germany) andTabart (Australia) started from 8,000 and

393

SATURDAY, JULY 15

Because of rainstorms and floodingthere had been no flying on Thursdayand Friday; Wednesday had been a restday.

A blue sky with isolated cirrus coverstarts the day, soon to be followed bylarge cu-nim development in the distance.It is very humid and rather unpleasantto have a turkish bath out in the· open.Landing in the fields between the Danubeand Tisa is catastrophic because of theexcessive rain over the last few days.

Tractors, horses and especially theRange Rovers are out on a giganticrescue operation and help, apart fromour own pilots, crews and pilots of manynations.

km PIS396 1000376 949360 909

352 888349 881

348 878

km PIS158 1000

350 971348 972320 893

I =Kuznctzov (USSR)Rudensky (USSR)

3 Wodl (Austria)4=(10 pilots)

21 =Cardiff(GB)Fitchett (GB)(25 pilots over 3OOkm)

\

\

\

by those who partook. in them-let mefinish them on a happier Dote: . .

Perotti (Italy) returned to his gliderjust in time to stop s~me .youths fromwalking away with his tad parachute,radio, cameras, maps, etc!

The problem for pilots and crews hadbeen many and it was just as well thatthe weather prevented flying on the 13th.It gave everyone time to sort themselvesout get repairs done and have some rest.

As for t.he scoring and the results, PaulBikle, the American team manager, foundthat Dick Johnson. the winner, had beencredited with the wrong distance--418instead of 3%km. Thus the results wereagain held up for correction. It tookfour days to get the official results forthe first two days.8e.<1 dislances Open Clan

I John.on (USA)2 Smith (USA)3=Goodharl (GB)

Link (USSR)Kluk (Poland)MUSC2l;Zynski (poland)

7 HoJighaus (Germany)8 = Malausek (Czech)

Satny (Czech)10=Burlon (GB)

(14 pilots were 10=)(29 pilots flew over 300km)

Be.ft distances SrondDrd CltuJ

7,OOOft and were down to 1,5OOft beforethey found any lift. Many others have avery sticky time. On the whole the Openships did better, although most hadbeen down to landing height at somestage before finding sufficient lift to keepthem going. A. J. Smith (USA) was pro­bably hardest hit by landing early anddropped to 9th overall.

There were no landings between thefirst and second turning point but afterthat it became increasingly difficult again.Tabart (Australia) diverted east to get acloud climb before the TP2 and thenused the same cloud after turning. Thisgave him 12,ooOft, enough to get homeat 63.50km/h. His team mate Jinks waswith him and they had been pair flyingsuccessfully, but on leaving the last cloudJinks became disorientated and lostabout 1,500ft before he could set courseagain. He landed about 20km short of~he finish line.

Both Burton and Gooohart landedsoon after the second turning pqint (269and 253km) fOT 17th and 20th places ofthe dacy. Fitchett and Cardiff had bothlanded near the first turning point withthe favourites.

Musczczynski (Poland) landed in suchan inacc·essable place that his teammanager requested an aerotow retrieve,but this had to be refused under therules. They did not get back untilIO.30am next morning, and I am toldthey had to carry their 660100 lantar formany kilometres.

The chancy weather had taken its tolland there was a great reshuffle especiallyin the Standard Class.

Best d;5/ances Open and point range10 pilots over 300km 1000-85 I10,. .. 250 815-7086 .. 200 694-S93

But distances Standard and point range3 pilots over 300km 1000·971

13.. .. 250 910-7967 .. 200 767-732

FOU RTH CONTEST DAYMonday, July 17. Task Open Class:

309km triangle; Standard Class: 214kmtriangle. . _ .

Forecast was 2/8 to 5/8 cumulus Withisolated cu-nims in the afternoon. Theday started fine with temperatures risingqUickly. East of Vrsac ,cumulus developedrapidly-too rapidly! By noon over-

394

development near base made pilots hurry-to get away. Soon we heard their plaintiveradio reports~thunder, rain, cirrus ,cover-and -then the firs-t landing repor-ts; justa few. Also many re-lights were needed.

Reichmann (Germany) after his firstcrossing came back to try for a betterclimb, but unfortunately arrived in themiddle of a near cloudburst and hurriedlyset course in the pelting rain. After 30kmhe was on the ground. Superhuman effortfrom his crew brought him back just asthe first pilots back were crossing thefinish line. He tried again, but again hefailed to contact and an extended glidewas all he could manage.

Dick Teuling, the quiet Dutchman, hadcrossed the start line about 20 minutesbefore anyone else and was able to gethis climbs before the cumulus cloudsbecame cu-Dims. This paid off hand­somely and he was first back. Swissveteran Nietlispach, who up t{) now hadnot shown his usual flair, made the bestspeed for the day.

But enormous storms are at breakingpoint; 12-15 Standard pilots are backbut the rest probably won't ma~e it. Thestorm bursts. It is raining heavily. A fewmore pilots just sneak across the finish.Two, Frene (Yugoslavia) and Asikainen(Finland) stop before the line. We hearanxious voices on the radio-they speakof extreme turbulence, enormous rates ofclimb-and sink rates of great rpagnitude.Some of the Standard Class pilots whohave landed just short come in lookingpale and drawn. Never in their lives havethey flown in such conditions. They havebeen scared and feel, just now, that theywould rather give up gliding than haveto do it again.

It was obviously no ordinary stormWhich could cause such reactions. BenGreene (USA) relates how he had seen alarge flat circular smoke ring like a com­pressed dust devil before he Went up inhis cloud in the Pancevo area. Trying toget out at 9,500ft he tinany succeededwith his brakes open at 12,500ft; it was.the nearest thing he had seen to atornado.

The storm now ebbs, the sky looksdead, but we hear on the radio that someof the Open Class are still airborne­including Nick. Then Dick Johnson'svoice: "No lift for last 10 minutes,1,200ft, probably landing." So it goes on,

from both sides of the cloud and Henrytoo started his final glide but had to landone kiLometre short of the finish line; Hethought it quite possible that Varkoziwas sucked in. We shall never know.John Cardiff summed up the conditionssaying he had never flown in "air sotormented".

FIFTH CONTEST DAYThursday, July 20. Open Class: 309km

triangle; Standard: 198km triangle.There had been heavy thunderstorms

during the night but tbe early morningwas fine. The forecast was for 5/8 to 7/8cloud with cu-nims after 16.00 withisolated ones after 13.00hrs. Cloud base2,500 to' 3,OOOft rising to 4,000-6,OOOft.Surface wind light southerly. Poorvisibility.

Actually overdevelopment had started

395

Tuesday, July 18. Task both Classes:158km out-and-return.

After a short statement on yesterday'sfatality and a one-minute silence briefingwas resumed. A fund for Varkozi'swidow has been started.

Thunderstorms all through the nightleft a good deal of medium and highlevel cover. The forecast was that theweather ronditions should be better tothe west of Vrsac. Again cu-nims after16.00 but probably earlier at. base. .

The East Germall,s were given permis­sion to use their spare Cobra. This ledto an official protest by the British whichwas upheld with a 17-7 vote at al1 In­ternational Jury meeting the followingday. This was a no-contest day.

Wednesday, July 19. After threebriefings no task was set, but by 14.00hrsthere was some cumulus development butas the day had already been cancelledno advantage could be taken of this.

&Sl distances Open and Point rangekm & km

15 pilots between 309 25418.. .. 245 213

I Goodharl 64.55kmlh22 Burton 237

poinlS1000-947938·9068984179

599'266

points1000-805777-675

1000751

& kmlh, 60.81

55.9652.74

178km79km

B..t Spuds Standardkmlh

4 pilots between 67.175.. .. 59.77

10 .. 54.9533 Cardiff46 Fitcheu

and ODe by one they sink exhausted intothe mire.

SuddenJy great commotion and ev~ry­one rushes outside. An Open Class ¥h~erhas arrived. Impossible! But who. IS It?Glider "BP"-Nick Goodhart. BP forBest Pilot according to. a Sw~de. Whenhe comes in to report his landing we aretold that he bad a climb of 29,OOOftbefore the second TP, more than enoughto get him home. The flight has beenexhilarating; he says, bllt now he looksweary. Extre.me con~entrati~n, dead­reckoning flymg, turning poI.nt phot~sfrom great heights all take their toll. HISclimb to 29,oooft was easy. In smoothair and rising at 2,OOOft/min, he couldfly hands-off to don his oxygen mask.But there was much electricity about. Hegot some severe shocks and the st1'3yvoltages indu7ed in t.be gli~er blew thecircuits of hIS electriC vanometer. No­one else makes it back. Nick's speed was64.55km/h.

Among the crowd near tbe map withits pins rumours start-they becomestronger-but are they fact? A ."May~ay"call has been heard. John Firth thmkshe heard it too, but no-{)ne is absolutelycertain. There are still many pilots un­accounted for and it causes great com::ern.At 9pm I go back to the "ziggurat" andsadly learn the truth from the Hungarianteam; they have just been told that LajosVarkozi is dead-his Cobra was foundin the Pancevo area with the pilot, hisparachute unused. Gloom prevails andmany retire early, very thoughtful.

We hear some more of the manyfrightening experiences. Met man Hans­Werner Voss (East Germany) has a badlydamaged Cobra. Large hail stones andpieces of ice have riddled the fuselage,leading edge and elevator. Luckily hiscanopy is only slightly damaged and heremained protected.

Ragot (France) hurtled down from agreat height at 8m/sec and at 600ft wasstill not clear of cloud when suddenly,inelttreme turbulence, he was tossed upagain and got a glimpse of the groundso close below. He landed almost com­pletely unnerved.

Henry Stouffs and Wroblewski hadbeen flying with Varkozi shortly beforethe tragedy. Wroblewski having enoughheight then set off for his final glide. Thelift was 10m/sec and there was lightning

by noon and enormous clouds could beseen on the horizon.

On the whole, pilots started muchearlier than hitherto as they mistrustedthe forecast. Soon Standard Class pilotswere heard around the first turning pointwhere it was raining heavily. Those whodared to turn fell to the ground butothers who stood off fared equally badlyas the turning point area beca.me com­pletely clamped. In fact more than halfthe field landed there. Reports from theOpen Class were mQre optimistic. Theywere having better conditions and hencefewer landings.

During the afternoon a short showercovered base and tQwards the east alarge storm was brewing up. SuddenlyReichmann asks for the surface wind atbase. He is at 4,500ft flying blind, tryingto get a glimpse of the ground. Then hesees the reservoir just outside Vrsac andis home. With loud applause he crossesthe finish line. He only took 3hrs Smin.Also Ben Greene makes it home in3hrs 20min but that is the end"of it asanother heavy storm lIlakes everyone runfor shelter. A reporter asking Reichmannto what he attributed his success is told"Today I have been lucky. Others werelucky earlier."

An early surprise landing in the OpenClass is Tony Tabart; he thus drops hishard-earned 9th place to 19th in one feUswoop. But this of course has happenedto many and has nothing to do withform l . merely showing up the chancyconditions.

The rain has stopped and the sky lookswashed out when suddenly an OpenClass glider appears. There is a jubilantcry from the Germans: It is Neubert,and everyone is happy for him. He tellsof flying between 2,OOO-2.SOOft and thenhaving two good climbs to 13,OOOft.From the last he started his final glidefiying blind for most of the way. Whenhe broke cloud there was Vrsac right infront of him!

More excitement as Kluk (poland)comes in with the Jantar. Next, Wiitanen(Finland) who had started very late andmanaged three climbs to 13,OOOft andpips Neubert's time by 6min. Finally, butmuch slower, Mercier (France). So tnetally is four Open and two Standard.We. can noW hear the Open Class radioagain, George Burton does not think he

396

can make it; he is flying in rain likeseveral others who had plenty of heightin hand-or so they thought. They arestill about lOkm or so short when theyare forced to land in a swamp.

Looking at the map the.re are still notenough pins past the lOOkm mark togive a contest in the Standard Class-itis late at night and the 10th pjn is stillmissing. Dirty, dishevelled and exhaustedpilots and crews keep arriving later andlll;ter. The fields, they say, are like mudPies. Eventually George Burton and crewarrive but without glider. The trailer isstuck in the .mud. The team manager~ecldes. to get It out early in the morningIn daylight-so three Range Rovers withropes and most of the British team wentout at 6am on yet another mission-thistime our own.

Top: Janlar cockpitBot/om: Janlar lail

SheiIa lnnes also had an epic retrieve.Although not more than a stone's throwfrom David there was no way to reachhim and they had to drive many kilo­metres round before they got to him.On the way back near Pancl!\ro they werehit bey a cloudburst and a large wall ofwater almost swept them off the roadwhich became blocked for four bours.For the second time Cees Musters(Holland) was out all night but arrivedback in time for the task. The Kestrel17 of his team mate Daan Pare causedmuch int-erest as the whole leading edgewas pitted by hail damage and lookedlike the surface of a treacle tart.

SIXTH CONTEST DAY

Friday, July 21. Task Open Class:372km -out-and-return; Standard Class:252km out-and-return.

At the 8am briefing it could not bestated whether the Standard Class hadhad a contest day yesterday. There wasonly a small attendance as so many werestill on the road. The forecast is similarwith low cloud base, poor visibility andthe usual cu.-nims.

On the grid the Standard Class pilotsare told that yesterday was a no-contestday so the gliders have to be re-arrangedtor take-off order as yesterday. Un­believable chaos ensues as they try tosort themselves out. But with the lowcloudbase and poor conditions manypilots pun back out of line and so themuddle remains.

Although the start line was declaredopen 15 minutes after the last designatedlaunch half the pilots were then still Onthe ground, so in actuality it has becomepilot-selected take-off time.

By noon cloud base has risen to 2,500ftand everyone jumps into action andlaunching gains momentum again. Condi­tions, however, are still difficult and largegaggles form over tbe site. When all haveat last gone Wiitanen (Finland) pulls hisglider to the launch line and takes off.

The early plaintive radio reports be­Come slightly more optimistic in the caseof the Standartl Class pilots after theyhad crossed the Danube about 70kmaway. But the Open Class is alreadyhampered by large cu-nims, rain, etc, ontheir route.

Shortly before 16.00 we hear Reich-

mann and Glockl (Germany) fightingtheir way back across the Danube­but almost at the same time there arecries from the finish line---Ru.densky(USSR) is back. Quick sums show atime of only 3.33. Moffat (USA) is backwith 3.53. Next Wroblewski in the Orion.He only tGok 3.31. All very good times.--under fOUT hours. But the rest aremuch slower and sums show that themajority have taken between 4.5 and .5.5hours. In all 28 pilots complete the coursebut the sky does not hold out much hopefor any others. Wreblewski tells me thisis the first flight of the contest duringwhich he has had ne problems.

The majority of the Open Class havelanded, mainly around the turning point.Those still flying have little chance ofgetting back as by now it is almost6.30pm. We know that George Burtonis down after the turning point and thatNick is still airborne with three ,or four-others.

Then, just as we are deciding thatno-one could possibly get back now,Wiitanen flashes by! He had managed afinal climb to 12,OOOft lOOkm out. Bythe time he was 30km out he still had7,OOOft and as the headwind was tatherless than forecast he had enough to cOlTlestraight in. It was the turn of'the Finnsto be jubilant as no doubt this wouldgive him enough points to take over thelead from Ax (Sweden). But the dailyfactor comes into play in the scoring andthe day is devalued. However, it doesput Wiitanen in the lead by 243 pointsand Nick, who was second for the daywith 293km, jumps from 11 th to 5thplace trailing 522 points behind theleader.

In the evening while this is going ona small British team party is in progress,the purpose being to present to WallyWallington his BGA Diploma awardedto him at our Annual General Meetingfor services to British gliding.

During the night retrieving stj)j wenton. Nick Goodhart came. in haVing lefthis trailer in the mud, and anothermultiple Range Rover retrieve had te beorganised. Kluk (Poland) was anotherwho did not get back until the earlyhours of the morning.

Crews are really getting to the end oftheir tether and the pilots feel exhausted.Pettersson (Sweden) had to be collected

397

..

.. HailslOne damage 10 Voss's Cobra 15 •

.. Dal'id Inn.'s LS-I

(photos: Gunnar Lundslrom)

• Ake PerterssQI1's Nimbus 2

398

with two Standard Class trailers to con­tain his Nimbus as his own trailer wasnot roadworthy. He arrived back at 7am.Alvaro d'Orleans (Spain), aged 25, whostarted gliding in Italy on~ 18 monthsago finds it all excee.dingly intere.sting andis learning fast-thIs IS only hIS secondcompetition.

As already mentioned in the Augustissue it was on this day that WolframMix 'of Canada sustained the serious in­juries fro~ which ~e su~sequently died.

His radiO call of IOtenlton to land hadbeen heard on the local hill by CharlesYeates, his crew chief, but then therewas a complete silence. Charles in­stinctively realised the truth, and speedingto the airfield reported his fears to theorganisers. They, on their part, were asprompt in getting things moving. Withinminutes a helicopter with a doctor andCharles on board was on its way to thelast reported landing area, and then onto the hospital at Kragujevac to whichWolfram had already been taken; for asit happened an ambulance had been quitenear -the place of the accident.

Rapid diagnosis indicated immediateand expert brain surgery in Belgrade, sothe helicopter, this time with two doctorsadministering oxygen, flew to the leadingneuro clinic where the top brain specialistwas already waiting to operate.

Blood of a special group was alsoneeded, and the Kragujevac hospital hadalready put out a call on Radio Belgradefor donors. Sixteen people volunteered;four of them from among the worldchamps entourage were flown by heli­copter to Belgrade. From acciQent tooperating table no more than 2t bourshad elapsed; an example of what couldbe done in an emergency despite thenormally poor communications.

FINAL CONTEST DAY

Saturday, July 22. Task both Classes:238km triangle.

Not much change in the forecast, lowclOud base, more cu-nims, rain, etc. Thetask, a 238km triangle for both classeswas received dumbly and with tired eye­brows raised. For 87 gliders to be cloud­fiymg on a relatively short course wasclearly fraught with danger-but no-onecomplained officially. A note on thescreen told pilots "Fly hi'gh and quick,

land at Vrsac airfield so that we willobtain results and scores".

Launching started on time as usual andcrews have already left or arc about todo so. The radios vanish with the crewsand we are left behind wondering whatis going on. Only Wiitanen, who hasgone to lunch, and Goodhart, whosetrailer has just arrived, are still on site.We hope their Slart is not too late.

Everyone fidgets around the map andpins. Co-nims galore in our area, andrain. By midday we hear thunder allaround us and now we see decayingcIoud-surely no-one can fly in this! Nowanother rumour springs up from no­where. A collision! Who? What? Where?Some officials say it is true. ApparentlyWroblewski has radioed his teammanager that near Belgrade he has seentwo gliders falling out of cloud. No moredetails, and everyone waits impatiently.

Landing reports are ,coming in andare received with exclamations of joy­"Thank Goodness!"-from relatives andfriends.

More news comes in. It was Davidlnnes (Guernsey) and Pettel'Sson (Sweden)who collided-an Open and a StandardClass pilot. This could not have happenedhad the two Classes been assigneddifferent tasks.

We are relieved when Sheila Innesphones and gives us details. David'sankle is broken, and he is to be operatedon at 8pm. He is being well looked afterin a hospital in Belgrade. Pettersson hascome bac!> to the site and has suffered asprained ankle. He and David both feelstrongly that a third glider was involvedin the collision but this cannot at presentbe verified. (Later the pins show thatnumerous pilots landed in the accidentarea.)

Several pilots gave up the task on thisday; they had had enough. Conditionswere so dicey that fOT once they wereglad to be on the ground in one piece.However, the best distance of the daywas made by Cartry (France) in theStandard Class-187km. It was also thebest day for tbe British team as a wholewith first and second places in the Openfor Nick and George and fourth and 11thfor Bernard and lohn in the Standard.

A. J. Smith (USA) damaged his fuse­lage badly on landing but only sufferedminor cuts on his knees from the edge

399

of the instrument panel. To add insultto injury, his TP cameras were stolenafter landing" resulting in a zero score,and so he dropped from 6th to 16th.Wiitanen was caught out b,y a stormand landed 50krn behind Goran Ax(Sweden). Later that evening we workedit out that Goran had thus re~ained t,helead and become World Champion. Inthe Standard Class however it was quiteclear that Wroblewski was the undisputedChampion and this for the second time.

In the late evening the Germans gavefhe best bottle party of the whole contestand many nations came along. Thesetting; in what they called the '''marketplace" in the "camping", was ideal forthis international get-to-gether. WhenAke Pettersson arrived he was greetedwith the spontllneOl!S singing of "Happybirthday to you", Everyone was lettingtheir hair down after all the tension ofthe last fortnig,ht.

SUNDAY, JULY 23By request the closing, ceremony has

been brought forward to 10:30am, sothere is a mad, mad rush on the part ofthose trying fo get packed up to leaveimmediately after. I am busy trying toget the final results-still not ready.

Standard Cltus: (L·.R) Rudensk,v. USSR' 2nd'World Clrampion Wroblewski, Poland; Kepka;

Poland, 3rd

400

The ceremony is over. The two Cham­pions and four runners up have beenmounted on their podia and cheered andgiven their trophies. At the outset westood fora one-minute silence in mourn­ing for Wolfram Mix of Canada whodied at 6am this morning as the resultof the accident on the 17th. BothCanadian and Hungar,ian flags ate athalf-mast, the poles carrying each asmall posy of flowers.

There has been a gap until 13.00hrs.the time for the Gala Luncheon in thefish restaurant and the giving of prizesto the daily winners, the winner of the1901 cup and the first ten in each Class.Half the tables have had to be laid inthe i!lpen air and now they suffer theattention of a deluge. There is a shamblesas those under cover close up to makeroom tor the rest~ The' terrace is one bigpool of water.

Suddenly the microphones cut in­·'Daily Prize-No 4 in the Open Class­Tetiling"! A mistake in translation, wethink; but no, for "No 5, Open Class­Cartry" makes us realise that the FAIDiplomas have been made out wrongly-Standard for Open and vice versa. Butthis can be put right later. I have finishedlunch, said :good-byes, ,and am off tostart my own packing.

Open Class winners: (L-R) Wiiltlnen. Finland2nd.- World Champion, Az. S.."dtn; I(luk, Polond;

3,d and wmner of 19m Cup

SOUTHERN SAILPLANES

Schempp-Hirth OPEN CIRRUS

Orders taken now will be delivered before V.A.T.High Performance. Unbeatable value at only

£3.,400 ex-works. Price includes waterballast tanks and tail parachute.

Phone NO W for details.

For the third time in succession a Schem,pp·Hirthsailplane wins the World Open crass Championships.

The NIMBUS 2 once again proves itself to be the topperformance production sailplane.

The Standard Cirrus continues its run ,of success bytaking First Place in the "Oaily Telegraph"

competition.

Our workshops cue able to take a limited number ofC's gf A this winter. Please book early.

SOUTHERN SAILPLANES

Membury AirfIeld, Lambourn, Berks.

Tel: Lambourn 774 & 399 evenings : Hungerford 2058

401

WORLD CHAMPIQNSHI',pS" VRSAC, JULY 9 TO 23

Final Results Day 1-1000 Day 2-1000 Day 3-1000 Day 4--1000 Day 5-1000 Day 6-640 Day 7-1000Opn: CIa•• 10.7 11.7 16.7 17.7 20.7 21.7 22.7

359km 450krn 350km km!h 309km kml" 309km km!h 372km km/" 238kmTriangle, Goai R. Triangle -- Triangle -- Triangle -- O&R -- Triangle Tolal

No. Pilot Country Sailplane km/h kms- kInli kms kms kms kms points

lAx Sweden Nimbus 2 1000(1) 98.94 818(1(}=) 348 89)(4) 319 859(5=) 271 837(0) 293 385(6) 228 928(4) 169 58162 'Wiitanen ,Finland <"SW·I? 804(12) 88.16 878(10=) 348 815<II=I 291 958(2) 302 1000(1) 80.69 640(1 ) 65./0 648(13) 118 51793 Kluk Poland lanlar 869(6) 90'.11 909(3=l 360 809(13= 289 888(4) 280 982(3) 7/.84 391(4) 232 912(6) 166 51604 Goodharl GR Kestrel ,19 756(23) 82,44 909(3= 360 708(20) 253 10000) 64.55 742(22) 249 494(2) 293 1000(1) 182 56095 lohnson USA ASW·17 867(8) 89.95 1000(/) 396 759(,16) 271 694(27=) 219 858(14) 288 427(3) 253 846(9) 154 54516 Burlon GD Keslrel 19 839(14) 88.10 878(10=) 348 7-53('17) 269 751(21 =) 237 882(8) 296 231(20) 137 950(2) 173 52847 Holighaus W.Ger Nimbus 2 806(17) 85.81 888(7) 352 803(15) 287 526(34) 166 867(13) 291 390(5) 231 939(3) 1.7/ '52198 Musezcynski Poland Jantar 761(20) 82.77 909(3=) 360 747(18) 267 872(10) 261 900(6) 302 339(9} 201 670(11) 122 51539 Schubert Austria Keslrel604 754(24) 82.30 878(10=) 348 ' 725( (9), 259 714(18=) 244 876(9l 294 250(16) 148 813(8) 159 5130

10 Neu'bert W.Ger Kesl rei, 604 809(16) 86.06 878(10=) 348 '890(5=) 318 815(13) 257 996(2 79.07 239(17) 142 450(21 =) 82 507711 Mercier France Nimbus 2 928(3) 94.11 787(26=) 312 890(5=) 318 777(16=) 245 956(4) 58.28 263(13) 156 I 44503) 81 504612 Salny Clecho Keslrel 1,9 860(10) 89.52 881(8=) 349 ' 865(7 =) 309 821(1 I) 259 82"5(6) 277 110(27) 65 582(15) 106 494413 Malausek Clecho Keslrel 19 716(29) 79.75 881(8=) 349 857(9) 306 774(18=) 24'4 804(17) 270 ..82(12) 167 ' 532(18) 97 484614 links Aus'lia Kestrel 19 866(9) 89.91 787(26=) 312 927(2) 331 805(14=) 254 789(20) 265 238(18) 141 417(25) 76 482915 Link USSR Phoebus 17 731(27) 80.76 909(3=) 360 386(28 =) 138 755(20) 238 795(18) 267 251(15) 149 917(5) 167 474416 Smith A J USA Nimbus 2 974(2) 97.22 949(2) 376 646(24=) 231 751(21 =) 237 870(11 =) 292 337(10) 200 0* 452717 Musler!i Hol Cirrus 18 68803) 17.87 878(10=l ~48 ~15(11=) ~91 450(36) 142 186(21) 264 224(21} 133 642(14) 117 448318 Zegels Bel Kestrel 17 870(5) 90.16 878(10= 348 34/(33) 122 859(5=) 271 792(19) 266 212(23) 126 450(21 =) 82 440219 Hauenstcii1 Swillld Nimbus 2 610(31) 72.59 411(36) 163 851(10) 304 9)2(3) 291 640(26) 215 260(14) 154 648('12) 118 434320 Pare Hol Kestrel 17 757(22) 82.52 878(10=) 348 257(37) 92 840(9) 265 840(15) 282 368(7) 218 290(29=) 71 433021 Urbancic Ar~en Cirrus 17 736(26) 81.09 878(10=) 348 646(24=) 231 694(27=) 219 891(7) 299 81(35) 48 401(26) 73 432722 Taban Aus'lia Kestrel 17 868(7) 90.06 787(26=) 312 1000(1) 63.50 694(27=) 219 292(8) 98 111(26) ,66 565('16=) 103 431123 Geskis France ASW·17 888(4) 91.39 520(32) 206 649(23) 232 739(25) 233 i 870(11 =) 292 B4(34) 50 5,5(16=) 103 431524 Wetli Switzld ASW-12 839(15=) 88.09 431(35) 171 347(32) 124 847(8) 267 718(24) 241 150(24) 89 879(7) 160 421125 Firth Can Kestrel 19 66:1(35) 76./6 808(25) 320 921(.3) 329 31(37) 10 918(5) ~08 353(8) 215 , 390(27=) 71 409426 Mamini Can Asw 12 688(34) 77.85 878(10=) 348' 688(22) 246 8I'8(~2l 258 372(34) 125 105(30) 62 ' 428(24) 78 3977n~~el')~ryj"ot

Yugo Cirrus 17 840(13) 88.13 558(3'1) 221 694(21) 248 735(26 232 .515(32) 173 233(19) 138 39C(27=l 71 3965Bel ASW-12 761(19) 82.81 787(26=~ 312 448(27) 160 805(14 = 1254 I 605(27) 203 101(31 =) 60 390(27= 71 3891

29 PellerssoA Sweden Nimbus 2 8408) 112km 878(10= 348 865(7=) 309 751(21 = 237 599(28) 201 322(11) 191 I 390(27=) 71 388930 Serra Italy Nimbus 2 714(18) 83.66 484(33) 192 809(13~) ~89 694(27= 219 360(35\ 121 101(31=) 601190(27=) 71 361231 Pryde NZ Kestrel 19 7()2(301 78.78 858(24) 340 386(28=) 138 675(33) 213 724(23) 241 76(36) 45 120(34) 22 354132 Peperko Yugo Cirrus 17 848(11) 88.68 689(30) 213 593(26) 212 694(27=) 219 593(29) 199 12~25) 71 0 353733 Hossinger Argen Cir.rus 11 740(25) 81.37 818(10=) 348 378(30) 13~ 745(24) 235 542(31) 182 101 31=) 60 115(35) 21 349934 Heginbotham NZ Nimbus 2 722(28) 80.13 393(37) 156 J27(36) 117 859(5=) 271 676(25) 227 '108(28) 64 192(33) 35 327735 Taarnoj Den SHK·I 691(32) 78.m 878(10=) 348 330(35)

II~ 'I O'560(30) 188 ~ 216(22) 128 I 521(19=) 95 3196

36 Zoli Italy Calif A-15 759(21) 82.6.5 878{1O=) 348 388(34) 121 777("16=) 245 342(36) 115 '40(38) 24 0* 313437 Fujikira Japan Kestrel 19 627(36) 73.69 414(34) 188 254(38) 91 485(35) 153 330(37) 111 71(37) 42 813(10) 148 305438 Rilli Austria Diamanl 18 694(31) 78.28 128(38) 51 355(31) 127 694(21=) 219 50~JJ) 170 106(29) 63 521(,19=) 95 3004

·Camera stolen

Fia.' Resulls-VRSAC .972 Day 1-1000 D"y 2-1000 Day 3-1000 Day 4-1000 D"y 5-1000 Day 6-111005Iond.," Cl."" 10.7 11.7 16.7 17,7 21.7 22.7

359"m 450km 350krn 214km 252km 238kmTriangle Go,I1 R Triangle Triangle O&R Triangle Total

No, Pilol Country Sailpl.ne km/h kms kms km/h km/h kms points

1 Wroblew~ki Poland Orion 910(8) 82,14 972(4=l 348 738(18=) 232 936(6) 59.56 1000(1) 71.60 973(2) 182 55292 Rudensky USSR ASW-15 922(4) 82.87 1000(1= 358 423(34=) 133 970(3) 63.57 990(2) 70.82 914(4=) 171 52193 Kepk. Poland O,ion 921(5) 82.79 703(28) 252 808(13=) 254 913~8) 56,80 821(7) 56.09 941(3) 176 51074 TeuHng Holland LS-l 749(38) 71.90 972(4=) 348 891(1\) 280 88218l 53.01 863(4) 59.72 737(11) 13& 50945 Camy France Std Libelle 915(7) 82.45 966(14=) 346 471(30) 148 883(17 53.11 724(25) 47,62 1000(1~ 187 49596 Renner Australia, Std Cirrus 918(6) 82,63 955(19) 342 312(43) 98 897(12) 54.81 ' 8'8(8) 55,79 887(8 166 47877 Ragot France (.S-I 905(11) 81.77 972(4=l 348 971(3) 305 538(35) l60km 536(31) 230km 812(9) 152 47348 Kuznetzov USSR ASW-15 878(14) 80.05 1000(1= 358 423(34=ll 33' 976(2'l 64.29 501(33=) 215km 909(6) 170 46879 Greene USA Std Cirrus 974(2) 86.17 770(26) 276 423(34= 133 938(5 59.77 817(9) 55.76 668(15) 125 4590

10 Webb Canada Std Cirrus 771(35{ 73.20 966(14=<) 346 767(17) 241 713(23) 212km 111(26) 46.50 550(18=) 103 447811 Nolte E. Germany Cobra 15 855(17 78,62 966(14=) 346 974(2) 306 697(25) 207km 583(29=) 250km I 40108=) 75 447612 'nn'es Guernsey LS-I 843(23l 77.87 972(4=) 348 875(8) 275 703(24) 209km 703(27) 45.84 379(40=<l 71 447513 Karlsson Sweden Std Cirrus 838(24 77.55 687(29) 246 808(13=) 254 891(16l 54.14 I 816(10) 55'.67 41700= 78 4457~4 Asikainen Finland ASW-15 786(34) 74.21 675(30=) 242 910(4l 286 720(20 214km 459(8) 197km 893(7)' 167 4443IS Timmermans N. Zealand Std Cirrus 892(12) 80.99 519(44) 186 859(9 270 906(9) 55.96 812(13) 55,33 406(36=) 76 439416 Reparon Holland ASW-15 844(2I l77.94 664(32) 238 796(15=) 250 I 898(10) 54.95 808(15l 54.93 379(40=) 71 438917 Yarral N, Zealand Std Cirrus 849(20 78,20 541(39=) 194 850(10=) 267 897(11) 54.86 808(14 54.95 406(36=) 76 435118 Persson Swec;len Std Cirrus 761(36) 72.62 893(21=) 320 885(7) 278 521(36=) 155km 813(12) 55.39 411(35) 77 428419 Molfat USA Std Cirrus 1000(]) 87.79 949(20) 340 436(32=) 137 420(41) 125km 911(3) 63.90 513(21) 96 4229!O Horma Finland ASW-15 737(42) 71.1 0 675(30=) 242 894(5) 281 683(28l 203km 744(20) 49.40 433(27=) 81 4166!I Glockl W, Germany LS-I 86()(15l78.95 650(33) 233 796(15=) 250 697(26 2071<.m 742(21l 49.21 379(40=) 71 4124!2 Petroczy Hungary Cobra 15 96(51 112km I 871(24{ 312 85000=) 2671 891(15) 54.15 70()(28 . '15.56 695(13) 130, 4103!.l Wala Czechsl. Cobra 15 852(19 78.43 , 536(41 192 732(23) 230 649(32l 1931<.m 436(40) 187knl 716(12) 134 3921~4 Reichmann W. Germany LS-I (mod) 923(3) 82.96 972(4=) 348 436(32 =) 137 111(50 33km 823(6) 56.29 ~16) 121 3912!5 Cardiff Gl. Britain Std libelle 788(33) 74.37 893(21 =) 320' 372(42) 117 599(33) 178km 504(32) 216km 7 ' I3~ 131 3856!6 Orleans dc Bourbon Spain ASW-15 834(26) 77.28 449(47) 161 292(44=) 92 676(29) 20lkm 813(11) 55.42 791(10 148 3855!7 Rizzi Argentina Std Libelle 817(28l76.18 645(34) 231 289(47) 91 879~19l 52-74 780(17) 52.49 417(30=) 78 3827!8 Pissoort Belgiu m Libelle 201 738(40 71.16 972(4=) 348 509(26=) 160 24547 73km 770(18) 51.61 556(17) 104 3790!9 Ruch Switzerl.nd Std Cirrus 908(9) 82,00 513(45) 184 10OC(l) 314 521(36=) 155km 294(44=) 126km 481(24) 90 3717lO Selstrup Denmark Std Libelle 808(3I l75.63 589(35) 211 550(25) 173 933(7) 59.20 399(42) 171km 433(27=) 81 37121I Frenc Yugo:da\'ia Std Cirrus 884(13 80.43 522(43) 187 385(40=) 121 720(20=) 214km 747~19) 49.65 438(26) 82 3696l2 Fitchell Gl. Britain Std Cirrus 792(31l 74,60 893(21=) 320 292(44=) 92 266(45=l 79km 501 33=) 215km 914(4=) 171 3658l3 Bulukin Norway Std Libelle . 749(39 71.87 972~4=) 348 385(40=lI21 266(45= 79km 735(24') 48,59 550(18=l103 3657l4 Pron,ati Italy Std Libelle 814(29) 75.98 972 4=) 348 292(44= 92 666(31) 198km 499(36=) 214km I 379(40= 71 3622)5 Bradney Austnl'lia Std Libelle 907(10~ 81.92 972(4=) 348 26(.(50) 82 947(4) 60.83 457(39) 196km 43(48)* 8 3587l6 Wiidl Austria ASW-15 273~48 318km 977p> 350 509(26=) 160 575(34) 171km 780(16) n,53 443(25) 83 355717 Mallano Argentina Std Cirrus 809 30) 75.69 441 48) 158 458(31) 144 895(13) 54.61 410(41) 176km 529(20) 99 3542l8 Stouth Belgium LS-lc 737(41) 71.14 966(l4=l 346 197(51) 62 717(22~ 2131<.m 499(36=l214km 379(40=) 71 349519 Mix Canada Std Cirrus 719(43) 70.00 966(14= 346 738(18=) 232 670(30 199km 294(44= 126km - - 338710 Niellispach Switzerland Std Libelle 715(44) 69,70 575(36 206 410(39) 129 I~I) 67.17 294(44=lI26km 379(40=~ 71 337311 Voss E. Germany Cobra 15 856(16~ 78.66 452(46 162 738(18=l232 31 ~44) 95km I 583(29= 250k m 40W8= 75 334912 PerOlli Italy ASW-158 231149 268km 837(25 300 738(18= 232 34042=) 10lkm 740(22) 49,07 379(40=<) 71 326413 Oye Denmark Std Cirrus

"] n."67(50 24 843(12) 265 138(49l 41 km 855(5) 59,00 502(22) 94 3240

14 Gatolin Yugoslavi. Std Cirrus 832(27 77.14 58(51 21 420(37) 132 893(14 54.36 501(33=) 2151<.m 417(30=) 78 312115 Vavra Czechosl. Cobra 15 689(45 68.06 740(27 265 554(24) 174 I 521(36=<) l55km 151(50) 65km 433(27=) 81 308816 Juniqueira. C. Brazil Urepema 854(18 78.53 972(4=) 348 283(48) 89 693(27) 206km 210(47=) 90km DNF 301217 Rusev Bulgaria C<Jbra 15 565(4 60.22 547(38) 196 738(18=) 232 451(40) 134km 196(4~ 84kn1 417(30=) 78 291418 Ronnestad Norway Phoebus 15 96(50 112km 553(37) 198 477(29l 150 521(36=l 155l<.m 738~2 48.87 486(23) 91 287119 Juniqueira. P. Brazil Urepema 587(46) 61.59 541(39=) 194 280(4,9 88 340(42= 10'lkm 371 43) l59km 379(40=) 71 249850 Walsberser AUSlria ASW-158 754(37) 72.18 139(49l 50 414(38) 130 225(48) 671<.m 210(47=) 90km 417(30=) 78 2159H Varkozi Hungary Cobra 15 844(22) 77.89 527(42 J89 509(26=) 160 - - - - - - 1880

, ­-1 1LlBELLE

.. John Cardill cfeanlng his trailer

.. Ben Greene and AJ getling advice on Bilola

.to Not a prolotYPII Range Rover bUI ahome-made slill

Dick Johnson (USA) .toHans GfawII (llIlt) Editor,

"Luftsport". and Fred WeinholU,Chairman, German Gliding

Commission ..

.. Dick Teu/ing

It. L to R: David ("indon, John Cardiff, BernardFitchett and John Large conlemplating Bifo/a

~ Chris Simpson, deputy Errifish Teammanager, at work

.. Bert Zegels (left) and Henr; Stouffs 01 Belgiumpreparing their maps

'Y Generiil view Irom Ihe Ziggural

......

David and •Shei/a Innes

(Guernsey)

• L to R: Manlred Reinhardt (W Germany).Doc Slater. G/enna Dickson and Self Kunz(W Germany)

Hannes Linke (USA). AJ's crew.

.. Vera the interpreter

.. L io R: Ru(!ensky and Kuznelsov (USSR)

• Gerd von dem Hagen and Fred Weinholtzusing the camp showers

.. AJ Smith (USA) all.ays fettling

• British Team members at work

.. (Letl) Tom Dragavic. one of Ihe officials

VRSAC 1972

"The area is

largely dry and dusty"

(Bulletin 03, Vrsac)

Plrotos in this report by: John Cardiff, RikaHarllllood. Anne tnce. A. E. Slater, Ann Welch

PLATYPUS SCRIBBLES AGAIN

returns. To use the jargon, commonsenseaccepts linear models. EXl'Onentialgrowth is a characteristiG of some or­ganisms such as cells and, in the absenceof any limiting factors, human or animalpoPulations. Gliders do not belong tothese categories; the limiting factors arethat the power supply, namely the ajr,has remained constant over the years andso has the number of hours of daylight.(Let's Ie.ave night-soaring out of thisbrawL)

Before I bring a host of academics,their hairy arms rippling with musclesdeveloped from constant rigging and de­rigging Of Sigma, down upon my greyinghead, let me say that my real gripeabout this intriguing graph is tflat thedownwind component in most pure dis­tance recol"ds is about 50km/h (or 27kts).With soaring durations ofa bladder­punishing 10 hours or more, there isDiamond distance built in already, whichsuper-ballooning has to be' subtracted inorder to estimate the still-a~r perform­ance, .and that is what we are reallyloeking for.

The best measure is the dosed-circuit,expr,essed either in terms of speed or.best' of all, the out'and-return, which hasa special fascination for me. (I sit throughmuch of the winter with maps andgraphs strewn over the grand-piano, re­inforced with whisky mac and therenewed conviction tbat "next year wewil1 really get orgallised'" and seize thatmost testing of all recQrds ...) For in·stance, look at the graph of UK out­and·return records.

No question of diminishing returnshere.

From 1939 to the present it shQwS asteady and healthy linear incre.ase ofabout I2km a year, so at that rate the~cord should be about 650km in 1982,though personal1y 1 think we will seethat figure achieved quite a bit ear1ier.Since it is just as legitimate to e)ltra­polate graphs backwards as forwards(that is to say, it is not legitimate at all

: I I Pri..

J I ;~I:tpikova ~Johll~n

1 Oillrnar

G''',"",'' "10

~ KtoNftldi SO'/.

"" /0 AnruaLIL Impo-O'll!mtnt

Mart~ns ..---se/.

o .Klt~~ ~2.f.

w"o~ ,0-

I~ T~Lilienll{

.1

10

re90 ~co 19,0 20 ~ 40 50 60 ~

The graph on p9

Why does the graph IOQk so tired?Wel1, largely because it is a logarithmicgraph. Sorry, for the uneducaled. we meanan exponential growth graph. Eh? Well,er, it is a graph that s.hows preportionaterates of change. So, for the graph toshow a straight line, each year Qught toshow the same percentage improvementover the previous one. Stay with it!

Now, I think it is very debatablewhether a legarithmic representation ofthe world distance record is a realisticway of looking at sa'ilplane progress. Ifthe record increased by a steady 50kmeach year, the ordinary person would notconsider that: a case of diminishing

410

',00

HELLO, PROGRESS - AND GOODBYE

THIS !s going to be an intellect\lal dis·cusslon so please pu..t your Icebags

on your head and conCentrate. First ofall get out your copy of The New SoaringPilot. I assume you have one, otherwiseshame on you; you probably didn't evenpay for this copy of S&G. If you're thatsort of persen, go and steal the NSP teo.

Anyway, I refer you to the graph onp9 which appears to show the miserablydiminishing returns to which .glider per­formance. seems to be doomed. All theprogress is made before 1940, after wbichpoint furthex advance seems sluggish andhardly worthwhilel c"

~(c

10'

AxioJO •GLASS-

• y/ PIllRE

1950 10 I»::I?iAAPLO:..' :DESIC~

say, like a head waiter, "will you h:ave agroundloop with your take-off, SIr, orwould you rather have it when youland?"

And some of them need an aerodrometo land in even with decent pilots, letalone us 'peasants. Forgetting the in­surance rates for the moment, I feel thatthe pleasure of a good old scrape, andafter all who doesn't just love one ofthose hour-long struggles under 600ft, israther tarnished by the fact that as faras the eye can see there are only fieldsfit for Skylarks tQ get sunk in.

STANDARD GLASSWARE LANDINGTalking about progress, which alwa.ys

seems to give with one hand whilecraftily picking your pocket with theother, I am grateful indeed that I don'thave to sweat and swear for seven hoursor ore in rough thermals in a Skylark3. These modern Standard Class glidersare a delight to handle in the air. But ITIll hand one thing to the old. ships.

hey came off the ground easily and youCOuld put them down anywhere.

Today, however, the CFI might almost

UK oUI·and·return records

in either case) we get a UK out-and­return record of zero kilometres in 1931,which figures.

What I like about this graph is the w.aythe records are clustered toge~her, withfallow periods in which nothm~ seemsto happen. What is happening m thosequiet period~ is..the development andwidening avaIlabIlity of the next ge~era­

tion of gliders, so each cluster IS. adistinct grQup of similar types and wingsections. .

As to the next generations after th!s,Sigma and Son of Sigma,. all I can say IS,don't stand around looking idle whenderigging time comes. The greatest spurto completing that 650km out~and-~eturnwill be the prospect of a retr!eve ID thedark and the rain somewhere ID a boggymeadow at the end of a long windingrutted track where the bits, individuallyweighing up to 3501bs, have to be carriedby hand. BQ¥. oh boy, I must get backor nobody Will come for me again, ever.

I have seen the fUll/re and it gives youa hernia.

1940 1950 1960 1970 LEDERHOSEN UNDGAMESMANSHIPThe hills au alive to the sound ofhorseflies and spli'!tering plywood .. :

This summer, mlt Lederhosen und emesensible Segelflugzeug mit decent Air­brakes, we carved a swathe throughTyrolean thermals, carved a swathethrough Rotwein and Bier, carved aswathe through a meadow that lookedlike part of a set from "The Sound ofMusic" and nearly c;arved a swathethrough a skein of m6untaineers wholeaned out too far from the North Wallof the Inn valley.

Which is by way of saying we joinedthe growing band of layabouts whospread the fame of British soaring bymore or less taking over an Austriansoaring site each year. About the fiying-maybe next time. But I must tell younow about the gamesmanship at th~

launch point, which was unbelievable. Itis all to do with the facts that

a) If the day is to be very, very good,then you must be launched very, veryearly; ie, before lOam.

b) Tows from an airfield height of3000ft to 7,000ft, which are essential,a~e long and time-consuming, so it is DOjoke being at the back.

c) No one is supposed to form a start­line grid until they give the ward, thoughit is not at all obvious who is they at thecrucial moment, nor where they is, norindeed what the word is or whereaboutsit is supposed to be given.

Sometimes a privately-started gridgathers momentum and becomes acceptedas the de focto rule, at other times theprivate initiative is too blatant, like thatof the lone British pilot who started thegrid at 6am; his grid was not recognised

411

and for all the good it did him he couldhave stayed in bed. Serves him right forbeing hear,ty as well as unsubtle. Finessecoupled with brass cheek was m.ore thething. It worked like this:

One moment all the gliders would bepatiently sitting behind the peri-tl'3cklooking as though they weren't goinganywhere special; then you would turnyour back or blow your nose and whenyou looked again the wbole lot hadmiraculously formed up into a COmpe-,tition-style grid-except that your gliderwould be the last of about 30.

)f you got wise to this you mightimprove your position in the next day'sline-up by casually strolling off, studyingthe sky intently or looking for somewhereto relieve yourself-then, as the opposi­tion relax and put their heads inside theircockpits and make fettling sounds, youpounce, seize the K-6E by the soout andwhisk it as fast as it is possible to whiska glider through ankle-deep mud to aspot which by this very act of defiantskullduggery IS now consecrated as thenumber onetlosition for the startinggrid that day. Phewl

At least, that's what you think. It'snow 10.30; you have been rigged fourhours and you are about to go. Youknow it's going to be an enjoyable da.ybecause. the horseflies are ploughing intothe bairs in your legs like K-6's into firtrees, gouging great bleeding lumps outof the perspiring flesh. Under the canopyyou gently baste at Regulo 6.

Never mind, you will be up and awayinto the high cool mQuntain peaks in aminute. .

Heh! lieh! Evil laughter. Some punditin umpteen metres of glass has got sunk.Serves him right; shouldn't have bargedin at the front an hour ago.

Ye Gods! He is taking your tow, coolas a cucumber. You wave frantically,wondering which of many tongues he willcontrive not to understand you in.Cheerily, he holds up five fingers, indi­cating that he is entitled to a secondlaunch before your first because he isattempting 500 kilometres.

You indicate your opinion on thematter.

He smiles, delighted to know that youonly plan to do 200 kilometres ...

( GENERAL &BGA NEWS]

ITFORD LIVES AGAIN

HANG-GLIDERS and the renownedpre-war sailplane the Minimoa werefeatures of an airshow held at the South­down Gliding Club site at Firle Beaconon September 3 to commemorate the 50thanniversary of Britains first gliding meet,at nearby ltfQrd in 1922.

Although tbe day threatened rain inthe morning, it cleared up in the after­noon and the show was well attended. Abrisk north-east wind meant that the ridgewas soarable, and a number of gliders,bot bvintage and modern, soared it.

But it was back to the 19th centuryfor part of the show, as two sailwing,made by Geoff McBroom of the Bristolclub launched themselves from a pointpartway down the slope of the ridge.McBroom, who has soared his sailwing

412

at Nympsfield, was caught by the strong(at least 25kt) updraught and rapidly roseabove the crest of the ridge. He managedto complete two or three short beatsbefore being drifted back over the hilland fotced to land by the curl-over.

We hope to publisb a full report of themeeting in our next issue.

FORMER DUNSTABLE PILOTACHIEVES FIRST 1000km OJR

DICK GEORGESON, who flew withthe London Gliding Club in the early'fifties before emigrating to New Zealand,achieved the first l,OOOkm closed circuit1Iight on September 7.

Flying a Slingsby Kestrel 19, he flewa total of I,003km from Hanmer Springsto Mossburn, Otag.o, and return, laking11 hours 55 minutes. Hanmer Springs is

at the nortb of the South Island, and hehad to combat a SOkt headwind on theoutward journey south to Mossburn. Tbeflight was carried out in wave, in excessof 20 OOOft for most of the time. Therecord, subject to homologation, beatsKart Striedeck's flight of 9163km in anASW-15 made on November 7, 1971, bya handsome margin.

FIRST INTER-UNIVERSITIESCONTEST

DAVID McQUE (K-6f;) won the firstInter-University Gliding Competition,held at RAF Gaydon from July 17 to21 and organised by the gliding clubs ofthe universities of Aston and Birming­ham. There was only one contest day.McQue won the Open Class tropby andthe cup for the highest placed memberof University staff, wbile Mike Robinson(Leeds) was awarded the Student trophy.

There were 15 entries, ranging fromPhoebus and Std Libelle to six Olympia2's.

A TWO-WEEK NATIONALS NEXTYEAR

THE present structure of the BritishNationals is to be retained for the 1973season, the BGA Executive Committeedecided at its meeting on September 6,although a slight modification of theSport/Club Class was agreed.

The Open/Standard NatiQnals is, how­ever, to be a two-week event, to be heldat Lasham from August 18 to September2, and the 1973 Daily Telegraph Euro­pean 9liding Competition will be mergedWith J~. Ten to 15 foreign pilots wouldbe I nvued to participate.

The Sport/Club Class Nationals willbe held at Husbands Bosworth from May26 to June 3. Intervening dates are avail-able for Regionals. .

.--s

The present system for compiling therating list will be retained for 1973.

The Sport/Club competition for 1973will be an unhandicapped contest opento all gliders, what.ever their performance.The two classes will be divided. in thelight of entries received so that there willbe about the same number of machinescompeting in each. Gliders with a handi­cap of more than lOO, such as the K-8,will be handicapped at lOO for this com­petition. Entries in this, as in the Open/Standard Class, will be limited to 40.

HANG GLlDERS-BGA TO ASSESSNECESSITY FOR CONTROL

THE BGA Executive Committee has setup a sub-eommittee to investigate deve­lopments in the hang glider movement inthis country and to assess the necessityfor control. The Committee agreed thatthese craft, inc1udiT;lg sailwings such asthe Rogallo and machines with rigidaerofoils, such as the Icalus, were legallyand technically gliders, and the sub­committee report back to the Executivewith a recommendation as to whether ornot the BGA should assume responsibilityfor this type of activity.

Mrs Ann Welch volunteered to chairtbe sub-committee and Joan Cloke, FrankIrving and Tom ZealIey were co-opted.

Clubs, the Executive Committee states,are reminded that only aircraft withcertificates of airwo~iness may beoperated from BGA member sites.

400km UK GOAL SPEED RECORDSET UP

JUSTIN WILLS, youngest son of PhilipWills, set op a new United Kingdomrecord by becoming the first pilot to flyto 400km goal-on September 2. Startingfrom Swanton Morley at about 11.00. belanded at his goal, Winkleigh airfield

-MY,,,413

(north of OkehamptoD, Devon) shortlyafter 11.00, averaging about 67.5km/h(subject to homologation).

The wind was moderate, NNE, andthe day was mainly blue with 2-3ktthermals, but Wills was helped iD theearly part of the flight by strong lift fromstubble fires.

After landing he was charged by asheep which endeavoured to kick a holein the fuselage.

NEW BGA. POSTCARDS

A SET ,of si" black a,nd white postcardsfeaturing the Dart 17R, Bocian, Falke,BO-]35, Skylark 4 and Kestrel is avail­able from the BGA, price 241' plus 41'postage. The photographs are by LornaMinton, and one is a reproduction ofthis month's cover.

Cable-break traini.ng thougluJ

Flights from October 1 onwards willbe included in next year's list; if sufficiententries are received by October 28, afirst list for 1972-13 will be issued withthe final 1971-72 list.

CHILTERN SAILPLANES LTD.

For C's of A, wood, glassfibre,steeltube repairs

Instrumenting, resprays, trailers, etc.

LOVELL LADDER FRONT-RU".NER

CHRIS LOVELL, of the Surrey & Hantsclub, and a consistent front-runner inthe National Ladder over the years, hastaken over the lead from Mike Garrod.He has scored 3,862 points from fourflights (in dub gliders), while Garrod(London) lies second with 3,287. AlanVincent's remarkable 500km triangle ina K-6 takes him and the Essex club intothird place, with 2,985 points from threeflights, and Mike Field (Airways) with2,768 points from his single high climb.now lies fourth.

The 1971-72 Ladder ends with flightsmade on September 30. Entries for theyear's final list should be sent to MikeGarrod, 71 Corwell Lane, Hillingdon,Middlesex, to reach him by Saturday,October 28.

GLIDING CERTIFICATESDIAMOND DISTANCE

No. Name Club 19721/43 G. Garlick In Australia 8.2

DIAMOND HEIGHT

3/145 L. S. Joiner Angus 25.63/146 L. Bune,s Crusaders 19.8

DIAMOND GOAL

2/422 G. Garlick In AustTalia 11.1.712/423 S. G. Davics Airways 11.82/424 Erica Scurr In USA 25.72/425 M. C. Costin Coventry 11.82/426 R. A. Cole Anglia 13.72/427 P. S. Collins Cranfield 30.62/428 P. D. Curlis Oxford 11.82/429 A. E. Burgess Bicestcr 13.7

GOLD C DISTANCE

G. M. Morris Dorset 13.6T, E. MacFadyen Coventry 30.6G, Garlick In Australia 11.1.71Erica Scurr In USA 25.7R. A. Cole Anglia 13.7P. S. Collins Cranficld 30.6P. D. Curt;s Oxford 11.8

197223.7

3.625.6

2.224.821.823.6

Club

BiccstcrClevelandsAngusMidlandEssexEssexOxford

NameT. C. HarringlonB. F. NoweUL. S. 10inerA. W. SykesC. 1. Nichol.sF. W. SageP. Brooks

GOLD C HEIGHT

Senior Inspection ApprovalTol: Dun'table 64472

I058,2·644n)

Daw Paton300 Luton RoedDun.table LU5 4LF

414

GOLD C COMPLETE 3214 R. Bousfield Essex / Suffolk 11.8

Name Club J972' 3215 G. P. Duff Phoenix 6.8No 3216 J. D. Wood London 17.83"26 G. M. Morri. Dorset 13.6 3217 R. de B. Walkede)' Four Counti.es 9.8327 T. C. HarrJn~ton Biccster 23.7 3218 F. Packard Essex 19.8328 Erica Scurr In USA 25.7 3219 D. Spar!>s 613 GS 11.8329 R. A. Cole Anglia. 13.7 3220 R. D. Bristcr Lincolnshire 19.8

SlLVER C 3221 K. Simp!loll Surrey /Hail(§ 10.83222 R. Tetlow Cranfield 11.8

31 SS T. G. Thomas Foot Counties 3.6 3223 A. I. Mawer Lincolnshire 19.83186 G. T. Frauds RAE 6.7 3224 P. G. Ketteridge Cambridge 11.83187 P. GOOdard Humber 16.6 3225 J. M. Putv.s Ouse 12.83188 P. E. Miller Humber 30.6 3226 A. C. Stone ChiLt..n. 15.73189 L. K. Forsel' Midland 11.7 3227 C. A. 1). Patlerson RAE 29.73190 C. J. Nichola. Essex 9.7 3228 D. J. Bales Essex 19.8319J G. C. Leech Thames Valley 13.7 3229 H. F. Richa rdson Thames Valley 18.83192 1. W. Crcighlon Lasham 11.7 3230 B. A. Murphy Essex 19.83193 H, E. Evans In USA 4.7 3231 A. Robinson Mendips 24.83194 G. H. Bailey London 13.7 3232 D. R. Chatlerton Bristol 19.83195 1. G. Andrey,r~ YorkshiJr~ 11.7 3233 M. N. Suth.,rland Yorkshire 19.83196 M. D. Tay10r Anglia 16.7 3234 J. F. Bacon ('..nfield 19.83197 V. Bradbrookc Crusaders 12·.7 3235 C. J. Backwell SOllt-hdown 10.83198 M. Day Surrey {Hants 14.7 3236 M. N. Erlund Cotswold 19.83199 H. A. W. Massman Yor:-kshire 11.7 3237 J. Harri:§on Thames, Valley 19.83200 F. P. Griffiths Crusaders 18.7 3238 P. G. 'Ring POFLl!imouth 19.83201 L. 1. Rice Dorset 28.7 3239 R. B. Wilter Humber 22.S.3202 A. Kay Thaines Valley 29.7 3240 H. M. Rothwell He.Fon 19.83203 J. P. Boncham Derby! Lanes 3.8 3241 K. P. Alien Crusaders 24.83204 D. S. To\),'son Burton/DerbY 3.8 3242 D .. A. Kileoyne Cranficld 29.73205 R. D. HUllt Kent 24.1 3243 J. W. Sprules Southern Comm 24.83206 O. J. Pcarcc Su.ncy /Hanls 10.8 3244 Mary Short Imp College 31.83207 l. J. JUt.'crs Norfolk J2.7 3245 R. R. Lewis Chilterns 2.9320B J. J. Sharp London 30.6 3246 J. N. EIIi. Donca~tcr 30.83209 P. W. Endean Button {Derby 10.8 3247 n. I. C. Money Cambridge 12.83210 Karin Buckton SGU 11.8 3248 D. B. Sparrow London 31.83211 P. M. Richer London 11.8 3249 G. Baglev RAE 31.83212 P. J. Hcnderson Cranficld 12.8 3250 S. J. C. Parker Bath/Wilts 10.93213 D. Wood Two Rivers 12.7 3251 0. W. Ken' Imp College 19.8

GIP5y 13 5HAS FULL PROGRAMMEBUT IS AVAILABLE FORDEMONSTRATION FLYING

DETAILS OF AVAILAB,ILlTY FROM:

HE BIRMINGHAM GUILD LTD.GROSYENOR ST., WEST, BIRMINGHAM, B16 8HL

Telephone 021.643 6175

41S

OVERSEAS NEWS

.~.;,Please send news and exchange copies of journals to the Overseas Editor's newaddress: A. E. SLATER, 7 Highworth Avenue, Cambridge CB4 2BQ, England.

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CLUBCLASS PHILOSOPHY

A REPORT on the results of the' firstInternational Club Class Competition

(see p419) is being sent to the CIVV, allcompetitors and all National Aero Clubs.It will stress that the Club Class must bedeveloped and promoted so as to permitclubs to share in the progress of moderngliders, and to have a broad selection ofgliders stUtable also for entry in moderncompetitions and available at a reason­able price.

The report incorporates minutes of adiscussion held at the contest amongpilots, crews, and contest organisers, plusPer Oberg of Sweden. Oberg, Sweden'srepresentative to CIVV, tabled a pro­posal by the Swedish Aero Club to theCIVV concerned with the setting up ofan international Club Class.

The minutes, of a lively debate, re­corded that

I) Steps must be taken to prevent theClub Class from going the way of theStandard Class and becoming a '"Formula3" racing class and from having itsdevelopment stifled through oppositionand so becoming inactive.

2) Club Class requisities: Gliders mustsuit the financial capacity of the averagedub, be easy to fly and land, vice-lessand ·easy to ground-h.andle, so that they

416

can fit the widest spectrum of clubuse. Performance must be high enoughto permit them to take part in competi­tions of present-day standard.

3) A proposal to limit the Club Classto a uniform model of "Restricted SportsGlider" would seem to be contrary tothe interests of development. Further,such a plan would not at present bepracticable, for aircraft development isa maller in the first place for manu­facturers and designers.

4) There should be a proposal to createa formula by which Club Class gliderswould be graded and selected. (Thisproposal did not receive majorityapproval from the discussion group.)

The minutes continued that at thismoment in time the following planshould be adopted:

I) The Industry should be stimulatedto concern itself intensively with thedevelopment and production of ClubClass gliders.

2) Restrictions on flight characteristicsand performance should not be imposed,but be left to be decided by marketconditions.

3) The price limitations, and also thedecision on what gliders ·belong. to theClub Class shafl be decided at the level

SAILPLANE AND ENGINEERINGSERVICES L1MIUD

Holmfield Road, BuxtonDerbyshireAdjoining A53 A,sW-15-B

ASK-1·3 Well tried. robust and docileperformance two·seater.

From init.illl training to ....orld class compe­tition flying there is a Schleicher glider fQr

every facet of your sporl.

ASK·1 6 The new side,by.side perform­ance lmotorized !wo-seater fortraining or crosS-cCluntry flying.

Ring Buxton 4365 NOW

C'S of A REP-AIRSREFINISHING

L1BEU.E TRAILERS, FUSELAGETROLLEYS, RUDDER LOCKS,

WING COVERS

ALUMINIUM STEEL TUBETRAILERS FOR ALL TYPES

FIRST CLASS WORKA'r THERIGHT PRICE

K·8B

ASW·15·B

Follow-on training single sealerwith crisp handling ande!lcellenlsoaring ·capability.

'Glass4 standard class compelil­ive sing'le-seater of proven topperformance.

KEEP DOWN THE COSTOF FLYING

Insure withMowbray Vale

Insurance Brokers

•Ring Carol Taylor at

Thirsk 2.3018

or write to48a Market PlaceThitsk, Yorkshire

•All classes of Insurance

transacted

ASW·1,7 20 metre 'glass' S\iper high per­formance competition glider forthose who only want to win.

Hire purchase and personal loan schemesmay be arranged. Or why not le.t us quotea very attractive leasing system for yourScnleicher glider or fleet, enabling you 10

keep right up to date.

Write for further detail. without obligatioll to:

LONDON SAILPLANES l.IMrTEDe/o J. Jeffries, Dunst..ble Downs,

Bed·ford strl re

Sole agellts for:

ALEXANDER SCHLEICHERSEGElFLUGZEUGBAU

D-641 6 P,oppenhau.sen an de...Wasserkuppe, West Germany

417

418

Thinking ofgetting a PPL ?

[PillDWillTI~ DJD[OOU~illrnD~~

by S. E. T. Taylor& H. A. Parmar

All in one volume, the completeGround Studies syllabus for thewritten and oral examination of thePPL, with over 100 diagrams andspecimen PPL questions.

With

Contents: 1 Maps and charts; 2Direction and speed; 3 The navi­gation computer; 4 A spot ofnavigation; 5 Magnetism and com­passes; 6 Meteorology; 7 Aeradcharts; 8 Aviation law; 9 Principlesof flight; 10 The power plant; 11Aircraft Loading/Fire hazard; 12Playing it safe; 13 Getting the PPLfrom scratch.

C/othbound, 192 pages£3.00 net plus 12p postage

From booksellersor the publishers

T. & A. D. POYSE'R LTO281 High St, Berkhamsted, Herts.

TORVA SAILPLANESLTD.

NEW:

Styled glass fibre trailer for19 metre sailplane

CAMSHELL DOOR

FORWARD ACCESS DOOR

INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION

THIRD JOCKEY WHEEL FORGROUND HANDLING

FULL AUTOMATION DEVICESAVAILABLE

Also available in sizes to suit15 metre sailplanes

TORVA:SPRITE. 15m G.R.P. SailplanesSPRINT.15rn

INSTRUMENTS AND OXYGENEQUIPMENT INCLUDING THELIGHTWEIGHT A8A Economiserfor panel mounting in limitedspace, with height indicator torflow control. Bottles available tool

TORVA SAILPLANES LTO.

Works:Outgang Lane, Pickering,

Yorkshire. Tel. 3491

Sales EnquIries;Westland Road,

Park Farm Industrial Estate.Leeds LS11. Tel. 709111

f National Aero Clubs. It is hop~d that°here would be close co.-operatIon byt li nal Aero Clubs on tbls.N~) Before finalising arrangement~ .for

International Club Class cornpet,tJOn,~~e participating Aere? CluDs must agree

the gliders permItted to enter. The~~cision must be published 12 monthsbefore the contest. .

The report conclu~ed that after a gIvenlime and in the light of. further. ex­erience, an acceptable mternatlonal

~efinition of the Club Class would besettled.

US NATIONALSRESULTS

THOMAS BELTZ, fiym/! a Std Cirrus,won the third US National StandardClass Championships, held at Marfa,Te as from June 27 to July 6. He scoreda tota'l of 7,481 points. W~lIace A. Sco~tII son of the famous pIlot who untIlre~entlv was co-holder of the worlddistanc'e record, was second, flying a StdCirrus (7,046). Rudy AlJemann, last .year:sStandard Class champion, was third Inhis LibeIle H·301, and Ray Gimmey(Std Libelle) fourtb. .

There were eight contest days, melud­ing several long triangles, two Ca~'sCradles and a Free Distance task, mwbich Gimmey fiew 701km.

Marfa obviously provided excellentpractice for Gimmey and Allemann, forthey came first and second respectively(flying their Libelles) in the .OpenClass cbampionships, held at Mmden,Nevada, from July 18 to 27. Gimmeyscored 8,000 points and Allemann 7,891in a contest dominated by Glasfii.lgelmachines. The highest placed of the newgeneration Open Class gliders was HarryWuenstal in a Kestrel, who was 6th.Richard Schreder came 9th in an ASW-l1and Robert Chase lOth in a Nimbus 2.

There Were nine contest days, consist­ing entirely of triangles between 305kmand 541km. A Concept 70, Ameri,:a'sfir~t Venture into glass·fibre productIonsailplanes, flown by Jim Indebro, brokeup dUring a. highspeed pass through .thestart gate on the third day. The pl10tbaled out without injury. The cause ofthe break·up, is not as yet known.

The 1973 Standard Class nationals willbe held at Chester, South Carolina, in

June and will be used in conjunctionwith' the 1972 contest in selectingAmerica's two Standard Class pilots forthe Australian World Championships.

The 1973 Open championships willprobably be held at Li.beraJ, Kansa.s,during late July, and WIll be us~. IDconjunction with the 1972 compehtlonin selecting America's Open Class teamfor Australia.

WEAK CONDITIONS ATINTERNATIONAL CLUB CLASSCOMPS

THE first International Club ClassContest was held at Dinslaken·SchwarzeHeide Germany, from June 19 to 26.Becau~e of the short notice of six months,several countries apd foreign visitorswere unable to attend and the countriesrepresented were thus few in number.Eleven foreign pilots, however, fromArgentina, Denmark, flolland andSweden were among the 29 entries, flying14 K·6E'S, eight K-6cR'S, two yasamasand one each of SF-27,. Salto, Plrat andK-80.

Tasks were flown on six contest days inrather weak and difficult conditions andonly on two of them could speed pointsbe awarded.

The friendly atmosphere and rivalrysurrounding this contest was one of itsmajor attractions and, according. toLIl!tsport, pil~ts, crews and org3;nJsersthoroughly enjoyed the opportuDlty toparticipate in this new venture and feltthat the International Club Class was onthe right road to further success.

Kiffmayer of Germany (K-6E) wonwith 5,519.2 points, and Nagel (Germany,K·6E) was second (5,303). Denmark'sLindhardt was third, Sweden's Andersonfourth Germany's Schmidt fifth andSwede~'s Ottossan sixth, all with K-6E'S.

FOUR E-MAKULA·TE WORLDRECORDS

MULTI-SEATER closed-circuit worldrecords nave tumbled during the monthsof July and August following a numberof flights in Nevada by the former worldgliding champion, Edw.ard Makula ofPoland.

The first to fall, however, was the goal-

419

(S~JOM)

19£ 9L 690OU04do,0.L

(Plo,,',vl9n 9L 690eU04do,a.L

puejJaqwn::>UOldWWJB

11 0 :1 ~UU!4MUap5We~ >t:>er

:loeJQOO~eMJOlO~ 9\1\1 all. UO S81!W 8 AIUO

'1'5'V '11 O£6'~ 18 113:155<»1:> .opnl:>ul.OPIl 8J1W OE JnO-J8lV!M '!4••l'S SAe.. Jno .tIl

SaN'd'd'I'dS A31S3M3.L31dWO:) 801'3 a.l\aw 81 '8~£3 allOW .1

SJ81I'eJlll..l6,e.Y411611 Ou!p.eOI :>!leWOlnv

uOlllUqlls" 4deJ60J"a • lJ!ed.~ • -.V 10 :>

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONALSTHE South African National GlidingChampionships will be held fromDeeember 17, 1972, to January 5, 1973at Tempe airfield, Bloemfontein, in threeparts: Informal practice flying, December17 to 20; team championships (run onthe same lines as the German Hahnweidecompetition) December 21 to 28; Openand Standard Class Championships,December 29 to January 5. Pilots in­terested in participating should write tothe Organising Secretary, Aero Club ofSouth Africa, PO Box 2312, Johannes­burg. The hirc of gliders is not possible,although cxceptionally an overseas pilO<t"with good recommendations" may beable to share one with a generous owner.

HOME PILOTS WINCOUPE O'EUROPEJACQUES VANEECKE (ASW-17) andJacqucs Rantet (Libelle) of France wonthc Open and Standard classes respect­ively of the Coupe d'Europe, held atAngers, France, from July 28 to August 7,1972. There were six Open and fivcStandard Class contest days, and theweather was not up to the standard ofprevious contests. Bert Zegels (Belgium,Kestrel 604) was second in the Open andRobert Geskis (France, ASW-17) third,while Standard runners up were Belgium'sHenri Stouffs (LS-l, second) and Francc'sCamiIle Labar (LibelIe, third).

British participants fared as follows:David Carrow, Open, Kestrd 17, 8th;Anne Burns, Open, Nimbus 2, 27th;Simon Redman, Standard, Std Cirrus,20th; Ralph Jones, Standard, Std Cirrus,25th; Bill Malpas, Standard, Std Cirrus,38th. There were 28 Open and 55 Stand­ard Class entries.

and-return record on July 15, in whichEdward Minghelli and Robert Gravanceachieved a flight of 676km from Pear­blossom, California, to Chalfont andreturn. The flight was made in a Prue2A.

Makula's first record was the 300kmtriangle, flown at l13km/h from Minden,Nevada, with a passenger in the CalifA-21. He followed this with a 500kmtriangle from Minden in company withJohn Serafin of the USA on August 4in the Calif A-21; his speed was 87kmfh.Two days later, on August 6, he roaredround a JOOkm triangle from Minden(with H. Taskovich as passenger in theA-21) at 126km/h.

For a finale, on August 8, he andpassenger Serafin beat Minghelli's newrecord for the out-and-return with aflight of 710km from Minden to Darwin(California) and back in the A-21. Allrecords subject to homologation.

FRENCH ALPINE CENTRE ,­RE.VITALISED

CHALLES-LES.EAUX, near Chambery,which parties from the Surrey GlidingClub used to visit in the late 1940's, is

~in to become an active gliding centre

der the combined direction of theentre Savoyard de Vol it Voile Alpin,e gliding section of the Aero Club de

Savoie, and the Club de Vol a VoileAlpin of Annecy. They have a combinedfleet of 22 sailplanes.

During April and May they held acontest totalling nine days, made up ofthree week-end periods of three dayseach. Among the rules were that thefinishing line must be crossed at not lessthan 250m (820ft) for - safety's sake,and that a single pilot completing thecourse would make it a contest day.Place scoring was used.

Nearly all the flights were to NE andSW, including the triangles which wereconsequently very flat. On one dayseveral pilots were f'orced to earth by apersistent 10m/sec downcurrent.

Winner was Gautier, aged under 25,who completed all tasks except the dayhe flew a two-seater; he was placed 1ston two days and 2nd on two days. Secondwas Garch, president of the SavoyardCentre. Third was a lady, Josiane Coulet(A viasport).

420

I've never needed aparachute yet •••

tiut if Idid,S~rt Para Services

could supply it)"offerc.amplete reJk11r &

repacking facilities.We stack acO~p'lete

selection af gliderparnchutesti including

the GQl1~&158 -ORT PARA SERVICES

25 Crookham Road· Fleet· Hants· Fleet '3793421

( EQUIPMENT NEWS)

NEW RADIO REPAIR AN,DOVERHAUL FIRM AT ELSTREE

MeR AVIONICS is .a new firm operatingat Elstree Aerodrome in overhaul andrepair of avionics equipment and hastaken over the premises previouslyoccu.pied by Elstree Avionics. The ne.wcompany is headed by Te~ry McMulhnas managing direcctor. Davld Rlmmer ofRimmer Aviation Lld and The LondonSchool of Flying Lld is also a director ofthe new business. ..

The firm wil! have close tJes wIthRimmer Aviation Maintenance, the a,imbeing to improve the tota'l capability ofthe group to provide a complete Salesand Engineering service. Arrangementsare in hand to secure CAA approval for,the new firm as an overhauJ,.-.()rga~js~

tion, and it is planl:led to extend thiS IDthe future to design ap.proval.

Terry McMulJin has had. a longassociation with airborne radIO" radarand autopilot systems. For ,the P:ist fouryears he was Chief. Auto Cont~olsEngineer at Hawker Slddetey AVlatl0n,Hatfield.

In addition to this work, he alsodesigned and is currently pr,oducin~ theT.M360 multichannel VHF transmltter­receivers for light and ultra-light airc~aft,

equipment representing a venture Intoan area currently dominated by the USmanlilfacturers. It offers an exc:eptionallygood performance with the virtues of lowweight, low c.onsumption and low cost,Mc McMulJin states, and sets arecurrently available on rental terms which

BRIAN WEARE

Clapper Lane, HonitonDevon EX 14 800

Phone: Hon/ton 2940

Glider' Motor Glider' C of A'sand repair.

TRAII.ERS

422

include fre.e maintenance, thereby offering;a complete package sen-ice and demon­stratiog faith in ,the product.

SEEN AT VRSAC

PEEPING into cockpits at Vrsac, FrankIrving spetted an intriguing compass:

"Holighaus' Nimbus was fitted witha very elegant compass, said to be ofSwiss origin. The object was to elimina~e

turning errors, and, moreover, to aVOidthe errors to Which the 'Cook' is proneif the axis of rotation is not truly ver­tical. The basis is a magnet, pivotedexactly at its centre of gravity and freeboth in pitch and yaw. It therefore alIgnsitself with the earth's magnetic field andassumes the local angle of dip. At thenorth·seeking end of the 'needle, a finefibre supports a red bead just below atransparent cove.r. The latter is spherical,with its centre also at the CO of theneedle. When the glider is circling, thered bead describes ,a circle below thecover, which is engraved with radialbearing lines and -circles centred on the'vertical' axis of the instrument. Theattitude of the whole instrument can beadjusted in the roll sense, like a'Cook',and its a"isis truly vertical when thecircle described by the bead is con­centric with the circles engraved on thecover. The principle is clearly excellent,but obViously depends on achieving ahigh degree of manufacturing precision.It is not particularly small and the costis said to be in the re~ion of £50."

Trailer in glass-fibre for the Kestrel, manufacturedby Torva Sailplanes Lld, Westland Roqd, Park

Farm Industrial Estate. Leeds LSI I

IRVIN TYP'E EB.59LIGHTWEIGHTPARACHUTEASSEMBLYA compact parachute designed forlow-profile gliders fitted with mouldedreclining seats,

The EB.59 is suitable for Libelle,AS-W.15, Phoe.bus, Standard Cirrus,Kestrel and Nimbus sailplanes, andcertain light aircraft.

For full details wrile 10 SERVICE MANAGER:IRVI.N Great BritClin limited

~~t~~::rth IRVIRI.Telex 82198

THREE, C,QUNTIESAERO CLUB LIMITED

Blackbushe Airport~ Camberley, Surrey(ON A30 TRUNK ROA.D - 45 MINS. FROM LONDON)

Special Courses fOr Glider Rilots to obtainPrivate Pilot's LicenceSilver C conversion from £62

Normal Courses for 'Private Pilot's LicenceNight Flying - :Instrument Flying - R/TFrasca Flight SimulatorBoafd of Trade Approved Courses 35 hours

,Residential Courses ,availableLicensed Bar. Diners Club Cfedit Cards accepted

BarclClycards aCGepted

C.F.I'. Derek JohnsonYATEl..EY 3747 (Management) 2152 (Operations)

423

LETTERS FROM DUNSTABLEBy ROGER BAR~ETT

By means of which the Championships Director of the Dun­stable Nationals tells the Editor what he missed by not beingat the London Gliding Club from August 5 to 13 to see theSport and Club Class pilots battle it out in weather cond,itionsthat ranged from the miserable, through the mediocre', to themagnificent.

The LGC Bar, DunstableSunday, August 13, after prize-giving

PS George: Suggest you print this PSfirst so those who are bored by competi­tions can skim through it and glance atth~ results tables at the end before theymove hastily on to your Small Ads page.

Well, who would have thought it?Seven days flying out of a possible nine-­in August too and in a year that I guesswill be labelled in those vintage chartsas Dis.aster. Harry Orme, lIlY'RAF Sgtand CFI fmm Spitalgate, walked awaywith the Sport Class (gliders handi­capped 88-90%) like Jackie Stewart usedto win motol races. But the Club Class(handicaps. 94-102%) was somethingdifferent: Capt Leigh, Hood and Fit LtGeorgc Lee had both been trying veryhard to win all the way through andthere was just a little needle in the situa­tion ~use all the Army and RAFcrews were naturally supporting their ownmall.

This morning Lee, competing in onlyhi~. second gliding contest ever, was sevenPOints ahead of Hood. Back came areport from the turning, point of today'sout-and-return race that Hood hadrounded 16 minutes ahead of his rival.Just after Spm Hood was back at Dun­stable with no. sight or sound of Lee.People who said they had to leave earlyto take caravans away changed theirminds and hung around the finish lineradio.

Then at 5.30 Lee called up: "What'sthe surface wind at Dunstable?". TheRAF man sounded close but was givinginstructions to his crew that made usthink he mi~ht not make the finish. Itstarted t.o ram and the Army contingentwere smiling into their binOCUlars. Leecalled up ag;lin: "Final gliding". Hecrossed the line with no trouble at 300ft

424

but Hood"s time was good enough to winhim the day-and the Championship.

You should have been there, Geor~e,instead of going on that boring non-grld­ing holiday. Then you could have writtenup the )972 Dun~table Nationals yourselfand I needn't have written you all theseletters.

Operations ControlSaturday evening, A IIgllst 5

Dear George: There are 7 out of 11Sport Class· pins and 14 out of 25 ClubCI;lss ones stuck in the "Finished atSwanton Morley" notice on the map soJohn DeJafield; who set the task, isha,ppy: 60'% of the field there is fine.Bef.ore I go and buy him a beer here'swhat happened on our first day.

We were opened this moming undergrey clouds by a local man who hasbeen on our side in the London l:lub'sfight :against being closed down byneighbouring Luton Airport: Lord Hillof Luton, now Chairman of the BBC­but I couldn't help remembering him asthe war-time Radio Doctor (my God,that dates me).

We hoped to get a task in the smallgap Peter Wickham was forecastingbetween the tailend of one front and therain advancing acr~ss Ireland heralding,another. Mindful of landing problems inEast Anglian standing corn, John Dela­field decided against includillg a TP inthe Club Class task: race to SwantonMorley, 142 roughly downwind kilo­metres away in Norfolk. The last thingwe wanted, on the first day anyhow,was the prospect of poor conditionsforcing pilots to land just round the TPbecause they could not make progressacross wind.

The Sport Class was set a cross,-windout-and-return into Leicestershire but

'th fallback task of a race to SwantonMorley via Stradishall (I 53km). With alatish start and the weather not lookingas good as we had hoped we ~oly f~llback, so. both classes were ·.poIDted IDthe direction of afternoon tea ID Norfolk.And that, thanks to Alf Warminger atSwanton, is what most of 'em g.ot.

Conditions en roule were not easy be­cause wave had broken up the thermalsso they weren't textbook in shape("Dumb-bell", said David IDce) no~ inposition under the clouds. Jac~ Harnsonwas one of the few to recogmse that leewaves were causing the prol!llem, but alot of good it did him: "I got an eight­knotter, jacked the speed up-and divedstraight into the ground!" Doug Bridson,who won the day in the Sport Class, wasnot getting any lift much better than 3ktsand was horrified at the lack of landingfields: "So I pressed on doing a seriesof final glides from airfield to airfield."Richard Aldous got sunk with only cornbeneath him and desperately hung on tosome zero sjnk at 1,oooft waiting for acombine harvester beneath him to cut astrip wide enough to take his ISm StdCirrus span.

The Caravan6pm Sunday, Augusl 6

George: The rain's making so much noiseon th tin roof I can't hear myself writeso you'll have to make do with a post­card today. We set another downwindrace to Swanton, this time via alternativeTP's. but it was not to be. The skyopened at lunchtime and it's not stoppedyet. I told you I reckon August is acraz. month to bold comps and tbe fore­C~st isn't good for the next few daysfi1ther. I think we shall be lucky to getWe'l days; John Delafield is saying six.

e I see.

The Scorer's Office/) Lale Monday night. August 7atear .George: Forecast wind: SW, 30kts

IIYlDg heights with a cloud base of notmOre than 3,000ft as/.af(he tasks were cross-wind races butl<. er John Delafield had snifted in histhestrel and failed to find anything betterre~.I or 2kts he landed. At l.I5pm wea Slr'hfed ~veryone at the launchpoint inVia l~ ~ dnZZle: race to Ipswich Airport

en er Duxford, Royston Or Stradis-

hall (about 125I!;m). At 1.45 the firstSport man was off the ground and by3pm the sky at Dunstable began to looklike one of those I always see out of myoffice window and never through mycanopy: 3/8ths of nice, puffy cu.

But on track things weren't quite soeasy: "Thermals were difficult to work,very broken and oot many of them insome places"-Tom Zealley. Some, likeJack Harrison and Gordon Camp, gotnorth of track and found themselvesfinal-gliding over Ipswich into a seabreeze.

A number of pilots eye-witnessed ajet from Wattisham crash-landing into afireball. ATC Wattisham warned gliderson 130.4 to keep clear of the area asemergency procedures were being taken.This is giving us a bit of a problem asBob Smith, who was right in the wayand sensibly enough retreated pronto,ended up 20 miles back down track; hechose to land at an airfield rather thanrisk inhospitable corn. I don't think heshould be penalised for this so we arescoring him to a theoretical landing pointnear Wattisham where be was observedby another competitor.

Only half the Sport Class and a thirdof the Club pilots made the goal so itgoes to show that not all those classicgliding skies share their favours withmere mortals.

The MarqueeTuesday afternoon, August 8

George: Bit difficult to write this post­card as I'm trying to stop the briefingtent taking off. We've got 60kts at flying

What the Editor missed: George Lee (Club Class2nd) ond Mara Lee

425

heights and the kids (including JohnHands, the Chief Marshal, and 1) havebeen tobogganning aCross the airfieldbehind someone's old parachute-greatsport. That's all the action to report aswe ~ave~'t set. any tasks today, Dell!­field s still talkmg about us getting sixcontest days; Peter Wickham and I arethinking gloomier thoughts.

The CaravanWednesday night. August 9

Dear George: I'm hiding from RobinHarper the Scorer and Frances Furlongthe Photochecker 'cos we ended up wi(han Il-turningpoil1t eat's cradle task that~eans they are going to be working awaytlll the small hours.

We. woke' to a clear blue sky and as~nsible l~kt wind; anticipation filled theaIr. At brlenng a 182km triangle was setfor the Club Class and a 253'km out­and-return for the Sport pilots.

But it was not to be. BYr-12,30 topcover was reducing thermal ,strength tosuch an extent that we changed the tasksfor both Classes to eat's cradle (whichJohn Delafield illSists on dignifying withthe name "Prescribed Area Distance").The perimeter of the prescribed areamore or less covered the nonhern-mosttwo·thirds of ~ast Anglia, ie, downwindof Dunstab.le. The 11 TP's gave the pilotsa choice of routes with Swanton Morleyas the furthest TP downwind.~e majority of the field zig-zagged

their wa,y to Swanton from point to point~Iong !he southern edge of the polygon.The 11ft was good. but the wind strength~as up tl? 30kts. so progress upwind wasvlrtllally ImposSlble and even cross-windwas difficult"-Tom Zealley, who wonthe Club Class in his K-6E w.ith a distanceof 231km. Jock Wishart managed 203kmto win the Sport Class.

Cbar~es, ElJis was one of the minorityy.-ho trIed the northern route, via Spald­mg, to Swanton. He, too, had problemswith the wind and at on~ stage foundhimself blown out over The Wash.Eventt;alIy he landed at Shipdham Air­fie.ld. Just s~uth of Swanton, giving himthird place ID the Club Class.

The Met Caral/an8am Thursday• .If ugusf 10

Dear George: For the first time in thiscamps, we are pr.ctty certain we can set

426

Sport Ctoss wi""~r Harry Orm.~

a closed circuit task with a good ,chanceof getting most of them back at Dun­stable f.or supper. The two mdeorologicalPeters (Wickham and Baylis) aredistinctly bright-eyed and bushy tailedthis morning. An anticyclone is movingin from the west and, apart from somedoubts about the Midlands north of ourroute, they are confident we shalI h.avegood tbermals with small cu. So­3~+km it. is: ,a 321km triangle up intoLeicestershire and down to near Chelten­ham for the Club Class and 343km forthe St>ort boys who will be following thesame route !;u.t going fUrther north toBourne for their first TP. That will giveEast Anglia a rest so Britain's defent;escan take to the air again without havingto search the skies for gliders. Now I'moff to eat my boiled egg bef.ore briefing-I'll finish this later. .

The Finish Line, 1pmWow-summer has come at last! I'm

listening out on 130.4 at the finish lineand the first leg is obviously a hum­dinger. David Inee is talking about8-10kts lift and DoulI Bridson has got toBoume. 103km away. in an hour. Weneeded a decent race after all the down­wind tasks we've been having and ittoo"ks as though we're home and dry;

The Finish Line. 5pmBlast! s'trato-eu has spread in from

the west and. cut off the sun down thesecond leg. They are landing thick andfast near Stratford-on-Avon. Apparentlythere are lots of dead areas but occasion­ally they are finding the odd f)our­knotter under the clag, I can't see there'sa ch3;nce ,?f_anyone getting back. I'm fed~p WIth gh~Ing, so I'm going off balloon­109; operatmg that burner may get rid ofsome of my frustration.

The /Jar, 11pmWrong agaiJr--two of them, incre.dj~ly,

J'J get back. George Lee and L,elghHod won the Club Class by making~nstable. They used. st~bble ,~es and

~ust have '?cen .very .1?auent. I m. cheer­ing up despite dlsco,vermg that. the SportClass all landed out (Jack ~amson m~debest distance, 248km). A nice story.gomg

und the bar: Roy Gaunt, Richard~ldous and Don HansQn all landed inthe same tiny grass field ~n the Cots­wolds. They were mutterIng togetherabout Met ~en and .tasksetters whentheir deadly flv.al, Chns Day, appea.J:edoverhead struggling at I,OOOft. Psycho­logical warfare was obviously calledfor: hile the other two dragged. theglider to a corner of the field to makeenough landing room, Aldous te~ptsDay own with plenty ~f chat abo.uthow he's plainly not gomg up despItethe circles he's throwing. and howterrible the fields, are furthet on. Daywins out though. as the c1ag parts andhe goes ~m-to finisll third.

The Met Caravan8am Friday, Augu$t 11

Dear George: After four days the ClubClass is getting quite interesting withHood ahead of Lee by just four pointsand Hamish B'rown not far behind.Harry Orme is five points ahead of DougBridson in the Sport.

John Delafield and I are determinedthat we shall learn from yesterday's mis­take. The forecast is a,lmost the sameagain with the possibility of some cuspreading out cutting off convection-sowe're playing it safe (1 hope!). For thefirst time ever in British comps (and per-

ClUb Class winner Leiglr Hood

haps anywhere) we are setting a triangleand giving the pilots a choice of analternative TP after they've rounded thefirst. The idea is that boy then the ,eu mayhave spread out (}ver one point but notthe other so we'll still get them back toDunstable. John's making it. ab9utJ90km for the Club and 220km for theSport. I'm relieved that we're not riskingthe big time again-and so are the Metmen! To make it a decent Nationals wereally must have a good closed circuitday. I'm keeping all fingers crossed.More later.

The Finish Line, 3.30pmSuccess! They are all roaring home,

spraying their water ballast over us asthey finish. Leigh Hood was first back atten to three so it looks as though we'v,.underset. Never mil'ld, at least we've gota respectable Nationals wh.atever hap­pens now. John Delafield couldn't resistrigging his Kestrel 1'9 and going roundthe' task he set. He's just done 220kmat 98km/h which would have been a newBritish 200km record if only we hadmanaged to make the triangle a 28 % one.The trouble was fitting that shape inbetween all the airspace hazards we'vegot. Steve White had a go at the record,outside toe comps, by fiying a 28%200km triangle and he beat it-but themargin wasn't great e.nough for it to!lount.

The Bar, 1l.30pmThe ,chat in the bar is still going on:

"It was almost South African at times"(John Delafield); "Best day for glidingI've ever had in the UK" (Gardon Campand John J.effrJes agreeing with him).

Most pilots :worked tbe band from3,OQO-5,500ft and they found excellent,oonsistent thermals up to 9kts. DavidInce won the Club Class in ,the newBG-135 (l02'l~ handicap) probably be­cause he sensibly hung around and didnot cross the startline till 12.3Opm. JackHarrison and Jock. Wishart were havingtheir own private battle in the Sport'Class and Jack just pipped the Scot by1.6km/h.

Talking of Mr Harrison, who you'llremember got the BGA to .acupt theneW place scoring system for Nationals.Well, I'm giving him a special prize at

427

briefing tomorrow: the most garish tiewe can find' at Woolworths to celebratetfie most ties we have ever had on oneday-20 out of 34 came equal with atleast one other pilot. Somebody must dosomething aoout it!

The MarqueelOam Saturday, August 12

De.ar Ge.o: Tom Zealley has just chairedonc of thosc discussions on the futureof comps Iikc the one they had at Shob­don, and no doubt l'ike the ones we aregoing to have at every Nalionals hence­forward. For the record the Sport/Clubpilots here wanted: (a) handicappedNationals classes to continuc. (33 faf,4 against); (b) 80 pilots in Nationals, not65 (24 for, 9 against); (c) Daily Tele­graph moncy t'O be spcnt on sponsoringforeign piJots to attend a BritishNationals Class comps in 1913 ratherthan having another; separate "Super­Nationals" (18 for, 14 against); (d) atwo-week National Class co!pps in 1973(26 for, 8 against). So mucn for demo­cracy.

The Launchpojnt, 1230pmI thought I had bccn getting away with

it rathcr teo casily. Some comps direc­tors do a lot of the work themselves;some delegate so completely that allthey have left to do is to chat up theoccasional VIP guest. I come some­wherc in the middle' I suppose and tilltoday I must admit I've been having· apeasy ride.

The first drama was when I altered thedropping zone from the one announcedat briefing so pilots, would havc a betterchance of arriving at the start line at areasonable height. It meant a different"gatc" and starts wOl,dd be made cross­ing the line in the reverse direction tothat briefed so I made sure every com­petitor got the message. The only troublewas~1 forgot to tell the start lineobservers about the change. Thanks toTim Newport-Pcacc's tapc recording ofthe radio chatter we managed to sortthings out aftcrwards and the pilots whosuffered the confusion werc kind enoughnot to complain too much. Bad enough-but I've just run into more trouble.

The Club Class are all away on theirtask: race to RAF Spitalgate in Lincoln­shire via Marker Harborough or Pits.-

428

The ~over of a sllOrl history of Ihe LondonGliding Club (15p from LGC, proceeds 10 Brills!.learn fund) bearing Ihe autographs of Ihe Class

wlnnt!FS 41ld ,hos~ of various: oj tIM ",ganisen(Courtesy Robin Harper, scorer)

ford (approx. 123km). The Sport pilotsare going to the same goal but on alongcr track (l59km) viia Markfield. Wehad been warned at briefing about athundcry Iow over France and the pos­sibility of it advancing from the:: southlater this afrernoon. The wind is freshand easterly which is a problem at Dun­stable: gliders take off pointing straightat the hill.

When we camc to the I1 Sport Classmachines we had, for safety reasons, torely on the two most efficient tug air­craft we had got as they stood the bestchance of coping with the downdraught.That mcant a delay in launching for theback-markers. It would not have matteredtoo much but the sky has changed veryrapidly from 4/8ths cu to 8/8ths alto eu.France's bad breath has advanced on usmuch sooner than we anticipated. FiveSport glidcrs have got away and now theremaindcr of the field have dccided toopt out of the dcsignated start becauseit appears to them the task is not goingto be fail' for everyone.

"So be it," I've told them, "we willstandby to launch you if you changeyour minds but the task is still dcfinitelyON so far as I am concerned." Now,

15 minutes later, Ran Cousins ~as ~s~edfor a launch; t)le rest are hastily IInmgup to follow him.

ScHurday nightThree pilots (Bridson, Hanson and

SJ;J1ith) did not manage to get away f~omthe site but, fortunately for the OrgaOlsa­tion, Harry Orme, last ·of all to launch,not only stayed airborne but actuall'y gotto Spitalgate. The rebels had lost theircause.

The task was not far wrong as itturned out; only four Club and fiveSport pilots did net reach the goaJ_ Anumber of competitors found as muchas Skts under the medium cloud layer,but you needed to stand on your wing­tips to stay in the cores.

Pilots generally are a more militant lotnow than in the old League l/league 2days; there was evidence of this at Shob­don too. I'm all in favour-though ifthey are going to throw the TradeDescriptions Act at Organisers when theweather doesn't live up to the foreca"Stit could just be that champs Directorsmight have an ally In the ,new IndustrialRelations Court!

In fact I think this new militanCy issomething we could have anticipated. Toget more people interested iQ taking onthe job, the BGA has quite deliberatelyencouraged tasksetters to take the mys­tery out of their decision-making. Nowcamps organisers must. be prepaf1ed toexplain their think;ing to pilots Bnd theymust expect to get more criticism. It'susuaJly good-humoured and constructivea~d real1y we ought not to mind -pra-:vlded we've done our homework and ourdecisions ar.e more often right thanwrong.

Now I'm off to the end-of-comps partyBarbara Deans has arranged_ SOunds asthough the real life musicians are trying~ keep the inhabitants of Whipsnade

00 awake-and they are two miles~,,:ay. And I've got to be up for a ~nefing before Sam tomorrow; I have

to keep telling myself I'm on holiday.

The MarqueeDe G Sunday afternoon, August 13re or eorge: As Gordon Camp justn~arked after finishing: "It was hell;all idlly a task. after a par~y." But they

I and a teal National's task it was

100: 144 sweaty' kilometres out-and­return via Husbands Bosworth for bothclasses on the kind of day when you setyour s.peed-to-f1y ring at It or 2kts. Thetask track was sandWiched between anarea of layer cloud over Wales and'another cQvering East Anglia; mainlyblue thermals were forecast. On the lastday we always try to set a closed circuiitask with one TP at an airfield so wecan get an observer in and out by air,Then we don't need to use photographicevidence so the prizegiving isn't held upwhile photos are processed and checked,HB was ideal for what we wanted.

Harry Orme, leading the Sport Classthis morning by a comfortable 21 points,was an early starter. He planned toround the TP before most other glidersso he could use them as thermal markerson his way back to Dunstable. Thermalsweren't at all consistent: I or ikts. theoccasional 4·6kts and one bonfire thatgave Richard. Aldous (2nd in the SportClass today) 9kts. Not so bad if youcould stay hi.gh but most pilots. got lowsof I,OOOft or so. Tom ZcalIey (K-6E)found himself short of the TP sharinga thermal with two other gliders abovehim. They caned up their <:rews in turn:

264 (at the top of the stack): "Mayland at Hus Bos"

29 (the meat in the sandwich): "Will.land at Hus Bos"

22: "WiJI land short of Hus Bos"But Zealley got away from Sooft and

finished 2nd in the Club Class.Meanwhile John Jeffries had landed

I

An awful premonition? Photo of John JeDriestaken by David Tou/'on the day before Davit/'s

We d t~te with a bull

429

Yours aye,ROGER BARRETI

the Dunstable-based K-!3 in a field nearCranfield and had gl>ne off to telephone.David T'oulson, his P2 pilot left in chargeof the glider, soon realised he was notalone. A hefty bull seemed to regarodDavid as some kind of rival and ad­vanced. Tpulson tried to defend theglider but when blood had ~n drawn,and it wasn't the bull's, he decided thetewas a limit to a P2's responsibilities.Left to himself the boil gored £100­worth of holes in one of the wings.

So there it is. We've ended up with sixdownwind races, six closed circuit races(four of which came off born my pointof view) and two distance tasks. Fourteencontests fiown in I suppose as typical anine days of British weather as you aTelikely to find and which, by general con­sent, produced two worthy champions.We tried out a new idea (alternative TP

on a triangle task) that I think you'll behearing mor,e about and we were possiblymore flexible than any previous COn'lpsorganisation has been in altering tasksand other arrangements as weather con­ditions changed. This brougnt problems,not all of which we solved satisfactorily,but I suspect this flexibility is somethingwe shall have to Jearnto live with inthe future.

Now Tony Deane-Drummond is hand­ing over the pots and I'm handing overmy hot seat to him for The Daily Tele­graph Comp which he is directing here ina week's time. If his helpers are as will­ing and efficient as mine and his liiotsand crews are half a.s friendly an for­bearing as this cr.awcl have been he'llenjoy himself.

Final resulls Club Ill'cap 5;8 7.8 9.8 10.8 11.8 12.8 13.8 TOJalPiloJ % r- Sailplane 46 40 44 42 42 39 39 Points

I Hood. L. S. 94 K-6~ 39 35 41 42 38 32 39 2662 lee. D. G. 94 K-6E 44 23 44 42 42 39 23 2573 Brown, H. F. lOO Skylark 38 46 28 37 36 30 31 31 2394 Zealley. 1'. S. 94 K-6£ 40 8 46 30 38 36 37 2355 Camp.G. 100 K-6<;R 34 30 20 36 26 28 35 2096 McLuckie, R.. 94 K-6£ 7 40 34 21 17 31 36 1967 ElIi.. C. A. P. 100 Sk~:M 39· 16 41 12 34 26 10 1788 Ince. D. H. G. 102 23 0 32 39 42 26 11 1739 Hogg, A. J. 96 Olympia 419 30 20 33 16 27 22 23 171

10 Vennard. D. 94 K-6E 34 33 14 2 26 22 33 164It Jeffries, J. R. 102 ASK·13 18 24 25 26 38 5 16 15212 Cooper. R. H. 94 K-6E 0 29 27 8 25 22 35 14613 Oulds, T. 94 K-6E 28 10 9 21 15 22 33 13814 Foot,C. C. 96 Olympia 419 11 37 32 33 0 18 4 13515 Farmcr, A. T. 94 K-6E 36 5 4 30 10 22 21 13416 SI. Pierre, A. 102 ASK-13 12 13 32 23 25 8 19 13217 Cockburn. D. 94 K-6E 2 40 2 21 38 17 1. 12218=Smilb, G. E. M. 94 K-6E 26 0 18 15 17 10 32 11818=Lombard. W. C. 94 K-6E 23 0 6 20 17 36 )6 11820 Gill, C. J. 94' K-6E 20 15 21 21 21 14 :DNF 11221 Graham, J. 102 Olympia 463 J1 21 20 20 10 18 11 11122 Wynch. J. W. ICO K-6cR 4 2 13 8 6 22 35 9023 Coo.k, P. G. 101 Olympia 463 12 0 31 8 3 13 11 7824 Simms, J. 100 K·6<;R 7 16 9 16 11 2 13 1425 R,amsden, P. 100 Skyluk 311 14 5 20 4 3 5 10 61

Final resulis Sport H'cap 5.8 1.8 9.8 108 11 :8 12.8 13.8 TotalPilot % S'Qilpla"., 22 20 21 21 18 16 20 Points

I Orme, H. 88 Std Cirrus 20 12 18 18 IS 13 20 1192 Cousins, R. 88 Std Libelle 8 16 21 8 12 11 10 863'=Wishatt. J. 88 Std Cirrus 13 20 21 6 11 7 2 803=Day, C. G. 90 Dart 17-.. 16 7 10 18 12 2 15 805 Harrison. K. A. 88 Cobra 15 2 14 13 21 12 4 13 796=Bridson, D. S. 88 Std Cirrus 22 18 13 10 7 0 8 786=Gaunt, T. R. F. 88 Std Libelle 6 4 6 14 16 16 16 788 Aldous. R. F. 88 Std Cirrus 4 10 4 14 DNF 12 17 619 HansQn. D. F. 88 ASW-15 17 I 2 14 12 0 6 52

10 Smith, R. J. 88 ASW-15 14 7 16 4 2 0 DNF 4311 Manler. N. K. SS Std Libelle 10 0 8 2 4 6 4 34

430

SpORT CLASS TASKSAwguSI 5: IS 3km triangle via Stradishal1. and

s....nLOn Morley, wmner D. l!T1d.on, SuI Clrru.,

62.J~":(~~·7: race to Ipswich via cith..... Roy.tonI~ !krn). Duxford. (I27.5km) .• or Stradishall

(128icm). winner J. WlShart, Std CUTU', 63.7km/h.( w Usl 9: prescribed area dl.tance Via 11lJl~i~g points in E~st Anglia, '!lax leg length142km winner 1. Wl5hart, Std Gnu., 203,5km.

A"gl~sl 10: 343.5,,", triangle via Bourne andWincheombe. winnin!: di.tanlOe 248km by K.Ham.on Cobra 15.

AuguS! JI: triangle via Silvustone then eitberNewmarket (total distance 219km) or Stradi.hall(226km). winner H. Orme. Std ~irrus, 1~.2km/h.

Augusl 12: 159km racc to Spllalpte via Mark­jjeId. winner T. Gaunt, Std LI1;>elle, SO.8km/h.

Augusl 13: l44km out·and-return VIa Hus­bands Bosworth. winner H. Onne, Std Cirrus.47.8km/h.

CLUB CLASS TASKSAwguSI 5: 1421<m race to Swanton MoTley,

.irm..... H. Brown. Skylark 38, 78.5km/h.Awgusl 7: race to Ipswich via either Royston

(I25.5km). Duxford (J27.5km) or Stradi.hall(128km). winner R. McLuckie, K-6£, 71 km/h.

AUI/USI 9: prescribed area di.tance via 11 turn­ing points in East Anglia. max leg length 142km,• inner T. ZeaJley. K-6E, 231.7km.

AuguS( 10: J;?lkm triangle via Melton Mow-

LAS AM REOIONALS

bray and Winchc;ombc. winner D. Lee, K-OE,44km/h.

August I I: triangle via Olney, then eitherNewmarket (total distance 180.Skm) or Stradis­hall (I 97km). winner D. Lee, K-OE, 75.2km/h.

August 12: race to Spitalgate via either l'>hrketHarborough (I24.5km) or Pitsford (I llkm) , win­ner D. Lee, K-6E, 74.8.

August IJ: 144km out-and-retum via HusbandsBasworth. willner L. Hood. K-OE, 43km/h.

Note: all speed. and di.tances handicapped.

ARMY PILO'r TOPSLASHAM COMPSARMY pilot Leigh Hood hit the winnings.treak which culminated in his Club ClassNationals victory by taking the LashamRegionals at the end of July. Flying aK-6E, he flew consistently well through­out the eight contest days to lead WilliamKronfeld (Dart 17R) by 14 points. Therewere 26 competing ~liders ranging fromthe Cirrus to a Kramch which, unfortun­ately, did not compete on the last daydue to an accident. Tasks:

Saturday, July 12: I09km triangle viaStockbridge and Hungerford.

Sunday, July 23: 1I9km triangle via

Fi1ful re.5ultsPi/ol(S)

H'cop% Soi/ploftt!

22.7 23.7 14.7 25.7 26.7 27.7 28.7 29.729 37 34 42 44 37 38 44

TotalPoints

I Hood. L.2 Kronfeld, W.3 Rouse. J. E.

Beer, L.4=Goodwin. R.

Meddings, E.4=Vann. E.6 Nichol.s. R.7 Cousins. R.8 Cranfield. N.9 Keogh. B.

10 Jenycki, E.11 Krzystek. T.12 Davis, P.

Diggs, R.13 Marlow T.11 Stew.n. S. A.AoJe. R. T.

16=G~~~~\R.16=Taylor. J.18 w!.oewenstein,P_

est. D.19 ~alker. D.20 MOCh!"'ne. J.

21 ea"in~: ~:Morgan B

12 CIUltcrbUck. A.23 Gadsden C

~urne, A'. J:24 ~eklcy, Philippa

H~\~E: R.~~ Hayes. T.-2:,nchard. J

9490

98

849488889.8948898

lOO9494

88124

94

98889690

lOO

90

1108884

K-6EDart 17R

Dart 15

-Cirrus

K-6EPhoebu. CStd Libclle

Skylark 4K-6E

Std CirrusPirat

Skylark 3p

K-OE.K-6E

Std Libcl1eKranich

K-6E

Skylark 4

Std LibellcOlympia 419

Dart I7R

K-6cR

D~rt 17R

K-13

Cobra ISSHK

2525

12

2919296

1925124

10

44

12

o23o

12IS

oo

12

oo4

37JJ35

33162

197

2J292J

o2310

o27o

13o

1319

o

oo36

3234

2816

28222824

I11o

t2

51730

19

15o7o6oo

o6

364233

21

34283327

83424

162939

722o

1217I4

o

10

2316,

4444

36

40313140313127IS18

239

27

21

402

275

918

13

9

5

372633

12

28125

16163232

277

37

1927

2

2312o

12

11

12

25

3732

31

37382718IS30

122

13

20

o33

7

4182

20

2610

444237

13

837332933

21

20196

3"

40162925

1013

292278241

201

201187182168167146126125

123122118

116116

979581

77

74

73

673726

431

Pewsey railway station and Newburyracecourse.

Monday, July 24: Out-and-return withalternative turning points at ComptoDAbbas (l64km). Trowbridge (l67km) andSouth Cerney (l67km).

Tuesday, July 25: I02k.m triangle viaRamsbury and Newbury racecourse.

W~dnesday, July 26: l64km out-and­return via Compton Abbas.

Thursday, July 27: Goal race to NorthHill (I64km); overflying to attempt Go~dC to Perranporth permitted.

Friday, July 28: Goal race to NorthHill (l64krn).

Saturday, July 29: 302km triangle viaAlderbury Railway junction and Olney.

KESTREL WINS ATCOMPTON A88ASBARRY ATKINSON (Kestrel 19) wonthe Dorset Regionals in a closely-foughtcontest in which Ray Foot (Nimbus 2)

r

DORSET REGIONALS

and Joe Przewlocki (Std Cirrus) camesecond and tIllrd respectively. Seven COD­secutive contest days were. flown atCompton Abbas d.uring the contestperiod. July 8 to 16. Thirty gliders rang­ing from the Nimbus 2 to Capstans,Eagles and the new BG-135 participated.The tasks were:

Sunday, July 9; %km triangle viaLongleat House and Boseornbe Down.

Monday, July 10; 120km dog-leg raceto Lasham via Chilbolton airfield andGoodwood racecourse.

Tuesday, July 1l: 1I4km dog-leg raceto Lasham via Chilbolton and Newbury.

Wednesday, July 12: 234.5km trianglevia Nympsfield and Newbury racecourse.

Thursday, July 13: 200.4km dog-legrace to Inkpen via Cltilbi>ltOD and Thameairfield.

Friday, July 14: 233km triangle viaLasham and Bath racecourse.

Saturday, July 15: 83km goal race toNorth Hill.

Final resultsPitot(s)

H'cop% Sailplan~

9.7 10.7 11.7 12.7 13.7 14.7 15.7 Toral26 43 55 46 44 47 43 Points

I Atkinson, B.2 Foot, R. A.3 Przcw1ocki. J.4 Trenchard. P.5 Lysakowski. E.6 Feakcs. R.7 Paul. I.8 Wood, R. A.9 Davies., W.

Meddings. E.10 TUll, V.Jl Ince, D. H. G.12 Duthy-James. C.13 Partridge, Rhoda

Von Gwinner, O.14 Willbie, R.15 Watson, B.

Watson. Patrieia16 Rouse, I. E.17 Duffin, E. R.

Shanock. I.18 Gardiner. K.

Bollard, l.19 Thompson. P. B. E.

Cowborn, M.20 Harrington. T.21 Howard, D.22 Adarns, A. B.23 Treadaway, P.24 Linnec, A. &: T.25 Butcher, F.26 Lucksford. R.27 Osborne. P.

Maeklin. J.28 Lewington, S. R.29 Lawrence, G.30 Johnson. D.

432

747288848874889084

801021008g

98

88

9888

94

100

889494

11011098

114

8894

11488

Kcstre119Nimbus 2

Std CirrusSHK-I

Cobra ISKestrel 19Std Cirrus

Dart 17R

CirrusDiamant 18

BG-135Skylark 3

Std Cirrus

Skylark 4Std Libelle

nart 15Std Cirrus

K-(;E

Skylark 3

ASW-15K-6EK-6EK-13

T-4~ EagleSkylark 4

T-49 Capstan

Std CirrusK-(;E

T -49 CapstanStd LibeUe

222619Jl6oo

2610

1015o

2619

o3

14ooo3ooooooooo

2332

7133311372825

361943

4035

361719

7

o1123o

18oo3

25

3oo

455055483435453439

404621

518

26304

17

43

224173030128

21

8o

14

444

42182346132612

143825

5

2223

35

2S

26

o22

831oo

1338o

31385

41443744.372.6372329

331323

4

1014

192

29

23

2215

8o

228ooooo

3947413539433329

4324292611

16

2616

18

11

o3413137373

oooo

4342354131362927

2320101410

34

14o

29

21

40

61022104

152

oooo

257245236210203200194193

181

177170152147

144

139

120114

111

106

9796917559555446

423819

-

SCHEIBE TANDEM

T 0 seater UD 27: 1. 60 hp Limbach motor with electric starter andfeathering propeller. Winner two seater class 3rd German Motor Glidercompetition. Demonstration arranged at your site without obligation.

Also single seater class winner SF-27M with 15m (Standard Class) or 18m(Cirrus) wings. Retractable engine. UO 34 and 38 to 1.

CRYSTAL ENGINEERING tTD•• 13 Pound erescent. Marlow.®Bucks. Telephone Marlow 5740 (automatic answering service) -~

PETER JEFFERS BERT P·AGE PETER NOSS

OUTHDOWN AERO SERVICES LIMITEDoffers YOU a complete gliding service whether your sailplane is

made of wood, metal or glass.flbre.

Big stock of aircraft ply. instruments, aero-tow rope, etc., ete.

Send s.a.e. for price list.

Call In, write Of phone­

KEN FRIPP,SOUTHDOWN AERO SERVICES LIMITED,LA$HAM AIRFIELD, ALTON, HAMPSHIRE.Telephone: Herrlard 359 or 025 683 350

Stockists for all PZL Instruments and Equipment

Agents for Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd.

433-

COBRA '15 Order nowfor 1972

COBRA 1~ 15M Sailplane 2nd and 3rd in World Championships 19701:38 glide angle. Price, delive~ed Booker Airfield, Marlow,Bucks., with full set of instruments excluding altimeter, £3,078.Delivery 6-7 weeks.Demonstrations now available. Write for details.

PIRAT 15M Sailplane 1:33.2 glide angJe. Price (deliveted BookerAirfield) £2,140.

BOCIAN le Two-seater. Price (delivered Booker Airfield) £2,390.Aft .prleD Ihclude full' 'set 01 instrument., ·,xcludi"O altimeter. Delivery 5-7 weeke.

Trailers from £350 available (Iow p~ofile)

POlish Tug Aircraft WII.GA 35. Very short take-off and landing capabilities.Price on application. Oelivery 4 weeks.

Full range of PZL Instruments In stockFor full details contact John Strugnell at:

Daltrade Lld.. 110, Cannon Street, London, E.C.4Telephone 01-623 5464 or ev'enings Bou,rne End 23458

Sole ex,porters-Pezetelj ul. Przemysfowa 26" Warsaw, Poland

434

OBITUARIESWOLFRAM MIXBY this date, most of his, '!lany fri.e~ds. the Canadian and InternatIonal Clldll~gt':aternlty will know that Wolfram ~IXdied as a result of a freak landmgaccident, which occurr~d. whUe he ~asBying in the World GhdlOg Champion­ships at Vrsac.

He was 47 years old and WllS a veryexperienced pilot with well over athous nd hours in glide.rs and an equalamount in po~er aircraft. He .startedgliding in 194.1 m Germany~nd h!s earlyflying career mcluded oper.atlons m suchaircraft as the ME-I 09.

Wolf occupied a prominent posItIOnin the Canadian gliding movement. Formany years he was active as a director,or as a member of various committeesof the Soaring Association of Canada.Until Jast year, he was a leading memberof the Southern Ontario Soaring As­sociation and during his early years withthis club, be was instrumental in makingit into one of the largest in NorthAmerica.

Wolfs primary interest was in thetechni al and competitive side of thegliding movement and his contest prowessis recorded on three: winner's plaques onthe Canadian National Championshiptrophy. His fourth placing in theStandard Class at Marfa showed his realability in International CQmIletition andhe has represented Canada at fourWorld Gliding Championships.

Wolf Mix

His business affairs took him to manydifferent places and countries and, inrecent years, limited the amount of timethat he bad available for flying. He wasalso obUged to resettle in the USA duringthe past y.ear, but he kept in touch with·events in 'Canada and was selected to flyat Vrsac as No I pilot for the Canadianteam.

Wolf was a quiet, thoughtful andfriendly person with a well developedsense of humour. He was liked andrespected by all wbo knew him. and wein Canada in particular, will feel theloss of his talents and congenial per­sonality very much. To his wife Margo,and his son Peter, we extend our deepestsympathy.

D. B. WEBSHe was buried in his home town of

Bochum, West Germany, on August 2.

J. V. (JACK) RUSHTON

ALL of the gliding fraternity, particularlythose who were active in pre-war days.will be deeply grieved to hear of tbedeath of Jack Rushton in Jersey onAugust 12 at the age of 76. His flyingdates back to 1929 when. while trainingfor his power "A" licence, he was alsobusy building a training glider around apair of AYro 504K wings. He obtainedthe licence early in 1930 and put in manyhours, including some hill soaring, in hisKlemm L-25 aircraft.

His soaring in this aeroplane led tohis great interest in gHding and, during1930, he was the leading spirit in tbeformation of the original Midland Glid­ing Club centred at Wolverhamptonwbich commenced operations with hishome built trainer. Later, a ZOgling wasacquired and a great deal of primarytraining was carried out with these two.trainers. In the course of time, interestwalled due to the limitations of the siteat Pattingham and insufficient supportcould be found to acquire a suitable hillsite to provide soaring. In 1934, thepresent Midland Gliding Club wasfounded under tbe leadership of the lateC. Espin Hardwick and, when the LongMynd site was acquired in 1935, Jackvery soon joined, quickly proved hisworth and became one of the club's mostenthusiastic and active members analater Chief Instructor.

435-

As a private owner he belonged to asyndicate owning the "Professor" and,later, a Slingsby Gull. Having completedthe duration leg towards his Silver C inJuly, 1937, he flew the height anddistance legs during the National Com­petitions at CamphiIl in September 19'37when he flew a Grunau Baby a distanceof 76 miles at an average speed of65.5mph which was very good going foran intermediate sailplane of that period.

In August 1938, Jack suff.ered seriousinjuries while being launched in a FalconIll. His injuries kept him 'grounded untilcivilian gliding ceas~ in 1939. In 1941he became a Flight Lieutenant ilJ the Air

( BOOK REVIEWS)

Training Corps and was appointed ChiefInstructor for the 10 Counties in theMidland Region. After the War, apartfrom taking part in the Competitions atBramcote (about 1947), he returned topower flying and ,owned several aircraftand continued regular flying until themid-1950's. -

He leaves a widow and two sons towbom all will wish to convey theirdeepest sympathy. Both sons becameglider pilots. The elder son, John, wasat Slingsby's for 18 years and hi& youngerson, Alan, is now Chief Pilot of a small,air line operating in the West Indies.

n.H.T.O.

On Quiet Wings: A SOaring Anthology. Edited by JOSEPli COtVlLLELINCOLN. Published by Northland Press, Flagstaff. Arizona. Price $30.00.

THIS is a magnificent c~llection of about 90 articles by nearly 70 authors, most ofthem well-known in the· world of soaring. They are grouped in sections:

"Mythology and history" begins with Daedalus; then comes "Sunday soaring"."SCientific background", "The glider goes to war" (including that built by prisonersat Colditz), "Duration soaring", "Cross-country", "Record flying" and finally "'Thecrash" (four articles, including Bill Ivans's experience in the French mountains in1956)._ British authors are Charles Darwin (on condors and gossamer spiders), Nicholas

Goodhart, Terence Horsley and Philip Wills, whose chapter ""The dead en<1 of theMalQja Wind" froD} his book is described by Mr Lincoln. as "the greatest passageon soaring flight in the English language".

Tbis is tbesort of volume known as a "source book", and it includes twoscientific articles which might ()t,h~rwise be lost to pDsterity: By E. C. Huffaker, whowas convinced that birds ,Can start thermals by stirring the lower air, and by A. H.WoodcQck on thermals over the sea. The book includes numerous photographs.

A. E. stAT,ER

Private Pilot Studies. By S. E. T. TAYLOR and H. A. PARMAR. Published byP. & A. D. Poyser Ltd. 281 High Street. Berkhamsted. Herts. Price £3.00.

THIS book ,is directed art the s~udent pilot ,":ho is hopi.ng to get his PP:t-, an~ itcontains more or less everything that be WIll be requLTed to know. It ,IS a mine

of information, and is presented in a most readable way..From the point of view of the glider pilot, some o( the information is naturally

irrelevant, but nevertheless the sectjons on Air Law, Meteorology, Navigation, andthe Principles of Flight will be found most useful.

Inevitably there are a few points on which I must take issue with the authors.On page 25,wben discussing Position Error, the impression i~ given that pressureh-ead or pitot pipe is the feal cause of this trouble and no mentIon see~s to ~e ma~eof the static pipe, which is the real culprit. Also, on page 132, when dISCUSSing SpInrecovery procedure the statement is made that "Pushing the stick forward an{) apply-

436

R.C.S.A.

· opposite ~der will ~nstall the inner .wing. a~d restore control'.'. On a numb,er ofI~~raft this wIJl do notlung of the sort, slOce It IS the exact opposite of the standard81 overv procedure of "full opposite rudder, slight pause. and then move the stickr:'di1y'forward until the rotation ceases". On page 147, Fig lOA "the exhaust stroke",:be figure is clear enough, but the chap who assembled this engine managed to gethe connecting rod fastened to the main bearing!

t The book is written in a delightfully racy fashion and the facts are put across inuch a way that they do tend to stick in the memory. For instance, never as long asi live will I fail to ensure tbat any of my lady passengers who are wearing steel

chastity belts do not sit next to the magnetic compass!The glider pilot studying for the Bronze C will find much in this book of use to

him, and he will learn hiS lessons with many a chuckle. It is good value for its funaspect alone.

(c RRESPONDENCE)MOTOR GLIDERS

Dear Sir,May I without being bumptious write to congratulate both Ann Welch and

I. W. Strachan on their articles on motor gliden in the August/September Sailplane& Gliding magazine?

Some five to eight years ago when I first took an interest in gliding atab initio level, the mention of a motorized glider caused most of the senior membersto fall on their backs frothing in a fit. It reminded me very strongly of the attitudeof the senior rockclimbers in my rockclimbing <lays of the twenties whenever a .pitonwas mentioned, (The fact that the judiciously placed nail at the foot of one of the~reat climbs was the only reason that it could be made-I think on Scaw Fell­~as never mentioned.) Today many of the great climbs depend entirely upon theJudiCIOUS use of pitons.

In the same way I am sure that when glider manufacturers wake up to theproduction of a machine such as Stracaan describes, gliding will take on an entirelynew look; expensive retrieves, and damaging land-outs, will be reduced and morepeople will get more gliding,

With regard to the use of motor in gliding competitions I would like to askA.nn Welch if an unpenalised allowance of "x" thousand feet during. a task has beentfled? !his seems to me to equate with the standard procedure of aerotow or winchlaunchmg in competitions to "x" thousand feet It eliminates the problems of petrol~nsumption and climbing speed with the different breeds of glider, and leaves

e Use of his motor very much to tbe judgment of the pilot and his second. I~.ould personally very strongly vote for the development of the two-seater motorizedD8h performance glider.

erby. RANDLE LUNT

~__ GLIDER PRICES'-'qr Sirme It is' with disappointment that I write to you. J refer of course to the announce­8Gn~ Within your pages. of the August/September issue of the production of thenu -b35 (Gipsy 12/15; BG100). The blow by blow story has inJerested myself and a

m er of my gliding companions.-a May I refer to S&G, August 1969, p261 and all arti.cle entitled "The Gipsy 12/15to new, efficient and low cost Standard/Sports Class sai.lplane". It did the soul good

read the conclusion of that article:

437

"Gipsy 12 is meant to bring to the gliding world what the racing dinghy broughtto the yachting world and what the mini car brQught to the motoring world".

. In fact, throughout all of the reports printed in S&G a low cost sailplane was Ibelieve enVisaged for the mass of gliding enthusiasts. At £2,300 plus £300 for atrailer, who is kidding who?Hemingjord Grey, Hams. J. C. DAVtES

THE VOLUBLE MINORITYDear Sir,

Without wishing to be accused of .a personal attack on Ian Strachan or aoyonelse, I must take exception to his "Plea for series production of a sophisticated singleseat motor glider" in the last issue (S&G August, p323).

Glider manufacture is difficult enough by any standuds. The requirement is tproduce an aircraft of 50ft span (or more) with the surface accuracy of a wintunnel model, the weight of a 500cc motorcycle, and the price of a two-litre carfor a market of around 50 a year.

Gliders are only produced at all because a handful of people are interesteenough in the problem to risk (or in some cases achieve) bankruptcy in search ofsolution. In this situation it behoves the customer to be a little more thankful fowhat he gets, instead of emulating Oliver Twist's "Please, Sir, may I have some more"

The present appalling rise in the price of new gliders is directly attributable tthe voluble minority who want (ie, think they need) retractable undercarriagescamber flaps, landing flapsr.and now retractable engines. Whilst the basic structurewith all the aerodynamic ,refinements of the last decade, is as cheap in real termas it ever was, the product is priced out of most peoples' reach by additional featurinstigated by the voluble minority.

EqualJy to blame are the, managements of glider firms who give way to sucdemands without regard to their technical and economic feasibility. What both faito realise is that a gadget which Fords would make for lOp every 10 seconds costthe glider manufacturer more like £10.

Good, inexpensive and safe gliders "an only come about through the sort 0

continuity of design and production which has been sadly lacking in this countsince the mid-'sixties. If Mr Strachan and others were to shelve their demands foabout ten years, an economically viable glider industry might then arise, whicwould be willing and able to produce his sophisticated single-seat motor glider wi1horupturing itself in the process.

I would add that the above views are entirely my own, since I now have nconnection with any UK glider manufacturer.Scarborough. Yorks.

POLAROID THERMAL SPOTfERSDear Sir,

In reply to Wally Kahn's request for opinions, facts and lore concernin"·seeing" thermals with the assistance of polaroids, herewith some lore:I) Green polaroids are least effective, followed by neutral grey.2) Brown polaroids are better.3) Further improvement is obtained by wearing sodium yellow ski goggles over brow

polaroids.And some opinions:1) The ideal colour for polaroids is sodium yellow; it is best for dazzling sno

or c10udscapes but also best for dim light and even night driving and at atimes enhances visual acuity and contrast. .

2) It is desirable to have full cover without any unfiltered light reaching the eyThe best ski goggles seen so far in this respect are the French QUATRAS Lunettde Ski by Cehe Morez (Jura) with adjustable ventilation. These are suitable fwear over spectacles and can be obtained from Lillywhites Ltd.

438

A flexible yellow polaroi4 sheet 7Un. x 4in. could 'be shaped to fit theseexceile.nt g~~gles provided that the sh.ret could be giv.en a permanent fol4 oneach sIde 5;;10. apart. . .

3) For general use spectacle wearers would prefer yellow polarOid ~ltp-ons andnon-spectacle users the largest possibl~ "wrap-round" glasses.

4) Rotatable polaro.ids permit.ting optimum align!TIent are desirable for use in theair as it is undeSirable to tilt ones head. DenD1~ Searle of South Croydon m.anu­factured these a decade ago. In 1956 1 modIfied US Arm; goggles, v'anabledensity Stock No 74·G-19-40 by removing one set of polaroids and adding bowdencable controls ~or rotation which enabled the eye to spot aJJ polarising areas by"flicker" recognition. They were very effective but unsuitable for air use due totunnel vision and the uncomfortable heavy rubber mask.

Stock pori, Cheshire_ O. W. NEUMARK

CLOUDFLYING IN COMPETITIONSDear Sir,

The BGA has at le.as! been consistent. It has stoutly maintained that risksof collision when cloudflying in competitions are very small and that these arereduc.ed to negligible proportions when radio is iUseg to pinpoint the cloud ancjthe heights being achieved. From the armchair this sounds reasona:ble until theargument is extended to international competitions when it is maintained that thesame procedure can apply, making use of English as the accepted lingua' aeronauricaon one frequency.

Unfortunately this argument has not been accepted by most European countriesand, quite apart from unfortunate recent experiences, the counterclaim is madethat it is virtually impossible to predict at the beginning of the day how big alarge cumulus will grow. The ,pilot who climbs up towaids the top of a cloudwith ail others flying similar courses after straightening out, is ina better prob­ability of having a collision before coming out of the side or the base. Any oldfool, it is maintained, can fly blind using a horizon and it is "grossly" unfair 'toallow one pilot into a cloud and perhaps force the one below to fly on to anotherone Which may not be so active. Finally the argument is used that in long descentsthrough cloud the possibility of infringing air space rules is obviously muchgreater and no glider pilot should risk offending statutory regulations of this sort.

These arguments were all aired at Dunstable during The Daily TelegraphEuropean competition and .a vote among competing pilots revealed that they' werenearly equally divided on this issue. There was, of course, a unanimous view thatc!oudflying must continue to be allowed for single flights, but not in competitions.Indeed f am certain that it will be increasingly difficult to persuade any top, classEuropean pilots to come to Britain if cloudflying is still permitted.

haI have gained .the impression that the r~les for int~rnafi~nal compe~it!ons

~e yet to be deCided but that almost certamly cloudflymg will be prohibited.ThIs should automatically require us to follow suit for our own ChampionshipsIn orde.r to give appropriale practice for our pilots.

It IS sometimes maintained that if the BOA took such a step, then not much~ter, all cloudflying would be prohibited. In my view this is nonsense. It wouldw ow that a rather tricky ~ettl~ has ~een. grasped, and the stature o.f th~ BGAe ould be enhanced. As a Side Issue, It might cut down the present tmy rIsks to/~n smaller proportions. We. would, in fact,..be ~e~avi~g in a responsible way-

act acknowledged by those m control of CIVil aViatIOn m UK.clo To sum up, I am sure that the BGA should lay down that as from 1973 nowa~dflylO~ should be permitted in competitions or championships, but that thisf1yi POSlllvely encouraged for single flights whether for record breaking, wavebren~. or for scient.ific purpos.es. ~ sometimes dr~m of coming back from .'1 record­OPt~ 109 SOOkm tn~ngl~ by makmg .use of a big cloud. ~~ mtlst keep thiS sort ofAme nhopen by acting In a respcrnslbJe way over competitions.

rs am. Bucks. TON¥ DEANE-Dll.UMMONP

439

Advertisements. with r~m;ttan~. IhOlfltl b~ ~nl 10 Ch~;,o1f Pr~JI Lrd.• 8/10 Parkway. London.NWI. Tel. 01-267 1285. ROle lOp a word. Minimum J./JO. Box numbers -lOp exl,a. Replies 10 Boxnumbers should be S~nl 10 IU JanN addrrn.

FOR SALE

K-6E with automated trailer, full panel,tail towing trolley, easy two-man riggingaids. £2,500. Phone Hoddesdon 65797 or01-807 4789 daytime.

SHK. ADC, fuJ) competition instru­ments, new trailer, T/chute, C of A.Parachute, Barograph available. Ringlan Eyers, Uxbridge 35705.

RADIOTELEPHONE car dash mount­ing. 12 volt Pos/Neg earth. Microphone,Connectors, Handbook. Single channel130AMHZ. £45. Two channel 13004/129.9MHZ. £55. Ultra 3A4 air set, twogliding cbannels, and one spare. Corn.plete with Ultra battery cbarger andhandbook. £85. Tel. Rickmanswortb79658. r-

VASAMA, 1/34, 15m, full panel, includ­ing art. Horizon and trailer. First classcondition. W. Janssens, Gasthu.isstraat 31,2440 Geel, Belgium.

SPEEDWELL aluminium and sleeltrailer complete with fittings to suit19 metre Kestrel. Offers over £500. BoxNo. SG 387.

K-6CR ready to fly. C of A to June 1973.AS1, altimeter, PZL, T&S, Horizon,Compass, Aerial. Trailer 18 months old.£1,850. Pye Cambridge boot mounted£130 ono. Tel. IIkley 5999 or Rawdon3676.

• 1001 Ge...iae IbrpiDI ialertsl e.tr7o"el •Huge slocks GOVERNMENT SURPLUS

CLOTHING AND EQUlPM~NT. ine. flyingsuil! from £3.36, p&p 32p; anoraks, outdoorcloLbinw;, camping, immense variety of m.i5..cellancous cx·Government tquipmcnt. SendTODAY for our 3O-patte CATALOGUE­Now include. fascinatine broadsheet from theLaurence Corner Him and Her boutique,fashion leisurelspOr~wear and jean centre,few doors from the ma in slore. lOp po", freeor please call at LAURENCE CORNER. 62­64 Hamp<tead Rd., london. N.W.I. 2 miD'.I;uslon. Warren SI. All goods backed by ourrefund guarantee. Depl SO.

440

YOUR chance to own an historic air­craft with new C of A. Offers invited.1942 French Avia PAO superb ridgesoaring machine with open trailer-canbe seen at the Cornish Gliding Club.Perranporth, or telephone R. Keeping,St Austell 2024

PHOEBUS C with virtually new speedwell trailer and GQ 737 parachute. Canbe seen at Lasham. Phone R. Brisboume01-440 6965 (evenings).

PYE Ranger BOA mes with magneticroof aerial £15. Irvin Parachute £15Phone Newquay 4759.

CABLE parachute in superior rot-proomaterial, price £5.50 each, p&p 50pQuotes for quantities. Wilson, AkenHouse, Prudhoe, Northumberland.

K-6CR, with trailer, instruments, twochannel Storey radio, accumulatorsEB.62 parachute, Winter barographCompetition No. 495. £1,900 offers. VieVlNympsfield, Stroud. STD 045-36 3965.

PYE "Ranger" groundset, both frequencies, good working order, £25."Radac" magnetic roof aerial, £6. WriteHarwood Care BGA.

K-6E "457", C of A to March 1973, fullinstrumentation including ADC variometer, trailer and fittings; view Dunstable. £2,350. Bellew, 3/23 MadeleyRoad, London W5. Tel. 01-998 3514.

SKYLARK 3F. No prangs. Full panel.Excellent condition. Good trailer, £1,550ono. Phone Bourne End 23458 or Henleyon Thames 2464.

OPEN CLASS CIRRUS with basic instruments and fully fitted trailer. Offer-edfor sale March 1973. Tel. Little Gaddesden (044 284) 3407.

K-6E white Wings/fuselage, coral on thesides-250 launches-light-weight trailerbased Dunstable. Early delivery, £2,500o.n.o. R. F. Pollard. 4 Spencer Road.Harpenden, Herts. Tel: 4367.

SKYLARK 38 and trailer. No iostTUments. £1,650. Write Box 65 care BGA.

SLOPE SOARING with a radio controlmodel sailplane is a fascinating pastimeand a typical phase of aeromodelling.Read about this and other aeromodellingsubjects in A.eromodeller and Radio Con­trol Models and Electronics, the world'sleading magazines, published monthly,price 15p each. Model & Allied Publica­tions Ltd., 13-35 Bridge Street, HemelHempstead, Herts.

SITUAnoNS VACANT

PUBLICATIONS

TUG PILOT/INSTRUCTOR wanted toassist in development of small e1ub tofull-time operation. Details from A. J.Middleton, 56 St. Ronans Drive, Peter­culter, Aberdeen.

WANTED

AUSTRALIAN GLIDING M<mthly,publication 0f the Gliding Federation ofAustralia. Prepare yourself for the 1974World Championships! A completecoverage of Austral'ian soaring and ex­dusive features of international interest.Subscription £3 or $7.50 D.S. to Box

GLIDER radio and instruments requir,ed. 1650 M, G.P.O. Adelaide, SouthD. Howard, 9 Linden Gardens, Bath. ~A:.,:u_s-,-tr-::a=-li".a=-500__1~.__:-=----:_=----::-c,----_...,..-,­

WANTIiD: June 1972 S&G, 20p paid.Ferret Fant",sy, 27 Beechcroft Road,London SWI7.

EXCELLENT Dart 17R, .trailer, full in­struments, oxygen, radio, parachu.te.Enquiries ~. A. WC!od , SGU or Edm­burgh 449 4455 (busmess).

- FOR SALE (continuecl)

GOViER Com~. No.. 332, canopied 2seater (side ~Y side) w.Jth baJlast for s<?10/lying. low wmg, full a:r~rakes, fitted WIthbelly & nose hooks, major C of A May1971, current C C!f A u':!til 31st. May,1973. complete With retrteve trailer atDunstable. Phone 01-346 8094.

WANTED. One or two T-21 wheels, 29Farndale Road, Nunthorpe, Teesside,TS70HJ.

GOOD QUALITY blatk/white photo­graphs of pre-war Polish and Russiangliders wanted for copying for use infutu.re publications. Box No. SG 388.

LIBELLE. Two quarter share syndicatemembers required. Delivery Feb. '73.Based Compton Abbas. Me.:ldings, 3 PennLea Court" Bath.

IN,SURANCE

We are experts in glider and aircraftinsurance. Let us quote y,ou the,lowest rates with the most reliablecompanies. Write to Brian Gudgin,

Marlow, Gardner 8< Cooke,254 L.incoln Road,

Peterborough

Telephone, 68543-

"SOARING"~ffidal 0rgan of theSQaring Society of America.. Edited byDouglas Lamont. Address: Box 66071,Los Angeles, California 90066, USA.Subscription: $8.()0 outside USA; applyto your post office for a form.Put yourself in the Picture. Buy AIRPICTORIAL each month for the worldair view in pictures and features. Reportsand photos of aircraft and sailplanes,military aviation news, spotters' note­book, etc. J>rice 20p from your newsagent.For free specimen copy send 4p instamps to Dept S.G., Seymour Press Ltd.,334 Brixton Road, London, S.W.9.

FINANCE NEW ZEALAND: "Gliding Kiwi';- . Official Gliding Magazine of the N.Z.~~NANCE fot Y0tII' glider purt;;hases. Gliding Association. Printed October andPetva: ces made on your present glider. alternate months. Write N.Z. Glidingli~: orough &:. Fenlaods Finance Kiwi, P.O. BQX 545, Tauranga, NewTele~hd. 15 Broadway, Peterbor0uih. Zealand. £1.80 sterling for year's sub-~e 66191. scrjption (i.nelusive of postage).

It .....ill f . .f"" 'h~ 1'1 0 couru. N Imd~~'ood '/rat th'~ British GlidIng Association cannOt acapt r~rpon$/bilit)l

cams made by tJdv~,'is~rs in "Sailplant!' and Gliding".

441

Copy and photographs for the December/January issue should reach the Editor,S&G, British Gliding. Association, Artillery Mansions, 75 Victoria Street, London,SWl, telephone 01-799 7548, not later tham October 18.

Copy and photographs for the February/March 1973 issue should be sent tothe Editor not later than December 4. August 23, 1972

BLACI(POOL &. FYLDE -,hill sitenear.ly ready

AFTER a poor start the thermal seasonhas since given several members thechance to make good. badge flights, evenif we haven't done anything very heroic.The training programme has proceededwell and we have not ne.eded to advertisefor members.

Our Swallow got bent on. a first solo,but luckily the pilot hurt ,only his pride,and it bas finally persuaded us· to useour precious Blanik for first solos.

Our farm site is nearly ready forlimited operations. We have built a broadentrance with cattle grid, piped twoditc.hes that take drainage water acrossour land, and levelled several internalhedges and eOlrth banks.

We' would prefer ta wait unti,1 the hangaris erected qefore we move our two·seaters there, but We aim to start somesolo flying soon, to gain experience inmany wind conditions before moving ourwhole fleet. Initially we will have to limitthe flying to pilots' with Silver C and atleast 50 hours hill soaring behind them,whilst we are virtually unable to giv·esite briefi,ngs. We expect to be able toreduce tbese requir,ements rapidly as wegain confidence in the airflow patternsover our unique and potentially oftensoarable hill.

K.E.

442

BRISTOL & GLOUCESTERSHIRE­vandals damage T·49

A NEW aircraft has made its appearanceon site: A K-2 owned by a syndicate of10 be:j.ded by Arthur Duke. Our T·49was slightly damaged by vandals. whoentered the hangar one Sunday night, butthanks to Roy Jeffreys it was repairedin three days.

On July 29 we held an "informationmeeting" to familiarise' members with theproceedings of the committee. Theplanning of the mains water scheme isnow complete and waiting for grantapproval before work starts; the Mum­ford winch has been re-engined and TedWaterman has. done some sterling werkreplacing the fences along the road sideof the field.

Bill lInd Evelyn Malpas paid us theirannual visit in July, and took. 2.42 backto France with them for the Angerscompe.tition; it will be back for RanSandford to fly in The Daily Telegraphcompetition. We haye been visited by agroup of Kent Club pilots, Who hadreasonable weather and seemed to enjoytheir stay with us. On the flying side.nothing much of note bas happenedlately ·except for Howard Johns' latestattempt at a 300km tri.angle, whichended at Lasbam after he had made verygood speed on the first two legs.

M.J.C.

V.G.

SllCKMINSTER-additiDns tD the

cWb . . .CLUB olympIa 2B and a syndicate

~.21 have joined the fo.ur .sai!planesI nfioned in our last repOl;1, bnngmgthemember of aircraft ,on site to six. On the~embership side, the cluo has swelledto 50 embers, several of. whom haveontributed towards club aircraft..

C Our gliding, activities .have now beenextended. to IOcl~de F!lday afternoonsand evenings, whIch, with two, completeflying eeks in August, is 'helping to getthe club "off the groun;d".

The club's next proJect, through thewinter months, is the proposed erectionof a hangar, and: this will determine,when the club c.an have a resident tug..

Our treasurer, Don Bricknell has tweSirver Jegs-"both pawna,bh!"!-and oursenior citizen member, Dibton ClewesIias gained his Silver dislance.

R.A.A.

COVeNTRY -feet and kneestcgether

SUMMER 1972 at HB. has broken allrecords-the least sun, least flying andmost rain. I am sure that this reflectsthe picture at most other clubs. Theweather maned the cltlb competitiomfor the Club Class gliders, veterans, two­seaters, etc. There were 19 entries furthe two days but the task for the Satur­day was cancelled, No-one completedthe Course for either tasks on the Sundaybut ~everal J;'assed the turning point.ConditIons were very marginal, but itappeared lhat more kilometres were flownIn thal one da:y (550) than in tbe wholeseason!F Our newly appointed chairman, )..oura~k! had a nasty experience while on

l\ghdlng holi~ay at Schanis, Switzerland.K~ Was SOllnng a mountain ridge in ain!' :-Vhen a tug aircraft~oUidedReo him .and broke off the tailplane.ou membenng all he had heard atan~ parachute courses, Lou jumped outtog thas heard to utter "feet ano kneeslan~ er . . ." all the way down. Hesrnal1d On .a ha.ndkerchief .of gr~ss, aseriou c.leanng In the rocks, WIthouthe is InJury. Lou can flOW boast thatSchw s. a curvent member of "der

elzer-KaterpiIlarklubb".

Many congratulations to two moreinstructors who passed the course atHB-loe Horwood and the new secre­tary, Guy GQthard.

DERBYSHIRE' & LANCASHIRE­what the butler saw

OUR second task week for Bronze Cpilots was held early in August and'proved to be another successful week.Peter Boncham won it and c<>mpletedhis Silver C. On one cross-counlry helanded in the garden of a very largehouse. When his crew arrived the butlercame to the door and asked them ifthey would mind waiting as Mr Bonehamhadn't fiFlished dinner.

Our club K-13 wa,s damaged in anoutlanding, but we hope to have it withus ,again by the time this goes to print.T.he passenger, on her first air experienceflight at the time, has sinee joined thedub. Some people will never learn!

Radio Sheffield has done another pro­gramme about us and articles have been~ritten in I?cal newspapers. The K-4 listIS thus gettIng longer and longer and allthree are kept busy bashing the circuit.The Swallows are also well used as morepeople g0 solo. Peter Blacklin has joinedthe instructors' ranks.

The Tost winch has had a major over­hall I and is now in full working order.Pete Gr.ay has rejoined us and,spendsmost of his time in t.he workshop. Infact he still wears the same filthy s"Weate·rhe ~ore t~n years ago. ServiCing of ourmobile' wlhches will be easier in thewinter months, now that half of our"Folly" has been converted into a winchworkshop. The end elevation has beenrebuilt with hangar-type doors and aconcr~te apron. The whole building hasbeen Insulated, re-roofed al'ld painted.

P.H.

DE\lON & SOMERSET - besieged

THIS Summer seems to have slipped byunobtrusively without any major featsof flying. Despite bad weather, courseshave been well attended and We seem. tohave saved enough filthy IUCI'e at leastto thin'k 1!-bQl:It another ~olo machine fQrthe club fleet.

The clubhouse security system is now

443

working and the second winch almost so;the; re-turfing and gradiog of the field isproce;ediog almost as planned. Wish wecould say the same aboltlt the footpa1hsand caravans, both of which continue topose problems. A few Saturdays ago wewere besieged by a flock of exotic shipsfrom the Compton Abbas regionalswhich, coupled with the Libelle broughtdown by the Derby lads, promoted a lotof heart (and pocket) searching to tryand emulate.

hnet Halfacre is still struggHng man­fully with our embryo publication the"North Hill News" and finding that evena small effort like this takes a heck of alot of time to produce. The ladies behindthe scenes who toil over hot stoves onour behalf also deserve OUT gratitude; thesocial life of the club depends a greatdeal on them.

A.E.R.H.

DORSET-first Gold C member

THE limitations of a weekena club in aseason like 1972 are highli'ghted by thefact that so far this year the only not­able ftilO1ts by our members have beenmade from sites other than' TarrantRushton. Graeme Morris became ourfirst bolder of a GoM C when, flyingfrom Lasham, he completed a sevenhour, 330km flight on June 30th. (It hasto be admitted that Graeme's gain ofheight was achieved even further fromDorset, too, but we are none the lessproud of the emi.nenc~ of a seniormember).

Back at Tarran! Rushton, Mike Brownand Ken Besent organised a paintinggaFlg which repainted t.he hangar roofin three weekends.

Helping out with the aerotows atTartant is a venerable shape familiar tothe older members of the club, a TigerMoth loaned by Humphrey Meade whichhas necessitated the tug pilots huntingout their loog discarded goggles againand tasting the delights of vintage f1yjngonce more.

M.LB.

ESSEX & SUFFOLK-new CFJ

THE club welcomes a new CFI, ElvinHibbard, and in so doing wishes to ex­press many thanks to his predecessor,Eric Richards, for all the help he has

444

given to the club over many years. Mtercompleting an instructors c.ourse atHusbands Bosworth, John Bames joinsthe instructors' ranks.

At last, in recent weeks, the weatherhas been much kinder, and as a resultthere have been a good number ofBronze C leg,S and completions, newsolos, and Silver legs.

Ralph Brooker's syndicate Swallowhas now been flying again for a month,and looks brand new after its rebuild.Its trailer, built by Jack Birkin, alsoreflects the standard of workmanship andtime put into its construction; it js alsobig enough to take 17m!

The club's first series of courses atIpswich Airport are pwving a -successand have been fully booked. The numberof gliders at Whatfield continues to ,in­crease with another new Skylark 3Fsyndicate formed.

M.L.

IMPERIAL COLLEGE-first ladycaptainLIKE most clubs this year, we have beendisappointed by the lack of glidingweather. However, by entering theLasham Regionals, three of our pilotsstruck luc'k-Bill Kronfeld flying hissyndicate Dart 17R, and Doug Walkerand Dave West sharing the club Skylark4. The weather and hard work ,combinedto result in 60 hours flying between theseaircraft, and gave everyone renewed hopefor the year. The "IC Day" was the last.when Bill finisbed second and Doug thirdon a 300ICm task. We were very pleasedwhen Bill finished second overall; somuch so that we bought his glider forthe club. It will soon bear the familiarnumber 96 which our Eagle wore formany years.

With tbree single-seaters, we arelooking forward to much more crOss­country flying next year. That will not bethe onJy change next year. At the AGM.when we decided to buy the Dart. we alsoelected Our first lady captain, Mary Short,to whom we wish every success.

One problem facing her is that ournew training scheme is, not proving assuccessful as the old one. The mainfactors seem to be the high initial rateof expenditure, and the lack of identitywithin a club as large as Lasham.

C.E.H.

~GI-der\Norkcof A OVERHAULS and. REPAIRS. by L.Glover. senior inspector

~1=~Husbands Bosworth Airfield, Near Rugby• Tel~ Husbands Boswortb 375

GREAT SOARING W'EA.THERALL SUMMER at WAIKERIE

Site for the 1974 WorldCompetitions

Gold and Diamond Distancesevery week

Sailplane conversionsand Hire

Ka6, ES60, Libelle, Kestrel

W IKERIE GLIDING CLUBP.O. Box 320, Waikerie

S.A.5330-

Solid State Glider Radio Telephones;single ,c.hannel, 130.4 MHZ. £49.50

Car RadioTelephones, re-conditioned,£45. One free Magnetic Antennawhen 2 sets ordered simultaneously.

Send for detailsElectectn'llques. Selsley,

Stroud, Glos.

Tel. 045-36-3129

BGA CAR BA'DGESMetal car badges, featuring 3 gulls

design in blue on white behindperspex shielding. Available boxed,

complete with fastenings, at£ 1 each '(pl\ls lOp mail order)

A COLOUR GUIDETO CLOUDS

A limited number of thesebeautiful and instructive books

by Storer and Waxier (retail at 75p)are available at GOp including

postage and packing

Apply n.ow to:BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATION,

A.rtillery Mansions,75, Victoria Street,

London, S.W.101.7997548

WINTER BAROGRAP,HS~rder now for that Gold 'C' or Diamond Task. Height range to choice, 6,8, 10 orG~ km. £59.00 complete with 50 aluminium foils, pack,ing and pOstage 63p. Motor

hder model, to 'record engine oh/off. £68.00 complete with 50 ,aluminium foils orPaPer charts, packing and postage 63p.

La ~~ERMAL EQUIPMENT LIMITEDsham Airfield, Anon, Hampshire. Tel: Herriard 359 or 0256·83 359

445

YORKS'HIRE SAILPLANES LTD.North's Leading Glider Repairers

(JUST OFF THE A 1)

Increased workshop facilities,now available

Large stocks of glider spares andinstruments

Gliders collected and delivered freeof charge within 30 miles radius

Major and minor repairs

CROSSFELL ELECI'RICAUDIO

V ABI0METERS

FAST

COMPACT

EFFICIENT

Rebuilds a speciality

C of A Inspections

Resprays

Gliders bought and sold

For aI/your gliding club r~quj,._nU contact:

Gerry Kemp. Bondgate, RlponTelephone 3360'

lo' &a,ry Gcildsborough, Ripon 3784)

Electric Variometersproved over ten years.

Available with or withoutAudio.

Agents throughout the World.CrossfeU Variometers8 Fra.ser Close,Malvern, Worc:s.,EncJaAd·

\

How to get .. SAILPLANE & GLIDING"

"Sailplane & Gliding" can be obtained in the UK at all Gliding Clubs, or send£1.80 plus 36p poslage for an annual sub<criplion 10: British Gliding Association, 75Victoria Street. London SW 1H OJB. Single copies. including post 36p. E.nquiries regardingbulk orders of 12 copies or more. al wholesale prices, should be made 10 the BritishGliding Associalion

OVERSEAS AGENTS

CANADA:

HOLLAND:

SWEDEN:

USA:

AUSTRALIA:

T. R. Beasley. Soaring Supplies. PO Box 621. St Laurent 379(MTL) PQ. (Single copies US Sl.oo or S6.OO annually.)

J.Th van Eck, Noordvlict 6, Maassluis.

Flyg Bibliotekel. GPO Box 2. 5-260 70 Ljungbyhed.

Please apply direct to British Gliding Association. Payable ineither Sterling or Dollars (Sce Canada). Internalional MoneyOrders preferred.

Peter Hanneman. Soaring Imports Pty Ltd, 75 Como Parade.Como West. NSW2226.

Red Leather Cloth Binder, lakiD.!: IZ iSSU6 <t"o years): £1.00 pIns lOp postage.Win also bind y...., SCA Personal PilOI Logbooks.

446

-

1",t<PEN - first ~Iub solos

GRATULATIONS. to MargaretCON g who became the Club's tirst soloy.0ut ~nd also to Eugene Stewart who"J!~~ tirst pupil member to become solo.~ has now been followed by Hugh~nard. Roger Cook has passed an In-

etors' course at Lasham.~arlY in July saw. the arrival o.f theI b's first solo machlDe, an Olympia 2B.

C uRalph Jones ha.d the misfortune tolose his Nimbus ID the World Cham­pionships, but this h.as been temporarilyreplaced by a Std CirruS. ..

We welcome Tony Hanfrey wIth hiSex-Airways Gliding Club Skyla!~ ~, andlook forward to John Youn~ Jommg uswith his Skylark 2. Membersh!p, althoughsmall still shows a gradual JOcrease.

, LR.C.

KENT-mid-week successes

WHAT must be one of the greatest non­seasons ever is fast approach,ing the endand very few people have made. muc.hreal progress. The great exception IS

Ray Hunt, who completed his Bronze Cat the beginning of the season and wentout to get all three Silver legs. He is amid-week flier and rarely flies at theweekend. Early in August, Albert Hoverand Eric White both did their five hours,again during the week.

Several people have:: made trips to otherclubs including Mike Honey and Paulineand Peter Kingsford to the Devon andSomerset for their task week and halfthe Skylark 2 syndicate to the Bristoland Gloucestershire club.

y.te have lost one instructor and re­galOed another. Cbarlie Cramer, one ofour professionals has, unfortunatel'y, leftus to take a job 'outside flying, but we~~e pleased to welcome back Richard

Itman after a year or so in Jamaica.R.J.H.

UU<ES - one of the 'few'

mOtto ING the wave flights reportedlo the June/July issue, On April 23,fOr&hr BUll hoisted the Libelle to 15,COOftenco IS qold height, and then gave an13~ WIth the T-53B, flown dual, to

'VVVlt.

li~~rn~ ,June, Pete Gillette in thee JOined "the few" who have got

away from Walney with a flight toSalmesbury for Silver distance, 'thuscompleting his badge requiremen~. lanJennison also netted a Sliver dIstanceduring our Whitsun visit to Bickmarsh,with a flight to Husbands Bosworth. Healso experienced an interesting returntow, at low height and high speed,which impressed him more than the out­ward journey.

Bad weather and launch problemsdogged our annual outing to Bickmarsh,but on the Saturday, when bothimproved, members disappeared over thehori2!On in all directions, to make gooduse of the conditions.

We have also scored one completeBronze and seven first solos since lastreporting. We welcome Charles Boucherto our instructor list, and Mike Edwards,already categorized, a visiting instructorwho could only be kept on the groundby nailing his boots to the runway! Mikemay manage to stay with us, and wesincen:ly hope this can be arranged.

Interesting sea-breeze effects wereflown during June, centred over thepeninsular during the day, and movingseawards during late afternoon andevening. The whole fleet of club andprivate owners were airborne on one. ofthese occasions, in a glorious gaggle, Justsouth of the airfield. Top height in theseconditions, about 3,5ooft. It all makesa change from ,our gritty little slag-bank!

R.R.H.

LONDON - airspace threatsContinue

MEDIOCRE weather has been respon­sible for a poor summer season, andnobody to date has claimed a Gold Cdistance.

The Nationals, though starting withwindy weather and the inevitable racesto Ipswich aDd Swanton Morley, provedir. tht" I'nd to be a good oontest. TomZealley was our best performer, whileCharles E\ljs proved he hasn't lost histouch.

The fleet has at last reached the pro­portions planned some years ago, andwe now have four K-13's and five K-S's.This is just as well, as a number of in­cidents have temporarily put some un­serviceable. In particular, some childrend'rove a ttactor into the tail of one of

4t7

J.R.

the K-8's during one lunch hour, whileon another occasion a K-13 was "un­parked" during a strong wind. Fortun­ately the latter did not cause any damage,but wandering visitors from the Downsremain a potential hazard to Club equip­ment.

We recently sold our last remainingTiger Moth, and we may purchase asecond Commodore following a success­ful proving period. The Condor con­tinues as our second string for the timebeing.

We still await findings of the Lutonairport enquiry, and meantime there isnews of a further threat in the shape ofan extension of the London TMA andthe Luton SRZ. However, we are hope­ful that we wilI be able to defend mostof ou)" flying freedom >8S we havem<lnaged to up to now.

M.P.G.

NORFOLK - harvest festival

WE really should have- celebratedHarvest Festival this year. During thecrop-growing season,our activities havebeen resrricted to operating the Fallteonly, and the arrival of the combine­harvester signified a return to normal

auto-tows fer our gliders. We have beenextremely grateful to the Norwich Soar­ing Group at Swanton Motley who wereable to offer us aero-tows and to sharetheir facilities.

Our thoughts aTe now directed to or­ganising out own tug before next May,an arrangement which should suit boththe farmer and the start of the soaringseason.

C.E.H.

OXFORD-overseas vls'lts

GOOD flying has been achieved mid­week and on expeditions. The Phoebushas visited Germany, Lasham and LongMynd, while the K-6E went to Vinonin France where Peter Brooks andMalcolm Roberts climbed in wave fortheir Gold C heights.

448

Enough dry weather at weekends hasenabled Doreen Rose and Messrs Forrest,March, Hill, Home and Davis to go solo.On Friday 9 August three aircraftattempted a 300km triangle. Peter Curtiscompleted it in the Phoebus, PeterBrooks may have flown far enough forhis Gold distance and David Lidburyflew 290km in the Skylark 3.

Thanks to Chris Tomkins for his manyyears writing for this column. Shortageof time has meant the curtailment of hisgliding.

PETERBOROUGH & SPALDING-inand on the air

THE club's participation in "Peter­borough Fortnight" was well rewarded;not only were many column inchesdevoted to our activities but it attractedthe interest and imagination of the Re­gional BBC programme planners. Theycommissioned a 20 minute sound re­cording of a typical training flight, whichwas so successful that it took up themajority of VHF sound time the follow­iog Monday morning. The evening papernot to be outdone, devoted two tabloicentre pages to give the club the feclinthat at last it had arrived and wasvaluable asset to the sport-aviation scene.

Norman Brown attained his assistaninstructor rating in JUly, in time to provide valuable assistance on a vesuccessful training week held later in thmonth. While our T-49 held the fortinstruction-wise, our Bocian performedaerobatics at our local air display heldat Sibson.

J.V.L.

SCO'tTISH GLJDING UNION­OCtober traditional Lasham month

THE SOU held a very successful "Athome day" on June 25. The weather waskind to us. A westerly breeze blew onto Bishop hill all day, which meant thateach launch resulted in a soaring flight.Over 85 hours' flying was done that day.

Our ab initio summer cou_rses havebeen fully booked all June, July andAugust and most people have had goodflying. The club Falke is being used fortraining as an alternative to the T-2lwhen the winches give trouble.

K.E.B.

to an accident on take-off, one ofDU~b'S Olympia 463's was extensively

t/le ~ged, so the .c1ub h~s only two solo~ aft in operaUon. It IS hoped to havea1rc:-her Swallow and the 463 back inallO 'ce by the time the wave season starts.~~~ever there is 00 shortage of privately

ed single-seaters at Portmoak, andoW~al syndicates have bought or are:~ut to buy glass-fi.bre sailplanes. A newKestrel recently arnved at Portrnoak.

The SGU clubhouse has been com­letely booked by visitors from Lasham

ror most of October, which has nowbecome the traditional L~sham month.We wish them all good flYing.

SHROPSHIRE-soaring group atSleap

AS this is our first note a description ofourselves is perhaps in order. V!e are agliding section of the Shropshire "eroClub who fly from Sleap aIrfield,. erghtmiles north of Shrewsbury. Being asoaring group. we p"rovide no training.Thus, all pilots most be of Bronze Cminimum standard and have been clearedfor aerotow launching.

All gliders are privately owned and wehave a Std Cirrus, K.-6E, and Skystationed on the airfield with a furthertwo syndicates soon to base their glidersat Sleap. plus a few visiting gliders. Wehave our own tug (Terrier) and there arealso six light aircraft operating from theairfield. At present we fly ,only on Satur­days, Sundays and public holidays.

The area is well known for its vigorouswave activity and as the airfield is clear~~ airways, we look forward to someI~ flights.

isitors are welcome either by air orroad but if inteoding to land your glider~t Sleap, please - call Sleap tower onof>·4~Hz for landing advice. Prior noticeb an l':Itended visit would be appreciated(!v ca,lhng Tarvin 40787 during the'-weekweeekntngs) or the ajrfield (Wem 2882) at

endstu:'e st~rted launching with our own12 hn Saturday, 29 Jul~, and .managedgli~urs thermal s()anng WIth threeOUr fi' The following Saturday producedat 3k~:t ~ave with this scribe ascendingand justt rough a gap in the strato-cu

about to enter 8/8 stratus at

3,20O£t when the electrics failed!We look forwaJ1d to the winter wave

season as with the airfield being only275ft asl we should be able to soaralmost throughout the year.

I.P.

SOUTHDOWN-members' courses

M UCH flying time has been lost thisspring and early summer due to lowcloud on the hill. However life has beenbrightened by a few good weekends,particularly in late April, when we alsohad several visitors flying in. JasperPartington revisited us from Lasham ina Skylark 4 and Peter Stafford-Alien andHoye arrived from Challock.

The members' course in June sufferedfrom the weather. The August coursestarted with low cloud on the first daybut everyone had a flight in the evening.The second day gave us gale force winds.However we flew on the remaining threedays with Chris BackweU doing his Silverdistance to Ashford and Derek Eastellin his 460 flying from Firle to Lewes toBexhill and back in the sea breeze frontbefore it damped down soaring for theday.

Away flying at Sutton Bank andCompton Abbas has been uninspiring.

K.I.P.M.

STAFFORDSHIRE - move stillpending

A LONG period of poor weekendweather has limited OUT fiying in generaland cross-country flying in particular.However, the first weekend in Juneproved a little better and the clubOlympia and a syndicated K-6E soon dis­appeared into the distance.

The fil'St of our club courses, or­ganised by Bor-is Clare, also suffered fromthe poor weather conditions in that notmuch thermal activity occurred. How­ever, a gOQd number of launches wasachieved and course membel.'S had anenjoyable holiday.

The second course, organised byLaurie Birch, was blessed with severalgood soaring days and it was nice to seeevery available aircraft airborne and theretrieve crews lazing around in the Sunwhile awaiting their calls.

We have still not moved to our newsite, although the land has been pur-

449

C.J.R.J.G.S.

chased and a great deal of preparatorywork completed. We are still negotiatingwith the local planning authority aboutthe detailed construction of the hangarand other problems, which we hope toI'esolve following a meeting to be heldshortly.

SURREY & MANTS - blithe spiritsJULY aDd August have lifted our spiritsa little as well as our gliders. DerekPiggott (Phoebus C) was lkm shortoChis 500km on June 30. His turning pointswere Bath Racecourse and LincolnCathedral, giving .him 500km if helanded south of Thame on the way back.He was expecting a freshening southerlywind and unfortunately it freshened justenough to rob him of the vital centi­metres. Tony Burtonlanded at HusbandsBosworth in his Std Libelle on the returnleg of ,a :500km out-and-return to Don­caster on August 11 j time lQSt on earlyscrapes couldn't be made up in the Texanconditions north of Leicester. Weekendshowever still have to sbow good condi­tions amI no orae who needs it has donea 300km flight this year yet.

The Lasham competition was a greatsuccess with eight :consecutive contestdays splendidly won by Leigh Hood inthe Army K-6E. The comps party wasgood too with superb buffet nosh and anexcellent pop group playing on the"patio" ,outside the clubhouse incitinglots -of people to leap madly about underthe full moon and nearby windsock.

C.L.

WOLDS - sea breeze fronts

WE seem to have suffered from the eastcoast "c1ag" more than usual this year,and as a result our weekend weather hasbeen very poor as regards soaring. Cross­country days have been very few and farbetween. However, we are becoming ex-,perts at soaring sea breeze fronts andachieving fast runway changes as theypass through.

Jim Smith took over from Irving Paineas CFI in June; our many thanks tolrving for the many hours of hard workput in by him on behalf of the Ch.!b.Recent additions. to the instructor listindtlde Eddie Room and Bob Fox,following their course at Booker.

450

We now have a very well organisedcanteen, producing excellent me,als atweekends, run by Audrey Cooper, MadgePhillips and Janet Smith; in fact, somedays the canteen takes mare money thanthe flight logkeeper.

WYCOMBE AIR PARK-,the Dukepa)'s us a visit

PRINCE Philip was the principa1 guestand one of the many people to scc theKings Cup Air Race and Flying Displayat Booker on Saturday, 15 July-andwhat a day; it couldn't have been moreperfect.

During that weekend a nllwber ofgliders and a tug went to RAF Abingdonat the invitation of Jock Manson. Ourthanks and appreciation go to him andhis staff for all the help anQ 'assistance(and their winch launches at 1:5p), TimChapman did" quite well on the Saturdayin the club Dart competing in the oneday task, ail4 on the folloWing day "Fredthe Shep" and David Margetts exceedetwo hours in wave. The rest of us onlymanaged an hour or so, but it waglorious at 4,OOOft over Oxford (see alsp4S3).

Launches and hours flown at last shoa significant increase o:ver last yea.r; eveso weekends have been poor.

K.W.W

YORKSHIRE weekendtasks

THE soaring season only .started iearnest in July and pilots are flying CI'OSScouotry whenever the opportunity arisand half a dozen Silver C distances havebeen flown. We have managed to ssmall tasks on some weekends and it isencoura.ging to see so many pilotattemptmg them. On July 29 five pilocompleted the set look:m triangle and 0August 13 five completed a similar task.

The Northern Regionals in June wmarred by bad weather but we hope theexcellent catering by our two studenh7lpers and the party run by BetLIlbllrn and. Co' helped to compensate fothis

To end on a sad note: It was withgreat sorrow that we learned of thedeath af Chas Boyer in the CathayPacific air disaster over Vietnam in June.

-GLI ER RE-PAINTSFirst-class workmanship

Reasonable prices

Seven day service

contact:-southward Garage (Retford) Ltd.Nottinghamshire

Telephone: Retford 2841

SCOTLANOWE1.L CARAVAN SITE

Suitably situated for fishing, touringand Ih mile only from

GLIDING site at PORTMOAK.Toilets, showers, hot water, free.

Also 6-berth and 4-betth caravans forhire on site.

All tourers welcomed.

D. L. Paterson, The Well GaraQe. Scotlandwell,Klnross-shlre Tel: Scotlandwell 289

A Set of gold plated cuff-links andtie-tack in a presentation box

£1.75 Inc. post & packing

A'qilable from:

LITA LAMPS LIMITED1 Station Grove, Wembley

MiddlesexTel: 01-903 4471

JOHN HULMETunbridge Lane, Bottisham

Cambridge CSS 9DUTelephone: Cambridge 811323-Wood, Metal and

Fibreglass Repairs

•Spares and Materials

•Trailers-UK Repair Agent for Diamant

and Phoebus Sailplanes

AIRCRAFT INSURANCE

Phone, Call or Write

J. A. HARRISON (BROKERS) LTO.

"SECURITY House"

160·161 BROMSGROVE STREET.

BIRMINGHAM B5 6NY

Telephone 021-692-1245 (10 lines)

FOR KEENEST RA TES,

SERVICE AND SECURITY

451

COBB-SLATER INSTRUMENT CO. LTD.Write for details of Introductory Offer

Sole Manufacturers of:

Cook Compasses Cosim Variometers

and

Electric Variometers

with Audio Unit

Irving Venturies

Water Traps

Barographs Calibrated Total Energy Units

New Cosim Audio Unit works with PZL, Cosim or Electric Varios

Leaflets from: r

'COSIM' WORKS'Derbyshire DE4 2GG

DARLEY DALE MATLOCKTelephone: Darley Dale 2344/5

'Winter' Instrument StoekistsBAROGRAPHS 10 kmVARIOMETERS ± 10 ktsCOMPASSESA.S.I.'s 0-140 kts

GLASS-FIBRE REPAIRS

ASI'sINVERTERSBAROGRAPHS 'Danum' Transistor Inverters

Small Size. 12v. Input, FusedOTTFUR & TOST HOOKS Matched to all types of horizonRECONDITIONED BY POST (State type when ordering)Large stocks of Ply, FabrIc, Tyres, Dope, etc.The new "Supersafe" Tost Europa Hook now In stock

YORK ROAD, DONCASTER. Phone 0302·65381

ALTIMETERSHORIZONSVARIO's

DONCASTER SAILPLANE SERVICESThe Powered Glider SpecialistsUK AGENTS FOR TOST AND WINTIR EQUIPMENT

Sailplane Sales & Excbanges STEEL TUBE WELDING

Present Stoek Includes:2xT21 B's

Trailers Built to Orderin all Fibreglass Construction

New & Used Instruments

452

-

SS.G.

Cbas waS a great person who loved lifeDd lived it to the full. He was well­~nown at Sutton Bank as an enthusiasticsoaring pilot and a keen in:;tructor, whocould fill even the most timid of pupilswith confidence. To Liz, Fiona andNicholas we extend our sympathy fortheir gre, It loss.

[SERVICE NEWS)

CHILTERNS-wave over AblngdonTHE first paragraph of last issue's, newscould almost be reprinted. It referred, ofcourse, to the terrible weather.

There have, however, been a fewbrighter spots in the gloom. The mostmemorable was a task weekend atAbingdon organised with the Airwaysand Thames Valley clubs from Booker.Saturday and Sunday were both taskdays and in tbe Nationals style (see alsop450). Saturday featured a lOOkmtriangle in weak conditions, and was wonby Geoff MiJlward, flying the clubK-6cR, who landed 15km short ofAbingdoD on the last leg.

Sunday was even worse, the task beinga tokeD out'aDd-return via Newbury.The wind Was easterly but pilots loc.al­soaring suddenly discovered wave overOxford. Bob Sharman, Shep Sheppardand Jack Harrison all had 6,OOOft climbsbefore setting out on the task. Againon!y three people rounded the turningPOIDt. Graham Saw won the day in aStd Cirrus, landing lOkm short ofAbingdon and Bob Sharman and Jack!iarrison were equal second, both landingIn the same field at a place calledWorld's End!

On .the instructional side Brian Cogger.our aJrcraft member, has gained his full~alegory and Jed Stone, Bob Sheffield,

aleol~ Noms and Eddy Wright havenew assIstant ratings

The club van has iust had yet anotherengme rebuild, this time with a newf;~Wshaft, bi~ ends and piston. We hopeo I last a bit longer-Ma!colm Norrisg~:turetd MT!Dember, is to be con~

a e on hiS efforts.G.M.

CLEVELANDS(RAFGSA)&HAMB!.ETON (BOA) - peculiarweather

THE peculiar weather over the last twomonths has allowed nothing more thanlocal ~rea soaring; despite this quite afew pilots have had reasonable flights.

It has unfortunately been foundnecessary to increase the launCh fees by5p. Generally rising costs oVer the lastfour years have forced this on us. Thelaunch rate, however, is excellent, andthe hospitality is superb. I have beenforced into the unloved category of the10 to 50 hours-a-year man and twice nowI hav.e committed the sin of rushing ontothe site of a summer evening (to up-datethe newsletter notes) and actually accept­ing the flights that have been offered.

The latest fleet changes are a K-4acquired by Clevelands and an Oly 463by Hambleton to ,replace a sold Oly 2.

One of our aircraft was used in a~tatic .exhibition at a school summer fairIn Thlrsk; most of the children in York­slllfe clambered in for a polaroid photo

For the immediate future we lookf.orward to a visit by a priv~te owners'¥r??p from Mainz and another abIn/flo course.

M.l.O.

CRUSADERS (Cyprus) - goodweather

THE weather over the last few weekshas been extremely good. An impressivenumber of hours and badges have beennotched up, with five completing theirSilvers during lune and July.

Unfortunately, with good times comebad and the club has had to say fare­w.ell t~ ou~ chairman Gordon Camp andhIS Wife Idl, along with Vernon Brad­brook and Chalky White. Wing Com­mander Saundby is with us at themoment carrying out instructor categorychecks.

F.P.G.

PHOENIX (RAF BRUGGEN) - newCFI

ABBO MAUNTON our CFI for the lasttwo years has resigned for personalreasons. The club would like to thankhim for the tremendous amount of work:

453

he has done while he has been at thehelm, raising the club from its low ebbto the good position it is now in. Tomark his retirement from office Abbo waspresented with an engraved trophy byhis successor Nigel King, We wish Nigelluck in his new post

The K-6cR is now sporting its newIiver~y of pale lilac and the club eagerlyawaits the reappearance of the K-7 whichis being refurbished.. Mick Parkin andPete Haig have joined the instructorsranks. Several first solos have beef} flownin the last kw weeks.

Sqn Ldr Cotton (RAF rtd) of theAustralian Gliding Federation was shownthe local area when he flew with MickParkin in the K-4, An ex-CO of 17 5qnRAF, he was visiting Brtiggen after theWorld Championships in Yugoslavia. Hewill be responsible for the organisationof the 1974 championships.

In July Nick NichoIls from TwoRivers, Nigel King and Pete Haig visi,!edthe Crusaders club in CyprUs while wewere on detachment. We would like totake this opportunity to thank CFI unBames and the club for the hospitalitygiven to us.

P.H.

RAFGSA Centre (Bicester) -Goughleads the way

WITH weather conditions improvingtowards the end of June there WilS amarked increase i,n our activity 'and a,number of Silver C height climbs and:cross"'Country ,flights were successful. On,July 13 Frank Burgess in the Dart did300km distance via Melton Mowbray andNewmarket in company with Dick Cole'in the K"'6E with Andy Gough leading'the way in the Std Cirrus.

The exigencies of the service has ledte the loss of our deputy CFI JockWishart and Pete Abbey has taken overthe post. Jock is remaining ;lit Bicesterhowever.

On July 23 there were two Gold Cheight climbs by Doug Parrish and TimHarrington, ,the latter completing hisGold; on the same day Frank Burgessmanaged to get into a cloud but missedhis Gold height by about 500ft.

After having pegged back our f1yin.ch:lrges for quite some time, rising costsand a popr season has meant thal Whave 'had to increase our charges fawinch and aerotow launches but only b'a modest amount.

LASHAM GLIDING SOCIETY* ElASIC TRAINING COURSES-motor glider

* GL'IDER COURSES-ASK 13 Ka 7

* TRAINING FOR CROSS COUNTRY-Falke

* CONCENTRATED COURSES=for beginners with limitedtimll

* AERQTOW AND CAR LAUNCHES-every flyable qay­,over 30,000 last year

* OEREK PIGGOTT CF: ~ F'ROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTORS

The Secretary will glad.'y send details of

COURSES ,- MEMBERSHIP - FACILITIES

LASHAM AIRFIELD, Nr. ALTON, HANTS. Tel. Herriard 270

454

h Blanik syndicate h~s acqlfir~d aT e ircraft and by the time this. Issue

new a the Kestrel should have arnved.is out AE.B.

SouT WEST DISTRICT-home

and awayTHOUGH the weather has. restrained

AL from cross-country soanng m':!chus 'vity has ta.ken place, such as trailera~~~ting and c1ubroom. improvements.p Two instructors, Jobn Dabill and WallyL mbard obtained their full category~jng after visiting Tarrant Rushton.

raTwO more pupils have joined the solonks several pilots are ready for their

~~YJa~k 2 conversion and the return ofthe Oly from the workshops IS eagerlyawaited. ,

lan Terry after a soanng week atBieester, ca~e home with two, c?mpletedBronze legs. His weather predlctJon mustbe spot on as he picked the best weekof the year so far-J~ly 1Q to 16. W,emanaged to be with him on one of hiSsuccessful days and with great interestwatched the Flying Wing and the Primarytowed into the sky.

On July 16, a glorious day ~ith ther­mals everywhere, we were restncted dueto low level flights by the Hercules andparachute drops. Tempers were not go,?d-happy soaring followed by full a1r­brake!

We have recently been visited bymembers of the Keevil, Chiltern andColeme clubs and wish to extend ourh~pitality to any adventure seekingpilots.

J.R.A

TWO RI ERS (RAF ,L••l'bruch)­beetle versus winch

~UR main recent venture was the fOJ;t­Dlght's visit to Kamp Lintfort jlirfield.~s well as several first solos and bronzeegs, the weather was kind enough for

S0n:'e .Silver legs to be achieved. Themal!!, Ingredient of the success of the ex­pedition Was Con Greaves putting innearly 50 hours in the Auster tug, noIl1ean feat!anTha,nks to the efforts of Tim Bald~inofd hiS helpers We are now 10 possessIon

a fUlly serviceable standby winch. A

snarl-up ,on one drum of our Tost is nownot quite such a damper on our launchrate.

Launches and hours are well up onlast year, which in itself was a record.Our statistics board has had to be ex­tended beyond its original capabilities.

We have had our share of mishaps.Unfortunately the Skylark was bent ona field landing and will be out of actionfor several months, and also we regretthe passing of Con's twelve year old"Beetle" which had an argument withthe winch. The winch won. It must be'put. on record that Con was not drivingat the time.

Forthcoming ventures include ourannual wave soaring expeditions to Zellam See in October and Issoire inFebruary.

DW.

WREKIN (RAF Cosford) - Diamondover Cosford

OUR Bocian is almost ready to air-testwhich ends a massive fleet overhaul ofour five gliders and two winches sinceDecember last, by our all too small bandof sturdy workers. May their efforts berewarded by some decent soaring flightswhen they emerge at long last from thehangar, their jobs we)) done.

In spite of the elements in the lastthree months we have had four A &; B's,six Bronze legs, two Silver distances, andBen Goodman capping them all with aDiamond height over Cosford.

We are awaiting the return of ourK-6E and Qly 419, at present at Dun­stable in company with the best-lookingAuster in the business. That's right, it'sours.

SIDESLIP

BRISTOL & GLOUCESTERSHIREGLIDINC CLUB

Welcomes private owners, beginnersand holiday members at their uniquesite in the Cotswolds. Open sevendays per Week. Why not ring the ClubManager on 045-386 342 or write to:

BRISTOL & GLOUCESTERSHIRE GUOIMG CU'"Nympsfield, SIGn.house. Glos, GL 10 3fX

455

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

The Birmingham Guild Lld 415Bristol & Gloucestershire Gliding Club 455British Gliding As.'ociation 445Cameron Balloons Lld 377Chiltern Sailplanes Lld 414Classifieds 440-441Peter ClifIord Aviation Ltd Back eoverCobb-Slaler InSlrumenl Co Ltd 452Cornish Gliding & Flying Club 456CrQSsfell Variometen 446Cryslal Engineering Lld 433Daltrade Ltd 434Deeside Gliding Club (Aberdeenshire) Lld 456Doncaster Sailplane Services 452Dorset Flying & Gliding Club 377EJectechniques 445Gliderwork 445J. A. Harri.on (Brokers) Ltd 451J. Hulme 451Irvin Gre"l Bri"'in Lld 423Kent Gliding Club 456Lanclsman's (Co-Ownenobip) Lld 371Lasham Gliding Society 454Victor Laurence (Merchants) Lld 440Lita Lamps Ltd 451London Gliding Club 456McBroom Sailwings Lld 373Marlowe. Gardne. & Cooke 441Midland Gliding 'Club Inside back coverMowbray Vale Insurance Brokers 417Norlhumbria Gliding Club Insige ba.ck coverPilatus Aircraft Lld 367T. & A. D. Poyser Ltd 418Sailplane & Englt1eering Services Ltd 417Sailplane & Gliding 446

~~~I~~e:,e~I~=~~~~~~~lftugzeugbau ~1iScottish Gliding Union Inside back. coverSlingsby Sailplanes 386Southdown Aero Services Lld 433Soulhern Sailplanes 401Southward Garage (Retford) Lld 451Speedwell Sailplanes Inside front coverSport Para Services ~21Three Counties ACTO Club Lld 423Thermal Equipment Lld 445Torn Sailplanes Lld 418Trafford Facilities Ltd 372Waikerie Gliding Club In<: 445Brlan Weare 422Wesley Sailplanes ~20West Wale Gliding Club Inside back coverYorkshire Gliding Club Inside back coverYorkshire Sailplanes Ltd 446

CORNISH GLIDING & FLYING CLUBGliding courses in modern fleet from MAY11th - B.G.A. clltegorised instructors - finesoaring - lovely coastal airfield - ideal for

a different family holiday.

AERo-rOW COURSfS· AVAILABLEDetails with plea.ure from: The CourseSecretary, Cornish Gliding & FJ.yingClub. Trevellas Airfield, Perran­porth. Cornwan. Tel. Deyoran 862518

456

-

DEESIDE GLIDING CLUB(Aberdeenshire) LTD.

WAVE SOARINGClub gliders equipped with oxygenAerotow facilities 7 days per week

Details from: A. J. Middleton,56 St. Ronan's Drive, PeterClllter,

AberdeenshireTal. Culter 2043

At theKENT GLIDING CLUB

We welcome any glider pilot ..•••prospective or pu.ndit

Learn to fly on a week's hQllday course, Withprofessional instructi'on. Apl'"il- NoYember or-­bring your gilder to fly our thermals, or ridgeaoar the Kent Do_wns.Facilities: Winch or ae,o·tow launchesR~sldentill Cfubhou... with licenae.d barApply 10: The Secretary

KENT GLIDING CLUBChallock. Nf. Ashlord, Kent

Telephone: Ch.llock 307 or 274

-v-- -- -- -LONDON GLIDING CLUBDunstable Downs, Bedfordshire

Telephone: OLU 2 63419

Sitl;lated at the foot of the Chilternhills, and within easy reach ofLondon and the Midlands by road(just off the M1). The Club has acomprehensive fleet of dual andsolo aireraft, reliab/e- launchingequipment including tug aircraft.This famous site has plentiful ther­mals in summer and hill soaringwith favourable winds throughoutthe year. Resident instructors,catering every day (weekends onlyin winter),. licensed bar, accom­modation and other facilities.Visitor.s welcome,Write for 1972 course brochure orclub membership details to theManager or ring 0582-63419.

-

WEST WALES GLIDING CLUBHAVERFORDWES T

Withybus!1 Airfield is centr.ally situated (~r over 70.iles of National ~ark coaslhnc arfd unsPoilt beache'\ro; your family holidays.

Ab.inilio courses on Falke, Capstan and 1218.May to October.

Camping and caravan facilities availablo.

Brochule 8. tuller information from Gliding Secretary:136 HAVEN RD., HA VERfORDWEST

lel. Haverfordwest 3156

Northumbria Gliding Club

Currock Hill

The English Wave SiteSituated ten miles west of Newcastle upon Tyne.learn to olide on a ""ee~s holiday course from£ 10 to £22 per week, or bring your own gliderfor a winch or aerotow '",un:ch Into the Pennlnf'Lee Wave and do Silver C Duration at Gold C

Height

Details ftoml O. Wils:onAkan House, 6 Kepwell Bonk, Prudhoe on Tyne

There is no better place to fly from than

THE LONG MYND

Private Owners welcome(Advance booking necessaryl

April-OctoberHoliday courses

home of the

Midland Gliding Club Limited

WHY NOT COME AND SEE FORYOURSELF?

All Enquiries:

Curse SecretaryTel. Shrewsbury 4131(24 hour answering service)

Or if you have time to write!!)256 Crowmere Road. Shrewsbury,

SY25LF

VISIT THE YORKSHIRE GUDING CLUB IN 1972... Ho! kw Gliding Courses"'Mo hn Fleet'l\'Stlfi( Tb Cluhhollse & Airfiekl

SOAR AHEAD WITH A 'BLANIK'Unsurpassed in Performance and Reliability

Fully Aerobatic

Now with Improved Airbrakes

Delivered U.K. £2,425 (including instruments)

Over 1500 manufactured and production continuing

Get with it-join the'BLANIK' set and progress in the '70'5

Distributor for U.K., Eire and Canada:Peter Clifford Aviation Limited, Oxford Airport, Kidl'ington, Oxford

lel. Kidlington 4262 Cables: Cliffair, Oxf()rd

Sole Exporter for Czechoslovak Aviation PIQducfs:Omnipol Limited, Washingtonova 11, Prague 1, Czechos'lovakia