VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

He realizes that Luftwaffe airfields were under constant attack
and that the WL's gliders were 011 these a·rfields. However, the
NSFK should have had separate sites which were not so often
under attack. Information would be gladly received by
C.Wills, Wings, The Street, Ewelme, axon OXlO 6HQ.
Tel:O 1491-839245.
Klaus Schickling has a Slingsby T21 BOA 3195, formerly
WB 989. Does anyone know anything of its earlier history.
The Baby V once owned by RudolfFehlhaber, does anyone
have any information on this type ofglider Photo from an
enUlil
Letters
Continuing Harold Holdsworth's letter about the Dicksoll
Primary which we had to cut short in the last issue.
The worst of these errors concerned the main spar of the
wing which, being a built-up I beam, was too light for a
primary. Secondly, the use of a large number of small brass
screws which almost cut the timber into short pieces and any
landing by a beginner which was a little rough ended with the
spars broken and the landing wires as well. Also among other
problems, the wing leading edge ply was not carried around
the L.E in the normal way, so that wing section and stiffness
was lost.
Ray Ash did not start the Australian Dickson, but the
person who did was quite aware of the problems and doubled
the size of timber ill ,the spars, omitted the screws and used a
glue of good quality instead of the more usual gelatine glue.
(After four years our Dickson literally fell to pieces) Like Mr
Sutton building our Dickson, the Australian builder assembled
the wing ribs on the spars, tested for accuracy and then found
the mistakes with the drag bracing not being able to pass
thmugh the ribs. He put the machine up for sale!
Ray Ash assures me that he connected the wing ribs "in
situ". He sent me some very interest,ing photos of the glider
under conslr,uction and when finished.
At one time Bill Manuel passed on to Mike Beach his
knowledge of the drawbacks of the Dickson but that was
before the time Mike was toying with the idea of building a
Dickson himself.
Among the unconventional features of the Dickson were:
control horns and tailplane bolts in dural, very small ailerons,
quite large rudder, wing root fittings incorporating a control
surface hinge. Imagine trying to hold a wing and get a c1evis
pin in place at the same time.
All the finished primaries I saw had more conventional
wing root fittings. On the plus side, on the type of ground
surface for which it was intended to land, Le. pasture grass,
moorland, heather or bracken, the Dickson could be landed
into wind with a delightful swish, no bump at all. Only the
Professor could approach that"
Just for the record Harold adds his memories of the Cloud·
craft Phantom.
"The sole reason for building the Phantom, to the order of
Mr P J Michelmore, was for him to win the prize put up by
Cellon, the dope and paint manufacturer in 1931 for the first
person to fly across the English Channel in a glider after a
bunjee launch. The flight had to be carried out by a certain
date and the prize was £ I000. With hindsight Mr Michelmore
did not have a hope of winning the prize but he was an over
enthusiastic optimist.
Michelmore had two main problems, apart from getting a
suitable glider, and these were, I, where to start from, and 2,
what kind of weather to wait for. Because of the compulsory
hand launch the cliffs at Dover were chosen as the start point
but obviously an ideal hill soaring wind would mean a headwind
for the subsequent crossing.
After the first flight at Dunstable on 11 th June 1931 it was
taken on a lorry down to Dover where Michelmore carried out
the final preparations. These included arrangements with the
Army to provide a bunjee team. Michelmore carried out a
purely local flight to get used to the machine, to prove it could
recover from a spin and that its performance was as good as
claimed. The machine was afterwards picketted down under a
large tarpaulin to await the "great day" while the pilot found
himself some accommodation in Dover.
Shortly afterwards he was astonished to see his glider at the
launch site, the bunjee laid out ready for launch, a soldier in
the cockpit - and a strong wind blowing down the cliffs. A
furious altercation took place, when fortunately the officer in
charge appeared and a very bad accident was averted. The
Army dealt with the soldiers but very few, certainly not the
soldiers involved. realised what would have happened if the
launch had been attempted.
When the soldiers had been released, and under cover of
darkness, they returned to the parked glider and systematically
damaged it. They cut out some wing ribs and wrenched off the
pilot head while doing other damage. They lifted the machine
off the ground then dropped it, this caused more damage than
they probably intended. The nose cone, which had been
kicked in, was hammered out by a panel beater, but the impact
of being dropped ruined the entire front fuselage by splitting
all the stringers lengthwise and breaking the keel. There
would have been a very expensive repair bill if Michelmore
had gone on with it but he was not inclined to continue and put
the damaged machine up for sale. There were no offers. At
that point the newly formed BOA stepped in and pointed out
all the drawbacks to the machine as a club aircraft with all its
problems of rigging and derigging.
The Phantom had been designed for one purpose only and
that was to fly the Channel once only and to claim the prize
money as cheaply as possible (although the machine cost £300
to build) It was pointed out to me that the BOA had only given
it a C of A for a very short life and before being released as a
normal club glider it would have had to be completely
redesigned with a new fuselage and stronger fittings. In other
words, almost a completely new machine. And also Mr
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