VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

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ones, was thought to be tantamount to suicide by their CAA!Restoring vintage gliders is now a growth industry in Hungaryand certainly some people have money, as witness the youngman with a Stemm S 10 motor glider and sponsorship is notimpossible, as it seems that Malev, (The National Airline) wassponsoring one, or iboth, of their world championship standardaerobatic power pilots. (See the Club news for a summary ofthe AGM and the International Council meetings which wereheld at Farkashegy.)Chris Wills.Bob Gaines Olympia2 N470LY, flying overChilhowee, Tennessee,USA. This Diywm originally purchasedby Mr R. T.'Bobby' Cole. its .firstUK C ofA as BGA515, being issued on29 May 1947. Thephotograph was takenby Bob Gaines on 3rdSeptanber 1996 withWilliam Drury MD upfront. Bob hasret:ent1y rejinished thefuselage in the originalEoN colours ofpale blue, completewith dark blue fuselagestripe and EoNlogo. (Are the wingsnext, Bob)------~----------------------------_.........The oldhangar atGyongyos.Hung{//)', in1933, showingclockwise fromthe top, 12m?ogling (segelZ). Gyongyos33. ?oglingand Vandor•16
FeaturesTo start what we hope will be a long series ofpersonal reminiscenceswe have asked Mike Maufe to enlarge on theimpromptu talk he gave us on the occasion ofthe party to celebratehis 80th birthday at the British National Rally in May.His account of the light-hearted club-life of the 193005 contrastsvividly with today's regulated and organised glidingworld, bllt we are glad that Mike is still able to fly solo havingsurvived a mid-air collision in 1986 when a K21 took 4ft offthe wing ofhis Kite. EdMike Maufe being strapped in before his Silver distanceflight in 1938~ from a contemporary newspaper.GLIDING AND SOARING IN THE EARLY DAYSIn 1935 I learnt to fly Gypsy Moths at Marshall's old aerodromein Cambridge, followed by a spell on BAC Drones atEly - these were the motorised version of my BAC two-seaterglider.I transferred to gliding in 1936 when I joined the CambridgeUniversity G.c. a year after it was formed. Mostmembers being students without the benefit of a large income,the club began iD a modest way. renting a large field at CaxtonGibbet with a barn, an ancient German open cockpit Zoeglingprimary and a small winch. It was, I believe. the first flat fieldgliding site in the country.Only third year students were allowed cars and somemembers arrived in these; others on a multi-seat bicycle.Gliding in those days was very much a minority sport withjust over 600 pilots having their "A" certificates, about 100with "C"s and only 10 Silver "C"s.The DJ. on the Zoegling consisted mainly of removingbird droppings and straw and replacing any stretched landingwires (those which hold the wings up when the glider is on theground) caused by heavy landings. Training was solo from thestart using the winch with piano wire, progressing fromground slides to low hops, which gradually became higheruntil circuits could be done. Our glider had a solid woodenkeel with unsprung skid, so bad landings were physically feltand visibily noticeable when the landing wires broke and thewing collapsed onto the ground. Such flights did not qualifyfor certificates! No instruments were fitted and descents werefairly rapid at I in 8 glide angle; 45 second flights for the "B"were quite an achievementSome of us soon got tired of circuits and went to theLondon G.c. at Dunstable on weekends to get some hillsoaring.Launching was by bungee, a rubber rope catapultstretched by 3 or 4 crew on each side of the two arms which isa surprisingly pleasant method of launching. In westerlywinds the gliders were hauled up to the top of the hill by amotor-driven endless rope and bungeed off with the CFI, TimHervey, shouting instructions from the ground. I got my "C"here in a l1acelled primary Dagling in the howling wind whichwas necessary to keep it up.Back in Cambridge we moved onto a secondary called theTottenhoe (a superior kind of Cadet) and then on to the newCambridge which was a cross between a Kirby Kite and aGrunau, this being a "high performance" sailplane we tried tofind thermals but with the low launches these were veryelusive.To get more varied experience the club organised expeditionsin the University vacations to such localities as the Kimmeridgeand Purbeck HiHs in Dorset, or several hills nearPewsey on the Wiltshire Downs. We towed our little winchwith an Austin 7 and took all three gliders, a bungee rope anda motley collection of tents. Each day we flew from thenearest hilll facing the wind, usually landing at the bottom butoccasionally back on top. One day I had my first soaring flightof reasonable duration - 45 minutes at about 50ft up, landingon top in tall bracken with no damage. Later, someone flewthe Cambridge into a tree trunk neatly smashing one wing inhalf and the 1'0tltenboe was put 40ft up another tree. We normaHypacked up camp when all the gliders had been broken!11' July 1937 I joined the Yorkshire Club at Sutton Bankand was lucky enough to achieve my Silver "c" durationflight on my second visit to the club with 5 1 / 2 hours in aFaIc
Page 3 and 4: VGCNewsNo. 89 Autumn 1996ContentsFr
Page 5 and 6: participants should not subsidise o
Page 7 and 8: RalliesTHE RALLY OF THE WHISPERINGW
Page 9 and 10: In 1927, Marshal! Balbo had founded
Page 11 and 12: increase to 32 or 33 degrees at mid
Page 13 and 14: THE THIRD CZECH NATIONAL VINTAGE GL
Page 15 and 16: Thursday 1st August Yesterday's wea
Page 17: Thursday 8th August The weather was
Page 21 and 22: DART CAMBRIDGE.~IA single-seat sail
Page 23 and 24: membership. We would also, because
Page 25 and 26: 23J~ _Spruce Goose going up on the
Page 27 and 28: Neil Scully is working on the Gruna
Page 29 and 30: ObituariesWaiter DittmarThe death h
Page 31 and 32: Wi,th the Gull 4, a possible rival
Page 33 and 34: om~I6.&023._--2750---HB -11HB·347~
Page 35 and 36: From Colin and A/ice Anson.The othe
Page 37 and 38: Classified AdsFOR SALE & WANTEDSmal
Page 39: "You con bank on us"-------------..

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