VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

ObituariesWaiter DittmarThe death has been reported of Waiter Dittmar, the youngestof the three Dittmar brothers, of gliding fame. He died on 13thDecember 1995 shortly before his 80th birthday. He sharedwith his brothers Heini and Edgar the love of flying, but he didnot achieve their fame. He was a gliding instructor during andafter the war and he checked out flying instructors. After theWasserkuppe gliding school opened again in 1954, he becameits Chief Instructor in 1955 and Chris Wills was one of hispupils. After retiring from there, he still remained true to theWasserkuppe by attending the annual Otto Lilienthal RemembranceCelebrations regularly. We send our sincerest sympathyto his family and friends.Clara Uirth - The "Musterle" lives on!Clam Hirth on the right ofthe picture, with Frau Bachem, in1945. Photo via Herman Lederer.Almost 90 years old, Clara Hirth died on 2nd September aftera severe illness. She was the widow of the most famousGerman glider pilot Wolf Hirth, and with him, she shared theups and downs of German gliding. She was there at hisbedside after his bad motorcycling accident in 1926 when hefounded the Akaflieg Stuttgart. In her honour, Wolf Hirthnamed the first glider, which had been built for him alone,"Musterle" after her nickname. It was a "Laubental" designfrom 1928/29 from the famous Darmstadt "Westprussen"/"Lore" family of gliders. With this Musterle and through hisachievements, he founded his world-wide reputation for beingready to share his knowledge and experiences with otherglider pilots, and so became responsible for starting up glidingmovements in other countries. Clara accompanied him toQrunau, where l1e took OYel" as C.F.L in 1931, and also shecame to the Hornberg with him. Some journeys, like the oneto South America in 1934, or to Japan during the New yearperiod of 1935/36, she could only follow by means oftelegrams or letters,. In 1942 her birthday present was the firs!llight of tine first aerobatic "Habicht" that was built in Nabern.Modestly she stayed in the background when gliding wasagain allowed after tne war, but she kept "open house" for alltheir frieJilds in tl~e gliding world which she continued to doafter the tragic death of Wolf on 29th July 1958.Until she was 80 years old she was the Business Directorof the family firm that Wolf Hirth founded in 1939 at Nabern,and until 1994, she always opened the International GlidingContests at the Hahnweide, which the Fliegergruppe WolfHirth runs every year.In Clara Hirth we are losing one of the last witnesses of theearly German gliding development, but her nickname"Musterle" will keep us remembel"ing her. Near Kirchheim/Teck, an airworthy replica of that sailplane is being built byKlaus Heyn which is inseperable from German glidinghistory, the "Musterle".PetCl: F. Selinger. Translated by Chris Wills.Racy BuxtonWe are very sad to report the death of Racy Buxton, duringJune 1996. She was the widow of Mungo Buxton, the pioneerBritish glider pilot who introduced Philip Wills to gliding, andwho, in 1934, had climbed in a thunderstorm over SuttonBank, to over 8000ft, while flying a Scud 2. Mungo designedthe Hjordis for Philip Wills and also was involved with theKing Kite. She was a daughter of Sir William Fisher, C in CMediterranean Fleet, and later C ilil C Portsmollth, a cousin toKitty Wills and Thoby Fisher and was a wonderful personwho will be sadly missed. We send ollr deep sympathies Ita herdaughters Rose and Ju (Juliet) and to their family and friends.Uarald James Penrose, 1904·1996Although he was not a memlber, we cannot let his de-alii! at theage of 92 pass un-noticed, He is remembered for so manytalents; historian, fiction writer, saUor, naval architect, gliderdesigner and pilot,but first and foremost he was a test ,pilot,being Chief Test Pilot with Westnands for 23 y.ears making thefirst flights of all types of aircraft from the Westland-HillPterodactyl to the Lysander and eventually to the monsterWyvern which he dived SOO times from high altitude to understandal1d overcome ,pro,pellor control problems. Penrose survivedover six years of Wyvern testing while three other test,pilnts w,ere killed, and was made s.ales Manager for the lastthree yem's at work. When ne mtil'ed, at the age of 62, hebought a Currie Wot ultra-light biplane which he flew over hisbeloved West Country and which was the basis of his book'Airy MOllse: but in one chapter he remembers his glidingdays... "In imagination I soared the sky in the Inanner that soenra,ptured me long ago - the wings of my sailplane inclinedat a gentle angle against the pressure of the air, buoyed up bythe widespread upward movement of the atmosphere. Thoughinstrumentsare essential to interpret a thermal current and aidexploration of its bounds, man can sense, with something of abird's ability, whether he is flying in an area of air which issoarable. Instead of the ice-smooth downward slide thatgravity gives, a light initial tugging may be felt, as though thesailplane is riding swiftly over slippery cobble stones. Thencomes a steady slIrgelike the upward rush of a lift. In strongthermals even the rasping of the slipstream seems to alter key,possibly because the pressure change due to increasing heightacts swifter than the automatic compensation of one's ears.The green pip of tite vai'iometer leaps upward. Quicker thanconscious thought, fingers press the stick to cant the wings,and with slight foot movement the sailplane isruddered intocircle after circle to keep within the invisible rising air. Graduallythe endless spirals drift downwind, and the earth dropsaway with almost imperceptibly increasing remoteness.Flightfeels serene and safe as sailing on a mill-pond....." While hewas a young man in 1935 he designed and made 'Pegasus', a27