Volume 16 No 1 Feb 1965.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

Spain in 1952, flown by Philip Wills,and the series of Skylarks with threepiecewings. These aircraft have beenconsistently successful in gliding competitionsall over the world, and it iscertain that the tally .is by no meansended.The dea,th of Major Shaw in 1955 putthe firm in a somewhat difficult position.He had been the major shareholder, andthe Inland Revenue was calling fordeath duties. The problem was solved bythe sale of the share capital to the ShawSlingsby Trust. This body was createdby ,Philip Wills for that special purposein order to preserve the factory fromthe doubtful fate of a sale on the openmarket and thus to ensure for Britishgliding clubS' and pilots the continuanceof the supply of Slingsby sailplanes.The outstanding abilities of FeedSlingsby have not passed without remark.In 1958 he was awarded the Paul TissandierDiploma by the FederationAeronautique Internationale. In that yearalso he )\Ias elected to be a Fellow ,ofthe Royal Aeronautical Society whoseCouncil awarded him their Silver Medalfor Aeronautics in 1962. On hi,s retirementhe was offered and has acceptedthe title of Vice.chairman of his firm,and he will remain in close touch withgliding clubs and gliding perSonalitiesall o,ver the country. J. E. G. H.IMPERIAL COLLEGE GOES TO BRUNSWICK"p'LEASE may I see your glidinglicences authorising solo flying,aerobatics, instructing and passengercarrying'?"... ."We don't have anythmg hke thIS IIIEngland.""May I see your glider documentsthen?""Here's the C. of A.; will that do?""What's the glider's registration number?""It doesn't have ooe.""But it must; all German gliders havea, registration number.""Ah! But we've a British prototype."At this, the control to,wer official atBrunswick Airport, near Hanover,chewed the end of his pencil, ,carefullyscrutinized the C. of A.. and w.ithTeutonic thoroughness printed the lettersD-ART in the airport log book. Withofficia.ldom satisfied. the four of us setforth .to rig the Dart in preparation forit~ first flight over German soil.The 1964 OST\.v-IoAFLlEG flight-testingcourse at Brunswick had already beenunder way for thl: first of its three wl:eks'duralion during August, as Karl Doetsch,Bill Kronfeld, Des Lampard and JohnBridgewater, representing the ImperialCollege Gliding Club, began to rig themaroon-and-white Dart prototype in themidst of about twelve -other glider types6of many different shapes and sizes; 11.5to 19 metres span, butterfly to highflyingtailplanes, wood to metal andfibreglass construction.Inquisitive onlookers soon gathered.as each diminutive half of the Dart tailplanewas carefUlly placed on the groundand the cable tweaked to start the fuselagerolling out of the trailer. As thewings emerged and were attached, so thenumber of spectators increased. Not only~re photographs taken from all possibleangles within and without theglider, but the trailer fittings themselvesreceived their fair share of attention.With the DJ. completed, the assembledDart was rushed to the aero-tow launchpoint.We soon found ourselves taking partin the flight test programme. Generalhandling assessment. stick force measurements,observation of the stalling speedswith brakes open, brakes closed, withand without turn and slip. and estimationsof the time needed to reverse a45° banked turn were but a few of themany tests performed. The iests wetecarried. out with perspex protractorshanging across the inside of the c