Gerry was one of the early members of the Lakes GC having joined the Club in 1960. He clocked up some 400hrs in gliders whilst with our Club. Gerry died in 1998 after a prolonged illness. He saw service during the war and flew many sorties in Bombers. His enthusiasm for flying continued after the war when he started teaching and joined the London GC in 1959. Finally soloing in a Tutor in August 1960. A first for Walney appears to be taking the Tutor into cloud in the same year with a flight time of 11minutes. For those of you who know what a Tutor is this is a significant flight. (glide angle approx ½ that of the Capstan)
Bungee’d off Ireleth in 1962 in a Kite 1 and later in the year OK’d for passenger carrying. 1964 saw Gerry complete his Silver C with a flight of 98 miles in an Oly 2B from Lasham. This allowed Gerry to gain his assistant instructor rating. One of the few natural pilots of our club, he inspired confidence in his pupils and had an infectious sense of humour which could be taken the wrong way if you didn’t know him. A character who added to life’s rich tapestry.
1964 also won him the Lonsdale trophy for a flight to Blackburn from Walney in the Oly.
In 1967 he flew in the regional comps at Lasham. This is worthy of note in that I believe this was only the second member of the Lakes to fly in competition, Len Redshaw being the first. He continued to fly into the mid 80’s but mainly from Lasham with some of his old colleagues from the south.
I shared my first glider (courtesy of LR) with him and John Craven (Peters father), the infamous blue and white Oly 2B. He was a good syndicate partner to have. Ironically John and Gerry both died within 10 days of each other.
His son Mark and daughter Rachel have kindly donated Gerrys gliding books, photo’s, old S&G’s and newspaper cuttings to the Club. These will be added to our library in the Clubhouse. Of particular note is a full-page article in the Evening Mail from 1964.
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