Jack
Paley 1924 -1999
Jack
was one of the stalwarts of the club from its early days on Tebay Fell to the
late eighties. He died on
My
memories of Jack go back to when the club first operated from Walney in 1962,
and he was one of my first instructors. As an apprentice in VSEL I used to work
in his garage in
A
man who loved to have things organised on the airfield and one of the initial
enthusiasts for the Duty Pilot. Something that gliding today has lost in that
modern pilots are ‘busy’ people and are living in a world of instant
satisfaction. Jack would spend many a weekend at the airfield without a flight
but drawing his satisfaction from keeping everything working and flying.
One
of his favourite tales was of winch launching a sheep on Tebay Fell. As the
glider came over the brow Jack noticed a blob on the cable and as it got closer
it became a sheep. Due to the unlandable area for the glider he kept winching
until the glider was at a safe height for a circuit. The sheep reached about
600ft, he then slowed the launch down and the sheep slid down the cable to terra
firma. At this point he stopped the launch, glider and sheep both having a good
flight.
He
won the Leighton Hall trophy in 1959 and 1962. It was and still is presented to
the club member making the most outstanding flight of the year.
1959 was the first year the trophy was won and Jack was the first person
to win it. 1962 saw him win it for a cross country in the clubs Oly 2B. 1966 and
he won the Lonsdale trophy for the longest cross country flight from Walney.
Instructing
became his key flying activity in the club and his enthusiasm was evident.
Always there, first to open and last to close the hangar doors.
As time progressed he also became active in the ATC, initially at Kendal
and then at Millom, Often bringing a busload of young Cadets down to Walney.
The
BGA rules for assistant rated instructors changed and as Jack required a silver
C to continue he concentrated on his instructing with the ATC and continued his
flying interest through them as a Civilian Instructor right up until the end of
last year. Even then, he kept in touch with the CO as he had every intention of
continuing his CI duties after recovering from his illness - which
unfortunately, he never did.
Peter
Redshaw
Anything Else: a club instructor who put tremendous energy into the club and was the clubs mechanic for many years, fixing and building winches, retrieve vehicles and anything else the club seemed to need.
Club Trophies: The Lonsdale Trophy, 1966, The Leighton-Hall Trophy, 1959, 1962
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