LGC NEWS
January 1998
LGC NEWS |
January 1998 |
Most of this years trophy winners, plus a couple!
The annual dinner, held once again at the Grange Hotel, started off in good spirit which continued through into the wee small hours.
After the meal our chairman welcomed our guests, including the clubs president Peter Spofforth and his wife Elsa, Vinney & Yvonne McGuire from Elegant Windows, also Steve and Lorraine Martin and Phil Mark from Optimum Financial Advisers. As you know both of these companies, along with Tudor Car Services. sponsor various glider trailers. It was great to see them enjoying themselves and mixing with club members. Both Elegant Windows and Optimum have offered to donate new trophies, possibly for two seater flights which seem to be missing from the current array of trophies.
Our chairman then continued with a hilarious alternative awards, few people escaped his attention. Peter Spofforth then gave an amusing little speech, followed by the CFI, Peter Lewis who talked about the past years achievements before announcing the trophy winners which Elsa Presented. Dave North received the Duddon Trophy for many years of service to the club. Peter Redshaw collected both the Leighton Hall trophy for most outstanding flight of the year, and the Lonsdale trophy for the longest cross country flight from Walney for his 500km flight in July. Neil Braithwaite took the Alsford Trophy for best gain of height of 15,900 feet. The Dodd Trophy for most outstanding progress during the year want to Peter Seddon. The Club ladder shield was won by Lyn Martindale with 9881 points, second was John Martindale with 8305 and third, Graham Welch with 8215. The magnificent Sir Leonard Redshaw Trophy went to Dave Bull, Martin Lewis, Lyn Martindale and Andy Tebay for their silver distance flights at Hus Bos. Finally the Wooden spoon went to John Burdett for numerous reasons, principally for setting off to retrieve a glider without the trailer! Dave North rounded off the presentations by presenting Elsa with a bouquet of flowers.
After a music-free meal, the Disco got underway and everyone seemed to have a good time. Dave Grove had a go at retrieving his former DJ skills but only succeeded in clearing the floor.
In the early hours of the morning the die hards retired to the bar with Jean's ghetto blaster providing the musical accompaniment. Jackie Furness had kindly brought along some kids toys for the big kids, including an elephant quoits game. Lyn was the undisputed champion here, but only because Andy insisted on wearing the trunk in his flies rather than on his forehead.
There were a surprising number of people left even at three o'clock but as the morning rolled by people gradually slipped away to their beds, including the barman who left an inebriated Gliding Club contingent to their own devices. The final stragglers left at 5:40. Breakfast finished at 10am and nearly everyone who'd stayed overnight made it, albeit some only briefly (eh, Dave?).
Thanks are due to Andy for organising it once again. All in all it was a great success.
Lyn and Alan
Lyn showing her mastery with the kids toys
Early morning takes it's toll
Sometime in the next few weeks the club gliders are to be taken out of the air for their annual Certificate of Air-worthiness overhaul and checks.
As most people know this involves the gliders being dismantled, checked, cleaned and any necessary work carried out before being reassembled.
This obviously involves a fair amount of work, so if you can spare any time in the evenings while it's going on it would be greatly appreciated. Don't feel that you don't know enough about gliders to help as there is always something that you can do. In addition it is the ideal time to learn a little bit more about the machines in which you fly.
The more help we have the quicker the gliders will be back in the air, so please come and join in.
At recent committee meetings we discussed what to do about the club glider fleet, as earlier this year it had been pointed out that the Astir and the K6 were little used but then it was decided to see if there was any change in use over the summer - there wasn't. The current plan is to advertise the Astir and when that is sold to advertise the K6. The money raised would be put towards a newer glass glider. So if anybody wants a lovely Astir.....
You will note that the ladder rules have changed slightly, hopefully this will make it harder for a certain woman pilot and holders of diamond badges.
Our Christmas social was well up to the usual standard of excellence and thanks are due to all those involved but especially to Lyn and Alan who did the lions share. Bob Pettifer and Carol were welcome visitors from Chipping. Bob was there to examine four instructors and I really enjoyed seeing them sweat it out. I now realise they are only mortal. Congratulations to Graham Sturgeon, Alan Meadows and Roy Jones on passing their completion course and especially to Dave North on his Full Category Rating.
What looks like an electricity pylon in the hangar is the start of the trailer which Dave is building for the K8. Many hours have gone into it already.
Soon (not that soon!!-Al. ) to appear on the bus is a computer to log flights for which we must thank Peter Redshaw. Alan is busy writing the program for it.
It was thought that the Club should have a plan to give us some direction for the next few years. We had a meeting on Sunday 11th January to get ideas and to hear ideas and opinions from all the membership.
There are no closed subjects but the topics suggested so far include the following. Other suggestions and comments are still welcome.
Membership: Do we need to increase the numbers? What about young or disabled members?
Clubhouse: Is it big enough, do we want a bunk house?
Income: Is the subscription at the right level? Can we rely on vouchers, what about courses?
Club fleet: Should we update? Should we encourage more syndicates?
Site: Are we happy with it?
Motor Glider: Do we want one, how will we pay for running it, who will use it?
Winch: Can we improve it, can we use it more?
Tug: How will we pay for a new engine and recovering when needed?
Happy New Year and Happy Landings.
John Martindale
Last time Dave Grove mentioned the glider trailer advertisements and suggested that members could take them out around town for half an hour to give them some exposure. It is very important that they are seen out and about in order to secure the income they generate again next year. So, please, if you are short of something to do for half an hour, or could do with a bit of trailer towing experience, how about hitching one up and dragging it around for us? Thanks Very Much.
I came across this which I thought described quite well the process of learning to glide. There are four phases:
i) unconscious incompetence, ii) conscious incompetence, iii) conscious competence and iv) unconscious competence
or, more pragmatically,
i) you don't know what you're doing wrong, ii) you do know what you are doing wrong, iii) you do know how to do it and iv) you aren't conscious of doing it well.
Mid October was the cue for a significant contingent of Lakes members and an assortment of soaring machinery to migrate northwards in search of that elusive gold/diamond wave flight.
John Martindale had whetted our appetites the previous weekend at Portmoak, with a respectable height gain, so all were fired with anticipation.
The outbound trip was straightforward enough but not without incident – why was the Astir trailer parked on the hard shoulder of the M6 with a pair of legs stuck out from underneath? Had RIP run over an RAC man? In fact it was the wily aviator himself trying to fix a wayward mudguard.
What about the mysterious disappearing tailboard on the K8 trailer? – Had a marauding band of Scottish street urchins swiped the thing when Birdies back was turned? – In reality the trailer had attempted to change shape en route, and the board had simply fallen out! (Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction).
Despite that, all parties arrived unscathed, and were to be found encamped at the southern end of the enormous Portmoak landing area.
The weather was initially grim, with cloadbase languishing at about 200 feet, and we all joined hands in a collective attempt to conjure up a north-westerly hoolie, unfortunately without success (all that is except Lyn who was praying for the opposite to guarantee a club ladder win). The skies did indeed clear, and a dose of fine autumnal sunshine ensued for most of the rest of the week – but the wave generating stuff? – not a chance. The largest, most entrenched high in living memory had centred, as if by magic, slap bang over south-east Scotland.
The local soaring slopes of Ben Artie provided brief entertainment when the air mass occasionally lurched into action, but neither 'Ben' nor 'Bishop' realised a fraction of their full soaring potential, and for the most part just loomed benignly over the clubhouse. Although the windsock usually appeared to be super glued to its mast, the flying was by no means dead, with the sunny weather yielding a few good thermic sustains – pretty remarkable for October.
Several of our party opted to fly one of the brace of club Juniors, and all who did thoroughly enjoyed the experience; I had my ear bent after landing to close to the fence; Linda Dawson re-soloed & got to fly one; Andy broke one – just the trimmer you understand – "it came off in my 'and guv, honest".
Even though the flying was not what you could call inspirational it was good to get airborne again following our prolonged period of abstinence sans-tug. It was almost nostalgic taking an aerotow again, even if it did involve trailing around the sky after their, apparently under-utilised, Pawnee, and not the familiar profile of good old Oscar Lima.
After the more modest capacity of our own winch, most of us savoured the adrenaline rush provided by the power of the Supercat, and Hamish the winchie amazed us all with his hard work and enthusiasm, throwing all manner of aircraft into the air (at somewhat random launch speeds!?) and then leaping into his truck to pay out the cables again at an incredible rate.
I don't know what they were using for ball bearings in the south drum though – it felt as if you were being dragged up by a supercharged bag of spanners.
When not flying, most spent their time mending trailers, fiddling with gliders & feeding their faces with assorted victuals, provided in immense quantities by our hosts Irene and Steve. The 'diamond goal' of the holiday was to pre-declare one of Steve's full monty breakfasts and then complete the task! A few manfully succeeded, but not many managed to repeat the challenge. Even the ever-open maw of John Burdett was slowed at the sight of the biggest banana split you could imagine!
When flying & eating was off, there were assorted trips to Kinross or Perth, and on one occasion a few die-hard masochists paid a visit to the dry ski slope in Edinburgh – just like powder snow!
Jean of course made her daily pilgrimage to abuse her body at a leisure centre in Dunfermline, and even more remarkably, navigated back! Talking of backs, I don't know what Jean did to Lyn's back during one of these trips but Lyn ended up being manipulated by an osteopath in Perth (at least that's her story & she's sticking to it).
Needless to say the Portmoak bar did a roaring trade & they were a Couple of barrels of falling down juice lighter at the end of the week. 'Gizmo' & 'Snuff' came in very handy for mopping up any spillages, so we did not incur the wrath of the dreaded Irene.
The flying natives also seemed friendly, helpful and obliging, and were generally very positive to us 'sassenachs'.
It was perhaps a pity that we were not afforded the privilege of reciprocal membership (unlike Hus Bos), because the additional £7 daily membership charge was enough to dissuade some from taking the additional launch – perhaps we can negotiate a more equitable arrangement next year.
Well in the end it was not necessary to use oxygen in the aircraft, but it definitely came in handy when the bar and flying bills hit the counter – it is truly terrible to see grown men cry.
When it finally came time for us to return home, crossing the Forth road bridge for the last time with spare tyres several pounds heavier & wallets several pounds lighter, we could pause to reflect on what might have been. Yes, next year perhaps I'll risk a 2nd breakfast after all.
Roger Copley
A cautionary tale from a very experienced (three diamonds) pilot who went to Spain for a two week gliding holiday:-
He had a long cross country one day in the hired German glider, and was on his way back to the home field, and about to enter the circuit for landing. It became urgent that he relieve himself, so he lowered the "p" tube and "fastened" himself to it... during this time he was rather busy flying the circuit and landing and thought he would rather fly the aircraft than worry about retracting the tube and "disconnecting" himself from the cockpit end.
The circuit was uneventful, but as he landed the tube hanging below the fuselage was swept back to the main wheel which rolled it onto the ground, and pulled the lower end of the tube very abruptly downwards.... pulling hard on the appendages which were attached to the top end of the system!!! Apparently he did not say much that evening !
It was Saturday 16th August and as it was a nice day Delta Zulu suggested to Oscar Lima that they would hold a beach party (no stop, I'm beginning to sound like Andy!).
John Martindale was flying a visitor to 5000 feet on an air experience flight and didn't quite make it back to the airfield (unbelievable but true) and landed on the beach near Askam. So I, as your ever obliging tug master, decided to land on the beach and aerotow him off. All went well until the wheels touched a bit of soft sand when the sudden deceleration caused the plane to nose over and bend the prop (as seen in the photo). As the plane nosed over the port wing also hit the ground causing the airframe in the centre top of the fuselage to bend slightly.
John Dodds of Goldstar was called and he agreed to come out to the beach the next day to fit a spare prop to allow us to get the plane back to the airfield. The IS28 was put into its box and returned by road. Andy and myself then pitched a tent on the beach and stayed overnight to guard it. We were woken by a couple of people walking past saying "look at that they must have flown in and had a party" (there were one or two empty beer bottles lying around).
On Sunday morning the spare prop was fitted and the plane was flown back to Walney. Two weeks later on the 7th September it was taken down to Goldstar for it's annual service and at this point some more damage, internal to the port wing, was found that caused us to make an insurance claim as the damage was estimated at over £10,000. This is where the problems really started.
The insurance assessor decided in his wisdom that the damage to the wing and to the airframe could not have occurred in the incident on the beach. In several conversations and faxes from other witnesses and myself he could not be budged. In the mean time the plane was sat there at Blackpool with no work being done in case we needed to get an independent survey carried out. At the end of September we agreed to a meeting at Goldstar with myself, the assessor and John Dodds to try and sort the whole thing out once and for all.
John Dodds did a wonderful job explaining exactly how the damage occurred in a part of the plane that was away from any contact with the ground. As the prop was repaired and not replaced, and since there had been no load on the engine when the prop hit the sand an engine strip would not be required, so the cost of repair was halved to just over £5,000. The assessor, although not convinced, was happy that the cost to the insurers had now been reduced so OK'ed the repair.
The repair then took several weeks to sort so we did not get the plane back until Friday 21st November, a duration from taking it to Blackpool to getting it back of just short of eleven weeks. We did however get a few other small jobs done at the same time including a bit of painting so the plane came back looking quite good and running nicely.
However if you should sometime in the future suggest another beach party then Oscar Lima will politely but firmly decline your offer to join you.
John Burdett Tug Master
Footnote: John Martindale drove Peter to Blackpool to collect G-OL but was delayed getting away. John and Lyn had to be at a funeral so they had to race back to Barrow. Unfortunately the boys in blue spotted John and clocked him at 97mph on the M6. Perhaps he was just trying to race the tug back. Thanks to Dave Bull for this cartoon.
These photos were posted at the dinner with an invitation to add some captions. These are the best that appeared. Perhaps you have to be inebriated to understand some of them!
500k? Yes peter, but how many types have you flown?
It would have been 750k if you'd not forgotten to remove the tail dolly!
Are you packed?
Very good Pete, but can you do it in an Oly 2B?
But darling it's only a single seater, you will have to sit on my knee!
See I can't keep anything straight after a night on the beer.
Don't worry it's only a little bend - it'll be fixed in no time at all...
Don't worry luv, it'll be straight later tonight
She said "shall we put a bend in it?" I said "I'll try"
If you think that's bad you should have seen the blokes head!!
A fair number of books have been borrowed from the bookcases in the clubhouse. Could you please ensure that they are returned fairly promptly and not left festering at home, only to be forgotten and ultimately lost. If you currently have any out could you please bring them back as soon as possible. Thanks.
"How about some recollections of the club in days gone by, or notable stories from some of the more senior members of the club?" - L.G.C. News September 1997.
I think I qualify for the title of more senior member, in fact, when I nearly bump into the plodding, white bearded, bald headed and rather fat old man, in one of those stores that have mirrored pillars in them, I think I qualify as 'much more senior member.
Brain doesn't think so though, it gets up each day to look at the same face, doesn't see quite the same amount of foot each year, but has an automatic compensating feature built in called 'stoop'. Occasionally legs send up a message that they can't quite do something as well as last year, and my licence says that I have to carry a spare pair of spectacles whilst flying, and last year, when with an old friend doing a climb that I first climbed in 1947 a couple of much younger climbers, just snippets actually, popped their heads over the top of the cliff and shouted 'Look out, here's the last of the summer wine'. So all in all, though I haven't really aged on the inside, I feel that I must qualify as something historical, being able to remember P Redshaw in a pushchair, and able therefore to write about the club in days gone by.
When I look at the days gone by, I first got the bug when I called the teachers attention to the Hindenberg as it flew silently over the Yorkshire village school, and we were all allowed out into the playground to watch it, or maybe a little earlier, when my parents took me to Yeadon Aerodrome to watch Allan Cobhams Flying Circus, and dragged me reluctantly away as one of his birdmen failed to 'bird' and he hit the tarmac not too far away, this must have had some bearing on my actions when I broke an arm whilst flying from the garage roof shortly afterwards. Sutton bank, a test for cars before the war, was also a highlight as we watched the gliders as we lay on our backs amongst the heather and ling there and my father bought bottled shandy to have with our picnic from an old caravan at the top of the hill that sold crisps and 'pop'. My interest was furthered along gliding lines when we moved up to Millom, possibly in 1936 or 37. One Sunday, during afternoon walks along the sand hills for bible reading, and play as my aged aunt fell asleep whilst reading to us, we watched gliders flying and circling from Ireleth hill when some championships were taking place over the bay, and my father came up with some very astute observations about gliding, which with time proved to be correct.
Those days seem to be very long gone by, and the next memorable step seemed the only way for would-be spitfire pilots to go; I joined the junior observer core and got half frozen to death on top of the slag bank many nights, but at least if we were lucky we got a good view of Barrow on a night it was being bombed, and could half choke on one of the woodbines that one of the men would let us have a 'puff' of, otherwise, if we didn't make a run for it down the embankment when the sirens sounded, my mother would make us stop in the house under the table and we would miss everything. Then came one of the greatest days in my life up to that time; A wonderful, stout little man in a squadron leaders uniform asked me to join the A.T.C. and as the war was finished. and that seemed the nearest thing to flying at that time, I joined up 471 squadron and began a dizzying round of actually flying. An Airspeed oxford somewhere in Yorkshire, which, with my brain in top gear, easily became a Lancaster or a Stirling or a Halifax, then in an AVRO ANSON somewhere in the west country, where the roar of its great engines out over the sea soon had me out on the Atlantic patrol bombing 'U-boats', although looking back, maybe at least half of the roar was wind blowing through the aircraft, and vibration as it tried to shake itself to bits where it wouldn't hurt anyone if it expired. Then on to Conningsby in Lincolnshire, where I was boxing for our squadron, but I think I managed to sit in every aircraft on the field and waggle every control column or wheel, which was turned much more than required, because I couldn't get my feet on the pedals, unless my crotch was jammed up against the column base, I must have thought that all bomber pilots were giants.
By this time I had reached the dizzy heights of corporal, in charge of an intrepid bunch of miscreants who were all going to be spitfire pilots, but in the meantime would be anything from escapees from Stalag-LUFT 4, to heavily armed Special Operation Executives taking some advanced air base prior to the army coming in, or have war games in and around the old airfield buildings where we could let our imagination run riot, unless the officer came along to spoil it. I lost my stripes one night when we blew up a building, (we were sabotaging an enemy supply base actually) with a bomb made out of a 40 gallon drum filled with oxygen and acetylene gas from a welding torch, and lit with a 10 second fuse. Honestly I didn't think it would go out through the asbestos roof as violently as it did, but I do remember promising myself that if there was a next time I wouldn't be just outside the hut being demolished, and I would have a longer fuse. I did get my stripes back again though, as I was the only one with a driving licence, and though it was only for motor cycles at that time, it enabled me to say I had a licence, and that enabled the whole troop, diminishing by this time, to embark on the greatest adventure yet! GLIDING at WALNEY. With me as the non commissioned driver of the Bedford QL that we had at that time. The heady days of gliding were here.-- In the 188 gliding school; at last, more than our thoughts were going to be up in the white clouds scudding across the blue skies over the runways and sandy beaches of Walney, hardly quiet yet from the thundering of aircraft taking off, and we could still smell the oil and petrol in the hangers, those great cathedrals we had so long dreamed about, and now we were actually to go into one and wheel out a flying machine of our very own.
Gill Scurrah
We are hoping to visit Hus Bos again in the week of the Spring Bank Holiday (Whit week) and also Portmoak in October. For those with wider horizons there is the annual French trip in the summer.
With luck we will have a place or two in the two seater competition at Pocklington which is a very enjoyable week.
Could anyone thinking of going to Hus Bos please let Alan or Lyn know as Hus Bos will need to know how many gliders to expect. You will need to book caravans or bunkhouse accommodation yourselves. Give them a ring on 01858 880521
More details on the rest nearer the time.
The Christmas party was well attended. We reached a peak of 53 including Jessica and Bethan, Peter's grandchildren. Dave Grove and Gordon Furness had decorated the clubhouse. Alan and I had stocked the bar with a wide range to tempt you all, a lot of which is there for future socials. Gordon Furness supplied the salmon. Alan as usual did an excellent job behind the bar, Northy helped out both with the serving as well as the drinking, the latter of which became only too apparent later in the evening. Some people slipped into town to return later Mark Mason for one. When he returned he was so plastered Alan daren't leave him in the clubhouse on his own.
The next social gathering is to be Sunday February 1st, after flying. Lawrence Hill will give a slide show of gliders years ago along with aerial shots of the Lakes. I've seen them so I can recommend them. There will be pie and peas plus dessert, so let me know in advance please.
Following that Keith Butterfield is 50 in March and has invited everyone, including partners, to a pie and pea supper to be held at the General Burgoyne in Gt. Urswick on Saturday 14th March. Again, please let me know in plenty of time if you are going to let Keith and the pub know numbers.
There will be a social on Saturday April 18th, the week after Easter. I'd welcome any suggestions regarding food. I can stick to a buffet or I'm quite versatile, so I could have more of a continental theme, Italian, Spanish, or even an eastern, hot and spicy or a combination, just not Chinese as there's too much preparation. Even a cheese and wine evening. I'm open to suggestions (regarding food).
The social's bank balance is looking healthy so we have purchased an EW barograph for the club as well as £50 towards parts on the K8 trailer. It's been rewarding to be able to buy these things as well as enhancing the gliding by providing food and drink especially on the bus, after all men are happier when their bellies are full!
Once again I'd like to mention Alan ... [but I'm not going to let you coz this bit's far too embarrassing...Al.] ... so Thanks Al.
Cheers, Lyn Soc. Sec.
As in glider flying, helicopter operations involve the pilot in the need to be aware of the many variable factors that would affect his flight. The RAF taught mountain flying techniques in Snowdonia and it was the most exciting and interesting phase of the helicopter course. What follows is an excerpt from the training notes.
Mountain flying is the greatest area of challenge for the pilot who seeks to perfect his judgement and technique to the point of being able to operate the helicopter through its full range of flexibility. The turbulence, erratic winds, shifting cloud cover, wave forms and variations of temperature and humidity cannot be accurately predicted. The wise pilot serves his apprenticeship in this advanced role cautiously, allowing a healthy margin for unforeseen wind and altitude effects.
What are the kind of wind effects round ridges, hilltops and valleys?
First, the isolated peak will normally drag a chunk of random turbulence behind it in the airstream with some up flow on the windward side and down flow on the lee side. The best approach is at an angle into wind. Fly into the wake and you not only get turbulence but also lose airspeed quite suddenly in the wind null.
Mountain ranges with the wind more or less perpendicular or, on a smaller scale, individual ridge features, produce stronger up and down currents than isolated peaks and have similar turbulence on the lee side. The best approach to a ridge feature is steep and oblique, penetrating the wave about its crest and avoiding an approach through the strong down flow and turbulence.
The standing waves which can appear over and downwind of mountain ranges in moderate wind and stable conditions are a serious route hazard. The dangers lurk in the persistent down flows which may be encountered and in the strong vertical currents with possible extreme turbulence in the rotor circulations underneath the wave crests.
Local deformations of the environmental wind are common in mountainous areas. For example a stream of strong wind can result from an airflow through a pass. When the main flow is slantwise across a valley the wind is likely to be channelled along the valley.
Valley slope circulation further complicates the local wind flow. During the day, the air over the slopes is warmer than the air at the same height over the valley. The rising of this warmer air creates a well defined wind up the slope. The reverse is true at night, and the colder air over the slope flows downward into the valley.
The air within the valley becomes warmer during the day and, rising, is replaced by air form the plain. During the night a reversal occurs and the air flows down the valley out to the plain. Slope and valley circulations decrease with height and disappear completely at about the tops of the ridges forming the valley.
These are theoretical behaviours, of course, which vary in practice. For instance a localised feature is the heating of one side of the valley, as by the morning sun, while the other is in shadow, resulting in the air over-turning (warmed air rising on the sunny side and cooler air sinking on the shaded slope). However, knowledge of the theory may give a useful basis for judgement of an individual situation.
Here then are the guide lines to mountain and rough country flying.
1. Make a continuous check of wind direction and estimated velocity.
2. Evaluate temperature with the thought that it may increase as you get close to the ground.
3. Plan the approach so that an abort can be made downhill and/or into the wind without climbing.
4. If the wind is relatively calm advantage can be taken of the increased wind effect over a hill or knoll as a landing site.
5. If operational conditions allow, make as many fly-bys as necessary to evaluate the site, with at least one high pass and one low pass, before landing.
6. Note the obstacles in the landing area. Consider possible null areas (loss of wind downwind) and routes of departure.
7. Where possible, ridge approaches should be along the ridge rather than perpendicular.
(Form RIP)
Two seaters were extremely rare in 1950 and only the larger clubs could afford to buy one. In the smaller clubs you went solo on your first flight! By the end of my first gliding season with the Handley Page GC, my log book shows that I had made fifty flights in a Dagling primary glider, and my longest flight was 106 seconds.
The standard drill was to drag the Dagling across the airfield by winch just fast enough to keep the wings level, and instructed to use only the ailerons. After a few ground slides learning to keep the wings level you would be pulled along a bit faster and told to pull the stick back, and fly a couple of feet or so above the ground. This was when the trouble started.
Not having left the ground or used the elevator before, it was quite usual to overestimate one's height and under estimate the elevator effectiveness. With no one sitting next to you to take control, the inevitable result was that you thought that you were much too high and shoved the stick forward until you hit the ground, and bounced back into the air again to an apparently even greater altitude.
At this stage, depending on the quality of the briefing and the skill of the winch driver, you would either be brought to a gentle halt, or perform a series of giant kangaroo leaps of increasing amplitude across the airfield, hitting the ground with a sickening thud each time.
If you were flying a Dagling you mastered the art of low flying very quickly, or ended up with a bad back, or gave up. It quickly sorted out the men from the boys! There was an improved version of the Dagling known as an Eon primary or S.G.38, which had a sprung skid, and made life a whole lot more comfortable.
Once you got the hang of it, you were told to climb to twenty feet or so, release the cable, and do a straight glide and landing ahead, still using only the ailerons and elevator. One progressed by means of low hops to high hops, and greater altitudes, until eventually you ran out of airfield, by which time you would have collected an "A" badge(1 seagull) for a flight of thirty seconds duration.
The next step would involve using the rudder to perform a ninety degree turn, to use up extra height by flying across the airfield, followed by another turn into wind and landing straight ahead, until again you ran out of airfield.
From then on you would be flying complete circuits, and my log book shows flights averaging about 80 to 90 seconds from around 600 to 700 ft - not much better than a parachute descent! There was no cockpit, just a seat and basic controls, no instruments, no airbrakes, no parachute, and a launch cost the equivalent of 7.5p. After two such flights, one in either direction, you would be the proud possessor of a "B"badge(2 seagulls) and no longer regarded as a novice.
Instruction was generally brief, basic and elementary. I have no recollection during this period of being instructed in the finer points of landing, or in the art of co-ordinated turns, with the inevitable consequence that you could acquire bad, even dangerous flying habits, without you or anyone else, knowing it. Once you were on circuits you were left very much to your own devices, which meant that when you advanced to the much higher performance Cadet or Tutor(gliding angle 1 in 16), and longer time in the circuit, you had to figure out what to do for yourself.
Thermals were mentioned in general conversation but rarely encountered, because nobody knew much about them, or how to recognise one, or what to do when you found it. The chance of finding a thermal off the winch of sufficient strength to soar a Cadet, was extremely remote.
The following year I moved to Cranfield GC and found myself in a Tutor with an altimeter, airspeed indicator, airbrakes, and a Cosim variometer. The latter consisted of two glass tubes in which either a red or green ball popped up, after a long delay, depending on whether you were going up or coming down.
On flight no 80 the red ball failed to appear as usual, even after persistent thumping. As I blundered around the airfield wondering what was wrong, and what to do, and where I was, I noticed that the altimeter was moving the wrong way as well, which was even more unusual. Ten minutes later the red ball reappeared and everything was back to normal again, and I had my "C" badge(3 seagulls) in the bag.
By the end of my second season I had accumulated 103 flights and 9 hours solo in the Tutor, including several catapult launches and abortive 5 hour attempts at the Long Mynd, and I had received only two flights and 45 minutes of dual instruction.
If the wind was OK, it was possible to complete three five hour flights between sunrise and sunset. The first pilot to fly would have the task of getting up at the crack of dawn to view the windsock, and arouse the launching crew, who would then retire back to bed again. The pilot, knowing that there was no hope of being recovered much before 10am, should he land prematurely, was, consequently, very highly motivated to remain airborne at all cost.
From the Tutor you progressed to the Grunau Baby, which had been liberated from Germany at the end of the war. The original German machine, unlike the British copy known as the Prefect, had the tow hook right under the centre of gravity. In anything other than a very gentle wire launch, it had the disconcerting habit of rearing up on it's tail, doing a close approximation of a vertical take off, long before the Harrier had been invented, which is exactly what happened on flight no 107.
This put an extra load on the winch which promptly died, and there I was looking up at my feet, going no where, about 200 feet up. In those days the usual signal for the winch driver to speed up, was to rock the wings slowly from side to side. This was not a good move and is no longer recommended practice, because the starboard wing promptly stalled.
The aircraft rotated 90 degrees to the right, with the wings vertical, and still attached to the wire, we flew sideways across the airfield until the wire back released with a great twang. The Grunau completed one turn of a very tight vertically banked spiral dive before the wings came level, entirely of their own accord, and I landed normally, cross wind.
To this day I do not know how or why I got away with it, because dual instruction was extremely rare, and spin recovery was never demonstrated or discussed. As I said before, you could develop some dangerous habits, and not know about it.
Speaking of the Harrier reminds me of an incident at the Long Mynd about this time, when Bill Bedford the famous test pilot, pranged the Midland GC Venture two seater, one of the first gliders to have side by side seats. Bill was doing a post C. of A. test flight and forgot to do his pre flight control checks. Immediately after the catapult launch the rudder pedal jammed behind a bulkhead, and the glider performed a steady sideslip into the valley below. You may think that CBSIFTCBE is a bit of a bore, but there is a reason for everything.
D.J.C.
Happy new year! Inspired by all of the review's of '97 that appeared at every turn after Christmas, I thought I'd write one about the year in the Lakes G.C.
It started on Jan 1st (obviously...) with Andy and Graham staying aloft in wave in the K21 and finished bizarrely with several thermal flights on December 31st. In between there was a phenomenal amount of flying to be had as well. The club's total for the year was 577 hours off 1262 launches which is the highest number of hours for a few years and surprisingly the lowest number of launches, which also means that the average flight time is longer. Don't forget that was without a tug for a number of weeks as well...
Once the Christmas and new year wave had disappeared, January was fairly quiet with the C of As not taking very long for most of the club gliders. In February the first of two new private gliders turned up, Rod and Roys' Nimbus 2 sporting yet another personalised registration N-2. A rare Coombe day provided the opportunity for Martin Lewis to get his Silver Duration. March started off fairly quietly until the Easter weekend towards the end of the month when the Coombe was again very active with another trio of five hours for Lyn, RIP and Jim "Sawn-off" Storer. It was around this time too that the tug was causing consternation for a few people. Dave Bull had the engine stop on him for the first time and RIP managed to get it into a field.
The IS28 returned to the air in April after 21 months upside down in the hangar. There then followed a mad rush of spin-checks for just about everybody. May was quite thermic with plenty of soaring flights to be had in practice for the first club trip back to Hus Bos for a good number of years. Of course the highlight was four (count 'em!!) silver distances for Dave Bull, Martin, Lyn and Andy. June was quiet both at home and in France where unfortunately the flying wasn't much better than back home, but despite that all of the trophies returned to the Lakes in the Dutch-English-French competition.
The crowning achievement of the year happened in July with Peter Redshaw's 500km triangle from the club. There were several other cross-countries that day with Lyn venturing to Kendal and back, thinking she'd been to Sedburgh. Sadly Peter Lewis managed to break his glider after running into a ditch after his wheel brake failed to operate. After that the year was all down hill flying wise with the only really notable flight being John and Lyn in the K21 who nearly made it to Chipping but had an exciting flight back to Walney again. Shortly after that the tug took a nose dive (enough said) and we all became reacquainted with the winch. Portmoak in October was fun, but again the weather didn't provide the brilliant flying it could have done. John Burdett (and silent partner) bought the LS3 to the club bringing the private fleet back to six gliders plus the Falke.
It's been a good year for socials with the usual mix of buffets and barbecues as well as a few extras like the video nights and Roys' talk, if only Roy had been there! Unexpected socials were also in vogue with Peter's retirement party followed by Dave North's full cat celebration which was post-poned and eventually ended up in '98 where a few people missed it completely. Talking of instructors, it's been a good year for them too with Dave completing his full cat, Roy Jones, Alan Meadows and Graham Sturgeon successfully doing their completion courses and even me getting an Assistant cat rating!
So that was '97 I wonder what '98 will bring?
As always I need to thank all of the contributors. But first a special mention for Dave Grove who I mistakenly forgot to mention last time. Thanks anyway Dave. I was particularly glad that someone answered my plea for recollections from the past. Gill Scurrah is a pilot we don't see very often these days but as you've read, has got a yarn or two to tell. There will be more from Gill next time, and yes Gill, we're all waiting for the story of THAT flight! Thanks also to John Burdett, Dennis Carey, Roger Copley, John and Lyn Martindale and RIP. Scanning services were provided by Peter Lewis.
Finally a quick plea. Along with Peter Redshaw, I'm trying to put together a history of all of the club trophies, including who's won what, when and for what. So if you've won any of the club trophies in the past, I'd appreciate it if you can remember or dig out any details about what flight or other event won what. Also does anybody know where the first club ladder trophy went to? The current one only goes back to 1985 but it seems to have started before that.
As always any contributions will be very gratefully received.
Until next time.
Alan D.