LGC NEWS
October 1999
LGC NEWS |
October 1999 |
Opinion - Alan Dennis
Cec, tired of
waiting for something to happen....
I'm really sorry to have to be saying this, but just in case nobody has noticed, the tug is now back and the club is flying again! Unfortunately, apathy seems to have become the order of the day over the last few months. I'm sure people are going to knock me for abusing my position and pointing this out, but I hope it's going to wake everyone up and get you all back over to the club and flying again. Besides, it's all completely true and we all know how the truth hurts! Everywhere I look I can see it and feel it and people have told me about it and yes - I'm as guilty as the next person. Several times over the last few weeks I've been over on not brilliant, but flyable days and there's been no-one there (except the tumbleweed rolling past the hangar doors) so I've turned right round and gone straight home. Apparently, at the last committee meeting (I missed it - my first for a good few years - at least I had an excuse), plans for a social didn't even raise a glimmer of interest and that was one of the more warmly received topics up for discussion... You would not believe the struggle I've had to try and get material for this newsletter - blood and stones are a doddle by comparison. I see the bowser sat there in a state of semi-destruction awaiting some hands to turn it into a valuable and desperately needed avgas storage tank. Even when we do manage to fly, I hear non-stop moaning from some people and wonder just why we bother at all.
But then, out of the gloom, a half-decent day arrives, there are a couple of really good flights and everything comes sharply back into perspective. I remember exactly why we bother and realise it really was worthwhile after all. Gliding is fun, it is rewarding, it is challenging and all of this stimulation for just a little bit of effort. So now that the summer is (unfortunately) behind us and the pressures to do all those other things that somehow manage to eat up the best summer days are gone, there's no excuse for not getting off your backside and trekking over to the club. You never know, that not so promising day could turn into the best wave day ever and even if it doesn't, an extra pair of hands are welcome on the bowser or for a bit of pushing and shoving to help to get through those voucher flights and even if we're not flying there's no harm in swigging a coffee in the clubhouse, soaking up the bonhomie, wondering if the rain is ever going to stop whilst mulling over those plans for future epic flights and reliving those of days gone by (except 500's and Oly-2Bs though PR!). So come on. Wake up - The club's still here..... Use it! Get back into the air ASAP and remind yourself just what you've been missing.
Alan Dennis (Editor / Secretary)
Alan D.
You may know that the club has recently started running one day introductory courses which aim to provide a more comprehensive introduction to gliding than can be achieved on a single Air Experience flight. Four people have been on these courses so far, and with a couple of suggestions for improvements, have been well received, as the letter below indicates.
The course includes four flights per person over the course of a full day. One glider and an instructor are made available to a maximum of two people on the course. As well as the actual flying the instructor will give full briefings too. A log book and introductory text book are also supplied. The cost is £90 and includes 28 days club membership from the day of the course to come back and fly at club rates.
Dear Alan,
This is just a 'thank you', to yourself and the other members of the Lakes Gliding Club who made my wife and myself so welcome on Sunday last. In particular I should like to thank Peter Lewis, who arranged the One Day Introductory Course via your newspaper advertisement and very kindly made the Clubhouse facilities available overnight to two complete strangers and also Dave North who provided the instruction in your ASK21 glider, he was absolutely excellent and everything that an Instructor should be. It was a very interesting and stimulating day at Walney Airfield. Though the visibility could have been better through the heat of the day, the people we met could not have been. It was also very pleasant to have met and spoken with your hard working 'Tug' crew, Peter Craven, known only previously by reputation, 'Rip', ex R.A.F. and Bristow pilot and last, but by no means least, Peter Lewis.
You have some excellent members and a very good facility there, which no doubt has been only brought about by the efforts of many over a number of years. I hope that I may visit you all again, but it may not be immediately, as my wife and I have some travelling planned in the near future. In the interim, I wish you all the very best of success, good weather, good flying and of course, happy landings,
Yours Sincerely.
Derek H. Wood. (Mr.)
'E' mail - derek@g4zjl.freeserve.co.uk
AX25 Packet - G4ZJL@GB7FUR.#14.GBR.EU
TCP/IP Internet 'Gateway' - g4zjl@n9dbx.ampr.org
'ICQ' Number - 41797801
John Martindale
Nationally and also internationally the gliding movement is changing, fewer people are flying but they are spending more time in the air. The days of a launch and a circuit are dying out, pilots are expecting to stay in the air longer. Some want to fly away from the site but the vast majority of us are happy to soar and avoid the trauma of possible land-outs.
Unfortunately these conditions occur fairly infrequently at Walney during the summer months.
Keith Butterfield has bought a winch for the club to use which once renovated will be fairly easily transported behind a car. The idea is to find a satellite site away from the sea which we can use during the two or three months of summer. Walney would of course be the main site the rest of the year. We now need to find a field!
I hasten to add that at present this is an initiative that the committee has not yet reached a conclusion on but if any members wish to support it either financially or practically speak to Keith or me.
We all want to know how it can take so long to repair the engine for the tug. The same work on a car would not take more than two weeks. Two firms of repairers have been involved and have given the tug master the run around and a lot of excuses. The reality is that our repair is a one -off. Their bread and butter comes from contracts they have with large commercial operators so our priority is low, unfortunately this is just a fact of life.
Keith Whitworth: Whilst several of the club members and gliders were away at Pocklington, Keith Whitworth did his five hours in thermals at Walney in his newly acquired K6. This was the first time anyone has done their Silver duration (endurance?) in thermals at Walney, at least as far as anyone can remember. Perhaps the club should have kept such a hot ship!
Linda Dawson: for completing the hour flight for her Cross-Country endorsement.
Andrew Watson: for going solo, first at Shenington following an intensive course and then back with the club at Walney.
Lyn M
There's not much to say due to the lack of flying. Alan and Linda did an impromptu barbecue as soon as the tug was back. There was to have been a social in September, but no one really seemed to be interested.
The annual dinner is on the 6th November at the Coote in Urswick, invitations are on the back page along with the menu choices. (Please indicate which starters and main courses you would like.) The cost will be £19.50 which includes the disco after the meal. Could I please have the money as soon as possible as I don't want to collect the money on the night. Note that it is 7:00 for 7:30 a bit earlier this year as the disco stops at midnight, however the bar will remain open as long as we like (and Jean will provide the music…)
It was a committee decision to change venues this year as the meal was poor and the service wasn't too good last year. Apart from that it was felt it was too expensive which could put people off going especially if you have to stay overnight at somewhere like the Grange. Since then I have heard people actually like staying in a hotel with a pool and making it more of a break especially those with children who like the break away without them. It's hard to please everyone, but perhaps we can try somewhere similar to the Grange next year.
Anyone is welcome to stay with us in Gleaston. There are plenty of settees and floor space available, but all of the beds are spoken for. Just a quick reminder for those with trophies, please remember to either hand them back before or bring them along on the night.
Don't forget the Christmas party on Sat 11th December.
There hasn't been a lot planned for the New Years Eve party, but the club house will be open and everyone is welcome to come along. Contact Dave North for details.
It's off to South Africa for the records news this time. Back at the start of the year whilst all of those women were racing around Australia setting records left right and centre, there was a fair amount also happening at Bitterwasser in South Africa. On the 18th of December, Angelika Machinek (Germany) flew a Discus on a 500km out and return flight to set a new feminine 15m speed record of 136.59 km/h. On the 22nd she went one better and broke the speed record over a triangular course of 750 km raising it from 110.33 km/h (set only three days earlier by Hana Zejdova in Australia) to 119.79 km/h. Then on the 5th January, Angelika also flew an ASH25 around a triangular course of 1000 km to set a new feminine open class speed record of 126.09 km/h, breaking the record set by Pamela Hawkins, (UK) at 122.42 km/h a few days before on Christmas Day.
The day before that, Walter Binder (Germany) established an open class speed record over an out-and-return course of 1000 km at 152.74 km/h. On that day too, Dr. Siegfried Baumgartl (Germany) set a 15m record over a 100km triangle at 165.10 km/h in a Ventus. This one didn't stand very long though because on the 6th of July, Mihael Thaler (Slovenia) increased it to 181.4 km/h in a Glaser-Dirks DG-600 / 15.
Once again the World Class gets a few more records established - flown exclusively in the PW-5. Allen Keith Willis (Australia) set three records with one flight - the speed over a triangular course of 500 km at 76.42 km/h, the distance over a triangular course and the three turn point distance at 513.25km on the 11th December. Then in July, Adela Dankowska (Poland) set a feminine speed over a triangular course of 300 km at 73.25 km/h. While on the 19th August, Patrick L. Tuckey (USA) increased the speed in the general category (i.e. men or women) to 91.70 km/h from 83.47 km/h set almost a year before by Claudio Blois Duarte (Brazil).
Travel Insurance Facilities plc have written to the club offering (as the name implies!!) travel insurance policies specifically for gliding trips. Normally such insurance has the usual flying exclusion along the lines of "unless on a recognised airline" - theirs don't. Cover is available for individual trips or on an annual basis and covers four regions - UK, Europe and worldwide excluding or including USA. Costs vary between 5 day UK cover at £7.75 and annual worldwide at £130. There are a couple of leaflets or get more details by telephoning 01732 378100.
Alan D.
Once again a number of members and gliders from the club attended the Two Seater Competition at Pocklington, Yorkshire. The competition officially runs from Sunday 22nd August to the following Sunday providing eight competition days - weather permitting of course!
This year was one of the biggest entries ever with 42 gliders in the competition and around 300 people flying and crewing. The club took the K21 and the IS28 as well as a number of private single seaters. A total of x members went for some or just part of the week. The emphasis of the competition is definitely on having fun and with a wide range of gliders entered, from K7s to Duo Discus, there is always a variety of tasks set. The idea is that the pilots get to choose which task to attempt once in the air. Here's a summary of the weeks flying:
Saturday: A day for check flights and some "local soaring". Gordon Furness and Keith Butterfield flew the K21 all over the place for a few hours whilst I gave Peter's Redshaw and Seddon check flights in the IS. (both passed but PR needed some anti-wheelbarrow assistance and PS forgot the undercarriage down and locked bit )
Sunday: The first comp day and after an early briefing - 9:00 - four tasks were set., Doncaster out and return (110km); Newark out and return (185km); Newark - Wetherby triangle (231km); Newark - Barnard Castle triangle (371km). Keith and Gordon took the K21 again and managed to fly the 231km task, except that they didn't quite turn Wetherby. Peter Redshaw and I were having a bit more trouble being further down the grid and missing out on the good early conditions that the early grid enjoyed. On the second relight we got away and managed to turn Newark before arriving in a field a short while after. Luckily we encountered an exceptionally friendly farmer who eased out wait for the retrieve crew by bringing us cans of beer in the field before the local pub opened at 7:00pm.
Monday: A very optimistic task of 328km was set as the long task (Bottesford - Masham triangle) with fall back tasks of 77km, 119km and 218km if the weather did not turn out to be any good. Sure enough launching commenced in the early afternoon when almost everyone reported good conditions locally but those that set off were soon in trouble. Three quarters of the field landed out; most of these within 50km or so of the site, including our Peters Redshaw and Seddon in the IS28. They managed 55km and took the prize the next day for best "wood" (i.e. not plastic) glider. Peter Lewis and Walter Postlethwaite were in the K21 and did a heroic flight of 119k in the poor conditions to complete the intermediate task and finish 9th on the day. The best result for the club all week.
The other result of the day was for Gordon Furness who managed to do 50km in his Pilatus. It would have been a Silver distance if only he'd taken a barograph with him to prove it! (John, you might as well get that wooden spoon engraved now for him.....)
Tuesday was tasked and scrubbed in the early afternoon, PR had a 42 minute solo flight in the IS, just to keep his hand in! Wednesday was rainbound and completely unflyable.
Thursday: Wednesdays rain led to lots of damp looking low cloud that never really lifted properly to give any reasonable thermals.
A few intrepid pilots did set off however on the fall back task. This was a short 71km O/R to Pickering. There were very few points scored that day. No-one really minds however, as TSC is all about having a good time and not worrying too much about the scores! One excellent example of this was when Darren Evans and Roger Alexander from chipping took off in their K21 at almost 5.30pm and landed only six kilometres away! The event was even more entertaining when it emerged that he asked for an aerotow retrieve before he launched and told the tug pilot of his intended landing field!
Friday: Three tasks were set, all to the North, using Pickering as the first TP, which could be treated as an O/R (71km) or fly on to Knaresborough to complete a 133km triangle.
Almost everyone however reported poor conditions on the first leg with wave causing the thermals to be very weak. So weak in fact that three quarters of the field landed out between 20 and 40kms on task. This included John Martindale and I in the K21. After a re-light we had a struggle to get established but we did and so set off North on track. We eventually ran into the grotty weather that had grounded us the first time and a field landing was then on the cards. John spotted a field with a couple of other gliders and a tug in it - hence the field selection was influenced slightly! After we landed another couple of gliders joined us. We had an aerotow retrieve from there which certainly makes it a unique gliding site that Lyn hasn't got in her log book!!!
Saturday was probably the day of the competition. Three tasks were set. the Short one was an O/R to Retford 138km. The medium task was O/R Bottesford 219km, and a long triangle of 247km - Bottesford - Alfreton.
Although the cloud base never really exceeded 4000 feet many of the field reported thermals of 7-8 kts on the averager so as expected, some fast times were achieved on all the tasks.
Lyn and I were in the K21 with Lyn showing me how to do it. We struggled in a couple of places but managed to turn Bottesford. We virtually made it back, landing in a field not far from Goole. Peter Redshaw and Linda Dawson were less fortunate, only managing to get 53km away.
This was also the day that the Lakes "Hells Angels" chapter arrived for a day out on their recently(ish) rediscovered motorbikes. Dave North, Graham Sturgeon and Andy Tebay all took the opportunity to roar across the A65 although this wasn't an incident free journey! Once there Dave and Sturge both had respectable flights in a couple of the private single seaters before helping out with retrieves.
Sunday: Once again, as in recent years the curse of the final day arrived yet again and the day was scrubbed due to the thick layer of high cloud.
Generally a good week was had by all! Although the weather was not too kind, costing us three lost days and two poor days, the Sunday and the Saturday gave us tremendous conditions for soaring.
Dave Ruttle from Lincolnshire G.C won the comp in a Janus. This was however some compensation for Dave who had lost his car earlier in the week. There is a lesson to be learnt here so it's worth mentioning; After landing in a stubble field his crew had come to collect him and driven the car and trailer into the field. Whilst de-rigging the glider the hot catalytic converter on the car had set the stubble alight. Needless to say the car was written off in the ensuing blaze.
The Ken Blake Trophy for best wood went to Les Merritt from Buckminster. Overall the K21 came a fairly respectable 17th and the IS28 33rd.
Next year the plan is to approach the competition slightly differently and rather than entering as a club, the two seaters will be available for two teams of members to privately hire for the week. If you're interested then you might like to consider getting a team together soon. If the need arises there might have to be a draw to decide which teams get the gliders.
Lyn M
I had decided not to write about any of my flights this year because it seemed to be rubbing it in a bit as there hasn't been much gliding at Walney whilst the tug was out of action. However, having spent a lot of time flying elsewhere because we couldn't at the Lakes, I now realise that I can no longer spend time sitting at Walney looking at clouds in-land, too far away to get a tow to, hence this article about some of my memorable flights this year.
At the last committee meeting there was some discussion regarding whether or not to look for a field to use in summer. I know it would require money, effort and commitment, if the club doesn't do something we will stagnate, there are quite a lot of privately owned gliders at the club now so it's a bit easier for these people to go away soaring. However what about the people who don't have a glider or are at the beginning of their training - bronze legs are not easy from Walney nor silver 50k's - there's a limit to how many trips away people can make as well as the expense. Keith Butterfield has a winch that he is willing to let the club use if we find a site. Then, possible, we would have to change the winch at Walney for a more suitable one. I know cross-country flights are done from Walney, look at Keith and Andy to Sutton Bank this year, even Peter Redshaw's 500k, however he had quite a long glide out to Haverthwaite before he contacted lift, not for a beginner to attempt.
We can plan trips away but this doesn't bring in money for the Lakes Gliding Club. Our facilities need using and we need the income. It would be possible to achieve some good flying if we tried.
Walney has a lot to offer; it's a great club. I'm always amazed at the talent we have when it comes to building and fixing things as well as all of the volunteers to do odd jobs. We get wave, have the Combe, the site itself is excellent and we are certainly not short of gliders. It's just disappointing in July and August. On one page in my log book covering July 10th to August 28th I've done a total of 1,900 kilometers in England, not including Spain. Certainly not possible from Walney. So how can I possibly stay at Walney next summer?
Although we have spent a lot of time away it is surprising how few flights I've actually done. With Holland for instance out of a whole week sometimes you may get one day gliding, also when sharing a glider it's even worse. I've managed only 50ish flights all summer including ten winch launches done when it wasn't soarable just to keep current, six flights when I was ballast only and two on aerotow retrieves. There were fourteen flights that were decent cross country flights, eleven of which I did on my own.
Alan had asked me to write about by 300k in Spain, however as everyone thinks it's easy abroad I thought that some of the flights in England would be more interesting to describe - so here goes…
At the beginning of the year Peter Lewis said that if I wanted to do an AEI course I should concentrate on my flying and not be so competitive and only interested in winning the ladder. For some reason I lost all momentum and my enthusiasm, especially after the disappointing winter. Since I started gliding I had set myself goals - bronze the first year, silver the next and this year was to be gold. John and I had been away climbing earlier in the year and I'd really enjoyed it so gliding took second place.
9th May: We had been invited to a 50th party in Holland in May so we decided to take FJK to try some gliding as well as meeting up with the Dutch friends we had met with the others in France in previous years. We arrived at Terlet, the Dutch national gliding centre, which reminded us of the Long Mynd. At only 250 feet AMSL it is just about the highest point in Holland. It is an excellent place with four different gliding clubs all using different parts of the airfield. I was too nervous to go first and insisted that John did. As we got FJK out of the trailer the skid had come off. Fortunately a Dutch couple gave us some glue. John launched and after an hour landed feeling quite unwell. He had, as you might have guessed, a huge hangover. I had no choice but to fly. This proved to be the start of a cross-country season for me. I flew for miles over mainly forest with clearings and likely places to land. Many hours later I landed being one of the last down. John had been anxious to say the least as the sky was flat looking and nearly everyone had left. I was hooked good and proper. Sadly we didn't fly again as the weather was poor so we did the sightseeing and bike riding bit instead. We also had the obligatory visit to the red light district which if you ask me about, I'll tell you an hilarious story that I daren't write in the newsletter.
25th May: The tug had broken down the day before we went to Holland. With the bug well and truly caught again, we planned on going away to fly as much as possible. After a week back home from Holland we went down to Hus Bos. On our first day at Hus Bos, I declared a 300k. I desperately wanted to do one in England before the trip to Spain. The day was not good at all and I wasn't totally focussed so wasn't about to succeed anyway. I have discovered there are several elements required to achieve any goal in gliding. You need the weather, good cross-country conditions, careful planning, everything in the glider functioning correctly and a totally focussed frame of mind, which I hadn't this day. Several gliders landed out even the Duo discus and me, only 3 miles from Hus Bos. I'd turned back after 50k as it really wasn't a good cross country day.
1st June: The rest of the Lakes mob arrived the following weekend, however the only decent day was the Tuesday when I flew to Graffam Water and back, 108km. Graham Welch and John who had hired the Hus Bos Pegasus did it also.
9th June: The following week we returned to hus Bos I was still determined to do a 300k. The Wednesday was my day and the previous night the forecast was good so I'd got a 300k planned mainly going north. You've guessed it - the day was definately not a day to go north at all, infact it didn't even look soarable. Then at 11:45 Paul Crabb and a few others decided things were improving and declared 360k, too far for me so we quickly tried to plan a 300k which by the time we had FJK was last on the grid. Over an hour later it was my turn to launch, Mike Till asked where I was going, when I said I need a 300k for my gold, he was so disappointed I hadn't said earlier I could have launched first as people doing badge claims get priority. Too late now. My first turning point was Aston Down then Worcester Race Course and Bicester. Cloud base wasn't high and it was windy. John Ingliss in his LS8 had a re-light so was behind me in the queue, not a good sign I thought. You know I said you need all elements to work, well the C4 didn't, I hadn't realised just how much I rely on it, what a day not to work. It actually turned out it was a faulty connection nothing to do with the C4.
I set off at cloud base which wasn't really high, under 2,700 feet and struggled into a headwind of which I'm not certain not having the C4, across the A14 I had a choice of two lines of energy left or right. I chose the left which took me over ground i didn't recognise, I only had poor thermals 1½ and if lucky 2 knot climbs. I only got to 3,500 feet and it took me hours literally to get to Aston down. I was on the fringe of Brize norton where four huge aeroplanes took off and turned in front of me only to pass me on my port wing, very close to me, at one point I put the speed up to 90k to get away which also took me away from the thermals, there were huge gaps between the clouds, I had managed to get to 4,000 feet and actually arrived at Aston Down very high, John had inadvertently forgotten to put the GPS back to nautical miles it was on kilometres, which had made it seem even further, I rounded the turning point and set off for Worcester, the scenery was superb the Cotswolds also I could see the River Severn and the sea, the Welsh coast etc. I knew I had to keep as high as possible to cross Gloucester, which I did although the conditions were even worse, hardly any clouds and a sea breeze effect as well as being very late in the day. I got low past Gloucester and struggled to get away from 1,500 feet. I eventually rounded Worcester racecourse (above) and set off to Bicester, it was after 6pm and the sky ahead looked less than inviting. I flew overhead Bidford and watched a glider land (the last one of the day as I was later to find out) so knew which way to land and circuit they were using. Not much later under a cloudless sky I realised it was impossible to get much further, I would inevitably land in a field, so I turned back to Bidford. I'd been in the air for just under six hours; still determined to do a good landing and hoping to get an aerotow out I started downwind. When I turned base leg the tug was landing straight in front of me with another light aircraft about to do the same, "oh shit, why did the glider land this way?" I asked myself. I knew it was a cross wind but assumed the other glider was correct. I quickly headed back to the other end and did a rather rushed landing, a guy came out to tow me back with a tractor so I asked him why did the gllider land one way and the tug launch the same, he said that when they had a crosswind they launch and land in any direction; I'd know next time! He then asked me where I'd come from. I could only remember that I'd set off from Hus Bos, I'd no idea where else I'd been, I was absolutely exhausted. It had taken nearly six hours to do 200k. I went to see about an aerotow out which was fine but they suggested I had a half hour break and a drink and food. I'd forgotten to phone John who was getting very worried as it hadn't been soarable at Hus Bos for hours. At 7:15 I did phone, just before I had a tow. For some unknown reason I'd zeroed the altimeter so I had to ask a guy how high Bidford was - 150 feet. I thought Hus Bos was at leats 600 feet but the guy said not, only about 200. I was too tired to trust my own judgement so did as he said. The tug pilot said he would release me at Gaydon at least 25km from Hus Bos which sounded a long way to me. He said I'd be alright for a final glide from there. On tow the vis was crap; I was exhausted and anxious, indeed, at Gaydon the tuggy asked if I'd like to stay on for another couple of miles which I did as i couldn't see far at all. The glide back was terifying as the altimeter wasn't correct I fortunately thought I had 500ft more than I had so arrived back with 900ft. When I eyeballed it I knew it wasn't 1400 feet as the altimeter said. If I'd have had the C4 it has an altimeter also but that's just the way things go. It was now 8pm, I'd launched at 1:30 but what a day. John said well done and took over with the glider while I was told to chill out. That was to be my last chance before Spain. Had I launched 1½ hours earlier no doubt I'd have done it. Everyone had told me that the first 300k is just an endurance test and the way to do it is to get high and stay high and it will take five or six hours.
29th June: In Spain John and I shared the glider for two days to get the feel for the place, the next time in the Pegasus I had decided to go for a 300 gold distance not a diamond goal so that I could claim it twice on the club ladder. At the briefing the CFI said that it was a 300k day for experienced pilots only. I had already made my mind up to attempt it before this. John questioned whether I was still planning on doing it of course I would give it a go. Whilst towing FJK out the CFI said it looked better than he expected so even better. I didn't tell the rest of the Lakes lot, however John did after I had launched.
I have to say my 300k wasn't that easy in Spain although the first part was until I got almost to the first turning point, it was then a blue day, with a few scattered clouds over the mountains. I got low before by last leg near the airfield which looked very inviting, making myself set off another 100k into the blue was difficult, anywy I did it. The conditions in spain where not easy with crop fields only to land in, blue days and rough thermals, also windy quite often.
26th July: I set off on a 327km flight to Northleach, then Caxton Gibbet (great name), Towcester and back to Hus Bos. There were six gliders altogether, an LS8, LS6, duo discus, discus Libelle and me. On my way to Northleach at Edgehill I heard the LS8 say he was leaving Hus Bos and would be at Edgehill soon, it was John Ingliss. He asked if anyone had seen Lyn? I said where I was and the others said they had assumed I'd not botheredas i hadn't said anything. The going was good as I had a tail wind, however as forecast it went blue soon after. I turned Northleach and then the going got really tough. I had a 22 knot headwind and it was blue. I got down to 1300 feet over Enstone where it took me thirty or forty minutes to get away; the flight looked impossible. I still had 100k still to do to the second turning point which took forever to reach. When I finally turned Caxton Gibbet I was tempted to land at Gransden Lodge which is not far away as I was exhausted. At 25km out from Caxton Malc in the Libelle passed me having been round the turn point and heading towards Towcester. "Keep it up Lyn" he said as he went past. Next I heard him say he had nothing but sink from Towcester back to Hus Bus. He'd had 1,000 feet in hand at the turn point yet crossed the fence with his wheel up so as to miss it. I decided it was lunacy to attempt Towcester so thought I'd attempt to cut the last short leg and head off home. After a struggle I had a great climb which put me in for a final glide. I put 100 knots on and arrived with plenty of height. At Hus Bos they had great lift all day yet the other side from Towcester had all been sink.
It turned out I'd done 290k, had I attempted Towcester I would crtainly have landed in a field where as from Gransden home I'd got a few airfields as options and possibly aerotow retrieves. I was also extrtemely tired yet again as I'd been in the air for five hours. Apparently, I found out the next day had it been a competition I'd have scored points on a 360 flight due to the difficulty of the day. It was after this flight I thought I should give up gliding, I thought I was completely useless in fact in bed that evening I told John I would quit and wanted to do a real girlie thing and burst into tears - I didn't! I just got really annoyed with myself. It was after this I did the nationals. I had been asked what I had the McCready set on, zero I said. Apparently it was useless, you really need something in order to fly faster.
1st and 5th August: This was the week of the nationals at Hus Bos where I did a course in the Duo Discus following the single seaters round the competition task. I managed two flights out of the week in the task and had two other flights after the task got back the first we did at 100kph. It was a 260km task with a cloud base of 8,000 feet. The winner did it in an LS8 at 125kph the fastest recorded time for a nationals task. The same day in Germany Russell Cheetham did 140kph and only came third. I recommend anyone to fly with a nationals pilot in the duo, it's not only great fun but you learn such a lot, most importantly how to fly fast.
14th August: I declared my first attempt at a 300 diamond goal, as usual at the first turning point it went blue, there were gliders everywhere as there were lots of competitions going on all over the place. It was the task week at hus Bos, they made the task a diamond goal for people who hadn't done one. After cirencester and up to Saltby, the second turn point, the sea breeze came in. near Leicester airport I was low when I saw a powered aircraft heading towards me, I thought this guy hasn't seen me. Then it got worse, he definately hadn't seen me. I took avoiding action and at the last minute he saw me and turned away. It was very frightening, hed he not seen me then I'm sure he would have collided with me. Not long after that, near to the turning point I had gone from 3,000 to 1,800 feet with nothing at all. There was 8/8 cloud cover so I gave in and landed at Saltby only 48k short of my 300k, so I'd only managed 252k. On the ground were eight other gliders on the same task, at least it made me feel better. We all had aerotows back, well to 13 nm from Hus Bos and a final glide home.
16th August: Two days later the task was 170k round two castles with good conditions, I could fly faster as the conditions were better, I did it at 73 kph so could have claimed speed part of the 100km diploma. I've got the cross country bug and can't help being competitive even though I'm still useless.
The only good thing about landing at Saltby was that I could put yet another gliding site down on my list. So for John Burdetts benefit I've flown at 22 different sites and flown 20 different types of glider. It's sad the season is coming to an end.
The flights I've mentioned are the highlights and I've described them to encourage people to want to go soaring and to realise if I can do it so can they, if only we can get the opportunity to practice in thermals nearer to home.
I know a number of people might be envious or even slightly jealous of the amount of flying that we do but it has to be remembered that this free time came about as a result of John getting cancer, I wouldn't recommend you get it! I'd also had M.E. for six years before I started gliding and I still have days when I'm ill. At least John gets the glider then! It just puts everything into perspective - life is for living - it isn't a trial run.
Cheers
Lyn.
Four Berth Caravan. Fully fitted including electrics. New awning. Good Condition. £950 to club members. Ring Ron Reid on 015395 60391
At the end of June and start of July a number of members went to Fuentemilanos in Spain for some hassle free flying instead of the usual French trip with it's accompanying bureaucracy.
Fuentemilanos
Airfield
Fuentemilanos is located in the north side of the Sierra of Guadarrama, near Segovia. The field has a single tarmac runway and offers good thermal, ridge and wave soaring conditions. The field itself is 3000feet AMSL and is about 9 miles from a 3000 foot ridge which extends for several hundred kilometres.
Facilities included a campsite, Bar and Restaurant and swimming pool, although this wasn't filled up until the Germans arrived in July. Formal Briefings were provided by the local pilots.
Below are a couple of accounts from Peter Redshaw and Peter Lewis of their impressions.
Peter Redshaw
23’s Spanish Hols
Well probably the most significant memories of the Club outing for me were the G & T’s that Manwell made in the airfield bar. They were unbelievable by my standards in that they made my own measures look like a single nip.
The next impression was one of heat. You needed to go flying and get high to cool off. The catch 22 being that flying on hot blue days (and most were) the air was rough and I mean rough. Even 23 resorted to flying at 15m to make the experience more acceptable.
The site was a single tarmac strip pointing uphill or downhill depending on the wind. Not overly long if you put water onboard as some of the more experienced pilots were doing. An ASH 25 having to take off downhill and downwind to achieve a boundary clearance of some 10 ft. That said it was a good well-organised, safe site for both flying and camping. Of particular adrenalin creating fun was the need to make your way in weak blue thermals to the mountains. Arrival at their base then provided further exhilaration as you flew in and out of the bowls trying to catch a thermal to get above the mountains.
On one day I watched the guy in the ASH come in below me in a thermal and then disappear out of sight over a wooded ridge—I couldn’t even make it over the ridge. Big balls these French mountain pilots.
My best flights were 510km in 15m mode at just short of 100kph and 705km (as measured by gps but 665km as measured to the task I set myself) with a field landing in just over 8hrs.
A 750km task is something that I would like to do but felt that the luck of the weather would elude me, now I know I can do it. I actually got within 3000ft of a final glide at one time but took what turned out to be the wrong decision, hence the field landing. You might say I was getting in practice for the 2 seater comp at Pocklington. When the retrieve crew arrived it was dark so once again the CFI was unable to see what a magnificent field I had chosen. Having guided them in by radio and the car lights a derig was achieved and return to base commenced.
Now this is what I call a retrieve. The crew drove and navigated while the pilot sat in the rear of the white van and, had several large G & T’s with ice and lemon, ate the meal that had been prepared for me by the gorgeous girls back at site, downloaded my EW onto the computer, ate chocolate, had more gin etc. The retrieve seemed to pass very quickly, probably because I had a quick nap.
For me it was a worthwhile trip in that I clocked up some 46hrs and 2000km in an air mass and terrain that I had not experienced before. I would like to go back to build on the lessons I learnt.
PR 23
Peter Lewis
495's Spanish Hols.
Unlike 23 the most significant memory for me at the moment was the three days that it took to get there and the three days that it took to get back. Even with the luxury of a motor home it’s still a hell of a long way.
The ferry direct to Spain would be far more of a holiday with only about five hours drive at the other side. Fuel for over two thousand miles and it cost me at least one hundred and sixty pounds toll fees in France and Spain. I would be looking at ferry prices next time !
The airfield and all it’s facilities were very good indeed. It was very professionally run with weather briefings daily in various languages. Roger could have gone to them all to improve his foreign accents.
Me being a lot older than P.R did not fly every day but tried to pick the days and have a bit more of holiday seeing the sites of Segovia and such.
Even so I clocked up just over twenty six hours in the air and the days when there were cumulus clouds it was wonderful. On one occasion cloud base was nine thousand feet, which sounds great but if you flew in the wrong place you could be back on the ground in ten minutes .
My best flight was an afternoon flight not setting off until three o’clock. Three hundred and forty kilometres in under five hours, my best time for a three hundred and it was just an afternoon run out. That was one day that they got the weather wrong!
It was blue most of the time and it was rough but it was good fun and I learnt a lot. It did take me a day or two to fathom out what a 434’s Snow White was.
After one days flight on the way back and trying to get down I radioed to 434 to say I had found a beautiful smooth eight down and I meant it.
There was no G & T retrieve for me as I never landed out. What kept me in the air was the thought of having to buy P.R a meal on the way home and drinks every time I saw him in the bar which was often.
Yes , like Peter I would go again so I’m looking for someone to take my glider out there and I will go via British Airways.
Pegase 101D Glider. Very Good Condition. Full Panel including Atificial Horizon, Turn and Slip, Flight Director, 720 Radio etc. Metal Trailer. One Man tow-out gear. Oxygen. £16,500. Tel. 01229 869219
Rip Pearson
It was raining steadily when we arrived at Malta. Thick cloud obscured the airfield and the aircraft were positioned for a controlled descent and instrument approach. When I broke cloud I couldn't see a damned thing; a thick layer of rime ice completely obscured the windscreen and I was faced with the dilemma of whether to complete the approach and use what clues I could glimpse through the side of the canopy to complete the landing, or to overshoot. I have to add that this situation was quite normal for jet fighters of the day. Our windscreens were not heated and flying through cloud or high humidity with a cold soaked aeroplane meant you picked up ice, which also formed inside. The drill was to fly around at high speed and burn it off, scraping frantically with finger nails at the inside to make some sort of hole (no Credit cards to use as scrapers in those days!). Hopefully, vision returned before the fuel ran out!! Prudence dictated an overshoot, I eased off left a few degrees as I was not sure where the aircraft in front was, and applied full power. Instead of allowing the speed to build up rapidly in a gentle climb, something made me pull high into a steep climb before increasing speed. The Lord must have been looking after me that day. I caught a glimpse of the ground through the side of the canopy, quite close under the port wing tip. Had I overshot in a gentle climb I would have piled straight into a hill just off the end and to the left of the extended centreline of the active runway. It was the tradition of the resident squadron of Takali to present visiting aircrew with a bottle of cold beer, to be drunk before leaving the aircraft. After a close shave like that l reckon mine didn't touch the sides as it went down.
Takali was commanded by a fighter pilot and the difference in attitude was immediately apparent. I knew I was going to enjoy the Station, as did the rest of the unit and we quickly settled down. The resident squadron flew Venom FB 4s, the FB standing for 'fighter bomber" and we were the only Meteor day fighters in Malta. It wasn't long before the CO arranged a "defence of Malta" exercise, using the Venoms as enemy and Meteors as defending fighters. The Venoms were briefed to attack individually and limited to 300 knots, there were no restrictions imposed on the defending Meteors.
The first attack was a complete shambles. The attacking aircraft were positioning some 30 miles out at undisclosed locations and then coming in at very low level beneath radar cover. Radar didn't see the "enemy" until it popped up a few hundred feet to cross the coast. By the time we had got to our aircraft on a "scramble" call he was long gone. I decided to stay on Cab Rank (i.e. standing patrol) and using mark one eyeball to spot the interloper, trusting radar to pass on what assistance they could. This wasn't as difficult as it may seem. There were three other Meteors in my section and we each searched one particular sector. Sure enough "the enemy" was spotted and, "Tally Ho", we went after him. Wait a minute though, we couldn't catch him. A quick glance at the airspeed indicator showed why. I was doing 400 knots and he was pulling away from us. Not only that, but he was thumbing his nose at us, metaphoricailly speaking, yelling "you can't catch me" over the radio and making rude noises. The 300 knot limit was obviously being ignored, but it was a game two could play. On the next attack I was behind the enemy at about 800 yards, way out of cannon range, but I stayed with him. He did me a favour as he crossed the coast outbound for his location by popping his airbrakes and slowing down; I closed up behind until l was sat line astern at about 200 yards. The Venom wingspan was set on my gunsight, I was ready for him; he had no idea I was there. As he turned into his attack heading, chortling away, he increased speed - and so did I. He turned, I turned, I was his shadow and stuck to him like glue; I waited until I could plainly see buildings ahead to prove location, then eased the gunsight pipper onto his cockpit and squeezed the trigger. We streaked over the airfield at about 100 feet with my camera gun faithfully recording all - he would have been dead long before. The stick felt absolutely rock solid and as we left the airfield boundary I glanced at the airspeed indicator. It was reading in excess of 500 knots, I must have been doing 600 miles per hour or so. The thought of popping the airbrakes at that speed made me wonder if it would pull the wings off, so I reduced power and pulled the aircraft into a vertical climb. She went up like a rocket and topped out at 12,000 feet. A stall turn at the top and I was ready for another go, but I was breathing hard. At the debrief when the films were projected, there was my Venom beautifully framed, a dead duck. This wiped the smile off his face because he was never aware of my presence. He asked me later how I had done it, "same as you" I said, "I cheated". There was no answer to that.
My next door neighbour in Malta was a Colour Sergeant in the Royal Marines. He was interested in my job, I in his and I invited him for a flight in our Mark Vll two-seater Meteor. Jim had never flown before, nor had he been close to an aeroplane and he was really looking forward to the experience. He turned up at the airfield looking an absolute picture, - shining brass, mirror-like boots, immaculate uniform, the works. The Meteor VII was a tandem cockpit two-seater and I briefed Jim very carefully as I helped him strap in, covering emergencies, what to expect in flight, and what not to touch. We flew around the island, swooping low over the flat roofs of our homes where the girls were sunbathing topless, all secure in the knowledge that I had assured them jet pilots couldn't see a thing because we were going too fast (topless sunbathing was unheard of in 1956). It was a blatant lie!! Jim was most impressed (and sworn to secrecy) by all the views and all was going well until I suddenly heard a loud thumping noise and felt vibration through the airframe Quick as a flash I was up to 10,000 feet and preparing to advise my passenger we may have to jump for it. There it was again, a series of rapid shuddering thumps vibrating through the seat. "Jim", I said, "can you hear anything?" - "No", Jim replied, 'What's up?" "Can you feel any vibration?" I asked. "No" said Jim, "but it's probably me, I've got pins and needles in my feet and I'm stamping on the floor." The thought of Jim's steel shod army pattern boots making dents in my cockpit floor made me wince. "You scared the living daylights out of me Jim" I said, "cut it out before you put your boots through the floor and have to run at 95knots when we land." The vibration stopped!!
As an island, Malta does not suit everyone, being small, rocky and dusty. The drinking water in those days was very saline, to such a degree, in fact, that l had to put salt in my tea when I returned to England. Fresh water was at a premium, all the houses had water meters and we got very niggardly with our supply. Despite these shortcomings I loved the place. Cyprus was great, but marred by undercurrents of discontent. The EOKA guerrillas kept servicemen on their toes as they were prime targets for assassinations. There we wore side arms and had to stay alert at all times, even when shopping. In stark contrast Malta was very relaxing, the people were pro British and friendly, the restaurants good and welcoming, the night life interesting. Valetta Grand Harbour was packed with ships of the Royal Navy; in those days Britannia really did rule the waves and the might of the British fleet was a source of pride for both islander and Briton alike.
On clear days the snow capped peak of Mount Etna in Sicily was clearly visible against the backdrop of blue sky. I awoke one morning to see a large black smoke plume trailing downwind from the crater, and a grubby looking leeward slope. Mount Etna was erupting. Despite the fact that it would undoubtedly be penetrating another country's airspace, the temptation to have a look see and take photographs was overwhelming. Satan was behind me and pushing like hell and it was not long before a pair of Meteors was streaking across the short stretch of water separating Malta from Sicily. In position over the smoking crater I put my aircraft into a steep dive, using the camera gun to record the eruption as I hurtled towards the bubbling maw in a simulated front gun attack. My number two was close behind and the plan was to make one quick pass and flee. We certainly fled. As I got towards the bottom of my dive, going like a dingbat, I became aware that large stones and clods of earth were filling the sky around me. Not wishing to be shot down by a stone projectile I heaved back on the stick and shot out of danger, hopefully followed by my number two. On the way home a plaintive voice came over the radio.
He "Blue leader from blue two"
Me "Go ahead blue two"
He "Blue leader, did you see -lots of stones and earth coming from that crater?"
Me "Blue two affirmative"
He "Blue leader you might have told me, one of those stone missed my canopy by about
six feet"
Me "Sorry, blue two."
What else could l say?
We had not been in Malta long before the rumours started, we were on the move, but where? We found out in April, only four months after our arrival. The RAF in its wisdom had decided to relocate the aircraft at RAF Habbaniya, in Iraq, about 1,500 miles away. The organisers must have had pretty flexible imaginations because only the aeroplanes and pilots were moving. The servicing crews were to remain at Takali and all major servicing would be carried out in Malta. Sufficient groundcrew were posted to Habbaniya to cope with routine maintenance, but the plan was to fly the aircraft back to Takali for the periodic mandatory servicing schedules as and when required.
It was my lot to be allocated the two seat Meteor VII for the flight to Iraq and I strapped myself into it without a second thought, wearing only shorts and shirt underneath a lightweight flying suit. We only used the VII for training and checks, and I had completely overlooked the fact that it had an unpressurised cockpit and no heating. It was a hot and sunny day in May as I clambered in and the temperature inside the cockpit rose rapidly under the perspex canopy. At 35,000 feet, however, it was freezing. A note in the comments section of my log book says "May 4, Takali -Habbaniya, no pressurisation or heat, Christ it was cold." A photograph, taken by the occupant of the rear cockpit, shows the interior of the canopy frame with rime ice. I remember looking at a section of exposed forearm and seeing goose pimples larger than I had ever seen before - in fact I reckon I had goose pimples on goose pimples. My suntan literally peeled off in large skin flakes, it was amazing.
It was too damned cold to be interested in these medical phenomena and it was a great relief to descend into the heat of Libyan sunshine prior to landing. The route we flew was Takali - El Adem - Nicosia - Habbaniya, refuelling at El Adem and Nicosia. Needless to say I threw every stitch of clothing onto my body that I could muster before departure from El Adem. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed at Habbaniya after a total flight time of 4 hours 30 minutes.
After flying over mile upon mile of the brown ochre unending block of sand, shale and rock that is the Arabian desert, RAF Habbaniya was a joy to behold. It lay in the desert like an emerald, lush and green, close to the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the Great Bitter Lake nearby. A daily irrigation programme, using the rivers, kept the grass green and the trees and shrubs watered; It was part of our routine to check daily Station Routine Orders to see which areas of the camp were to be flooded and either avoid them, or splash through knee deep tepid water. Temperatures there topped 120° in the shade in the summer and flying ceased at midday because of the heat; gentlemen's hours I suppose but we started at 0600, finished at 1300 and spent the rest of the day by the pool. I recall some amusement being engendered by a newspaper report about Ford workers going on strike at Dagenham because it was too hot to work in temperatures of 80°. The water temperature in the pool on that day was 87° so they didn't get a lot of sympathy.
One of the things I remember when we first moved to Habbaniya was the sameness of the food. Day after day we suffered dreary menus because there were no fresh vegetables; everything green came out of tins or was reconstituted out of dried. It was also very apparent that the flying boys were not wanted. The resident squadron had departed some six months previously and, with no other aircraft on the airfield, the Penguins were experiencing a very easy life. Now we had arrived, noisy and brash. Newspapers would be raised when we entered the ante room and backs would be turned. (It cleared the bar though.)
As a regular routine, which I mentioned earlier, our aircraft flew back to Malta for their servicing schedules. Every weekend either one, or a pair of Meteors returned there. On our return, we stacked every inch of spare space with fresh vegetables. They packed the ammunition boxes and filled the empty fuselage areas. Very soon the Penguins became aware that their menus were dreary, our table had tureens stacked with fresh greens and root vegetables. All of a sudden the atmosphere changed Newspapers were lowered, people got friendly, the bar became crowded, we were bought drinks. It was a case of "he who laughs last laughs loudest", and we did laugh. We also shared our loot.
This is an article that was publicised by the DG factory in their electronic newsletter. It is reproduced here with their kind permission.
Wing Construction
Here is a somewhat simplified description of building a wing. It is built from the outside in. For that we use four large moulds per sailplane, the right and left wing upper surfaces and lower surfaces. When a new wing is started the workday of the lacquerer begins at 6 AM, when the first of four UP-gelcoats is sprayed in. That is later the outer coat, which is the first thing not too thinly applied to the mould.
Unfortunately we have to use polyester lacquer, because a PU lacquer,
while it would better combine with the epoxy applied later, it would also form droplets on
the release agent which has been applied to the mould, just like the water in a car wash.
At 7 AM, when the actual wing workers arrive, the lacquer is partially dried and quite
sticky. Epoxy is then rolled onto this surface and a thin fiberglass layer applied and
pressed into the epoxy. The main function of this thin layer is to prevent the structure
of the following layers from showing through the wing surface. Some manufacturers skip
this part of the process, but after a few years a fine diamond shaped structure becomes
visible. That we do not want.
After rolling, the thin
fibreglass layer becomes almost invisible, because of the saturation with epoxy. The bond
between lacquer and fibres is "wet on wet" so that it can never result in the
lacquer peeling off - at worst you could get hairline cracks due to rapid and extreme
temperature changes.
Next a layer of carbon fibre fabric is put in, which account for most
of the strength of the wing surface. The direction of the carbon fibre is diagonal for
greater torsion strength. This fabric requires a heavy use of epoxy, about 250 grams per
square meter, and is also very expensive. A wing of 11 sqm contains about 46 sqm. carbon
fibre at DM 70 per sqm. In addition we need 11.5 kg of epoxy. The material alone costs
about DM 3,500. But that is not all.
Foam is put on the wet outer layer of the carbon fibre fabric. The foam core is made from carefully cut plates of PVC foam of about 6 mm thickness, which forms the centre of the sandwich construction. The foam is carefully prepared, tapered towards the rear, with cut-outs for the dive brake boxes etc. and a machined bed for the spar cap. Furthermore the foam is perforated with a needle roller to better absorb the epoxy. This prevents delamination.
The sparcaps, which must be able to absorb the extremely high tension and compression forces due to the bending of the wings, have been pre-manufactured with the help of a small tooling machine from hundreds of carbon fibre rovings in a special mould. The quality requirement for the spars are very, very high. A single air bubble can condemn a sparcap, and to be sure that it is not inadvertently used again, the quality controller takes his diamond saw and cuts it in half. A lot of labour and material has gone to waste, but fortunately this is a rare occurrence.
The foam core is then fixed, the sparcap put on it, and the inner carbon fibre fabric is laid in, - again diagonally, so that after curing a stable, pressure resistant sandwich is formed. This is followed by a layer of peel ply and a perforated foil pre-epoxied together with the inner carbon fibre fabric. Foil and peel ply are throw-away parts which are later removed, giving the inner wing surface a rough surface, which makes the gluing of the inner parts adhere better.
Now an absorbent cloth is applied to soak up any
extra epoxy and to make the removal of air easier, and a plastic foil is used to cover
everything, and it is taped to the mould. A few plastic pipe stubs are put in and sealed
with plastilin. These are used to suck out the air so that the vacuum forces the entire
construction evenly against the mould. At the same time the mould is heated with water so
that the wing can cure over night - warm hardening. In the meanwhile it's now time to go
home. Breakfast and lunch breaks on these days are not dictated by the clock, but must
wait until certain processes are complete. There can be no interruption of the process.
When I was "new" I had an interesting experience. I watched a foreman cut the previously mentioned carbon fibre fabric off a roll apparently without a pattern or tape measure. He then put it into the mould, where it protruded considerably over the edges. This struck me as irregular, using guesswork as a measurement. I was about to go over and asked him to be more careful with material that costs DM 70 per square metre, when he took a roller and began to press the material into the mould. This caused the protruding material to progressively shrink towards the middle, and especially in the nose the protruding material disappeared one centimetre at time. I was astonished to see that about 10 minutes later the protruding excess had just about disappeared, leaving only about 2 cm of excess material. I went up to him and said: "Unbelievable, how you worked the material. Ten minutes ago I was going to reprimand you for wasting expensive material, but now it fits properly." He said: "Mr. Weber, I have been doing this for 25 years."
The next morning the absorbent cloth and the perforated foil are removed. The parts for the wing parting device, if ordered, are built in. The two sparcaps per wing half are stiffened by a shear web, which is similar to the double-T-bars used in steel construction. The finished spar extends from the wing tip to the wing root and into the sparend - in a 18 m wing about 9.30 m long. The shear web is quite massive, so it can with-stand the shear forces. At the main pin, for instance, the bushings into which the main pin is inserted, must with-stand forces up to 14.5 tons ! The finished shear web is put into the upper wing shell and epoxied to the spar cap. For wings with parting the receptacle for the outer spar is set in. The sparcap of course ends at the parting and an extra spar for the wing tip is installed. As mentioned before, we manufacture the sparcaps separately and glue them into a 3mm deep cut out in the foam core.
There is another method. You can lay the rovings for the sparcap "wet-on-wet" on the outer layer, and you will get a spar about 6 mm higher than we do. The advantage is such that because of the greater height material can be saved, because a higher spar has a static advantage. In very thin profiles, such as the DG-600 one cannot achieve the required stiffness otherwise. This method is also less expensive. The disadvantage is that after a few months the outline of the spar becomes visible on the upper wing surface. Take a look at various sailplane types, and you will be able to see the spar outline on the wing surface.
That is why we opted for the more expensive but better method of gluing the sparcap into the foam core and fix it with the inner fabric.
Now we begin with the installation of the controls by gluing in the bases for the control rods and support links. Measure, mark and glue - not like that, we don't. All installations are placed exactly by jigs that are fixed with guide pins to the mould. Other "small parts" such as root ribs, receptacles for the rudder hinges etc. are also glued in. Our single seaters have about 250 different "small parts" of glass fibre or carbon fibre and for each one there is a drawing and a special mould.
After curing the control rods are installed in the morning of the third day. The task of these installations takes about two days. In the morning of the fourth day the preparations are made for gluing the wing-halves together. In all places where the upper and lower wing halves make contact, a small pile of plastilin (Play dough) is put, and then the two halves are put together. Then the two halves are opened again - of course we have an overhead crane to do that - and the quality controller checks the height of the gaps between the parts. This is done mostly to establish how much epoxy is to be applied. All the little play dough piles have to be evenly compressed. Nowhere can the distance between the halves be zero because it would not take sufficient epoxy, or the mould does not close. It is also important that each little pile of play dough is put on a piece of crepe-tape, so that the epoxy areas are not contaminated by grease.
The quality controller then checks all the places which later become inaccessible. Each bolt on the controls is checked, tightened, marked and checked off on the test list. Next is the "Mumpe" - that's how our employees call the mixture of epoxy and cotton flakes that they mix together to the consistency of cake dough. Using a squeeze bag like the ones used in a bakery to ice cakes the "Mumpe" is applied to all the places where the wing halves will make contact, especially the wing nose contacts, the rear wing section and the spar sections. Before the glue is applied all gluing surfaces receive a last cleaning and roughing and after that the surfaces should not be touched any more.
The lower wing half is put onto the upper half, adjusted exactly to the guide pins, and then compressed with many vice clamps. Both halves must fit exactly in all places, or the profile will not be correct.
The force of the vice clamps squeezes the excess epoxy mixture out between the wing halves. The glued wing is tempered overnight at 35 degrees Celsius. The next morning the wing is taken out of the mould, using the crane and usually with a loud crack. In the sanding room the excess epoxy is removed. After the moulds have been cleaned and waxed, the whole process starts over again.
The Fuselage
The construction of the fuselage is
roughly equal to the wing construction. But here the foam sandwich method is not used,
except for the carbon fibre fabric. To achieve optimal pilot safety in a potential crash,
in the DG-800B two layers of Kevlar are used between the carbon layers. This material is
difficult to work with but does not splinter into sharp edges like carbon fibre. In
addition the reinforcements for the safety cockpit are glued in.
The fuselage construction is faster than the wing construction. But the
many installations of small parts is quite complicated. Seat pan, landing gear, engine bay
walls, bulkheads, liftpin tubes, ribs and shear webs in the fin, pitot and static ports
with hoses, antenna, control system - all that has to be installed and tested before the
fuselage halves are glued together
Rough Assembly
In the next stage the
rough assembly takes place. The leading and trailing edges of the wings are trimmed, the
control surfaces (flaperons) are cut out and fitted and the spar ends receive their
outside glassfibre layers. Then the wings are put on the drilling jig so that the exact V
shape for the drilling of the holes for the main pin bushings can be ascertained.
The complete controls are installed to the fuselage, the canopy frame epoxied, the canopy glued on and the canopy locks installed. The tailplane and rudder are fitted, the engine doors installed, the wiring set installed etc.
The sailplane is assembled the first time, al controls are adjusted and a quality control takes place. Now the rough assembly is completed. Three workers take one week per sailplane.
Finish
Next is the finish section, and here one can either invest a lot of work or keep it quite simple depending on what quality is desired. We calculate that a good finish takes about 240 hours of work at DM 80 per hour, and it takes a lot of training and experience before a worker produces at this level.
If nor PUR painting is wanted, the glider must not receive a complete spraying with paint, only the glue joints, certain areas like fuselage and wing fairings and the canopy frame need filling and spraying.
After that it's sanding, sanding, sanding, by hand! All attempts to introduce machines for this work have produced very unsatisfactory results. Large rotary sanders could be used, but who wants to see the resulting circular patterns on his wings? We use wet sanding paper with decreasing grit. Some manufacturers stop at 600 grit, we keep going to 800 and much water. The people in the finish section work in rubber boots, and drainage channels are built into the floor. It's a tough job, but the end result produces much satisfaction.
I looked around a bit at the "AERO 99" exhibition. It's obvious that some manufacturers sand only to the 600 grit stage. At one manufacturer's stand you could run your fingernail along the dive brake and watch the little crumbs fall to the floor. Another manufacturer leaves the wing trailing edge unfinished. That the trailing edges of wing end at fuselage were 6 mm thick, in-stead of the normal 2 mm, did not seem to bother him. And that on an "exhibition" sailplanes.
An older gentlemen visited our stand, ran his hand over the wing and said: "In my time we could not even dream of such a finish".
Final Assembly 
At this stage there should not be any more epoxy work. We don't want to mar the finish with epoxy stained hands. The cockpit installations will be done including the many electric connections for the instruments and the engine control automatic. The complete motor unit, pre-assembled in another unit and test run on the test stand, is installed, the wings assembled and the seals for the flaperons installed. All the required Mylar seals are taped on. Installation of the instruments as ordered by the customer sometimes causes unexpected problems. Testing the engine after installation, carburettor adjustments, weight and balance etc. etc.
If everything works properly the final inspection by the quality controller takes place. This takes about 8 hours, and the telephone is switched off and no disturbance is tolerated. All the assemblies on the test list are checked, and all functions that can be performed on the ground are carried out.
Test Flight
And finally the sailplane must show in test flight programs that everything works properly. A pre-determined program is flown and every phase checked off on the check list, and the appropriate values noted. Sometimes certain adjustments have to be made and re-tested. Then the sailplane is really "finished".
Of course we still need the certification and licensing by the airworthiness authorities. So you still can't fly the finished sailplane for a few days.
The large team that made it all possible wishes you many happy hours flying your new sailplane.
The next instalment of S&G Club News through the ages.
Nov 20, 1931 Vol. 1 No 10
For our meeting on Oct 17 and 18 we again secured the use off a site on Kirkby Moors where Herr Magersuppe last year soared splendidly with the Scarboro Two-seater. On the 17th the weather was good but a complete lack off wind prevented Herr Magersuppe from entertaining the crowd by soaring flights in the Tern, which was lent to us by Messrs Airspeed Ltd of York. He therefore took off by auto-towing, but the car eventually dived into a hollow and threw the occupants through the windscreen.
After this he had to content himself and the spectators with a series off long glides in the Tern and in the Club's own machine rigged as a BAC III.
On the 18th, instead of the westerly wind for, which we had prayed, we were given a north-easterly breeze. Barographs and observers were therefore useless and again Herr Magersuppe had to make the best of a bad job, which he did by launching the available machines across wind and landing them on a declared spot whence they could easily be recovered. A hunt for thermals was fruitless.
In the meantime our friends from Preston, Accrington and Kendal had arrived and we heartily trust that they enjoyed their trip. Mr Graham made one flight on the Preston RFD which proved the tricky nature of the terrain on this day. We must explain that the change of site had rather upset our organisation; otherwise we might have found time to be more hospitable and entertaining to our visitors.
The day ended with a three mile glide, Herr Magersuppe, in the Tern, cheering up the departing spectators by circling over the Askam railway station before landing on the village green or thereabouts.
To all our helpers and to the Daily Mail who lent us a loudspeaker outfit, and to the farmers who by their generosity made the meeting possible, we tender our heartiest thanks.
If only the meeting had taken place one week earlier, when the breeze was in the right direction, we know now that the Tern would have created new records while we sat quietly as spectators.
February 1, 1932 Vol. 3 No 3
Our efforts in carrying on during the winter months have been well rewarded of late.
During Christmas weekend our dual member, Mr F Pilling (also of London Gliding Club), demonstrated the clubs RFD machine, recently purchased by our chairman, Capt. J Fisher.
In return for this and other services rendered to our club a special effort was made to secure for Mr Pilling his "B" certificate and on Dec 27 the desired result was forthcoming after useful and qualifying flights of 46 and 63 seconds, duration a last and mighty effort was rewarded with a 2-minute flight, including many twists and turns.
Weather now intervened until Jan 17 when some useful flights were accomplished including an "A" certificate flight by Mr G J Lock after one or two attempts.
Our big day came on Jan 24. The ground captain led off with a flight of 48 seconds, in which he successfully detected and negotiated the possibility of troublesome "pockets". etc and incidentally acquired his second qualifying flight before attempting his "B".
Inspired by this, Mr Foster clocked 54 seconds and recorded his second qualifying flight.
Mr Stevens now took off for his "B" but although his time was 63 seconds, he was not considered to have executed his turns to the satisfaction of the official observer.
The lead now went to Mr Foster who executed a wonderfully steady flight including graceful turns, and with a time of 63 seconds secured the club's second "B".
Mr Stevens now made another attempt and this time came through with flying colours, recording 65 seconds.
RC
February 15, 1932 Vol. 3 No. 4
Sunday Jan 24: Certificate qualifying flights were made by Messrs V Foster and W A Stevens. The former carried out a flight of 63 seconds duration, including turns and made a good landing. Mr Stevens time was 65 seconds including turns. Both members had previously made flights of over 45 secs duration.
April 1st, 1932 - Vol. 3 No 7
Sunday March 13th: After two weeks off indoor activity, due to the Club's two machines being hors-de-combat, favourable weather attended the resumption of flying, the wind being suited to our west site. The "A" members in turn practised using rudder, the flights averaging about 35 seconds, whilst our junior member, D. Todd, was given one or two short hops.
After lunch, the flights resumed, but this time the machine was launched from the extreme height of the site, and the members, after making a turn to starboard, "crabbed" across the site and then turned into wind to settle down some distance short of the more precipitous part of the site. Recovery work was thus reduced considerably and at the same time valuable practice obtained. During the afternoon B. Winder overshot the prescribed landing spot, and was obliged to go over the edge of the site down into the valley below. This, however, he accomplished in good style, the flight being a creditable "B" duration 2 1/5 minutes. A similar flight - out of bounds- secured for Mr F. Pilling his "B" certificate at Christmas-time. Unfortunately in this instance, the necessary qualifying "45's" had not previously been recorded.
Sunday March 20th: Wind again suited our west site, and a full day's programme was carried out, some twenty flights being made, varying in duration up to 50 seconds. Exceptionally fine flights were made by Messrs. Foster and Stevens ("B" certificate holders), and in all cases marked progress was shown.
The day finished with the machine in good trim, and we now look forward to a successful week-end at Easter, when it is hoped to introduce mechanical recovery and launching.
Members of other gliding clubs will be made welcome at our site at Moorside, Askam. A good opportunity awaits all potential soarers.
Alan D.
It's been a long, long time since we last had a newsletter, but as you know there hasn't really been a lot of news at the club since the last one due to the lack of a tug and hence lack of flying. Of course I would like to have included something about that big news event - the tug - but despite asking the tug master time and time and time again - he never wrote anything to explain quite what went wrong that it took thirteen weeks and as many thousands to put right. I'm sure he'll tell you the story if you ask John directly though.
I would also have written something about the club trip to Hus Bos, but that was a bit of a washout. It seems that the Furbie spent as much time in a glider (below) as anyone did!
Then there was an impromptu trip to Denbigh a couple of times whilst the tug was away - again no spectacular reports from those that went.
I could tell you about my new car and the hedonistic week in Ibiza, but I don't imagine you'd be particularly interested in either….
So you see, news really was sparse.
The club web-site is now accessible through a real name rather than an ISP address now. You can find it at www.lakesgc.co.uk. which is far easier to remember.
Also, a couple of people have asked me when I will be ordering some more club clothes (sweatshirts, t-shirts and polo shirts). Well the answer to that one is when people want them. We have to order a minimum of twelve items, so if you want anything, please let me know and I'll start the ball rolling.
And that's about it. The next one will be in about 6-8 weeks time so if you do anything spectacular good, or even just plain ordinary, before then - please write about it and share it with us.
See ya. Alan D.
Hmmmm, me scared.....
01 October1999
Dear Member,
We cordially invite you and your guests to attend this year’s Annual Dinner and Prizegiving on Saturday 6th November 1999 at the Coot Restaurant, Urswick, 7.00 for 7.30pm.
The price is £19.50 per head to include a three course dinner with a choice for each course. A disco will provide all sorts of music until midnight. Advance booking is essential and reservations are required by Monday 25th October at the latest.
Please complete the form below and return with your payment (cheques payable to Lakes Gliding Club) by the above date. The seating will be arranged in tables of eight and it would be helpful if groups could indicate the names of people in their party for the seating plan.
For further information please contact Lyn Martindale (01229 869219) or Alan Dennis (01229 470075)
Regards
Social Committee
Starters (Please indicate number required)
……… Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms A medley of mushrooms bound in white wine, garlic and cream all encased in a puff pastry case.
……… Seasonal Melon A delicate starter of melon & seasonal fruits dressed in a wild berry coulis.
Main Course (Please indicate number required)
……… Sirloin of Roast Beef - English roast sirloin of beef, served with Yorkshire pudding & rich roast gravy.
……… Breast of Chicken - A succulent piece of oven-cooked chicken served on a bed of mushrooms, white wine and grape cream sauce.
……… Mushroom and Feta Filo Parcels - Pan-fried mushrooms tossed with feta cheese all encased in a filo parcel served on a bed of green peppercorn sauce.
Desserts - Lemon Cheesecake, Strawberry Gateaux or Apple Pie.
Name ………………………………………………
Contact tel. no. ………………………………………………
Number of places required ……………… @ £19.50 / head
Names of others in your party ………………………………………………
Please enclose cheque payable to Lakes Gliding Club for the total amount and return to:
Lyn Martindale. Carrs Lane Farm, Gleaston, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 OQD