KRONFELD ON GLIDING AND SOARING.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

ON THE WAY TO SCIENTIFIC FLYING 85
The distance from the starting place to the goal was nearly
five miles, and the hillsides along which he had to fly there
and back are most unfavourable. It is therefore not
possible to carry out this flight by ordinary methods. But
Nehring did not hesitate for a moment ; after cool
calculation he flew some distance beyond the goal, sought
out a slope which did not lie directly in his course but which
had good upwind and lingered there until he had gained
sufficient height to fly gracefully back in a long curve right
round the Heidelstein. Once on the return flight it
seemed as if he must drop down to earth, but again he
looked for a favourable slope and landed not far below the
starting point, thus displaying extraordinary air-sense in the
way in which he coped with the prevailing conditions.
Kegel, too, had a very fine flight to his credit. At that
time the state of the German soaring movement was such
that its friends were constantly on the lookout for new
methods of preventing it from coming to a standstill.
A goal flight was therefore announced when the wind was
blowing in a direction which had hitherto rendered long
flights impossible. Following the example set by Nehring
in the previous year, Kegel utilized the prevailing conditions
to the fullest extent and carried off the prize.
One special feature of that year's flying was the immense
gulf that separated the masters from the younger men
who aspired to be their successors. Apart from Nehring,
Schulz, and Kegel, no one showing great ability was to be
seen, all the other pilots falling far below the standard of
these three. The Munich youth, Thoenes, attempted
the Heidelstein flight in his " Miinchner Kindl," and reached
the goal without much difficulty, but on the return journey
he crashed on rocky ground and was indeed fortunate to
escape without injury.
Nevertheless the general results of that year's meeting
were very satisfactory. Sixty-eight planes had appeared
(a sure sign of interest) and five hundred and fifty flights
were made twice as many as in the previous year. But
now the criticism which is always helpful to progress began
to appear. What was to be the next step ? Nehring's
slope soaring had pointed out many new possibilities which