Gliding 1950 - Lakes Gliding Club

the Long Mynd, 40 hours were flown,
including a cross-country flight of 22 miles.
In August our usual joint camp was held at
Friston with our good friends and neighbours
the Portsmouth Gliding Club. This
was a great success, with 80 hours and
13 certificates, including nine "C's."
On 20th August one of the best days'
flying ever was seen at the home site.
Operations commenced at 4.15 a.m., rigging
a visiting Olympia. This was launched at
5.40 and was soon 1,900 feet above Beachy
Head, with the pilot settling down to do his
five hours. After breakfast the home
machines were launched until there were
four gliders at Beachy Head. The lift fadw
in the afternoon but a total of 30 hours was
logged for the week-,end.
In a dub that is fully operational but has
no full-time staff, it may be of interest to
mention how the work gets done. In the
first place, no attempt is made to conceal
from the new or intending member that he
will be expected to work and sometimes
work hard for his flying. Then, after a week
or two. each new member is assigned to a
working party-aircraft servicing, vehicle
maintenance, et;:. Then it is up to the leader
of the party (these leaders must be binders
as well as technicians) to see th3t he does a
reasonable amount ofwork for his flying,
Since two-seater training started, the
primaries have been put aW3Y. leaving the
club with a small but fully utilised fleet of
T-2IB and two Tutors. It is hoped in due
time to add a high-efficiency machine, but
not before there are between fifteen and
twenty members in regular attendance '."he
could be considered suitable to fly it.
Fin.ally. in this club, which has grown
from almost nothing since 1946, it is
considered that the answer to the difficulties
that confront British Gliding lies in hard
work in the clubs, not in the granting of a
government subsidy. We do not desire to
see the Welfare State extended to cover our
sport, even though this might mean that
the taxpayer would pay for our Saturday
afternoon flying. D.C.S. & K.H.A.
Surrey Gliding Club &
Imp::rial College Gliding Club
HE following is a summary of out
T activities from Ist January to 31 sr
August:-
This year a large number ·of out-andrcturn
flights have been attempted. This
has been encouraged because of the special
technique required. In addition, people
appreciate the smaller (or non~xistent)
retrieving fees. Another special feature this
year has been the number of visits to other
clubs. Quite apart from send.ing four aircraft
to Camphill for the National Competitions,
visits have been made to tbe Long
Mynd, Staverton, Friston and Dunstable,
in some cases more thalli once. In our turn,
we have welcomed a much larger number of
visitors than in previous years.
It is hoped to carry out fairly extensive
investigations into standing waves during
the coming winter, particularly in hitherto
unexplored areas.
The figures for the pericd are'
Number of launches
Club aircraft, hours
Cross-country miles in club aircraft
(including Weihe at International
Competitions)
4,000
710
3,600
These figures do not include numerous
flights carried out by private owners,
starting from Redhill.
Details of the outstanding flights are:­
Welch in Weihe. 28th February. 58 miles
to Birch aerodrome in 3 h. 40 m. (Kemsley
second prize for winter cross-country);
Welch in Weihe, 12th April, 203 miles to
Brussels (described in last issue OfGUIilINO);
BeCK In Olympia. 11 th June. 113, miles to
Lulsgate in 3 h. 50 m.; Kahn in Olympia
2nd July, 141 miles' out-and-return to
Netheravon and back (would have been a
record but Karran completed the same
course half an hour earlier); Kendall in
Weihe, 4th August. 114 miles out-andreturn
to Welford and back in 5 h. 10 m.
Also the following by private owners:
Karran in Olympia, 28th February, 68t
miles to Boxted (Kemsley first prize for
winter soaring); Stephenson in Olympia,
-162-
16th April, 126 miles out-and-return to
Thru.xton and back in 5 h. 8 m. (U.K.
Local Rfcord); Garnett in Olympia, 11th
June. 176 miles to Instow (described in last
issue); Karran in Olympia, 2nd July, 141
miles out-and-relUrn to Netheravon and
back (V.K. Local Record, to be described
in next issue.).