VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

scene as "McHinz" and he trained many generations of students
at Darmstadt in skilful sailplane building. During his
professional career with the Akaflieg Darmstadt he had his
watchful eyes on the work of the active students on famous
planes like the D 30, the D 34, the D 36 and the D 38, the latter
became in fact the prototype of the well known Glaser-Dirks
DG 100. Still today at the age of 80 he appears in the Akaflieg
workshop nearly every morning and gives some good advice.
And he was a fine help for the author in writing this article.
Early Histories
We have several times asked all the overseas representatives
to contribute a short history of the early days of gliding in
their countries but there has been a somewhat disappointing
respollse. Howevcl; the replies we did receive show the
amazing diversity of vintage gliding. Who ever knew ofJohn
Houshold whose story, by Mike 0 'Dollnetl, .~tarts this offthis
group ofarticles? (Chr;s, as would be expected. has written so
l11/1ch on British gliding that part will have to be left over with
the Belgian history /Intil the next issue and we have had a
promise ofsomething from Del/l11ark. Ed)
AFRICA'S FIRST GLIDER PILOT
Figure 8 : Heinz Hinz with a section ofthe D 28 wing structure.
In the foreground the wing root and flap track ofthe D
40. a Inore recent design ofthe Akaflieg DarmsWdt.
Since the workshop drawings still exist, there may be the
magnificent project to build a third D 28. Nevertheless a word
of warning is necessary to potential enthusiasts. For the delicate
structure absolute top class craftsmanship is required and
the total effort will be much higher than with standard wooden
sailplane structures. The high strength spruce and the top
quality plywood will be difficult to procure. Also the certificate
of airworthiness will be a problem, at least in Germany.
And Chris Wills warns that the cockpit is very small.
Bemd Ewald
RhOnadler 32 flown by Co/tins in the 1934 National Contest.
Note that there were no upper wing sUI/ace spoilers at that
time.
It is not a very impressive monument. just a block about the
size of a kitchen table, made of rocks cemented together. It
stands on a windswept hill in Natal and you have to hunt for
it amongst the weeds and tall grass. Inscribed on a metal plate
on the flat top of the monument are the words:
First Glider Flight in South Africa,
Between 1871 and 1875 John Goodman Houshold undertook
two flights in a self-constructed glider from a ridge in
this vicinity, one flight carried him approximately 500
metres.
And that is all.
So what is known about this man and his attempts at flying?
John Goodman Houshold (you would expect there to be an e'
in the middle of his surname but there isn't) was born in
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire on the 9th December 1845 and
emigrated to South Africa with his parents in 1864. His father
bought the farm "Oer Magtenberg" in the Karkloof district of
Natal.
For some years young John worked on the farm and
showed Hnusua:) mechanical ability He was a cIe-v'er inventor
and built several labour-saving devices for use on the farm.
Later in life he sllccessfully operated a gold mine with equipment
he designed and built himself.
The young Houshold would wander in the hills near the
farm and, as :it new ardvalln Africa, was fascinated by the rich
variety of bird life, particUlarly 1he hawks, vultures and eagles.
His interest in aviation was quickened when he noticed how
the larger birds stayed aloft just by balancing themselves on
the wind deflected upwards by the slopes of the hills and he
reasoned that what birds did naturally, men should be able to
do by artificial means. The secret, he thought, lay in the ratio
between body weight and wing area.
HOllshold shot many birds and carefully recorded their
weights and wing measurements. Nothing is known of his
experiments with models, although there must have been
many, before he felt confident enough to construct a man carrying
glider.
The actual building of the glider had to be done secretly
because Houshold's family considered his actions unchristian
and a violation of God's Law. The neighbours thought he was
mad. Only his brother Archer was in on the secret and helped
with the construction.
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