VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

cross-country in a glider before. He left the hiB at 1,600 Ft and
circled up to 3,800 ft ahead of a hail storm. He travelled some
15 miles before the hail storm enveloped him. He fought his
way out of its icy grasp to discover that he was near a town
which he could not identify. After being down to 1800 ft and
deciding to land, he caught more lift before another hail storm
and reached 4,000 ft. Still trying to decide where he was, he
saw that there was not only water ahead of him, but also on
both sides of him. He landed in a field of bl:ackberry bushes at
15.45 p.m. near the river Blackwater in Essex. His 56 mile distance
was not only the British distance record but also his
Silver C distance. The Wren had flown about 22 miles and the
Herkules 46 miles which was the National two-seater record.
Club members had to furiously repair the trailers before the
retrieves. Philip Wins managed to store the Professor for the
night in a fanner's, barn and, by so doing, die! not oNerstretch
the Club's a:lrnost non-existant retrieve organisation Thus, it
was, subsequently recognized that the 8th March 1934 was
the day that British grtder pilots finally cut loose from their
sites to make cross-comUry flights.
Phillip Wills looking at his Wrist Altimeter
L.E.Baynes the desigllel' and builder ofthis Scud 2 with
G. Mungo Buxtol! ill the cockpit before the height record set
at the /934 National COlltest at Sunon Bank on 29 September
1934
During April '1934, Eric Collin's father, whom Eric had not
seen for 8 years because he could not get on with his stepmother,
noticed in the newspapers his son's great achievements
and bought him a RhOnadler 32, which was then the
finest cross-country sailplane that one could buy, Towards the
end ofApril cumulus once again sailed over Dunstable Downs
and Eric was launched in to the light breeze that was on the
hill. After being down to 100ft he found a thermal in the bowl
and circled upwards without a variometer to 1,000ft. Then he
flew upwind to another cumulus and its lift took him to
3,500ft. With his self-taught instrument flying, he found
himseU rockehng upwards in a developing cloud. He U1en
managed to connect with the lift under 5 more .clouds, Trying
to fly cross wind to avoid London, he was forced to land 52
miles away at Rayleigh in Essex. This was his Silver C distance.
He tried 'to pass to the Easl of London in order to fly into
Kent towards the Channel... and to France... and unrestricted
distance. Later in July fmlher attempts to get round London
and then into Kent were unsuccessful. Both Coliins in his
Rhonadler, and Wills in his Scud 2, tried. It required cross
windfiying for longer than had ever beel1i done before, but at
leas't the battle ground was free of London's smoke. WiBs
found himself without a a parachute or barogmph, in his shirt
sleeves at least a dozen times in cloud at 5,000 ft, frozen stiff
and oul of control as he had only been expecting to make a
short hop! He had not noticed the cloud which was hidden by
the Scud's wing above him. The Scud had to be flown at 70
mph, which was way beyond its Never Exceed Speed, to
extricate it from the e1oud, to a landing SE of London. Meanwhile
Coliins kept trying to get around London 'to the West.
Finally, he felt defeated by the sea of houses ahead and landed
at Hanworth. Clearly, in a soaring wind from DunstabLe,
London was quite an obstacle.
At this time a young lady, Joan Meaken (later Price) was
aemtowed from Germany in a l