VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

THE START OF GLIDING IN ITALY: BY
VINCENZO PEDRIELLI
As Graham Ferrier allowed only a limited space, I will not
start from Leonardo da V~nci, but a little later. .. say in 1924,
when the Nationall Aero League, sponsored by the newspaper
"Gazzetta dello Sport", announced the first gliding competition
on Mount Sisemol, in the Asiago plateau. The site,
selected after a long search, was not really the best, as it had
been a theatre of WWI, which left clear signs of the several
battles, but as far as flying conditions are concerned, they were
excellent during the month of August and possibly in September.
Actually, the meeting was set for August, but due to the
delay in building the gliders it was rescheduled twice and
finally fixed from 1st to 15th October, when the flying conditions
were not so good any longer. Those who took the challenge
of participating in this first international meeting were
the students of the University of Pavia, headed by Ettore Cattaneo,
the real engine and heart of this new way of flying in
Italy. After thousand of difficulties, mainly including financial
headaches, the students of Pavia succeeded ill preparing two
gliders for the event. The first, the Goliardia, designed by
Emanuele GambiIargiu, was a monoplane with a thick cantilever
wing and the cockpit situated in the middle of the wing.
The elevator and the rudder were placed on twin tail booms
which, together with theai erons, were controlled by the stick
and the pedals. For landing, it had a double sledge reinforced
by metal cables. Some characteristics ofGoliardia: Wing span
13 m., length 5.60m., height 1.05, wing area 24 sq.m. and
wing loading of 7Kg.lsQ.m. Empty weight LOOKg. The second
glider was the Febo Paglierini offered to the students by the
company Gabardini in Cameri. This ship was also a monoplane
with a very thick cantilever wing and a square section
fuselage. For landing it was equipped with a two wheel cart.
The pilot sat in an open cockpit, just in front of the leading
edge. The controls were also in this case obtained by stick and
pedals. The Febo Paglierini was a bit too heavy and also had
few other defects such as for instance small surface of the tail
planes and, as with the Goliardia, it was very difficult to rig.
These sailplanes, as I said, were built in a great rush and with
big delay and they were actually the cause of the rescheduling
of the meeting, so the pilots had not even had the time to test
t,hem properly and get acquainted with flying them.
The National Aero League had also invited some of the best
Gennan pilots like Martens, Fuchs and Papenmeyer, who came
to Asiago with their efficient machines such as Moritz, Consul,
Deutschland and Alte Dessaure. That was done also for the
purpose of offering our engineers and pilots the opportunity to
learn from them more about their advanced building and flying
technique. There was not in fact a real competition, as the
Germans were far more experienced and with much better
machines, but tile students of Pavia did their best as they felt
the responsibility to start motorless flight in Italy. The Goliar-
The Febo Paglierini landing and setting a new Italian
diswnce recordfor Franco Segri
The Goliardia starting from Monte Sisemol with not much
wind according to the flags.
The Febo Pagliemi with Franco Segre on board ready to
start. Look at the thickness ofthat wing!
dia for instance, flown by Ettore Cattaneo, reached the
maximum established height at Mount Sisemol and the Febo
Paglierini, flown by Franco Segrh, after a spectacular launch
from Mount Mazze, established the Italiall record of distance.
Needless to say that all the Italian records were established
during that competit,ion. Besides the Univers'ity students of
Pavia, which formed the Largest Italian group, Luigi Teichfuss
also took part in this meeting with his Condor which he built in
1923 behind the tiers of the cycfe-track of Bologna and had
taken by train to Asiago. To reach Mount Sisemol, Teichfuss
used the Inule which was rented for 5 Lire by the University
students to take back the sailplanes after landing and any other
useful transportation activities during the competition. A funny
story is reported .about this mule which was named "Matricola"
by the Ulliversity students. (Matricola is the name given to the
young students entering the University and who must be
always ready to serve ~he senior students). One night, Matricola
which Was tethered nearby the Condor, after having eaten
the hay provided by the students and still feeling hungry,
started eating the tip of the wing of the sailplane. It must have
tasted special to him due to the sweetish taste of the casein. We
can imagine the great surprise of Teichfuss the next morning.
The wing in fact was heavily damaged and almost out of order,
but Teichfuss did not give up and made a makeshift repair with
simple materials which he could find on the spot. Luckily, the
ribs which were made of hard wood, had not been damaged by
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