VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

G.P.I. on Monre Mollarone ready to start for rhe world
distance record. The inscription on the 110se "Non tt/idar di me
se if CUDI' ti /I1(/n('(/" (Do not rely on me ifyou do 7101 have
courage) but the person with the Chianti bOllle has other ideas!
the strong teeth of Matricola, but still the Condor could not
recover the original conditions of strength ,and safety. In fact,
after having been bungee launched from Ithe slope, the repaired
wing twisted slowly and the Condor stalled too badly and
crashed to the ground. The brave Marshall Canayesi was seriously
injured and taken to hospital in Asiago, but luckily he
could tell his story several weeks later. For the Condor unfortunately,
there was too much to do and probably she was buried
in Asiago. (Frankly speaking, I wanted to verify with some of
the persons who were there in 1924, if this story was true or
not, but to my great disappointment I could not find anybody
to ask about it... too late!) Well, that meeting in Asiago was
really the beginning of gliding in Italy. Everybody learnt from
that experience and recognised how much they would need to
leam to reduce t'he gap between them and the Germans, starting
of course with designing and building better machines
besides, of course, improving how to fly.
The lesson was great and the results did not wait too long
to come. One year later, in December 1925, after receiving
some financial help, the students of the University of Pavia,
again guided by Ettore Cattaneo decided on the construction
of a new glider, which was designed by Ing. Abate and got the
name of "G.P.I" standing for Giovanni Pirelli, a young and
brave student killed in an air accident. The glider was built in
the factory of the Visco brothers in Somma Lombardo, near
Varese and was not built to improve the Italian record establis'hed
in Asiago, but to fix a new world record of distance, still
owned by the Frenchman Thoret wilth a distance of 8, I0001.
When finally the G.P.I was ready to fly, Ettore Cattaneo
decided to try that venture from Campo dei Fiori. overlooking
Ithe Lake of Varese. It was December 1926 and the weather
was not very good for challenging a flew record of distallce.
The Pavia students had to postpone the launch a couple of
times and that was increasing the excitement of that exploit,
but finaHy on the 18dl of' December, as the weather was
slightly hnproving, Ettore Cattaneo decided not to wait any
longer and made the start from Mount Mottarone in the direction
of 'the Lake of Varese. Despite the strong opposite wind
the G.P.I succesfully accomplished her target and hit the distance
of 11 .50Km, over 3 Km. mOre than Ithe previous record!
The G.P.I was a beautiful ship, of the same standard as the
Consular the Vampyr Ulld comparable to the best German
machines of those days. She had adopted all the improvements
and technical solutions observed and learnt during the meeting
in Asiago. She had a tapered wing of 16.8001., with a wing
surface of 24sq.m., and! a Wing loading of about 8 Kg/sq.m.
The total length was 6.50m. with an empty weight 120 Kg.and
total weight of 190 Kg. The wing was built in 4 parts with
strong aspect ratio and the ailerons had a large surface. The
fuselage was a five sided box structure covered with plywood
in the front and fabl'ic in the rest and it was provided with a
s,ingle skid for landing. She had a special mark on the nose of
the fuselage which was showing a heart, as a symbol of
courage, sUITounded by the sentence: "Non ti fidar di me se il
cuor ti manca", meaning "Do not rely on me if you do not
have courage (heal·t)". But Ettore Cattaneo and the Pavia studel'lts
flroved they had courage and determination and they
were proud to have started gliding ,in Italy.
In 1927 the first gliding school started in Pavullo which
trained many new pilots for this new flying discipline which
spread all over the countl·y and, besides Etltore Cattaneo, Luigi
Teichfuss and Emanuele Gambilargiu, other people arrived
and left their mark for the development and the promotion of
sa,iling ,flight. I would like to name a few of them before
closing my article: Vittorio Bonomi. Camillo Silva,
Ermenegildo Preti, Stelio Frati, Alberto e Piero Morelli,
Ermanno Bazzocchi, Gian Luigi della Torre, Adriano
Mantelli, Edgardo Ciani ancl surely a few other whom I may
have not yet discovered.
The Condor ofLuigi Teichfuss
The 1939 DFS Weihe EC-RZZ at the 1948 World Championships
al Samaden, Switzerland. L to R Ava, Sevillano and
.fun Note the light in the nose ofthis special Weihe.
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