Volume 21 No 1 Feb-Mar 1970.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

February - March 1970 4s 6d

SWI.SSDIAMANt- WORLD'S LEADING SAILPLANEDIAMANT 18 - FIRST U.K. 500 km. TRIANGLE.DIAMANT 16.5DUTY FREEDiamant 16.5 £2,500 approx. Glide angle 1.42 at 55, kts.Diamant 18. £3,050 approx. Glide angle 1.45 at 55 kts.The superb finish and camber changing flaps givethe highestinter-thermal speeds- plus the ability to climb with the bestWe are so sure of the superiority of DIAMANTS that we havereserved a large quota for delivery in 1970 and can Quotealmost immediate delivery.Write for technical information, finance arrangements andil.lustrated leaflet to t.he sole UK Agents:THORPE AVIATION LIMITED, 15 Broadway. Peterborough. Yel. 68818Appointed factory trained repairer and parts stockist:JOHN HULME, Bottlsham, Cambs. Telephone Bottisham 323Manufacturers:Flug -und Fahrzeugwerke AG, 9422 Altenrhein, 5witzedand.

SAILPLANE& GLIDINGOFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE BRITISH GLIDING ASSOCIATIONEditor: Alan Slater, MA., I=.R.Met.S.Associate Editor: Rlka HarwoodClub News Editor: Yvonne Bonham - Subscriptions: Frances TannerAdvertise.ment Manager: Peggy MievilleCommittee: .PbUip Wills, Chairman - G. Harwood - M. Bird - G. Lock.CONTENTSLook To The futureSGS 1-34An Autu.mn Cross~CounlryCloud Street FlyingM)o' lnstruclor Said lO McStra.ight Thinking on Championship StructuresIf ¥ou Do 500 Kms. Aftor Reading This- Tcll Mc HowBGA Handicapping List for 1970Five HoursCIVV Mecting ..Structural Testing of Glass-Fibre Sailplane WingsKronfeld ClubAviation Art 'Secicty---.1969 Exhibition·Gliding Certificatesr:;he ~ise a,nd Fa II of a Northern Club)Futurc EVents :. . . . . . .I

Slingsby-Glasflugel KestrelII1911-------- . ~_-_:._.- ---J~._~~.-._--.~'-,''''Q_.. __-:::JThe Kestrel is the best 'all-round' open class competition sailplanein production today_Compare these features:1. Wortmann aerofoil with camber changing lIa!",s and droop aileron~2. High angle Uap actmation without aileron droop for landing3. The ultimate in short field landing capability using flaps, brakes andtail parachute; large diameter retractable wheel4. Good handling; roomy cockpit ",ith G!asfluge!'s unique "in flight"adjustment of pedals., seat back and cushions to. minimize pilot fatigue5. Top performance under all condition's; jettisonable water ballast.Figures depend on flying weight but are typically 43:1 at 56 mph.,26:1 at 100 mph. Rough Air Speed of 155 mph.6. GJasflugel's patented design giving "zero" maintenance7. No duty payable, no ferry charges, made at KirkbymoorsidePHla: £3.350 Ex works KirkbymoorsideWrite or teleph,one now for brochure. Deliveries available early 1971SLlNGSBY SA.ILPLA.NES LTD., Kirkbymoorside, YorkshireTElEPHONE Khkbymoorside 751 TelEX 579112

.100H TO THE FUTUREUR lasl.issu~, if not historic, W

ward question of Continental Drift. more ocean between it and North America)meant that it was 10.30 GMT, orSo I took off for the future. Just afterwards,a red-and-white Swallow was 11.30 BST, or 12.30 NBST (N for New),quickly dragged alongside, winched up or 13.30 RNBST (R fot Revised}--orat a rugh rate (it must have exceeded perhaps they had gone right round thePlacard Speed at the top), and club membersthen rushed about at a pace re­started. Wisps of Cu were sprouting inclock by now and got back to where theyminiscent of Lawrence Wright's "time the sky, the wind was blowing up thecompression" film of many years ago. hill (or what the excavator had left ofSoon everything went so fast that all it). But where were the gliders? Soon Iwas blurred, and the bushes on the slope heard a buzzing noise from the hugeof the Downs gtew visibly and spread cluster of buildings where the clubhouseover every 'vacant space.used to be, "A tug", I thought. ThenHow far into the future did I go? more buzzings joined inan:d combinetlAlas, I could not interpret the great batteryof dials on the dashboard. To make lot of tugs", I thought, and then spied ainto a roar. "They must have an awfulman coming towards me,He introduced himself as the CFI and~~~=~~()'1remarked: "That's a queer contraptionyou've got there; has a description of itbeen published yet?" "Yes," I replied,"by H. G. Wells in 1895.""Eighteen-ninety·five?" he repeatedslOWly in a tone of subdu~d horror. Thenhe turne:l quickly on his heels, took myarm, and we marched rapidly away towardsthe clubhouse,"What's this in aid of?" I pro:ested."Haven't you heard of the NBGAP?"he asked."No," I said "what does the AP standfor?""The lot means New BGA Policy. Nobodyis allowed to Dwell on the Pastwemust Fix cur Gaze on the Future.Vic_orian eta had faded except on thelast dial, where the word BILLIONS was Let's change direction a bit so they won'tfaintly visible. One might work backwardsfrom that. but were they English "Big Brother is watching you," Isee where we've ,come from."or American billions?murmured."What's that?" he snapped nervously."Oh, nothing," I replied, mentallynotmg that at last I had a clue to theprobable date of my landing.It took some time to convince him thatI had only just arrived from the unspeakablepast. Then his voice sank to awh;sper: "Tell me, what was it like in theold days? We aren't allowed to readanything about it now." (Apparently Big• 1.,': ...i,i,:,)things worse, some had to be read forwardsand some backwards, like thedia.ls on a gas meter. Presumably theywere calibrated in various time units,but the ink used by the inventor in theBy this time the quick succe~sion ofnight and day was approachmg thedangerous "flicker rate" which is liableto induce epilepsy-a phenomenon ofwhich Wells's time-traveller was blissfullyignorant. So I sl6cWed ~ow.n andeventually came to rest (agam In thetemporal sense) on: what was presumablythe same club field-but all the hollowshad been filled in and there was not ahedge in sight, while away to the southan excavator was dismantling the Downsand a line of lorries dumped the 'rubbleto extend the airfield plateau to thewest, where the Tring Road was beingenclosed in a tunnel.The sun appeared to be in the SSE,which (assuming the Eurasian Continenthad not meanwhile twisted perceptiblyon its axis in its anxiety to put stillBrot~er was not only watching us butbugging us too.) SJ I told h:m about allth:: frustrations, and so on, involved inhandling "pure" sailplanes. "Ah!" heccmmented, "self-launching sailplaneshave put an end to all that. It Was theeEly rational solu~ion. Surely you can't~bject to Ilsin.g a little engine for launch­I'1lg? Poor thmg. you need bringing up·to-date. Come for a ride in our lates!

Using a little engine for launching.advanced two-seater trainer-marvellousperformance.""What's its max LID?" I asked."1 don't mean that-I mean performance.Gets you to 2,000 feet in just undera minute."$0 I got in, and we did just that. Atthe top of the climb I expected my pilotto turn off the motor and soar, as we hadpassed through several patches of goodlift on the way up. But he exclaimed:"Just look at that growing cu.mulus overthere-it's a beauty!""Yes," I said. "we can soon gainenough height to be able to glide to it.""Why bother," he asked, "when we cango straight to it and get there before itc!:sin:egrates? What's the use of a motorif you don't use it? Really, you are oldfashioned.Why can't you be rational?""But;' I protested, "you said the motorwas. only for launching.""Don't be so pig-headed-it'll get younowhere in this day and age." (So thatpretentious cliche was still going strong.)On reaching the cumulus, I expectedhim to search for best lift and thenswitch off the motor. But he had spiedanother good cumulus ahead. so we wentthrough the same procedure again. Andagain. Then came a big dead patch.through which we purred along, the pilotlooking happy and relaxed.Next, a glorious cloud street appearedahead, right along our track. I hadstarted to draw the pilot's attention to itwhen he suddenly shut off the motor andglided down towards an airfield whichhad come in sight..It was evidently agl:ding club, as several aircraft werescattered about its surface and peoplewere tinkering with their motors. ."Lunchtime," said my pilot. "That'sanother advantage of a motor-don'thave to miss your regular meals. You canalways re-light afterw3'rds. Be rational,that's what I say." (The propheticHoward-Flanders had made his pilot godown to lunch at Corfe Castle and thenrocket back to the nearest cumulus.It was a good lunch, and a numberof his acquaintances came to join us. Thetalk was entirely about the comparativemerits of different glider-motors. I won'tbore you with the details-rpm, mpg,bhp. tappets, intakes and tbe rest. Theykept it up tiII 3 p.m., and then our pilotsaid: "Better be getting back-wind haspicked UD against us."It had been a filling meal, and we werewell over a minute getting back to 2,000feet. Then, before long, .a good-lookingcloud street loomed up straight ahead."Can't be bothered to use it," said thepilot, but he graciously consented to letme have a go. However, the lift wasweaker than it looked. and I had to slowdown to speed·for-minimum-sink. Whatwith the wind being against us too, Icould see our pilot getting impatient, tiBhe burst out: "Enough of this, or weshall be late for tea," and switched onthe motor again."Will the caterers have packed up?" Iasked."No, the slot machines wiII be empty."he replied. "By the way," he added, "Iought to tell you that circling in thermalsis no longer allowed. The Airways peoplehave pinched so much that what's left forprivate flying is getting just too congestedfor words. $0 everyone's expected to flyy- ~';'''/P"'-')(,y'~"7 .'~¥". ~,'.. .A'....in more or less straight lines, becausecircling gliders create a collision hazard.Cloud streets, waves, cold fronts areallowed, and even sea-breeze fronts ifthey don't sport any awkward corners.As for isolated thermals, they recom·mend just slowing down in the lift andspeeding up in the sink,"5

· "Don't you mean slowing up in thehft and speeding down in the sink?" Iasked."I couldn't care less," he replied withsome irritation. "Anyway, all I ever do isthrottle down in each bit of lift-if I'venothing better to think about,"Finally, we landed and rushed in fortea. 'But we were too late. "Trouble abouttbese motor-gliders;' he panted, "is thatthey're underpowered," (Flight had saidjust the same of the Carden-Baynesauxiliary-engined sailplane in 1935-butpsst!-that is harping on the past.)Before we parted, I asked the CFI whythe Downs were being removed, when ourone advantage over the fiat-site clubs wasthat we could go on soaring through thewinter."That's no advantage now that all theclubs have other means of sraying up inwinter. Would you believe it," heenthused, "we do more winter flying thanany power"flying club"."I"d believe it if you said 'any other'power-flying club." I retorted."There you go again," he burst but,"with your antediluvian prejudice againstfitting a harmless littIe power unit. Whycan't you adjust yourself to the modernscene? Anyway." he added, "the hillcreates a hazard in east winds. You see,most of our new members have pOwerflyingexperience, so they couldn't careless about air currents around hills".(I thought of the power pilot who flewa motori2;ed Carden-Baynes into DunstableDowns in al1 easterly gale. Butthat was in the mid-thirties, arid theNBGAP left no room for learning thelessons of the past).Well, I walked sadly back to the timemachine. Then I had an idea. In Wells'sstory the time-traveller, after an excitingstay among our remote descendants,thought he would like to peep into thestill farther future before returning, socarried on tQ the point at which the sunhad cooled to a faint red glow. 1 didn'tfancy that, as tbere would have 'been nothermals, let alone gliders to soar inthem. But I did go ahead until rathersuddenly, in the course of a year or two,the sky seemed repeatedly to be darkenedas if by a sort of locust swarm. So I"stopped" to investigate, and wasimmediately assailed by masses of insectsof all shapes and sizes. I raced for the6clubhouse, and somebody wearing a kindof space helmet came out to meet me.He passed me through a decontaminationchamber and led me into the hermeticalJ~-sealedc1ubh~use (based on the latestdeSIgn for a reSidence on Mars-there's"s~ce fall-out" for you!). Food wasrationed because so' much had beendestroyed by the illS«t plague, but somemembers spared a bite or two for me.Then t!le stl?ry came out. It was thosecommercial pIlots again. Having eventl;lallybagged the whole of the country'sairspace for. themselves, they no longerneeded pub1Jc support for their campaignto suppress everybody else, so at last theyfelt free. to have a go at the birds. whoreally did cause accidents by collidingwith. aeroplanes in vast numbers. (l wasafraId someone might remember a letterI wrote to Flight way back in 1969 whichcould have put this idea into their headsbut luckily the ban on bringing up th~past still stood.)Numerous scie.nt~sts .had tried to protestthat the ellmmatlon of the birdswould drastically upset the 'balance ofNature-you know, planetary ecologyand all that. But the pilots managed to getthe .onc: remail,ling Air Correspondent ontheir SIde (a Single newspaper having bynow absorbed all its bankruJ)t rivals)so none: o~ the protests appeared in thepress (It IS usual to consult the AirCorrespondent before publishing anycontroversIal letters on aviation matters).Now they found, too late, that they hadbitten off more than they could chew.Unchecked by birds,· the insectsf10uTlShed exceedingly and began cloggingup every fo~m of ai,rcraft engine~hat could. be devlsed-unul at last oneIOgenlo~.s Inventor thought up something~)fi the hnes ?f a Ramjet. This apparatusmgested the msects, baked them dry in asort. of

CROSSFELL ELECI'RICAUDIOVARIOMETERSNOWis the time to fit outfor next season andbeot the Spring rush.Electric Variomctersproved over ten years.Available with or withoutAudio.Agents throughout t~e World.erossfeU Variometel"S10 Borrowdale R.oad,Malvern, WoraI.,EngSand.seven times as many associate membersas flying members. O'f course, now thatprivate flying is out? we have had to getthe machmes classified as 'commercialaircraft, carrying passengers for gain', toget them licensed.""What do you call them?;' J asked."Gliderettes," he replied. Knowing myh;story, I was not surprised. When theWrights put a 30 h.p. engine i a glider,the result was eventUally called an"aeroplane". Then the 1922 Itford glidersled, through motorized gliders, to the first"light aeroplane", the 60 h.p. Moth. Inthe late 'forties, Slingsby put an enginein a Tutor glider and this led to the"ultra-light aircraft" movement, whosemembers, when last heard of, were tryingto get 120 h.p. machines accepted in theultra-light category. In the 'sixties peoplestarted putting engines in high-performancesailplanes-the last I heard ofbefore taking off had 180 h.p.: they werecalled "motor gliders", 1 asked the chairmanabout his new machines: he replied"Oh. about 800 h.p., I think", So that wasit: 30 h.p.=Aeroplane; 60 h,p. = LightAeroplane; 120 h.p. = Ultra-Light Aircraft;180 h.p.=Motor Glider; 800 h.p.=.Gliderette. (Forward-looking readersWill,. I. feel sure, be delighted at this.revelation th!!t glider design will continueto advance, Instead of stagnating at zerohorsepower.)."But," I protested. "when I first JoinedthIS dub as a founder-member thedefinit~on of a glider was: 'a he~vierthan-airfixed-wing aircraft withoutmechanical power·..."O'you mean to say there wasn't amotor in the eotire club fleet?" thechairman ~sked incredulously. "But howoneartb did you keep the thiogs up?"I had had enougb. To hell with thefuture! I rushed Ollt, leaving botb doorsof the airl~ck open. and raced for my!Ime mach.me, pursued by a cloud ofInsects which, I saw on loo~ing back,would soon be followed by a crowd ofclub members, now adjusting their spacehelmets. They seemed to be· in an uglymood: presumably the insects had got inthrough the open airlock and were eatingtheir lunch.The time machine itself was coveredwith insects and I took off wonderingwhat problems would arise later in theway of import restrictions, quarantineand the Iik.e, on arrival back in 1970. ButI need not have worried-the time factortook. care of that. On being displacedinto the past, all the insects detachedthemselves and flew off backwards in themanner of the legendary Oola-oolabird.A spot-Ilmding back at 1970 was notdifficult. One simply had to watch all thedIals unwind tbemselves back to zero.Just before arrival I noticed a red-andwhiteSwallow backing towards a pointabove the winch. Then a cable performedthe Indian Rope Trick and hitched itselfto the nose of the glider, which thenexecuted a glorious tail-slide back to aPerfect landing on earth. I "landed"beside it•.and the timekeeper came up.His first words were: "What wentwrong?"-Nothing went wrong," I said, "-atleast, not with fhe time· machine.""Why, you've been away less than aminute.""But look here. don·'! you understand..... I protested.He cut me short: "Got to see thisSwallow launched~ if the releaseworkS properly.".,

"It does," I assured him. He gave mea queer 10Qk."Back in a minute," he said. Exasperated,I jumped into the time machine.drove it a minute forward. and got outto hear him exclaim: "Oh there YQU are-I thought I'd lost you. Anyway. you'vegot your A-3S seconds fiat." He passedthe time-sheet to a friend, took my arman:! said "come along and fill in theform:' He 10Q~ed up: "Swallow gotaway an right on its first launch.""What, again?" I commented. (Anotherqueer look)_On the way to the clubhouse wedeviated round a parked glider, whose()\vner was answering questions from amember of the public. As we passed by,I caught the words: "Why don't you puta little engine in it?"SGS 1-34Schweizer's latest:-- The Schweizer fleet hasbeen increased with a new 15 metre sailplane.the SGS J-34.The calclllaled polar C/lrYe shows a best L/Dof 1:34 at approximately 52 mph at an all-lipweight of 800 Ibs. The aspect ratio is 16 andthe wing area 151 sq. ft. Wing loading 530 psf.a

AN AUTUMN CROSS-COUNTRYBy T. W. E. CORBETTHERE are some flights which are remarkable,not for the great heightsTachieved nor the long distances flown,but for the simple beauty of powerlessflight as only an occasional trip in aglider can give. One such trip I had thegood fortune to make one Sunday in lateOctober from Shobdon to the Long Myndusing wave all the way.Louis Rotter and I arrived at theMynd fairly early in the morning withhigh hopes of some good flying. Therewas some sunshine in the valley to thewest, and there was a very promising"fQehn" gap to the lee {)f the hilI overChurch Stretton. When we arrived, however,cloud-base was too low to allowmore than two gliders to soar the ridgeat once, and while this might rise a little,we were too impatient to wait. We rangTony Gaze who very kindly ,agreed togive us an aerotow from Shobdon.Our luck was in, and we both had avery good flight over about 6/'6 strato-cu,with the sunlit patches showing wherelift could be found. Louis landed atabout 4.30 and we decided to call it aday. Just as we were towing the Dart offthe runway, however, the sky seemed toclear to the west to give what apl'earedto be some very nice lenticulars. Weboth thought this was too much forany red-blooded glider pilot to miss, so Idecided to have a final try, and see if Icould fly back to the Mynd. I was towedoff, and released iust below cloud in ahole at 3,000 ft. above Shobdon.Lift built up to about 3 knots and tQ{)kme to 5,000 ft., which gave enough timefor a little exploration. Where, from below,the clouds seemed even with fairlyextensive cover, from above they presenteda very different picture. Thewhole sky had the appearance of amoderate sea, but static instead of inmotion. From time to time the trough ofthe wave disappeared into clear air, and,in the brilliant sunshine reflected fromthe tops of the cloud the ground throughthese holes seemed very dark. It soon,became clear that the best lift was to befound on the downwind side of the gaps,and I then climbed to my best height of6,000 ft.By this time the waves could be seenin a north/south direction, and by flyingalong the side of them, height couldeasily be maintained. I therefore set offon a northerly track for the Mynd. Forthe next 20 minutes I had one of thepleasantest flights I have ever enjoyed. Itwas rather like ski-ing effortlessly onlevel ground along the side of a chain ofbrilliantly white hills with the sun startingto dip tOW;lrds the horizon, whichcould be seen in the distance without anysuspicion ,of haze to spoil the view. Theglider was trimmed to fly at 45 knots,which could be maintained withouttouching the stick; the only decision tobe made was which line of wave tofollow to stay on track.All good things come to an end, however,and I calculated that it would takeme about 20 minutes to arrive at mydestination. From time to time I couldsee the g:round, and while I never knewmy exact position, I could get an ideathat I was to the west of tnlck rat1)erthan to the east by the type of ,terrain Iwas passing over. I found thc' reasonwhen I landed later-the wind had almostdied to nothing. This was no doubt respnsiblefor my having to lose heightfinally, and on breaking cloud I saw theLong Mynd 6 miles away to the northcastlit as if by floodlight through theremains of one of the wave gaps.A lovely flight; and the moral '! Whydon't some of you folk who spend yourtime circl,lit-bashing on flat sites all thewinter come up and find out for yourselves?GLIDERFINANCEFinance for your glider or airaaft purchasecan be arranged byCOLlN DONALDBurghley Finance COlllpany Ltd.15 Broodlfl(oy. Peterborough.T.lophono, P....bOloUgh 661919

CLOUD STREET FLYING-HEN the Olympia first came out inW, this country, people said thatwitha ma~il}e: ba-ving -s.uch a terrificperformanq~--...it would no longer beI}~~~ry to circle but one could flystraight all of the time, slowing down alittle while Passing through the lift. Theyhave said the same thing every time thatill new machine has appeared, but tbefaet remains that---even when conditionsare good enough to fly straight in the lift-you can do better by flying faster andWIND•. r>Fig. 1.circling judiciously in the strong bits.Under ~rtain conditions the lift isdistributed at random over the map, sothat you have to make for the nearestgood-looking doud in the general directionof advance--preferring, naturally,the -one which is upwiM of' track. Un,derthese conditions, usually only one cloudin three works well, so always keepenough height in hand to try several.Mi~e Garred has slwwn that the heightof thermals usually is about one-fjfth oftheir distance apart, so-with a glide of1 in 30- you have the chance of ttyingsix between leaving the top of one aDdhaving to land.In "blue" conditions the best that youcan do is to fly along track, d'ivertingtowards any very obvious thermal source,such as a large town. In contest conditions,although the flights achieved mayvary greatly 'between pilots, their techniquediffers very little in the basic essentialsof thermal soaring, cloud flying,10navigation" etc. What marks out the betterpilot is his greater ability 'at findinglift, which includes his judgment of therelative chances of finding a better thermalthan the one which he is in. Thesefactors of judgment are very difficult topass on to other pilots and, really, canbe obtained only by task flying underthese conditions. As few pilots fly morethan ten tasks per year onder these conditions,buildinl;l up the necessary e)(periencetakes many years. There is anexception in the case of cloud streets,where a goOO deal of lore can be handed00, and this is the purpOSe of tbisartide.The more satellite photographs yousee, the more you realise that douds tendto form up in streets. Streets, therefore,seem more the rule than the exceptionand there is considerable need to understandbow best to make use. of them. Ifyou consider a source A producing athermal (Fig. I) it is obvious that thestronger nortions of lift will be upwind,so pilot Y, (Fig. 2) who flies upwind tothe strong end, gets to point P beforepilot X who climbs immediately. Grilldingup a long c.loud street at low altitudein weak lift until final1y strong lift isfound at the upwind edge when hope hadbeen almost abandoned is one of themost e:>;citing experiences iD crosscountryfiying.If, as you advance upwind, you find a~.-C:?~.Fig. 2.~----=

elt of rain in the way, it is usually wisestto climb where you are and get as highas you can; often there .is strong sinkunder the rain and little chance ofth.ermals from the rain-sodd,en groundupwind. Under these conditions, ao upwindor downwind task is, of little interestand crosswind taosksor' triangles in freshwind (;onditiQns are a much better test ofa pilot. Here the technique is to workupwind to the strong lift, then continueup the s!reet near cloudbase until thenext street on track looks healthy. Thegap should be 'crossed direct; check yourposition, fly at a slightly higher speedthan the calculator suggests and alwaystry to guess what your height will be atcloudbase, as finding lift at low altitudewhile fields are whizziOg past underneathis very difficult. While working upWindkeep about 500 ft. below c10udbase untilyou decide to oross the gap when theextra height should be obtained beforecrossing.Two, apparently contradicting pieces ofsound advice are, first, when in doubtbore upwind and, second, when in doubt,get as high as you can; then you cancome cut of cloud high and see what theFig. 3.Fig. 4.tHEADING /VRACKweather is doing.In Fig. 3 the pilot has adopted a fairlygood procedure; in Fig. 4 the clouds haveover-developed so that he has had towork around the upwind edge, finallygetting a high climb and long final glide.In general, avoid trying to impose yourwill on the weather-the weather has awill of its own. Sometimes, the cloudslook ,gOOd but don't have much lift underthem; sometimes the thermals feel rQughbut are not strong; and, sometimes, thelift under cloud is weak but the lift incloud is strong. At! that you can do is tovary your technique slightly all the time,in order to find what the existing conditionsreally aTe like.. The world championcannot convey the secret of hisgliding ability to' you in a thousand-oreven a million-words, since his abilitylies in balancing decisions between irnponderablesand in skilful exploitationof his luck.The best that you can do is to practicecros&wind tasks while varying your technique,in order to hunt for the optimumprocedure in the existing weather.11

MY INSTRUCTOR SAID TO MEBy P. M. STEVENSONIdon't think any of us realised what wewere in for during the nine days ofthe Instructors' Course, and neither didBob Scarborough nor myself, as wedrove into Lasham on the Friday eveningbefore the course started.We met the rest of the group and thethree course instructors in the bar. DerekPiggott, now CFI at Lasham, we had notmet bef.ore, but had heard so muchabout; red Hatch. with whom I hadflown when I first started flying atLasham; and Norman Smith, ex CFI atRAF Cosford whom Bob and I had metwhen he visited the Mynd some monthspreviously. These three instructors wewere to find were to simulate everyfault that it was possible to find in apupil, and yet there they were that Fridayevening looking as innocent as itwas possible to look, with a glass of beerin hand, signing each of us up as wearrived.Next day dawned as the next eightwould, with the 01 of the gliders that wewere to use for that day. This was doneat 8 a.m., followed by breakfast, andthen at 9.15 a.m. we would have alecture until 10.30 a.m. when we wouldstart the day's flying if the weather wassuitable. We had a short break for lunchand then flew until 6.30 p.m. when wewould stop for supper. At 8.00 pm.,the evening lecture started, which sometimeswent on until 9.30 p.m. A fullday, but with Derek's enthusiasm onedid not have time to be tired.The evening lectures we all foond tobe most interesting and informative. Wehad Lome Welch on field landings andflight limitations; Roy Procter on servic·ing of gliders; John Simpson on SeaBreeze fronts; Tom Robinson on Meteorology;and a Doctor from BoscombeDQwn spoke on hypoxia. I would liketo thank these people for giving up theirtime to come and speak to us, and evenif we did look rather tired, some of thethings that were discussed did sink in !On the first day Derek Piggott showedthe effects of controls in a demonstrationcircuit. -Getti,ng the effect of elevator,ailerons and rudder into one circuitlooked easy, but in fact we all found12this to be quite difficult. One found thatone was running out of height beforestarting the effect of rudder. Derek. didsome sloppy flying and asked us to diagnosefaults. Some faults! The s~ ina turn never wavered from 42 knots inthe Capstan. Could it be that he wasn'tlooking out? No, that was allright. Washe using' any rudder? Yes, he was doingthat. Ah, that's it, he hasn't used anyaileron in that turn. Next he demonstratedgentle turns using ailerons only.Once tuned into the fact that you werecriticising rather than being criticised, itwas easier to pick up faults. We allfound that after years of flying twoseatersand being told what to do andwhat was wrong with our flying, it wasrather difficult to transfer and tell theother person what was wrong with hisflying. Especially having Derek breathingdown your neck. it was difficult tofind any faults-they were so well hidden,and anyway if you did say anythingyou found it impossible to treat him asthe inexperienced pupil, and the wordscame out rather foolishly ... "Urn, didyou use only urn ... aileron in thatturn ... urn or am I wrong?" Atthe end of the sentence you were convincedthat the latter was true_Next, our group of four were allocatedto Norman Smith in the ScheibeFalke for aerobatics and field landings.As Norman and I took. off, instead offlying oorth as all the others on thecourse had done so far, I was directed tofly west into totally unfamiliar ground.As Norman said: "This is just in caseyou have been out to the north sinceyesterday and picked a few goodfields!" Nice chap, Norman: so trusting!After eight minutes we were at 2,000ft- and about five miles SW of Lasham.Norman throttled the engine back. andasked me to do some loops and stalls.When we were at 1,500 ft. he cut thethrottle and said: "Choose a field andland in it". I Was now committed tolanding in a strange field. I had donethi~ once before, but r thought thattWIce was chancing my arm just a bit toomuch, and not just my arm either! Thenat 1,000 ft. there was a beauty. Every-

thing was right about it. It had a lowhedge at the approach end and it wasinto wind-almost. The crop had' beencut, the~e weren't any animals, thereweren't an'y signs of electric fences, nopower or telephone wires and it slopedup. So at 900 ft. I set my eye on tbatone, being careful not to turn my backonto it at any time in case I lost myfield.Norman, in the meantime, had selectedother fields."Look at that", he said, "That's a goodbig field-in fact, better than yours"."Yes," I said, at 800ft."What apout that one over 'there, that's,got an undershoot and an overshootfield, has your's?""No", I saiQ at 700 ft."What about trying fhat field?" hesaid."It's no good" I said, ''I'm not goingto change my mind.""Allright," he said, "Where is yourfield now?" -Now if you have ever seen a conjurormake cards and rabbits disappear, youwill no doubt say they had gone up hissleeve or into a pocket; but here I was at600 ft. and I'd lost a field which musthave measureo all of 100,000 sC:I. yds.Lost. Instead of it being just visible in{,ont of the right wing tip, it had Vanished.I could see Norman's fields, or atleast most of them. 500 ft."You've lost your field, haven't you?"said Norman."Lost my field?" 1 said, "Of coursenot, it's .. , it's ... it's down there.""Where?" he said."Oh, down there", 1 said casually,nodding in the vague direction of down."Where, down there?" he said pointedly.And then it happened. There Was mylovely field all set up in froot at 400 ft."There", I said, "just ahead" and triedfo stifle my sigh of relief.I was too dose to get in from thisheight, so I did the cafdinal sin aodexecuted a 360 0turn, but it worked, andin we went. Norman opened up thethrottle just before we touched down andwe dimbed out of that field and went onto three others before heading back toLasham. Navigation wasn't too bad afterall our tight turns, but I Was a little wetaround the palms as we finally climbedLONDON SAILPLANES LYD.C's of A., Major and Mino' R.pairs to aU typesScbleicher"s paint finish a lipecialltyInstrument P....r. made to 'orderBarograph and A.S.I. CalibrationW. also stoci< 1I large 'a~g. of spate pOllS for all Schl~ich., SailplanesCanopy bubb,les, Main-skids, iai.l·skids, Shock absorbers, Re'lease hooks, Metric sizebolts, Shear pins, Split pins, l!tc. Cable and fittings, Wheels. Tyres and Tubes, FabricRhodius (Ge"",an) Dopes an.d Finishes, Repair Drawings for full range. A large stock ofBirch Ply" Polish Pine and tes.te.d Spruce with certificates.British Spares: Standard A.G.S. parts, nuts, bolts, washers, wing nuts, safety pins, drainageeyele'ts, bungie cord, fabric, dopes (cellon and titanine), release hooks, tyres and tubesfor most types.All rel.ased ,pOles and materials: Comprehensive stock 01 instruments and accessories.'Plus a stock of miscellaneous tools, trailer parts, J. W. Calculators, Air Maps, Cameras,Fi Ims, Dry Batteries, etc., etc.Write, call or telephone:O. W. PATON. London 5an~lane5 Ltd.Tring Road, Dunstable, Beds. Telephone 6341913

away from that last field.Ted Hatch was the next instructor thatwe were allocated to. We were to practisedifferent stages of pupil tuition, usingTed as the pupil. We had the usual errorsthat one can get into a normal autolaunch circuit. He would try to drag awing on the runway and then go alongwith so much rudder that the tyrewould start howling; this would be followedby a lift off that would have madea jet pilot green. My launch was awful;the attitude was first too high, then toolow, then the right wing dropped slightlyand we started drifting across to theright. "Let the pupil find things out forJOHN HULMESwaffham Road, Bottisham,Cambridge. CB5 9DUTelephone Bottisham 323Wood, Metal and Fibreglass RepairsGlider Hire C's of ASpares and MaterialsSole U.K. Repair Agent forDlamant Sailplaneshimself," they said, "let him get himselfout of trouble". This one was obviouslyin a great deal of trouble the way herolled about dropping from one side tothe other. In the end he seemed to settledown to a steady climb and at 900 ft., onpulling off the wire, he continued in thisclimbing attitude. On recovering controlfor him I asked him to try a gentle turnto the right. I was going on to explainwhat to do in such a case, and had actuallyformed the words ready to speakwhen the horizon suddenly went verticalI don't think he quite understood whatI said next because it was somewhatjumbled and spoken in a higher thannormal voice. We were now in a verysteep slip, rather than a turn, to theright. My pupil was happily looking tothe left at the clouds. We came straightand level at 600 ft. and I handed the controlsback to Ted.Now I had thought it all out, and Iw,as not going to let him catch me outon the landing. I gave the instructions aswe completed the circuit: "Downwindleg onto the base leg, lower the nose tothe apprQach attitude and trim to maintainspeed, turn onto the into-wind leg,DONCASTER SAILPLANE SERVICESThe Powered Glider SpecialistsSailplane Sal'e. & EXChange.Present Stock Include$;Skylark 2 B.F. 111 EON BabyEagle Skylark 3F T.21 b.Trailers Built to OrderNew & Used InstrumentsALTIMETERSHORIZONSVARIO'sASl'sINVERTERSBAROGRAPHSOTTFUR & TOST HOOKSRECONDITIONED BY POSTLarge stocks of Ply, Fabric, Tyres,SCHEJBE SALES &FALKE -SERVICETWO-SEAT, POWEREDGLIDERBERG~ALKE III - TWO-SEATADVANCED TRAINERSF-27 - High Performance SingleSeater with Wortmann WingsSF-27M -POWERED SF-27AUDIO UNITS Convert any varioto audio, even cosim or use it alone£16.10.0. plus P.P. & I.Stockists of "Winter" Barog'raphsDope, etc.YORK ROAD; DONCASTER. Phone 0302·6538111\

line up with the side of the runway toland on the grass beside the runway."We started the approach with the speedconstant at 55 knots; I was operating theairbrakes, and at this point I openedthem and ollr rate of descent increased.As we were: abo\lt IS it. from the groundI sai.d: "Ease back slightly on the stick",which resulted in the· aPPl'03ch attitudebecoming less steep; all well so far.Again I said tbis at 2 ft., but we startedto go up and not level off as was hoped.It was at this point that I wentwrong because I said: ".Ease forwardslightly on the stick". Ted took full advantageof the situation and we startedtowards terra firma again. At about 2 ft.he began to correct, but because of ourspeed and angle he was too late and wetouched the ground. Having more thanour stalling speed, we started to balloonup and Ted put the stick forward again.On the way down I remembered thebra1ces were open, so I snapped theseshut. It helped, but not much, for weagain touched down, a little harder than.the last time, and took off again.I decided it was time I took over.Grasping hold of the stick as we startedour next descent, I pulled back; nothinghappened. My pupil was strongerthan I was. We pushed and pulled andas we were coming down for the fourth,or was it the fifth, time I rememberedthe magic words "I have control". Withthat be let go, leaving me at 5 ft. withabout as much speed as is required bya moth!We arrived, albeit with a hefty thump.Ted explained what had gone wrong· andI hope that I have learned somethingfrom it. On pushing the Capstan back,we came across the rest of the group whowere beside themselves with laughter,roUing around helpless in the grass. Ihadn't thought it was that funny!On the final Saturday we organised afarewell supper and brought drinks forour instructors in the hope that wemight be able to sway them a little intheir judgment!It was a little difficult to get up thefollowing morning for the final lecture.Most of us just sat and stared ahead inthe hope that we might look inspired bywhat we were being taught. It wasn'tuntil Derek mentioned something aboutinterviews that we suddenly came tolife and realised we had better do somethingabout that. The interviews Consistedof going in front of Der~k, Tedand Norman for a short chat.I don't know how many of thecourse satisfied the instructors because Ileft Lasham soon after my interview, butI hope that those who passed are nowinstructing at their own clubs.Never had so much gliding tuitionbeen crammed into nine days, but whilst!t was .strenuous, it was also extremelymteresting.Instructing is a very rewarding partof gliding: you ought to try it sometime.BREEZE LIGHT AIRCRAFT LIMITEDSenior Inspector Approval Cs of AMai6r or Minor RepairsGlider Trailers for SaleHigher Valley Workshop,Dunkeswell,Honiton,Devon.Telephone, LUPpm 645Licence No. l/A/OOJMFormerly Dunkeswell Light Aircraft LimitedJust Published"Proceedings of the First AnnualSYMPOSIUM ON COMPETITIVESOARING"ContainingDo's & DonI's of Contest FlyingBy Richqrd SchrederLow Loss flyingBy George Mol/att. lr.Philosophy of WinningBy A. 1. Smithfactors InHuencing Crucial DecisionsBy A. 1. Smith and Richard SchrederThe Electric Variometer SystemBy A. Gene MooreSoaring Contest Forecasts & WeatherBy Chas. LindsayA must for every serious soaringpilot's library £2 post paidSoaring Symposia.408 Washington Street.Cumberland. Maryland 21502.U.S.A.15

STRAIGHT THINKING ON CHAMPIONSHIPSTRUCTURESBy DAVID INCETHE structure of our National Cham­~ pionships seems to be well on itsway to join pilot rating as a subject forrumbling dissatisfaction and endlessdebatc--to be enlivened from time totime no doubt by sudden and almostinevitable unsatisfactory change.Rating has been a problem enough, inall conscience, and yet it has relativelyfew significant objectives which are reasonablysimple and well understood. Thedifficulties with rating have arisen almostentirely as a result of trying to find afair and generally acceptable solutionwhich is seen to work in practice.With competition structure the mindsimply boggles over the mess we arelikely ~o get into because, not only isthere a multiplicity of solutions, butthere is also a multiplicity of objectivesand considerations. Furthermore, itseems that we have not yet evenattempted to define those in any logicalfashion, let alone discover how theyrank in importance to the pilots takingpart.Unfortunately what seems to be likelyto continue happening might well bedescribed thus: A new structure will beproposed. written up and c.anvassed, andas a result of reaction to its exposure itwill be modified, if necessary, and thenput into operation. Soon afterwards weshall be hearing all tbe arguments--notonly about its defects in relation to theobvious objectives which it was designedto satisfy, but also about other andhitherto unnoticed considerations whichIVGiidervvork-=;;1;=L..Gl..DVS'16~ .C11AOVERHAUlS UO REPlIRShave suddenly come to light. In short,we shall still be in trouble and the wholetedious "rocess will have to be repeatedonce agam.Gradually with experience gained inthis way we may get a structure which ismore appropriate to our still largely undefinedand only partially understoodcompetition objectives-provided that theobjectives themselves do not change withthe passage of time.It would surely be more efficient if theBGA Flying Committee were to start byfinding out the wishes and needs of themajority of competition pilots beforeattempting to establish a competitionstructure to satisfy them.The first step is by no means asdifficult as one might imagine and thereare well established techniques for determiningand recording the information ina reasonably accurate and meaningfulway.Jf the BGA were to implement one ofthese and send out a questionnaire theprocess might go as shown in the followingexample. However, I am Quiteprepared to aggregate any results on thissample questionnaire. Please send detailsand suggestions to me at 45 EastwickDrive, Great Bookham, Surrey.Example OnlyTo pilots No. I to 'N' on the ratinglist-The BOA is seeking to establish aNationals Competition structure which,so far as it is possible to do so, meetsthe wishes and needs of the majority ofcompetition pilots.The attached questionnaire is beingcirculated with this aim in view. Whenyou have completed it you will have putthe following factors in your own orderof importance with your own numericalweighting in each case.I Improve British Team selection.2 Bring on future world championshippilots. .3 Raise standard of competitionflyin~.4 MaXImise fun for competitors.S Admit maximum number of pilotsto Nationals.

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ATLANTIC llItGE,"H-1024 libIF YOU DO 500 KMS AFTER READING THISTELL ME HOWlBy CHRIS LOVELLN common with a few others at LashamI spent most of splendid 1969Ichasing 500 kms. Several declarationshave been made, all to no avail but ofgreat education.One ftight was not so much a near miss(106 km. short!) as just a splendid day'stour by air. On Friday, 27th June, I hada club Dart 17 for a day which dawnedwith a definite 500 km. look about it. Aweak cold front had passed south,eastduring the night and by 0930 cumuluswas sprouting evenly all over an arcticblue sky. The wind was a few knotsnorth-west on the ground so all seemedto be set for a 500 km. out-and-return toL1andrillo-find it 00 your quarter million.Airborne at 1020, half-an-hour laterthan J had intended, I found cloudbaseat 4,000 ft. asl. but a rather strongernorth-west wind than I would have preferred.Rapid progress was possible dueto an abundant supply of 6-8 knot thermalsand excellent visibility making navigationvery easy. The air was clearerthan I've ever seen it in Southern England.In 80 minutes I had passed Cirencester,then I made the mistake. (Never18ignore a 4 knot thermal at 3,000 ft. evenif it looks good ahead.) Down I came to1,200 ft. and not until 45 minutes laterwas I up to operating altitudes againafter a brave sortie over a village produced6 knots. Don't ignore 4 knotsanywhere, in spite of what the puoditssay.Things fizzed after tbis and downwindof Cheltenham I pick.ed up 1,000 fpm to5.800 ft. asl. cloudbase. This sort of liftpersisted to Ludlow but there was somesevere sink around. Something was oddabout the necessity to re-centre upwind alot, which is unusual on a good day, andnear the Mynd the sky went queer withcloud becoming stratiform and spreadingout in lines crosswind. Weak wave activityspoiling thermal production was obviouslyaround but not strong enough tomake progress across.A glide out from Ludlow in smoothair brought me to 600 ft. above theMynd-hill soaring-the ignominy of it!At least it confirmed my suspicions aboutthe wind strength. It was now 1530 hoursand not worth trying to push on even ifit were possible. Cups of tea and bunswere visualised through the clubhouse

SIT. GIVING CAL!( OR LIGHT EASTWINDS onR MIDLANDS ~D SOUTH.-/../'in /., // / 1024 mb 11 1028 rob1016 mb 10d mo'" ~ WAVES LIKELY III LEE OF,,\ENIHNES, ZELSH~LLS ETC.DU nb1008 mb"1004 mb~ i'lJ16 mb.. 11L 10roof but I wasn't to be tempted. A 6knot thermal appeared near the windsockand a beautiful white and blue K·13accompanied qle to about 3,000 ft.; butthen I lost the lift and cruised back tothe ridge. Tea and buns were just cominginto view again when another 6 knotcore took me to cloudbase, and from5.000 ft. as!. I could see the whole ofWales including the Dee and SevernEstuaries. My colour slide of Wenlock,edge looks far too good 10 be true!Time was now 1600 hours and with5.000 ft. in hand a start home was made.Ever done a downwind dash? This wasone in grand style, a few circles here andthere in the best bits of lift saW me toChedworth airfield at cloudbase 6,100 ft.as!. From just south-east of here toLasham not a single circle was made.75 km. in a straight glide at 60 knots!The lift was so good under some cloudstha,t 500 ft. ,could be gained by just divertinga little to go under the blackestbits, there weren't any actual cloudstreets. The trip was 4 hours 30 minutesinclUding that more than half-an-hour'snasty scrape; some 25 minutes were spentin the vicmity of the Mynd, and it took2 hours to get home, total distance 394km.This failure was the result of a wrongdeclaration. Toward the north-east fromthe Mynd conditions looked very goodso a triangle with one turning-point inthe Mynd area would have been moreHsensible, especially as the weak waveshad set up cu. streets in lines along asecond leg in a north-easterly direction.A better study of the prevailing situationwould have given an indication of possibletrouble north-west of the Mynd.The decision On the task to attempt isvery difficult with the limited meteorologIcalinformation available but whenconsidering flights from Lasham, a generalpattern has evolved for various situations.The genuine meteorologistsamong us will probably cringe at thetheories put forward, but the decisionsdiscussed are based (In actual flights,thirty-five of Which from Lasham in 1969exceeded 300 kms.. not including contestflying (where the decisions are out ofthe pilots' hands anyway!).In light north-west winds a triangle ispreferable because of overdevelopmentnorth of the West Midlands, with moistsea air spreading over Wales and generallygreater instability to the north ofa ridge of high pressure which probablygenerated the promising lookingday to start with. A good triangle underthese conditions is Lasham-Knighton(20 km. SSW Mynd)--Melton Mowbray-Lasham, and for geod measure thiscourse removes the need for a diversionround the Birmingham SRZ.In light east to south-east winds aNorth Wales out-and-return is definitelyon, as a downwind leg in wea~er morningconditions gets you to the distant end19

just as the cloudbase should be rising toa safe height above the mountainousareas. (Doo't ask Hugh Hilditch aboutthat!). The risk of high (lover appears tobe much less with east winds than whena north-west is blowing; probably due tothe presence of jetstreams bringing inupper cloud from Atlantic depressionswhen a ridge is passing eastward overBritain.A good example of excelll:nt east windweather was 25th July, I elected to attempta 318 km. triangle. Lasham­Bath--5tratford-Lasham, most of thesecond leg being over the Cotswolds, andHugh Hilditch decided to go north-eastto East Anglia. I had a goo

north-east and back are on, also out-andreturnsdirect north into the ridge. Don'tgo directly north-east with this synopticsituation as there is usually a stiff northerlyblowing down the east coast bringingshowers a little inland.Dunstable AreaFrom Dunstable 500 km decisions aresimilar, an out-and-return to Ffestiniogis on in light north-east winds to southeastwinds, but never in north-westerliesas the sea air would soon spoil lift forsome miles arouod the turning-point.Other oU!t-and-returns are to the northaod to the south-west. The south-westerlydirection is very difficult due to the peculiarsea breeze effects in the TauntonVale area. Flights north are certainly 00in the Polar High situation but in thenormal summer anticyclone weather soaringconditions are often not good enoughin the Vale of York to maintain the highaverage speed required.In westerlies there is the likelihood'Of waves lying north-south which wouldbe a tremendous boost to one's averagespeed if a long enough system devel'bped.,as small areas of wave are difficult touse and are very good at eliminatingthermals! Several competitors includingmyself in the 1967 Northern RegionaIsused a wave system forecast at briefingto assist them in a flight north alongthe Vale of Thirsk.Triangles from Dunstable are a betterproposition in some ways than fromLasham, due to the variety availableavoiding clamp areas and controlled airspace.~ very good one would appear tobe Dunstable-Gainsborough-LongMynd-Dunstable, providing there wasn'tmore than a few knots easterly windwhich might cause stable air over theFens to damp down lift on the first leg.If the wind is moderate easterly thecourse would be altered a bit to take inCamphill and Madley airfield (nearHereford) as turning-points. Industrialhaze might make life difficult downwindof large towns, but my experience isthat a good day is good wherever youa;re! ~nother good course in light easterliesIS Dunstable--Wincanton Racecou!"S7LongMynd-Dunstable. In myexpenence of Somerset and Gloucestershirethe second leg of this triangleusually has good conditions on it ineast windS-at least when flying over it inearly afternoon on trips from I.asham.Coventry AreaFrom Husbands Bosworth and Rearsbytriangles are rather more difficult to fitin. Rearsby-Winchester-Hayon Way­Rea.rsby, with a diversion round Birmingham,gives one a reasonable chance inlight north to north-east winds, but insouth to west breezes sea air is bound tocause trouble along the second leg. Anout-and-return northward in the PolarHigh situation would give the bestchance, as one would be going into ahigh pressure area containing cold air butwith an inversion on it stopping toomuch vigorous showery activity.In westerlies the chance of waves overmuch of the coUrse is quite good. Thepractical tuming point is Bishop Auckland,taking one downwind of the wholePennine Range in both directions. SuttonBank is out for 500- km. triangles; it'snot geographically possible to tit any inthat come inside the 28% fule. There isquite a wealth 'of out-and-returns in onearea from Letchworth to about Malvern.All these trips wOllld be all right in westthrough north-west to north-east conditionsbut one would have to be carefulof sea breezes on the return to SuttonBank. An out-and-return would theoreticallybe possible to about Portmoak. Ibelieve someone tried to do an out-andreturnto Portmoak fwm Leeming andvery nearly succeeded, so he can give allthe information on no-landing areasunder 8/8th stratus when in wave ..•Other AreasNympstield has a 'can I get home?'problem, with the probability of thermalsdying round the site before one canreasonably expect to get back. In lightwinds from east round to north, however,triangles to north-east, north-west andback should work, provided sea air hasn'tspread too far inland from the Wash orup the Severn Estuary. There is only onereasonable out-and-return course takingone over good soaring country all theway and that is to the north. MarstonMoor would be a good turning-point.East Anglia can be very good awayfrom the Pens, and when it is the seabreezes move in rapidly and can cut, offone's retreat so to speak; but for SOO21

km. flights starting in East Anglia appearto be distinctly possible, Alf Warmingerhas had two near misses, out-JlUd-returns,I believe.Long Mynd aspirants have good triangleprospects with legs to the northeastand south-east but out-and-returnsare most restricted and take one intodoubtful areas too late in the day. LongMynd-Wath on Dearne (near Rothererham)-Culhamairfield-Long Myndsteers one clear of sea breezes. It issurprising how stretching the triangleshape (still keeping it within 28% ofcourse) can take one over very muchmore favourable soaring country.Far north of England and SCottishlong distance cross-country flying is moredifficult, due to both greater variabilityof terrain and weather than in the south.Undoubtedly 300 km. closed circuitflights are possible from northern areas;indeed, autumn and spring wave conditionsshould make out-and-returns relativelyeasy provided one is brave andthere isn't too much cloud. 500 kms isreally rather remote, but 300 km. closedcircuits are very much on in crosswindwaves. With lots of money and a willingcrew there must be many days where15,000--20,000 ft. in an early springwave at P'ortmoak one can set off on a500 km. down-wind flight in 25 knotsnorth-west wind.Some of the lesser known sites offerreasonable prospects. Compton Abbashas seen a 500 km. triangle nearly done-Ray Foot was only a thermal or twoshort. Booker. of course, was the base ofthe only 500 km. closed circuit flightactually completed in this country, exe- .cuted by the irrepressible BrennigJames. His course was to the Mynd thenCranwell and back. I flew on this dayand. conditions were good and consistentfrom Lasham to Leicester and back withhigh winds and cloudbase 4,500 ft. asI.­wrong task declared!Unless conditions are "South African",one must be flying a sailplane at leastas good as a Dart 17. One can rarelymaintain 63 km/h fQr long periods in aSkylark 4. With the advent of high-performanceships it would seem that themore adventurous tasks are coming withinthe capabilities of moderate pilots aswell as the pundits. Out-and-returnsalong the Pennine Wave seem especiallySOUTHD'OWN AERO SERVICES LIMITEDoffers YOU a complete gliding service whether your sailplane ismade of wood, metal or glass-fibre.BQOK EARLY FOR YOUR C of ABig stock of aircraft ply, instruments, aero-tow rope, etc. etc.Send s.a.e. for price list.Call In, write or phone ­KEN FRIPPSOUTHDOWN AERO SERVICeS LIMITED,LASHAM AIRFrELD, ALTON, HAMPSHIRE.Tel.ephone; Herriard 359 or 0256·83 359Stockists for all PZL Instruments and Equipment22

attractive, perhaps doing a "New Zealand"in a minor sort of way! I've oftenseen waves-always from a car- lyingalong the Al from Newark to Newcastle-some out-and-return that would make!Tliese notes have been compiled afterstudying' :details of many individualflights done by pilots from Lasham andother sites, and after checking theweather maps of the days in question in"Weather" magazine. This journal suppliesan "actual" for every day in theyear, albeit two months in arrears! Althoughthe weather was good it was also·determination that produced more than35 non-eontest 300 km_ flights fromLasham in 1969.Study the weather maps carefully andtry to make your own decisions. The bestradio forecast to listen to is the 0755 ODRadio 4 every day. If you can find somebodywith a VHF AM receiver band lendan ear to the "v.olmet" broadcasts (about128 mc/s) which give a continuous streamof up-to-date reports from the airfieldsthroughout the country-very useful forcloud cover and wind directions. Get airborneas early as possible--I've managedto get away in thermals four timesbefore 1000 hours. Remember that youhave to achieve an average of about 63km Ih for 8 hours or so! This means perhapsthat for tbe first hour-and-a-halfyou might make only 65 km. in theweaker mid-morning tbermals, but formuch of the day something nearer 70km/h is required. On the odd day thisis possible in Skylark 4 performanccgliders but, as mentioned eaJlier, I think:one has to have a set of wings that willgive an LID of 1f30 at around 55 knotsas a minimum to maintain the necessaryspeed.ff I haven't put you off, declare a 500and see how far you get.BGA HANDICAPPING LIST FOR 1970By IAN STRACHANHE Skylark 3 is taken as "DatumT Glider" at 100% (the Ka-6cR is also100% and so is also effectively a "DatumMachine"). The basis of other figures isthe relative theoretical cross-colmtrYspeeds achieved after climbing in an"Average British Thermal" of about 2tknots. Thus an ultra high-performancemachine calculated to achieVe twice thedatum glider's cross-country speed wouldbe handicapped at 50%; and a very lowperformanceglider, expected to travel athalf the datum glider's speed, would begiven 200%. Allowance is also made forthermalling performance by adjustingexpected rates of climb according to thelow speed end of the glider's polar curve- thus a Foka is given a lower rate ofclimb (about 2 kootsl in the AverageThermal, tban, say, a Ka-8 or a Skylark.(nearly 3 knots). These corrected climbfates are fed into the formula for crosscountryspeed that governs the handicapfigures. Full information is given inS & G, December 1967, ~ges 459-461.80% BS-I, Diamant 1882% Phoebus 1784% SHK, Cirrus, HP-14 (18 m)86%88%90%92%94%96%98%100%102%ASW-15, Diamant 16.5, HP-1406.5 m)Standard LibelleDart 17Ka-6E, Olympia 419, Foka.VasamaDart 15. Olympia 465. Sky.lark 4,PiratSkylark 3 (Datum Glider),Ka-6cR. Olympia 403, -lvi-lOOsFauvette, Olympia 463, SuperlavelotJSW CALCULATORGRUNA U -CIRRUSKnots or Metric UnitsfromFIt.Lt. J. S. WILLlAMSONRAF. Thorney Island.Emsworth, Hants.

104%106%108%110%112%114%116~£118°{,120%125%Standard Austria "S"Ka-S, Jask0lka, Regal, Olympia4c60 Series ISkylark 2, SF-26, T-53Ka-13, ijlanik, Eagle, BociaoSky, WeiheMucha Standard, Capstan, Ka-7,Ka-ZSkylark IKranichMeise, Olympia 2, Swallow,Gull 4NOTESI. Other gliders not included above willbe given handicaps based on theirmaker's performance curves,. unless subsequentinformation influences the handicapcommittee to the contrarv, Maker'sfigures for the following gliders give thesehandicaps 0n the BGA Formula: Sigma,64°,1 . BS-IB nO!. ASW-12 74';{'Ke~t~el, 78%: Ope~o 'Class Libeile (wi~hflaps), 83 %; PhoeQU5 15, 87 %.2. Figures for two-seaters apply bothone-l!Ip and two-up.3. Pil()ts ot gliders not mentioned abovewho wish tQ fly in British Contests, andany other pilots with questions on handicapping.should write as soon as possibleto: Ch'lirman of the BGA HandicappingSub-Committee, c/o The British GlidingAssociation. Evidence of Performanceshould be pfooduced either from a polarcurve. "Tested Poil1Its" (from timed or6mal glides), or from well conducted corn·parison flying with known types_ Particularfigures required are the pertormanceat Min. Sink or in the thermal, anda high speed point at 70-75 knots (130­140 km/h). See also George Whitfield'sarticle on performance testing on page 58.24Worcestershire Gliding ClubBidford-on-.AvonWe extend an Invitation to all gliding.'nth.usillsts to visit our site th.is s••son(Slratfold-on-Avon 9, miles-fY8Sham 5 miles)Open ~even days a·wee~Professi

y 11.35 I had the Olympia on the wireand launched to 1,300 feet straight intoa thermal. I soared comfortably for anhQur and, as convection increased found-to my dismay-tbat cloudbase \vas atDrily 3,700 feet. Still, not to worry thelift was plemifu.\ and strong a'bovez.,OOOfeet.Two hours found me at 900 feet nearthe launch point, "'ith indications of over­~evClopment all around. I made for anIsolated group of houses, illuminatedthrough a~reak in the clouds, and pickedup a. claSSIC thermal as it started. Thistook me back to cloudbase where Ic.eIebrated with a cigarette. At' aboJt thistime, I De Taggart in the Wi11s-awardedKa-61;. came out to play and we swoppedthermals for an hour or so, until Ioe hadto land for another stint of instructing.Although we operate an all-radio set-up,the company of other aircraft was mostwelcome and helped to pass the timequickly.At the four-hour mark I was almostfour miles west of Long Kesh at 2,500feet, to hear the news that a sea-breezefmnt had reached the airfield. How farinland would it. reach? My spirits sankfourhours at 3~. per hou'1' for nothing,except an entry JFI my logbook to remindme forever of how uncomfortable sailplanecockpits can get. Cumulus dev.elopmentwas almost complete and I realizedtbat I hadn't seen the sun for about15 minutes. Where was the next thermalcoming from? The devil looks after hisown, .for again the sUJ) came through ahole 10 the overcast to set off anotherthermal - two 'knots' worth - \vhicbwork.cd me back to 3,000 feet, raised. myflagglOg hopes and, most important, consumedtime.Forty minutes to go and no lift. I wasdown to 1,400 feet, with a field chosen,when the sea.breeze front arrived-acresof it showing half a knot up. This wasmy first experience of this type of lift andr marvelled how smooth it was-wavemust be something like this. I startedexploring the line of the front. whichseemed to be stationary. I was'able torelax !it .2,?OO feel . . . I was going tomake It. WIt,~ five minliltes to go, I turnedfor a final glIde to Long Kesh and arrivedQyer the boundary at 1,200 feet. Grenvillecounted down .the seconds and a fullbrakeapproach got me on the groundagain after fiv·e hours and three minutesI had done it. ._ Of my. adoring wife and family therewas nb sIgn. Momca was just being sentfor her fi~st soil) flight in the Capstanand the chIldren were hiding their ·eyes!CIVV MEETINGHE main agendailems were the re·T vision of the Code Spani! and theRules for Marfa. These items were dealtWIth at the same time 'since the liIew Codewill provide for general championshiprules and the organisers draw up theLocal Regulations within the frameworkof these rules. It is hoped to pl'int thenew Code in summer 1970.eat's Cradl~ was formally accepted asa champIOnshIp task by a majority vote..Due, .however, to unfamiliarity with thist!1sk by many countries who have not yethad the opportunity to try it for themselves,some misundel'standing existed asto the way in which it would work out inworld championships. These countriesproposed that Cat's Cradle, at Marfa,s~ould start with a crossing of the StartLIfle, and nQt as ,is usual in distanc.etasks with the pilot free t,o go as soon ashe wished.Having decided this by a majority, itwas further voted that all distance tasksat Marfa shouIa start with a Start Line.which would not be opened until allgliders were airborne. This would includefree distance on a day which could resultin new World or National records. Unfortunately.the ·countries unfamiliar withCat's Cradle could not appreciate theserious. increase in ·collisipn hazard inherentin their proposals. This is that oncros~il'lg ,the start line gliders do notcontmue straight on, but immediatelyturn along the course line of their ownchoice and across the path of gliders justbehind.Motor Gliders. Seff Kunz would makep.roposals at the February meeting forsl'Ceial badges and records for motorgliders.P'aris, November 1969 ANN WELCH25

STRUCTURAL TESTING OF GLASS-FIBRESAILPLANE WINGS'By Dipl. Ing. F. K. FranzmeyerlotroductiollGlass-fibre primary structures were introducedin German sailplanes for thefirst time in 1955, and were considered byofficial Boards to be unconventional.To obbin data about the service behavi­OUT of the new composite material. anextensive research programme was initiatedwith the assistance of the GermanMinistry of Defence. Among others. atest procedure consisting of full-scalestatic and dynamic tests on GF sailplanewings was worked out in the Instillll fUrF/ugzeugbau und Leichtbau of theTechnical University of Braunschweig­Director: Prof. Dr. lng. W. Thielemann-and in 1962 the first wini was tested inthis new manner. This was a wing of thehigh-performance SB·6 sailplane, one ofthe first five GF sailplane types to bedesigned and built in Germany. Thissailplane was the forerunner of the SB-?to 5B-9 series built by students of theAcademic Flying Group in Braunscbwe.ig.Up to now, six wings of otherGF sailplanes have been tested-twowings of the Libelle H-JOI, and one wingeach of the BS-I (old structure), BS-lnew structure), Phoebus and Cirrus.The test procedure applied included therequirements of the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt(German Air Registration BOard) (Ref.1). Most important in this connectionwere two tests:(I) A static loading test up to ultimateload at a test temperature of t=54'C. This test temperature was requiredbecause GF materials have the propertyof losing compression and shear strengthat higher temperatures, which could occuron hot summer days.(2) A fatigue test to indicate a fatiguelife of the wing of 3,000 hours offlight.The following el\amples show howthis test procedure was performed. Describedare the static and dynamic testswhich were c.arried out on the wing ofthe Cirrus high-performance sailplane,the last wing t~ted up to now (Ref. 2).The Cirrus wing has a glass-fibre foam!26sandwich shell. The spars are normalglass-fibre uni-directional ravings and thewing-root connection is the usual "tongue-and-fork"system.The Test ProgrammeStatic loading tests were carried outto obtain data about the elastic propertiesand the strength of the structure.The results could then be compared withthe assumption made at the design stageof the sailplane. These assumptions couldthen be corrected if found neoessary.Later static tests will furnish d~ta aboutthe manner of failure. and informationabout the fatigue behaviour will be ob·tained by dynamic tests. Dynamic testscarried out on sailplane wings are believedto be new in the history of sailplanes.Dyumic TestsFor technical and economic reasons, atest method was chosen which is knownas "service" or "programme" testing.This method approximates the test conditionsvery closely to the actual flyingconditions.To set up a loading programme of aprogramme test, a flight time of a highperformancesailplane of 200 hours peryear was taken, and a service life of ISyears was assumed. Consequently, theservice life of a high-performance sailplanecovers 3,000 hours of flight, and3,000 launches during the life of a sailplaneif one assumes an average fligbttime of one hour. It was assumed thatan equal number of starts would be ,carriedout by winch·launching and aerotowing.To limit the expense of the fatiguetest, only tbose loadings were appliedwhich would have a substantial effect onfatigue of a sailplane wing. These aregust loads, lOads due to la.unching, andlanding loads.The worst dynamic damage is causedby gust loads and they depend on theattitude of the sailplane. Therefore, theflight programme of the Cirrus was divi-

ded into five flight sections-Cl) winchl~unching.(2) aero-towing, (3) thermalflIght, (4) cross-country flight and (5)high-speed flight.The frequency of occurrence of thegust-load cycles in the test are calculatedby the following equation:n=5::EHB=kl . k2 . b . T .-- (pn . Ymn,+n-IThe respective flight section is indicatedby the index n: Id is a correctionfactor which takes into consideration thefact that a programme test representsseverer conditions than natural randomloads !n ~ght. A value of k/=0.5 ap­J)ears Justified: k2 takes into consideratIOn.the elasti

,,+65+ 429l79flGURE1u;2o~l~0t-*----l--1-------4J-----V--F===----~'::"==--':'-'=F~=l9 1 2...-/-alr-C;ust_loads~ ground Gust loads dur1;;c: ~e-ro...to..!nc, thermal,winch launch1:lg cy-eles cross'-country and high-speed night_15.000ILa!'1:ti::"l~-,lmpactandrolli:--..::-load~3000 ~--------i.642,o00 --------;>01

Figure 2: Fatigue test of the Cirrus wing. The picture shows tire deffection ofthe wing at maximum positive load caused by a positive gust of 10 m I sec.PURPOSE: to find out whether thecontact between the water and theGF laminate would have an influenCeon fatigue strength of the wing.6. A static load test up to ultimate loadof the wing. The test temperaturewas 54°C and the water ballast tankwas fulLPURPOSE: determination of ultimateload of the design and manner offailure..Results of the TestsA total of 5,911,150 loadin~ cyclesin the first fatigue test and 500.907 in thesecond were applied on the wing. Thiscorresponded to more than 9,000 hQursof flight in the test. No fatigue of thematerial could be found at the end ofthe dynamic tests. Taking a safety lifefactor of 3.0, it could be said on tbebasis of the present experience that afatigue failure within a life of 3,000hours of flight is unlikely. The maximumstresses were reached on load leveln=+5.6:(a) Normal stress in tbe upper sparbooms(compression); -14.8 kp/mm!.(b) Shear stress in the spar: 5.7 kplm'm 2 •The determination of the stiffness inthe static test shows that there are larg~deflections due to the inherent flexibilityof the materia! (Figure 3).The determined deflections of thewingtip of the Cirrus test wing at maximumload were 1,280 mm. at 20°C and1,440 mm. at 54°C. This shows that thedeflection of the wing increases about12% on hot days compared with cooldays; the deflection at ultimate load was3,160 mm. at the wingtip. A clean breakoccurred in the upper (compression) sparboomof the wing attachment Utongue"at a load corresponding to a load factorof n= + 11.0 (figure 4). That means thata reserve factor at maximum load of2.2 was achieved. The maximum normalstress reached in the fracture sectionwas 25.6 kp/mm!. This was only 60% of29

Figure 3:I--/'././/'~. /_-= ',; ::::;;:=;;:i;:---~'=:--::"~:;-:=::--===-~:=,;;=;,;;;;::~~Wing deflections at some c1wracteristic loading cases:I. wing ;1'Ot under load2. wing under normal flight load (n= + 1.0)3. wing load corresponding to a positive gust of 10 m/sec.4. wing load corresponding to a negative gust of 10 m Isec.5. ultimate load (n= + 11.0 and t=54°C)the ultimate strength of the sparboo01material (36 kp{mm 2 at 54°C). The fracturewas therefore a buclding failure. Onellamination of the fracture it was foundthat the rovings in the. tongue had nQtbeen straightened very well on manufa.ctureof the test wing (Pigure 3). Thiseaused a reduction of the ultimatestTengtb. In tbe production models ofthe Cirrus. this was improv.c:d, leading toa higher safety factot. The tesul,ts ofthe static tests confirmed tbe calculations.made for the wing structure. It shouldbe mentioned that these results were obtainedin spite of carrying out the otherstatic and dynamic tests before the testto ultimate load.--ConclusionAn extensive research programme hasbeen carried out o.n a wing of the Cirrushigh-performance glass-fibre sailplane.The mo.st important results of.the tests would. indicate a fatigue servicelife Qf 3,000 hours of fligbt-including asafety factor of 3.0-ano. a maximumload reached in a static' test of 54°C ofn= + 11.0, in fact a reserve factor of 2.2against limit load. Tbis leads to the conclusionthat the wing of the Cirrus incorporates-asfar as possible at thepresent state of the art-sufficient staticand dynamic strength. These resultsshow again,. like those tests on otherglass-fibre sailplane wings mentioned in.30Figure 4: Fracture of the upper sp.arboom of the wing attachment tongue. Theultimate load factor reached was n= + 11.0 corresponding to a safety factor ofj =2.2. This result was obtained at a, test-tempera/ure of 54°C. the highest pos-~ibll! wing-surfau temperature an Q hot summer day.

Figure 5: LongilUdina.1 section through the wing attachment tongue. The piclllreshows the "down-lranging" rovings of the upper spar-boom which inl/uenced theultimate load. The required shape of the sparboom is indicated by the plotted line.In production models of the Cirrus the effect was removed.the introduction. that German designel'5are able to build safe glass-fibre sailplanes.References(1) Standards for Structural Substantiationof Sailplane Parts Consisting ofGlass-fibre Reinforced Plastics. IssuedMarch, 1965. by LlIftfahr.l-Bundesamt,Brarmschweig. Available from' uflfahrt­Bundesamt, Abt. Technik, 3300 Braunschweig,Flughafen, Germany.(2) F'RANZMEYER. F. K.. WissenschaftficheUntersllchlmgen iiber die Anwendungvon gLasfaserverstiirkten KIlnsts'offen(GFK) in lrochbeanspruchten Leichtbauteilen.Teil VIII: Statische und dynamiseheFesligl«!iLsuntersuchungen aneiner TragI/ache des Segell/ugzeugs Cirrus.FRANZMEYER, F. K.: Report No. 69­02 of the Institl/l filr Flugzeugbau rindLeichtbau Technische Universitiit,Braunschweig. 1%9. Available from Institutftir Flugzeugbau und Leichtbau,Technische Universit1:t Braunschweig,3300 Braunschweig, Langer Kamp I9b,Germany. Cost about DM 20.(3) KAUL, H. W.: Die erforderliehe ZeitundDauefestigkeit von FJugzeugtragwerken.KAUL, H. W.: lahrbuch der DeutscheVersuehsansllJJt fur Luftfahrt (DVL)1938, pp. 195-209.DERBYSHIRE AND LANCASHIRE GLIDING CLUBMANY COURSES - All INCLUSIVEEa,ly Spring -- Lat. AUlu",n.Hill top plateau in ?eak District National Park. Thermal,Oet.tll , ..., wilh pJNWI•.wave and hIli soaring for N.W. to S.E. on 3 mile west and 5mile south escarpments from field itself • East wind soaringfrom winch launch • Wave worked to 15,000 ft. so far •mel••nd lemal. bunkrocmJ IWeek·Modern Fleet under constant review. Capstan, Swallows, ends only It pr.HltI if, Wi.'.).Ka 8, 463 • Fine Winch Fleet. Hitch Facilit:es.Seper.~ .Meutoo",. Club,oom.•ndSar with ,eat .tmosph.re.i.,id...t S'eward ."d Stew.rd_s.Fun loerd i.......d twin bunu.••dVISITORS WELCOME - Temporary or Daily MembershIp l'clephone, T10fSWfLl 207for Syndicates and Solo Pilots. GItEAT IlUCKLOW.Phone or write for accommodation - notice appreciated. Hr. TIOfSWfLl, DfItIYSHIR:f-31

TAT! GALLERY 874D-----------------------THEKRONFELDCLUBTS a bit late to say Happy New YearI but let's say it anyway to wish you alla year full of success in 'gliding, poweredflight and-no,w-motor gliding.Have you seen the New Look at theClub? We have il new carpet and newwalls in the bar-why not come ,to see-­and then join, if you're not ,already amember. Forgive the advertising but wefeel that the existence of the Club is notknown by enough people. The Club ishere to promote interest in all kinds ofaviation, mainly on the sporting side.Wednesday evening is "Club- Evening"when there is a talk on some subject,usually connected with aviation. Theall"Il'lINTECClESTON'QUAD'SWIClub also opens on Monday, Tuesdayand Thursday evenings and will do untilthe evenings begin to lengthen. TheSpring programme should be on yourClub noticeboards now.We hope the British Light AviationCentre will be advertising our presenceto all their members during the year sowe look forward to an influx of powerpilots.Remember, the gate to the Club is tothe left of the entrance to 74, Eccles-tonSquare. Luey Connolly at the BGA isour Membership Secretary. You can alsotelephone the Club in the eyenings if youhave any queries-ol-828 8740.AVIATI'ON ART SOCIETY1 969 Annual Competition,- JUDGE'S REPORT-HE 1969 shQW was remarkable for itsT. marked distinction between thespecialists and the amateurs. ThereappeaI'ed to be a far wider gap this yearbetween these Entries. Nevertheless, theJudges found their task a difficult one.We were ·delighted to have Peter Scott,and WaIter- Woodington of the RoyalAcademy, co.operating in this year'sjudging.Taking lbe professionals. first, theJudges awarded the Flight Trophy toJohn Young's "224 Hurricane Peel Off".This ·was outstanding for severnl reasens-a good employment of ,the uprightshape; careful planning of the compositionand a great feeling of space andheight with good Testrained colour. Wehad one adverse comment-the tonevalues of the nearest and most distantaircraft were too similar, thus losing indepth what he had achieved in space andaltitude. Notwithstanding, a good paintingto be admired for its tranquillity.Gerald CQuJson"s "Evening Patrol"32was a penetrating study, very competent,but I would have liked to have seen amore aesthetic stUdy of the Spitfire~xecuted with as much feeling as he putmto the distant c1ou

Miller. The clever commentary of thepainting had great appeal. Of these paintingsthat have a narrative element thiswas outstanding, expressing with greateconomy (Qn~ aircraft and one figure) farmore than a sky full of battling aircraftand smoke trails!A conventional portrait of the Valiantselected for its simplicity and satisfyingquality was "Valiant Vigil" by RQYWensley-Smith. "You've Got Her" byC. W. E. Wailer succeeded for its lessconventional approach as against themany paintings of aircraft flying acrossthe picture plane in one direction oranother. It gave one a great impressionof being in the aircraft. I think anyoneWho has flown will agree that the artistput this over extremely well, althoughhis choice of colour was unfortunate.While on the subject of colour, I mustmention "Catapult Crew" by MaureenAnne Gordon. This work is to be commendedfor its colours, warm. bold andarresting, after so many blue paintings.leaving the selected paintings, I wouldlike to comment on the show generally.Inevitably I SUppose one must expecta s~ul~ifying uniformity from those witha 1.lmlted range striving for the charactenstlccompetence of the ProfessionalYallkee Doodle Dandy (Boeing F4B-4 ofUSS LeXillgtOIl over Manltallen) byBrian WiJftams, alld below ConditionsGood by Margaret Kahll.33

Artist with his impeccable technique, andtherein lies their downfall. It would be sostimulating to bypass these considerationsand concentrate instead on themore rewarding qualities of atmosphereand colour. Sir Winston Churchillreceived an early lesson in this fromLady Lavery and, in his book entitled"Painting as a Pastime" advocates 'beaudacious'. Sir John Lavery could tacklea 1918 aerodrome with aircraft in abroad loose style losing nothing in theprocess.With the fiat distemper-like treatmentof the overworked blue sky so often employedby those carried away with theirexpertise with a brush, one misses thedelicate stirring of atmospheric light, thevibrancy of atmospheric haze and space.Too often onc cannot fail to see how thecraftsman has been hypnotised by thephotograph to a point where the photographdictates to the craftsman, robbinghim of any artistry he may have, so thatin the end all he has to ,offer is an artlessrepresentation devoid of feeling andlacking in spontaneity. Why competewith the lens anyway? It is not selective,cannot compose. and has no imagination.Employ it if you must, but don't be itsslave. Vermeer used a camera obscura toassist his perspective, but this did notobscure his sense of composition andcolour nor his feeling for light andspace, which gave his paintings a monumentalquality.One final word of advice t,o those whochoose to paint moonlit subjects. Witha little perception, onc could work on thetheory of cold light aDd warm shadOWS,soft edges and forms, and make thesestudies so much more colourful aDdexciting.FRANK WOOTIONChairman, Judging Panel34GLIDING CERTIFICATESDIAMOND GOALNo, Nam~ Club 19692/304 I. N. HobdlY Thamrs VaU~y 7.62/305 M. G. Thros.~ Essex 20,82/306 V. F. O. Tull London 22.52/307 P. R. Home Sur~y & Hant. 30.7'2/308 Patricia Wat50n Surrey & Hants 30.721309 A. O. Burne Kent 30.7GOLD C COMPLETI;No. Namt!Club240 D. W, Lilburn Yorkshire241 Patricia WltsonSurr~y & Hant.242 R. S. Wall~r BristolGOLD C HEIGHTNQm~R. BeckD. W. LilburnR. J. KerrL. S. Asl"!ClubCleveland!YorkshireFulmarVorbhireG. D. Butler-Madden Surr~y & Hant,P2trida WatsonT. St~llgle'R. S. WailerL. E. ROllerC. O. O'LearyR. H. BrownG. F. BrindleNameJ. ll, HObdayM. O. T/lros

THE RISE AND FALL OF A NORTHERN CLUBBy FRED SLlNGSBYUnder this title, i,n The, Sailplane & Glider of October, 1933, FredSlingby, calling himself "Northern Nomad", alluded to the recentdemise of a northern gliding c:;lub in terms which precluded therevealing of names. This article, reproduced immediately below,is fol'lowea by the full story now disclosed by Slingsby for thefirst time after nearly forty years.Many years ago a Man stood on the lOP of anexceedingly high hill and. stretching out his arms3.s a bird does its wings. cried in a loud voice.. to' I w.ill ride the wind." And had he not liftedup his voice for all to hear. his fellows wouldnever have known .his thoug'hts.'His s01Towin~ Comp1lnlonS, ,Pondering deeplyon thc Man's tailure to fly like a bitd. were muchintrigued with the problem. and they gatheredIOllCther divers pieces of wood and fine cloth tor3shion fO'f thems.clves a device like the wings ofa bird. saying one to the other. -If it looks allright. lo! it is OK".Having 'Cast (ots for the honour of making thefirst venture. they firmly fixed the Chosen One tothe device with eagerness and haste. for the otherCompanions were strangely happy. c'ven though'hey had not been favoured in the drawing of lots.The strange device and its burden was hurledwith force from the high hill. for Ihe Compaoioushad use of a ,ope with the- power of increasing itslength according to the strength of men.As .he Chosen One was still possessed of thestrength to sit erect whelJ found in the woods below{he hill. the Compani"ns rejoiced. saying."Su~ly wc arc great! The power is oun wc canfly as do the birds!'" And ,there was much drink,­jng of wioe and v.oiccs were liflL!'(j up in song? andeach man patted his own back- in accordance withthe custom. Scribes came from near and far torecord these wonder!), weaving their own dreamsin the tidings so that all the people marvelled.Season followed season) and strange were thedevices made and eagerly were they hurled fromthe hill tOPS and counts UP to an hundred couldhe made before the breaking.Then it came to p~~~, when the Companionswere gathered together. that one of' their numberha'ving a loud voice said. "·Let us buy for our.selves a device so cun~inglr. cQntrived that twomay be hurled fortll instead of one." And theothers praised the man for his wisdom. for be waswell respected. being the o""'ncr of an ihn.'Great feasts were held to enthuse the multitudeand IighLen their purses. for much 'money was requiredfor the making of this machine and hadnot the Merchants demanded gold for accountsyet unpaid-even the maker of balloons. Moreov.er,there were certain Powerful Ones 'Whd Jivedin a fine palace in the mighty city. and they hadenlightened the Companions on many' matlersand. being full 01 wisdom. did not desire forthemselves the joy of being hurled from hill-tops.But it came to pas~, that after many tribula·tions, the, .Companioos pos.~cssed a machine inwhich two cOQld be carried yet their numbershad melted like snow in sunshine, so great hadbc..~n their labours.Now. the Powerful Ones in the great city becamerestless. and after man,y murmu~ings' d~!Jcendedon the few retnajning workers and. scat..tering them with threats of legal ...-:cngc:ancc. car..ried off the machine for which so much sold hadbeen paid. ""For. u they said, "we must ha;vcsomething." And they sold the machine in astunge market for a few coins.From that day the Companions were so routedthat not two came together again. and theyremember, with bitl,crness in their hea-rts, neveragain to seek wisdom in a loud voke. ~yenthough the speaker be the owner of an ion.But a man srill roam! the mountain~, seekingto soar like a bird. even unto this day.WHAT ReAU.Y HAPPENEDROWSING through some very oldB copies of TJiE SAILPLANE ANDGLIDER, I came across the sad legend ofthe old Scarborough Gliding Club.Couched in terms of exaggerated simplicity,which at first sight reads like alot of tripe. Nevertheless, it must havebeen a cri de coeur from its author inthose far-off days of 1933. What fun andheartaches the legend recalls for me!The opening sentence about "a Manstanding on an exceedingly high hill ...",etc"., merely illustrates the great urge inall men keen on flying, to know moreabout the new sport of gliding whichwas making such strides in Europe,particularly in Germany.Early in 1930, a young man who wasa dance band leade'T, name of Sanders.came round to my small furniturefactory in Scarborough and showed roean article jn a London newspaperdescribing the sport of gliding, and thevery large response arising from anapp.eal to all interested persons to attenda preliminary meeting in a London35

estaurant and consider the formation ofa British gliding movement.Young Sanders knew, of course, of myeigbt years' service in the RFC and RAFand that he could play tunes on myenthusiasm to get flying again, even ingliders. So we put out a paragraph inour local neswpaper, timed it for theusual "downbeat" of a Monday issue, andthe local scribes got weaving on it. Thetiming was spot on, the response wasremarkable, and soon we bad a largegathering of all fypes of people withmixed ideas about gliding, but very eagerto learn more, and to get started. ACommittee was formed to link up withthe newly formed British Gliding Associationin London, referred to in the legendas the "Powerful Ones in the Big City".At our next meeting a very energeticyoung man with ready speech and anactive mind invited the Committee tohold all its future meetings at His Place;he happened to be the new manager of aluxury hotel in Scarborough, nicelylocated in the centre of the town. So ourCommittee members matched his acumenby promptly co-opting him and electedhim Chairman of the ScarboroughGliding Club without more ado. Wehenceforth settled down to our ponderousdeliberations in warmth and comfort, notto mention luxury. Incidentally, it soonbecame the custom to attend Committeemeetings in correct dinner suits, so wewere always well fed and the business ofthe day was carried out unhurriedly untilthe very late hours, and with very fewabsentees. It was generally agreed tbatthere appeared to be more in Glidingthan we imagined, and so eventually wegot clown to the purchase of a primarytype trainer from Messrs R. F. Dagnall ofGuildford. This firm had been persuadedby the BGA to make and market a fewof these gliders. It was known in itsoriginal fonn as a Zi:lgling, but aftercertain modifications to the tailbooms andother details by the American GlidingAssociation and a few more other itemsby Dagnall's, the type became known asthe Dagling. The BOA sold sheets ofblueprints to clubs for 25s. per set. Tohelp the gliding movement, Dagnallmarketed the completed job for about£50, delivery extra.36While awallmg the arnval of theDagling. the Committee decided that thequestion of the appointment of anInst':'t1ctor and an Honorary GroundEngmeer was no problem. Slingsby, withhis RFC and RAF training, could copewith both jobs. I felt honoured, but somewhatapprehensive. However, our meetingsat the hotel were completely freefrom tension, and as the evenings woreon. an atmosphere of utter tranquillitypervaded that hotel lounge: our Chairmancould do no wrong at making suchdecisions.Came the day when the Daglingarrived from Guildford. That Saturdayafternoon was just right for theoccasion. The Press and all members hadbeen alerted, all was set. and it was myday. The long motorcade, headed byDagnall's lorry, dashed with appropriaterecklessness to the chosen spot of themoorland outside the town. Tile pathetic~looking aircraft with its dangling wiresand tubing was carefulIy assembledunder my supervision, checked witht~ammels, squinted down for alignment,Sighted from fore. aft and all that-thiswas my day. With touching and une.xpectedmagnanimity I was asked totake the first flight. However, I felt theyhad been rather enthusiastic in the waythe safety belt was fastened. I had myway about the size of the launching teamon the elastic rope and got this reducedfrom ten a side to five, with three holdingback. I successfully suppressed theastonishing acceleration and cOnsequentialdecapitation of the nearest membersof the launchers, and a height of 10 feetwas recorded with a measured distanceflown of 70 yards.After showers of congratulations andPress photos, we continued our fun. untila steeper slope was found which gave us~ore height and much longer trips which,viewed from ground level, were mostspectacu],;u; the Dagling did not appearto be qUite strong enough for the landings.We took it to my furniture workslater that evening and there it stayed fora week or so getting sorted out. It wasjust. as well as it turned out, because,takmg a short cut from the hill we wereusing to the main road, I was compelledto take evasive action from a very heavy

arrival of the Zeppelin as a well-timedbit of organisation by the Gliding Clubto add to the display.We launched Carli Magersuppe in hisProfessor to start the display. That launchwent sadly wrong, perhaps becausesomebody holding the port wingtip heldon too long and Carli had to check thisuntil too late to avoid striking the fencealong the edge of the cliff, or becauSee agust caught one wing as it swung overthe steep cliff; but the sailplane gustedup at a steep angle, eame back over thecrowd and went down the cliff on theopposite side of the field and flopped intothe sea below. The crowd were thrilled tobits and swarmed like bees against thefrail fence along the edge of the hill, andwe just avoided a major tragedy by theskilful use of tbe public address system.The Gennan pilot sat on top of his sailplane,which was filling with sea waterand drifting away from the shore. Aparty of fishermen in a motor cobble didsome quick work over to the frail aircraft,and snatched Carli aboard theircraft, and then crunched the nose of thefuselage to get a line round it, and towedit ashore. One of us picked up theGerman from the harbour; the rescuersfound a small yard nearby where theyheaped up the remains of the sailplaneon show and collected a well-earnedpailful of sundry coins for their labours.Up on the hill we made an attempt tolaunch Robert Kronfeld in his Wien, buthe also had trouble with his crew and, infact, collected a little damage to his skid.So he packed up and went off to Dunstableto get repairs dOne, as he wasscheduled to give a show to the Princeof Wales near Dunstable the next week.That leIt a weary, wet and gliderless, butotherwise perfectly good, highly skilledGerman pilot in our midst.Once more our Chairman settled thematter forthwith. Here we had an excellentGerman instructor, wet but willingto be taken into our service, and thuswe would be the only Club in thecountry with a "pro". That evening inour hotel lounge we discussed all aspectsof the proposal and dried out, fed, jollied'up and bedded the young German pilot.Once again I thought of the patheticDagling rusting in the farm shed. Even-SCHEIBE FALKE(pronounced SHY-BER FAL-KERl--='::;;~-"''''''''''·''T:· he only proven self-launching molor glider for allthrough glider training from ab-initio 10 solo, and forsimulated field landing, hill, wave and thermal soaring, navigalion and cross countrytraining. Short take-off run and ability to t""i allows it to do 'the work of two conventionaltwo-seaters, and m

tually we organised a course of instructiongiven by our most expert instructoron the care and maintenance of primarygliders, greasing up the wires and tbings,and so on. We Were introduced into themaking and use of tack-strips, unknownin this country before 1930-and I saythat with some authority. We also receivedregular weekly gliding trainingunder strict discipline, starting with slidesdown gentle slopes and encou.raged by amlxmn: of German and English.Progress must have seemed ratherdreary for the young German instructor,and he began to press for the purchaseof a dual control two-seater, a "Doppelsitzer"I think he called it. He said heknew of a firm in Kassel, Germany, whomade a really excellent job for about£250. This seemed a lot of money at thetime, and of course we still owed theBGA £75 for the ghastly gliding show onthe Castle Hill. However, we felt ratherjustified in delaying immediate paymentas the show was such a flop. So a teamof expert persuaders was selected to workon the likelier guests at the hotel, about"training the Youth of Britain to fly,"the high cost of tbis "laudable workcarried out by the SCarborough GlidingClub," etc. This finally resulted in anadequate sum to buy the Kassel twoseater.This most impressive machine wasdelivered to us in a very short time, andwas rigged in the hotel ballroom,christened with a bottle of something orother, and suitable speeches were madeby leading members of the British GlidingAssociation, specially invited fromLondon and suitably entertained in OURhotel. They were so impressed as to carefullyoverlook on that occasion theridiculous debt of £75 still drifting aroundthe chilly patches of the mind. But itfinally caught up with us; they, "thePowerful Ones in the Great City," issueda writ and then swiped our lovelyKassel, which was eagerly snapped upby a London Gliding Club group for avery small sum.This blow finished the ScarboroughClub. and so disgusted the young GermanInstructor that he left us. The remnantsof the club were welded into the newlyformed Yorkshire Gliding Club.Me? Oh, I built a glider of my own,the Falcon. and wandered about thecountry with kindred spirits to enjoy it.Later, I was reduced to making thethings for a living. This went on for yearsuntil some clever blokes from the "GreatCity" swooped down on me .... cleverblokes, these Cockneys! Watch'em, that'sall!FUTURE EVENTSFeb. 21-22. 2nd Symposium on CompetitiveSQaring, Pittsburgh, Pa. (re·vised date).Mar. 14-15. Symposium on Cross-countrySoaring, Pittsburgh, Pa.May 30-JuDe 7. Standard-Sport ClassNationals at Dunstable.June 13-21. Western Regionals at Nympsfield.June ls-July 4. World Championships atMarfa. Texas.Juoe 27-July 5. Scottish Regionals atPortmoak.July 11-19. Dorset Regionals at Compton.Abbas.Ju]y 1l·12. Air League Rally at Sywell(revised date).July 25.Augusl 2. Northern Regionals atSutton Bank.August 8-16. Wycombe Regionals atBooker.August 22-28. Inter-Club Soaring Meet atLasham.August 22-31. Open Class Nationals atDoncaster.August 29-Sept. 6. Lasham Regionals atLasham.39

CONTESTS FOR ALLBy ANN WELCHs the performance of new glidersA becomes increasingly magnificent,~here i.s a grow~g need for competitionsIn whIch there is a chance of winningwithout havirng to buy several thousandpounds' worth of exotica. What isneeded is a good "dinghy", or FormulaIV class. for the pilot who can fly only atweekends, even though he may thinkabout it all tbe week.Such a class should not have anythingto do with world dl3mpionships. TheOpen and Standard Classes work satisfactorily,not least by diverting designattention alternately between orchids anddaisies, the result being apparent in thewide range of top-class gliders available.But not all gJiders are, or should be, designedfor world championships, andworld championship gliders become outclassed,although they remain excellentfor general competitive soaring.So a separate Cl.ass is needed whichshould limit the top end of the perfonnancerange, and be internatiollally availablefor countries or clubs to use at theirconvenience. For example, there could bechampionships in the Class between theScandinavian countries, or between glidingclubs in Britain, Or between Regionsin the United States, each working to theClass rules (which should be minimal)but otherwise organising the event tosuit their OWII conditions.On looking into ways of limiting therange of 'performance to ·an extent whichwould allow reasonable comparison tobe made between pilots, the first thing tofrget about is handicapping, with itstedium of getting agreement, and detailingpermitted modifications. But whatevercriteria are applied, it is essentialthat they shall be easy to measure, andnot acquire special test~ or involveopinion.Fortunately there is one characteristicof conventional gliders which is easy tocheck, and which can be used effectively;that is, aspect ratio. Improved performancegenerally demands higher aspectratio. so a halt can be called at any aspectratio that gives the desired top40limit. From time to time there has beenthe odd prototype which would not fitin with this rule, but they are mre enoughto be discounted, and for all practicalpurposes there are none now Qr in prospectIt is not even expected that anyonewould build gliders specially for theClass.Aspect ratio 20 allows such gliders asthe Dart 15, Foka. Ka-6and Phoebus 15;21 allows in addition the ASW-15 andDiamant 16.5, for example; and 22 theHP-14. A more comprehensive list isgiven in Table 1. Organisers of competitionscould declare the aspect ratiolimit to suit their own circumstances.calling their event. say, the British 20Class championships, or the European 25Class Championships. After some experienceit is likely that competitionswould settle into just one or two popular.groups. In the event of too many entriesthe organisers could cut out the lowestperformance gliders by declaring a lowaspect ratio limit.A merit 'of working to this system isthat it is very flexible. If after a few yearsit is felt that an aspect ratio has becometoo low, the number can be raised withoutany other complication. At presentseveral countries are introducing competitionsfor the more ordinary gliders ­the British Sport Class is an example ­but it would be a pity if everyone arrivedat a totally different set of rules whichwould preclude easily arranged competitionsbetween groups of countries.Limiting by aspect ratio is obviously notas precise as having tight Class rules, orone-design contests, but it is simple, oractical.and does not require anyone to getfussed over minor details.Moving further along the line of an~nteroational "everyman's'; contest, isthere any reason why the scoring systemshould not be simple as well? There is agreat deal of interest, and a large amountof work has been done by C. E. Wallington,and others, in a "placing order". Anon-world, but international, championshipClass might provide a good opportunityto introduce it, but if placing is tobe used, it must be accepted that theresults will differentiate between pilots'performances only fairly coarsely, andattempts to make it refined or complicatedshould be avoided. Its merit is its

Close-up of Ihe Observer's Panel with the lape-recor,der above il.THE RED QUEEN -ResearchBy G. R. WHITFIELD and J. R. MllFORDGeorge Whitfield allaching Thermometers.42A Glider for Meteo,rologicalREADING University has just takendelivery of a T-53n for meteorologicalresearch. The aircraft will bebased at Lasham and will be flown by asmall group of pilots and observersworking from the University Departmentof Geophysics and Appl:ed PhysicalSciences.The aircraft is being fitted with a 4 ft.nose boom and instruments. to measureup to a dozen parameters and recordthem on magnetic tape for computeranalysis. The parameters include height(measured to within a few feet), airspeed.vertical acceleration. pitch. roll. andcompass heading. Meteorological parametersinclude temperature. humidity,and the angles of yaw and incidencemeasured by vanes on the boom. Any orall of these can be sampled and recordedat intervals ranging from 0.2 to 2seconds, so that details of the state andmotion of the air can be investigateddo""n to lengths of a few yards.There are many questions about thestructure and beha,viour of the lowest10,000 ft. of the atmosphere whichmeteorologists, as well as glider pilots,

ask. We l'ecognis~ the limitations of aglider for r'esearch, but, even so, weshould be able la get many useful dataon a number of features. The mostobvious meteorological problem is tbestructure of thermals and this suits usbecause thermals area convenient size,and when they are active our glider canstay up. We shall probably work. withaccomplices 10 mark thermals for us,while we make straight passes throughthem to get the best pic.ture we can oftheir shape and size.w'e shall also try to examine seabreezefronts, with the active assistanc·eof John Simpson. The main picture ofthe sea·breeze is now generally accepted,but we bope to discover more detail, andtQ measure the amount of mixing of"land" and "sea" air which takes placein various regions around the front.Of course, to get accurate informationon air motions we shall first bave tomeasure the performance of the glideritself. involving us in the usual dawn Trying it /01: size. Back Sear. lamesaero-lows to great heights, and many Milford (Mel'eor.ologisr). Front Seat,short straight "partial glides" at vilrious Geo,ge Whitfield and Peter Purdie.sp~eds. Fortuna.tely. the recording system (Photos: John Simpsorr)is ideal for this, and analysis programmesare already available.this we should be able to fly level, andThe project is sUPlXJrled by the investigate large-scale phenomena. suchNatural Environment Research Council as the transport betwec:l the ground andwith a two-year contract. We see this as different layers of the atmosphere ofa small beg:nning of great things, as we heat, water vapour, and momentumdevelop and prove both inst~um'ents and through tur.bulence-and thes.e are imtechniques.Looking ahead, we clearly portant data for the development ofneed a motor glider (see The White computer modelling of the atmosphereKnight, page 486, December issue). With to help in weather forecasting.General View of Ihe Instrument System and Observer's Panel.

a6-VERTICALVELOCITYRADIUSI:)ABOUT THERMALSBy NICHOl.AS GOODHARTHERMALS may be tall columns ofT rising air. or they may be vortexrings.or combinations of both, but onething is reasonably certain and that isthat they have the highest vertical velocityin the middle and thus decreasingvertical Velocity towards the outside.They must in other words have cross-sectionslike curves (a). (b) or (c) in Figure 1.One of the things we have all foundout by experience is that a fairly steepangle of bank gives the best rate-of-dimbin the ordinary sort of thermal and surprisinglythis one piece of informationalone tells us a lot about the lift distri'bution in a thermal.Figure 2 shows the sinking speed of areasonably good glider plotted againstFig. 1.radius of turn for varying angle of bank.Let us assume that 40° bank is the bestin a particular thermal and gives 3 knotsachieved rate of dimb. 40· of bank givesa radius of 200 ft. and a glider sink of1.S knots. hence the absolute vertical velocityof the thermal at 200 ft. radius is4.5 knots. Much more important is thefact that we know that either more bankor less bank will give a lower rate-ofclimbi.e. the thermal strength must increa$Clwith decreasing radius moreslowly than the glider sink increases andvice versa with increasing radius. Thus atangent to the glider curve at this radiusmust also be a tangent to the thermalabsolute vertical velocity curve as shownin Figure 2. For practical purposes wehave therefore defined the cross-sectionof the thermal in the range of radii ofinterest.The part of the thermal outside a radiusof 400 ft. or so is not significant fromFig. 2.IINOTSGLIOER200 400 600 800 1000 1200RADIUS-FT.44

the flying point of Vil;W' but is of interestif We want to know more about thethermal per se .. What does the av,eragethermal seem like as you first enter it?My own impression is that quite a longwar· out the air begins to have a differentfee' there is· a champagne-like qualityindi~ating that lift is being approachedand soon the variometer starts to climb,slowly at first and then more rapidly.; inother words I can .easily talk ID)'self intobelieving that the cross-section is oftensomething like Figure I (a). less frequendythere is actual sink after the lightturbulence has first been encountered followedby a rapid build up of lift i.e. across-section like Figure 1 (c). Thermalslike Figure 1 (b) seem to me, on theother hand, to OCcUr infrequently i.e. athermal in which one flies from dead airstraight into rapidly increasing lift·.It just so happens that Figures 1 (a)and 1 (c) are cross-sections of verticalvelocity in vortex rings. I (a) !s a ringrising at tbe same speed as Its ou:t~rsttearnlinc is descending and 1 (c) ISrising more slowly.For thermals which have this form weare now in a position to hazard a guessat the like1y sort of size of the bubble.; alittle bit of freehand .curve drawmgmight prodl:lce a result like the dottedcurve in Figure 2 which gives the radiusof tbe bubble at around 1,200 ft. Forconvenience let us assume. that the vortexI'ing is like the diagram shown in"The Vorticist's Reply" by Frank Irving,S & G June-July, 1968, reproduced hereas Figure 3. Scaling from this gives anoverall height to the bU'bble of about1.500 ft. If cloud base is at 3,500 ft.this means that when the cumulus cloudfirst forms, the bottom end of the bubbleis at 2.000 ft. As we have earlier decided,gliders will circle in this bubble at aradius of around 200 ft., thus, despite theflattened shape of the bubble gliders circlingin it at v

Fig. 4.parts of the cloud with a continuing upcurrentin the middle. This is what oneof

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CROSS-WIND RACEBy HAROLD DREWOST of us have speculated on theM amount of the penalty which onepays for drifting down-wino excessivelYduring a cross-wind race. Last year, atthe Prairie States Regional, an excellentopportunity came m¥ way to gather alittle information on this.On the last day of the contest, theorganizers set a short task consisting ofa race to Howling Dog Airfield, whichlies 63.40 nautical miles to the east(magnetic) of the contest site. The contestsite and Howling Dog are at identicalelevations. The met. man forecast asteady northerly (magnetic) wind of20 knots. He thought that there wouldbe little variation in wind direction andstrength at all operating altitudes throughoutthe day, and he turned out to beright. He put cloud base at a little over3,500 feet. Pilots were not permitted toenter cloud but there was no maximumaltitude set for the start. The met. manexpected thermal strength at all operat-48SAILPLANE AND ENGINEERINGSERVICES LIMITEDHolmfieldRoad. BuxtonDerbyshireAdjoining ASJRing Buxton 4365 NOWC'S of AREPAIRSTRAILERS, STEEL TUBEAND WOODEN FRAME,COVERED PLY OR ALUMINIUMFor SalePREFECT 30 B & GRUNAU 3NEW, OPEN TUBULAR STEELMULTI-PURPOSE TRAILER TOFIT ASK 13, K.8 AND SWALLOWCOil SPRING IND. SUSPENSION,LIGHTS AND FITTINGS.This is as far as they were prepared todiscuss their tactics in each other's hearing.I took each one aside and questionedhim on his further plans.I spoke first with Kevin Kempinski.He remarked - rather condescendingly- that the shortest distance between twopoints is a straight line. He planned tooperate between two lines - one 1.25miles north of the task line and theother 1.25 mile.s south of it. This wouldrequire a heading on his first glide ofabout 59 degrees and on subsequentglides of about 50 degrees. His headingon his final would be much more easterlysince he would not be doing any climbingaltitudes to be sufficient to provide arate 'of climb of two knots for high-performancesailplanes. He was right in allof these things. It will be noted thatconditions lent themselves admirably tothe relatively simple calculation of tacticsand analysis of results.I talked with three of my friends beforethe start and was surprised to learnthat they shared a number of intentions.They planned to cr.oss the start line togetherat identical altitudes close tocloud-base. Actually, they crossed togetherat 3.520 feet. Thermals wereobvious and plentiful. The three plannedto glide until they were down to 2,000 feetand then to climb back to their start linealtitude; then they were going to repeatthis until they reached a point fromwhich they could just make the goal withtheir final glide. Each was flying thesame type of high-performance sailplaneand all expected to climb at two knotsaad to glide at 50 knots. At this speedthey would have a rate' of sink of twofeet per second. As a result of this remarkableuniformity and unanimity, thefollowing factors were common to all ofthem :-Glide lime 1.520' fl. aIL. lossDistance through air ma." per glideDrift South during glideClimb time to recover 1,~0 it.Drift South during climbDistance through lir on final from3,250 ft.Time for finalDrift South on final760 seC!.10.55 nm.4.22 miles450 ~C!.2.5 nm.24.44 nm.1,760 secs.9.77 nm.

PATTON{T-11 9-7 nm_____________-;/LIN+ 63'40n mprecISiOn and had landed with nothingin hand. They all agreed that they hadheld to their flight plans and that theyhad found conditions just like the met.man said tbey would be. I asked whether1 might write up their flights for SAIL­PLANE & GLIDING and. although Chucklooked a bit dl.lbious, they all agreed.It is interesting that the tactics usedby Kevin and Monty led to identicaltimes, 2 hours 10 minutes and 10 seconds.You will see from the vector diagramswhich I have c:onstructed that each madefive climbs and six glides, including thefinal. Kevin was quite a little furtherfromhome than Monty at the top oftheir fifth climbs. However, Kevin hadonly 1.25 miles to make up to the northwardduring his final, whereas Montyhad 6.5 miles to make up. Kevin camein on a heading of about 64 degrees butMonty bad to head up to about49 degrees.Perhaps the least said about Chuck'sperformance the better. Not only did heshow poor weather judgment but hepersisted with his tactics long after itwould have been obvious that he washeading for disaster. His time was2 hours 50 minutes and 40 seconds.* * *NICK GOOOHART CoMMENTS:-Harold Drew's bit of fun led to anumber of thoughts.1. Howling Dog and the contest siteare presumably not only at identicallevels but also at sea level. I am, ofcourse, assuming that our three heroes50are familiar with the contest rule whichrequires them to use this altimeter setting.Maybe the Conlest Committeewaived this rule because cloud flyio,g wasforbidden.2 One has always known tbat it, paysto be a little down-wind of track at thestart of the final glide, but it is worthexamining the matter more closely.The accompanying diagram shows away of finding the actual minimum timefor H.D.'s race and also the heading tofly in order to achieve Ihis.AD is the course and C is a point9.77 miles up-wind of D. A drcle isdrawn from centre C with radius of24.44 miles. It will be apparent that, ifflown on the correct heading, a finalglide started from 3,520 feet at anypoint on the circle wilI end at D.Now consider the course in side elevation.The aim is not just to get from Ato D, but form a point 3,520 feet aboveA to D. The track is, in fact, a slopingline. I trust that we are all agn:ed thata perfect final glide is conducted at thesame speed as inter-thermal fiying. Thefinal is simply the last inter-thermal glideand thus all glides are made on the sameheading. Therefore, at any point alongthe course, one should be on track ifone is on the sloping line. If one isabove it, then one should be down-windof it by the amount of the wind drift inthe time taken to climb from the slopingtrack line to one's present height. andvice versa.A line AE can therefore be drawn inthe diagram which represents the correct

position at any point along tbe trackwhen one has climbed to 3,520 feet. It is,drawn by marking oll' a distance DEequal to the win

A~A~'0 )(1l.,/ ~cBy Rhoda Partridge 1F you actuaUy enjoy doi.ng aerobatics,I this is not for you. Go away and readsomething else. This is for the rest of us,whose reactions vary from the uneasyqueasyto the panic-anguish. I was oneof the panic-anguish 101.Mind .you, my introduction wa.s nnJor­Innate,. I had loops done to me twicebefore I went solo-the first time by av,ery calm Fleet Air Arm cha'racter. "Youwon't feel any on he said reassuringly.We didn't. We hung upside down in anopen T·21 for what felt like ten minu.tes,while dust, small stones, two Siros andthe DJ book floated by and drifted awayto the fields above-I mean below. Thesecond time it was a press-on type, whose10QP resembled an egg with two sharppoints. When it was all over-again itWas in that long-suffering T-21-he saidreproachfully "But, Rhoda, I don't believeyou even opened your eyes."Wen,it wouldn't have been worth openingthem really because the G slammed mychin onto my bosom and I'd only have. ~·~'D~i~~J-~~~!>j}Y .~.'... 1 flew the Swallow with great care. , .52seCJI my trembling thighs. When I wentsolo, I flew the Swallow with great care. . . not too fast . . . not too slow . . .not too much bank. In the back of my,mind I think I had an unacknowledgedfear that, if I didn't watch her closely,she'd SUddenly fling herself into an aerobaticroutine regardless.After a year Ot tWo I still seemed tobe fiying stilted and unrelaxed" and Iwas still scared rigid of aerobatics. Thatrotten Jot who've gone away to readsomething else didn't help- much. "But,Rhoda, don't be so silly. Aerobatic ay·ing, when you do it properly, is perfectlysafe, and there's a sort of gaIety andelegance about it which is really

know. when one has had the run of thesky in a charming solo glider, one doesn'tfancy an instructor in behind-nor yetbeside. He mjgl'H get out after the flightand go over to some other of his ilk andsay "You know, we're really going tohav'e to do something about her flying... "When I was in Aosta in March, I hadto fly dual because the Italians only recognisean Italian licence and I hadn'tgot one. I said to Signor Balbis, the CFI,who speaks French. "Please will yol,lteach me aerobatics?" And he said,"Certainly, there is no problem." I hadfive aeroba·tic flights and, half-waythrough the third. I started to enjoy it.Prior to tbat, I Was inclined to groanalOUd at critical moments. Very shaming.There was one difficult moment on thelast flight. I had done my Httle showand Signor Balbis said, "Now I will m.akefor you a reversemenl." I said. "Wha.t isa reversemenl?" He said, "It is verypretty. 1 have her in hand." I said politely"You have her in haud" and I stilldon't really know wbat a reversement is,but we seemed to be screaming alollg thevalley upside down and rolling about agood deal wi,th. me groaning aloud again.When I got home to the Mynd. Iknew I had to loop my Brooms'ick­"the most beautiful Ka-6E the Schleicherworks ever turned out." I asked ErnieourCFI- for permission, and he saidabout height and what I musn't do andtold me to get on with it.The first flight aftet I got back fromItaly was in weak wave. At 4,600 feetover the valley I thought "I wonder whatspeed she'd like? I'm sure she'll jumpout of ber skin if 1 handle her like thatBl.anik in Italy, her and her all·tlyingtall. I wish Signor Balbis were here." Ipointed her at a straight bit of road,put the speed up gently to 80 knots, stick:back gently, t!len gently on to the stop.Too jolly genUy. We stuck at the top.Head against canopy. Straps hard onshoulders. "What the hell am I doingthiS for?" Down the other side at last.Trembling thighs going like castanets.And never again. Up in the silky smoothair. Then for a little comforting trotar~und the countryside. 'Then a very oddthing happened. I got sort of seducedby a straight bit of rOad and, before I'd~tally thought aboUt it, I was pointingOwn. speed to 80 knots, stick back gent-... Seduced by a straight bit of road.Iy, then on to the stop ... and over shegoes, neat and docile as you please.Lumme! That w,as super! Do it again,and again, and again. She does it beautifully,light afld gay and charming.I'm writing this to tell yoa somethingremarkable. Are you ready? "Aerobaticflying, when you do it properly, is perfectlysafe, and there's a sort of gaietyand elegance about it which is .reallydelight'ful. But, of course, you have to beproperly taught.""GUDING" and"SAILPLANE & GLIDING"The following copjes are still available and thislist cancels any previous lists publishea. Pleasesend your order clearly indicating which copiesare required. together Wilh your remitt~ncet 6~.per copy plus 6

SIX FEET OFF THE GROUNDBy SHEILA CORBETTUR six feet had been high off theO ground before, on a charter flight,but never this way until we three (husbandson and self) took an ab·initiocour;e at Worcester in 1968. I don'tknow who talked whom into it, but weturned up there never having seen aglider before.So We BeWIDThe professional instructor was onholiday, so one of the club's voluntaryinstructors filled in for him-a wartimefighter pilot with great gliding skill, andeven greater enthusiasm, who immedja.telyinspired us with confidence and, I thmk,hooked us on gliding for all time! ,Heimpressed us immensely on one occasionwhen he kept a telephone caller fromNew York waiting whilst he did a"quick circuit". The airfield was a ~ideeast-west swathe cut through the middleof a cornfield with a wider piece at eachend for landings and aerotows. Landingin the corn meant pints of beer all round,and this was ingeniously arranged toensure a good evening's drinking everyevening. On the last day, when fourcourse members went solo, we went tobed with the dawn! There were nine onthe course and we flew in a T-21 andT-3I. The food was first rate a~d thebeds were comfortable-in fact, It wasone of the best holidays we had everhad and we aJl felt that gliding was a"must" from then on.And so we joined the Essex Club atNorth Weald and sOOn club flying beganto take up more and more of our timebut because of the miserable weatherlast' winter, our progress se~med disappointinglyslow. So we deCided on acouple of courses this summer to hastenthings along a bit.Up to DerbyFor our first week we went to CamphilI,situated 1,300 ft. up in the DerbrshireDales. The road up the mountamwas exceedingly narrow with hairpinbends at intervals, but the club houseitself, of meUow grey stone, perched inthe lee of the hill top in sparkling sun-54shine, immediately won our approval.The fi~t opinion was attenuated somewhaton closer inspection because conve.rsionis not yet complete. The Elsansin "Rose Arbour" and the outside washhousewere a bit primitive. We lookedforward to a hot shower as advertisedin the brochure but found to our disappointmentthat the shower room wastemporarily out of use and containednothing more than a broken lawn-mower.There were two groups of eight peopleon the COurse-one group taught by theresident instructor and the other (includingus) by a visitor from Bookerasincere ~nd dedicated instructor whoprobably taught us more about glidingthan anyone else will ever be able to doin the space of five days-he was thetops.When we first saw the airfield we wereshattered - a small kidney bowl set intothe hill top surrounded by a stone wallwith a steep cliff on two sides. In factit seemed to be the sort of field oneshouldn't Choose if forced to land on-across-country flight. How wrong we wereand wh'lt an eye-opener it all was! Weflew Ka-4's, which are tandem twoseaterswith spoilers and most ineffectiverudders. When the ridge was working wewere launched across the kidney bowl bywinch-the field was about 400 yardsacross at this point. On the signal "takeup slack" the wire became tight stretchedacross the dip. At "all out" the gliderran two or three yards before becomingairborne. An excellent launch was 500 ft.,400 ft. was thought good, but 350 ft. waspretty uncomfortable. With a 1,000 ft.cliff in front of you, cable breaks weredecidedly dodgy. There were two landingoutfields in the valley below, but nobodyhad to use' them during our week.Once out over the cliff, we experiencedthe never-to-be-forgotten joy of ridgesoaring.One of the family even experiencedwave soaring-sideslipping withsooilers fully open and his vario stilIsho,wing 10 ,up! Landing was ,a ratherdifferent business from ,the practice atNorth Weald. The ,knack was to touch

Who will be the OutrightBritish Paper Dart Champion19701 Become a competitionpundit yourself at the--Who will buy the singlecompetition number? Tobe_auctioned at the-GLBRITISHDASSOCIATI'ON'SNGANNUAL DINNER & DANCEon Saturday 21 March 1970 7.00 for 7.30to be held at Imperial College London S W 7in conjunction with HfPER-IAL COLLEGE GLIDING CLUBS40TH ANNIVERSARY DINNERRAFFLEWin fantastic prizes ­buy as many tickets asyou like.Dinner by candlelight ­tickets £2. 10. Od inclUdingtable Wines, dancing to the'Dominos' Dress optional.Tickets available from: The British Gliding Association,Artillery Mansions, 75 Victoria Street, London S W 156

TWO SHIVERING NUTS IN MAYBy STANLEY RACE and KEITH EMSLlEEMEMBER the old nursery rhyme­R "Here we go gathering nUts in May"?15-knot north wind, with ten-minuteshowers every hour. Winch launch inour Qpen T-21 straight into a thermal,steadily to 2,500 ft. but drifting south.Return to the airfield briskly, but downto 900 ft. tben into a mllch- better thermaland back to 2,000 ft. That was terrific-we'restill over the airfield!Pupil getting cold (sports jacket andshirt only); can we land now, please?Head into wind to fiy out of thermal.Shower reaching,' ground about twomiles upwind, will probably pass theairfield to the east, but we'll be downbefore it gets there, anyway. Or will we?Still heading north, climbing, at ... 10up. Spoilers open, speed up t~ 50, 60,65 knots. Rough Air Speed. Air notreally rough, just mild cobblestones, butnot wise to ,go any faster, and verydraughty anyway. 3,000 ft. now, still2 up. Check spoilers still fully open, andwhat a strong spring they have!Cloudbase well clear, but for howlong? Turn and slip on, erects mercifully.Precipitation starting ... snow. Perhapsa good long spin is called for? But thepupil isn't keen to suggest iL and theInstructor doesn't want to frighten thepupil, and you know how difficult it isto hold the T-21 in for more than halfa turn, and it would mean flying into theheart of that shower and landing in it.Both pilots think of it separately, privatelyreject it and tuck it back up theirSleeves..4,00> now, still heading north, stillclimblDg, not far from c!oudbase, wispsof ~loud around, too hazy to see anyhonz~n, and now snowing really heavily.f 0 [sign of the airfield behind us, Just a?U black storm. But ahead, the first~ghtenlng of the murk. Will we reach itefore we go on instruments, the faredge of the squall line/minor cold front,or Whatever the brute is?s Instructor flying now, both holding thePOllers out, but just try that stick forceagain. What a large push to keep thisspeed up, relax for a second and itdrops back to 60. A good demonstrationof what the T stands for in CBSITCBWish we had one, also a seCOnd C andsome decent B's.Then at 4,500 we ran out into sunshine,the variometer relaxed back intothe red, and we uncurl our fingers fromthe spoilers and slQW down to a moregentle speed. Over the M6, beyond Longridge,and so aQout five miles upwind ofthe airfield.It's a lovely day up here, "our" farmlooks grand, tbough. Fair Snape, Parlickand Longridge Fell look insignificantfrom this height. And. the Ribble-whenit emerges into the sunlignt-looks asbeautiful as ever. Did you all realise thatthe Ribble, running through the heart ofLancashire, is one of the most attractiveriver valleys in Britain? With borderinghills that defy comparison, too? Don'ttell anyone, of course. Let them allgadarene up the M6 to the Lake District-the locals don't like traffic on theirlanes. Why, a local Council even opposedplanning permission for a gliding sitesolely because it might attract a few carsinto their rural area!Oh, good, there's Samlesbury again.It's a lot easier to make headway withthe wind than agaiost it today. Andsince it seems to have stopped snowing,shall we land? The pupil is far toocold to try any of the usual heightwastingexercises, so he merely readsthe altimeter several times as it unwinds,and compares it with the changing appearanceof the world around. But hemust at least do the landing-he's payingfor it. Now, would you believe it,that only took 36 minutes.Lessons? Don't fly in an open cockpitimproperly dressed. Don't nnderestimatethe chan~ea'ble air around us, andits power to 11ft you high against yourwill. And it is still possible for two staidChartered Engineers to chalk up a HighAdventure ort a Sunday afternoon. Didyou enjoy it? I did. Afterwards, mostly.51

NEW RECORDING SYSTEMAutomatic Recording and Analysis for Glider Performance TestingBy GEORGE WHITFIELDHE accepted method of measuringT a glider's performance is to tow itto a great height and fly it down in aseries of "partial glides", each straightand at constant speed, measuring the....tt: 3280...3420,..•..+++++.+++++•••~ 3240 .+.~ ++++.w FIG.1 +••J: 3200L.---:::I,,-.....!I

~2~~zC;;4g...:;:C1C.... ẓ..6KNOTS100BOCIANAUWl160 lbs~~8 FIG.3....Best estimate of the polar of the Bocianderived from Fig; 2. Best gliding angle1:24.8± at 50 knots, Minimum sink1.76± 0.09 knots at 40 knots.This polar is based on 5 tows to9.000 ft., plus one to 5,000 ft. to measureposition error-a total of 5t hoursflying. followed by about 5 hours computing.The present state is that the system isoperational (3 sets exist) and the computerprograms have been written, but needa little tidying up. Three aircraft havebeen tested so far, and more will betested during this year. I intend to submita paper to Osnv to be read at Alpine,near Marfa, this summer.BGA NEWSNational Paper Dart Championships,1970This event will be held at ImperialCollege, 21st March, on the occasion ofthe BGA Annual Dinner and Dance andImPt:rial College Gliding Club's 40thAnniversary.There shall be two Classes in theChampionships: MEN'S Class andWOMEN'S Class. The winners of eachClass shall be the person whose properlyentered darts travel in free /light for thelongest time. The winners of the twoClasses shall have a "By-olf" and thewinner of this final contest shall bedeclared The Outright British NalionaJPaper Dart Champion, 1970.RULESI. Each entrant shall, before launchingcommences, pay to the Clerk of th~Course an entry fee (minimum Ss. perdart entered); all monies received shallbe put towards the World ChampionshipsAppeal Fund. No minimumqualifications to enter are required.2. The number of entries per person ISunlimited.3. Permitted methods of launch are:(a) Clean throw (for purists)(b) Bungey (maximum length of elastic(unstretched, I foot)A dart may only be launched by oneperson who need not necessarily bethe entrant. At the moment of launchingthe launcher need not be in contactwith the floor (breath tests willnot be applied). At the diS(;retion 'ofthe Stewards a grid start may be used.4. Darts may only be made of paper orthin card. They may be inspected bythe Stewards who. depend'ing on howstewed they are, may disqualify anydart found to contain any foreignsubstance.5. Size of dart is unlimited. Handicappingwill be applied by any competitorable to work out the latestformula from the Handicapping Committee:~4(H20) 1001-XXStrachan's X - 1001Hat Size6. All resuJts will be accepted for ratingpurposes. The basis of the ratingsystem will be changed when theChairman of the Flying Committeesees how well he has done.7. The starting point shall be the pointat which the dart crosses the startingline. There is no restriction on theheight afl, of the starting point.8. The flight time shall be measuredfrom the time the dart crosses thestarting line to the time when thedart first makes contact with any object(animate, inanimate and all personsin between).9. The Clerk of the Course is alJowed59

to alter any of these rules. at a.ny time.10. Prizes may be awarded by the Clerkof the CourSe on any criteria shechooses (bribery is permitted. allbribes to the World Champs Fund).Clerk of the CourselNOE DEENWorld ChasnpioP5hip Appeal FundDonations from the following aregratefully acknowledged. (Period-23rdOctober-19th December).Anonymous (nine individuals)Antrobus. N. A. J.Armitage. J. D.Armstrong. R. I.Bannerdown Gliding ClubBarnes. T. M.Beechey. S. A.Bishop. H. W.Blackpool & Fylde Gliding ClubBradbury, T. A. M.Brenner, J.Bridson, D. W.COates, R.Daily TelegraphDoughty, A.E'vans, D. W.Felthouse, P. R.Foster, P. F.Furlong, E- J.Gar.,J'od. M. P.Grenet, P.Grose, W. L.Hamilton. FIt. Lt. I.Hastings, S. & J.Ibbs. D. R. E.Innes, D.Johnson. D.Lawson. W.Lowman, E. F.Mackworth~Young. G. W.Martin. P.Mutray. A. G.Musselwhite. A. H.Newton. M. G.Parslow, D. L.Pearson, K. R.P·oynter. DaphneRobcrts. FIt. Lt. M. C.Rotter, L. E.Salmond, J. S. R.Toll, Miss E. L. A.Vennard. D. A.Vine, Lt. Cdr. L. D.Walker, B.Wall. D. H.Ward. R. M.Wray, A. J.Total so far received £588 Is. 8d.60C of A Rene""alsAt the Inspectors Confer'ence heldrecently at Lasham a point was raisedthat merits a bit of publicity. It is this.When the C of A renewal is ·due on yourglider, it is no use taking it to youTjnspector unless you also take the C of Adocument. and the Log Book made upro dare.It is not generally realised that theInspector needs both these documents toenable him to apply for the renewal. Hecannot renew the C af A without them.Therefore. if you take your machineto your Inspector and omit to supply himwith Qoth these' dQcuments, do not besurprised if he tells you to take j.t awayagain.R. C. STAFFORD ALLEN, CTO. BGACompetitiop CalepdarThe dates and venues for competitionsfor the year are shown on Page 39.Entry forms for the Regionals will haveto Iile obtained from the organizing clubs.The provisional closing date for entriesis 31st March.Camp. Number 7 Up F:OI' AuctionA chance of a lifetime-you can beflying with contest numberion your gli.der next season. Single numbersare jealously guarded by theirowners and the opportunity to obtainone of them has never yet occurred.Here is how you can get No. 7 for yourglider. (and just think how easy it will beto palDt OD !).The BGA is going to auction this number(with BGA competition number feepaid up for twelve months) at the BGADinner and Dance to be held at ImperialCollege, London S.W.7 on Saturday. 21stMarch, 1970. However, even if you can'tcome to the party don't worry-you canstill make a bid.What's it all in aid of? This year'sgood gliding cause: The World ChampsAppeal Fund to get a full British Teamout to Marfa.This is how the auction will be run-Ifyou are /,l0-1 coming to the BGA Dinnerand Dance write to MI5 Inge Deen at theBGA before 18th March with a cheque!postal order for the amount you wish tobid. The money you send is nonreturnable(whether or not your bidsucceeds) and will help to swell the World

Champs Appeal Fund. If your bid is thehi"hest made, you will be flying with No.7 71 P next season! Naturally the highestpostal bid will not be announced untilafter the 'live' auction on 21st Marchhas closed.If you are coming to the Dinner,details of the auction will be announcedon the night. The highest bid made by'each person bidding will commit themto pay that sum towards the AppealFund.Don't forget-send in your bid before18th March or come to the party.BOOK REVIEWTheory of Flight for Glider Pilots. By RAY~. S:rAFFORD ALLEN. Publishedby Oliver & Boyd. Price 25s .. (plus 2s. postage), Obtainable from the BOA.Ay STAFFORD ALLEN has. been on the gliding scene for. a long time and forR the past five ye.ars has been Chief Technical Officer for the B.G.A.This b

NOW A VAILABL£THEORY OF FLIGHTFOR GLIDER PILOTSR. C. STAFFORD ALLEN(Chief Technical Officer of the B.G.A.)2nd ed. 255This revised edition of Stafford Alien's book should arouse great interestamong pupil glider pilots and all members of gliding clubs. It is the mostup-to-date text on the theory of flight as it affects non-powered glidersand sailplanes. Every member of the British Gliding Association shouldhave a personal copy. Order from the B.G.A. or from your usualbookseller.Oliver & Boyd . Tweeddale Court . EdinburghAre you going "STANDARD CLASS?" Many pilots are.The Libelle has an unsurpassed competition record whilst retaining delightful flyingcharacteristics and ease of groun~ handling. Two people rig it without effort inthree minutes. What is more you can get delivery early in 1971.A Libelle is available for check flying.PRICE: £2.240 ex works S

OPEN CLASS CREWSDear Sir.It looks as though us long-suffering Open Class crews will once again have toput up with our annual non-event. non-weather and non·competition. In previous yearsthe weather has been to blame. This year the organisers seem to be determinedto keep up the tradition by sending us North at a time of year when. at best. we mightget a touch of Indian Summer - you know the sort of thing - short hazy days ­not much good for gliding or sunbathing. Would we have time for the latter anyway?Rumour has it that it is a full-time job keeping a white glider white in this part of thecountry IOh well. we suppose it serves us silly women right. We ought to know better bynow than to try and show an intelligent interest in what our menfolk do. Instead weought to book ourselves a week in the South! of France, the cost would be much the'ame and we would be sure that our annual holiday wouldn't be blighted by badweather and industrial smog.Where will it all end - apres ski in the Highlands in 1971?Newbury, Berks.AUDREY, ANN & lANEMOTOR GLIDERSDear Sir,Poor Chris Riddell, he's been reading Hansard again, " ... careful assessmentand balanced judgment of all its implications." Cor, pass the H.P. Sauce, I;lrother.The people who will make this careful assessment are the customers. If they work.they will buy them. If they buy them they will fly them inside the BGA or not. Ifthey are forced out of the BGA they will operate at ordinary airfields, and who willbe (he losers? The BGA. of course.Nothing ever remains static. It either expands or dies. Motor gliders could bringa healthy expansion to the BGA. Without them. who is to say that in ten, maybetwenty years the fifty-metre carbon-fibre lead sleds will not be the Djnosaurs ofaviation. I, for one, hope not. I would hate to see a sort of America's Cup of glidingwhere the three remaining people who ,can afford them unwrap their extravaganzas~nce a year to have an esoteric private comp. No, before throwing more rocks let'sJ~st wait and see what happens. We have a Flying Committee to look after competitIOnsand badges. Leave it to them.. On the subject of sites, the problem is one of suitability. Flattish land of sufficientsIze is getting harder to come by. We ought to make more use of what we have. Weshall be forced to in the end.Fin~lIy, f1yin~ or gliding. I'm surpri,sed to see this one again. When I leave theg~ound In a heavler-than-air machine. I'm flying. I don't know what Chris does. Tohmt at Mr. Warren's reaSons for wanting tofty gliders neither does Chris justice, norMr. Warren.Darchet, Bucks.ROGBF. A. NEAVESA PLEA FOR CLASSESDear Sir,h ~ sho,!ld like to support the principle of classes for gliding competitions. WhileandlcapplOg is quite acceptable fOT regional competitions it does not and cannotWork at National aDd International level.Designers are now trying to increase performance by producing aircraft ~ithlarger and larger wing spans. I believe if private owners start buying these giant63

machines the effect on the glidililg movement will not be beneficial; remember thatmore span = more' weight, larger trailers, larger hangars, bigger (in both senses)ground ,crews and more expense.Discussiorn has already taken place concerning the es,tablishment of anotherclass, 1 ,thin'k the time has now C(lme for aotion.There is going to be an increasing performance gap between the Standard Classand the new Open Class gliders, :and 1 therefore suggest an intermediate class withrestriction based entirely on Wing span; up to ISm without flaps, 17m with camberchanging flaps, I?m with area changing flaps. T~eTe are already a large number ofglIders flymg which would meet these qualIficatIons, so please BGA

SPOILERONSDear Sir,It is gra.tifying to note that one more person (A, P. Goodwin in SAILPLANE &GLlQING CktQber-November, 1969) has taken U.p my suggestion and has called formanufacturers to give consideration to the fillin.g of differentially-operated spoilerswhichI have dubbed spoileTons-to gliders.Strangely enQugh, in America it has already been done, as anybody who tal>es the/\merican magazine Soa"ing (May, 1969) would know by n{lw. It has been done outof necessity by a private venture development of a tIying-wing glider.A means of counteracting ailerDn draghad to be devised, since there was noruddeTing mome.nt to counter-balance it.Their flight reports show that thespoi,lerQns did their job magnificentlY,llnd confirm that some small aileroneffort would be helpful for continuousturns. The ailerons would need to beonly one-tenth of their normal size, andcould be fitted inboard near the flaps.Without spoilerolls there would havebeen little directional stability; and theflying wing would have skidded in andout of turns continuously or slitheredfrom side to side while correcting level.It is a great pity that the photographwhich went with my article was not published;it showed the device working ona VC 10 jetliner very clearly. PerhapsSAILPLANE & GLIDING will even yet printit.... And' here it is! A/versloke. Hants. HUMPHRY DIMOCKAd\'errisemenIS. with fem;'r/(mc~. should lYe $~nl /0 Ch_eiron Pren LJd., 5 Crawford Street, London,Wl (01-935 2814). Rate 1/6 a wo,d. Minimum 21/-. Box numbers 6/- extra. Replies 10 BoxfJwnbers should be sen' ~o lhe same addres.'iFOR SALERETRfEVE car-Corsair V4. Dec. 1965.Fitted Pye Cambridge 13Q.4 and towi I1 gbracket-£445. after 6 p.m. 051-486 2787.1963 FOKA, only 100 hours. Completewith instruments and trailer. £1,100. Hirepurchase terms available. ThorpeAviationborough.Ltd., 15 Broadway, Peter.PROFESSIONALLY built closedtrailer, RUbery Owen axle, fittings forBlanik, but should su:t any oth€r glider,cost £325, will accept .£175, very goooconditioI,1. Thor~ Aviation, 15 Broadway,Peterborough. Telephone Peter·borough 68818.BL.AN1K - new C. of A. - with opentrailer. £1,750. Worcestershire GlidingClub, Bidford on Avon.NEW SLINGSBY "SWALLOW", withnew can opy, aero-dynamic refinements I~UI.I !nSIruments, Oxygen, Open trailer,aGtlsfactory Air Test. £750 o.n.o. BoxS. . 338.TUTOR; basic instruments, spares: reorganisingfleet, £70 o.n.o. Ofrers toT. L. AlIard. Ricebridge, llolney, Sussex.T-2IB, with canopy - T. 31 - Tutor allin ex.;ellent condition. Any reasonableoffer considered. Can be viewed atLasbam. Phone:7 p.m.Long Sutton 258 afterKa-13 Svndicate based at HusbandsBoswortb:. Syndicate members requi~edfor 1970 Season, Apply for detaJls,W. L. Grose, Glen Cottage, ButchersLane, Boughton, Northampton. ChapelBrampt!)n 3176.PYE MOBILE129.9) and PyeCAR RADIOGlider Radio(130.4,(130.4,120.2). Used two seasons only by W~r1dChamps pilot, £185 o.n.o. both radIOS ..Box S.G. 339.65

FOR SALE (Continuee:t)• 1001 CeBvi.e BUJ:aiDJ iDteretl rter1oae! •Huge .locks GOVERNMENT SURPLUSCLOTHING ,.ND EQUIPMENT, inc. firingsuiu from 25•.; flying helmets. 'anor.ks. OUIdoorclOthing, c_mping, immense variety ofmisceUaneous e.x-Govetntncnt equiptn.cnt. EyCl''0 useful-you will be sure to find 'omethingyou nee_d-;and at ,I barga.n price lOO! SendTODAY for 001 30-P3,e CATALOGUE-8d.post frcc or plea,., call al LAVRt"NCECORNER, 62-64 Hampstead Rd.. Londoll.N.W.1. 2 min•. EuslOn. Warren SI. II will he~eU wonh while! Postal customers buy withconfidence-prompl despalch. refund guaran·lee. OepI SG.SHACKLETON AVIATION LTD. areEuro'PC's lMgest aircraft dealers. Wealways have a large supply of singleandtwin-engined ,aircraft from £650 upwards.Gliders, Cars, Aircraft taken inpart·exchange. Hire purchase available.All enquiries welcome. Head office; 175Piccadilly. Lond'on, W.1. 01·493 2448.Telex.: 263975.T, 49. Capstan, sl'lrplus, to our 1970requirements. In very good condition.Recent Co of A. £950. The GeneralManager, Lasham Gliding Society, Alton,Hants. Herriard 322.Ka-6cR, with competition instruments.Excellent condition. £1,200. Trailer availableextra. Tel.: Uxbridge 35705.FOKA 3 (79). Fully instrumented, ole)'­gen, barograph, parachute, new Ultraradio, trailer. £1,250 0.0.0. Phone: J.Rouse, Ra.dnage 2393.SKYLARK 3B!F, in really first class conditionand with ten year C. of A. rrice£1,100 to include instruments and professionallybuilt trailer. Contact Ed. Hall,at Lasham for inspection.The SURREY & HAMPSHIRE GLID­ING CLUB has for sale SKYLARK3F No. 160. This machine is in excellentcondition and the C. of A. inspection hasjust been completed by Southdown AeroServices Ltd. The new C. of A. will expirein March 1971. Price £900. Bill Dean.Treasurer Pale Farmhouse. Chipperfield,Kirngs La~gley, Herts. Tel. Kings Langley63122, Office 01-606 8888 eXt. 235, or atLasham, Herriad 210.66KA-6E, 2 years old, C_ of A. till January1971. In mint condition. £1,730 for baSICaircraft. Box. S.G. 337.GLIDER TOWING HOOK for sale, tofit Auster aircraft. Complete with a~~soriesand spares. Excellent condition.Price £49 .. Marke, 315 London Road,WestcIifI, Essex_ Tel. Southend 31803(day),TIGER MOTH. Complete with towinghook and fine pitch wooden propellerApprox. ]iO mon~~s to run on C. of A.Very good condition. £1,500 o.n.o. Bo:'l.No. S.G. 332.AUSiER J .I.N. Glider Tug, blue & $ilver,with new two year C. of A. resprayed,500 engine hours to run. £750. J. S.Thorne, Dorset Flying Club, _ComptonAbbas Airfield, Shaftesbury, Dorset.SKYLARK 2, trailer and instrume~ts.Privately owned, prof~~sionally mamtained.Excellent condition. C. of A.January 1971. £825. Box S.G. 335.EAGLE 3. No. 74. Major C. of A. 1968.Fully Instrumented. Trailer-. £1,250.Sturminster Marshall 286. Evemngs,GENUINE r~o"ditio"ed 51eel grey ex R.A.F. FlyingO".ralls.Smaller SiXES up to5' 7" 50,. largersizes up to 6' 3"57•. 6d. p & p4•. 6d.Ex R.A.F. Back orSea' Type 2_panel nylonf, parachutes.Inspeered andrepacked bylicensed skydiver.£22 each p & p155. in U.K.l.A.F. a·day "'reralt c1oe"', brand new. 21" x2r,for panel mounting cOlnplete with screws £" 19s. 6d.,p ~ p 3•. 6d.Ex R.A.F. Safety harneues, knowA as "z" h-Mneues,11" Blue Nylon adjustable webbing with instant quickrel.ese, used but in good condition. Ideal for yourglider or car. £6 6s. each p & p 3s~ 6d.Tarpaulin & T.nt Manufaduring Co.T01/3 'ri~tol1 Hill, London. S.W.2. 01·674 0121 /3

SWALLOW good condition. Details fromFAY 021-359 1934.~-13, 12 months old; with trailer, parachutes,barograph. full instruments, basedRedhill. Share £250. Box No. 50 330.EIHE. For high performance in weakconditions. Excellent condition. Lowhours. No prangs. C. of A. June 1970.With basic Instruments and trailer. £650o.n.o. or exchange two-seater. TelephoneDoncaster 54280.OFFERS invited for immaculate whitelturquoise Olympia 463 and trailer, lowhours, privately owned from new, fullpanel, Pye Bantam. Barograph, Parachute.Two-drum winch designed for solid wire.£IDO o.n.o. Teesdale. Copthill, Uffington.Stamford (3888) Lincs.EXTRA-ROOMY 15 METRE Olympia460/1 B (No. 54; 463 wings; enlarged airbrakes;special canopy). Full instruments;fitted aerial; whole year's C. of A. Lightweighteasy-load trailer; towing trolley,etc. Parachute; barograph; complete £950.Wills, The Camp, Steep, Petersfield (3492)Hants.KA-6E, three years old. Professionallymaintained. C. of A. just renewed. Opportunityto acquire an immaculate exampleof this fine aircraft for 1970. FerrantiMk. 6 horizon 3i" case and inverter,also available. Offers to Deane­Drummond, Chobham, 7174.WILDE Winch for sale-.diesel-singledrum or four-wheel trailer - first classcondition. £350. Worcestershire GlidingClub. Bidford on Avon.FOR SALE. SHK 17 rn, 1967 as new,with trailer and instruments and TilLAddress: Dr. Dereppe, 24, rue de Tournay,Callenelle, Belgium.AVo Model 7. 'test Meter. i.deal for testingall glider electrics, 24 ranges of volts.Amps and Ohms, automatic overload cutout. large clear scale, ideal for clubs orprivate owners. £11. 10. O. complete.Doncaster Sailplane Services. Doncaster65381.A PAIR of seat type parachutes, convertibleto back type. Can be seen in theB.G.A. office. The pair £45 o.n.o. Harood,8 Prima Road, S.W.9.PLANNING?Why rack your brains to plan the perfect clubfleet when Alexander Schleicher's have doneit for you. From the first impressionablellightin a glider to the day you seriously aspire tothe World Championships. AlexanderSchleicher's range of gliders provide acomplete and logical step by st.p progressionfrom the smooth and simple to the smoothand sophisticated. Range of gliders include:ASK 13 Robust and docile performancetwo-sealer trainer.K 8B Training single-sealer with ver'!'good handling and performance.K 6E Hig,h performance Standard Classsingle-seater.ASW 12 Super high performance Openeras,s single-seater of fibre·glass sandwichconstruction.ASW 15 Standard high performancesingle-seater designed for competitive flying.ASK 14 Single-sealer powered sailplarMlwith excellent'enginlt 011' glide performance.Trailers for all our types can be deliveredon request with srecial towing and brakesystem.Glider Dust and Glider AII-weatl'ler Covers.Spare parts and construction materials fromstock or sholt·term delivery.Write for Brochure and Enquiries withoutobligation to:ALEXANDERSCHLEICHERSEGELflUGZEUGBAUD-6416 Poppenhausen an derWassorkuppe. West Germanyor our ag_ntLONDON SAILPLANES LIMITED.c/o J. Jeffrkts, Dunstable' Downs,Bedfordshire67

FOR SALE (continued)SLlNGSBY Dart ISm Mk II metal spar.Burton 6th World comps Britain 1965.One syndicate under lOO hrs new C of Afor 1970. Airframe only £1,000, Slingsbytrailer £150. Full panel inc!. Bendix J8fitted pye Bantam radio, and Winterbar,ograph £275 O.N.O·s. Full detailsS.A.E. to Clarence TENBY 2705 Pem.bs.GRUNAU Baby 28 with trailer. Ma.io·rC. of A. June 1967. £350 o.n.o. AlsoWinch P-6 Engine, Single Drum. 750yds. cable. with spare parachutes, easytowable behind car £150 o.n.o. TelephoneWorcester 26616 or write M. Muecke, 63Corner Gardens, Worcester.VASAMA-34:l at 47 kts; 200 hrs, completewith full instrument panel. parachuteand trailer. Offers, Geo. Elliot, 80Baronscourt Terrace, Edinburgh.T-2l B. Excellent condition. Detachablecanopy. C. of A. an d basic instruments£650. Box No. S.G. 334.T -31 B, spoilers, fully instrumented,current C. of A., £225. Tutor, spoilers,instruments. full C. of A. (Major) £125.Worcestershire Gliding Club, Bidford 00Avon.FOR SALE: Skylark 2, bui.lt 1955, ingood condition. with current Dutch (government)C. of A. Professionally maintained.Price £450 o.n.o. VliegclubHoogeveen van Hogendorpstraat 6.Hoogeveen. NetherlandS. Telephone01031-52804016.DIAMANT 18, Comp. No. 38.about 40 hours, unmarked, £2,850.Aluminium trailer and competitionpanel available too. C. C. Donald,15 Broadway, Peterborough 68818.DART IS, No. 67, prang free, trailer,£1,300. seen Longmynd; O'Donald,27 Hoyle Road. Hoylake, Cheshire.T-31.8, 12 months C. of A. with trailer.£250, O.N.a. McLean. 241, Bawtry Road,DONCASTER. ~5861.68DIAMANT 16.5 complete with trailer,for sale together or separately. Wouldconsider exchange deal for less "competition-bred"glider if in immaculate condition.Trailer suitable for overseas shipment.G. T. Collins, 31 Boscawen Street,Truro. Telephone Truro 2887.ASW-12 with closed metal trailer, availableafter World Champs. at Marfa orfrom UK_ Box SG 325.GUDER RAD10Our mod" TR6701·S h.. 2 ch.nn.I., 1 watt Irens·miner .nd sensitive, ,"uted recei....er. Needs only.erial .nd 12 volt supply. A.R.B. approved. Price£65. Full details senf on request.W••150 stod. ell Iypes of v,hkl. e..iab .nd somerimeshave secondhand vehide sets available alreasonable pras.G. f. STOREY & CO.P.O. Box 4,SUNBURY·ON·THAMES. M'ddx.Trlepnone 84422OLYMPIA 2B. Complete with basic instruments,trailer. £575. Box S.G. 333.A full-strength five Pye Bantam radioset two channel £71. 272 syndicate, LGC,Dunstable, Beds.463. Doe of last batch. 150 hrs. completewith Elliotl trailer. Full instruments includingA. H. Parachute. For sale £1,400or shares at Lasham. Phone Ascot 22501.WANTEDDART 17R with trailer. Write statingprice, to FIt. Lt. L. Tanner, R.A.F. Nordhorn,Germany, B.F.P.O.l7.WANTED - Skylark 4 or similar performancemachine complete with instrumentsand trailer. Box S.G. 336.WANTED E.B 62. PARACHUTE. 8Highcroft, North Hill, N.6. Tel. 01-3401999.SWALLOW starboard wing required.Serviceable or easily repairable. PhoneJ. Deakin. Cambridge 50782 before 6pm.TWO SEAT high performance Sailplaneurgently required. Full details to: 1. S.Thorne. Dorset Flying Club, ComptonAbbas Airfield, S:,aftesbury. Dorset.

SITUATIONS VACANTARE YOU INTERESTED?An opening exists "or a man or womaninterested in taking the first step on theladder to theEditorshlp of SAILPLA'NE &. GLIDINGby filling the post ofEditorialiManagerial AssistantMost of the skills required can be taught dur·ing training but candidates who will be calledlor intervie.... should possess the followingqualities:good English; an e,ye for detail; an orderlymind, a nose for news and a sense 01 re·spomibility. Enthusiasm for the sport and ani,nleresl in making personal contact with itsdevotees whether novice or pundit, as wellas willingness to put service 10' the maga·zine be~ofe self when necessary.Anyone possessing journalistiC or printingexper,enc,e would be more than wekome to2pply. Applicants should be based in oraroond London, Age over 25. Salary duringprobationary period .about £100 per month.Write giving full details not later thanFebruary 18th to:The Chairman, Magazine Committee, BGA.Artillery Mansions, 75 Vidoriil Street,London, S.W.1. Marked "Confidential".SITUATIONS VACANT (Cont.)COURSE INSTRUCIOR. Derbyshireand Lancashire Gliding Club requireresident Instructor for 1970, Whitsuntide­September inclusive. Also Winch Driverfor same pe_riod. Applications givingdetails of experience, to: Mr. R. A. Hare,70 Newman Road, Rotherham, Yorks.INSURANCEWE are experts in glider and aircraft insurance.Let us quote you the lowestrates with the most reliable companies.Write to Brian Gudgin, Marlow,Gardner & Cooke, 254 Lincoln Road,Peterborough. Telephone 68543.FINANCEFINANCE for your glider o.r aircraftpurchase can be arranged by telephoningor writing to Colin Donald (B.G.A.Instructor). Burghley ,Finance CompanyLtd., IS Broadway, Peterborough. Tel.Peterborouga 68S 18.PUBUCAnONS"SOARING'-official organ of theSoaring Society of America. Edited byBennett Muir Rogers. Address: Box66071, Los Angeles, California 90066.USA. Subscriplilm: $5.00 otltside USA;apply to your post office for a form.SLOPE SOARING with a radio controlINSTRUCTOR reqvired by holiday model sailplane is a fascinating pastimeor- and a 'tYpical phase of aeremodelling.ganisation running gliding courses. In Read about this and other aeromodellingaddition to other suitable qualifications subjects in Aerolllodt!lln and Radio COlTexperiencegained in power gliders will trol Models and Electronics. the world'sbe considered an advantage. Box No. le;lding magazines. published monthly,SG. 331.prioe 2/6 each. Model & Allied Publica-WINCH driver and instructors required fions Ltd., 13-35 Bridge Street, Hemel.for summer courses Aprij - October. Hempstead, Herts.~ru~: B~~~a!~~ ~vo~~~stershire Gliding -A-U-ST-R-.-A-L-I-A-N-G--L-ID-JN-.-G~---M-· -o-n~th-IYjournal of the Gliding Federation ofCOURSE instructor required for 1970 Australia. Features a complete coverageseason May to Oct, must be BGA quali- of the Australian scene. Sul'scriptionfied, PPL useful, Salary commensurate, $4.20 Australian, £2.0.0 sterling or $4.75full details avai!;lbfe from C.F.!. Clar- U.s. and Canada. by International Moneyence Esplanade, Tenby 2i05 Pembs. Also Order. Also advise name and addressPOWer pilot given free membership and direct. Australian Gliding, Box 16~OM,~g flying in Auster for services. G.P.O.. Adelaide, South Australia 5001-. It "'ill. of cours~. b. und..SlOod ihar rh. Brirish Gliding Associotion cannor ,-"apr 'r,sponsibillIYfor the claims made by advertisers in ..Soilplane and Gliding".69

CLUB NEWSWITH ffil?st ~Iubs reporting their Annual Dinner;; and presentations of awardsf~r flYIn~ In 1969, we look forward to tbe comlOg soaring season. Reports forthe Apnl-May Issue should reach me by 11th February and for the June-July issue by15th April, typed double spaced on foolscap. Please send news to me at 11 GreatSpilmans, Dulwich, London, 5.£.22. TeL 01-693-3033.Jrd December, /969YVONNI' BONHAM (MRS.),Club News Edi!orBLACKPOOL AND FYLDE"lVTE were delighted to hear that Lan­VV cashire County Council havegranted us Outline Planning Permissionfor our proposed soarin~ site. The onlyserious stipulation is that we must notoperate powered aircraft but this willonly curtail our fun on flat calm days.Our main joy will be to step up intothermal and wave using hill lift in nearlyevery wind direction, from NW through5 to ENE.A new snag arose from the fact thatpart of the hill top is an active grou~emoor, and the owner fears that hisgrOuse will inistake us for buzzards andbe .:scared off their nests. He has askedus to keep clear of them until we canmake trials using radio contact with hisgamekeepers. It 1s ironic that buzzardsare protected birds, but we are in dangerof being mistaken for grouse. Howeverthis only affects a spur of tbe SQuth face,and still le.aves us one piece of southfacing hilL . .We still await news of tbe remainingvital ingredient, a grant. This bas nowsu(vived the.early stages of scrutiny withoutbeing turned down, so we are permittingoursdv·es to 'show a little cautiousoptimism, and gearing up our efforts sothat we would'be capable of matching agrant if it was offered.70We have .to limit the number of pupilswhJle we stlll have only one dual trainer,but we can accept solo pilots Without aspell on the waiting list. We welcometwo more instructors to our ranks, JaneMurdoch and Derek 5andford, withgrateful thanks to the Leicester andBu~ton & Derby clubs who trained themwhile thc;y were living in their areas.K.E.COTSWOLDWIN~R cir~uit training continues to..ftounsh, wJth really keen 'ab·jnitios'amvlOg on the airfield while it is stilldusk--such enthusiasm!The hangar doors have at last beencompleted, and a great engineering featthey ~re too. Club aircraft are beingrefurbished, so. we. will be meeting thesoanng season In up-top order.Plans for increasing the club fleetr.evolve around acquiring another Ka-7.difficult to c0!De by for love at money.Anyone knowmg of one. for sale is askedto .conta~t the .Secretary-if successful,we promIse you a ride! .This year will see the inter-club taskweek with the Worcester Club whichpromises to be every bit as enjoyable asbefore, and, we hope, the best summeryet!G.H.

COVENTRY'TRAMPS' supper, was held on 29thA November. Gus Cunningham insackings as the Original Ancient Britonindubitably took the costl,lme honoursbut as this is his only suit his next problemwas what to wear for the AnnualDinner!Our CFI Keith Nurcombe is departingthese skies in the New Year for SouthAfrica and we shall be hard pressed tofind a replacement who will show thesame am,ount of boundless energy andthat rare capacity for enthusing others.Good fortune Keith, and thanks foreverything.Experiments were conducted in Novemberwith a Super Rallye as a newglider tug. Unfortunately our foughground lopped a piece out of each proptip the first week and reluctantly wedecided it just wasn't on.Shedding a few teaTS forlornly in ourhangar is a frustrated primrose andorange -Swallow anxiously looking for anew home in time for the soaring season.Any kind-hearted treasurers around?F.W.F.DERBYSHIRE AND LANeS'CLAMPffiLL' was our scene again inthe autumn and we spent weekendafter weekend without opening the hangarc1oors, but eventually the sun brokethrough and we were onCe more chasingclouds.We welcomed our new n;sident stewards,Tom and Tda Bacon, at the end ofNovember. They soon organised thingsan.d before long our kitchen was asbnght as a new pin. One 'of their firstrequests was for a gas poker we wereSUPPosed to have. Soon sixteen ablebodiedmen went off in search. By thetime the search was called off. three hadbeen found. There must bea moral inthat s

dance will again b: held at the VictoriaHotel, Sidmouth. Until the new clubhousebecomes fully functional. theregular social bean feasts continue to beheld at the Carlton Hotel, Honiton.A.E.R.H.DONCASTER AND DISTRICTIN spite of our long absence from thesepages the club has probably beenmore active operationally than at anytime in its history and has seen severalmajor changes.The most obvious of these is that wenow share our airfield with the SouthYorkshire Flying Club. Tbis of coursehas meant certain restrictions, in particularto circuit directions, and has cutdown our thennal seeking activities overDoncaster itself. By and large though thearrangement works quite well in spite ofoccasional friction with the fan drivers.The second major change has been theappointment of a professional in the formof Bob McLean. This means that we cannow offer the possibility of flying allweek, weather permitting, and this isincreasingly being called upon by thosein the know. Bob fills in his spare timeputting his inspector's ti

going to spend a week's holiday to determineits keep-u,p-ability, and she oonsideredthat it had good prospects in aw st wind. Unfortunately, west winds\ ere not forthcoming that week; eastwinds, mist--5cottish type, and a bull­Hereford type, wbo almost demolished atubular steel gate which had recentlybeen erected, but which evidentlyrestricted his armourous adventures.We bave flown from the hill sinceAugust, and while several extendedflights were flown, the days when westwinds arose our winch cbose to givetrouble, but on the 26th October, in a7-8 knot breeze, four Bronze C legs wereobtained with gains of height of 1,400 ft.,only shortage of gliders keeping the fIyingtime down to 4t hours.This hill, part of Criffel range, is twomiles long, facing west, with possiblenorth and south faces which may alsowork, are yet to be explored properly.We left the hill for the winter at the endof November, but by the time you ar,ereading this, we are hoping to havereceived a lease frOin Mr. R. Campbell,who, while putting himself out to dragour tractor and winch out of holes. thatyours truly repeatedly gets into. will notsubmit to being strapped into a cockpit.The annual Arts Ball was, I think, enjoyedby the members of the club whoattended, but tbe hard work of designand construction fell almost entirely onthe shoulders of J. Reid, R. Robinsolland L Steel, and they deserve a big'Thank You'.Visitors are always welcome of course,but particularly so when we move backto the hill.DJ.ESSEX AND SUFFOLKTHE club continues to flourish despitethe lack of news from us in theselast few months. Thanks to the generosityof a local farmer we are still operatingfrom the same short strip near Hadleig,n.One ~f the side advantages is that every­?ne IS encouraged to try for spot land­Ings right from the ab-initio stage­Whether they realise it or not!last spring flying got off to a 13,legart as completion of the three yearo~ A on the Tiger Moth-which was~arned out by members themselves in theInterests of club finances-took longerthan anticipated.Hours flown during the year showedonly a small fall despite the late start.This was helped by the quality andlength of a decent English summer. ~O%of club members now have Silver orBronze C (new Bronce Cs completed byJohn Rurke, Michael Lee and BrianSeott) and a notable achievement wasAndrew Bullock's solo shortly after hissixteenth birthday. John Thurlow hasadded his Assistant Power Instructor'srating to his tugging and instructingabilities. In August he declared an outand-returnin the Ka-6 to Banbury,getting as far as Old Warden on thereturn.To ea.se the increased strain on theKa-7 by its use for solo flying as well asab-initio and more advanced training, itis hoped to get another solo sailplane tojoin the Ka-6 this season.The winter's overhaul work is turningout to be somewhat less than usual followinglast year's efforts on the TigerMoth and the superb re-spraying of thegliders by Ral'ph Brooker. Doubtless allwork will stop for our next event-theannual dinner on 20th February.M.LLAKESOUR Secretary, Peter Gillett, hastemporarily left the area and hashanded over the job to Roger Bull. Weare most grateful to Peter and his wife,Jill, for all the hard work they have putin over the last few years, and we lookforward to their return next summer.With the onset of the colder weatherwe are re-discovering the potential ofour site at Barrow-in-Furness for wavesoaring. The club has two good highperformance sailplanes, a Skylark 3F anda Slingsby T-53B (Phoenix); with thesewe can now explore further afield. Weare lea.rning a lot more about wave andare rapidly coming to the conclusion thatit occurs much more frequently than weoriginally suspected. In particular whenthe wind is between north and east weexperience quite a lot of "blue" wave.Nobody has yet beaten our Chairman'srecord of 15,000 ft.. but several flightshave been made reaching heights between6.000 ft. and 10.000 fl. On November29th, 1969. we bagged our first 5 hourSilver C legs in wave-two on the sameday! One pilot reached 9,000 ft. Whilst73

on this flight we heard Portmoak pilotson the radio calling back tbat they wereat 11,000 ft., so we have a bit to go yet.Also, our congratulations to Ian Ronaldand ROil Hawkes on getting their FullInstructor Rating.The social activity of tbe club has continuedsuccessfully with several wellattended parties in our re-decorated clubhouse.The annual dinner and dance andpresentation of trophies was held onDecember 5th, 1%9. and was much enjoyedby all present. We were very luckyto have as our guest speaker GeorgeBurton, Managing Director of SlingsbySailplanes Limited. It has been whisperedhe is also quite good at flying gliders.R.C.B.NORTHUMBRIAAT the AGM Bob Cawthorn and Roy, Bousfield retired from the committee.Both will I'm sure be greatly missedas they have been involved in much ofthe background string-pulling essential tothe success of a gliding club which passesunnoticed by many club members. Thevacancies are filled by Alan Brown andDave Osbome.The Towneley Arms, Rowlands Gill,was filled to capacity for the annualdinner-dance at the end of November.Dave Osborne, the pilot at the top of theClub Ladder Competition was presentedwith the Northumbria Cup, The CawthornCup, for services to tbe club, wasawarded "to Sarah Robson. Sarab hasalmost single-handed managed the canteencaravan and in the past year,regardless of weather, hasn't missed asingle Sunday.Flying of late has been hampered byeither equinoctial gales or low cloud.This is the usual prelude to the winterwave season when snow is underfoot andlenticulars overhead. The usual topic ofconversation was how good the wavelooked midweek; this has now beenaltered to discussions on how many timeswe cannot contact wave from a winchlaunch because we're out of phase withthe system, or not launched high enough,Our aerotow stri'p should be ready in thespring and if all goes well with grantapplications we should have a tug for thenext wave season then perhaps our ques·tions will be answered.J.R.G.THREE COUNTIESAERO CLUB LIMITEDBlaekbushe Airport, Camberley. Surrey(ON A30 TRUNK ROAD -

L. fO R.: Major Alan ~impson, Chairman; Eric Rogers, Hon. Sec.; Air Vice-MarshalHarry Burton; Major General TallY Deane-Drummolld and Kevin Atkinsoll.OUSEOUR biggest soci~l event of the year,the annual dmner-dance, was ahuge success; a great prestige occasion,with wonderful comradeship, and lots offun. Major-General Tony Deane-Drummondwas guest of honour and, unwittingly,he repeated the words used lastyear by Ann Welch _ , . "What a delightfully,happy, friendly club you are." Thispleased us enormously for we are just asproud of our friendly team spirit as weare of our flying successes. Tony not onlyspoke at the dinner. but stayed till theend of the dancing. To see him dancingthe hokey-cokey with real military vigourwas stimulating.Air Vice Marshal Harry Burton. Commanderof 23 Group RAF,emphasisedthat..an ever-increasing danger or air.:olllslon should make amateur pilotsmore careful than ever before. RAFplanes, h~ said, are tTllvelling at highsjJeeds and have little time to avoid otherpllo!s. He added that he was not suggestm~that the RAF had priority use offree air space-he was' just p.Qinting outlhe ~angC?r. "But there is no real probemIn thiS area;' he said.The Ladder Competition Trophy waspresented !o John Mawson; LesliePowell r..ecclved the Coulsey Shield fordevoted, dedicated all-round work- andKevin Aktinson was. awarded, fo~ thesecond. year running, the ForsterMernonal trophy for the most promisingyoungster. As the CFI, James WilfredCoulsey said, "His enthusiasm and determina~ion,.and his ability to tackle almostany Job In the club, makes him outstanding.",We had a busy Christmas and NewYear social programme; we enjoyed our~ew pulley-lal:lnching (and the lat~t addilIonto our glider fleet), a vast amount ofwork was done in the hangar and clubhouse,and we are looking forward to abumper soaring season-and lots morefun!A.aS.OXFORDAT the close of the soaring season therecord of launches stands at 2,352by winch and 195 by aerotowfot 743, hours flying on 69 days compared with, 2,.980 by winch and 86 by aerotow for827 hours on 77 days of the same period75

last year, These figures indicate thatpeople are !;)ecoming better at staying updespite the mediocre weekend weatherand the unfortunate withdrawal of ourtug operating licence by the Ministry ofDefence (Air.)Hearty congratulations are extendedto Norman Woodward on the completionof his Silver C and initiation into our'instructor band' following a recentcourse at 14sham.The annual C of A inspections of allour aircraft are progressing under tbewatchful eye of 'Srnokey'. The firstmachine on the stocks is the Skylark 28which receives her first re-cover havingbeen in the club since the beginning of1958.In 1951 when the club flew the comparativelyempty skies above Kidlingt,on,Professor George Varley, Ray StaffordAlien and others bought a maroon andsilver Olympia which they flew consistentlyuntil the club added it to thefleet in May 1956. Thirteen years laterwe all rather regretted the sale of ourmuch cherished Olympia to friends inScotland and can assure them of manypleasant flights to come.RAF Weston-on-the-Green can boastof many amusing tales during its longhistory. A recent 'happening' was the unintentionalcross-country trip' by one ofthe tethered balloons, normally used forparachute training. Late at night duringan exceptional gust it broke loose to becGntacted by radar passing over Ll.lton at4,000 ft. Finally it was reported lownear Cam}:lridge. The next morning it wasfound lying in a field 2 miles down windof Weston!The club tak,es pleasure in welcomingFIt. Lt. C. F. While, ,the new C.O. ofWeston; and cordially invite him ta flywith us on the better days of 1970Ċ.lT.SCOTTISH AIR SCOUTSSCOUTS Air A

Most flying is done (by aerotow) fromGlenrothes in Fife, but the ,glider islooked after by the Scottish GlidingUnion at Porlmoak and the Ausler atRAF Turnhouse. 80th gliding and powerflying has been greeted with enthusiasmalthough T-21 aerotows in the Scottishwinter also require hardy instructors andlarge Scotch post-flight rations_The biggest success tQ date has been aweek of detached Camp at North Connelairfield in Argyllshire, well providedwith good local hospitality and a workingridge on nearby Benlora, 1,007 ft..not to mention tantalising displays ofave cltJud at all hours of day and night.he general potential can perhaps bestbe gauged by the fact that staff pilots obtainedfour Silver C legs (2 duration, 2height) in their spare time.Prospects and hopes for the futurein lude taking the circus on tour aroundScotland to bring gli.ding to the localconsumers, and the acquisiti.on of a new2-seater to offset a lack of strong armedglider drivers.R.D.C.STAFFORDSHIRETHE winter months have brought with. them a revival of our social eveningswhich are generally held once a monthat. a suitable local Ale House. We hopethIS year to feature lectures by pUtlditsfrom other clubs and organisations tosupplement our own talented speakerswho by now musl be running rathershort of new topics on Which to speak.Ken Blake fmm Camp Hill Ilas been ourfirst guest sp.eaker and his illustrated~alk about wave soaring Was much en­Joyed.The pos.sible new site in the Leekarea briefly referred to in the last issuenow seems a less likely proposition.Before operations could commence thereWe should need permission from tbe PeakP~rk. Planning Board as the site isWithin their area An application has~een submitted but unofficial sourcesmd'cate that a full scale public enquirvwdl probably be required- a procesSWIth which our friends at Camp Hill arewell acquainted!tl We ,had Qur first ta~te of wave soaringflle othe~ da~-,that IS what tho~ whQew In I! saId anyway! A variety of~~Iots clalTned climbs to 2,000 ft. JustIr luck t.o discover this on the eve ofour departure from Meir. I hope thegood folk who are to' be housed on aformer gliding site will enjoy staring atlenticular clouds!AJ.D.SURREY AND HANTSDESPITE .the sborter days there has- been some splendid soaring thisautumn, occasional days in October andearly November producing cloudbases of4.000 ft. as!. or more. The high performanceside ,of the fleet is now de-insuredfor the winter leaving the K-8s and aSkylark 3 fOT the circuit bashers althoughnowadays 'circuits' is the wrong word.On many occasions a 1,200 ft. launch ina K-8 results in a pleasant 10 minute flyround. It will stay up' on almost anything,even a Dan Air 'Comet running. upits engines into the silencer which convenientlyblows the hot exhaust straightupwards! We appear to be hecomingmore like Heathrow every day with atleast sill Comets and sundry other airlinerspottering about occ.asionally, somewith. engines 'at the back and even onewith engines under the wings it isrumoured. All we need now is a massengine test for Bronze Cs!More high performance shippery is onits way to'Lasham. Roy Cross has soldhis Olymoia 463 and is about to set offon a wintry journey to Schempp's tocollect the very latest SHK to be built.C.L.SERVICE NEWSANGLIAA·S the first speil from the AngliaGliding Club newly formed andbased at RAF Wattisham, near Ipswich,it would seem natural to introduce some01 the members. The CFl, Alan Within!!­ton, is ably supported by deputy CFlMike Woods with Ken Stedman andTooy Milne completing the Instruc!ion~lStaff. Also on hand to offer adVice ISJohn $eymour fresh from triumph at theNorthern Comps, and at. the ~omentfussing over his newly acqUIred Dlamanl.On the hardware side, the club has al

winch and Chipmunk. The club is thearea club for the RAF Stations atStradishall, Bawdsey, and Honington, andalso attracts a sizeable following from theUSAF at neighbouring Bentwaters.B.M.M.BICESTERHE close of another soaring seasonT brings with it the usual flood ofaccumulated statistics. This gives theopportunity to reflect on the achievementsof both club and individuals; the formerin comparison with the previous year,the latter in consideration of conditionsat the time.The number of days flown at theCentre during the past twelve months,230, was 9 short of the previous year.This seems surprising until we rememberhow long the winter continued. Whensummer came it proved to have beenworth waiting for. June was the mostsuccessful month when 2,233 launchesproduced 1,224 hours flying and 2,139cr.oss-country miles for club machines.Every certifi~te obtained, A and Bupwards, was the result of a flight whichwas memorable for at least one pilot, but300 km.. Goalfligbts are worth a mentionas being l>f intere.st to all. The first ofthese successful flights was made in Aprilby Hm Wild. This completed his GoldC and was a just reward for "12 monthshard tugging" at Bicester before leavingus to fly much hotter ships at ColtishaU.The following day Don Hanson did arepeat performance, proving that Vice­Presidents have practical as well asadministrative ability. In May, JohnBrownlow, "Our Mao in Sweden" hadthe next success, and four weeks later"Doe" Saundby completed his Gold C.The flight which deserves an additionalcitation for tenacity was the one by ChrisGill whicb, on a difficult day, took over8 hours.Membership is now 340 and shows anincrease of 90 on last year's figure. Thisis due in no small part to ex·memberskeeping in touch and encouraging othersto, use the centre courses to further theirexperience, which in turn benefits theirclub and the GSA in general. Strongsupport has come from our Army neighboursand the USAF at Upper Heyford.Amongst our American friends we wel-SOUTHERNSAILPLANESoffer the most comprehensive service to glidingin BritainMajar and minor repairs to wood, glass-fibre and metalsailplanesSailplane tuningInstrumentsOverhauls and Cs of ASOLE V.K. AGENTS FOR SCHEMPP-HIRTHOpen Class CirrusStandard Class CirrusLet us send y"u details ofTrailersSparesDM29.000DM22.000these superlative machinesThruxton Airfield, Andover, Hants Tel: Weyhill 37378

come back Bill GaIt wh0se eliltbusiasrn isundiminisbcd after 'a year Qf active servicein Vietnam.Attlile time Qf going to press AndYCough alto Con Greaves are about toleave for the South African Nationals. Wehope that; in addition to being successful,they gain valuable experience in theconditions they are likely to encounter inTexas next June. (See p. 84),1. H. G.EAST MIDLANDS'TH,E highlight of the last few monthshas bee:n a combined expedition bythe East Midlands Gliding ClUb and theFour Counties Gliding Club to SuttanBank in October. The weather was excellentfor virtually the whole time and asa result a total of just under 200 hourswas flown by the two clu'bs. In particularour two members who went both gainedtheir Gold C heights (Stella Harrisonand Sid Green).We have had a fair season, not as g·ooctas last year's but by no means as poor asmany. Our plans for the winter includethe completion of a two-drum winch, therespraying of the latest addition to thefleet, the Ka-4, and the reopening of theclub bar.Next season we should be able to pro·vide aerotows on a regular basis and wehope that this will give us, an jmprovementto our ease of soaring'.1. D.FOUR COUNTIESOUR A.G.M. Was held on 29th, November attended by our ClubPresident, Air Marsh,al Sir 10hn Baldwin,our Station Commander, Group CaptainTUdor, Club Committee headed by theChairman, Group Captain Williamson,and ,the majority (If our club members.. The events of the past year Were re­Viewed and the committee re-elected fora, further year of 0ffice. The uBaldwinTrQPhy" for the 'bl;st fljght Qf the yearwas presented to Steve Hart and a houndLog book flresented to Gerry Walker fOTthe best progress during the previousY~ar, from solo in March to gaining twoSl!ve~ C legs in November, Air MarshalBaldwin kindly donated £25 towards theclu~ radio fund. After the meeting aSOCial evening was held in the clublounge and proVed to be aJ great Success.A recenrt ex.pedition to Sulton Bankduring the last two weeks of Octoberproved highly sUccessful. Ten club membersparticipated and took with them theBocian, K-8 and K-6CR. Approximately65 hours were flown. Six 5-hour flightswere made, two Silver heights gainedand a Gold height climb was made byRalph Dixon who had only soloed at theclub site five weeks beforehand. One il'lcidentoccurred where our eFl landed iDa field ,and had to cough up £5 as a landingcharge to secure his freedom.At the club site, Spitalgate, flying continuesas normal, our "Tea Bus" on overtimeduring the cold weather. A couple ofrecent solos include Em Francey andRick "Biggles" Alexander.We hope to commence monthly club"Socials" early il:\ the New Year. inQurrecently reorganised clubhouse, whichfeatures a now famous innova,tion knowllas "Arry's Door", and all visitors canexpect a warm welcome at any time.1. A.WES'1'COTT'THIS is the last newsletter from the" RPE Westcolt Gliding Club. Due toinsufficient freedom in the runnmg of thedub it has been decided to close down.However, a new club is to be formedwhich will be run through the Civil ServiceSports and Social Club, Bicester andthe Civil Service Aviation Association(CISAVIA), operating from Enstone nearChipping Norton. We are also hoping tobecome affiliated to BGA. We would liketo expr,ess our grat'itude to the Enstone"Eagles" for ,allOWing us to come andjoin them on tbeir airfield and are lookingforward to a .long and happy associationwith them.We have recently purchased a Ka-7from R.A.F. Bicester, and this is nowflying from Enstone. Arrangements aregoing ahead to take the Swallow andT-21B to our new airfield.At long last the Reverse Tow Pulleyis cot(lpleted and, although it has not yetbeen tested. it certain'ly looks impresSive.We must' congratulate Henry Egglestonon gaining his Bronze C at Westcolt an~Jimmy Hackling on his A .a~d B c~rh'ficate, gained whilst on a glidmg holidayat Lasham.79·

Finally, we would like to thank allthose members of the Westcott .GlidingClub who worked so hard to keel' thegliders flying. We are looking forwardto seeing ma.ny old faces at Enstone (aswell as some new ones) and hope thatw·e can make a success of our new club.E. A. C.CRUSADERSDhekelia, CyprusOUR 1969 soaring season ended well, with our Treasurer, Gordon Camp,and DCFI Georg\: Brindle making GoldC height climbs. Gcorge climbed to12,000 fL and then returned to the airstripfor Gordon to have a go·. Gonionbattled and then was thrown (he said) .tonearly 16,000 fl. before setting course forthe club si te.Thinking winter had arrived we starteda thorough overhaul of all the club airand ground equipment. As soon as everythingwas stripped down we were treatedto cloudless skies and daily temperaturesin the mid-70s for most of November ...However, all four aircraft sadly neededtheir overhaul after the long, dry andbusy summer.ChiP members thoroughly enjoyed an"end of year" dinner-dance recently at theKyma, Limassol, thanks to Geoff Mill·ward's organisation and to the Kymastaff and band.Our departing Chairman, Colonel E. S.Twiss, RE, weloomed the guests andthen called upon the new Chairman ofthe Near East Joint Services GlidingAssociation, Group Captain G. J. South,DSO, DFC, RAF. to present the ClubTrophies. The "Andy Marshall" trophyawarded to the member who put the mostinto the club in 1'969 went' to our recentlyappointed Deputy CFI George Brindle.The Club Soaring Trophy for the yea.r'soutstanding flight or progress was presentedto Gary Moore for his progressfr.om re-solo to full Silver C.The CFI, George Ross, reported on asuccessful year and announced plans forcourses and soaring weeks from mid­February 1970 onwards.The RAF Akrotiri Sports Board haspresented its coveted Sp0rts Award toTim Oulds, Bill Dickson, "Tony" Simmsand Gerry Cooper for their services togliding and the "Crusaders" from 1965to 1969.OUT congratulations and thanks to all(lese worker-members and to all thosenot mentioned.M. 1. O.PHOENIX(RAF Bruggen)ONE of the major snags to be foundin operating a Services gliding clubis the regular turn-over of members as aresult of postings. Phoenix is sufferingfrom this at the moment, in particular.'30Gliding is a family business at the Crusaders.

ecause of the re-equipment programmefor RAF Germany which is causing anextra large turn-over of personnel. In thespace of only .a couple of m0!iths t.heclub is losing Its entire CommIttee, m­cluding CFl and Deputy CFl. However,all is not yet lost; the Rev. Graha.mMcKenzie has agreed to become Chairmanand there is no doubt that the clubwill go from strength to strength underhis guidance. The new eFI is RogerHodgson, and his ~staff" of BGA f~lIcatscomprise Donald Scarfe and MikeWard.Amongst the many members we arclosing are Peter Lane, Chairman, ColinEllioll, CFI, and Malcolm Medland,DCFI. The results of their collectiveefforts during the past season wiIJ be ofgreat benefit to the club during thecoming year. Our sincere thanks and bestwi hes go to all three.The club has had a higWy successfulseason; it has very nearly reached itstarget of 5.000 la unches, it has taken d.eliveryof a new Ka-8B, and now awaitst:1e arrival of a new twin-drum Tostwinch. The club fleet now comprisesT-21, Ka-7, two Swallows, Ka-8B. andKa-6cR. Despite the excellent weatherour cross-country mileage has been disappointing,but greater emphasis will bepla

as most of us had never been aerotowedbefore.Our AGM was held on 22nd Novemberand was well attended, but I havenot yet found out whether this was attributed10 the fact that the instructors werepaying for the party which was held afterwardsin recognition of the fact tbat webad completed 7,000 launches for theyear. For this to happen again lilO ,doubtwe will have to better that number oflaunches. The Lister Memorial trophywas this year won by Ray Bond; theMercer Shield was, not awarded and theCFIS Trophy, which consisted of twoprizes was won by Mick Wood and AlanBishop.In the near future We are hoping tosend at least one aircraft to Issoire on aclub eXpedition for two or three weeksto get some ex:perience in wave.A. M. B.OVERSEAS NEWSDENMARKS'.EVEN new gliders hav,c baen registeredduring the past year: one eachof K-S, Foka-5, SH-!, SHK·I, Bergfalke3,. K-8B and L-Spatz 55.A review of the past decade (the(1960's) shows that glider pilots haverisen from 600 to 1,600, gliders from70 to 185, and the K-S has replaced tlleGrunau Baby. Launches per year haverisen from 20,000 to 55,000, hours ~ryear from 3,300 to 13,700, and crosscountrykilometres per year from 12,000to 79,000.Flyv.NEW ZEALANDSOUTH ISLAND CHAMPIONSHlPS.-Thisevent returned to Patearoa five yearsafter the first championships were heldthere. In many ways the area is ideal:good landing' areas are simply everywbere,and yet the ranges of rocky hillstrigger off the most tremendous thermals.Many routes give tasks of up to 180 km.82without making retrieves excessively long.Unfortunately the weather cannot be: Soeas,ily arranged and there were only fourcontest days out of the' six planned.; theStandard alild Sporting Classes got onlytwo C'O11tes-ts each, so no I;;hampionscould be declared.Sunday. 26th Oclober.-The officialopening was held in a roaring gale, withpilots clustered in the shelter of theOtago Club's mobile clubhouse whilelenticulars piled up overhead. Weatherindicated more wave, wind speeds upto 70 knots at 20,000 feet from WNW,amd a coLd front expected about 2 p.m.The task-setters had no option but todeclare a no-contest day. This caused ascramble for wave flights, and BrureDrake in the Skylark 4 set out forWakari in North Canterbury, ZL5 milesaway, reaching it some 3 hours later.Ken Lloyd' of Otago Club took its Skylark4 to 31.500 ft. but omitted thebarograph which wouJd have. given himDiamond height. Maurie Wills in Southland'sKa-6 went to 25,600 ft. with 'barQgraph,and sc:veral other wave f1igbtswere made.

Monday, 27th October-Snow showersbut an improvement forecast, so an 88­km. Triangle was set, but this was latershortened to 68 km. and then called offwhen another snowst{)rm appeared 5miles away.Tuesday, 28th October.-A strongWSW airflow giving winds of 20-25knots at 3-5,000 ft. Cumulus started withbases at 6-7,000 ft. rising to 9,000 ft.asl (airfield 1,300 ft.). Task: 129-km.Triangle.After the pundits bad waited forcumulus to show, the first launches gotaway, and all had left by 12.45. Afterone or two re-launches, the first three tocomplete came h{)me, making it a contestday: Ivan Evans with a lO-milefinal glide, John Goddard and DickGeorgeson. But the pundits weren'tfinished; they re·launched and JohnGoddard, after starting in a 9,000·ft.thermal., reached 10,000 ft. in wavealong .the second leg (St. Bathans·ChattoCreek Hotel) and shot home in fast time.His speed of $5.2 km/h. was well inadvance of Ivan Evans, 46.8, and DickGeorgeson, 45 km/h. Ivan told of buckinga 50-60 knot wind on the second leg,and indeed the wind on this leg seemedto run along the valley rather thanacross it.The whole field scored in the OpenClass. Standard Oass winner wasMaurice Wills (Ka-6) with 82.5 km. Thenumber past 2X was insufficient for aI,OOO·point day, and it was devalued to800 pts. in the Open and 240 in theStandard Class.Wednesday, 29th October. - StrongWSW airflow, more stable. some wavepossible later. Task: IOI-km. Trianglewith turn points in the historic goldmlOlngarea: Pennyweight Hill and KyeburnDiggings. Owing to a strongerInd than forecast, a race was changedto distance along the course. Only twopassed 2X to make it a coOntest day:Iva~ Evans in SHK, who won by completIngthe course and then goinganther 14 miles along it agai.n; andEholO Co.utts in Dart 17R,. who stillt ought It was a race and wiped off7~OOO ft. in 12 miles to land at basehlhsface was a picture of pure miseryW en he realised his mistake.Thursday, 30th October.-This was tobe the day. Wind light and variable;very hot on the ground. Task: 146-km.Triangle via Blackstone Hill and Clyde.Thermals started quite early; launchingto 2,000 ft. was quick and mostlyinto a thermal, Dick Georgeson had tobe called back through not having beenobserved over the start line; this turnedout to be probably the best thing thatcould have happened to him, as he shotoff and around the triangle in whatturned out. to be the fastest time, 2h.47 min. 25 sec. Thermal strengths of8 or 10 knots were not unxnown thisday. John Goddard was next home, thenIvan the Terrible, then Tom Grant inthe old Skylark 4. Dudley Waters hadonly VHF, so no one knew where hewas till the Diarnant's distinctive T-tailidentified him 5th across the finish line.Dudley agrees that he is only now learningto fly DiamanL There's no doubtthat it can go really well when pushed.The pundits set off again for the usualhigh·speed dash around the course, butthey all landed out, so Dick: Georgesonwon t!Je day. He is still getting used tothe Cmus and finds it delightful to fly,but he doesn't feel it can scrape out ofa hole as well as the SHK.Speeds in kmlh.-Georgeson (Cirrus),52.6; Evans (SHK), 51.75; Goddard(Dart 17R), 46.7; Waters (Diamant).38.75; Grant (Skylark 4), 30.5. All tenentries scored.Friday, 31st October.-Strong SWwind. As on the second day, a 106-km.Triangle race was set round the samecourse and then, as nobody couLd getaway across the start line, it waschanged to distance round the course.A 2,000 ft. launch 3 miles to the Wgave some chance to get away downwindto where thermals were: M. Willswas first at the turning point, but Evansand Coutts had landed short of X andreturned for re-launch and Evans gotaway. Jock McDonald landed short of2X. Then Peter Cummins passed 2X. At5.50 Evans got back and drifted awaybut soon landed. Dick Georgeson wasseen to land 9 miles out but it onlybecame known later that he hadright round the course first.been83

The day was devalued to 800 pts. forthe Open Class, but it was No Contestfor the Standard. Evans won with121 km. and Georgeson made 119 km.That night, at a sumptuous banquetprovided free by Mrs. Conley of thePatearoa Hotel, Ross Macintyre, chairmanof the organizing committee, presentedthe trophies.Open Class winner: Ivan Evans,South Island Trophy.Standard Class winner: Maurie Wins,Messervy Trophy.Best Individual Performance: TomGrant. Mt. Cook Services Trophy.Highest Scoring Pilot Previously Unplaced:Dudley Waters, SailplaneSpecialists' Cup.Daily trophies were presented to thepilot whose daily points increased most(or decreased least!) instead of to dailywinners. They went to John Goddard,Ivan Evans, Dick Georgeson and PeterCummins.I. Evans2. Georgeson3. Goddard &Coutts4. Waters5. Grant &McDonald6. WillsI. Wills2. MarshalGrant &McDonaldCumminsWillsLeading Final ResultsOPEN CLASSSHKCirrusDart 17~Diamant 16~·Skylark 4Ka-6STANDARD CLASSKa-6Ka-6SPORTING CLASS2,7202,5041,6951,5091,129798880340Skylark 4 1,267? 827Ka-6 679Ross MACTNTYREAUCKLAND PROVINOALCHAMPIONSHIPSThis, the eighth contest of its kind,was won on total points by Peter Heginbothamof Wellington in the OpenClass, though he did not win a singleone of the six tasks. Leading scoreswere:OPEN CLASSP. K. Heginbotham Phoebus 171. M. Pryde LibelleA. P. Fowke ASW-15P. Timmermans Ka·6844,2324,1%3.7043,405In the Standard Class, Fowke won.followed by Timmermans, Carmichael(Ka-6) and Cooper (Ka-6). In the SportsClass, Timmermans was followed byCarmichael, Cooper and Sheppard (Ka­6E).G. J. Sheppard (Auckland) won theaward for the pilot showing most progress,and R. G. Carmichael (Piako)the award for the most meritoriousflight.RHODESIATWO Salisbury scouts have won glid­.1 ing badges. Stephen Smith, aged 15,is the youngest C pilot in the country,having obtained the badge with a 30­minute flight. The other, Richard Pike,is aged 17.Salisbury Gliding Club has lost twoaircraft in a towing accident. A PiperCruiser tug, flown by John Wright, hitthe top of a tree at the club's WarrenHills site, and the glider it was towing,tlown by Derek Ebde. also crashed. Bothpilots suffered spinal injuries.WingsSOUTH AFRICASTOP PRESS: The National Championships,flown on alternate days with theCompetition, scored on seven days each.The only 506 km. triangle set 'was completedby 34 out of the 38 pilots. Thisincluded Con Greaves, who was sharingan SHK with Andy Gough, John Delafieldin a Phoebus 17, and Alf Warminger,Ka-6cR. The three British Teampilots got in good practice for Marfa buthad to leave before the contest was over.World Record. Brian Stevens and HughKeartland broke the 300 km. two-seaterrecord on 10th January in a Schweizer2-32 at 104.7 km/h.British NatioaaJ Record. On 22ndDecember John Delafield broke the300 km. triangle with 111.6 km/h. in hisPhoebus 17.Other National Records were claimedby Rhodesia, Germany, Belgium, Holland,France and South Africa - all subjectto homologation.Leading Final Results.W. Gross (Germ) BS-IH. Heiriss (SA) ASW-12B. Jac1

SOVIET UNIONSAILPLANE types flown in the internationalcompetition for East Europeancountries, described in the lastissue, were.: 13 A-IS's, a Z~fir-4 fl

SHEPLEY LANE,HAWK GREEN,MARPlE,CHESHIRE.Postcode: SK6 7JWA complete service to Gliderand Light Aircraft Owners.REPAIRSOVERHAULSMODIFICATIONSTrailers for all typesFully 'qualified staff with yearsof experience.Telephone: 061-42i' 2488ReasomlbJe prices, efficientservice, and first class work.LASHAM(NA T70NAL GLIDING CgNTRE)Weekly caurs,es all year at inclusive rates. Modern centrally-heatedclubhouse, canteen and bar. Accommodation provided. Full time professionalinstructors, with Derek Piggott as C.F.I., club solo and two-seaterflying every day, private owners welcome.Club Fleet fol' 19701 Capstan 2 ASK 1 3'$4 K 8B's 1 Sehelbe Falke3 Skylark lV's 2 Dart f7R'sAll initial training now done in the two-seater motor-glider Scheibe FalkeWHAM AERODROME, Nr. ALTON, HANTS. TEL. HERRIARD 270LASHAM GLIDING SOCIETYSURREY & HANTS GLIDING CLUB86

Participation in the Internationals atMarfa wouJd. through lack ·of mon.ey,be limited to three pilots: Hans Nletlispach(Berne) and Urs Bloch (Gren.­cnen) in tne Standard Class, and EmllEnrat (Schaffhausen) in the Open. Eachwould have two crew members insteadof three. The party would includeMarkus Rilzi, the national coach; FritzPfeuti, the technical chieJ; and AdolfGehriger, president of the GlidingCommission.OnlY one new Swiss record wasbroken during the past year. whenMargrit Sallaz set up a feminine recordof 39.2 km/h. (or the lOO-km. Triangle.She had already set up a feminine gainof-heightrecord of 5,480 metres in1964, and in 1968 .she was the onlywoman ever to take part in the SwissNational Championships.Press Service Of Ae.C.S.WEST GERMANYSTATISTICS. - There were 3,354gliders· in West Germany as at31 st August, 1969, it was announced atthe annual November "Tagung" atAugsburg. At the same date there were221 motor-gliders known to the GermanAero Club.CLUB CLASS PROSPECTS.-A sPecialClass for those who do not fly "superships"was tried out two years ago inthe Nordrhein-Westfalen Region. InLuftsporf, the official organ of the GermanAero Club in the Region, FredWeinholz urges other Regions also tohold chamj)ionships for this Class dur­Ing 1970, wi th a view to selecting entrantsfor a National Championship in1971.The Cl'ub Class received the blessingof the German Aero Club at the"Tagung" in Augsburg. It had aJreadybeen introduced in the 1969 decentralisedcompetition (now carIedDeutsche Segelftugwettbewerb), theresults of which in this Class are nowannounced. The highest scorers weretbe liamburg Aero Club team, consistingof M. l. Meier, G. Amtor and G. Lau.,wIt~ an aggregate score of 2170.. Butth~(,~ entry was not in order, so theeft)IClal winners are the Weiden Aerollb, of Bavaria, with 2,030 points.Qualifications for the Club Class area price limit of 12,000 DM for singleseaters(now to be raised to 13,500)and 18,000 D M for two-seaters, exceptthat any type produced in series before1st May, 1945, can qualify regardless ofprice.WASSER~UPPE JUBiLEE.-The annualJunior Championship on the Wasserkuppe,to be held frgm 18th to 30thMay, 197'0, will celebrate the 50th anniversarypf the first German glidingmeeting held there in I920.-Luftsport.YUGOSLAVIAN ATIONAL CI-IAMPlONSHIPS1969.-These were held at NoviSad on the ~eighbouring Comej airfieldfrom 7th to 18th September. Twentypilots took part, including two visitorsfrom Poland. Sailplane types flying were:Delfin I, Delfin 2, llidenka and Weihe(seven of them, all with skids!),In the first task, a goal-and-returnrace of 86.4 km., Wasilige Stepanovicwon at 54.6 km lh. The winners of theremaining tasks were the two Polishguests, Jerzy Adamek and Henryk Muszczynski,who far otltflew the Yugoslavpilots.Second task: goal-and-return race of96 km. Winner Muszczynski at 73.915km/h. On the third task, a 96.6-krn.Triangle, Adamek made the best time inweak thermals at 43.863 km/h., againstMus21cynski's 40.374.The fOllrth task was the longest: a170.km. Triangle, won by Muszczynskiat 61.344 km/h., Adamek making58.682 km/h. Finally came an 86-km.goal-and-return, and the two Poles againled: Adamek at 56.260 and Mus21czynskiat 53.333, km/h.Fimll Leading Remit!!J. Adamek, Delfin 2 4,9'16H. Muszczynski, Delfin 2 4.910W. Stepanovic 4.128B. Praprotnik 3,648M. Gatolin 3,433J. Uhan 3,307Ostf/ugkllrier.87

INDEX TO ADVERTISERSBreeze light Airc.raft Ltd. 15Bristol Gliding Club 71. Inside Back CoverBritish Gliding Association 56Burghley Finance Co. Ltd. 9Classifieds 65-69Peler Clilford Avialion Ltd.Back CoverCobb-SLalCr Instrument Co. Ltd. 20Cornish Gliding Club 88Crossfell VariomelCn 7Crystal Engineering Lld. 38J. Dclafield 55Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club 31Doncaster Sailplane Scrvices 14Dorset Flying Club 76GJiderwork 16J. Hulme 14Irving Air Chute of Great Britain Ltd. 37Kent Glidinll Club 81Lasham Gliding Society 86Victor Laurenee (Merchanls) Ltd. 66London Gliding Club- 88London Sailplanes Ltd. 13Midland Gliding Club 88Norco Aviation Lld. 47Oliver and Boyd Ltd. 62Radio. Communications Co. 47Sailplane &. Englnecring Se"ices Lld. 48Sailplane &. Gliding 51, 69Alexander Schleicher Segclftugzeu~ba" 67Scouish Glidinll Union Inside Back CoverSlinllsby Sailplanes Ltd. 2, 62Soaring Symposia 15Soulhdown Aero Serv;:e. Ltd. 22Soulhern Sailplanes 78Speedwell Sailplanes 86G. E. Storev &. Co. 68Tarpaulin &. Tent Mfg. Co. 66Thames Valley Gliding Club Inside &ick CoverThermal Equipment Ltd. 72Thorpc: Aviation Ltd. Inside From CoverThree Counlies Aero Club Lld. 74West Wales Gliding A~oclation 34J. S. Williamson 23Worcester Gliding Club 24Yorkshire Gliding Club Inside Baok CoverCORNISH GLIDING & FLYING CLUBGliding courses in modarn lIa.t from MAY11th - B.G.A. categorised instructors - finesoaring - lovely coastal airlield - ideal fora different family holiday.AERO·TOW COURSES AVAILABLE.DdciIJ with pleasure from: The CourseSecretary; Cornish Gliding & FlyingClub. Trevenas Airfield. Perranporth.CornwaU.MIDLAND GLIDING CtUB LIMITEDLONG MYND.SHROP$HIRETelephone: Unley 200BUNGEE LAUNCH???Where else?5 mile ridge - frequent wave.Excellent clubhouse, comfortablebunkhouse, dining room - 3 meals aday - snug bar.S day courses for ab·initios, advancedpilots and private owners.Club fleet includes Ka 13s, 460s andSwallows.Associate membership to members 01other clubs Daily 10/-; Monthly £2Further details from: Miss M. HOBBY,256 Crowmere Road,Shrewsbury, Salop.r- ~T-LONDON GlIDJNG CLUBDunstable Downs. Bedfordshire.What makes the London GlidingClub so popular?Can it be the site (just off theM1) at the foot of the Chilterns,within easy reach of both Londonand the Midlands?Orthefabulous flying conditions,with plenty of thermals in summer,and hill soaring in favourable windsall year round?Or our modern fleet of dual andsolo aircraft, plus reliable launchingequipment (inclUding four tugs)?Or the clubhouse facilities?Resident instructors, cateringevery day, licensed bar, and accommodation(we run residentialcourses all summer)?If you'd like to find out, ring theManager at 058-2 63419. Or write.88

Bristol GJidin,g ClubHYMPSFlELD. GLOUCESTERw. off••llc~Uent th.rlnlll, bill _nd wave $04t!ng el 11lit- eft the weslern edge of the CoI,wotds, near 501.oud.FJ-e' incl.,d., Skylark 11, 01ympYl, $w.lfow, Pr.l4Ct .ndOu~ Tfiiining Machines. A.ro~towing,......a.ble.C:o,"fo,.~&e C~u-bhou... lirJI·c~i$ Ca:nl"". Bunkftou..and B..,.S"",,"- Gliding Ho1idar' lor ab-initio Non-Members.Writ. 10, BRISTOL AND GLOUCESHI GUDING auaNYMPSflELD, N

GLIDE AHEAD WITH A 'BLANIK'HOLDER OF THE WORLD 2·SEAT DISTANCERECORD AND 'MANY U.K. RECORDSUnsurpa,ssed in Performance and Rei iabilityFully Aerobatic'Delivered U.K. £2,275 (includi'ng instruments)Now fifteen years in production and 1500manufacturedA World Champion that cannot be beatenGet with it - join the ~BLANIK' set and progressin the 70'sDistributor for U.K., Eire and Canada:Peter Clifford Aviation Limited, Oxford Airport, Kldlington, Oxford.ie!. Kid'linglon 4262Cables: Cliffair, OxfordSole Exporter for CzechosLovak Aviation Products:Omnipol Limited, Washingtonova 11, Prague 1, Czechoslovakia