VGC News/Newsletters - Lakes Gliding Club

een sold It hadn't, was I pleased, I'm not sure, the risingexcitement again should I buy it, HELP! '!A meeting was arranged, insurance sorted, Saturday 28October 2000 at 1000 Ius, Lee-on-Solent G.c. was the placeto 'be, unfortunately the forecast was severe gales and rain.Robin, helpful as ever, decided that as he is an Inspector heshould come with me to cast an eye over the aircraft, andbesides he has a tow bar fitted and "you never know".Nigel Clark met us at the gate of the airfield and led us tothe hangar to assemble the Jaskolka. Nigel removed the fuselagefrom the trailer demonstrating the one man operation,whm could I say, dry mouth, panic, beating heart, sweatypalms, well you get the picture. Quite honestly I would havegiven him the money there and then, it was love at first sight,Discussion time. Is it worth it? Duncan Reed:~ .firsl sight ofthe Jaskolka was at Lee-on-SolentI wanted it, no, needed it now, Robin of course stayed calm.Not ten minutes into the proceedings when who shouldappear across the hangar floor but Graham Saw!! He "justhappened to be passing", it was good of him to come and castan expert eye.The two Inspectors set about their task with vigour, climbingin, over and around this vision of beauty, sighing, muttering;sharp intakes of breath could be heard, questions were askedof the owners Nigel and Tim, I was getting worried, stressed,even concemed.The owners were dismissed for our discussion as to averdict, Graham gave his opinion, Robin gave his opinion, Iasked several questions, the right noises seemed to be comingfrom them both, it was worth having a go, and besidessomeone fmm Poland seemed to be interested so it was nowor never. Trying to look calm, I approached Nigel and Tim thejoint owners, a price was agreed, we shook hands and the salewas concluded. What feelings, excitement, guilt, panic, whathave I clone' a few minutes later my dear wife phoned, strangehow she always seems to know when I have spent money!!All the emotions mixed into one, was it worth owning theonly fflying Jaskolka in the UK YES!!'We hooked on the trailer and away we went from Gosport.As I mentioned earlier severe gales and tomadoes weredestroying caravans just down the road. The journey howeverwas uneventful except that Robin decided he liked the gliderso much that he would like to become joint owner, I was morethan mappy to do so, not just financially but he is a good friendand fellow enthusiast. What a day, but there was better tocome.A week later Graham kindly offered to check out theJaskolka and brief us both before we flew it, (of course,nothing to do with the fact he hasn't a Jaskolka in his logMalcolm Wiltoll-Jones and Robin Willgoss look on asGraham Saw prepares to fly the Jaskolka 011 the only sunnyday in November and yes, that is the correct registration nota reversed negativebook) and also to check me out in a K 13 as he was unaware ofmy flying skills (or lack of !).Graham's check flight in the "Jazz" as we have now startedcalling it, was quite thorough. We watched anxiously as hecarried out loops, chandells etc. He landed, we approached, hesmiled his usual smile which could mean either of two things,it was pleasant to fly and he enjoyed it, or it was a pig to flyand he scared himself to death, however, he declared it stableand quite sweet to fly. I think those were his very words. Abriefing was given by Graham, and Robin took the first flightas I still had to be checked out. Dry mouthed, butterflies in thestomach, away he went. On return and much to my relief healso declared it a lovely thing to fly and quite stable with nosign of any nasty vices. My turn arrived, the same feelingsensued, what did Graham say? How fast? Which flap? As ithappens I needn't have wonied, the aerotow w.as beautifullystable and off the tow it was a real pleasure.Am I glad I (we) bought it, let's just say we both can't waitto fly it again, and besides how many gliders have navigationlights fi tted standard !!Finally, many thanks to the Lee-on-Solent G.c. for makingus most welcome and to the Booker group, specifically,Graham Saw, John Tournier and Nikki for helping us on the"first flight day".Duncan Reed.Chris Wills has added some background information onthis interesting glider: SZD-8 Jaskolka translated from thebook die Beruhmtesten Segelflugzeuge by Georg Brutting byC.Wills.After the Mucha (Fly), Polish designers set themselves thetask of designing the high perfOlmance single seat sailplaneJaskolka (Swallow) which, like the Mucha, also becamefamous internationally.The first prototype of the SZD-8, registered SP-1222, flewon the Ist of December 1951. The second protoytype, registeredSP-1223, flew on the 3rd of December 1951. Then followedthree years of improving the design involving theJaskolka SZD-14X, the Jaskolka M, the Jaskolka SZD-8 bis,and the Jaskolka W before the latter design could go into productionas the Jasolka. The main alteration during this timewas that the fuselage length was increased from the 6.74metres of the prototypes to the 7.42 metres of the Z series. Thewingspan for all versions remained a constant 16 metres. TheJaskolka was a cantilever, midwinged sailplane of traditionalwooden construction. Of special interest was the canopy withits forward fixed portion and its large moulded rear portionthat could be slid backwards and forwards to allow the pilotaccess to the cockpit. It also has a semi-retractable landing17