point, to the southwest of Shl'ewsbury and close to the borderof Wales, j,~lst made for soaring! Tile well known and one of,the oldest and well respected full size gliding clubs, theMidland <strong>Gliding</strong> <strong>Club</strong> is resident towards the southern end ofthe main ridge with a well established hang glider dub nearby.Our main slope is about I mile from the M,O.C. and faceswest, although it does work well from SW round to NW.Occasionally, modellers take a short ride over to the full sizesite to either wait their turn for an air-experience flight orresearch their forthcoming new model! In any event. we havea gond relationship with their members, as should be. WolvesM.A.C. hold 2 national scale glider competitions each year atthe Mynd, making a weekend of them, with a pub meal, 'cupsof tea' and lots to talk about on the Saturday ev.ening. They arerated as being among the most popular events in the country,with about 30 or 40 entries in each, dependent on the weatherof course. The ratio is about 50/50 vintage and modem gliders,which I think you will agree, is a healthy mix.John Watkin s 1/4 scale Crested Wren model, with below, his1/6 scale S/..')>/ark I, and right, his 1/4 scale Avia 40POne club I belong to, Delta Hawks, has a lovely flat field wayout in the country, about 100 yards square and like a billiardtable. That is where I go aerotowing! Then there is a full sizeclub where I get invited to do some winch towing after teawhen the big ones retire.I think one of the best ways to meet people and to exchangeideas is to visit some of the many organised events held up anddown the cOuntry. If you enter then so much the better butmost of these events in the UK are relat,ively low key anyway,with the empbasis on flying and generally enj,oying yourselfLast y.ear there were 15 such meetings so there are plenty tochoose from. Lords Hill for instance, deep in troe heart ofWilt·shire. a dosely mown field on the top of a hill, miles from anywbere.Tug pilots just wait to do their thing, with slopes Oil 3sides to combine aerotowing with sloping, what more could abody want? Today there seems to be a general leaning towardsael'Otowing as opposed to slope soaring. Possibly this is due toour fickle weather with the wind not doing its stuff or a steadyconfidence building as more and more try aerotowing.I feel that winch towing deserves a bigger slice of theaction, the trouble is room as it needs a much bigger fielddevoid of walkers, horses, cattle, etc., whereas aerotowing ispossible off a much smaller mown strip, providing it doesn'tupset the locals.But the question remains, what is to become of modelgliding in ,the future? One thing is for certain, while there aresuppliers of building and covering materials and adhesives,built-up models will always be an attraction for people withtime to build. But for others who have so little time. be it workor young families, there is the alternative of a ready market forthem, the almost ready to fly type models (ARTF), and anincreasing nnrnber of RTF if you can afford the price. But [feel that entering these last 2 markets as a newcomer to thehobby, has a doomed life span. One thing [ always suggest topeople who are interested is to start with something simple,like a free flight chuck glider for instance. That way, there is aminimum expense, they are quick to build and res'lil,ts can bevery encouraging, ie., the maximum pleasure for the minimumoutlay! How often have you been in your local model shop tohear someone ask for the biggest, brightest aeroplane ,in stock,plus the radio to go with it and lots of worthwhile free adviceonly for them to return in a month or two's time to sell it backor say it's crashed!Another way to get started is to purchase one of these'foamies' or EPP models that are flooding the market. Do Ihear a distant shudder? Let's face it, they are here and peopleflying them ought to be encouraged to do so. If they show agrain of enthusiasm, it won't be long before they think"there's more to this hobby - let's build a scale model likethe one that won't come down"! Anyway, we can alwaysdream I suppose.John G. Watkills22
MANUEL· CRESTED WRENWing spanLengthWi.ng AreaAspect RatioWing SectionTare WeightFlying SpeedVintage40'-0"20'-3"150sq ft12Gott.5491901b30mph1931-'- --IVWlI
- Page 1: · j.'19SPrice (UK) l.•.•Free t
- Page 7 and 8: MEET THREE OF YOUR COMMITTEE, AND A
- Page 9 and 10: CAMPHILL 2000 AND 2001Dear Sir, As
- Page 11 and 12: CAMPExtract from Czech Airmap showi
- Page 13 and 14: den Linden. I did like the Sony Cen
- Page 15 and 16: Fig 4Elevator arm bearingElevator p
- Page 17 and 18: GLIDER PRODUCTION IN THE EX-DDRType
- Page 19 and 20: een sold It hadn't, was I pleased,
- Page 21 and 22: l1wheek The wing is in two parts, i
- Page 23: Osnabruck Flying Club. Neelco Osing
- Page 27 and 28: ARGENTINIAN NEWSFrom Aimar Mattano,
- Page 29 and 30: the Marches Fouga. After this, in 1
- Page 31 and 32: HUNGARIAN NEWSZogling Replica certi
- Page 33 and 34: Some unidentified pictures ofpre-wa
- Page 35 and 36: some of the younger members, like m
- Page 37 and 38: ClassifiedadvertsSmall advertisemen
- Page 39: ------..........• \' I , , ''''\~
Change language