COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
and combative Horace sometimes felt like a bull in a china shop. 'D 1
was a lovely person and fate smiled on us that day when she took a
fancy to the Ince family and to Virginia in particular.
As for the situation in which I now found myself. It would be a
marvellous opportunity to become involved in sailplane development
and to put my test flying skills to good use. What better way to be
doing so than in support of Harry Midwood. I would be able to
reinforce his arguments - and to deflect some of the gratuitous, and
often conflicting, ideas with which Horace was bombarded by the
gliding movement. Between us, in the long run, we might even
persuade him to put a developed version of the Olympia IV into
production. There was no harm in dreaming!
More likely, and more immediate, was the risk of creating further
friction with the establishment. Just over a year had passed since the
unfortunate episode of the 'Eagle 1 and the scars had yet to heal. As a
member of the BGA Council I was only too well aware that there was
little love lost between Philip Wills and Horace Buckingham. Once we
were known to have cornered another perk, and with whom, the
reaction would not be difficult to visualise. So what! Gliding was a
competitive sport and Horace had opened another exciting door after
the one marked 'Eagle 1 had been slammed firmly shut.
At the first meeting in Newbury we were all agreed that the low
speed performance of the Olympia IV must be improved. Perhaps flaps
would be the answer. But Harry insisted that there was no substitute
for span. The existing wing could be extended to 17 metres and his
calculations showed a much better result than with flaps. The
longitudinal and directional stability and control characteristics would
still be quite acceptable. The extended wing would include larger,
higher aspect ratio, Frise ailerons and there would be little, if any,
deterioration in the rate of roll. In his opinion an otherwise unchanged
Olympia IV, with 17 metre wings, should do the trick.
And so the Olympia 402 was born. It would come to us at
Twinwood Farm early the following spring. By then - thanks to the
kindness of Ralph Maltby and his wife Heather - Anne, Virginia and
I had become weekend regulars at their home in the nearby village of
Clapham.
Ambitious plans were afoot to merge the airfields of Twinwood
and Thurleigh into a single site for the National Aeronautical
Establishment with a vast complex of wind tunnels. Some had already
been built, indeed Ralph himself was responsible for the spinning
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