COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

COMBAT AND COMPETITION
find the handling superior to that of any glider which he flown before.
And what then? Would Elliotts be supplying three out of four aircraft
for the British team on this occasion? It seemed more than likely.
Philip Wills had elected to fly a Skylark II in the Standard Class and
Elliotts were building that special, one off, 15 metre 415 for Tony
Good hart.
But Nick did not chose the 419. In retrospect it is perhaps easier to
understand. He was completely at home in his Skylark III, after two
year's hard flying, with the aircraft set up exactly to his liking - and
the alternative? - a second prototype scheduled to be ready just three
weeks before the team's departure date. The uncertainties were just
too great.
On the following Friday I was stuck in bed with a dreadful sinus
cold. Came the Saturday morning and the trip to Lasham was not
exactly welcome, but there was a job to be done. The 419 awaited, its
cockpit full of rubber tubing and two newly calibrated ASIs6 , ready
for position error testing 7 . My sinus was still playing up. So Harry did
the flying while I sat on the ground and fumed. It was classic Buchan s
cold spell, blov/ing half a gale, with lines of shallow cumulus marking
the route to Cornwall.
Wally Kahn made matters worse with a story about Nick leaving
for Cambridge on aerotow before our arrival that morning. Apparently
he had decided to attempt the first 500km flight in the UK. As we
were packing up for the day news came through that he had made it
with a dog leg flight to Penzance. The straight line distance was 293
miles, a new UK record.
We stood beside the 419 trailer, trying to digest it all, and then a
sort of madness set in. This type of weather usually lasted for several
days. If Nick could do that in his Skylark III on Saturday - the 419
could do even better on Sunday - even if it was the thirteenth of the
month!
A call to our private met man confirmed that conditions would be
similar, but not so good, no clouds and the same strong northeasterly
wind. In our state of madness it was more than enough.
Shortly before 9.00 am on the following morning I was airborne on
tow for Bury St Edmunds. The next couple of hours was a long slog
into wind at more than two shillings per mile. Cloud base remained
stubbornly around 2,500 ft asl and, as we got further away from
Lasham, the sky became totally overcast.
Near Stradishall a few breaks appeared and my spirits lifted, only
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