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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0953.PDF
JUNE 12TH, 1947 FLIGHT 553 FIVE DAYS WITH B. A. F. O. young officers, and as the evening advanced, his bag of Allied aircraft would grow. Any suggestion of incredulity . on the part of his audience would be countered with the fervent hope that, should he be prevaricating, the beam above him might fall. One night, the CO. having just returned from leave, the beam did fall at the crucial moment. The mechanism by which this was accomplished may still be seen and operated. On the morning of our last day we drove to the Wing's own gliding site, set on a sandy forested ridge at Oerling- hausen, where perspiring anti-tank gunners gazed enviously from their emplacements at the effortless passage of Weilie sailplanes. The Group Captain Training, B.A.F.O. (G/C. Paul) and F/L. Reade, the chief flying instructor, received us in the friendly clubhouse among the tall trees. Aims and Authority The special aims of the clubs, which comprise the Asso-ciation of B.A.F.O. Gliding Clubs, are to provide flying instruction for ground staff whose duties do not normallytake them into the air (this, it is hoped, will encourage suitable airmen to volunteer for the Regular Air Force),and to promote the art of soaring flight in the R.A.F., with the intention of raising the standard of instrument flyingand of encouraging the study of meteorology. In his directive on the subject, the Air Commander-in-Chief has laid down that all gliding clubs in the British Zone of Occupation are required to be members of theAssociation. In effect, this is the instrument through which he exercises his authority over all gliding (except thatundertaken by airborne forces) and soaring. The soaring sites in use were originally centres for pre-Luftwaffe training, many of which, of course, are now totally abandoned. The B.A.F.O. Association has about500 active members, the largest club being that of 84 Group, with 220 members, operating at Salzgitter. The Effective camouflage,exemplified in this view of Mosquito Vis (Merlin 25s)of No. 4 Squadron, is particularly important forfighter-bombers which spec- ial % i in surprise attacksfrom low-level. F/O. J. Forbes, who has establisheda new English goal flight record of 120 miles (Oerlinghausen—Nijmegeni. He was flying a Weihe sailplane. ' reservoirs '' to feed the A.H.Q. club has twosites, one at Schaf- oldenorf and t h ssecond, for elementary training, near Minden.85 Wing do their glid- ing near Hamburg, inwhich region the 4 th Armoured Brigade isnow forming a club of its own. The former2 Group Club, at Oer- linghausen, is no wknown as the 140 Wing Club. All B.A.F.O.airfields are provided with a few primarytraining gliders, and constitute three main clubs. Each club is self-supporting from its own subscriptionsand fees, which vary between the clubs and with the ranl^ of the members, about half being officers and half O.Rs.There is now no W.A.A.F. representation, but Army and Navy personnel are eligible, as are male officials of theControl Commission. A hundred A.T.C. instructors are taking advantage of a fortnight's advanced flying coursewhich, including flying and subsistence, costs them about £8 a head. One enthusiast of the forty-odd already passedout managed to get in fifteen hours' gliding during his stay. Club members are, of course, hoping that when they areposted from Germany their Service gliding activities may not come to an end, and it is encouraging to hear thatFighter Command already has its own club in England. Nearly three hundred gliders are available to theB.A.F.O. clubs for training and competitive work, but no replacements are being built in Germany. Included in thetotal are three Mu 13s, one Sperber, six Weihe, twelve Meise (Olympia), eighteen Kranich two-seaters and two Minimoa. The remainder are SG 38 primary trainers, SG 38BS (similar to theSG 38, but having a nacelle) and Grunau Babies Although some use is made of German labour,Germans are not at present permitted to fly or to give instruction. Before long a number oftheir records may topple, though as yet there is no plan to emulate their formation flights.It was not unusual some years back for sixteen sailplanes to fly for distances of over 180 miles,the best effort of this kind being a trip from the Wasserkuppe to Brno (315 miles) by fiveaircraft. The Whitsun Meeting Unhappily the weather over Whitsun per- mitted competitive flying on three days only, and some pilots were able to make no more than one flight. In the contest for the Brady Trophy—the principal award—the 140 Wing team finished first with 1,633^ points, 84 Group was second with 1,609 points, and the A.H.Q. club third, with a score of 1,019. Individual scores were: F/O J. Forbes 822 points, F/L. R. W. Williams 714, Capt. A. R. E. Claudi 572, and F/L. F. N. Reade 547. All these officers managed to get in three nights each, but F/L. P. Mallett and S/L. I. Bourne, with 468 and 354 points respectively, flew only twice. Capt. Claudi put up the best distance flight, landing at Liege, about 170 miles from Oerling- hausen and incidentally attained a maximum height of 9,185ft. On the second day of the flying F/O. Forbes established a new English goal flight record by reaching Nijmegen, 120
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