FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1440.PDF
2O4 FLIGHT AUGUST I8TH," 1949 The National Gliding Contests . . . winch or by elastic catapult. There will be no aero-tow launches or retrieving. Launching procedure is as follows: the machine is towed to the starting point and, everything being ready, the pilot enters his number on the starting board, below those which are already up, and he is launched when his turn comes. Should he, before then, decide that the move is premature, he can scratch and go to the end of the list, or even wait a while before entering again. Good timing may make all the difference between a successful flight or failure to leave the site. Thus judicious co-ordination of teamwork to get the machine to the line, together with competence in weather assess- ment, is needed in addition to piloting skill. The Contests are open to pilots normally resident in Great Britain or Northern Ireland or who are serving members of His Majesty's Forces. Whilst foreign entries cannot be accepted for these National Contests, foreign visitors and their aircraft will be welcomed and given facilities for flying when this can be done without prejudice to the competitors. A pilot from the Argentine is among the foreign visitors expected to fly. Actually, it is the gliders that are entered for the com- petition and marks are awarded to them and not to the pilots. With each entry there is a team of two to four people, all or any of whom may be pilots. NUMBERS, COMPETITORS AND GLIDERS 1. D.G.O. Hiscox (Olympia EoN). 2. Bristol GHding Club—K.W. Turner. C. Staffurth (Olympia EoN). ':; 3. J. Hurry, N. P. Anson. J. Buckley (Olympia EoN). 4. P. 1. Cooper, A. A. J. Sanders, A. H. Yates (Olympia EoN). 5. J. S. Armstrong, L. R. Robertson, E. H. Taylor, L. R. Bulling (Olympia EoN), 6. T. Rex Young, A. N. Other (Olympia EoN). 7. G. H. Lee, C. J. ArnoW (Slmgjby Gull I). . , 8. Prince Birabongse (Weihe). 9. P. A. Wills (Weihe). 10. E. Swale, T. Dolan. Margaret Swale (Olympia EoN) 11. Empire Test Pilots School—Lt.-Cdr. P. S. Wilson, R.N. (Olympia EoN). 12. C J. WmgfieW, D. Ince (Olympia EoN). M. D. A. Smith (Olympia EoN). 15. A. H. Warminger, J. C. Ward, P. O. Gould (Olympia EoN). 16. Surrey Gliding Club—J. C. Neibn, W. A. H. Kahn, D. Reid, D. Brown (Weihe). 17. Imperial College Gliding Club—R. A. B. Macfie, P. Murden, R. Nurney, F. G. Irving (Olympia EoN). 18. Surrey Gliding Club—J. A. Sowrey, G.R.E.C. Gregory, C. W. Dowdalt, W. F. Jordan (Olympia EoN). 19. London Gliding Club—P. A. Lang, i. R. Court, H. G. Wheatcroft (Kirby Prefect 30B). 20. London Gliding Club—C. A. P. Effij, L Wright, A. E. Rowley (Kirby Gull IV). 21. 12 Group Gliding Club—WfC. A. J. M Smyth, F/O. F. Hutchinson, Pit. II Cempel, F/O. T. P. D. La Touche (King Kite). 22. B.A.F.O. Gliding Club—F/L. P. G. Mallett, F/L C. T. Lynas (Weihe). 23. B.A.F.O. Gliding Club—F/L. R. C. Forbes, S/L. A. A. Binks (Weihe). 24. Association of B.A.F O. Gliding Clubs—G/C. W. B. Murray, Sgt. D. Campion (Weihe). 25. G/C. G. J. C. Paul, J. W. Leach (Kirby Kite II). 26. Cambridge University Gliding Club—P. H. Blanchard, J. Free, T. G. Phillips. F. R. Ward (Olympia EoN). 27. Cambridge Univeristy Gliding Club—J. W. S. Pringle, J. Grantham, D. L Martlew, A. L. L Alexander (Kranich). 28. Dr. A. Derkedder, S. C. O'Grady, A. C. Burmingham (Petrel). 29. Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club—R. D. Roper, H. U. Midwood (Gull I). 30. R. D. Dickson, G. Thompson, P. W. Leech (Viking). Marks will be awarded to each glider for the best flight it makes during the day. For a distance flight in excess of 12 miles, 2 marks per mile will be earned for the first 50 miles, 3 marks per mile for the next 50, and 5 for any further distance. A bonus of 20 per cent of distance marks earned will be given for flights ending within 1,000 yards of a destination declared in writing before the flight. Marks will also be awarded for gains in height in excess of 1,500ft: 1 mark per 100ft up to 4,000ft, 2 marks per 1 ooft for the next 4,000ft, and 5 marks per 100ft for any further height climbed. In addition to this marking for distance and height, a premium for speed will be introduced if and when the weather is suitable. A new feature of our National Gliding Contests, it will take the form of timed goal flights and closed-circuit races. The winning aircraft in the whole Contest will be the glider which amasses the greatest number of marks. Weather that is consistently good for soaring will mean soaring by day and retrieving by night and, as the teams are responsible for their own retrieving, team-work will Philip Wills may be relied upon to put up an outstanding perform- ance : he is seen here with Mr. F. N. Slingsby, constructor of the Gull and other famous types, but will fly a Weihe in the Contests. then become very important and may decide the issue. (The B.A.F.O. teams, incidentally, have two-way radio- telephonic communication between the retrieving cars and the sailplanes in flight and after landing.) In addition to the prizes for the first glider and those placed, there are numerous trophies, awards and daily prizes. The Kst of entries, which was closed on July 16th, is given on this page. Some last-moment scratchings are, of course, possible; already it is reported that "Bira" has smashed his Weihe and that G/C. Paul will not be able to attend. Who will challenge the supremacy of Philip Wills this year now that Nicholson is gone ? Handicapped at first by a skiing accident, Wills has done relatively little flying this year, though of a very high quality indeed, well planned and well executed; he has extended his own British dis- tance record. There is no doubt that the Weihe is the most efficient machine in the contests. The Surrey Gliding Club has flown very well this year (their members have done over 2,000 miles cross-country to date), and they have instrumented and tuned their red Weihe to a very fine pitch. There is also the challenge from B.A.F.O., with three good Weihe aircraft and several excellent Service pilots—who, however, are more at home in the more " con- trasty " soaring conditions of the Continent. One must not forget, however, that within the 15-m span class the Olympia, though necessarily less efficient than the wider Weihe, will be credited with a bonos of 10 per cent of all marks gained, and that it is a first-class all-rounder of very helpful stability; indeed, it was the design chosen for the 1940 Olympics. It is now more than two years since our pilots, thirsting for good sailplanes in which to do their post-war soaring, were able to buy British-built EoN Olympias. Some of them, like Charles Wingfield, have pnt in many a good hour's soaring in Olympias and know how to get the best out of them. One can only regret that Stevenson, still the only man to have crossed the Channel by fair soaring (and whose handling of his Olympia is quietly impressive) will not be able to compete. Of the same dimensions as the Olympia, and claimed to be somewhat superior to it in performance, a Gull IV— designed and built since the war by Slingsby Sailplanes, of Kirbymoorside—will be entered by a team from the Lon- don Gliding Club. Its progress will be followed with inter- est, but one would have liked to see more of its kind entered for a fair comparison to become possible. Two models of its pre-war ancestor, the Gull I, have also been entered: one of them is the same blue sailplane with which Stevenson crossed the Channel in 1938. J. C.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
