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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1468.PDF
232 FUG HT NATIONAL GLIDING CONTESTS The Meeting Begins : 74-mile Goal Flight by Philip Wills AS related last week, when we discussed prospects for theevent, the National Gliding Contests are being held allthis week at Camphill, Great Hucklow, the site of the Derbyshire and Lancashire Gliding Club. Thirty sailplanes—awards go to the individual aircraft rather than to their pilots or the teams which have entered them—appear in the list ofnominations, but a few are non-starters. Last Saturday, the first day of the meeting, was set asidefor the examination of the necessary documents testifying to the airworthiness of competitors' machines, their competenceto fly them and the accuracy of their flight-recording baro- graphs. The day was also available for flying practice. By the middle of the morning most of the competing teamshad arrived. Many of them are camping, and in a field across the road from the club buildings a motley collection of assortedtents was seen to grow—yet another proof of the individuality of the soaring people. The task of taking the aircraft out of their trailers andassembling them began early: it was going to be a daily routine, for there is, of course, no room for all these sailplanesin the club hangar. The job is one that can easily be per- formed, by an experienced team within a quarter of an hour. The north end of the hangar had been curtained off to forman operations room. At 10 a.m. we assembled there for the practice-flying briefing. The meteorological expert told usthat we were near the centre of an anti-cyclone and that the thin layer of cloud overhead would presently break and thesun cause thermal currents to rise to about 3,000ft above the airfield; unfortunately, however, only light winds could beexpected and it was doubtful whether it would be possible to use any of the soaring slopes. A daily prize for height wasoffered and it would be a matter of "catching a thermal" after a winch launch. The longest possible cable was used,first from south to north, and then in the opposite direction, to fit in with the light, fitful breeze. No. 3, a red Olympia piloted by Professor J. Buckley of theSchool of Tropical Medicine, took the first launch. He stung the other competitors into increased activity by circling in liftright away. His climb ended, however, at a little above 1,000ft Making ready on Saturday : gliders emerging from their trailers and most of the 60 launches given during the rest of the dayled to circuits without finding lift. The prize went to No. 26, an EoN Olympia entered by theCambridge University Gliding Club and flown by T. G. Phillips. He took on and thoroughly exploited a thermal discovered bya joy-riding two-seater. Reaching the base of a cloud at 2,900 feet he climbed another 1,000 feet within it—whichseemed to be about all it had to give. Phillips is a post-war F/L. Ma/let of one of the B.A.F.O. teams) testing his R/T. ab initio pupil of the Cambridge Club. His skilful blind soaringin cloud, a technique which was once a stringent efficiency-bar beyond which only a few aces ventured, shows the greatprogress which is being made in sailplane instrument-flying, and which is largely due to the use of stable, viceless machines andthe spreading of an understanding of the problem involved. By the end of the day all the competitors had reported exceptteams No. 8, 21, 25 and 28, who will not be flying. No. 31 was allotted to Senor Ortner, the President of the AlbatrossSoaring Club of the Argentine, who is flying an Olympia which he will be taking home. Though flying in the Contests, hewill not be available for an award, since the meeting is con- LEADING DATA ON THE PRINCIPAL COMPETING GLIDERS Glider Weihe ... Olympia... Gull 1 ... Gull IV ... Kranieh ... Span (ft in) 59 1 49 2 50 3 49 3 59 1 Wing Loading (Ib/sq ft) 3.76 4.15 3.5 4.2 4.2 Aspect Ratio 17.8 15 15.8 15.5 14.3 Wt.Empty (Ib) 418 430 379 475 560 Load (Ib) 319* 240 225 225 460 Min. Sinking Speed (ft/sec) 1.8 2.2 at 39 m.p.h. 2.31 2.3 at 38 m.p.h. 2.3 G. 0. Smith, C.F.I, of Derby and Lanes Club, as chief marshal for week, checks the release mechanism of the Surrey Club's Weihe. NOTE : All the above are high-performance single-seaters with the exception ol the Kranich, which is a two-seater. * The high maximum load of the Weihe allows for the carrying of jettisonable water ballast or of extra equipment such as oxygen and electric batteries. B 2')
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