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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1704.PDF
11 June 1954 757 Most photogenic aircraft in the contests: Scharfoldendorf's Minimoa, with R. Jefferey (individual class) at the controls. nine clubs on the basis of their number of members and aircraft. One particular anomaly is that, although the sailplanes and gliders flown by the clubs are considered to be R.A.F. aircraft (being all ex-enemy machines "acquired by capture" after the end of the war and allocated to the clubs) all materials used for their repair and maintenance have to be purchased from German sources by the clubs. Maintenance work has to be done either by club members themselves or by German civilian craftsmen paid by the clubs at standard rates, and vehicles and winches have to be purchased, serviced and repaired by the clubs. One useful source of revenue to the Association in the past has been the number of advanced courses held at Scharfolden- dorf for Home Command gliding instructors and for Cranwell cadets during their vacations. It is now almost certain that the whole of the Rest Centre and Gliding Training School at Scharfoldendorf will have to close down in the near future, as the entire accommodation and part of the site are to be used for an R.A.F. ground technical unit. My comments on the above facts are given at the end of this article. To complete the background picture of Scharfoldendorf, however, some interesting historical details were provided by F/L. Smith, CO. of Scharfoldendorf and gliding C.F.I. The site was originally that of a German civilian gliding club, shortly after World War I, and the only permanent building was the small private hotel which is now the officers' mess. With the intro duction of the Hitler regime came the virtual militarization of Scharfoldendorf; a unit of the national flying corps was estab lished there; hangars, workshops and the blunt, impressive main block were constructed. For primary training, gliders were bungee-launched over the west side of the ridge and, after landing at the bottom, were towed up the slope on a rack-type railway. Only the advanced machines used the top landing-site. The value of gliding in the early training of Luftwaffe pilots has been generally realized: in this scheme, Scharfoldendorf played an important part. Immediately after the war, the U.S. Army arrivtd at Scharfoldendorf, and for various alleged reasons and in various ways (there is no shortage of conflicting reports on this) destroyed a large number of the gliders there. Later, a number of the hangars, classed as "war potential," were also demolished. With the subsequent establishment of the 2nd R.A.F. Rest Centre for convalescents at Scharf, advantage was taken of the gliding facili ties. Other R.A.F. clubs sprang up at various airfields where German gliders were discovered, the Association was formed, and in 1947 the Headquarters Unit Club moved to Scharfoldendorf. And now, with the forthcoming movement of the 2nd A.T.A.F. headquarters from Bad Eilsen to Miinchen Gladbach, and the probable closure of the site for any gliding at all, the Head quarters Unit Club is shortly to move out of Scharfoldendorf. But let us return now to the main subject of this article, this year's championships. Tuesday was a most interesting day, pilot's-choice goal flights being the task laid down. The choice between optimism and experience in choosing a goal is always tricky, and the general opinion on the weather this day was "Good—but not all that good." Decided caution was consequently apparent in the not- too-distant downwind goals selected; nevertheless there was one unusual goal—Wolfhagen, 78 km to the south and directly upwind, declared by Fabesch with the Briiggen Meise. On this occasion the Briiggen club's retrieving party agreed to be encumbered with a neutral observer, and I thus found myself being transported at high velocity towards Gottingen (where the aerofoil sections come from), with an open trailer attached to the rear—of the vehicle, of course. A phone call from Gottingen to Scharf confirmed that our pilot had arrived at his goal, and we Scharfoldendorf personalities. (Right) F/L R. A. H. Smith, F/L. V. Willis and S/L S. A. Fentum, of the organizing committee. (Relow) F/0. B. B. Sharman, Fassberg; F/0. D. G. Edwards and Cpl. J. Prowse, Giitersloh.
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