FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1705.PDF
(Right) F/0. D. H. Ellis, an individual contestant in the Minimoa. (Above) The writer samples the prone-position comfort of the Horten IV, rescued from a loft prior to its removal to Oldenburg. SCHARFOLDENDORF 1954 . . . continued south towards Kassel with satisfaction and two Australian hitchhikers. Alarm at the thought of being investigated on entering the American Zone proved unfounded, and the only snag en route was caused by the neutral observer's navigational incompetence through the outskirts of Kassel, plus some more Umleitung trouble. As the sun began to go down, however, we finally arrived at H. Hartmann's Esso-Wagenpflege establishment, Wolf- hagen, outside which stood four petrol pumps, a German police man and a de-rigged Meise. Over an excellent veal schnitzel and an equally excellent lager at the village Ratskeller, we congratulated F/O. Fabesch and asked for details of his flight. The upwind direction had been chosen, he told us, because of the hills en route; convenient cloud streets had formed directly along his line of flight, and he had arrived over Wolfhagen with 4,000ft to spare. To the neutral observer, it sounded much too simple. The journey back to Scharfoldendorf, in darkness, was uneventful. At least, we didn't actually hit anything, although a man carrying a tuba loomed rather close. The rear light fell off while I was driving, but I was assured it hadn't been working anyway. In Scharfoldendorf village, of all places, we took the wrong turning, but eventually topped the ridge at about 1.30 a.m. with one intact Meise, plus pilot. We learned that other people had travelled that day, too. F/O. B. B. Sharman in F.6 and Cpl. W. Cowburn in Scharf s Weihe had both completed 110-km flights to their goals at Fass- berg and Verden (just south of Bremen), and Capt. Ruhling had accomplished his goal flight to Lauenau Brauerei—"where is," he explained, "the best beer in Saxony." True, Lauenau was only 40 km away, and Cpl. Prowse had flown farther, but one felt" somehow that Capt. Ruhling and his retrieving crew didn't really mind. The haze that lay over the valleys on each side of the ridge on the following day, Wednesday, indicated the "soggy" condi tions which allowed only five aircraft to contact lift and get away from the site. The day's outstanding flight—and the longest distance covered so far—was made by Ian Gray, who put his Weihe down right outside Flying Wing headquarters at R.A.F. Station Jever, on the other side of Bremen and 212 km from Scharfoldendorf. Purposefully, yet unobtrusively, Sgt. Len Simp son in Geilenkirchen's Meise flew 40 km to Lauenau. Because of the forthcoming closure of the site, plans had been made during the week for the disposal of a number of stored glider-parts at Scharf to other clubs, and it was on Wednesday that the most interesting of these were brought out into the open. They comprised the wings and fuselage of one of the few Horten IV prone-position tailless sailplanes which were built by the Horten brothers during the war. (One other was repaired in Britain by the R.A.E., flown at Farnborough and Cranfield and subsequently transferred to the U.S.A.). A German aircraft woodworker at Scharfoldendorf spoke of an 11-hour flight made by Dr. Reimar Horten in this particular machine from Gottingen in 1942. Apart from a broken transparent canopy, the fuselage appears in excellent basic condition. The port wing is damaged near the root, behind the main spar, while the starboard wing is intact, but it is believed that the wooden tips now fitted to both wings are non-standard and ought to be replaced. The enthusiasts of the Oldenburg club who are attempting to rebuild this most interesting sailplane deserve success: any information concerning the original metal tips will gladly be forwarded to them by this writer. Meteorologically, Thursday promised to be interesting: the forecast, received by telephone and typed by the German tele phonist, began "Empty cyclone centred over Skandinavia." What actually happened was that the east side of the ridge became soarable—but 5 km away from the site. It was possible to glide across this gap from a good launch, but impossible to get back again; the day's task was therefore changed from height and duration (landing back on site) to free distance. Gray's Weihe, damaged during the retrieve from Jever, was not available for Thursday's flying. The decision was therefore made to fly the Scharfoldendorf Grunau in Class A (against Weihes, but with a Weihe pilot) instead of in Class C—a decision which certainly justified itself. Flown by Cpl. Cowburn, Grunau S.9 covered 61 km to Minden; admittedly no great distance, but on a poor distance day sufficient to beat the Weihes and to collect 1,000 points. Another thousand were quietly collected by Cpl. Prowse of Gutersloh in Class C (Eisbergen, 53 km), while Class B's top points went to F/O. Derek Ellis, an individual contestant in the Scharf Minimoa, for a 47-km flight which ended on the football pitch of Rinteln Hospital. The day's difficult conditions were reflected in the number of aircraft which had "fallen off the ridge" into the valleys near the site—three on the east side, and three on the west. A modicum of glidermanship was exercised by F/O. David Brett in BG 25, after landing at Deckbergen: a wave-in to Jock Young in G.18 above persuaded the rival Weihe pilot to land alongside, instead of using his height to gain an extra few kilometres. At the end of Thursday's flying, the positions of the three leading clubs were interestingly close: the Headquarters club led with 5,507 points; Gutersloh had 5,412; and Briiggen 5,305. Fassberg was next with 2,234. On individual averages, Ian Gray had 1,000, Phil Fabesch 889, and Cpl. Prowse 800. Friday, by contrast with the previous day, was sparkling. With an east wind, ideal tufts of cumulus, cloud streets building up in the distance, and much lift in the bright blue sky between clouds, most aircraft got away on their first launch. This was clearly the best day of the contests to date for long-distance flight, and hopes were high for "Gold C" distances (300 km). At lunchtime, the launching point was deserted except for two aircraft: the wind was strong and the sun was hot. Soon, from Gutersloh and Bielefeld respectively, Salmond in the Briiggen Meise and Gray in Scharfoldendorf's Weihe reported back by phone to F/O. David Pitts in the control room. Two coloured pins went into the map, both about 93 km from home. But there was to be bigger stuff that day. First came news of Sgt. Minter, flying the Hameln Club's Meise: he had reached Dortmund, 150 km away. A little later the first international flight was logged, as a bored voice belonging to Bruggen team-captain J. E. A. Jenkins reported "I'm by the Zuyder Zee. Tell the boys not to worry, I'm quite comfortable." But the boys, with characteristic Bruggen efficiency, were already on the way, and shortly afterwards phoned back from Biickeburg to find out their pilot's position. It was near Meppel, on the east side of the Zuyder Zee, and 237 km from Scharfoldendorf. Two corporals were next to phone, reporting flights of 141 and 122 km respectively. They were Cpl. Durr of Fassberg (Meise)
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
