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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2190.PDF
6 August 1954 165 WORLD GLIDING Damp Frustration and De-rigged Sailplanes at Great Hucklow by Seppo Relander of Fin land, who is at present placed equal seventh with Philip Wills (Sky). The vee-tailed HKS-1 is among those awaiting a launch. "T HAVE heard of the English weather, but this is I ridiculous, no?", enquires a Mediterranean voice, as its owner wonderingly surveys the rain-sodden site of the 1954 World Gliding Championships. One must in truth answer that this is ridiculous, yes. For seven consecutive days, at the time of writing, the world's best sailplanes have been unable to leave the Camphill site. On only one or two occasions have they left the ground, to soar the back-and- forth beat over Bradwell Edge; for the remainder of the time they have been grounded (de-rigged, trailer-enclosed or canvas-covered)—unable to spread their wings and enter then- only true element. Such is the charm of England in July. Not able to watch, report or discuss the performance of uiese sailplanes— By KENNETH OWEN which vary in appearance from the graceful to the starkly efficient, yet all possessing the latent romance of all unpowered flying craft—the interested observer at Great Hucklow turns therefore to the pilots who fly them. The impressive record of some of these pilots is indicated by the following notes. Philip Wills, four times British national champion, and who became world champion at the last international contests (1952, in Spain), is the only pilot to have taken part in each of the International Championships so far held. There have been four previous to this year: at the Wasserkuppe, Germany, in 1937; Samedan, Switzerland, 1948; Orebro, Sweden, 1950 and Madrid, Lome and Ann Welch appear amused prior to take-off in the new Slingsby T.42. Their 40-mile flight on the only two-seater-class flying day so far brought them into third place, behind Switzerland and Yugoslavia. (Right, upper) The Swiss WLM-2, withdrawn from the contests due to basic faults in stability and control. (Lower) Latest of the "tin-can" line, simple and efficient, the American all-metal Schweizer 1-23E. Spain, in 1952. The runner-up to Wills in 1952, Gerard Pierre, is French national champion, and also won last year's German contests, to which he had been invited. He is strongly favoured to become world champion this year. Ernst-Gunfher Haase was the top German pilot at the Oerling-hausen National Championships last year, and his initial is the "H" of the HKS-1 (Haase-Kensche-Schmetz). His colleague Wietiichter, leading after the first two days' flying at Camphill, is new to World Championships, but came third in the German Nationals. In die U.S.A. team, Dr. Paul B. MacCready, American soaring champion for die third time, was runner-up in the 1950 World Championships. Sweden's P. A. Persson, who logged the furthest flight on the opening day of tiiis year's contests, was and ALAN YATES world champion from 1948 to 1950. Among the other pilots who have been highly placed in World contests are Cuadrado (Argentine) and Gehriger (Switzerland), who came fourth and fifth in Spain in 1952. Geoffrey Stephenson, the present British National Champion, was the first pilot to soar across the English Channel (in 1939); a feat repeated 11 years later by Lome Welch, now flying with his wife Ann in the new tandem T.42, Britain's entry in the two-seater class. Another well-known British glider-pilot, Cdr. "Nick" Goodhart, R.N., who is now based at Washington, D.C., is putting his U.K. knowledge at the disposal of the American team by crewing for Dr. Paul MacCready. Our opening report of the championships in last week's issue
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