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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0830.PDF
828 FLIGHT, 17 June 1955 ONE LOOSE GLIDER Reflections on an Unusual Channel Crossing By LORNE WELCH FOR various reasons, all quite respectable, it was not until10 a.m. that I crawled out of the bunkhouse at Lasham,to see a sky which was already superb. At the same moment, Lome appeared, looking very wide awake, but speaking of dreamsof the Channel and goals far into the Continent. The next hour was a whirl; drinking a cup of coffee, buying some chocolate,sorting maps, grabbing a camera and writing a goal declaration which said "Aachen." As always, we got airborne in a rush,with only the vaguest of lines on the map and insufficient paper in the knee-pad.Derek Piggott in the Tiger Moth towed us off straight upwind, as requested, and we cast off in rather inadequate lift three mileswest of Lasham. For the first thirty miles it was something of a struggle. Wally Kahn, who had been towed off in the Weiheimmediately before us, was visible some miles ahead, going well and causing us to think that we had got out of phase with thethermals, since we always seemed to arrive at one just as it petered out. Near Redhill, we got near cloud-base and after this stayed wellup with little difficulty. At Tonbridge we overtook Wally and enjoyed a "formationsoar"—sometimes circling in the same thermal, sometimes cruising together undera cloud street. In general the Weihe fared slightly better when climbing in thermals, and slightly worse when flying straight. One rarely sees a gliderflying straight at close quarters for any length of time; it is a singularly beautiful sight.In the meantime, we had started a debate—on the height at which we ought to leave Dover. Being fairly pessimistic, weworked out sums indicating that 7,200ft would give a good chance of pressing on in France—an estimate which, in the event, wouldhave been about right. The general cloud-base had worked up to a little over 5,000 ft,but as we approached the coast we could see that over Romney Marsh and further east the clouds along the coastline had a curiousappearance. Long streamers extended upwards from 3,000ft to more solid clouds at the top. We wondered whether they weredue to damp ground or to sea breezes, and whether they indicated lift. After trying unsuccessfully to find lift inland from Folkestoneto Dover we sank to below 3,000ft. After a little discussion, we took Lome's courage in all four hands and went to investigate thelow wisps of cloud near the coast. The first two wisps gave vast sink, but the third was surrounded by strong lift and we went upat a great pace, half the circle in clear air and half in the wisp. At 5,200ft, just inland from the coast, we entered solid cloud andwent smoothly and rapidly up to 8,000ft. Above 7,000ft the cloud became progressively lighter, and we came out on course, quitenear the top. Dover harbour lay beneath, and, after we had flown through the top of another cloud, the Channel lay before us inclear, bright sunshine. During the climb we had accumulated only a very small quantity of ice. The French coast looked surprisingly close, but took quite along time to approach at our cruising speed of about 50 m.p.h. E.A.S. The rate of sink was almost normal (3^ ft/sec average forthe crossing). There was nothing to do but sit and wait, so we had a cigarette and some sandwiches, noted times and heights andindulged in a little photography. Nineteen minutes after leaving Dover, the French coast just west of Calais passed 3,700ft below.I, at least, felt a slight sense of relief at having solid ground beneath again. Pilots Type of glider DateTake-off Landing Duration ... Distance ... Average speed L. Welch and F. G. Irving Slingsby T.42 Eagle May 14th, 1955From Lasham Aerodrome at 10S6 hours B.S.T.At Lou vain, Belgium at 1642 5 hr 46 min 250 statute miles 44 m.p.h. and FRANK IRVING However, the nearest cumulus were still some miles away andtheir bases ominously low, at about 3,000ft, but we eventually found a little thermal at 2,250ft. Thereafter progress was quiteslow and we were able to inspect the French countryside closely. After staying near the coast up to Coxyde, we turned somewhatinland, but shortly afterwards we felt that this had been a mistake, as conditions deteriorated and at one time we were down to1,550ft. After more struggles we reached cloud-base near Ghent. There appeared to be a large expanse offlattened-out cumulus ahead and we began to think that Aachen had been an over-optimistic goal. West of Brussels we were up to cloud-base again, and then flew onacross the city. It looked a long way to the fields on the other side, and it was only when down to 2,800ft, alittle over half-way across, that we realized that the wind was now southerly rather than westerly. At this juncture Lome observedthat this was a funny height at which to be flying over someone else's capital city; but fortunately a little thermal appeared beforeit got too funny. This tided us over the forest east of Brussels, but it was the beginning of the end; after nibbling at some elusivepatches of weak lift, we found ourselves quite low south of Louvain. The sky still contained cumulus, but little of it lookedactive. We descended inexorably, trying to find a sensible field amongthe little strips. Finally we picked a long field near some army barracks, thinking in terms of telephones and organization. Thefield consisted largely of mud, and on touching down we ploughed no mean furrow. Thereafter the absence of passports caused the Gendarmerieto take an interest in us, but our driving licences seemed to be remarkably effective substitutes. After much telephony by Lome,and a long, cold wait, the gliding club from Grimbergen appeared. They had with them a small open trailer which would take onlythe wing-tips and tailplane, but they eventually managed to hire a large lorry which accommodated the centre section and fuselage.All the bits of the glider were taken to Grimbergen, an aerodrome north of Brussels which serves much the same functions asCroydon. We were very well looked after by the gliding club, and the next day we rigged the glider and were towed back byDerek Piggott, who had come out from Lasham with the Tiger Moth. At our end of the string it was very rough indeed andsometimes cold; but at least we were under Perspex whereas Derek steadily froze in the Tiger. Due to its short range wewere obliged to stop at Ostend, Calais and Gatwick. Notwith- standing our irregular lack of papers, all the authorities weremost co-operative, and we concluded that it was surprisingly easy to get around Europe without documents—just once. A few daysafter returning, some Customs forms caught up with us; on these the Eagle was listed, under the heading "Number and Descriptionof Packages" as "1 loose glider." Hence the title of this article.
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