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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 1048.PDF
160-161 FLIGHT, 29 July 1955 North side of Lasham from the air, showing glider hangar and trailer park, briefing tent (in front of clubhouse block) and camping area. •FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS National Gliding at Lasham: A Slow Start tothe 1955 Championships t»A..aji..-a».^.-^.Kin^a--""'•'jlft'j• • j-^--*• •-*"-*-" -**..--"-*•%--.««•*—t*». FROM a 200ft overcast sky, Lt-Cdr. M. H. Simpson, R.N.,descended last Sunday by S-55 helicopter onto the carefully "H"-marked area opposite the Control tent at Lasham Aerodrome,to disappoint a large number of people. His flight had been made, not with the Duke of Edinburgh (who had planned to visitthe National Gliding Championships on this first competition day) but merely with an extremely pertinent curiosity concerning theweather conditions on the Duke's proposed route. The bad visi- bility and low cloud-base (in places down to 50ft) over Hamp-shire satisfied his curiosity only too well, but caused little satisfaction among the hundreds of gliding enthusiasts competing,organizing and helping at the championships—the first to be held on a flat site since 1947. The previous day, a firm, hot sun had shone, and Sir John Hunthad received his first two glider flights (both made with Derek Piggott, C.F.I, of the Surrey Gliding Club, in a T-21B), aboveand round Lasham. In between these flights. Sir John formally declared the championships open, and a large number of balloons(with free-flight vouchers attached) rose skyward together to mark the occasion. Many of the competing sailplanes, which hadassembled at the Surrey club's Lasham site during the week, were rigged and made practice flights; the aero-towing system wastransformed from lines sketched on a scrap of paper into the droning reality of Tiger Moths and Chipmunks; and final toucheswere added to the concentrated encampment of tents, trailers and caravans that had suddenly flourished on the Lasham wasteland. There were few last-minute alterations to the list of entries asprinted in Flight a fortnight ago. Both of the new types—the Skylark III and the faired-canopy Olympia, had been completed intime, and the latter had been moved into the individual class. One Skylark II, instead of two, had been entered by the ArmyGliding Club. On Sunday morning, in spite of the low cloud and badvisibility, an improvement was forecast for the afternoon, and the task set for all classes was distance along a line from Lasham toYeovil. Following the disappointment of the Duke's non-arrival, however, came the further frustrating news at 2.30 that, as thecloud-base had not risen to more than 600ft, contest flying for the day was cancelled. As the colourful lines of waiting sailplanesdispersed, ground and flight demonstrations by several types were laid on to claim the attention of the several hundred members ofthe public who were present—or those of them who were immune from the temptations of the full-scale fun-fair in the public en-closure. Not until 6.30 that evening did the cloud break up, leav- ing a wide blue sky and a sunny evening for some intensive circuitsand aerobatics by T-21Bs and various single-seaters—a pleasant ending to a disappointing opening day. Competition flying started on Monday, and Philip Wills took aprovisional lead with a 109-mile (3 hr 13 min) flight to Exeter. K. T. O. Above, Sir John Hunt, Derek Piggott, Philip Wills and Ann Welch; below, the launching site; right, the modified Olympia entered by the R.A.F.G.S.A.
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