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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0971.PDF
'LIGHT, 19 July 1957 71 "Flight" photograph Soaring Flight THIS ten-page section of "Flight" is devoted tovarious aspects of the art of gliding and soaring. Interest in the sport in this country has never beengreater, and in one week's time the National Championships—on the largest scale ever—willbegin at Lasham in Hampshire. In the following pages are included advance details of the cham-pionships, a glance back at the early gliding days, and articles on flying the world champion two-seatsailplane (with cut-away drawing) and on gliding centres in this country, France and the Nether-lands. Our report of the National Gliding Championships—which take place from July 27to August 5, with the official opening by the Duke of Edinburgh on July 28—will begin in our issueof August 2 and will be fully illustrated. THIS YEAR'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS OVER 70 sailplanes and more than 100 pilots have enteredfor this year's Championships. Some of these pilots areof international standard and want exacting flying with strong competition, while others come to get ten days' enjoyableflying with some friendly rivalry, plus the hope of gaining their "Gold C" distance qualification (187 miles). This difference bothof purpose and skill has made it desirable to divide the competitors into two groups with separate tasks to fly. This year, then, there will be two categories or leagues, and mostpilots can select the league in which they wish to fly. Those who cannot choose are pilots who have flown in World Championshipsor who have been placed in the first five in any of the previous three Nationals: such pilots must fly in League 1. Compulsqrilyflying in League 2 are pilots who have never flown in champion- ships before, and who have not got a Gold C. Possession of thisqualification gives these pilots the right to choose. Approximately 27 gliders will be in League 1 and 45 in League 2. More than onepilot can fly on one aircraft, and there is no separate contest either for two-seaters or for women. The daily tasks from which the organizers can choose are: — (1) Free Distance: Competitors go as far as they can in any direction. (2) Pilot-selected Goal: Competitors choose direction and distance, and obtain a bonus if they arrive at their declared destination. (3) Distance along a Set Line: This may be straight or a dog-leg, but there is an increasing penalty for divergence. (4) Races to a Fixed Goal, Out~and-Return, or around a Triangular Course: In races more marks are given for speed than for distance flown, so that a pilot who fails to arrive scores very badly.The tasks which League 1 competitors are likely to have, weather permitting, will consist mainly of 100 km, 200 km and 300 kmtriangles, or flights in set directions with some windward com- ponent. This type of flying calls for great skill in centering andclimbing in thermals without any wasted time or effort; it also demands experience and knowledge of navigation and of relatingheight possessed, or to be gained, with distance to be flown. The expert pilot is the one who arrives over the finishing line withmerely enough height to pull up and make a safe landing; the inexpert is the one who either arrives on foot from the undershootor who appears over the line at 3,000ft, diving furiously with his air-brakes open. The tasks in League 2 will place less premium on skill in speedflying, not only because many of the pilots in this Jeague will not have had the opportunity to develop this sort of skill but because,in many cases, their gliders will not have the performance to make headway against any other than light winds. Every effort will bemade to give pilots the opportunity of doing the 187 miles (300 km) distance for their Gold C. If conditions are very good the taskwill be set as a goal race, but it is more likely that it will be given as either pure distance, or distance along a set line. One of thedifficulties of getting Gold Cs in England is the nearness of the sea. From Lasham, in Hampshire, the most practical solutionsappear to be as follows: — Northerly Winds: A dog-leg course Lasham-Lewes and then west towards Exeter; although the cross-wind component is great, anappreciable amount of the early part of the flight can be done in the region of the South Downs, which are soarable in northerly winds.Easterly Winds: Straight, towards Perranporth or St. David's Head. Southerly Winds: Straight, usually towards Driffield, and using Lincoln Edge.Westerly Winds: A dog-leg, probably to Norwich or Yarmouth, turning at Edgehill or Kettering respectively.When League 2 competitors are surfeited with distance flying or when the wind is light, there will be races of approximately100 km, mostly over a triangular course. Scoring is carried out by means of marks and points allocatedaccording to a number of simple formulae. These are worked out so that the glider which does the best flight of the day is awarded100 points, with the rest of the field in proportion. On each day a minimum contest performance is specified. No marks are givenfor altitude or for duration. Since each glider may be flown by more than one pilot, pointsare awarded to the aircraft and not to the individual, the winning glider being the one that has accumulated the largest number ofpoints throughout the championships. As a maximum of 100 points is given each day, the possible total at the end of four flyingdays will be 400 points. It is laid down in the rules, however, that each glider's worst day will be disregarded if there are morethan four contest days. If there are six contest days, the possible total score which any glider can obtain is 500. Each league willhave separate marking and its own prizewinners. All launches are to be by aero-tow, and a competitor can selecthis own time of take-off by putting his name against any vacant space on the starting board, which will be marked with 1^ minutetime-intervals. There will be starting and finishing lines for all races, and timeswill be recorded as the gliders are observed crossing, the aircraft with the lowest elapsed time being the winner on that day. If apilot fails to cross the starting line or is not observed, his starting time will be taken as that of his release from the tow. A. W.
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