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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0681.PDF
flJ-:HT, 25 May 1961 691 THE NATIONAL GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS Williamson Maintains Early Lead BY KENNETH OWEN "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS Elliotts Type 460 over Lasham during Ihe championships nERGEANT John Williamson of the Royal Air Force, flyingN an Elliotts Olympia 419X sailplane, maintained the leading ^ position throughout the first half of the ten-day NationalGliding Championships at Lasham. After the first weekend's flying, reported in last week's issue, the overall points totals of theleaders on the morning of Monday, May 15, were as follows:— League 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Points 1,047 1,000869 795739 J. Williamson (Olympia 419X)R. Mann (Skylark 3F) J. D. Jones (Skylark 3F)A. Deane-Drummond (Olympia 419) E. Stark (Skylark 3F) with P. G. Burgess leading the standard-class entries in his Ka-6, G.Coatesworth (Olympia 40IX) second and A. Gough (Elliotts 460) third. Points600 359240 128117 League 2. ]. D. Kerridge (Skylark 3F)2. M. Bacon (Olympia 2B) 3. T. Ware (Skylark 3F)4. P. Minton (Eagle) 5. J. Chandler (Olympia 2B) Separate tasks were set for the two leagues at Monday's briefing.League 1 pilots were to race to Dunkeswell, Devon, a distance of 98.2 miles, while free distance was specified for League 2. Thebiggest surprise on this day was that the weather experienced by pilots en route seemed to bear little relation to that forecast atbriefing. The fact that this was a surprise was a tribute, albeit an ironic one, to the extremely high standard of weather interpretationwhich the gliding fraternity has come to expect as normal from meteorologists Wallington and Findlater. This discrepancy was explained later by Jock Findlater asfollows. With an inversion at 3,500ft, it was expected that the strato-cumulus layer would burn-off soon and that dry thermalswould be the order of the day. What actually happened was that the strato-cumulus did thin out, but did not disperse; the Sunwarmed the ground and produced thermals, whose attendant cumu- lus rose into the strato-cumulus layer and thickened it again. ThusPilots were flying beneath a near-solid cloud layer—and experi- encing surprisingly good convection in this situation—instead of inthe blue sky which had been forecast. Three times during the day Findlater went up in a Chipmunk to see what was going on, andeach time was impressed by the shallowness (300ft only) of the layer. As the afternoon went on smoke and haze were trappedbeneath it, but the thermals kept on working. In the race to Dunkeswell the course was completed by tenpilots, with Deane-Drummond reaching the airfield but landing short of the finishing line. The best speed for the course was 42.6m.p.h., set up by A. J. "'Rocky" Stone in a Skylark 3F. Chuck Bentson, also in a Skylark 3F, was second at 38 m.p.h., and theremaining pilots to finish were Peter Scott (Olympia 419X), John Williamson (Olympia 419X), George Burton (Skylark 3B), MickKaye (Eagle), Philip Wills (Skylark 3F), Ronald Dunn (Elliotts 460), Joe Croshaw (Skylark 3F) and Mrs Anne Burns (Skylark 3B).As for League 2, Sgt K. V. Newholme of the RAF in a cooking Olympia 2B had reached Exeter Airport a distance of 109 miles,in the day's best flight. Three other Olympia 2s (flown respectively by Carr, Findon and Aldridge) came second, third and fourth, withMike Russell in the veteran Petrel (88 miles to Chard) placed equal fourth with Aldridge.League 1 had now completed three contest days and League 2 had completed two. The leading positions were:— League 1. 1. J. Williamson (Olympia 419X)2. A. Deane-Drummond (Olympia 419) 3. G. Burton (Skylark 3B)4. R. Mann (Skylark 3F) 5. P. Wills (Skylark 3F) Points1,971 1,5951,555 1,4881,428 with Burgess leading the standard-class entries in his Ka-6. Dunn(Elliotts 460) second and the Surrey Club entry of H. P. Hilditch and C. Wills (Skylark 2B) third. League 2. 1. Kerridge and Purnell (Skylark 3F)2. Chandler and Newholme (Olympia 2B) 3. Bacon and Clarke (Olympia 2B)4. Carr and Greenway (Olympia 2B) 5. Fielden and Ber.rimun (Skylark 3) Points1,237 1,117 1,004 818 796 A familiar sight each day, as sailplanes are pulled up to the launch point prior to aerotow take-off along the runway
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