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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0943.PDF
FLIGHT, 13 July 1961 43 Take-off from Leszno: a ]unak tug aircraft towing a Mucha Standard during the championships. Length of tow-rope is 65ft front was due to arrive in the early afternoon. The triangle was tothe south, with the last leg returning parallel to the front. I had a grandstand view of the final stages of this race from aJaskolka at a height of 1,200 metres. All but eleven competitors streamed over the line like coloured minnows, and covered theairfield with a gay pattern as 30 gliders landed within a few minutes of each other, and not long before the front. When 1 saw lightningI reckoned it was time for me to land as well—this was no kids' stuff growing all around. It was brakes out all the way down from1,500 metres and, if I flew at less than 1 lOkm/hr, 1 promptly started going up again. We just managed to pile everything into the hangaras the rain started. Marian Gorselak, who brought Poland into third place in the 1956 World Championships in France, continuedto maintain top position, though pressed hard by Josef Pieczewski. Now came no less than four consecutive days with the weatherdeteriorating steadily into typical West Country rain. We felt depressed, water was lying visibly in the fields and ditches, and withthe end of the competition only three days away we almost started to pack. It was therefore a pleasant surprise on the morning ofJune 15 to find that the dilatory front had finally started to move clear, and that sensible-looking anticyclones were developing overFrance and the Azores. The sun glimmered occasionally through the stratus, and we even felt satisfied to see that most of "the avail-able isobars were densely packed into the British Isles. A 195km race downwind to Lodz was declared, not without someorganizational misgivings. Normally they would not have been Polish pilot Pelagia Majewska during briefing. The award to her of the FAI Lilienthal Medal was announced, and celebrated, during the contest tempted into flying in such feeble conditions, but the Polish visitorsto our championships, having concluded that "stratus flying" was a British national institution, felt encouraged to try it also. The results were even more encouraging; 23 pilots reached thegoal, but although Pieczewski made the fastest time, he was not able to dislodge Gorselak from the lead.On June 16 a 200km triangle to the north-east was set, and this time there was no dead-beat leg. Gorselak, sadly, came to roost atthe first turning-point, but the runner-up got back, along with 22 others, and as a result came into the lead.I was allowed to plod along in the Jaskolka after the competitors had gone, and managed to reach the second turning-point atPosnan, getting home smartly behind a Junak tug whose pilot was quite clearly in a hurry. Fortunately the air was now calm. The last competition day was June 17 and the organizers wereworking themselves up into a frenzy of decision. For a long time now they had wanted to set either a 500km straight race or a 500kmtriangle. Today was their last chance, but they were not sure if the weather was good enough. The forecast was all right, but theday was late in starting. We all sat by our gliders, ready to go, and watching the cloudless sky for the first sign of cumulus. Dan-kowski declared Hrubieszow, 526km away, as goal, but said that he would change it if no clouds had appeared by eleven. At 10.50one or two tiny wisps showed themselves and the race was on—the first 500km race ever to be set in gliding championships. TheMuchas were off in just over 30 min, and then there was a pause while they cleared away and before I took off in the Jaskolka. It was a courageous gesture on the part of the organizers to letme go at all, since to send 55 gliders on a 500km race was only the beginning. They next would have to locate and retrieve thesegliders from the far end of Poland in time for next day's prize- giving—if possible. To do this gigantic job, all the adjacent aero- clubs would be called in to help with drivers, trailers and tugs. Thecompetitors had all left the site by 11.45—late for a 500km attempt —but I did not get clear until about 12.15, having been subjectedto the most frustrating and infuriating torture at the beginning of any serious soaring flight—the attentions of a photographic aero-plane. The wretched thing buzzed round and round like a hornet, the two-rope sting in its tail flailing along too close for comfort. 1lost my thermal then took twenty minutes to get going again. The day was a triumph of faith (and 1 suppose not a little hope)on the part of the organization. Two pilots (one Polish, Lusz- pinski, and one foreign, Zejda of Czechoslovakia) reached thegoal; one more, Wielgus, was only 2km short; and a total of 23 pilots achieved 500km or over. Fifty pilots, myself included,exceeded 350km, and Lome was only 10km short of the magic 500. The retrieving was even more difficult than the organizers feared,since more gliders than expected had landed in too-small fields. There was a bottle-neck in trailers, even to get the gliders to nearbycollecting-point airfields for multiple-tow returns. It was late the next day before I was collected from my remote village and linkedup at Lublin, but hopes of getting back to Leszno in order to catch the train to England had faded. I finally went by car with three ofthe 500km pilots on the eleven-hour trip back. Lome also took two days to return, but unfortunately had tocontinue back to England at once. I was persuaded to remain one more day, and woke up exhausted after the previous three days'perambulations, missing-out on meals and sleep, etc, to be told that the weather was excellent, and back to the Pripet MarshesI must go. In vain did I say I was too tired; I was forcibly driven into the air. Eight hours later, I was indeed back in East Poland, with a525km goal in my pocket. But that is another story. I was not able to find out much about the prizegiving except thatit took place, although competititors were rather thin on the ground. Pieczewski, Popiel and Gorselak were first, second andthird respectively, and the top visiting pilot was Mestan of Czecho- slovakia (fourth). In spite of the poor weather during the middlepart, the championships were most successful. The Polish organiza- tion of such events is among the best in the world, combining as itdoes sheer down-to-earth competence with courageous task-setting, and the creation of a most friendly and enjoyable atmosphere. All the visiting pilots were involved in exchanges with Polishpilots, and. so that the Poles going to other countries could learn something about them, the exchange pairs were installed in the samehuts. This also meant that the visitor to Poland had someone to help him. The language problem was not great, although mostconversations were carried on in two languages. The Poles, Jugoslavs, Russians, Czechs and Bulgarians can all comprehendeach other, and the second language varied between German and English, with French an occasionally useful third. One had ofcourse to be prepared for unexpected phrases, such as "a completely unalimentated cumulus," or reference to an aeroplane as being"very good for the schleppness." Poland is a beautiful country to fly over, in spite of the almostfrightening flatness of the central plain. Navigation is easy, for their half-million air maps are good. They have one great problemin their competitions which we, thank goodness, do not have in ours, and that is the necessity to get control authority for everyflight. This must make task-setting a nightmare, as often prepara- tions must be made the previous night before adequate weatherinformation is available. The extent of this preparation was obvious when one found it impossible ever to talk to one's friends in theorganization as they were permanently on the telephone. Some 70,000km were flown by the gliders on a total of sevencontest days. Three-quarters of the retrieving was done by air, mainly out of fields that neither pilot had seen before. It is atribute to the exceptionally high quality of all their pilots that, in about 170 field-towing sorties, only one aeroplane was slightlydamaged. As a visitor to such events it is nice to be able to have faith in the locals, and at Leszno one felt that the standard of aircraftserviceability, operational efficiency, and flying discipline and ability was as high as one could wish for.
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