Terry1954 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 19 minutes ago, kev67 said: Very nice, that open cockpit must of been cold up there, what type of aircraft would of towed it up, would make a good diorama Yes it was very cold up there and a tad terrifying on my first ever flight. I did my course during January that year. We were winched up via a ground winch, not an aircraft. It was a vehicle parked at the far end of the field with a massive winch and very long cable that was run back to the launch point by land-rover tow. The cable was then attached to the glider then when all was good the slack was taken up and when ready you were speedily winched up from the ground. The acceleration to flying speed was very fast. You could get to about 800 feet like that. It was very noisy (wind) until you were at the top and released. When over the winch (look over the side) you release the cable. If there are no thermal's about you could do a leisurely circuit before you had to land again. Often we got some lift above the main hangers and tarmac if the sun was out and you could stay up for 5 or 10 minutes! Hair raising and character building stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev67 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I have been up in a glider about 3 times, great fun but was towed by an aircraft, I had watched the winched launches, looks like fun especially how it quickly gets up into the air, just like being on a roller coaster, but as you say winch launches you never stay up as long as been towed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 4 minutes ago, Aeronut said: that open cockpit must of been cold up there, I have memories of landing a Mk3 after a 5 minute solo circuit and wiping the ice off my eye brows I'm long in the back and I never could get in to the rear seat of a Mk3 so I only ever flew them from the front seat with my head well above the windscreen. Although the Brick was good trainer I preferred the Barge (Sedburgh) and managed to get to G2 and carry passengers in them before my VGS (612) was converted to Ventures. In total I have 24 hours on Mk 3 and Sedburghs; that doesn't sound a lot until you remember the number of flights that were logged as 1,2 or 3 minutes. Yes 24 hours on these is a lot! I think I solo'd at 30 launches on my course so barely 2 hours total flying time at max. All in all with a couple of years doing air experience as well, I couldn't have got to more than 3 hours total! Anyone recall the string tied to the front pitot tube in order to visually guage sideslip, often accompanied by a shout or even a punch in the left or right shoulder to apply corrective rudder? Those were the days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 14 minutes ago, Terry1954 said: Anyone recall the string tied to the front pitot tube in order to visually guage sideslip, often accompanied by a shout or even a punch in the left or right shoulder to apply corrective rudder? Those were the days! If your left cheek was cold, apply left rudder. If your right cheek was cold, apply right rudder. If both cheeks were cold, you're flying too fast. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 That brings back memories! In the mid/late 1960s I went on a weeks gliding course at RAF Swanton Morley and succeeded in gaining by Glider Pilots Wings in one of the these. It was a glorious week, one flight we took off by winch through the ground mist....fortunately we could see enough to lamd a few mins later! Gliding in the ATC led to gliding at the Long Mynnd in a K13 and a K6a, enormous fun. Then I got married and bought a house... end of an era! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 4 minutes ago, 224 Peter said: That brings back memories! In the mid/late 1960s I went on a weeks gliding course at RAF Swanton Morley and succeeded in gaining by Glider Pilots Wings in one of the these. It was a glorious week, one flight we took off by winch through the ground mist....fortunately we could see enough to lamd a few mins later! Gliding in the ATC led to gliding at the Long Mynnd in a K13 and a K6a, enormous fun. Then I got married and bought a house... end of an era! of course, I remember why I stopped as well ..... the wife, the house, the kids, the divorce, the second wife ......... its all coming back now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedders Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Absolutely delightful, right down to the blue seatbelts. By the time I was in the cadets they'd just started with the Grob Vikings etc, which seemed like luxury compared to these. Happy memories all the same...! Justin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 13 minutes ago, 224 Peter said: That brings back memories! IGliding in the ATC led to gliding at the Long Mynnd in a K13 and a K6a, enormous fun. Then I got married and bought a house... end of an era! I'll bet you remember Tony Spicer and Ken Payne then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Aah! memories. I saved up money from my paper round to go on a holiday gliding course at Camphill (aka Damphill) in 1958 in one of these. I remember the instructor's plea to land gently as his seat was just above the unsprung wheel. Nice model by the way John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, stringbag said: I'll bet you remember Tony Spicer and Ken Payne then? Ken Payne...very much so. Tony I think so. Gosh, those were the days. A night spent in the bunkhouse with a freezing westerly one was only too ready to get up and out....ready for a Bungee launch to pick up the ridge lift, then up into wave..wonderful! Only issue was the down wind rotor and an initial approach that was close to VNE.... and the need to shed airspeed to avoid an inadvertent go round, which was charged as a second launch!! Edited February 28, 2018 by 224 Peter typo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 42 minutes ago, 224 Peter said: Ken Payne...very much so. Tony I think so. Gosh, those were the days. A night spent in the bunkhouse with a freezing westerly one was only too ready to get up and out....ready for a Bungee launch to pick up the ridge lift, then up into wave..wonderful! Only issue was the down wind rotor and an initial approach that was close to VNE.... and the need to shed airspeed to avoid an inadvertent go round, which was charged as a second launch!! Ken and I were among the founder members of the North Wales Gliding club, along with a few others way back in 1977. Using an old Grunau 2b and a home made winch, we had our first flights off Talacre beach before moving to Hafoty Bennet in Llanrwst, and then to Bryn Gwyn Bach. Ken was one of the best glider pilots I've ever met. Haven't seen him for a couple of years. He used to take the mickey because I was restoring an old T21 which I rescued from the Mynd, but he was always the first to use it when the weather was nice and he was the first to loop it after I'd rebuilt it. Great guy. Sorry for the thread drift Terry Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 I remember flying in Slingsby Sedburghs with the ATC, I think it may have been at Woodvale. A year or so later they got those fibre glass Grobs, and I flew in ZE406, becoming only the 5th cadet in the country to fly in one at that time! I think these old open cockpit gliders were better though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 The thing I remember about the open cockpits was being able to hear kids playing, dogs barking and the ice cream van chimes from a thousand feet above. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 2 hours ago, stringbag said: Ken and I were among the founder members of the North Wales Gliding club, along with a few others way back in 1977. Using an old Grunau 2b and a home made winch, we had our first flights off Talacre beach before moving to Hafoty Bennet in Llanrwst, and then to Bryn Gwyn Bach. Ken was one of the best glider pilots I've ever met. Haven't seen him for a couple of years. He used to take the mickey because I was restoring an old T21 which I rescued from the Mynd, but he was always the first to use it when the weather was nice and he was the first to loop it after I'd rebuilt it. Great guy. Sorry for the thread drift Terry Chris. No need to apologise for thread drift Chris, I'm loving it! I live just a few miles from the Dorset Gliding Club, and all this is stirring up the old desires. Might pop along there one day soon to see about getting airborne again! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrek51 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Wow, brings back memories, I also soloed one of these at RAF Gaydon, lovely aircraft although a friend of mine who is a fast jet pilot when he saw pics of it said "Not in a million years would you get me up in that" LOL Happy Days.......... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
224 Peter Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 18 hours ago, Lord Riot said: This is fantastic I love it! Would be great to see Airfix or similar produce some injection moulded RAF gliders (vac-form is too hard for my limited skills!) How about on in 1/32?? It would still only be about 7.5" long in that scale! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildeSau75 Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 19 hours ago, Terry1954 said: Hi Michael, Thank you. I can confirm the dayglo colour is Luminous Orange Revell 32125, but I recall now I did add a very small amount (maybe 10%) of Luminous Red Revell 32332 (RAL 3026). I thinned this further with Mr Levelling Thinner which is an amazing product. Cheers Terry Hi Terry, Thanks for these information - really convincing your dayglo orange. Not know Mr. Leveling thinner - might check it out. Cheers, Michael 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedders Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 1 hour ago, Aeronut said: The thing I remember about the open cockpits was being able to hear kids playing, dogs barking and the ice cream van chimes from a thousand feet above. That is positively poetic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djos Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Beautiful bottle with some bug near it.....:) This is for sure not very often seen model, perfect execution of this small bird. Beautifull Regards 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 A cracker Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 5 hours ago, Aeronut said: The thing I remember about the open cockpits was being able to hear kids playing, dogs barking and the ice cream van chimes from a thousand feet above. Very true. The other thing one could hear was the winch revving up taking in the loose cable, but only once the speed was stabilised at 32kts. 5 hours ago, Terry1954 said: No need to apologise for thread drift Chris, I'm loving it! I live just a few miles from the Dorset Gliding Club, and all this is stirring up the old desires. Might pop along there one day soon to see about getting airborne again! Terry I'm sure they have a T21 down there Terry. Might be worth asking if you can have a flight in that instead of the Tupperware. Chris. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onosendai Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Time ago Tim Perry had presented a project in 1/32 for this glider: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=53156&hl=%2Bair+%2Bcadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Share Posted February 28, 2018 17 minutes ago, onosendai said: Time ago Tim Perry had presented a project in 1/32 for this glider: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=53156&hl=%2Bair+%2Bcadet I think I may have seen some masters/ideas for this at Telford a couple of years ago. Not sure what happened to that? Terry 48 minutes ago, stringbag said: Very true. The other thing one could hear was the winch revving up taking in the loose cable, but only once the speed was stabilised at 32kts. I'm sure they have a T21 down there Terry. Might be worth asking if you can have a flight in that instead of the Tupperware. Chris. I'll definitely have to go and check that out! Thanks Chris Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onosendai Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 8 hours ago, Terry1954 said: I think I may have seen some masters/ideas for this at Telford a couple of years ago. Not sure what happened to that? Terry I think lack of funds, I think he tried the way of some crowdfunding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-21 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 (edited) Libra Models produced a good set of vac form early 1/72 gliders and there were plans in card for 1/72 models of the Mark 3 and Sedbergh in an early Airfix magazine. My father took me for my first flight in a T-31 aged 5 ! at Clevelands RAFGSA RAF Leeming . Edited March 1, 2018 by T-21 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now