Gliding. Now with pics!

[Paul J]

Not sure if this is the right place to mention this but it's an exciting day for me today! Going gliding at my local gliding facility. It's a Christmas treat from the wife, so am looking forward to it and the weather looks great for it!  It's been over 50 years since I soloed at Tangmere so an extra special trip.

[Markh-75]

Have a great day! I used to be a member of a gliding club, years ago, but found it difficult to get to as airfields tend to be miles away from built up areas and I had no car at the time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it every time, I have been up in gliders in Aberdenshire, In the cotswolds and the field (relatively) nearer to me! I enjoyed the glider tug and the winch experiences. I'm heading to Norwich in June and hope to visit Tibenham Airfield where they do gliding, maybe I'll get airborne too. Tibenham was an airfield that Jimmy Stewart flew B-24 Liberators from in WW2 with the 455th Bg, he then was moved to Old Buckenham airfield just a few miles away from Tibenham, and flew with the 453rd Bg. I'll be visiting this field too.

I used to spend all day at the field and helped out with ground handling of gliders and assisted in launching using the winch. I thoroughly enjoyed that. In the Cotswolds I flew at Bidford on Avon and did my first landing, I was even able to hold the glider level on the ground once we came to a halt, until the ground guys came; (my instructor pilot was an old man who flew in WW2 and he was brilliant, very encouraging and quite funny). Its a great feeling and a great achievement; I hope you really enjoy your day, have a great time!😀

 

[Alpha Delta 210]

I hope you have a great day, Paul. 

 

I had a trial flight many moons ago as a gift, but the weather didn't play ball so we could only do one circuit of the field before landing. 

 

There are several gliding clubs near me, so perhaps I will have another go soon. 

 

Enjoy!

[Paul J]

Hi all.  I am safely back from a wonderful experience. And what a way to celebrate 52 years since I soloed at Tangmere and my last glider flights.

Todays treat was superb, weather was good tough a tad cold and light winds. The field , fortunate enough for me is only about 15 minute drive located at Parham among the Southdowns. 34 minutes was my flight time to a height of 3000ft.  Tug was Piper Super Cub G-BEOI.   Being towed up was an experience in itself having only experienced winch launches back 1970.  Had several minutes stick time doing turns and a bit of thermalling.  Absolutely great.  My pilot /instructor, also a Paul, was excellent and I praise him for putting up with me.  With my temporary club membership lasting a month I can go again and only pay club members fees for more flights.  And guess what I will certainly take up the offer.  Would be rude not too wouldn't it! Meanwhile here are some pics:

My tug for this trip piloted ably by Kevin

MY glider for this trip ASK-21.

ABout to 'take up slack'.  Note the cable snaking on the rass. Also note the hi tech canopy mounted instrumentation??

On tow!!  Quite noisy really with the wind whooshing by.

A view of the airfield.  We landed from right to left in the pic but took off left to right.

Yours truly after landing and a slackened off 'chute!

My 'office' for the day.

A busy Pawnee today along with the Cub.

Hangar queen Pawnee.

After today I think my modelling cash will be diverted to doing full size aviating🤔

[Alpha Delta 210]

Looks like you had an incredible day, Paul.

 

Time to sell some kits and buy a 1:1 glider?🤣

[Paul J]

2 hours ago, Alpha Delta 210 said:

 

 

Time to sell some kits and buy a 1:1 glider?🤣

That's what  I am aiming for but not actually buying a 1;1 glider . Just flying in them for real. While I still can.

.

[Adam Poultney]

Very nice! I've just been out gliding at RAF Cranwell today. 38th flight under instruction and my longest yet at 1hr 15mins. Flying my university's Grob Acro we we have no soaring fees, so only £7 for today's flying off the winch. 

[Paul J]

Sounds like it was a nice long trip. You must have had good weather in your area too. Today's flight for me was my longest in a glider at 34 minutes. My ATC days each flight was only about 5 minutes. One of the club members landed just after me in single seater following a 3hour soaring journey. From the club field to Swindon back across country to Bognor,along the coast to Rye and back to base. 

It was an excellent day for me and one to remember and for getting me interested again after over 50 years!!

[MikeC]

Looks like a great trip.  I'm not envious at all (oh this long nose is SO inconvenient!)

 

13 hours ago, Paul J said:

After today I think my modelling cash will be diverted to doing full size aviating🤔

Aren't you even going to be haunting eBay to try and find a Revell ASK-21?

[Paul J]

2 hours ago, MikeC said:

Looks like a great trip.  I'm not envious at all (oh this long nose is SO inconvenient!)

 

Aren't you even going to be haunting eBay to try and find a Revell ASK-21?

Have been looking but not got as far as ebay yet! Will keep trying even though its not my scale .  I could go for the Piper  Cub they did too to make the set representing my day.

[Kari Lumppio]

Thank You!

 

I envy you. We have feet of snow here, still.

 

I think I have more time on the front end of tow line than on gliders. Noticed you have variometer with Knots scale! Had to transform it to meters per second to comprehend. 9 KTS = 4.6 m/s. You do have a very sporty Super Cup (180 hp?) or were you flying in thermal at the time of the picture? Or I may have twisted memory of Super Cup performance from my couple of hours with it.

 

Anyways thank you for the pictures. They made me feel better during this dark period of world.

 

Cheers,

Kari

Edited April 10, 2022 by Kari Lumppio

[John B (Sc)]

Nice pictures Paul.  Like Kari, I have time at both ends of the rope, some in the same type of machines as you show there.  I think Kari is right, that looks to be a 180HP Super Cub, which would explain the impressive climb rate on tow with a K21.  Personally I preferred the 150HP Super Cub for handling, but the 180HP is good for pulling heavy sailplanes.

 

Yes, that 'head up display' of the yaw string is a vital assist for accurate turning !

 

Enjoy your gliding. It fits well with modelling, especially radio control flying,  and with sailing or wind surfing - there are 'cross overs' between all these sports.  The Revell 1/32  ASK-21 is  a very nice model, as is the Revell 1/32 Super Cub, which comes in several variants incidentally. 

 

(Kari, you say still snow on the ground. Where are you - one of the Baltic countries perhaps? We had snow on the ground briefly here in Northern Scotland last week, but all melted away now.)

 

John B

[Kari Lumppio]

Hi!

 

John, I got my Finnish Glider Licence with most of the flights with Bocian OH-336, later sold to UK. I googled for the registration and found this for G_DFLL: http://airsoc.com/articles/view/id/60aab81fc4263cda548b4567/bocian-g-dfll-the-last-from-krosno ). I learned some new things about the individual. but they have the Finnish registration timeline backwards. It was first OH-KBP (never seen it as such) and later OH-336. The plane may have had other UK registrations, too? Yes, I am still in Finland.

 

Cheers,

Kari

[dov]

Hallo

 

I can imagine.

If you do so, I ask you if you have a friend by hand with many flying hours and experience? So 30 000 hours?

Airliner or military or any civil pilot?

Are you willing to leran it really!

Go and get an aerobatic hour! You must and should do that!

Make rolls, loops, get inverted!

You need it! 

Decide afterward.

If yes, get him to teach you.

I ask the following, because a friend did all licences he could get, but too less experience.

Too less firm on navigation, too less firm on meterology. Too much relying on tools and instruments.

And not able to absorb critics, from a friend with experience. He scattered an UL in a crosswind landing. No harm, just money.

 

Read:

https://www.amazon.de/Basic-Aerobatics-Geza-Szurovy/dp/0070629269

https://www.amazon.de/Aerobatics-Neil-Williams/dp/0950454303

 

Make up myour mind! Understnding flying only with aerobatics!

[Paul J]

A few more pics of my day at Parham. 

One of the privately owned sailplanes.

Motor glider Grob something or other.

Cockpit of the Pawnee. I was hoping that it would be my tow plane.

KA6  Another one owned by a club member but not a club glider.

A couple of airborne views. Here looking aft to starboard.

 

Above and below a few more pics of the airfield.

At top right is the local Rugby club pitch.

Note the 'longhouse' right centre, home to more gliders. And at top centre all the glider trailers.

The guy in this one had just got back after his 3 hour stint cross country.

 

I am planning to go back and get a couple ore trips. My day yesterday was rewarded with a cert entiling me to a months membership of the club and allowing me to go back and get some more time. This could lead me to enrolling for longer I fear and so any spare pennies will be diverted to this rather than kits of which I have enough but still need to sell some.  

However I would still like to track down the Revell 1/32 ASK-21 and Piper Cub if they are not overpriced.

[Adam Poultney]

22 minutes ago, Paul J said:

 

 

KA6  Another one owned by a club member but not a club glider.

 

We've got a K6 sitting in the hangar at Cranwell Gliding Club, I think it belongs to one of the members. I'm not sure when it last flew though, I've not seen it out the whole time I've been flying there.

[John B (Sc)]

The Ka6cr used to be a popular machine, though the slightly later Ka6e was higher performance. Nice wooden sailplanes, becoming rare to see now because some of the older Schleicher machines have had glue problems recently.  Various types of glues were used at different times, so test have had to be done to ensure integrity.  The costs of those, especially costs of post investigation restoration, have increased the retirement rate.  Pity, because they are very pleasant handling aircraft, a delight to soar in.  I like the colour scheme though seeing an unattended machine with its canopy open makes me twitch - a gust of wind and that canopy could easily be damaged.

 

A fine looking Glasflugel 304 in the earlier picture. I have a share in a Glasflugel Mosquito, which is nice, though my real favourite was the Glasflugel Libelle my wife and I shared.  Flew beautifully, could rig & be ready to fly in around five minutes from arriving at the airfield, handled well and although a  15 metre span she always looked to me like a model of the real thing. I did once check to see if competition number 172 was available - guess why! 

 

The DG808 has the benefit of being a self launcher I think, which means if conditions stop being soarable it can return without a field landing & raod retrieve - very handy ! 

 

Karl - I flew quite a lot of hours on Bocians, mostly instructing in wave which was great fun, also of course some thermal and ridge work.  We had a Bocian1e from new in 1972 I think, though I also some flew 1d variants. Most of them have been withdrawn from use by now sadly.

dovs comment amused me - and I agree, aerobatics are interesting & good experience for handling and for confidence building; when the Bocians were new they were rated fully aerobatic in Europe (though I think 'officially' semi-aerobatic in the UK). We had a lot of fun with that.  

 

Sigh - those photos are very evocative Paul - thanks - , since Pawnees and Grob 109B time also appears in my logbook.  Roll on the better weather...

 

John B

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by John B (Sc)