A Pleasant Surprise...

[Tako_Kichi]

Nice pic of the old girl. I have several hours logged in these too (as well as the T.21) during my stint in 435 Squadron ATC in the early 70's. We used to fly gliders out of RAF Ternhill with powered flights in Chippies taking place at RAF Shawbury. Some of the happiest days of my life!

[Hot_Charlie]

Peter.....I was 8 in 1973.......so i don't think you were my pilot.....

Hmmm! Sorry I'm so old...617 Gliding School went on for many years at Manston after I left...Was it Manston that you flew from?

617 was still around at Manston when I had my firt glider (and powered) flights as a cadet in the mid 90s. Sadly of course, it was a nice place in a great location, so they felt the need to close it. Ironically for my Sqn, being in NW Kent, having to go to Kenley instead cut the the journey time in half!

[Macs]

Peter,
Did you have airspeed indicators on these gliders? Just curious,
regards,
Macs

[petermcleland]

Peter,
Did you have airspeed indicators on these gliders? Just curious,
regards,
Macs

Yes Macs, we did on those models...with also altimeters and up and down tubes...Unlike the single seater that I soloed in at 16, which had no instruments at all...just a yellow knob to release the tow cable

[Tomliner]

Hi Peter.Your photo brings back some memories.In the ATC I did my gliding course to B certificate over 2 lovely late summer weekends at Kirton-in-Lyndsey,Lincs in September 1962(or was it '63 ?)I can't recall the serial no's of the aircraft.I will try to find my old log book to check.I also recall flying as a passenger in a Sedburgh from Spitalgate and looking 'up' at Grantham as we did a loop.I think I still have a photo of that occasion somewhere.Best Wishes EricT

[petermcleland]

Hi Eric,

We didn't get an A&B in my day as there were no two seaters so we ONLY flew solo. It was considered too risky to teach the art of turning without some dual instruction so we just did an "A"...30 seconds of unhooked flight in a straight line. Here is my picture after solo in 1949:-



Not only did it not have any instruments but it I don't think it even had a wheel...just a skid!

[Techy111]

:o

[Macs]

Peter,
Did you have airspeed indicators on these gliders? Just curious,
regards,
Macs

Yes Macs, we did on those models...with also altimeters and up and down tubes...Unlike the single seater that I soloed in at 16, which had no instruments at all...just a yellow knob to release the tow cable

Peter,
Interesting. On the gliders without ASI, how high were you allowed to go? Were you allowed to make turns? Just curious.
regards,
Macs

[petermcleland]

Macs,

We climbed steeply on the winch line and every now and again put the nose down to see the man with yellow bats standing at the winch...If he was holding the bats high above his head we would haul back again some more. When the batman crossed his bats to and fro above his head we would pull the yellow knob to release the cable and glide straight ahead (we didn't know how to do a proper turn) but we kept it pointing a bit to one side of the winch so that we wouldn't hit it. I would guess that the highest we would have got up to might be about 1000 feet. It was at North Weald. All we needed to do was keep it airborne for thirty seconds from cable drop to get an "A"

We had a chap who froze with fright when he did his first cable release and held the stick fully back with his eyes shut. He did a whole series of stalls and dives all the way to the ground and was very fortunate that his arrival on the ground coincided with his trajectory round out...He opened his eyes to find he had rolled into an old air raid shelter.

Well we didn't se him again, but we were all a bit scared of stalling after that and noted very carefully the instructors admonition that if the "Frying bacon sound stopped...then you are stalled...get the stick forward and get some noise back!"

I was rather nervous on my High Hops and tended to descend rather steeply to avoid stalling...To get me my "A" they had to use the whole diagonal length of North Weald, with the winch at one end and me at the other end before we "Took up slack"!!! That was the only way to get me to stay up for 30 seconds. I reckon I went pretty high on that last one

[Macs]

Macs,

We climbed steeply on the winch line and every now and again put the nose down to see the man with yellow bats standing at the winch...If he was holding the bats high above his head we would haul back again some more. When the batman crossed his bats to and fro above his head we would pull the yellow knob to release the cable and glide straight ahead (we didn't know how to do a proper turn) but we kept it pointing a bit to one side of the winch so that we wouldn't hit it. I would guess that the highest we would have got up to might be about 1000 feet. It was at North Weald. All we needed to do was keep it airborne for thirty seconds from cable drop to get an "A"

We had a chap who froze with fright when he did his first cable release and held the stick fully back with his eyes shut. He did a whole series of stalls and dives all the way to the ground and was very fortunate that his arrival on the ground coincided with his trajectory round out...He opened his eyes to find he had rolled into an old air raid shelter.

Well we didn't se him again, but we were all a bit scared of stalling after that and noted very carefully the instructors admonition that if the "Frying bacon sound stopped...then you are stalled...get the stick forward and get some noise back!"

I was rather nervous on my High Hops and tended to descend rather steeply to avoid stalling...To get me my "A" they had to use the whole diagonal length of North Weald, with the winch at one end and me at the other end before we "Took up slack"!!! That was the only way to get me to stay up for 30 seconds. I reckon I went pretty high on that last one

Peter,
Thanks for sharing with us this treasure of knowledge . Have you thought about writing a book?
regards,
Macs