From the Editor
The following is not about a vintage glider but we must all be interested in a brief reference to the first new British sailplane to be manufactured since the last Slingsby Vega left Kirbymoorside in 1981.
Two of our members, Derek Piggott who is too well known to need any introduction and Terence Henderson, who owns an Olympia and a Chipmunk but whose day job is captaining Concordes, are helping John Edgley with the test flying and marketing of his EA9 Optimist sailplane which is superficially like a Ka 18 but made from Fibrelam panels and may be supplied complete or as a kit. So far everything is going well, with Derek winning the Lasham Class B Regionals last year including being first home on one day; the full account is in S&G Dec/Jan 1998. (The prototype is fitted with a Cair Aviation vario and dedicated averager sold by our member Colin Street)
Do You know the English translation of your gliders name?
Glider Names from A to Z
by Alan Self
Readers may have seen the list of about 200 glider names that was published in the December 97/January 98 issue of Sailplane and Gliding.
I began the project four years ago with the intention of finding English translations or explanations for a few familiar names of well-known types. Somewhere along the way, it became a quest for every name that I could discover from books and magazines, and from correspondents including VGC members in a number of countries. The full list, approaching 1000 type
names and still growing, is now available on the Internet. As well as my home site in the UK, there is a mirror site with the Soaring Society of America, so if you have access to the Internet, you could try both URLs (addresses) to see which loads faster for you:
http://www.netcentral.co.uk/~agself/HOME.HTM
http://acro.harvard.edu/SSA/AS/HOME.HTM
I believe there must be still more names to be discovered and would welcome corespondence via VGC News, especially about types produced in former Yugoslavia, Russia, South America and Japan. (See also the VGC Sales pages Ed)
The Millenium
Our one hundredth issue will come out in summer of the year 2000
(or as I prefer to put it, the millenium coincides with our 100th
issue) and we should mark it with a special issue. I propose asking
someone in each country represented in the VGC to write a short
history of their local gliding with descriptions of notable flights
and personalities; but if anyone has any better ideas I would
be happy to change my plan.
The last date for articles and photos to be sent
to the Editor for the next issue, which will go
out in mid November is 15 September.
From the Membership Secretary
VGC Membership List on the Internet
If you have looked at the VGC pages on the Internet (http//www.tally.co.uk/guests/vgc) you will have seen there is a conference section which can only be reached by current VGC members who have been given a password. We are intending to include our membership database in this section so that other members can locate each other, find out who has got what aircraft, who is in what club etc.
We will be adding e mail addresses, hyperlinked so messages can be passed easily, so let me have by e mail at vgc@datron.co.uk your own e mail addresses so that I can add them.
If you have any comment to make on the internet, the VGC pages, on the database or any other item relevant to this subject please let me know. Ian Dunkley
And also:-
Welcome to our new members
1679 Paul Blankenzee Holland T21B & Ka7
1680 Werner Ruegg Switzerland
1681 John Tysoe Ontario, Canada
1682 Alan Meredith UK
1683 Dick Moore UK
1684 Graham Turner UK
1685 Mark Pedwell UK Aeromodeller 1686 Berend Schenk Holland Grunau Baby 11B
1687 Peter Kent UK Olympia 2b
1688 Stephen Thompson UK Oly 463
1689 Robert Martin UK T45 Swallow
1690 Henry Mikkelsen Norway Ka 8
1691 Not used.
1692 Anthony Gee UK Slingsby Grasshopper
1693 Reginald Woller UK Olympia 2b
1694 Keith George UK M-100S
1695 Bryan Delmer UK T45 Swallow
1696 Umberto Bertoli Italy Aeromodeller
? Terence Henderson UK Oly 2b and Chipmunk
We hope to see you all at our rallies and meetings and send you
good wishes for the coming season. (There are a number of vintage
gliders for sale including a couple of very interesting two seaters
and we wonder if any of our new members would like to form a syndicate
to operate one of these. Just a thought! Ed)
Do you want to see them burnt?
Ken Blake's old workshop, Sailplane and Engineering Services, has been cleared out but there remains a number of Swallow bits and pieces, like tailplanes, rear fuselage, canopy etc, a Capstan tailplane, some Oly bits and pieces plus a Dart 17 with a metal spar requiring inspection. If anyone is interested in anything in this lot, please contact Colin on 01298 813861 before the lighter fuel is brought out. Ian Dunkley From VGC Sales
VGC News Back Issues can now be obtained through VGC Sales from the first issue onwards. Serial Numbering did not start until No 27, November 1977. Previous issues, starting with the news-sheet of October 1971, were characterised by month or quarter of issue, and have been notionally numbered from 1 to 26.
Originals, where available, at £1.50 each - where these are
not available, photocopies can be made @ £4.00 each, plus
postage.
VGC Sales Shop. Please note that Colin and Alice
Anson , who work so tirelessly for the VGC, will be attending
vintage glider rallies abroad from the 3rd week of June until
mid-August. Normal mail order sevice will be resumed shortly after
their return.