RAY ASH has sent the following News from NSW (NEW SOUTH WALES) on the 19th February 1998.
He has been busy establishing a new home and everything that goes with it in the country at 46 Medley Street, Gulgong 2852, NSW.
"I am currently working on the restoration of a two seater Schneider ES 52 short wing Kookaburra built in 1956, but still in good condition. It will be completely overhauled and covered with Dacron and may be finished by the end of 1998.
We still fly the DICKSON PRIMARY as regularly as the weather and other obligations allow. It has now done nearly 200 launches and about 12 hours flying time. We auto tow it on our 2 kms long airfield and average around 1,200 ft on the launch with the highest being 1,500 ft. Most circuits are of around 5 minutes but we have managed to delay the descent using thermals to nearly 15 minutes on a couple of occasions.
I am thinking seriously of putting a partial nacelle behind the pilot to improve the L/D a lttle, but the others who fly it would rather leave it as it is. I have enclosed some photos that you may care to use.. The one taken from the wing tip might even make a good cover shot. Also enclosed is an article that I found in an old Air International about the De Havilland gliders designed by Martin Warner during the war. I had heard about them before but I had never seen any details or photos of them, but you may find them to be of interest. Martin was, of course, a member of the Sydney Soaring Club who owned the prewar Slingsby Gull 1 and the later Gull 4. He also designed and built the Australian Kite 1 and Kite 2 sailplanes in 1936/7 in the Sydney area.
We also have a HUTTER H.17a, built in 1949, that we fly occasionally.
The main problem is the owner's reluctance to get it out and fly it. When he does, he usually lets me have a flight in it also. It flies very nicely and is surprisingly quiet even although it has an open cockpit.
I am also over-seeing the restoration of another Schneider designed sailplane. This is the ES 57 KINGFISHER, a small 35 ft wingspan glider, with a performance somewhat better than the H.17a. It should be flying within a month or two. I have also located the whereabouts of the Hawkridge VENTURE two seater which was built by the Dubbo Gliding Club in about 1950. It is stored in a shearing shed on a farm about 200 kms from here. I have spoken on the telephone to the person who now has possession of it. I hope to go over to see it when the weather cools down a bit. I believe that it is still in reasonably good condition and probably restorable, but the owner is reluctant to do anything to get it airworthy in case it gets damaged. I have always believed that only two VENTURES were built. The Dubbo one... and the original prototype (in England CW). However, when talking to the present owner, who was a Dubbo Club member when they were building the VENTURE, he was quite sure that one was being built somewhere in South America at the same time as they were building theirs. Do you know anything about this ?
Another thing that may be of interest, although you may already be aware of it, is that in 1949, the then President of the N.S.W. Gliding Assn., Mervyn Waghorn, an ex-patriate Englishman, and production manager of De Havilland Australia, at that time, obtained from the Ministry of Supply in Millbank, London, working drawings for the KRANICH 2, MEISE and also some drawings for the HORTEN 4. I found this information when going through all the N.S.W.G.A. correspondence that had been handed over to me for safe keeping by another person. I managed to contact Waghorn, who is now over 80 years of age, but he could not recall what became of them and, what exactly the Horten drawings consisted of. The correspondence does indicate that the Horten drawings were returned to the Ministry of Supply in January 1958. If it is of any help, the reference on that letter is:- TPA3/T1B1b/736/R2820 of the 19th December 1949.
Regarding my other flying in our Ka-7, we had a very good week here immediately after Christmas, doing Out & Return flights of between 100 and 150 kms every day, with cloudbase averaging 6-7,000 ft and, on the last day, it went up to 11,000 ft. Our best day was the 2nd of January, when two Ka-7s did an Out & Return flight of 250 kms to the Warrumbungle Mountains. Bob Hare and Brian Hemmings in Charlie Quebec and John McCorquodale and myself got to a cloud street that went in our direction. We never made another turn for the next 50 kms averaging 60-65 Knots and 7,000 ft.... went about another 15 kms in to the mountains turning over Siding Springs Observatory, and then we set off home again. We followed the same cloud street that we had come up along, not turning for another 50 kms, until nearly reaching Mendooran again. It was one of the best flights that I have had in the Ka-7, and the round trip took about three hours to complete. Not bad for a couple of nearly vintage gliders.
We have had a hotter than usual summer this year, with many days of over 40 degrees Celsius, with severe afternoon storms on many occasions. On one day recently, we had what can only be described as a mini-tornado sweep across the airfield, uprooting many trees and damaging some of the caravans, although not seriously, thank goodness..
Well, that's about all for this part of the country. I presume other people like Alan Patching, pass on news from down South ? I never seem to get to the Vintage meetings there, as they always seem to be too far away. At the rate that we are going, we could almost hold one here, with the number of vintage gliders we seem to be accumulating."
Best Regards.. Ray Ash.
Chris Wills comments that not only do the Australians have
two Chilton Olympias, when the only one in Britain was burned
at Slingsby Sailplanes, but they also are flying a Dickson Primary,
a type that introduced the British to gliding in 1930/31 and became
extinct in Britain during the mid 1930s. (We do have drawings
for the Dickson) That the Australians have been having delayed
descents of up to 25 minutes in the Dickson due to thermals, could
not have been imagined in Britain during the early 1930s. Let
us hope that the Australian Dickson will have even longer duration
flights in future. More than 100 Dickson Primaries built in Britain
were in use by July 1931, according to reports in "The Sailplane
& Glider" at that time. Many of these were built from
plans that were published in books and aviation magazines. The
Dickson Primary was sold (in kits?) to Britain, America, Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa and India. The only recorded examples
with Works Construction Numbers (Cloudcraft Glider Co.) were C/n.
19-25, BGA130, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132 and 133. There were also
BGA Nos. 233 and 401, but their C/n s were not recorded. The Cloudcraft
Dickson Primary was of wooden construction, designed by Roger
Dickson and built by the Cloudcraft Glider Co. Southampton, in
1930. Many were built by gliding club members. Span was 10.45
metres, Length was 5.28 metres, Wing Area was :_15.79 sq.m. (170
sq. ft). Wing Section was Clark Y. Empty Weight was :- 81.65 kgs
(180 lbs)" All the above was quoted from Norman Ellison's
"British gliders and Sailplanes 1922-1970"
Their National Rally is to be held on the airfield of SOVET (CINEY)
from the 7th to the 10th of August 1998. Any persons wishing to
attend with or without gliders should contact:- Firmin Henrard,
Rue de Porcheresse 11, 5361 Mohiville. La Belgique . Tel:- 068
200246019. This Rally is being held under the auspices of the
"Faucheurs de Marguerites" (Daisy Cutters)
The WILLOW WREN, BGA 162, appeared at Halton (RAF Chilterns GC) on the weekend of the 26th-27th April after its restoration to flying condition by Mike Beach and Peter Underwood. It has been restored to the highest standard, as it was in 1934, and before. It is believed to have been built by Bill Manuel, its designer, in 1931 but it only gained its first BGA C of A in September 1934. It was restored to fly again by Bill Manuel in 1964 but it has never flown since. It is equipped only for bungee launching at the moment. This should be Britain's oldest airworthy glider.
Both RHONBUSSARD, BGA 337, and KRANICH 2, BGA 964, have had to have major work done to them, after some glue failure was found in their wings in 1997. Both should reappear again, airworthy, during 1998. The Slingsby SKY which used to belong to the Empire Test Pilots School is being continuously worked on at the Booker Gliding Club ar High Wycombe. This sailplane is soon to have new fabric and a new canopy. (no civilian BGA C of A was ever given it, as it has been in military service)
We were very sorry to learn of Bernard Wilson's death, two weeks before he could fly his SKY BGA 1053. It just needed its final painting, otherwise the restored aircraft and its new trailer were ready for action. We are glad that we were able to give him a VGC Restoration Prize during 1997, in recognition of his achievement. In 1998, it would have been too late.
GINN-LESNIAK KESTREL BGA 1571. This is a two seat tandem, semi
aerobatic, sailplane which was designed by two members of the
London Gliding Club in 1956. They were Messrs Ginn and Lesniak.
Vic Ginn built the wings, tailplane and front fuselage, at his
home in Luton, and the rest of the glider was built at the London
GC. After a gap of several years, it was completed by Ron Dodd
and Jeff Butt at Dunstable. Its very much swept forward wings
had Göttingen 549 profile at their roots and and M 12 at
their tips. Its max.L/D was 1:28, its empty weight was 307.54
kgs (678 lbs) and its wing span was (is) 18 metres. We had wondered
what had become of this aircraft. We have now been informed that
it has been re-covered and is flying at the Lakes Club. Its first
flight was at Dunstable on 19.7.69.
NEWS FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC..
Josef Mezera has sent news dated 6. 5. 98. that they have had a very mild winter without frosts and snow. It was even possible to fly in thermals over Rana airfield in January!
Two recently restored "ORLIKS" have flown...a VT-16 and a 116. One is based at Hronov and the other at Zabrich in Northern Moravia.
A syndicate at Rana is building a new SG.38. The team is led by Jiri Lenik. It is hoped that it will fly this year but it is questionable as to whether it will be ready for the 27th International Vintage Glider Rally at Nitra.
A new Oldtimer Glider group has been formed in South Bohemia. They are building a new SEDY VLK ("Grey Wolf"), an old tandem two seater from the 1930s. The original Sedy Vlk is hanging up on display in the National Technical Museum in Prague.
Josef Mezera has been trying to discover the destiny of the H.28-2 in Czechoslovakia. Fritz Taschner of the VDF (Verband Deutscher Flieger) Group, began its construction in 1936. During August 1936, two young Czechs, Burianek and Kantor, of the Prague Group Rackari (Sea Gullers), who had built the, Racek Mrkov sailplane, which is now also in the National Technical Museum, Prague, were searching for the H.28-2 on bicycles. The builders of the H.28-2 wanted to enter it with two pilots in the 3rd Czech Gliding Contest. The pilots were its builder Fritz Taschner of the VDF and and Alois Pospisil of the MLL Group.
The building of the H.28-2 was difficult and so, it had its first flight in the Autumn of 1936. The H.28-2, named "Kuryr" ("Kurier" - Messenger) was flying at Zatec and Rana also. The Sudetenland was connected to Germany on 30th September 1938. The gliders from Rana were moved further away, into Czechoslovakia. In addition, Rana was divided by a new frontier. The gliders were taken to Kbely Airfield near Prague. This is now a military airbase. A short time before World War 2 started, the gliders from Kbely were hidden in the workshop at Skodovaku, by the men at the Skoda factory and a section of the ARCS (Aeroclub of Czechoslovakia). This was a shipyard at Prague Smichov, and they were hidden there on the assumption that the war would be of short duration. Among them, were the Sedy Vlk (Grey Wolf), a Tulak (Tramp) built by Letov, and the H.28-2.
There was flood of unknown date, which filled the workshop to a depth of 1 metre and the gliders were badly damaged (if not destroyed.) The joiner, Ivan Chodan, who built parts for gliders, took the gliders out and salvaged parts of them.
Most of the gliders in the Czech Republic, and especially those in Prague, were destroyed at the beginning of the war. However, it is said that a German Officer of Austrian origin, kept the parts of the H.28-2 for the whole war. During the final days of the war, when he was captured by the Americans, all his posessions were taken, and the destiny of the H.28 at that time, is unknown.
We have heard recently that no less than 4 (if not 5) old craftsmen are now working on Bob Persyn's MINIMOA 36. The fuselage is taking shape and can be recognised for what it is. We understand that the most difficult parts, the wing Main Spars, still need building. These are not only gulled, but also swept back. Such main spars have already been built by Willi Bergmann at Michelstadt/Odenwald, who is also building a Minimoa 36.
We have also heard that a second Dutch GRUNAU BABY 2 is being
worked on, which is even older than the 1938 Dutch Grunau Baby
2 which was with us at the July 1997 International VGC Rendez
Vous Rally at Pont Saint Vincent.
After its move from Angers-Avrillé, the Musée de l'Air Régional will for the first time open the doors of its new ultra modern building at Angers-Marcé, next September.
One of the masterpieces on exhibition will, without doubt, be the unique AVIA 41P. The restoration of this 1930s high performance sailplane was led by Paul Genest, a retired carpenter, who will be 80 years old this spring. Helping him was Yves Edmery. As much as possible of the original fabric was saved. This G.P.P.A. team, presided over by Christian Ravel, was awarded an FFVV Medal for the quality of its work. To officially commemorate this, a small ceremony was held at Angers on the 22nd January 1998.
The AVIA 41P was exhibited at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget, during the last Gliding Historical Congress on the 22nd November 1997.
From DEDALE's Information letter No.64, Jan, Feb, March 1998, we note that a VMA 200 MILAN (Weihe) is being worked on by Jacques Boulanger, Gérard Saint-Denis and Jean Marat. This is one of the 32 Milans assembled by Victor Minie Aviation from German parts in 1952.
Despite the move to Angers Marcé scheduled for June, work at the GPPA is continuing on the following types which have recently arrived. These are the C 25S No 141 F-CRBI, the WA 22 No.117.F-CDCS, and the Emouchet No.94 F-CROF. This latter has been entirely re-fabric covered and is now awaiting painting.
The following 31 sailplanes owned by DEDALE members have flown 1258 hours 31 minutes during 1997 against 834 hours with 24 gliders in 1996. Well done!
M.200 No.26 F-CDDU owned by Carrera, Marat etc - 177 hours.
Schleicher Ka-7 HB-768 owned by P-A Ruffieux- 154 hrs10 mins.
Schleicher Ka-6 HB-871 Owned by P-A Ruffieux. -124 hours 5 mins.
M.200 No.30 F-CDHC D.Pataille - 80 hrs 29 minutes.
Avialsa A.60 FAUCONNET No 12. F-CDGN Boulanger/Saint-Denis. 75 hours.
SA 104 EMOUCHET No.282 F-CRFK -Martel/Mignot/Véron. 63 hours 50 minutes.
WASSMER WA-21 JAVELOT No 45 F-CCFE. C.Bourdelet. 61 hours.
FAUVEL AV.22 No.2. F-CAGL, Bocciarelli/Néglais. 54 hrs. 42 mins during 41 flights.
BREGUET 904S No.11.F-CAGU. Ph. Prinet. 49 hours 46 mins during 36 flights.
Siren C-30S EDELWEISS No.22 .3A-MTO. Franchi/Jouhaut. 48 hours 25 mins.
Scheibe Mü 13E BERGFALKE 1 No.131 OO-ZPH. J-P.Bénard 41 hrs 37 mins.
BREGUET 904S No.6. F-CCFP M.Roussel 37 hours.
Siren C-30S EDELWEISS No.44.F-CCGC J.Heymes. 30 hours.
Avialsa A-60 FAUCONNET No.125. F-CDLC P.Urscheler. 25 hours 26 mins during 14 flights.
Avialsa A-60 FAUCONNET No.13.F-CCLI, Y.Soudit. 24 hours 50 mins.in 8 flights.
Wassmer Wa-21 JAVELOT No.53 F-CCKQ.J-P. Robin. 24 hours 30 mins.
NORD 2000 (Meise) No.13 F-CBFR J-M.Ginestet 23 hours 24 mins. during 18 flights.
Schleicher Ka-6E No 4298 F-CDRH M.Roudy 16 Hours 53 mins in 5 flights.
FAUVEL AV 36,No.131 F-CRBL.Ph.Prinet. 16 hours 28 mins in 9 fights.
FAUVEL AV.36. No. 123. F-CBRX.A.S.P.A.C. 16 hours 25 mins during10 flights.
NORD 1300 (Grunau Baby 2b) HB-348 P-A.Ruffieux 14 hrs 10 mins.
CARMAM M.100S MESANGE No.27 F-CCSP J-F Dupey 13 hours 50 mins.
Wassmer Wa-22 Super Javelot F-CDEE CPS 13 Hours 44 mins.
CAUDRON C.800 No.181 F-F-CAPF ASPAC. 10 hrs 15 mins in 12 flights
PIK 16 VASAMA F-CCPS D. Auger 9 hrs.
FAUVEL AV.22 No.1. F-CCGK. GPPA 8 hours 7 mins.
BREGUET 900S No.1, F-CABY C .Visse. 5 hrs 40 mins.
Breguet 901S No 14 F-CCCQ Auchère/Robin 10 Hours 15 mins
Breguet 901S F-CCCP P.Plane 9 Hours 22 mins
Breguet 904S No5 F-CCFN GPPA 11 hours 43 mins..
Scheibe Bergfalke 11/55 No 207 F-CCCCDK Molveau/Potard 4 hours 15 mins.
Not all the gliders and their statistics have been listed and
others may not have had their statistics sent in. However, in
1997, from the statistics sent in 24 DEDALE gliders flew 834 hrs
21 mins. One notices from the above, that the FAUVEL flying wings
are having their fair share of flying.
We are sad to hear that Jean-Francois Dupey, who has attended many of our international Rallies with his fine M.100, is unwell. He is being treated but he will not be flying for a bit. We send him all our best wishes for a speedy recovery. He is President of the Club at Le Bourg
at Paray le Sec.
We have received notification that over the period 5-6-7 June
at Lognes-Emerainville aerodrome,the second SAGEL, (Salon de l'Aviation
Général de Lognes-Emerainville) will take place.
This is mainly of interest to power pilots and will be over by
the time this is printed but it might be remembered in time for
next year's event.
ACHMER / OSNABRUCK OLDTIMERGRUPPE.
OLYMPIA MEISE D-6046. (This had formerly been BGA 2080 belonging to Thoby Fisher). Hermann Hackmann had built this Meise in the 1960s and had last flown it in 1973. After a very considerable major overhaul, he flew it again on 23.05.97. Many club members had helped to return the Meise to a first class structural condition ready for a "super finish" by Eric Ocker. By so doing, Harald Kaemper had fulfilled his promise of five years ago to Hermann Hackmann that he would try to get his Meise back for him, so that it would become part of the Oldtimer Segelfluggruppe Achmer.
THE KRANICH 2 D-6041. On the 23rd May 1997, they fetched from Sascher Hauser in Bielefeld both wings, the rib templates (jigs?), and the plans, and brought them to our workshop at Atter. Sascher had achieved beautiful work but unfortunately he could not finish it. Erwin Hehe brought over both wings before the leading edge plywood had been removed from them. These wings had once been from the Mraz built Kranich 2 in England BGA 1258, which somehow had lost its fuselage.
Between June and September, Hermann Hackmann built all the ribs, the airbrakes, the airbrake box, and both diagonal auxiliary spars.
In a two day operation on 24th/25th October 1997, the fuselage, which was once that of the Swedish 1943 Kranich 2, BGA 1092 in England, was brought over from Markus Lemmer in South Germany. For this expedition, the Condor 4 trailer was used and by Saturday midday, it was back before our workshop at Atter. Those taking part in this "action" were Stefan Krahn, Harald Kaemper, Stefan Neubauer and Ralph Hasselmann. Unfortunately, Markus Lemmer had not been able to finish the fuselage and there was still very, very much work to do. Since October, Stefan Krahn has been working every Thursday and Friday without pause on the Kranich 2. He has been supported by club members during evenings. Hermann Hackmann has been rebuilding the ailerons in his workshop. On the 14th of November 1997, the Kranich 2 was rigged for the first time, in its un-fabric-covered state, so that fittings could be rivetted and screwed in place in the wings. There were bad problems with the plans that had been enlarged from microfilm and lacked definition.
Luckily, Jochen Kruse, from Uetersen, gave us original views and exploded drawings, which he had obtained in the former East Germany. He also gave us a complete set of drawings, albeit in Polish, that have been of great help. We thank Jochen for this. He and Otto Ernst Hatje (who built the replica DFS 230 which is now in the Luftwaffen Museum Berlin/Gatow) are working regularly on the Hannover VAMPYR, which is to be for static exhibition in the Wasserkuppe German Gliding museum. Our late, very-much-missed, Norwegian Member Bjarne Reier, had already started building this Vampyr when he was struck down by a heart attack. As the original very historic Hannover Vampyr is displayed in the German Museum Munich, it was felt that the German Gliding Museum on the Wasserkuppe should also have an example of this very historic 1921 glider. A search was being made for leather footballs, which were the Vampyr's undercarriage. There are just three? sheets of Vampyr drawing plans. C.Wills has them also. No information is yet available as to when the Achmer Kranich 2 will be finished.
L0-100 ..A second one.
In the "Aerokurier " of June 1997, was seen in the For Sale section:-
"Individual parts finished for Lo-100 , will sell for 10,000 DM."
A group consisting of Harald Kämper, Robert Kuhn , Ulf Ewert and lastly, Hermann Hackmann, decided to answer the advertisment. They visited Herr Kumor at home and found that the parts were beautifully made. The reason for selling them was that Herr Kumor and his comrades were unable to build the wing spar. It was decided to buy the parts and Hermann Hackmann has said that he could build the spar. It should now be said that Hermann Hackmann has already built a new Lo-100, which is being flown by club members. The new set of parts are now in Hermann's workshop. There is now the idea to form an aerobatic team with the two Lo-100s. There have been three aerobatic teams in Germany flying Lo-100s. The Bavarian team, the Franken team and the "Zwergreiher" team.("Zwergreiher" ie "Dwarf Heron" is the name of the Lo-100). The Bavarian and "Zwergreiher" Teams are no longer in existence, and so the Franken Team is now the only Lo-100 aerobatic team in Germany.
The GRUNAU BABY 2B formerly D-8536. Harald Kaemper and Birk Meier still own this Baby which has the Werk Nr.02. Members of the LSV Wittlage Club, would very much like to own, restore and eventually fly this Grunau Baby. However, Harald and Birk have prepared a written agreement which must be signed by the Chairman of the LSV Wittlage that the Baby should remain within the VGC. Should this agreement not be signed, the Grunau Baby will continue to remain stored on the ground.
The GRUNAU BABY 3. It is perhaps not known to every club member but this Grunau Baby was also built by Hermann Hackmann and it became known as the "Bramscher Baby". This "Baby" was brought back to Achmer from England as part of the "Aktion Olympia Meise". Peter Underwood, its owner, kindly donated it to us. Under the leadership of Oswald Dickau, very good progress is being made with its restoration. Many male and female club members are working together. The jig from the HVFL has been of great help to them. If the work continues to be of such high quality, there is every intention of finishing the Baby in transparent dope and varnish. This Baby 3 was built under the leadership of Hermann Hackmann in 1952/3 for the Bramscher Gliding Groupe. It was brought back from England in 1994. All the above restoration projects are being carried out by young Germans who are being capably led. As most of the other glider restoration work that we have heard of in Germany is being done by the "older brigade", this is a very healthy sign.
We hope that it is not being done to the detriment of their flying and that they will be rewarded when the time comes to fly their projects.
The following are the 1997 statistics for the Achmer Oldtimer Gruppe.
Type Winch Launches. Aerotows. No.Starts. Time . Average time. .
GB 2B D-5221 29 3 32 9 hrs 31m 17.8 mins Condor 1V.D-6043 48 9 57 11 hrs 29m 12.1 mins.
Kranich 3, D-6044 37 2 39 8 hrs 56 m. 13.7 mins.
Olympia Meise D-6046. 18 1 19 3 hrs 21 m. 0.6 mins.
The above information has been translated and abreviated by C.Wills
from the 1997 Osnabrucker Verein fur Luftfahrt E.V. annual magazine.
This organization was founded in 1907.
ROLAND PöHLMANN has sent us the news of two vintage gliders in his home area. At the Flugsport Vereinigung Erlangen is the Mü 13E Bergfalke D-1048, which was built by Scheibe in 1952. It was used for many years by the above club, which was based on the US Army airfield of Erlangen at first, and later at the Hatzleser Berg flying site. It carries the name "Werner von Siemens". Siemens is the biggest employer in Erlangen and the Bergfalke was sponsored by that firm.
Being withdrawn from use in 1982, after more than 7,000 launches and 1,400 hours flying time, it was kept by the Erlangen Glider Club in a trailer. Finally, it was given to the Bamberg Aero Club, which also has a Grunau Baby 2B, D-1141. This was overhauled by the Eichelsberger firm and it is now used for displays.
(CW finds the photo of D-1048 interesting, as it reveals that it was one of the first Mü 13Es built which had Main Wing Spar Bridges built in to their fuselages. As these failed in the fuselage, the LBA required the spar bridges to be covered with clear varnish so that they could be inspected before each flight. As this still did not prevent accidents, the LBA required all Mü 13Es with spar bridges to have their wings clipped to reduce their spans. Only with clipped wingtips, would this type of Mü 13E be still allowed to fly. In Britain, the BGA required these aircraft to have the VNE lowered on the placards adhered in their cockpits.
D-1048 is clearly a clipped winged Mü 13E and it is sad that it is no longer flown.
Late news from the OSC WASSERKUPPE is that Sepp Kurz, and others,
are making "phenominal" progress on the new REIHER 3.
From Roland Pöhlmann, Hutweide 3, 91054 Buckenhof, Germany.
Tel:- 091 31/5 94 29.)
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Irish Vintage Gliding Group
Date 20-3-98
Location The Manor Public Bar and Select Lounge
Main St, Naas, Co Kildare, Eire.
Present Michael O'Reilly President IVGG With special responsibility for International Affairs and the Arts.
John Finnan "
J J Sullivan "
Tom Daly "
Philip Bedford "
Peter Denman "
Seamus Cashin "
John Beirne " Military Attache
Ciaran Sinclair "
Dave Mongey " With special responsability for membership and treasury affairs- the only man with a job!
Brian Douglas "
Ian Dunkley International Observer and Referee VGC
Apologies Nick Short President IVGG
Preamble
The AGM of the Irish Vintage Gliding Group took place during the Annual Dinner - between the main course and desert, to be precise. The meeting ran for 12 minutes (including a 10 minute over-run).
The AGM was called to order at 21.40 exactly by Michael O'Reilly (President IVGG)
1 Minutes
None available as none were taken by the (then, as now) non-existent
Secretary; however, the hypothetical minutes of the previous AGM
were proposed, seconded and accepted as a true and accurate record
of what might have happened.
2 Matters arising
None
3 Officers' reports
a) Chairman's address No Chairman, therefore no address. However, a polite round of applause was delivered on foot of the non-existent but otherwise excellent Chairman's address.
b) Membership Secretary' address. Dave (the only man with a job) Mongey requested immediate and forewith payment of all due VGC subscriptions. A deep sense of astonishment and dismay followed this announcement, closely ensued by an immediate and widespread deep reflection on the forthcoming EU silage effluent management proposals as outlined in the well known agricultural specification (proposed) EU/ag/sil_man/000z98. Unable to come to a definitive conclusion on this weighty matter, Dave finally got his money.
c) No more officers.
4 Election of Officers
As the post of member with special reponsibity for membership
and treasury affairs has been filled with such efficiency, grace,
and fervour by the previous incumbent, Dave (theonly man with
a job) Mongey was unanimously re-elected (in spite of his well
known and normally well-oiled lightning reflexes) to the post
to a prolonged, general and grateful applause.
5 Any other Business
The Split
In line with long standing tradition, the split was the first order of business. The subject of the long standing rivalry between the two organisations (Irish Vintage Gliding Group and the Vintage Gliding Group of Ireland) reared its unseemly head. Only the dignified presence of our esteemed International Observer and Referee defused a potentially nasty situation. The matter was deferred pending a psychological evaluation of all parties involved.
International Observer's Observations.
Observations were generously and graciously observed and received
with general heart-warming and tumultuous applause.
Meritorious flights
The meeting congratulated John Finnan on his epic flight to 12000ft
in the Mucha EI-100 at Inch, Co Kerry.
6 Meeting Ends
We thank John Finnan for sending us this report, which is a
model of AGM procedures and is the perfect antidote to such meetings.
It was written by A.N.Anoymous (President IVGG) Ed.
Concerning the Zogling 35. This was built in Sweden during the
period 1935-1937. For the last 50 years it has been "asleep"
in the hangar roof of the Jönköping Aero Club in South
Sweden. Seven gentlemen of between 60 and 80 years of age have
restored it to an as new condition. Rolf Algotson obtained the
glider on behalf of the Chairman of the Swedish Gliding Museum
at Alleberg. (Rolf is a member of the Board of the Museum.) The
whole life history of this glider can be provided. This, as new,
glider is being flown again. (C.W. was unaware that there were
at least three versions of the Zogling with many differences between
them.)
OSV Oltimer Segelflug Vereinigung Switzerland
- E_Mail address is 'kstapfer.vgc@bluewin.ch'
- the ninth Swiss meeting is at Langenthal Airfield 5 to 7 June 98 sorry if my English is not correct.
Greetings from Kurt Stapfer Vice President OSV
Raul Blacksten has sent us a calender of events for 1998 in the USA. Some of them will have taken place by the time this issue is printed but just to show the number of rallies taking place they are listed below:-
USA Memorial Day Weekend, 23 to 25 May 1998
Vintage Sailplane Association Eastern Regatta. This 24th Annual
VSA Eastern Regatta will be hosted once again by Jim Stoia at
Manning, South Carolina. For information, contact Jim Stoia, Rt
4 Box 685, Manning, SC 29102 USA, his phone is: 803-478-4764,
and his fax: 803-478-4760. OFFICIAL NOTICE: Vintage Sailplane
Association Annual Business and Membership Meeting will be held
on the 24th of May at the Eastern Regatta, at Manning, SC. For
information, contact VSA President Robert Gaines at: 308 Chase
Lane, Marietta, GA 30068 USA.
USA Memorial Day Weekend, 22 to 25 May 1998
Vintage Sailplane Association Western Regatta. This 11th Annual
Western Regatta will be held once again at the Skylark North Gliderport,
located at Central California's Mountain Valley Airport, in Tehachapi.
They are promising aerotows by the FBO, early morning auto tows
before the FBO opens for business, and maybe even more auto tows
in the evening after the FBO closes for the day. There will be
an awards banquet on Sunday night. A camping area is provided
and RV hook-ups are available on the airport property at a reasonable
rate. Motels are available within 2 miles of the airport. Food,
3 meals a day, is available at the Raven's Nest Sandwich Shop,
located in the FBO office complex, as well as restaurants and
fast food in town. For information, contact Wayne Spani, 25672
Chrisanta Drive, Mission Viejo, CA 92691 USA. Or by email, contact
Jeff Byard at <jbyard@thegrid.net>.
USA 25 to 28 June 1998.
Vintage Sailplane Association Midwest Regatta. This 2nd Annual Regatta in the Midwest will be held at Lawrenceville/Vincennes Airport, Lawrenceville, Illinois. Hosted by Wabash Valley Soaring Assoc. Contact Dave Schuur (309)246-3328 or Bud Brown (618)943-2076. For more information, you can contact David Schuur via email at <dschuur@mail.isbe.accessus.net>.
USA 16 to 18 July 1998
Motorglider and Self-launch Sailplane Symposium will be held in
conjunction with the SHA Eastern Workshop at the National Soaring
Museum on Harris Hill, in Elmira, New York. For information, contact
the NSM at: 51 Soaring Hill Drive, Elmira, New York 14903 USA,
or via email at: <nsm@soaringmuseum.org>. Another contact
is Jeff Snyder at 3612 Hamilton St., Hyattsville, MD 20782, or
by phone at: 301-779-7984.
USA Labor Day Weekend, 5 to 7 September 1998
Sailplane Homebuilders' Western Workshop. Many vintage glider
folk bring their gliders to this event and have even been known
to provide rides in the 2-place ships. An auction is held on Saturday
night and a formal banquet on Sunday night. As usual, it will
be held at the Skylark North Gliderport, located at Central California's
Mountain Valley Airport, in Tehachapi. A camping area is provided
and RV hook-ups are available on the airport at a reasonable rate.
Motels are located within 2 miles. Three meals a day are available
at the Raven's Nest Sandwich Shop, located in the FBO, while restaurants
and fast food joints are located in town. For information, contact
Bruce Carmichael, 34795 Camino Capistrano, Capistrano Beach, CA
92624 USA. By email, contact: Dan Armstrong at: <danarmstro@aol.com>.
USA 3 October 1998
The El Mirage Soaring Reunion is set for Saturday, the 3rd of
October 1998. Contact Patrick Panzera at <panzera@cnetech.com>.
For more info see: <http://www.angelfire.com/ca/ElMirage/index.html>.
USA April 2000
60th Anniversary Arvin-Sierra Glider Meet. This commemorative
meet is planned to be held at the historic Arvin-Sierra Glider
Port, in Central California's San Joaquin Valley. For information,
contact Raul Blacksten at PO Box 307, Maywood, CA 90270 USA, or
Janice Armstrong at <danarmstro@aol.com>.
USA July 2000
International Vintage Sailplane Meet (IVSM 2000) at Harris Hill,
Elmira, New York, USA. This will be the 2nd International vintage
glider gathering in the USA (the 1st being in 1995). For information,
contact the National Soaring Museum, Harris Hill, 51 Soaring Hill
Drive, Elmira, New York 14903 USA, or via email at: <nsm@soaringmuseum.org>.
1998 VINTAGE GLIDER ACTIVITY.
The Vintage/Classic Vintage Sailplane Regatta is to take place at the WABASH VALLEY SOARING ASSOCIATION, LAWRENCEVILLE,IL, from the 25th -28 th June as listed above.
When they built their hangar 80 ft by 120 ft, they thought that they would have enough room for their sailplanes and workshop projects. However, during the last two years, so many sailplanes have arrived that there is no room left at all to restore or build vintage gliders. However, luck came upon us in the person of Howard Petri, who retired early and rented a hangar on the airfield for his cream-puff Cessna 170. By chance, it had enough room for work to be done on vintage sailplanes. About that time, he located a Dutch "SAGITTA" languishing in Tennessee. We went to Tennessee and bought it, together with a Schweizer 1-26, which was standing beside it, and which had not been flown for eight years. Both are now well on with their restorations. To make things still better, Dave Schuur was able to acquire Philip Wills's SKYLARK 3 that was made famous in his books. It was not in good shape, but it is definitely restorable. There were many adventures concerning the rescue of these gliders.
At our 1997 VSA Meeting here, Les Tyrell of Champagne IL, told us that he had the prototype Mü 13E BERGFALKE that he would like to restore. However, he had nowhere to work on it, and lacked experience to carry out the work. At about that time, WVSA decided to build a workshop in order to faciliate the work needed to be done on club equipment. We now have four vintage sailplanes in the process of being restored and we are thinking of building a new MOSWEY 3 from plans which Howard Petri has.
Come visit us in June, we're going to have a seminar or two, one on fabric-work and possibly one on wood-work. Bring modern and old ships as we have pilots with assorted glass ships on the airfield, who would like to try tasks with you. We have two tow-planes, a 150 hp Super Cub and a 235 Pawnee. The Cub will fly slow enough for the slowest of the old ships. Lee Cowie keeps his Slingsby T.31 here and gives rides every day that he flies. Aerotows to 2,000 ft cost $20. Evening Cookouts or meals in restaurants for groups or individuals.
See you in June. Bud Brown. In case you have questions, please
telephone:-(618)-943-2076.or Dave Schuur:- (309) 246-3328.
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Neville Wilson from the Derby & Lancs Club paid another visit to the Midland G.C. at Gweru last year after a ten year break and reports that the club celebrated their 40th Anniversary on January 31st 1998. They operate from part of what was formerly the Moffat RAF Station, a navigational training school during the 1939-45 war. Little remains of the RAF's occupation of the site apart from some areas of concrete paving that once were the hangar floors, a brick structure that was the target end of the rifle range and the old control tower which is now put to good use with the clubroom and bar upstairs and a workshop at ground level. Their President and former CFI, Harvey Quail, also acts as secretary, treasurer, glider repairer, bar manager etc, and as a former Met officer, he is well qualified to forecast the good soaring days.
The club is still very active, flying mainly at weekends and their fleet comprises a Blanik, Ka7, Goevier 2, Dart and Swallow. Restoration of a long neglected Grunau Baby which they acquired a couple of years ago is nearing completion and is expected to fly at Easter. All launching is by two-drum winch using wire which is more suitable than stranded cable for the somewhat abrasive ground condition. With the weakness of the Zimbabwe dollar the sterling equivalents of the launch and flying rates are at a level not enjoyed in the UK for many years-and at the end of the day the same factor applies to the price of beer in the lively clubhouse.
Although it was only a short stay Neville was able to have three launches in the Blanik and seven in the Swallow in not very good conditions, for all of which the sterling eqivalent was under £10.00! In the summer they enjoy great soaring weather with thermals off the launch building up to 5m/s, Silver distance out and return at 7000ft and no airspace restrictions except when the Zimbabwean Air Force is flying from their airfield at the other side of the town- and that does not happen often at weekends.
There are moves to reactivate the club at Bulawayo which has been dormant for twelve years or more. Further North, there is a flying club starting up at Jinja in Uganda where there are plans to include a couple of gliders as well as the power planes. Perhaps we may look forward to an African safari from Cairo to Capetown by glider!
Mike O'Donnel also wrote from Zimbabwe saying " I am sure there are quite a few vintage gliders "down south". Apart from the Goevier, I know of a Swallow, a T31, a Kranich and a Fauvel (not airworthy) in Jo'burg and Tony Morris has told me of a Jaskolka somewhere in Natal. There must be many others scattered around.
As for the T21s, the story is that there are three of them, all owned by Peter Graves, who has recently returned to Zimbabwe after flying for QANTAS for some years. Peter's intention is to start a commercial gliding business based at the Hwange National park.
Hwange, situated in the west of the country and south of the Victoria Falls, is one of the largest game parks in Africa and very popular. Peter has obtained permission to make use of the air strip there and he intends to offer joy rides to the tourists. "Enjoy the thrill of flying open cockpit with possibly the extra thrill of looking down on herds of elephants or buffalo" sort of thing.
So far, Peter has refurbished one of his T21s and it is quite immaculate. He is quite a meticulous craftsman and I could not imagine a T21 looking any better than this one does. I have taken a couple of photos of it and will send you copies some time.
Peter had wanted to set up his business at Vic Falls but the air traffic over that part of the world is getting rather crowded. There are always several light aircraft loaded with tourists buzzing around and you can also pay to look down on the Falls from a microlite. They are even doing bungy jumping from the Vic Falls bridge that links Zimbabwe with Zambia.
This time last year everyone was making dark predictions about El Nino and promising us severe droughts in Southern Africa. In fact, this last rainy season has been better than most and certainly has gone on longer. El Nonsense! Great for farmers, of course, but not good for glider pilots. I can't remember when I last had a good flight. Not good for fabricing and doping either in an open carport like mine, so work on the Tutor has slowed a little of late. I am still looking to have her flying by about July/August though.
I was interested to see in the latest issue of the VGC news the comments by the Chairman about using hang glider type audio variometers. I had also been thinking about these things and had not realised that they were already being used in vintage gliders. I thought I might look around for one when I come over to the UK later in the year. Can you tell me what they cost, is there quite a variety on the market to choose from, is one better than another? Perhaps an article on hang glider varios in the News would be appreciated by the members? (An article on modern, miniature instrumentation would certainly be of interest, if there is anyone able to write one, but the varios I have seen are usually worn or kept in the pocket rather than being mounted on the instrument panel Ed)
( C.W. asks " Does he know of the Hütter H.28 -2
that was in Zimbabwe? Is the Kranich-2 at Jo'berg the one that
was broken up at an air display, or is it a Kranich- 3? This Kranich-
2 once broke the world's two-seater out & return record in
Namibia. There should also be a Spalinger, a Kite 1 and a Göppingen
1 Wolf somewhere in Southern Africa.")
