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8th Kirby Kite Rally 2-4th MAY 1998.
HADDENHAM BACK TO NORMAL (Brilliant Weather!)
This is traditionally the first Rally of the season for British VGC members and their gliders and is organized by members of the Upward Bound Trust which was formed by members of the wartime troop carrying Glider Pilots Regiment to give young people gliding training.In fact, it is the cheapest civilian gliding operation in the country. They depend on winch launching and they have recently replaced their venerable T.21b s with two Ka-13s after receiving a grant from the lottery. This is a very popular Rally for VGC members as, apart from the very good atmosphere and the possibility of meeting former members of the Airborne Glider Pilots Regiment, winch launches are free, although financial donations are gladly received.
This first VGC Rally for 1998 was attended by no less than 16 vintage gliders and their owners. These, together with five more gliders permanently based at Haddenham, made the site a very busy place during the weekend.
VGC Gliders Entered Were:-
| Ka-2b BGA 4336 (D-6173. ) Booker syndicate.. Robin Wilgoss,Malcombe Wilton Jones, Nicky etc. |
| Ka-2b BGA 3147 Peter and Jill Harmer. |
| Hutter H.17a BGA 490. Nick Newton. |
| SG.38 (EoN ETON) BGA 3214 Geoff Moore. |
| Slingsby SWALLOW BGA 3823, Ray Whittaker. |
| Slingsby T.31 BGA 3229 Ian smith. |
| Slingsby CADET . BGA731. Richard Moyse. |
| GRUNAU BABY 2b BGA 578. Robin Hood. |
| GRUNAU BABY 2B BGA 2433. Lawrence Woodage. |
| Slingsby PETREL BGA 651. Graham Saw. |
| KRAJANEK BGA 655. Mike Birch. |
| Slingsby KITE 1 BGA 400. Peter Underwood. |
| Slingsby KITE 1 BGA 251 Bob Boyd. |
| SCUD 3 BGA 684. Ted Hull. |
| Slingsby T.21b BGA 2351 Mike Powell. |
| Mu 13D-3 BGA 2267-Geoff Moore. |
Based at Haddenham permanently and taking part in the rally were :-
| Scheibe SPATZ BGA 2276. (D-1265) Vernon Jennings.. |
| Ka-13 BGA 2944 Upward bound Trust. |
| Ka-13 BGA 4421- Upward Bound Trust. |
| Ka-8 BGA 3863. Upward Bound Trust. |
| T.21b BGA Syndicate owned at the Upward Bound Trust. |
Every year, except for last year, we have had good weather for our Rally at Haddenham. Last year, whereas, we had had good weather before and after our rally, the weather was bad during the weekend. This year, it was the opposite as the preceeding week had had awful weather but the weather during the weekend became good. On the Saturday, the weather cleared at mid day, to give good thermals but a strong wind across the runway. Winch launches were up to 1200 ft depending on the glider.
On Sunday, the wind was still strong and across the runway, but lift was good.
On Monday, the wind dropped, and fine soaring flights of up to 2 1/2 hours were had by some of our gliders. During the weekend, the Booker Ka-2b flew for between 6 and 7 hours. It was again evident how popular this little 2 seater is.The SG.38 was winch launched successfully on two, if not three, of the days.
This year, a special guest was Heinz Butschkau, who had flown DFS 230s and Gotha 242s everywhere on the Eastern Front. He had not only experienced double tows* but also, the short rigid bar tows, which gave him no trouble. Other pilots did have some trouble with them. It seems that the secret was to never use the rudder, especially during take off. It was clear that he loved his Gotha 242 and both it, and the DFS 230, were light to fly, which is more than can be said of the Horsa. He is building a 1/25th scale model of one at home down to the minutest detail. He has also built one of the DFS 230. It was the first time, as far as we know , that British military glider pilots had had the chance to meet a German military glider pilot.. We gather that the meeting was a success.
* The double tows consisted of the towplane (an HE 111Z ?) towing a Gotha 242 with a 2 cms diameter steel cable. From the Gotha's rear cable hook, which was normally used for the brake parachute, another 2 cms diameter steel cable was towing the second Gotha 242, so that the towed Gothas were exactly in line behind their tow plane. Everything went fine until the first cable broke, which could happen in the event of a snatch due to the cable becoming slack, and then both Gothas would have to outland, having avoided each other ! We hope that Heinz enjoyed the occasion. His second launch in a KA-13 was followed by three loops, a beat up and a stall turn before the landing. Heinz is almost 78, but he said that, should he live to be 100, he will never forget that flight. We hope that he will come again.
We thank the Upward Bound Trust for laying on such a weekend and we hope that they will have us back next year. This was supposed to be the Kirby Kite 1 Rally, but only two Kite 1s, out of the 5 that are airworthy, were present. This was the type that was used to train the nucleus of the Glider Pilots Regiment at Haddenham in 1941. We discovered that Haddenham had later become one of the training schools for ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) pilots as well. We thank Peter Chamberlain for once again organising an excellent event. C.W.
(In our next issue we will feature the history of Haddenham
Airfield, written by Peter Chamberlain.)
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ELLIOTTS of NEWBURY RALLY. Lasham. May 9th - 10th.
We had hoped that after the coldest and wettest April in living memory, we would be granted a beautiful May. This did not quite happen at Lasham. On the Saturday, the wind blew from the South West and, on the Sunday, it blew from the South East after rain in the very early morning, which perhaps signalled the passing of a front. Both these wind directions can bring really good thermals but this time, the "proper" Lasham thermals did not arrive.
Gliders participating were :-
| CONDOR 4, BGA 2292 (formerly D-8538.) Mike Birch. |
| EoN OLYMPIA BGA 2279 - Al.and Chrissie Thompson. |
| Slingsby PETREL BGA 651. Graham Saw. |
| JS WEIHE BGA 1093. Mark Wills and Keith Green. |
| EoN OLYMPIA 463 . BGA 1373. Ian Smith. |
| Slingsby T.21b BGA 3326 (WB 971), Mike Powell. |
| Mg 19a BGA 2903 Chris Wills. |
| GRUNAU BABY 2B BGA 578. Robin Hood. |
| Slingsby KITE 2 BGA 663 ,Bill Tonkyn and Ralph Hooper. |
| Slingsby SKY BGA 685. Richard Moyse. |
| Ka-2B BGA 3147. Peter and Jill Harmer. |
| Ka-2b BGA 4336. Booker syndicate. |
We were very glad to see the EoN Olympia 463 of Ian Smith and Robin Hood flying again. It has just come through the traumatic corroded main wing spar repair and associated modifications. At least this one will live... airworthy. There are othe examples of this very good sailplane which have not been so lucky. The EoN 465 at Lasham will take much longer to repair.
Saturday started with launches in a 60 degree cross wind, but by mid-afternoon the wind had gone round to a more westerly direction and one or two people managed to contact the weak lift. Mark Wills, in the Weihe, stayed up for an hour and this was probably the longest flight of the weekend. There was a strong wind to carry struggling gliders downwind, but none of them landed out. A barbeque was enjoyed in the evening.
On SUNDAY, after the 180 degrees wind swing during the night, a strong breeze dried out those gliders which had been left out during the night. On this day, and perhaps because of the strong wind, thermals were even harder to locate. One of those to stay up (for an hour ?) was Ian Smith in his EoN 463. We think that the strong winds on both days broke up the thermals, making them almost impossible to stay in. It was a good day to try out other people's gliders and for some to experience new types.
The Lasham winch launches were among the highest and best that we have ever seen and the quiet, happy, efficient, operation of the launch point was very impressive.
In all, Lasham made us very welcome and we were happy to have
been there. We thank Ray Whittaker for organizing the Rally and
hope that we can come back again. C.W.