Sir George Cayley Replica Glider

[Stationair8]

Anyone have any details or you-tube footage of the 1974 replica flight by Derek Piggott in the replica of George Cayley's glider.

It was part of Anglia TV Ltd, series called "On The Wing" and then rereleased about 10 years later for an Imax Film.

[Sir George Cayley]

I remember the first flight in 1853 and the reaction of it's pilot!

Derek Piggott is still around, would it be worth asking him?

Sir George Cayley

[aviate1138]

I hope Derek's enthusiasm for flying keeps him going for many more years. Always great craic to fly with Derek!

[Wunper]

Stationair8

The Machine was built by Southdown Aeroservices Lasham UK in 1973. Initially test hopped at Lasham by DP behind Ken Fripps' Volvo http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d107/wunper/scan0013.jpg

It was then taken to Holme on Spalding moor for more testing and filming By Anglia TV. prolonged auto tows along the Runway I posted a pic of it here a couple of yrs ago

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/318291-airfields-east-york-2.html#post4033607

Then it was flown and filmed at Brompton Dale over the road from Sir George's residence Brompton Hall (If you look behind the tail feathers next to the hedge you will see a fair haired youth with hands on knees - that was me )

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d107/wunper/scan0014.jpg

The Anglia film was a one-off documentary called "A magnificent man and his flying machines" and was screened in across the ITV network in August 1975

The machine then did the rounds at a few museums including the Science museum London, the RAF museum Hendon.

It was re-furbished to flying condition in 1984 for the I-Max film "On the Wing" that was produced by the Smithsonian Institution. For this filming it was assembled and flown in the grounds of Goodwood House in Sussex courtesy of the late Duke of Richmond. This picture shows clearly that with the right sort of launch the machine was well capable of leaving the ground and proof positive of the courage of Derek Piggott!
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d107/wunper/scan0012.jpg

Article written about the project by my father in Flight magazine here
1973 | 2999 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1973/1973%20-%202999.html)

It resides at The Yorkshire Air museum Elvington now I understand.

I hope that helps - both the films were before the era of Youtube maybe they will find their way on there sometime?

Wunper

[DominicO]

Stationair8
I popped into the RAF museum at Hendon about 3 years ago. Somewhere I watched the entire Anglia TV program on George Caleys early glider experiments. It was running on a DVD player but the source material had been copied from VHS so wasn't that good. No matter it was absolutely brilliant! As a pretty crap pilot myself but with a bit more knowledge in my head I found myself absolutely mesmerised by this forgotten gem of a film. Shortly after I spent an unsuccessful evening searching the net to watch it again. Good luck on your search. Do let me know if you get lucky.
Dominic