Slingsby T21b WB935

[SlingsbyWB935]

Hello,
In 1994 we bought a Slingsby T21B in the South East of England. We kept our WB935 airworthy until today. and it is still flying at the Hahnweide airfield near Stuttgart, south of Germany. I am very interested in the history of gliding at the ATC. Concerning our T21 WB935 we only know it was build in 1948 and was operated at the RAF airfield Seyerston and RAF airfield St Athan. If anyone in this forum know more details about the history of our barge it would be great to get information and perhaps also old pictures from you. Thank you for your ear.

[condor17]

You may have this link already ?

Demobbed - Out of Service British Military Aircraft

rgds condor .

[Thatsthewaytodoit]

I have WB935 in my logbook in March and May 1964, this was at RAF Spitalgate on 644GS although the aircraft may have belonged to No 1 Gliding Centre which I think has moved their for a time.

I assume that you have seen this thread: Air Cadet Gliding pix in the 80s (pre glass) - PPRuNe Forums

Keep safe

TTWTDI

[SlingsbyWB935]

Thanks for the information. Yes i know the thread "Air Cadet Gliding..."

Merry Christmas
Martin

[SlingsbyWB935]

Yes, I have, thank you.

Regards,
Martin

[SlingsbyWB935]

Hello,
I found a link with a picture of WB935 at RAF Spitalgate.
The colour scheme ist all over silver with red nose at the fuselage and red stripes at fuselage and wings. I also found colour scheme all over silver with a yellow stripe at the fuselage. Does anyone know the difference? The colour scheme of our WB935 since we got it is black, white and red at the fuselage and silver-grey wings with red tips.

Thanks and regards
Martin

[mikemmb]

Sorry to be pedantic, but I think you have spelt “Seyerston” incorrectly (which could effect your searches) in your first post? I think it should be RAF Syerston which I pass quite often and is still very active as a gliding centre.
I may even have flown in your T21 as I had a number of glider flights at both St Athans & Syerston in the 60’s and 70’s. ...but unfortunately no records to confirm identity.
Good luck with the old girl!

[SlingsbyWB935]

Thanks for the info to the right spelling of RAF Syerston. It is fine to hear that you had a couple of flights in our barge. Do you know, whether the RAF 644 VGS also was established at St. Athan? Or was it another Volunteer Gliding Squadron ?

regards
Martin

[WE992]

I Can not believe that you want to be predantic about the spelling of Syerston and the mention St Athans which should not have the S on the end!

[mikemmb]

Oooops!

I'm standing in the naughty corner.

[Duchess_Driver]

Do you know, whether the RAF 644 VGS also was established at St. Athan? Or was it another Volunteer Gliding Squadron ?

If I am remembering correctly, St Athan was 634VGS and were disbanded in 2016.

644VGS are based at Syerston, as is ACCGS (are they still called that?)

[longer ron]

Originally Posted by SlingsbyWB935

Hello,
I found a link with a picture of WB935 at RAF Spitalgate.
The colour scheme ist all over silver with red nose at the fuselage and red stripes at fuselage and wings. I also found colour scheme all over silver with a yellow stripe at the fuselage. Does anyone know the difference? The colour scheme of our WB935 since we got it is black, white and red at the fuselage and silver-grey wings with red tips.

Thanks and regards
Martin

Hi Martin
644 GS (Gliding School) was based at RAF Spitalgate (Grantham) for many years (1955 - 1975),then moved to RAF Syerston,and renamed 644 VGS in 1979.
The different colour schemes were used depending on decade (year) - the original scheme would have been Silver/Yellow (1950's) - then Silver/Dayglo (red) (1960's) and lastly - Grey/White/Red.
WB935 was my 2nd ever Glider Flight in May 1968 (age 15) when 'Doc' Ward took me up for 20 mins off the winch at RAF Spitalgate,I flew in 935 1 more time in 1969

[Brookmans Park]

The silver with yellow stripes paint scheme was used for most of the 1960s

[longer ron]

Originally Posted by Brookmans Park

The silver with yellow stripes paint scheme was used for most of the 1960s

Hi BP
The dates I put in my post were just approximations for when a particular colour scheme came into use - I thought the Silver/Red scheme was introduced gradually from approx 1965 onwards ??

[longer ron]

Actually - thinking about it - I think the Silver/Red/Dayglo scheme must have started in the early 60's.
I joined the ATC in 1966 and I do not recall seeing a single 'In Service' aircraft still with the Silver/Yellow scheme.
Here is a lovely pic taken by H John Black at Gaydon in 1966,including a link to his Abpic page which has some lovely colour shots from the 1950's onwards.

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/photogr...oved&order=asc

[SlingsbyWB935]

Thank you to all giving informations to me about the different colour schemes .

Wish you a happy new year

regards
Martin

[BrassAPE]

Joining this thread late, but perhaps some extra information not included previously.

I flew in WB935 as an Air Cadet 3 times on 9th Aug 1984 at RAF Sealand (near Chester) - I recall it having the RAF training red and white colour scheme at the time (no photos).

[chevvron]

[QUOTE=longer ron;10957195]Actually - thinking about it - I think the Silver/Red/Dayglo scheme must have started in the early 60's.
I joined the ATC in 1966 and I do not recall seeing a single 'In Service' aircraft still with the Silver/Yellow scheme.
Here is a lovely pic taken by H John Black at Gaydon in 1966,including a link to his Abpic page which has some lovely colour shots from the 1950's onward/QUOTE]
First flight in 1962 at Halton and they were all dayglo/silver then

[SlingsbyWB935]

Thank you very much for your reply. Good to hear that our "Barge" was operated by the 631 VGS at a further RAF base .

Cheers
Martin

[POBJOY]

Colour Schemes & Brab.

The ATC followed the 'Training' finish of the times. When I joined (1960) the gliders were silver with yellow bands, and were plastic self ad 'Dayglo'ed' by MGSP when the RAF went that way. It just so happened that the MGSP used to 'bin' loads of repair junk (inc safety harnesses that went from brown webbing sutton type) to turn box blue as per Chipmunks etc and off cuts of dayglo, and this ended up on the Kenley dump. This spawned a whole range of bumper motives including rather smart 2-3 gull motive as used for the enamel badges that the BGA supplied for your A&B or C Cert in the days when you did three solos and had the BGA badge on your uniform. The Dayglo was a sensible alternative for the yellow as it could not be missed, although the machines looked better with the yellow. When machines later went away for a major they came back with a doped red white finish (awful in my mind). The only good thing was the 'system' stayed the same with 3 solo's and a BGA Cert with a nice little book that you could present to someone and point out the message that requested that the holder of such a book would be grateful for any help that could be available if he had landed away from a normal airfield. I think mine was signed by Lord Brabazon of Tara !!!!. The discarded harness system went in my Beetle long before seat belts were required. The 'Dayglo' was always a plastic film as no dope at that time could give the same awareness factor of Dayglo.