Originally Posted by
sycamore
I wenton an ATC gliding course at RAF Newton in Jan or Feb`59..as expected it blew,rained,occasional snow flurries,and was `effing cold`..Nobody was `soloed`,
My brother went to Hawkinge in December '61 for a one week course; not surprisingly he didn't solo either and neither did any of the course then the airfield closed at the end of '61 and the gliding centre moved to Swanton Morley.
As we were only 10 miles from Halton, he soloed a few months later but you have to wonder was it 'productive' to send cadets away at that time of year?
Approaching my 16th birthday, I asked my CO for a gliding course as soon as I was old enough and got one commencing just after my 16th, soloing in about 5 weekends and attending both sat and sun.