A French National Gliding Centre used to be at Montaigne Noire, conveniently situated to the East of Toulouse, which may have helped to encourage thoughts about wings and air-mindedness generally, in the 1950s.
(I recall my wings sometimes creaking a little, on meeting up with a Thermal, or whatever, when gliding there, then !)
The Hermes aircraft always flew tail low. Our Chief Pilot tried to see if " inching down " a small amount of flap, whilst cruising could make a difference. He had a marked glass of water, acting as a spirit level. I don't think that it did, so far as I recall. But worth trying, anyway.
We had had the Air League of the British Empire, rather earlier.
( Other Gliding Centres were active at Troyes and at St. Auban sur Durance in Bas Alpes.)
Last edited by Linktrained; 16th Sep 2014 at 17:44.