Originally Posted by
The B Word
<snip>
PS. Cats Five - I am not convinced by any of your nay-saying points over buying new gliders. Granted, you can't just buy them off of the shelf, but given a 2-3 year run as Cpl Clott suggests then I see no reason it can't be done save for cost (although it would probably be cheaper in the long run!). Business is business, and if you remunerate anyone the right amount then it can be done...
It would take a lot more than 2-3 years if you wanted to buy K21s. Schleicher have a full order book and no desire for a temporary expansion to fulfil one order, even though it would be a big one. The alternatives are the Polish PW6 or Perkoz, maybe one of them would be interested in building 70+ gliders.