Ring any bells with anyone?
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Ring any bells with anyone?
Clearing out my bedside table (of all things) this morning, I found my old ATC Record of Service, RAF Form 3822 (Revised 1969). It's got my original 'Glider Flying Log', including the flights during which the ATC was kind enough to send me solo.
I can I guess track down the aircraft I flew, if I want to, but I was wondering whether anyone else has any memories of them or of the poor Instructors who had to teach me the rudiments of flight:
My first ever glider flights were in Slingsby T21 WB939 at Linton-on-Ouse. The P1 name I recorded as 'Brown' and I recall him as being relatively young. This was in April 1974 at which point I had attained the grand old age of 15.
I was sent on my week's course, to be trained to fly my three solo circuits, in August 1974 at Spitalgate. There I was trained on the Slingsby T31 and the only record I kept of its registration was '799'. I recall that the letters were XY799 but memory may be playing games with me on that. The instructor, poor sod, was F/L Johnson. I recall that he was extremely monosyllabic - has may not have been a terribly fulfilling job - and the only thing which seemed to interest him in the whole week was finding mushrooms on the airfield. They sent me solo on the Wednesday with three solos of 3, 2 and 3 minutes each, and after that all I got was a single 4 minute as P2 to F/L Beeston, of whom I have no recollection at all, in T31 ??794.
But what a wonderful experience to have soloed in a wire braced, fabric covered aircraft with its wing mounted above the open cockpit, and about 4 instruments as I recall. Quite a thought given that I now fly a diesel turbo DA40 made from carbon fibre with two G430's...
I can I guess track down the aircraft I flew, if I want to, but I was wondering whether anyone else has any memories of them or of the poor Instructors who had to teach me the rudiments of flight:
My first ever glider flights were in Slingsby T21 WB939 at Linton-on-Ouse. The P1 name I recorded as 'Brown' and I recall him as being relatively young. This was in April 1974 at which point I had attained the grand old age of 15.
I was sent on my week's course, to be trained to fly my three solo circuits, in August 1974 at Spitalgate. There I was trained on the Slingsby T31 and the only record I kept of its registration was '799'. I recall that the letters were XY799 but memory may be playing games with me on that. The instructor, poor sod, was F/L Johnson. I recall that he was extremely monosyllabic - has may not have been a terribly fulfilling job - and the only thing which seemed to interest him in the whole week was finding mushrooms on the airfield. They sent me solo on the Wednesday with three solos of 3, 2 and 3 minutes each, and after that all I got was a single 4 minute as P2 to F/L Beeston, of whom I have no recollection at all, in T31 ??794.
But what a wonderful experience to have soloed in a wire braced, fabric covered aircraft with its wing mounted above the open cockpit, and about 4 instruments as I recall. Quite a thought given that I now fly a diesel turbo DA40 made from carbon fibre with two G430's...
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Guessing at the RAF reg's, your gliders are probably these?
XE799? Now at the Boulton Paul Museum, Wolverhampton.
and XE794? Like mine is now motorised and is registered as EI-CJJ, I can't find a picture of it so here's one of my T31m to give you an idea.
SS
XE799? Now at the Boulton Paul Museum, Wolverhampton.
and XE794? Like mine is now motorised and is registered as EI-CJJ, I can't find a picture of it so here's one of my T31m to give you an idea.
SS
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Wow! I think a trip to Wolverhampton is called for, with my now somewaht abraded RAF Form 3822 (Revised 1969) in my hand.
That's a very interesting Museum - wasn't aware of it. Anyone else interested the link is http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac....s/bpa/bpa1.htm.
(I hope that does not constitute advertising...)
That's a very interesting Museum - wasn't aware of it. Anyone else interested the link is http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac....s/bpa/bpa1.htm.
(I hope that does not constitute advertising...)
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Yes, it takes me back too. No photos, unfortunately, but I spent a happy week at Weston-Super-Mare in 1969, age 17 (I drove MYSELF there, in my Mum's car!) and the patient ATC Instructors showed me how to fly a Mk 3. I went solo after 21 launches, each flight probably 3 minutes, so I was solo after about 1 hour total flying time!
I remember being flown in a T21 too, and looping in it. Distinctly remember the weird sensation of the upside-down horizon appearing over my head...
Didn't fly solo again until 1996, in a Puschacz at Bidford. I fly solo all the time now though...
I remember being flown in a T21 too, and looping in it. Distinctly remember the weird sensation of the upside-down horizon appearing over my head...
Didn't fly solo again until 1996, in a Puschacz at Bidford. I fly solo all the time now though...
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Hi All
I was one of those lucky ATC Staff Cadets that became an instructor
At the best school in the ATC Old Sarum 622 Gliding School
T21 700 Launch’s
T31 800 Launch’s
Average flight time 4 min (That’s a lot of log book filling in)
And there are many many more out there who have done a LOT more than this.
Still ask when briefing pilots about the AN2 if they have ever flown a T21 as it has similar turning characteristic !!!
I was one of those lucky ATC Staff Cadets that became an instructor
At the best school in the ATC Old Sarum 622 Gliding School
T21 700 Launch’s
T31 800 Launch’s
Average flight time 4 min (That’s a lot of log book filling in)
And there are many many more out there who have done a LOT more than this.
Still ask when briefing pilots about the AN2 if they have ever flown a T21 as it has similar turning characteristic !!!
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Fascinating. Loads of people must have had the same experiences as me.
Given that XE799 is no longer airworthy - I spoke to the curator of the Boulton Paul Museum today and he told me that the last time it changed hands the price was £100 - where do I get my hands on an AN2?
Given that XE799 is no longer airworthy - I spoke to the curator of the Boulton Paul Museum today and he told me that the last time it changed hands the price was £100 - where do I get my hands on an AN2?
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I'll have to dig mine out. I think it's in my mum's loft.
From memory:
Gliding at Kenley - including the Gliding Scholarship to solo
- wasn't that glider called a zedberg (sp?)
Flying chippies at Abingdon among other places & the Bulldog at Cambridge. One of the pilots I remember flying with was a Jaguar pilot who was rehabilitating & keeping the hours up after banging out of a Jaguar over Germany a month or so before - something about a compressed spine.
Also quite lucky & flew in a Herc out of Lynham, a Chinook from Odiham & VC-10 out of Brize.
From memory:
Gliding at Kenley - including the Gliding Scholarship to solo
- wasn't that glider called a zedberg (sp?)
Flying chippies at Abingdon among other places & the Bulldog at Cambridge. One of the pilots I remember flying with was a Jaguar pilot who was rehabilitating & keeping the hours up after banging out of a Jaguar over Germany a month or so before - something about a compressed spine.
Also quite lucky & flew in a Herc out of Lynham, a Chinook from Odiham & VC-10 out of Brize.
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My T31m uses around 2 - 2.5 gallons/hour ... interestingly, the same engine in my old VP2 used nearly 4 gallons an hour! Just shows what drag and a webber carb can do! 
SS
SS
I may be wrong but I seem to remember being told the XE airframes were actually Mk2s re-manufactured as Mk 3s by addition of the later wing; the Mk2 originally having a wing with parallel leading and trailing edges like the single seat Mk1.
I only flew Mk3s in the WT and XA series. Some of these had spoilers, and very effective they were too; my forte flying AEG cadets was to turn base leg at 300ft, and open the spoilers 'over the hedge' (you weren't supposed to go beyond the downwind boundary of the airfield in a Mk3) resulting in an almost vertical descent to spot land at the launch point, with the nose of the glider over the next available cable, one cadet out, next cadet in then off again. Great fun!!
I only flew Mk3s in the WT and XA series. Some of these had spoilers, and very effective they were too; my forte flying AEG cadets was to turn base leg at 300ft, and open the spoilers 'over the hedge' (you weren't supposed to go beyond the downwind boundary of the airfield in a Mk3) resulting in an almost vertical descent to spot land at the launch point, with the nose of the glider over the next available cable, one cadet out, next cadet in then off again. Great fun!!
Old Sarum
Billredshoes,
when were you there?
I passed through their hands in 1969 or 1970. Had to go back for a couple of extra weekends due to weather before I eventually went solo. Managed scrounge a flight in a Beaver around the Plain at 20'.
My main memory was of how peaceful the airfield was - in comparison to today that is.
Happy Days.
when were you there?
I passed through their hands in 1969 or 1970. Had to go back for a couple of extra weekends due to weather before I eventually went solo. Managed scrounge a flight in a Beaver around the Plain at 20'.
My main memory was of how peaceful the airfield was - in comparison to today that is.
Happy Days.
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Yep : my CCF log book surfaces every few years: it has currently gone AWOL:
I too got a 'Gliding Scholarship' courtesy of RAF section of CCF at RAF Henlow at Easter 1962:
Great time: we all went solo (I went solo on my 17th birthday) I got the BGA gliding certificates A and B which are in front of me as I type : FAI certificate No 34440 countersigned by no less than the then President of the Royal Aero Club, Lord Brabazon of Tara.
It was a great atmosphere at Henlow: the C O was a (?) Flt Lt Bullivant and the chief Cadet NCO a Sgt Buckby (yes much p*ss was taken behind his back.)
They had a couple of civvy gliding instructors, one of whom was called 'Pete' and drove a souped up Ford Zephyr Zodiac like a loony all over the airfield.
All it cost us was mess fees of a shilling (5p) a day.
Only excitement apart from cagging down the side of the Sedburgh and having to wipe it off once back on the ground, was a cable break on my second solo necessitating a v rapid circuit and crosswind landing across the cables.
I went on to join Cambridge University Gliding Club (membership card signed by Anne Heyhurst - another name to conjure with) in the heady days when they flew out of Marshalls, spending many a hot summer's day in the winch in return for a quick five minute circuit at dusk in a Ka7.
When I wasn't in the winch I was repairing cable breaks: they used to buy up the RAF's cast offs (RAF dumped a cable after 3 breaks) CUGC cables had a repair every 50 ft or so it seemed.
Soon had to give up though as my univ course was too busy to allow much free time and haven't been in a glider since.
One day maybe.
Safe flying
Cusco
I too got a 'Gliding Scholarship' courtesy of RAF section of CCF at RAF Henlow at Easter 1962:
Great time: we all went solo (I went solo on my 17th birthday) I got the BGA gliding certificates A and B which are in front of me as I type : FAI certificate No 34440 countersigned by no less than the then President of the Royal Aero Club, Lord Brabazon of Tara.
It was a great atmosphere at Henlow: the C O was a (?) Flt Lt Bullivant and the chief Cadet NCO a Sgt Buckby (yes much p*ss was taken behind his back.)
They had a couple of civvy gliding instructors, one of whom was called 'Pete' and drove a souped up Ford Zephyr Zodiac like a loony all over the airfield.
All it cost us was mess fees of a shilling (5p) a day.
Only excitement apart from cagging down the side of the Sedburgh and having to wipe it off once back on the ground, was a cable break on my second solo necessitating a v rapid circuit and crosswind landing across the cables.
I went on to join Cambridge University Gliding Club (membership card signed by Anne Heyhurst - another name to conjure with) in the heady days when they flew out of Marshalls, spending many a hot summer's day in the winch in return for a quick five minute circuit at dusk in a Ka7.
When I wasn't in the winch I was repairing cable breaks: they used to buy up the RAF's cast offs (RAF dumped a cable after 3 breaks) CUGC cables had a repair every 50 ft or so it seemed.
Soon had to give up though as my univ course was too busy to allow much free time and haven't been in a glider since.
One day maybe.
Safe flying
Cusco
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This lead to me digging out my old 3822,
My gliding was done early 70s at Tangmere, mainly on Cadet Mk111 but a couple of launches on the Sedberge (The Barge?).
Anyone else fly from here?
Memories include:-
One instructor who had a Jag with an external sound system, he would drive down the runway with a tape of machine guns or Elephants charging.
Another instructor who would finish the day with a high speed run and then follow the taxiway at zero feet all the way back to the hangar (probably nearly a mile).
"Riding the Chute' " - sitting on the chute' at the end of the cable as it was winched in.
Accomodation during courses was at Thorney and there are also great memories of mad drives between Thorney and Tangmere in the squdron Landrovers.
My gliding was done early 70s at Tangmere, mainly on Cadet Mk111 but a couple of launches on the Sedberge (The Barge?).
Anyone else fly from here?
Memories include:-
One instructor who had a Jag with an external sound system, he would drive down the runway with a tape of machine guns or Elephants charging.
Another instructor who would finish the day with a high speed run and then follow the taxiway at zero feet all the way back to the hangar (probably nearly a mile).
"Riding the Chute' " - sitting on the chute' at the end of the cable as it was winched in.
Accomodation during courses was at Thorney and there are also great memories of mad drives between Thorney and Tangmere in the squdron Landrovers.
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I just had to look up mine too! My squadron was 2395 (a Cornish school squadron that no longer exists). Gliding in the T31 was at HMS Preddannick in XN244 which was sold in 86 and has dissappeared. Other aircraft were Chipmunks WP833 (one of the last sold and which flew to Moscow) and
WB860, various Hercules and VC10's.
It's amazing how few kids now seem to be interested in cadet forces, when I was 13 (1978) loads of my peers were in one or other of them.
SS
WB860, various Hercules and VC10's.
It's amazing how few kids now seem to be interested in cadet forces, when I was 13 (1978) loads of my peers were in one or other of them.
SS
The character at 613 was Fred Fermor (who actually looked a bit like Fred Flintsone!)
He had a homebuilt sports car on which the perspex windscreen as so badly crazed, he used to drive with his head out of the right hand side to see ahead!
One day he flew a Mk3 'back to the hangar'. There was clear daylight between the wheel and the ground as he went through the hangar doors!
He had a homebuilt sports car on which the perspex windscreen as so badly crazed, he used to drive with his head out of the right hand side to see ahead!
One day he flew a Mk3 'back to the hangar'. There was clear daylight between the wheel and the ground as he went through the hangar doors!