Air Cadet Gliding pix in the 80s (pre glass)
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617 GS Hendon 1963/4
Result of a cable landing on glider. The winch operator tried to wind in the cable to make it fall short of the glider rather than stopping the winch.
As a result the cable was moving at full speed when it hit - a very effective saw!!
Off for a solo in "The Barge"
Edited to remove duplicate picture
1.3VStall
I completed a Pre Pilots course at Spittlegate in 1975 during one launch on the base leg actually flying backwards. Quite an easy circuit to fly as I remember, but cycling up the hill was a bit of a bugger.
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Interesting photo of WT913. It was rebuilt and flew again before passing into private hands as BGA3239 and is preserved by Aervoventure at Doncaster.
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Although I was an C Cat instructor with the Air Cadets for 8 years, that was in the glass age on Vikings. However I then flew with bannerdown at Keevil and flew the Barge a number of times and got an autotow around the airfield perimeter in Grasshopper XA240.
Happy days
Happy days
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Here's a very young Oddsoft off on his second solo at Swanton Morley in 1967 after a week under the tutelage of Dougie King:
I ended up instructing in the early 70s at West Malling when Gerry Fuller was boss. Oh the memories of Ex-lax sanwiches, exploding winches, lighting petrol in the hangar door runners to try and melt the ice, expeditions to the North Pole etc etc, normally with the late great John Downs involved somehow.
I ended up instructing in the early 70s at West Malling when Gerry Fuller was boss. Oh the memories of Ex-lax sanwiches, exploding winches, lighting petrol in the hangar door runners to try and melt the ice, expeditions to the North Pole etc etc, normally with the late great John Downs involved somehow.
If anyone has a photo of Cadet Mk III ser WT919 I would appreciate it.
I am assembling a collection of gliding photos of various things I have flown since my A&B at Kirton Linsey on March 7th 1960 in that one.
I am assembling a collection of gliding photos of various things I have flown since my A&B at Kirton Linsey on March 7th 1960 in that one.
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Oddsoft
Remember Weat Malling and 618 the 'Royal College of Gliding' I think the sign said on the door......my first ever flight was in the Barge there, with John Downs in the right seat....hooked ever since.....saw the same machine think it was XN186 here in the sunny sticks the other year at Shipdham Gliding Club....8 Ball Soaring.....so had to send my own son off for his first glider flight in it....bloody brilliant times at West Malling in the 70s...remember the Oly 2b.....and the exlax sandwiches....a certain Mr. Buckles I believe involved in both......an attempt by half a dozen of us to go back for a squadron dance one Saturday evening by borrowing the Moggie 1000 that was left in the hangar.........got as far as the Startled Saint, tried to bump start it going down the hill in to the village, and then the long push all the way back....up the hill!!!
Became a Staff Cadet at Manston good old 617.....more great times!! Learnt how to drive, how awful Margate can be in February and did lots of wonderful gliding...bloody brilliant way to spend yer yoof!
Remember Weat Malling and 618 the 'Royal College of Gliding' I think the sign said on the door......my first ever flight was in the Barge there, with John Downs in the right seat....hooked ever since.....saw the same machine think it was XN186 here in the sunny sticks the other year at Shipdham Gliding Club....8 Ball Soaring.....so had to send my own son off for his first glider flight in it....bloody brilliant times at West Malling in the 70s...remember the Oly 2b.....and the exlax sandwiches....a certain Mr. Buckles I believe involved in both......an attempt by half a dozen of us to go back for a squadron dance one Saturday evening by borrowing the Moggie 1000 that was left in the hangar.........got as far as the Startled Saint, tried to bump start it going down the hill in to the village, and then the long push all the way back....up the hill!!!
Became a Staff Cadet at Manston good old 617.....more great times!! Learnt how to drive, how awful Margate can be in February and did lots of wonderful gliding...bloody brilliant way to spend yer yoof!
Except (with geek hat on and anorak firmly zipped up) that's not an Oly 2b, it's one of the very few Oly 2As. Part of the RAFGSA fleet at Andover when Andy Gough was CFI, spun in at an air display, and rebuilt as his first glider by Ralph Jones (in his upstairs bedroom flat in Andover, until his landlady found out and evicted him).
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Either somewhere in the 3rd world, the land of cheese and wine, or possibly very occasionally, at home.
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WE992- I will I will, just be patient until I get home
(and get a scanner, and get the pics scanned, and upload them...)...22 days to go
Ref Olys- I briefly owned an ex-GSA Oly 2B. Is there a list of which aircraft served where? The logbook for mine only went back to the start of it's civvy life. It's now doing service in Croatia...
(and get a scanner, and get the pics scanned, and upload them...)...22 days to goRef Olys- I briefly owned an ex-GSA Oly 2B. Is there a list of which aircraft served where? The logbook for mine only went back to the start of it's civvy life. It's now doing service in Croatia...
I only have one very poor quality airborne shot of the YS53 (circa 1996)
I had a half share in it,she actually was very pleasant to fly but obviously overweight and not a good 'scratcher'.After thumbing through the logbook and seeing quite a few heavy landings recorded...I suggested to my syndicate partner that getting slow on finals was not a good idea,oh !! and the airbrakes were cr@p.
The non standard (K13 ?) canopy was probably fitted when the old girl was flipped over in the '87 gales.
The wings were so heavy we derigged in oct/nov and rigged in march (ooh me back
)
I had a half share in it,she actually was very pleasant to fly but obviously overweight and not a good 'scratcher'.After thumbing through the logbook and seeing quite a few heavy landings recorded...I suggested to my syndicate partner that getting slow on finals was not a good idea,oh !! and the airbrakes were cr@p.
The non standard (K13 ?) canopy was probably fitted when the old girl was flipped over in the '87 gales.
The wings were so heavy we derigged in oct/nov and rigged in march (ooh me back
)
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Many aircraft are said to look ungainly on the ground, but that YS53 looks even worse in the air! Perhaps it's tha lack of taper in the wings - I am not surprised it wasn't a good scratcher!
STH
STH