Rollason Condor memories

[Legalapproach]

Ahhhh Condor. Did quite a lot of tugging in AZMV, AVAW and AYXU during the 80's. Delightful aircraft to fly and not too underpowered for tugging. I had a problem with the throttle friction sticking with the throttle wide open which led to an interesting few moments wondering what the #### I was going to do. Flew around trying to release it without any luck. Eventually flew over the airfield tight turned a couple of 360's to get the speed down and then closed the mixture. All ended happily.

[Stampe]

Legal guess you were a "Tibenham tugger" dropped in there many years ago (PPR gained of course) and was made most welcome by the tuggies and got a great pix of my XW in a line with MV and AW!!.I think at least one if not both of these have since been lost in accidents any info!!.Seem to remember seeing the remains of one in the hangar at Shipdham.Interested to see your comments on the types suitablity for tugging I believe it can no longer cope with the weights of the heavier modern gliders.Opinion seems to vary as to how good a tug it was!! are any still tugging??.The tug variants with the 130 Horse 0-240 are less desirable as everyday mounts as they consume more fuel for very little speed gain and the Condors small (15 I.G. 69lts) is one of its few downsides!!.Great for shortfields though.Don,t recognise the third reggie you give! perhaps a log book error??

[treadigraph]

YXU rings a bell as a Citabria with me, so may well have still been tugging...

[Ailorron]

Hi, I first flew( power) in condor G AXGZ on 29 August 1970, aged 11, from Hemswell with my father, who had just done a silver C conversion. I just found an old log book - I used to keep records (I've always been sad!!!). Others flown - G AWFF, G AWAT. Sadly, when I was old enough to learn to fly it was on spam cans, so I never did the taildragger thing. I fly 744's now, but am getting back to grass roots..........................

[Legalapproach]

Errr yes, YXU was the Citabria and the Condor was AYFE! Also tugged with Pawnee BEKX. Tibbenham had the advantage of being in the less than rolling hillsides of Norfolk so the Condor had the additional advantage of the curvature of the earth with which to get airborne. It's a while since I tugged there and I think that the club has a Robin these days. The condor was a great little aircraft although two crashed whilst I was there. One accident involved a newly qualified tug pilot who appeared to get lost and then ran out of fuel trying to land at Eye. The pilot almost made it but crashed into the gardens of a country house hotel killing herself. The hotel was owned by a chap with whom I shared a Robin 210.

The second Condor crashed at Tibenham but I can't remember the cause. Again, I think that the pilot was killed.

The Condor was a lovely little aircraft to fly but if you flew it regularly you could become a bit blase thinking that it would do anything you wanted it to. I once had a very nasty moment when making a curved approach. At the last minute (at no more than 3 hundred feet or so) a glider started to cut in front of me {tugs and gliders normally flew opposite circuits} I tightened my turn instinctively whereupon the condor stalled and flicked. I think I managed a full rotation before recovering just in time to scrape over the boundary fence with my pulse rate in the low 000's.

On another occasion a glider got out of position and suddenly pulled up whilst a few hundred feet on the climbout. This instantly gave me a very good view of the field below. The glider pilot then corrected by shoving his nose down and my tail up. The world went from brown to blue very quickly before I dumped the tow rope and glider. The jammy b##### then actually managed to find a thermal and scraped away from about 4-500 feet to spend the next two hours airborne. This was lucky for him as by the time he landed I had calmed down and gave him significantly less of a piece of my mind than I had earlier planned.

[The Inspector]

Ahhh yes, the Condor. Got lots of time in 'YFD which was owned by the Tiger Club at the time. They sold it to Brian Manning who I believe still owns it. It had a very overpowering smell of avgas, caused by a felt blanket between fuel tank and top decking being soaked in fuel. Made your headache even worse after the night before......Bloody awful headroom, and manky handbrake arrangement. Apart from that, a very nice machine, with excellent handling qualities. Not many people flew 'YFD for some reason, although it was dead cheap and always available.

Memories of returning back home to Redhill from Seething on a brilliant summer evening not above 500ft all the way home. Perfectly legal your honour!

Also flew 'WEI a few times in the early 80's. Are they aerobatic? 'Cos the guy who checked me out certainly did show me a few barrel rolls........


Stampe,

Adrian 'Dev' Deverell died a few years ago, and his ashes were scattered over Redhill airfield from Tiger Moth 'CDC of the Tiger Club. Bloody nice bloke..

[Mr_Grubby]

Quick Pee

In the summer of ’73 I was sitting in the tower at Southend. A nice summers day, usual SLAC PA –28’s going around and the odd BAF Carvair. Then a Condor appears in the overhead. Obviously non radio as he lets down on the dead side and joins downwind. He lands on the grass parallel to runway 23. Two guys leap out and have a quick pee on the grass. They jump back in the Condor and depart, never to be seen again. So anybody want to own up to this ? Landing fee ( or should that be landing pee ?) still outstanding !!!!!!!!

Mr G.

[FBS]

AVOH

I learned to fly at Thruxton on AVOH and was very fond of it. First solo was one June evening. I did most of my flying on the Condor but went over to Robin and Slingsby for anything that involved instruments. I remember being asked by a lady controller at Boscombe if we were transponder equipped. As my instructor hit the button to reply "negative" I had said "She wants to think hersellf lucky we even have a f****** altimeter. Lesson learned!

Last I heard AVOH was due to go off to the US.

FBS

[Stampe]

Ah Ailorron great to see you had your "Bapteme de l,air" in my GZ it must have been a nearly new aircraft back then!!great also to see that as for so many of us who learnt on them the Condor led you into an aviation career!!.Certainly its a great stick and rudder trainer I ,ve always been glad of the foundation of handling skills my training on the breed has provided.Time perhaps you renewed your acquaintance with GZ( I,d be delighted .
FBS I believe VOH is still in the Uk. and possibly the last Condor on a full Public Transport C.of A. I believe after a lengthy rebuild its available for hire from a club at Hinton in the Hedges.Can anyone confirm that.
When I do eventually get round to rebuilding my lovely AVXW I may put her back on Public Transport so she can contribute to her operating costs.What a crazy world when roughly half of the remaining Condors are operating happlily on permits and the remainder can no longer be transferred from Certificate of Airworthiness,s its a bureacratic nonsense which is undoubtedly making the restoration of some Condors uneconomic!! effectively keeping them out of the air.Hopefully that will change one day.

[Steamhead]

Late 70's early 80's in a group at Nayland with G-AXGT.
Remember one incident - hadn't flown for some time and fairly low hours on tail draggers so get hold of a guy who had thousands of hours on tail draggers and ask for a checkout.
"O.K." he says "Lets go across to Earles Colne (a no landing fee grass strip in those days) and shoot some circuits"
On approach I suggest he does the first landing and talk me through it.
We touch down nicely and ground loop into the young corn with the usual comment "Oh S**T."
No damage so we carry on doing circuits with him totally refusing to say or touch anything.
I still smile about this.

Regards

[ex jump pilot]

Redhill memories of RODNOCs

Flew those operated by both the Tiger Club and Mike Peare (who has cropped up in Canada....).
Just looked it up on log book no. 1 it was TAU (TC owned) and took it to Old Warden.
Went spinning in WEI - absolutely classic recovery. Was so used to the gentle Tiger Moth that I didn't centralise the rudder quickly enough and the spin promptly started in the other direction...
Otherwise, flew the Cub to White Waltham when there was a resurrection of the Condor Club.
Great 'planes.

[Stampe]

EJP ATAU is still around somewhere not been very active of late I believe Mike still has an interest in it.AU as one of the evolutionary Condors was quite a lot different from the later Condors slightly longer fuselage ,undercarriage mounted further aft making it more prone to standing on its nose compared to later build airframes, a very short stick and one of those Tiger moth compasses mounted between the seats making it hard to read with parallex.AU was one the Condors I trained on and its differences made it less popular than later ones ,certainly I was less fond of it.The earlybuilds were really well built and many have fond memories of her,I seem to remember she was one of the flapless ones.AWEI is now on rebuild somewhere having been purchased from Chessington after the sad demise of Geof Masterton.Condor spinning is certainly classic and lively, best make sure you ,ve got sufficient height, though I,ve never had recovery problems when standard and correct recovery action was taken.I,d love to read the report of the Farnborough test pilot who did the original spin clearance trials conducted from Rochester( in the late sixties I believe) anyone have any ideas!!. I imagine the 3 rotation limitation is due to the way the rotation winds up very quickly.Used to spin em for fun but late middle age sees me prefer more sedate mounts for"Parke,s dive" preferably biplanes and a parachute if possible!!.Recently met the instructor who gave me my first four lessons in Condors 30 years ago he,s recently re discovered the breed and was enthusing about the type ,said he,d forgotten just how lovely their handling is.He too is a skipper for one of the Uk majors a lot of us owe a great debt to the little Rollason Condor

[Hairyplane]

A Condor moment...

Thanks a lot to Stampe who kindly allowed me to reaquaint myself with his rodnoC G-AXGZ at Old Warden at the weekend.

Brave guy didn't even want to give me any dual!

My immediate reaction on strapping myself in was how small it was. However, the cockpit is quite roomy and the controls fall nicely to hand. Well - with the exception of the flap lever - that does require an extra wrist to lower full flap!

I found myself over-controlling it in roll on the climbout as my memories of those delightful ailerons came flooding back. The roll-rate is quite something.

For sheer 'bang for your buck' the Condor is hard to beat.

A simple, easy to fly machine with benign handling characteristics and within the capabilities of most pilots.

I reckon even the most died in the wool spammer would quickly get the hang of it.

A flying school witha fleet of Condors? Theres a tantalising thought! Cheap as chips to buy, airframe spares grow in the ground.....

Thanks again Stampe for allowing me that 'Condor moment' - glad you liked your solo in the Magister too!

HP

[Stampe]

Ailorron I think your post renewing old acquaintances was meant for this thread and consider it done a "Condor moment" awaits.Golf Zulu is all freshly permitted and running nicely.be interesting to see how you find her after a thirty year break!!.

[Ailorron]

Thanks Stampe, I'll look forward to that - just hope my little legs'll reach the rudder pedals!!! 30 years is a little kind - of course mental age is a lot less!

[Stampe]

Just discovered that famed pprune medico contributor Flying dutch shares my own immaculate taste in aeronautical gadabouts owning a share in AVOH.Good taste Sir!!

Finally John Havers aviation historian and Condor "guru" has come up with the answers on the past life on my two!!.Which started this thread.Might be of interest to" Ailorron " who I believe made their first flight with their father in GZ leading to a most glittering aviation career,and of course "Hairyplane" who formed the original Medway Flying Group with me on XW far to many years ago!!.
RAE.625 62B G-AVXW 03.11.67 Rollason Aircraft & Engines Ltd
05.01.68 CofA issued. (100hp Continental 0-200-A)
08.01.68 N.H.Jones.
1968 Op. Rochester Flying Club.
1968-70 Op. Wolverhampton Aero Club. (2620hrs. flown).
09.03.71 To Redhill.
1971 Op. Portsmouth Flying School.
late 1973 Goodwood, later Ink Pen Ridge.
22.02.74 Rochester, later Sherburn.
1975 Biggin Hill.
mid 1976 Rochester
1977 Op. Medway Flying Group.
15.07.78 Minor damage at Rochester when with above.
04.09.79 Medway Flying Group Ltd, Rochester.
11.01.83 M.D.Bailey, Rochester.
08.05.87 Alan John Cooper, Rochester. Raced as "19".
28.09.01 Last flight at 4900hrs & for sale/breaking £3500. In 02 the
owner decided to retain the aircraft for a long-term rebuild.

RAE.643 62B G-AXGZ 03.06.69 Rollason Aircraft & Engines Ltd
24.07.70 N.H.Jones
27.07.70 CofA issued. (100hp Continental 0-200-A)
1970-80 Op. Lincoln Aero Club, Hemswell/Sturgate.
21.04.80 P.W.Johnson & J.T.Hayes t/a Lincoln Condor Group,
Sturgate.
18.04.83 M.J.Board & E.C.Cossings t/a Lincoln Condor Group.
09.06.86 M.J.Board & B.K.Barrett t/a Lincoln Condor Group
02.02.88 B.K.Barrett & J.E.Hobson t/a Lincoln Condor Group
21.06.93 J.Evans, Griffins Fm, Temple Bruer, Lincs.
27.11.00 M.L.Jackson., Headcorn.
29.01.02 Alan J.Cooper, Rochester

[InFinRetirement]

Interesting thread this Stampe! I was a naughty boy! I had a few rides in the lovely Condor but only logged those at Lasham for some reason. Tugging in ATAV. I enjoyed tugging. Did it in AOAA too at Redhill. Remember those trips?

Remember "Oily Doylie" well at Biggin. One of the characters if ever there was one.

I thought the Condor was a super aeroplane. Ah!!! Those were indeed the days.

IFR

[ex jump pilot]

Spinning the Condor

Ah - Condors. Flew both the one from the Tiger Club ('TAU) and also one operated by Mike Peare in the Condor Club ('WEI - young Mike has surfaced in Canada for those who want a word with him...).
Spins. Yes. Not as gentle shall we say as a Tiger. On the former, no great rush about centralising the rudder. On the Condor, you had to be quick about it otherwise the rotation switched to the other way (as I learnt to my discomfit).
Had a very kind offer to have a go in one last year whilst it was visiting Bourn. Brought back all the reasons why they are a treat to fly.

[Stampe]

Concolidating posts an interesting memory from an experienced aviator in the States thx Speedbird48

posted 18th January 2004 22:10
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Rollason Condor Memories
Back in the early '70's I had many brushes with the Condor. I flew G-AXGU for many happy hours and many adventures. One was at Redhill when Chris Jesson wanted to come along and at the last minute dumped a dog on the back shelf. All was well until I started the engine and the dog departed over Chris's shoulder and the open door. It ended up stuck up to it's belly as all of it's feet went through the upper fabric but was supported on the, better, underside fabric. Michael Jones had one of his fits over that one although Chris and I fixed it in short order. Chris went on to fly for Dan Air and later BA from Gatwick.
In those days I was a lowley peon with BOAC, on the 707, and I spent my stand-by hours at Redhill to be within the 1 1/2 hour limit for stand-by crews. In that time I delivered many all over the place as they were exchanged when they came up for an inspection. At the time they were all owned by Rollasons and leased, at very cheap rates to many struggling clubs. I bought one back from East Anglia and told the hangar guys that it flew strange and the next day they showed me the broken rear spar!!
My log book shows 'YZT, 'YFH, VMB,'TVW and 'XGT at a quick glance.
Brian.
Not a good co-ordinated airplane but a good trainer never the less and lot of people got started thanks to Norman Jones.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Hi Stampe et al.,

Thanks for pointing this thread out to me. I usually only hang out on the PF and Medical forums and my wife complains bitterly that I spend far too much time on the 'puter!

I have been flying AVOH on and off for some 10 years until the urge to replace the Robin share which I sold off 18 months became irresistable.

Had been looking at a Cub (my dad used to fly those in the Netherlands) but they are fetching silly money at the moment.

One of the deciding reasons to get involved with the Condor was that I could afford the flying of it and that my 3 year old who loves flying can sit next to me.

Bought the share of Tom Eagles of PFT (they use it for tail wheel conversions) in July 03 and it has been serious good fun ever since!

Been to various fly ins and meeting up with mates and on every trip thoroughly enjoyed it as did Sophia whenever she came along. After flying to a BBQ at Bourn in August she tapped me on the shoulder on taxying in and stated: 'That was good' we sung nursery rimes on the way back until she fell asleep near Cranfield. Truly golden memories!

No war stories just yet, but as with most things in aviation it is usually a matter of time before you get exposed to those!

Look forward to meeting up with you Stampe so that we can do a photoshoot of at least our three 'Rodnocs'

FD