Air Cadet Gliding pix in the 80s (pre glass)
 

Recent 'rapid take off' thread prompted this. Didn't know whether to post here or AH&N so mods please feel free to move:).

Taken when I was with 617 VGS, Manston, early 1986, I think.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ngtolaunch.jpg
Queuing to launch


http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...kscomplete.jpg
Checks complete.


http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ttachcable.jpg
Attach cable.....



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ic9/AllOut.jpg
All out!!



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ic9/Yeehah.jpg
"Yeehah!!!"



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...mthewinch1.jpg
From the winch



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...mthewinch2.jpg
Eeeaasing back on the throttle.....


http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...lereleased.jpg
Now reel in fast to inflate the 'chute!



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...c9/Upslack.jpg
Up slack!


http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...tdoesntshe.jpg
Creaks a bit, doesn't she!!:}



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...yellowknob.jpg
Nearly there.....



http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...tshelovely.jpg
Isn't she lovely!

Yeah takes me back to my days at 613 (Halton) Possibly a bit earlier than '86? I only say because when I did camp there in '88, they had glass ships.

None of the fancy colour-schemes when I did my GS at Syerston.

All-over grey, pretty much like the weather for most of the week.

Aaaah, that takes me back! Did 4000 launches in Mk 111s. Lots of hard work, but lots of fun. Those were the days!

Did my first ever solo in a barge at Manston - happy days !!!

Are you sure about the date though ? I thought that by 1986 all the VGSs had converted to glass.....

:O:O:O

617 re-equipped with Grob 103s in June, 1986. I took this pictorial record of pre-glass operations because I knew it would soon disappear.......:)

Did my gliding BGT in the autumn of 1985 at 661 VGS Kirknewton. T'was the first course conducted on the glass ships there, and they were one of the first VGS to convert.

Had mixed feelings about it: on the one hand the Grobs were new and flash, particularly to a 17 year-old, but part of me wanted to have soloed in the Mk3. Having a full canopy was a bonus in the end; open-cockpit winch-launches during Scottish winters were for the truly masochistic.

Thanks for the pictures. They brought back happy memories of my solos at Swanton Morely in Feb 73. Do they still fly gliders there? I was amazed how the T21 stood up to the hammering they got from us cadets, especially some of my landings.

Could you see where you were going through those welder's goggles? Just kidding.

Had a 20+ stone instructor when I did the gliding course. Doubled my normal height on the launch on my first solo. Nearly went around the circuit twice so I could start from my normal 700ft launch height!

Funnily enough, the increased performance (ha!) sans instructor caught me by surprise too. That and having nobody to talk to.

I soloed at Tangers in one. Oh lord over forty years ago. Never flew another until I found one with a donk in it. So lovely to see the pics though. Thank youn very much indeed. I have no pics at all from those days.

Same here - I've no pictures of my glider flights, more's the pity.

I did my ATC A&B certificates with 617 GS at Hendon and Bovingdon. Its thanks to them I got the flying bug and have been close to bankruptcy ever since

As a staff cadet at 618, I remember spreading the love by pi§§ing on the winch engine manifold during a launch - made for a happy time in the cab for whoever was driving ( pitman + james W ) at the time ! Then we would indulge ourselves in bloodsports by grabbing another certain staff cadet's wig (bagpuss ?) and putting that on the manifold too !!
Happy, happy days.....
:D:D:D:D:D

Many of 618's legends were passed on to 617 by Bunty, Edmunds (Mr. Man) and others. Don't remember that one though..............

They were pukka Uvex ski goggles, I'll have you know! Must admit, I wish we'd been issued with proper goggles though. To go with the old wood 'n' fabric open cockpit thing, what?

So interesting to read these posts from those who first experienced the joy of gliding with the ATC. I enjoyed enormously the satisfaction of sending young men (no females then) off on their first solo at gliding schools. At the time I was flying desks various and the flying was welcome. The motivation most of these young men had and the time they devoted to gliding convinced me that the RAF should look closer at gliding schools for aircrew recruits.

More money and flying for the ATC has always been justified in my opinion.

What about Kirton in Lindsey in the mid sixties as an Air Cadet gliding centre. Great fun. Not only did I solo illegally at 15 (nobody asked me my age) but also fell in love (lust) with a WRAF.

Fantastic pics - reminds me of my youth too !
I flew almost all of the Air Cadet stuff then as a cadet and later, instructor:
Grasshopper
Swallow
Sedbergh
Cadet Mk111
Venture
Vigilant
Valiant
Viking
and even the Vanguard - remember her (what a babe - made the Viking seem a real dog by comparison)
Missed the Prefect sadly.........
I think we've seen the best of Air Cadet gliding though IMHO.
:hmm:
Arc

Debden Sedburgh & Cadets
 

ME TOO, HAPPY DAYS AT Debden with the Sedburghs & Tutors - top fun !!!
(ex 276 SQN - 1969 - 1972)

I went to Halton in I think it was 86. Great fun on Ventures.

Great pictures..Thanks. Brought back some happy memories of 645 at Catterick 1970.

Still have my CCF logbook.... It says I Solo'd in MKIII WT 918 after 23 launches and 57 mins time... Just a touch over 2 minutes a flight? Seems a bit quick for a circuit???


(The other highlight of this adventure was the spectacle of a Sgt Cadet attempting to pull rank to jump to the the front of the dinner queue in the Airmens mess..)

There's a few more piccys of that era here...

http://www.615vgs.com/olden615.asp

Some wonderful pics there, Streety.:ok: The Barge was a great machine - a gentleman's flying carriage. You could put your hand into the airflow just ahead of the leading edge and feel the stagnation point.

I don't know about goggles :8, but a single golfing glove is de-riggeur for the left hand in a 103 as it'll stop your left hand sliding sweatily off the speedbrakes just as you're starting to flare :ok:

Never flew the 31, but had many happy hours in a 21 out in Cyprus. Great fun.

Seems about right, although it probably felt much, much longer at the time.
Edited to add; any truth in the rumour that the 103s are being considered for disposal?

Shouldn't the guy in post #1, pic #1 be in the 'pie eaters and the 50' rule' thread? :E

Seems like yesterday ;) June 1965, but I cannot remember what colours they were painted then. Anyone?

Thanks for those, memories of my one and only trip in an ATC glider at Scampton in 19...er...

"Sir, this seat belt isn't anchored to anything!" (waving free end of said seatbelt for pilot to see).

"Just shove it down the side of the seat son, If I stuff us into the ground it won't do you any good anyway."

gliding
 

Spent many a happy time at Halton - was taught on the Cadet, then it was found that I was to tall, My knees were poking out of the top!!!. Soloed in the Sedburg (I was in ther air for over 3 mins)

I nearly forgot the golden rule of hitting the Altimeter while on approach so I could guage the height to turn in and nearly gave the instructor a heart attack (I think his name was Bird a CivIns)

The Air Cadet gliders in the 60's were painted silver with yellow bands on the wings (training aircraft). Certainly dull by dayglo standards but considerably lighter!
"By the way laddie it should have been a gentle tap!":=

After a rather exhuberant roll into an S-turn in a T-31 after a sim cable break:"Christ son, steady on, its not a bloody Hunter!". Soloed next flight, I think he was scared of me.:)

Very happy memories unearthed by those pics, thanks.

Ahh, happy memories of my long lost youth in the late 70's came flooding back on seeing the pictures. Remember being chosen to go on a gliding course at the Air Cadet Central Gliding School at Syerston in February and on arrival being dismayed when told I was too tall for the 'new fangled' Venture glider and being sent across to the T21's. My first launch was straight into the base of lowish cloud out of which an awful lot of snow seemed to be falling.The instructor did a split ar$e turn and got us on the ground rapido style. That set the tone for the rest of the week with heavy snow showers and no flying...endex. Come the summer though I was now travelling to Little Rissington every weekend and after some 17 mins of training I went off on that joyeous first solo in a Mk3 and remember well turning downwind shouting at the top of my voice to the others on the ground "Whaaaaaay, look at me!!!!" Thank you for trusting in me 637 Sqn and Flt Lt John Diamond, wherever you may be, you helped set me off on this long and much loved career in aviation :D

Wow, what a thread.
I too spent an awful lot of weekends catching trains to get to Little riss to help out - the reward being the hangar flight at the end of the day - and John Diamond was there then too. Unfortunately, I was too young to go solo on the Barge or Mk3 so my 'course' was on the venture at South Cerney. Solo'd in 3 hours something just after failing my driving test! I remember the pre solo trip with the Boss - I think it was a Sqn Ldr Bagley [?] used to have a pipe in his mouth all the way round the circuit - he asked me if I had German relatives as he thought they might have flown Stukas - it was very steep and very fast but all sort of sorted out at the end. He told me then, get through selection you will be fine. He was right too. Although the writing was on the wall for helicopters I think!
Cracking thread I do not have any pictures from then so well done for posting.

You can still track down an old ex-RAF glider if you wanted to go up again...

Slingsby T21 http://www.logico.f9.co.uk/OGC/

TC.

Leader12uk: Dickie Bird is now CFI at Wycombe Air Centre.

Over 40 years ago, on my 23rd launch, I did my first solo in a MkIII at the tender age of 16 at RAF Spitalgate. I bet half of you haven't a clue where that was! It was a WRAF training station, which certainly spiced up the week's course. Ah those happy days of sweaty summers in hairy blue trousers!

It must have touched a nerve as I'm still gliding, although the equipment is a little more up to date.

Spitalgate - http://www.content-delivery.co.uk/av...pitalgate.html

Thanks for all your kind comments. I have a few more taken from the same couple of days which I'll scan in and post in the very near future.

Actually, a few of my own memories have come back with all of this! Such as flying in January rain. At temperatures of +3 - +5C or so, and at a speed of 38 knots the rain felt like your forehead was being showered with hard little nails. We were issued with a lot of protective gear but somehow the rain found its way into the gaps. It was in such conditions that one could appreciate the true genius in Slingsby's T31 design. The draggy form and those not-very-high-aspect-ratio-wings-for-a-glider,-are-they? were qualities that ensured each flight was kept to a mercifully short two or three minutes.

Our operations at Manston were confined to the Northern Grass and it was whilst I was in my time as a CI there that I found out that Eugene Esmonde VC, and his flight of Strinbags had taken off on that fateful last mission from that very same Northern Grass! Talk about history!

Burtonwood GS...worked on the "no frills" principal..crammed into a converted ambulance at Warrington Station, dumpted at the launch point, heaved and grunted all day....had one instructor for whom "communication skills " was an oxymoron ( he decided to fly in cloud one day a few months later in a powered aircraft over Cumbria...the rising ground did the rest ) and was thus sent solo for my endeavours. First one was fine, second one had a little glitch in the circuit planning....coughs....hence landed out on a dispersal surrounded by 45gallon oil drums. Totally unfazed spotty youth at the time wondering what all the panic was about...pointed out to first Inst on the scene that I was Ok thanks....and had my first encounter with the "well done" in one ear and "WTF were you playing at!" in the other style of interview.

I was so traumatised by the experience that I continued with gliding once in the RAF, but only because by then I discovered it had added value in the forms of alcohol, non PC food and members of the opposite sex.