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CCF gliding memories
Just joined with a few facts to get things going. Triggered by a nostalgia trip to Halesland yesterday. First visit in 50 years. Took a few photos. I must say that the site appears to be on very good order, presumbaly to the credit of the Mendip Gliding Club. I must re-visit on a flying day. My log book suggests that I was gliding with the CCF (School 634 based at Exeter) from around mid 1957 to mid 1960. Achieved A & B at Exeter August 1958. Attended a course at St Athans (intended to be C but my CO forgot to check!). Attended a C course at Halesland but Easter snow put paid to that. I remember even the Bedfords getting stuck to be rescued by a couple of Land Rovers sent up from RAF Locking. Flew mainly Sedburghs and Mk IIIs but also the single seat (Prefect?). Nearly came to grief at Halesland in the single seat when the cable failed to release so was still attached as the winch operator went to full chat. Finally broke free losing some of the underside. I do remember being lifted still shaking and plonked in another glider before I had time to dwell on the incident. It appeared to be a well reheared incident although I cannot imagine it happened very often. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos so if anyone out there can oblige I would be extremely grateful. Just remembered that I do have a group photo of my Halesland course taken at Weston. Summer camps attended included Lindholme and Upwood. Visits included Chivenor and Colerne (sat in P7350 when no one was looking. ME 163 and two seat FW190 were in the same hangar). Serial numbers in my "spotters" notebook include:- Sedburgh WB944, WB927, WB950, WB991, WB943, WB943, WB980, WB929, WB967. MkIII WT870, XE192, XA290, WT874, WT875, XA286, XE187, XA286, XE786, WT899, WT900, XA295, WT902. Prefect WE990, WE983. I obviousy did not fly in all of the above. Unfortunately, I cannot find a record of those that I did or where they were located. As an aside to all this gliding talk, did anybody come across an immaculate Beaufighter parked at St Athans? Serial number was SR914. Where is it now? I would have had a fantastic photo but was caught red handed, trundled of by the MPs and had my film confiscated. Any images without buildings or facilities were eventually developed and sent to me. Hopefully that is enough to get things underway. |
Ah halcyon days at Halesland.
I flew there four years on the trot in the mid 70s. There was two barges and two prefects jammed inside the hangar along with the Bedford and the winch. The first job for the staff cadets was to move the herd of cows off the strip and into the next field each morning. Remember the rock marker and the T of trees? The steel cage on the winch was pretty caved in from direct hits from Sedbergh ballast weights and the Bedford would blow it's head gasket with monotonous regularity. Starting the thing in the morning could be a pain. It would flood if you gave it a wet look! The ridge hardly ever worked that well but thermals generated off it could be real stonkers. We used to call it thidge soaring. Used to see Concorde quite often flying overhead on it's way back to Filton. We stayed in the mess at Locking which was very handy for the totty in Weston-Super-Mare. Had some great flying there. Even the CO's dog got airborne one day when it peed on the electric fence in front of the hangar. Took three hours to find the ruddy thing afterwards. I expect the resident club has improved the field somewhat. From memory the strip was only a couple of wingspans wide perched on the top of the infamous bowl. Oh to be able to re-live those carefree days! |
We've got our own long running thread over on the military page-
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...e-glass-4.html Enjoy:ok: |
Alanf...,
Were you on the Easter 1959 Advanced Course at Halesland? If so then we were on the same course. The weather was bad all week, but I got my 'C' with a 17 minute flight on thre last day. The other guy who got his 'C' on that course was a chap named Jim Arrowsmith. Happy days! |
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