ATC glider solos
 

Evening All, I don't suppose any of you might have an idea as to how many first solos in gliders the ATC achieved in (A) 1953 and (B) in its busiest-ever year?

You could try asking HQ Air Cadets at Cranwell, Dave. They are supposed to be running the show, I believe.
Sorry I can't help you - I did my solo's in Feb 68, at 611 GS, Swanton Morley. 'A wild and lonely place, ye ken....'

In the era '64 to '70 there were many plans hatched to 'beat' the records but what the results were I don't know. Certainly many schools in that period set themselves a target of equalling the number of launches as their school number ie '6XX'; I can remember seeing a 'plan' at my school (613 Halton) to try to do it so maybe somebody at HQAC suggested it and they all gave it a go.
I doubt that HQAC or 2 FTS as it's now called would keep records going back that far; they're notoriously bad at collecting statistics like that let alone storing the records somewhere and don't forget HQAC has moved several times since the '50s; I remember it as being at White Waltham until the early '60s, then it went to Brampton then Newton before finishing up at Cranwell and it's easy to 'lose' a filing cabinet of records in these moves.

Dave,you can bet it was probably 100x what it was 60 yrs later.....

​​​​​​​And that includes the paperwork to keep a fleet of aircraft airworthy.

Sycamore and VX you're not wrong. I was flying WT900 for Loughborough Uni freshers all last Sunday, and all the students really really enjoyed it. As we were putting WT900 away that evening I couldn't help but reflect.....
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5313ab2a7f.jpg

What a lovely photograph !

A quick glance at the photo,and I thought` Shoot` they`re fitting RATOG to gliders now``...just that white blur under the fuselage....
I wenton an ATC gliding course at RAF Newton in Jan or Feb`59..as expected it blew,rained,occasional snow flurries,and was `effing cold`..Nobody was `soloed`,as it would be deemed`unfair` to all ,due the conditions and it was just as cold in the `accomodation`...still,it was `fun`when you are about 15,and away from home..
Then in mid `68 whilst doing ETPS,did 2 trips in `Barge WD920` at Upavon,sent solo in OlympiaVV400 for 10 mins,,then 1h20 m soaring.;couple of weeks later ,1h soaring in Sky XA876.Then relegated to `tug-pilot` in the Chipmunk,for having `hogged` the soaring bit...great `fun `again...

My brother went to Hawkinge in December '61 for a one week course; not surprisingly he didn't solo either and neither did any of the course then the airfield closed at the end of '61 and the gliding centre moved to Swanton Morley.
As we were only 10 miles from Halton, he soloed a few months later but you have to wonder was it 'productive' to send cadets away at that time of year?
Approaching my 16th birthday, I asked my CO for a gliding course as soon as I was old enough and got one commencing just after my 16th, soloing in about 5 weekends and attending both sat and sun.

Maybe not 'now' but back 'then' they did.
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But he's using the spoilers so he's cheating.

Hi Dave cannot help with 1953 but In The Gliding Book Chap 3 (Nicholas Kaye Ltd 1965) - Alex Watson writes that in 1963 the Air Cadet Gliding movement was responsible for training 2043 Cadets to A&B standard (3 solo ccts at that time) for a total of 136,345 launches.
There was an A4 pamphlet/booklet called The Way We Were? published in the 1990's/early 2000's ? which covered Air Cadet Gliding during the wooden years,there may have been some launch/solo statistics in that but the lord only knows where my copy went :(

Any particular reason for being interested in the 1953 stats ?

cheers /regards LR

Thanks Longer Ron, '63 is perfect. '53 was when WT900 was built, but '63 is 60 years so a nice round number when I write my column. Over 2,000 solos eh? I wonder if the ATC did 20 this year???? Thanks for all the other comments guys - much appreciated! You know, it was a beautiful day last Sunday, and perfect for winching. With one of the lighter girls I got to 1600ft (the average was 1400) and the view was amazing. Two of the students told me it was "the most amazing thing they'd ever done" and everyone of them absolutely loved it. I think quite a few of them will be back.

That works out at 66 launches per solo which seems a little high.

I wonder if he was including Air Experience flights in the total of 136,345?

Hi UV yes almost certainly including AEG launches in that total - Alex did not elaborate on the number/breakdown of launches.
Hey even I went solo in 21 launches at 644 in the summer of '69 :)

I think the switch to a single solo flight from three happened in about 1980 or thereabouts, roughly the same time that Ventures were introduced.
If you did a weeks course (sun to sat), you were bound to go solo quicker because of the continuity ('right laddie, just like you did yesterday').
I was a weekender so with 5 days at school between each session, you had to do a bit of revision plus sometimes you 'lost' a day due to bad weather (it was October) so it took me a total of 39; that last day I did 6 with my instructor plus 2 with the CO as check pilot then my 3 solos all in a Mk3 so each launch lasted just 3 or 4 minutes.

Aah, RAF Swanton Morley. I did the week long course there in 1972 and went solo just 5 days after my 16th birthday.
I've still got my little green "licence" certificate booklet with a plastic cover, as issued back then and marked up with A and B endorsements.
Done a few flights since. Maybe I should have another go at it, now that I'm not flying for a living.

When I did my gliding course in Feb 1968, it ended with three solo's. I was told that I had to do at least one left tun, and one right, in whatever order to qualify for the A and B certificates.
However, this might have been an evil staff cadet winding up a nervous student! In any event, it was a fantastic experience for this 17 year old. At the time I was probably the only one in my schooll of 400 or so to have done something like that.
I can also remember 611 doing a 'longest weekend' session in the early 1980's, when they tried to make 611 launches.
When I read your initial request, Dave, did wonder if you were going to do a ' that was then, this is now' comparison.....

In any event, thank you from this ex-student to all who made it possible then and now.

It wasn't an evil staff cadet, it was definitely a requirement to do turns in both directions for the A and B. With a 270 degree turn off the top of a winch launch in a not very efficient glider it needed a relatively tight circuit to avoid brown trousers for a young air cadet with a limited but still developing judgement of glide angle.

In case anyone's wondering I have asked various sources for how many cadets were sent solo this year - no joy.
Wrote to ATC HQ. My query was confirmed, forwarded and then nothing. BTW if you go on their web site/contacts it's quite interesting.
Spoke to acquaintance who flies at major ATC site. Claimed the site had sent cadets solos in 2023, unable (unwilling?) to provide actual numbers.
The only solid intel was from someone who is the CO of an Air Cadet squadron. None of his cadets have flown a glider solo in 2023.
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Last launch for the Freshers.