evernkies

The magazine ofBristol and Glos

Gliding Club

Spring 2008S

Advertise at bggc.co.uk

CLEAN SWEEP FOR THE DAVIS FAMILY

AGM report:Page 5

ALISON Lees, elected on to the com-mittee at the AGM, has taken on therole of social secretary.

Did you catchall the news?THE club said farewell to instructorDan Welch as he left for New Zealand.

A mini courses deal is being offeredfor Sundays and our Thursdayevenings are to be devoted to trial les-son groups again this year. Contact theoffice to book a date. Minimum groupsize five, maximum 20; price: £50.

Carol Smith and Kevin Neave are totake the DG 505 to Gap on August 11and it could be up for grabs. Kevin isalso seeking volunteers to take part inRockpolishers.

Congratulations to Kelvin Cobb,James Blockley and Stefano Longo ongoing solo. Also the Mosses on thearrival of baby Megan Lucy.

Bernard Smyth, who was awarded aBGA diploma for “services to glid-ing” at the BGA AGM in Daventry.He was a member of the S&G edito-rial board in the days of editorGillian Bryce-Smith and for eightyears has helped to proofread S&G

TROPHIES were awarded at the clubdinner-dance on February 23 at theBear Hotel, Rodborough, to the fol-lowing:Cyril Uwins cross-country trophy(longest or best flight fromNympsfield): Tim Macfadyen.Shaun de Salis trophy (fastest or bestclosed circuit flight from Nympsfield:Andy Davis. Club ladder trophy: Tim Macfadyen.Weekend ladder trophy: RussFrancis.Malcolm Gay trophy (junior ladder):Matt Davis. Guinness trophy: Gavin Wrigley for286km in ASK 21 on August 9 (a diffi-cult day).

Chris Ellis, who 50 years ago paid“the princely sum of £28” for a two-week course at Nympsfield

His story is on pages 10-11

Continued on page 2

Andy and Bill collect the height trophy; Pami Davis, top, with her tankard

New post for Alison

MY city centre winter gar-den bird record shows 28 dif-ferent species since thebeginning of November,which is more than havebeen seen at Nympsfield,according to TFS recordingsheets – can our local birdsbe in semi-hibernation await-ing the soaring season justlike many of the members?

It was a year ago that ournoticeboard and other trap-pings were banished fromthe canteen to a corner of theold clubroom and I havebeen worrying that fewerpeople see it there.However, 35 membersadded their observations tothe monthly sheets last year,which is more than in 2006.With our wonderful site ofrich and varied habitat we’vehad all the usual sightingsand soundings (if that’s theright word) of skylarks,buzzards, orchids, hares, roeand muntjac deer, red admirals, etc. The more unusual obser-vations included grass snake, a pig, the famous shrew in thebar, partridges, several records of a red kite, an injured badg-er, snipe, curlew, a brambling among the chaffinch flock atRoger Targett’s feeders and ravens doing aerobatics.Records written up by Don Puttock and others at the club onweekdays are always valuable because I fancy there might bemore wildlife around when there are fewer people about.

Other Terra Firma Syndicate news of the past year: we hada naturalist led walk around the field in May, enjoyed bymore than 20 members, and I shall endeavour to twist some-one’s arm to do another one this spring or early summer. Ipromised we’d have a presence on the club website buthaven’t quite got around to it yet.

Ann Bray has done an illustrated sign which is next to themain noticeboard with a large arrow pointing the way to ourcorner in the old clubroom. The excellent talk by ColinPennycuick in January on “How Birds Soar over Land and

Sea” was not really TFSat all but I’ll claim it as Iorganised it! Around 60members enjoyed it andmore than half of themhad a supper afterwards.

As with all other clubsyndicates, we are look-ing forward to the com-ing season – our goodviews through leaflesstrees, the possible sight-ings of winter thrushesand bramblings, etc. maysoon be gone but thecatkins are already inbloom, small tortoise-shell butterflies are outon warm, sunny daysand our resident birdsare starting to tune up forfull song. Soon the sum-mer warblers plus theswifts, swallows andmartins will be back,someone might hear acuckoo and our continu-ing care of the field will

yield many flowers and insects for us all to enjoy. Pleasecontinue to add your observations to the clipboard.

Nancy Barrett

Severn Skiesis magazine of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club,Nympsfield, Stonehouse, Glos GL10 3TX

Phone numbers: 01453 860342; 01453860060 (fax). Email:secretary@bggc.co.ukSent free to every British gliding club. Themagazine can be downloaded frombggc.co.uk/?page=about/severnSkies.html

Editor: Bernard Smyth Tel/fax: 01454 329751; 07813 726245b.smyth@blueyonder.co.ukPrinted by Waterprint, 01342 844255

Welcome to new membersJames Ewence Full flyingGraham Bunt Full flyingChristina Politz StudentPavlos Efthymiou Solo & BeyondFlorian Mertens Student Thomas Smith StudentAlexander Pattison StudentKelvin Cobb Solo & BeyondJoe Reed AssociateRory Condon JuniorAntonia White StudentStefano Longo Student

More members areeyeing up wildlife

A female greater spotted woodpecker by Daphne Malfiggiani

Rex Young trophy: Best progress by a novice (pre-Silverpilot): Jeremy Bodian, Silver distance to Edgehill, K-8.Evening World trophy: Greatest gain of height fromNympsfield: Andy and Matt Davis.Parry Jones trophy: Awarded by the chairman for servicesto the club: Dave Bland (EASA paperwork etc). Jim Webster trophy: Awarded by the CFI to the mostdeserving instructor: Alison Moss.Meyer trophy (best retrieve story): Andy Davis sent Pami tocollect Gavin Wrigley from Petersfield while Andy attendeda committee meeting. Pami had to drive back as well as thereas Gavin only had sun glasses. Gill Starling was presentedwith a bouquet for organising the event.

Cup winners continued from page one

3

Composite Structures workers inspect Dominic’s turbo – Picture: Bob Page

Keep our visitors safe– members are urged

IT is essential that all membersadhere to the following to ensure thesafety of visitors and Trial Lessons.This includes your own family orother visitors.

A revised version of the visitors sitebriefing sheet is now available at theoffice, the main changes being that amap with safety instructions isattached for retention by the visitorand the person giving the briefingmust also sign it (to prevent visitors‘self-briefing’).

All visitors (not just trial lessons)who may go outside of the club-house area must receive a safetybriefing and must sign a copy of thebriefing sheet before going on to theairfield, where they must be escortedby a club member.

Anyone giving a site briefing mustdetermine if the visitor has anyoneelse accompanying them and if so,get each one to sign a separate brief-ing sheet.

When giving a briefing, please takethe visitor through each point on thesheet to make sure it is fully under-stood. Do not just leave them to readit on their own.

BGGC Committee

THE club took a glider to the Composite Structures Development Centre atAirbus UK in Filton for a day in November so that the engineers could havethe opportunity to see a glider and learn about its construction.

This presented an excellent promotional opportunity for the club in termsof attracting new members and at least one was gained.

Members who helped out on the day had the opportunity to see some of thevery latest Composite Manufacturing Research being carried out in the UK.

The trip was organised by Jonathan Meyer. The club agreed to lend theLS4 but Dominic Conway loaned his turbo to help increase the “wow” factorfor the engineers.

Treat for Airbus workers

I HAVE made preliminary arrangements for my Task Week torun from Saturday July 19 to Sunday 27, in order to avoid theJuniors and the International Air Tattoo.

Tasks will be set in A class for those with good competitivecross-country experience and the B Class for those who are stilllooking for their first 300k or so. This year I will not be runninga C class (those below 100k diploma standard) due to a lack ofinterest in previous years. (Last year’s sole entry did so well hewas promoted to B class on day two.)

Scoring as always, will use the BGA Ladder system. If inter-ested please submit an entry form, available from my ‘Weather’page, together with the £5 entry fee. Closing date for entries isJuly 1.

However in order that I can better concentrate on weather andtask-setting, I would like a volunteer to do the scoring.

This is not too demanding and requires no real technical abil-ity. Please contact me if you would like to take on this essentialtask and earn a free entry! Given sufficient demand, I may also

run a second week over the August Bank holiday (August 23-31), but this is by no means certain at this stage.

Sid

Help needed for Sid’s Task Week

Please fall before night does!A REMINDER to all pilots that landing during (or after) twi-light is extremely ill-advised. It may be just acceptable whenconditions are smooth and uncluttered, but makes a safelanding all the more difficult in turbulence.

This is especially tempting over winter months when daysare short and the ridge is working, as was graphicallydemonstrated recently by several pilots, including some sen-ior instructors, who attempted a mass landing at the lastmoment on a wave day.

Please exercise your better judgment. Sid

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5

CHAIRMAN Richard Grey began hisAGM presentation by thanking themany members who had put a lot ofeffort into keeping the club running.

He said there had been concern andhurt over the change to tug manage-ment from two people to one. He apol-ogised to John French and JamesMetcalfe for the way the matter washandled.

Richard reported that the launch rateover the year was 6 per cent up. An“exit poll” of members leaving the clubhad been conducted and no negativefeedback had been received.

There had been to many incidentsinvolving insurance claims in the year,Richard added. This had contributed toa huge increase in insurance premiums,from £25,000 the previous year to£39,000.

The website had been developed andhad sold £1,200 worth of trial lessonsup to the end of November. Richardsaid the site was one of the best in thecountry.

The club’s buildings needed improv-ing to make them more economical torun and solutions were being sought.

Financially, it had been a reasonableyear, with income up to £239,000 butwe had not built up reserves. The clubnow knew more than ever about itsfinances, thanks for Peter Bray andTrevor Stuart.

Drive up launch rate

More days had been flown, withmembers doing more flying, said thechairman.

On utilisation of club gliders, the K-8was down, the single-seater Grob wasup. But the club needed to drive up thelaunch rate and utilisation even more.

The new course structure for mem-bers had been well received and usedand Martin Talbot was having a newlook at the tugging operation. Onequestion was: do we need two tugs?

One of our priorities had to be to getmore members, with everyone trying toget people to join. Members were thebest ambassadors so he urged them todo their best.

Communications with Aston Downhad been improved, Richard added, but

the committee's “open door” policy hadnot attracted much uptake. He urgedmember to “come and talk to us”. Ifyou wish to attend a committee meet-ing, give your name to the office staff.

The use of professional instructorshad guaranteed a seven-day operationwith more consistent and available earlytraining to attract and keep members.

Barry Walker proposed that withrecession possible and no cash aroundthe number of professional instructorsbe reduced to two next season. Thiswas amended, after some discussion,by Jon Meyer, who proposed that thecommittee be restricted in the numberof man-hours paid for in the year – 104– rather than a number of people.

After more discussion, Jon’s amend-ment was carried by 56-4 with fourabstentions. It was made clear that“2008 season” meant the whole year.

Barry Walker’s proposal, as amend-ed, was defeated by 29-16, with threeabstentions. So in effect the committeestrategy was accepted without change.

Treasurer Trevor Stuart said thatdespite a poor soaring season incomehad increased by 12 per cent.

We were declaring a loss of £1,294.Income was broken down to include:aerotowing at £56,866 (down 0.5%).winching at £26,624 (up 27%) andsoaring at £38,491 (up 13%).

However, insurance had gone up by56% to £39,353, glider maintenance by36% to £10,869 and tug maintenanceby 93% to £18,117.

The committee proposed to increase

membership and rentals by 8% andsoaring by 5% (except K-8s).

The accounts were approved by themeeting by 45-4 with one abstention.Peter Bray proposed a vote of thanks toTrevor. The subs proposal was agreedby 43-5, with one abstention.

Andy Townsend asked for theaccounts to be made available earlier,before the AGM, and for committeeminutes to be put in the bar.

Elections

Richard was re-elected chairman,Andy Davis vice-chairman, Phil Leesecretary and Trevor Stuart treasurer.

Committee members elected are AlanPrice, Kevin Neave, Rob Thompson,Martin Talbot and Alison Lees.

Ken Brown made a plea for noticestaken from the noticeboard not to bethrown away but put in the HistoryGroup’s folder on the board.

Sid Smith said the club really neededto replace the K-13 – was it activelyseeking one? Richard said the commit-tee were taking stock before decidingthe way forward. At the moment theclub was not in a position to rush intogetting a new two-seater but the matterwould be kept on the agenda.

Bill Meyer proposed a vote of thanksto Guiseppe and his kitchen team andthis was passed.

Andy Davis said one more gliderneeded “adopting” by members. Hethanked those who had volunteered tolook after the other gliders.

AGM backs officers’ strategy

BY the time you read this, this year’sgrid launch rota will be on the notice-board and the website – if your glider isnot on it, then, according to the office,you have not paid your trailer rental.The rota starts from April 5. Sid

I WILL be giving my annualAdvanced Met talk at the clubhouse onSaturday, March 15, at 18:00.

This will take the form of a livedemonstration on how I produce myforecasts, rather than the theory.However a good working knowledgeto Bronze C will be required.

Guiseppe will be providing foodafterwards – please book through him.

Sid

08 weekend grid launch rota

On yer bike!ON ITV’s Family Fortunes acontestant was asked to namesomething that flies but doesn’thave an engine. Answer – A bicycle with wings.

Advanced met talk is on again

6

Three golden rules for launching the big droopy Nimbus

HISTORY GROUP

The navigator who used to get lost!The Jim Webster TrophyJIM Webster joined the club soon afterthe move to Nympsfield.

During the war he had been an RAFnavigator, and he quickly became aninstructor in the club. He was enthusis-tic about all aspects of club activities,including cross-country flying, but inspite of his wartime experience wasnotorious for his difficulties with navi-gating with map and compass.

He was particularly interested ininstructing and was popular with thepupil pilots.

But sadly Jim was killed during aWestern Regional Competition in 1981in an approach accident. In his memo-ry, his widow, Barbara, donated theTrophy for the Most OutstandingInstructor.The Parry-Jones Cup

John Parry-Jones was a foundermember of the club when it reformedafter the war, and in a short space oftime he became successively CFI,Secretary and Vice Chairman. It was inthis last position that he was involvedin the move from Lulsgate to our pres-ent site. In 1954 Lulsgate had becomeearmarked to become Bristol Airport

and the club was looking for a newhome. Thirty acres of our present sitewas up for sale. This was clearly notenough to operate a gliding club, butJohn’s persistent persuasion inducedthe farmer progressively to increase theamount of land he was prepared to sellto 50, and finally 80 acres, includingthe cow shed which was to become ourclubhouse.

In addition John was influential inpersuading the Kemsley Flying Trust towaive their normal limit of £5,000 tothe amount of the loan they would giveto any one club. As we had already got£1,000 on loan and the field was to cost

£3400, this would have left only £600to provide for building a hangar andclubhouse and the other necessities foroperating the new site.

It was largely John’s insistence thatthe club would fail if we could notequip the site properly that resulted inthe loan being extended to £5,000, witha separate mortgage to cover the pur-chase of the field.

Sadly John was killed in an accidentto a Britannia Airliner on a test flight inNovember 1957, scarcely two yearsafter the move to Nympsfield. TheParry-Jones Trophy was not foundeduntil some time in the 1990s, but it isappropriate that it is awarded for serv-ices to the club. Ken Brown

The Jim Webster Plate

The Parry-Jones trophy

THE Severn Skies of winter 2007 madea statement on page 3 I was glad toread: “The launch signaller/wing run-ner is the launch controller, a veryresponsible job. He/she must stop thelaunch if the glider overruns the cableand, very importantly, if there is a sig-nificant load on the wing. On the recentDG-505 accident at Nympsfield andlast year’s fatal at Keevil there was somuch load on the wing because of acrosswind that when the wing runnerlet go one wing immediately wentdown.”

The AAIB Report on that KeevilASW 20 accident states “...the wingrunner had to push the glider’s leftwing down in order to keep its wingslevel. When he let go of the wingtip theglider rolled to the right. The rightwingtip struck soft ground, causing theglider to yaw and roll rapidly to theright, pitch nose down and somersault

inverted.” I highlight this because:After many years of launching fast andhairy things with enough wheels tokeep level, or self-launching gliderswith a wingtip wheel I now winch-launch a big droopy-winged Nimbus,970, and note that a mere five degreesof roll could put my wingtip on theground in about a second, yet I cannotdetect any roll forces whilst the wingrunner is gripping my wing tip. Then,when I am accelerating like a rocket,roll suddenly appears at the absoluteworst moment to touch a wingtip!

I am happy that this piece in the clubnewsletter gives the wing runner prop-er status to help me by stating: “Thewing runner is the launch controller”.OK, you're in charge.

If you launch me in 970 pleasealways do this:

1 Immediately before signalling “up-slack” separate your hands two feet so I

can adjust aileron to hold my wingslevel.

2 If I ignore that and you feel ANYload up or down on the wingtip then tapthe wing to attract my attention.

3 As per last Severn Skies, do notlaunch me with any up or down wingtipforce present.

Thank you. John McWilliam

Severn Skies:an openingTHE editor would like to findsomeone who would be interestedin becoming deputy editor with aview to taking over production ofSevern Skies in time. If you areinterested, or know someone whomight be, please contact the editor(details on page 2).

7

IT WAS a cold December morningwhen I climbed into the front seat of theK-21 for a check-flight at Nympsfieldwith Chris Edwards.

Full cockpit checks, full and freemovement of the controls, all well, andoff we went behind the Scout, peeringthrough a rather misty canopy as wewent off, the first flight of the day.

It very soon became apparent that allwas not well; I was applying a heavystick load to the right to keep the wingslevel and kept the pressure on until wereached 300ft, when I said to Chris“Chris, check this out will you, some-thing is not as it should be.”

He took control and quickly decidedto turn back to land downwind near thehangar, saying “I thought you were hav-ing trouble with the crosswind, but thisis not good. Let’s get her inspected.”

The techie came out and soon discov-ered that the underside wing root jointshad not been taped, neither one ofthem. (Note – who carried out the DIthat day?). So it fell to me to lie on myback in the slushy grass to tape bothwing roots.

Half an hour later we took off again,not without some trepidation as I hadheard Chris saying to the techie “If Ihad let go of the stick we would havespun in!” However, all was well and wehad an enjoyable flight together.

I still can’t quite figure why a sym-metrical absence of tape would haveresulted in such a very pronounced biasto the controls, but there is no denyingthat the trouble went away after the tap-ing up.

But could it have been something else– possibly ice or condensation on onewing before the first take-off. The 21has a thick airfoil: could condensationon the port wing have caused thiseffect? My bet is that it was water on theupper surfaces and I have made a men-tal note to wipe the wings when flyingon cold humid days such as this was.

PS: It was interesting because asalways in these cases there are severalopinions expressed. The engineer said asimilar thing had happened with theAstir and taping cured it. However I ampretty well convinced it was water oreven ice.

The aircraft had sat at the launchpointfor half an hour or so before this the first

take-off of the day, port wing down. Inoticed quite a build-up of condensationon that wing, but did not examine bothof them so could not say whether thestarboard wing was similarly affected.There was noticeable condensation onthe wings, and looking back on it Ibelieve I should have taken positivesteps to remove it. It is possible that,due to dihedral, more heavy condensa-tion existed on the port wing, the onethat was on the ground.

Two further general thoughts. First,even though the tape was absent fromthe underside of the wing-roots surelythis was not peculiar to that day? Theaircraft had been flown presumablymore than once since its most recentrig? Had nobody experienced a ten-dency to roll over?! Secondly, I flyfrom Booker, where we also haveK.21s. I remember during my trainingthere last spring we had showers, andmy instructor insisted the wings weredry before we flew, saying that that par-ticular wing profile “would do funnythings when wet”.

Tim Macfadyen adds: It is wellknown that if aileron or elevator tapelifts you can have a major control prob-lem, but for wing root to give a majorroll problem is odd. Having said that,the two-seater Grob rolled significent-

ly, but not dangerously, with Sid, withone wing not proberly taped, a fewmonths ago. My guess is that it was thetape not condensation, but that is only aguess. John BonallackChris Edwards writes: Condensationwas evident and both operating glidershad their canopies cleaned inside andout and positioned in a sunlit part of thelaunch point. The flying surfaces hadbeen wiped and although there wassome condensation remaining it wasslight and not sufficient to preventlaunching.

I can confirm that the right aileronpressure John experienced seemedexcessive (even accounting for a crosswind). Had I taken my hand off thecontrols we would have rolled abruptlyto the left. However, I don't recall men-tioning “that it would have spun in”.This was a K-21 after all.

From my rear seat position I couldsee nothing interfering with the con-trols or the ailerons that might con-tribute to the experience, so it was aprompt return to Nympsfield for a clos-er inspection.

A strange occurrence most likelycaused by a combination of wing tapingand wind strength, which was notice-ably stronger at height (500-600ft), andnothing to do with condensation.

Tape mystery on K-21 take-off

THE success of the “adopt-a-glider”scheme got me thinking that may be wecould use a similar scheme to help initi-ate and control the maintenance of ourrather aging building stock.

As you know the committee are look-ing at long-term plans for the buildingstrategy of the club, but meanwhile wehave to try to maintain what we have.

The proposal is that members volun-teer to adopt a room in the clubhouse –don’t be alarmed this doesn’t mean thatthey would be wholly responsible.

What we would like is for the volun-teer to keep an eye on “their” room andreport back to myself any maintenanceissues, problems or even cosmeticimprovements (we all like to be inpleasant surroundings).

In addition, it would be helpful if theycould arrange quotes for any workrequired and/or organise a work party tocarry it out. Where costs are involved the

committee will review all the issuesraised by the adopters over the previousperiod, then allocate funds as theybecome available and as they see fit.

As a start Andy and Elaine haveagreed to be the bar, this of coursechanges nothing in the way they operatethe bar (exceptionally well may I add) –it just formalises what they already do.And Hywel and Alison have agreed toadopt the ladies’ loo on the ground floor,only if you agree of course! RichardStarling and Jed Barratt have takenresponsibility for the caravan site.

Hopefully Guiseppe will agree to dothe same for the kitchen and canteen. Sofor the all the remaining rooms, notice-boards, plus hangars and workshops, dowe have any adopters? Do you have afavourite room or may be a bunk roomthat you regularly use? Please email me– but don’t all rush at once. Alan Price(a_price@btinternet.com)

Adopt-a-room idea launched

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Solo…now for beyond

9

IT'S Christmas as I write this and a timeof parties and socialising, when I'veoften found it difficult to explain tonon-flyers why I took up gliding.

The questions, familiar to many ofyou, seem to have a sub-text of “…noengine? You must be bonkers”.However after 50-something flightsand being sent off solo the novelty has-n't worn off, if anything I'm becoming abit of a fanatic. (Family gifts this yearwere trial flights…..)

I began in the late summer when ther-mals and northerlies on the ridgeallowed long flights. We soared overthe countryside; I could admire theviews, wave at the buzzards and gener-ally enjoy the spectacular scenery. Withplenty of lift there was time in the airand I was introduced to and practised:stalls, spins and trying to fly in astraight line.

I discovered that the huge disadvan-tage of being airborne for an hour orlonger was there was no escape fromDon or Dave’s repetitive mantra of“stick AND rudder” and worse (muchworse) Don’s singing. So there was mymotivation for improvement – peace

and quiet from the P1. But as I madeprogress there was the inevitablechange to having responsibility for“where to go” and “when to land”. Oneof the worst moments was being askedby the voice behind; “what's yourplan?” It didn't take a second for me torealise:(a) Oh dear (!?). I had no plan (toobusy having fun flying)(b) A “normal” circuit wasn't possi-ble from that particular location. This iswhen I learnt that there were other optionsand landed safely – against the flow.

Other interesting moments included:l The application of brakes by the P1when we seemed to be miles out fromNympsfield….can we really get back?(Of course we could).l A tricky height gain needed atHaresfield before we could return to thehome ridge. (Don not only stoppedsinging but wouldn't talk either – as heexpertly found the necessary lift!).l Witnessing a couple of real winchproblems.

When it came to my first solo I foundmyself thinking “yes, this is OK”. Theexpert training had got me to this point

(launch 45) with a confidence that Iwould not have believed a couple ofmonths earlier. Three solos in quiet con-ditions on November 14 left me on a highfor days. Then a few weeks later I wasallowed to fly the “baby Grob”, whichwas another magic experience partlybecause I managed a 30-minute flight!

The many ad hoc talks have beenvery useful and I hope will enable meto tackle the Bronze exam in the firsthalf of 2008.

Finally my thanks to other club mem-bers; those who are also learning withme have been great, as have some ofthe experienced pilots who have takenthe time to advise and offer guidance tothis “learner”.

LOAs updatedTHE Letters of Agreement page on theBGA website has been updated andnow contains, among others, details ofLOAs covering LTCA access duringcompetitions (Lasham, Booker andHusbands Bosworth), and Lynehamand Brize Norton class D access duringcomps (any host club). See www.glid-ing.co.uk/bgainfo/airspace/loas.htm

By Ant Clerici

LIFE is full of coincidences. I was chat-ting to Helen Evans in the Lasham barduring the nationals and she introducedme to Bernard Smyth, mentioning thathe was from Nympsfield. Icommented that it was therethat I had started gliding 50years ago, having paid theprincely sum of £28 for atwo-week course. He natural-ly saw this as an opportunityto fill some space in this wor-thy publication and asked meto write a piece about that time.

In the late 1950s I was in theMerchant Navy sailing on a passengerliner, the mv Reina del Pacifico. Wehad sailed from Liverpool on August 61957 on our regular round trip of twomonths to the West Coast of SouthAmerica. Halfway down the Irish Seathere was a loud bang in the engineroom as a con-rod came through theside of the cylinder of one of our fourengines. We diverted to Milford Havento disembark our passengers andreturned to Liverpool for repairs. Thisleft me with eight weeks to fill until ournext scheduled voyage. There wereuseful courses to attend such as action

to be taken in the event of a nuclearattack and how to survive in a lifeboat,which included rather gruesome adviceon how to prevent the boat becoming

overloaded. There was also back leaveto catch up on.

Two of my aeromodelling friends hadanswered an advert in Aeromodellerand been to Nympsfield on a coursewhich they thoroughly enjoyed.

I had offered my services as a pilot tothe late King George VI whilst still atschool but this offer was declined.Having done my National Service inthe RAF and getting the occasionalflight as ‘observer’ in Harvards, PiperPacers and Lincolns in Kenya I wasstill eager to learn to fly.

I replied to the advert inAeromodeller and on September 28,having travelled from Liverpool by

train and bus I was welcomed to theCrown Inn by the landlord, Jim Smith.Coincidentally Jim had been transport-ed on my ship in her troop-carrying

days.On the Monday morn-

ing we were greeted atthe club by Peter Collier,the professional instruc-tor ably assisted by StanCole (Stan, Stan thewinch driving man).Being the mug I volun-teered to be first up in the

T21 and was rewarded with 30 minutesof very scratchy soaring in ridge-assist-ed thermals triggered by a couple oflarge concrete blocks.

This was the best flight of the fort-night, after that the average was abouttwo or three minutes punctuated by fre-quent breaks resulting from very oldsecondhand cable. The first job eachmorning was to DI the cable, cut out,re-tie and tape any dodgy lookingknots.

To the best of my recollection therewere six of us each week. Another stal-wart who started the same day as mestayed for the whole two weeks wasTony Pentelow. We remained goodfriends until his untimely death recent-ly. There was another chap whose nameI cannot recall who carried on as a clubmember and I think became a sort ofclub manager and in later years wouldgive me a lift back to my ship inAvonmouth.

Massive breakfast

Amazingly we had flyable weatheron every day but one. The daily routinewas to start with a massive breakfast atthe Crown, fly all morning, have apacked lunch and hot drinks at the cluband after flying for the day back to theCrown for dinner. This was followedthe consumption of copious amounts oflocal cider sometimes mixed withdraught Guinness. How we got up, letalone flew, the following morning Idon’t know.

At the end of a great two weeks, hav-ing also flown during the weekend inthe middle, I returned to my ship. It wasnot until Saturday June 27 1959, havingtransferred to cargo ships, that I foundmyself in Avonmouth and was inex-orably drawn to Nympsfield. I was in

10

Nympsfield 50 years ago

By Chris Ellis

Continued page 11

Above: an aerial view on the field when it had two tracks and, below, PeteCollier, right, takes Chris Ellis up in the T-21 at Nympsfield

Bristol looking for a bus when I recog-nised a bearded club member, again Iam afraid I can’t remember his name,who gave me a lift in his Landrover.That day I recorded four four-minuteflights. The next visit was the weekendof August 2 and 3 1959. On theSaturday I had a 15-minute soaringflight and on Sunday five circuits, thelast being with the CFI Alwyn Sutcliffe,who then suggested that I might like tofly the Tutor.

Needless to say the first two attemptsto get into the air were frustrated bycable breaks but I did get my obligato-ry left and right hand solo circuits. Myenduring memory of the occasion is ofbeing up there all alone in an opencockpit, looking out over the beautifulSevern Valley on a gorgeous summerevening thinking ‘What the hell am Idoing here and how do I get this thingback on the ground in one piece?’ Withonly 36 launches spread over two yearsit was a bit scary.

Visits more sporadic

Although I maintained country mem-bership my visits became more spo-radic and eventually ceased in 1962with a change of job and a mortgage.

Having moved to Shropshire I startedflying again at the Long Mynd 1971. In1973 I flew my Silver distance toNympsfield in my Oly 460 to be greet-ed by Rosemary Storey saying some-thing like ‘welcome back’. I wasunable to get a launch to local soar orfly back as the hangar had been the vic-tim of an arson attack and, due to lackof tug, there was a mile long queue forthe winch. Launch rate had notimproved much over the interveningyears. In 1974 a career move meant thatI was to spend a fair amount of timeworking in the Bristol area and theKings Head in Kings Stanley was avery convenient place to overnight.

On my first night’s stay I mentionedthe club and asked about Jim Smith.The landlords said he was still aboutand would I like to phone him. I did andwe arranged to meet on my next visit intwo weeks. He didn’t make that meet-ing as he died in a car accident.

There is a tale, probably apocryphal,that Peter Collier and a semi profes-sional instructor were enjoying a pint ortwo in the Crown after the end of the

course season and Jim said he hadnever been in a glider and ‘what was itlike?’ It was agreed that the three ofthem would meet at the field the fol-lowing morning and Jim would learn tofly. Peter was to fly Jim in the T21 andthe other instructor would drive thewinch. The story goes that they floggedJim round the circuit for the whole of acalm clear autumn day and eventuallysent him solo for a circuit and retiredback to the Crown to celebrate and Jimnever flew again.

I am not sure of the year but the clubhad Tiger Moth tugs. I was told thatfour were purchased as RAF surplus fora total of £100. Three were airworthyand the fourth was for spares.

During the 1970s I spent many apleasant mid-week evening flying theSwallow and Skylark 4 while MikeMundy made noises suggesting that Ishould think about instructing. Thiscame to pass and my first flight as aninstructor was June 22 1976 with agroup from Redland College. This con-tinued with me flying regular mid-weekevening sessions until late 1977 whenanother work change put an end tothem.

Through all these changes I contin-ued to fly at the Mynd at weekends butmid-week moved from Nympsfield toBooker and, on retirement, to RAFGSAat Cosford.

It has been great fun looking backover 50 years of gliding and my thanksto Bernard for setting me off.

Also thanks to Ken Brown for a longtelephone conversation recalling far toomany names from the past to mention.

At least one of the heads that I used tolook at the back of became club CFI.

I write this on September 30 2007,having been to the Mynd hoping to geta 50th anniversary flight in the syndi-cate T21.

Unfortunately it was U/S but achance to fly the Grob 109 turbo visit-ing from Sackville Farm GC made myday at the opposite end of the scale.

11

Continued from page 10

Grumpy Old Git’s CornerWHY should old folk be penalised by not being allowed to flyclub single-seaters! If the insurers are stopping the cover, surelypensioners should have a reduction in their subscriptions, nowthey’re not getting as much for their money as previously?If you have a moan you’d like to get off your chest this corner’s all yours!

Obituary

Alf Samuels in his Skylark

Alf SamuelsIT is with sadness that we record thedeath of Alf Samuels, who was a mem-ber from 1954 to 1964, initially flyingat Lulsgate. The period of his member-ship coincided with the Club’s earlyyears at Nympsfield, and Sam, as hewas known, joined in all the activitieswhich this entailed. He became aninstructor and in 1959 joined a syndi-cate which bought a Skylark 2, irrever-ently known as Rhubarb and Custardbecause of its red and yellow colourscheme.

For six years he acted as the club’spress correspondent, writing regularand informative contributions toSailplane and Gliding’s Club Newsover the initials ALS. Sam was a talent-ed engineer, and one piece of his hand-iwork which still remains at the club isthe map which is the centre piece of theParry-Jones memorial.

Sam introduced Betty, later his wife,to the club and they both continued tofly until an expanding family dictated achange of priorities. In later life Samsuffered from poor health, though heattended the Old Timers’ reunions in1991, 1995 and 2005 and had flights inthe two-seaters. He and Betty rejoinedthe club two years ago as associates,although at that time he was confined toa wheelchair.

Our sympathies go to Betty and theirfamily. KRB

TWO-SEATER cross-country flyingwith an expert! Unless you're particu-larly gifted, most of us have difficultyflying cross-country.

Few people get close to achievinganything like the full potential of theirmachine or/and the days’ conditions.Why? Well, the instructor waves good-bye after the third solo flight and thepupil sets about learning to local soar.The pupil feels he no longer needs two-seaters – or does he? Cross-country fly-ing is like local soaring, only some-where else, it should be just as easy butsomehow the pressures are muchgreater. Consequently we only tend towander off on “classic” days, easilydiscouraged by a low scrape, a difficultfarmer or a late retrieve. Unless oneperseveres, progress can be slow. Forthose self-taught, this frustrating periodcan last for years.

Our five-day courses have helpedmany with their cross-country flying.We will continue to run these but sup-

plement them with “the CoachingTicket”. This gives you access to someof the club's best cross-country pilots,for one-to-one coaching in the club’sDG-505. The following have all volun-teered to be coaches for 2008:l Andy Davis – twice world champion,Coach for the British Team (and othercountries!)l Andy Smith – no 2 placing in nation-alsl Mike Jordy – twice national champi-on (and competed at world level)l Rob Hanks – 2,000 x/c hoursl Russ Francis – our deputy CFI, no 8placing in nationalsl Tim Macfadyen – our CFI with ahuge amount of x/c training experiencel Trevor Stuart – 4,000 x/c hours

Once you have your ticket contactyour chosen coach to arrange a mutual-ly convenient day – this will be enteredon the club calendar reserving the air-craft.

The Coaching Ticket is £179 and

covers the soaring time for three flightsin the DG-505. In the unlikely eventyour flight returns to earth prematurelyyou may opt to pay soaring time in thenormal way and retain your coachingticket credit.Terms & conditions: Must be silver Cor higher and a member of BGGC. Forflights originating at BGGC. No gliderreservation charge. Launching (and anyretrieve) costs must be paid in the nor-mal way.

Must be paid in advance. Not refund-able, transferable or available retro-spectively. All coaches are volunteerswith other lives/wives, we can't guaran-tee your chosen coach on your chosenday! You should maintain a rapportwith your coach re availability.

aviationinsuranceservices ltd

www.hillaviation.com

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ICE alertHAVE YOU put ICE in yourmobile?!

Parametics will thank you if youhave because it stands for “In caseof emergency”.

The ICE contacts entry shouldcontain details of your next of kin.If you’re unconscious, for exam-ple, your nearest and dearest canbe contacted.

Try it: Coaching withchamps just the ticket