Learning to fly, RAFGSA with the MOONRAKER Gliding Club.
How did it happen? Well it was all rather simple really.
It was a Sunday and I was on an Air Radar Fitters course at RAF Yatesbury in Wiltshire, England and had nothing to do. Come to the gliding club a friend said, and as he had a Jaguar Mark I, it was an invitation that could not be turned down.
Thirty minutes later at about 9:30 I suppose, we were on the Airfield at RAF Upavon, a grass field high on the Wiltshire downs. It supported a couple of large hangars and there were several gliders on the grass ready to be flown. The first thing we did on our arrival was to put our names down on the flying list as this determined the order in which we would fly. That done I did not know what to do next, so I stood about watching some two seater aircraft get hitched to the winch cable and then launched. This was all rather spectacular as I had only ever seen a kite fly like these things were being launched.
It is not possible to stand around doing nothing for long at any gliding club, and soon I was asked to help a couple of other guys wash down the wings of a rather smooth looking glider, a Olympia 419 as it turned out to be. One this task had been completed I saw a rather slim chap having his photo taken next to a blackboard on which his destination was written. I did not take too much notice of it at the time. A little while later the rather swish glider was pulled into the launch area and the slim fellow got in and was launched to about 700 feet so I was informed. He then turned to the east side of the airfield and started circling above the corn fields and drifting away. Eventually, he disappeared and that seemed to be that until two other club members climbed into a ford van and drove off towing a rather long trailer.
My curiosity was aroused by this activity so I asked what was going on. The answer was that the pilot and club CFI, John Williamson, had set his Diamond Goal and was planning to fly some 500km. As far as I remember, he did not get to his planned destination, but did do more than 500km so got his distance target. This all made me think that gliding was quite a serious activity.
And of course later in the day I had my first flight in a T31 glider. In fact I had two flights which my log book shows as Joy rides and totaled 8 minutes in all, and I was hooked.
How did it happen? Well it was all rather simple really.
It was a Sunday and I was on an Air Radar Fitters course at RAF Yatesbury in Wiltshire, England and had nothing to do. Come to the gliding club a friend said, and as he had a Jaguar Mark I, it was an invitation that could not be turned down.
Thirty minutes later at about 9:30 I suppose, we were on the Airfield at RAF Upavon, a grass field high on the Wiltshire downs. It supported a couple of large hangars and there were several gliders on the grass ready to be flown. The first thing we did on our arrival was to put our names down on the flying list as this determined the order in which we would fly. That done I did not know what to do next, so I stood about watching some two seater aircraft get hitched to the winch cable and then launched. This was all rather spectacular as I had only ever seen a kite fly like these things were being launched.
My curiosity was aroused by this activity so I asked what was going on. The answer was that the pilot and club CFI, John Williamson, had set his Diamond Goal and was planning to fly some 500km. As far as I remember, he did not get to his planned destination, but did do more than 500km so got his distance target. This all made me think that gliding was quite a serious activity.
And of course later in the day I had my first flight in a T31 glider. In fact I had two flights which my log book shows as Joy rides and totaled 8 minutes in all, and I was hooked.
