John Williamson was an adventurer. If the day was flyable then the opportunity had to be taken even if this meant putting the T21 on a trailer, hooking a winch to a tractor and de-rigging various other gliders, so be it, then off we went.
I remember one weekend when we were flying off the top of a ridge some miles from Upavon. A key piece of advice we were given was "don't land at the bottom as the farmer does not like gliders and has a shot gun". Who can tell me where that was!!!
As the wind was a bit variable this meant just staying airborne until a landing at the top was possible. Given the curl over behind the ridge this was not the simplest site to fly at. Great experience though and we were all given a check flight in the T21 before being set loose in the Oly2
I'll tell you where this was next time.
Good Flying.
I remember one weekend when we were flying off the top of a ridge some miles from Upavon. A key piece of advice we were given was "don't land at the bottom as the farmer does not like gliders and has a shot gun". Who can tell me where that was!!!
As the wind was a bit variable this meant just staying airborne until a landing at the top was possible. Given the curl over behind the ridge this was not the simplest site to fly at. Great experience though and we were all given a check flight in the T21 before being set loose in the Oly2
I'll tell you where this was next time.
Good Flying.
Yes; John Willy was a free spirit, as the following short tale will confirm:
ReplyDeleteAccording to my logbook, on 21st February 1959 John and I took off from Upavon in the T.21 (marked in the log as "Sedburgh", which is what we called it then) on an aerotow (probably a Chipmunk). There was an 8/8 sc deck, and the tug pilot was told to just keep towing until we cast off, which we did above cloud at 3000ft. Wavy conditions. As we started to descend through the cloud, I asked John what we should do. It was a check flight for something, and of course I should have known without asking. "Just keep on flying, we shall probably have to land out, as the wind is quite strong" said John. Land out - in the T.21! How in heaven's name ...Logbook remark: "Descent through cloud to Everleigh!". My landing went ok, but as to how we and the glider were fetched back to Upavon I have no remembrance. But I do remember that John was quite calm - almost detached - throughout the whole adventure.