Moonrakers Gliding and Soaring Club - RAFGSA

  A tribute to John Williamson A Tribute to John Williamson  John Shapcote Williamson (John Willie) 29 October 1928 - 3 June 2020 First published and in Sailplane & Gliding (UK) I had the pleasure of meeting John Williamson at Benalla where he was resident in the early 1990s. He helped me achieve my first 300km and introduced me to the JSW Calculator which I used on every flight into the 2000s long after I purchased my first Garmin GPS - to check that the Garmin was giving me accurate data. John was a gentleman and great glider pilot and I am sure many Australian pilots remember him well. Sean Young Gliding recently lost another of its legends with the death of ‘John Willie’, inventor of the John Willie Calculator and mentor to many young glider pilots John’s father was the novelist Henry Williamson, whose experience in the trenches of WW1 made him a dedicated pacifist. This did not deter John from joining the RAF in 1947 and training as a radio fitter. He started gliding ...

An old photo from 1930's  Hanno in trouble. Can it be fixed out there in Africa?

Moonrakers By  Al Stacey  on  Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 9:24 PM MOONRAKERS February 1960 The main news item for the report is that the Club have had a most successful start to the winter ridge soaring season. Our thanks go to Neil Swan ton who has generously put at our disposal a fine large field at the base of Huish ridge. The first week-end produced 27 hrs and since then five Silver C durations have been flown. The shocking part of the story is that prior to arrival of John Williamson (CFI) the use of the ridge was hardly considered, but now it only needs the Met. man to mention the possibility of a wind with a touch of South in it and the equipment is put in the field overnight and flying starts at the crack of dawn. During the past few months we have regretfully said goodbye to four staunch supporters of the Club, namely Plt Off Bill Keppel-Compton (KC) ACI Dave Ellis, SAC Eddie Hodges and SAC John Dack. We wish them all the best with their pos...

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. (UK/EU: affiliate commission may be earned on purchases made through links in this post.) Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | Raffaello D'Andrea http://www.uvioo.com/watch/?v=RCXGpEmFbOw&m=dewlish Regards Chris. PS could not resist this. Want your own amazing flying machine? Check out: Top Drones on Amazon | Drone Flying Guides & Books

Portmoak soaring I flew here in March 2004. A great site. My other ridge flights as a young man were at "Huish" near Upavon, Westbury White Horse, Doing my five hours at Devizes, a failed attempt at Halton, and at a ridge near Kemble, all with encouragement of John Williamson. Take a look here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. (UK/EU: affiliate commission may be earned on purchases made through links in this post.) Sometime in 1962 it must have been. For some reason we were flying from Biscester probably the time I was towed to Halton to try for my 5hours. The highlight of my few days there was the honor of flying with Sir Theodore MCEVOY in the Eagle two seater as his safety pilot!!! As it was only my second trip in this aircraft .... The moment the aircraft started to move on the launch it was like being on rails. Perfection. What a great gentleman. obituarys thanks to http://oldhabs.com   ACM Sir Theodore MCEVOY (1915-25) died on 29 September 1991, at the age of 86. In spite of his illness, he was an outstanding fighter leader. As Station Commander of RAF Northolt, he formed the Polish Fighter Wing in 1941, after they had fought magnifice...