Moonrakers Gliding and Soaring Club - RAFGSA

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.) Olympia 463 Hot Ship? 8 June 1962 I converted to the Olympia 463 which was a fairly new machine for the club as far as I can remember. It was a 35 minute flight and I enjoyed something that had a bit more penetration than the Oly 2. As It happens this was the only flight I ever had in this machine as someone broke it a week or two later in a competition. So I was back to an Oly 2 again next time out. Love vintage gliders and classic sailplanes? Check out: Gliding & Soaring Books on Amazon | Sailplane Pilot Equipment

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.) Many thanks for the comment telling me that the club was originally formed at RAF Lynham in 1957. Anyone know who the CFI was at the time and any other details? When did it move to RAF Upavon and when did it close down? Best regards, Chr Interested in RAF and British gliding history? Browse these recommended books: RAF Gliding History Books on Amazon | British Gliding & Soaring Books is

This is the Club membership Card on which was recorded the aircraft one was permitted to fly, and other club tasks that one was checked out to perform. The aircraft in the fleet at that time were; Tutor, Grunau, Olympia 2 and Olympia 419. The training aircraft were a T31 and T21. We also had an occasional tug which was a Chipmunk.

Sunday 30 July was my fifth day at the Moonrakers Gliding club and I was looking forward to flying again. So far I had flown with four different instructors (Dennis, Stains, John Williamson, Colins) and they all seemed to have a magic touch. When I had to work hard all the time to keep the glider flying level or turning smoothly, they could take control and everything instantly become smooth and perfect. Today I was back in the T31 and flying from the front seat with Dennis instructing from the rear. One of the most exciting phases of flight when learning to fly a glider, is the take off. We were being launched by winch using a launching method whereby a cable is attached to the aircraft at a special hook point just under the front of the fuselage. Once this was attached and checked to ensure it would release correctly, a helper held one of the wings of the glider, and the cable (about 3 or 4 thousand feet of it) which was attached to a winch at the other end of the air field, was ...

Well, I had a great time and learned a lot about safe flying at the Moonrakers Gliding and Soaring Club, operating at RAF Upavon in the early 1960's. Having searched the internet and RAF Gliding and Soaring Association for information and history about it to no avail, I decided to start this blog and see if any of my old friends would pop out of the woodwork and share memories of the good old times, before they are lost. If you ever flew with the club, or were just a visitor, please get in touch.