London gliding club (Dunstable, Bedfordshire) 13/4/24. Check out the channel if you like watching gliders, hang gliders or paragliders. Please like & Subscribe for upcoming videos.
Flying these old sailplanes and their revival is outstanding. As a boy in the early 60's my interest began at a small airport (Harvey Young - grass strip) 5:31 east of Tulsa, OK. Watching Schwietzers being towed and flying on summertime thermals all afternoon. Also winch towing a WW II Canadian trainer to fly the pattern. I also learned to fly here as well as Jones Riverside Airport (Tower, ILS, FBO). Wonderful days...now just a memory.
We have a great collection at the London Gliding Club, all privately owned. The only flying Rhonsperber and also a Minimoa both in excellent condition. We have a T.31 a Prefect and several types of Ka6. There is also a Silene awaiting return to service. David Underwood (son of the great Peter Underwood) currently retains Peter's collection of Kirby Kites not far away too. They have been maintained and returned to flying standard I believe but have not flown recently. No stuff from the US or Canada but I guess that stuff rarely made it over here! The T.21 recently returned to flying after the long-term owner sadly passed away, we now have his name on the glider. He had it recovered in around 2012 and it is still in excellent condition. Prior to that it was the original covering from 1948 believe. Sounds like you certainly had better weather for it than we did, we get around 1000ft AGL from our winch launches which is enough for a decent circuit but not much more unless the ridge is working at LGC! The lucky ones catch a low thermal, which is of course very satisfying...
