April – May 2004
Like so many good things, the gliding movement in the UK was dreamed up over an excellent lunch. Seventy-five years ago in December, inspired by the first cross-country soaring flights in Germany and elsewhere, 56 people turned up at a London restaurant and launched the British Gliding Association. To mark the anniversary, this issue of S&G starts a series looking back to those early days. We reprint an account of the “gliding lunch” while Jochen Ewald eschews the latest ships to try out a replica of the type of glider first owned by the BGA: the Zögling (“pupil”).
No organisation can only look back, though, and at the AGM this March, Chairman David Roberts anticipated huge changes in the BGA’s role arising out of European regulation. They are still under negotiation as I write this but they will be considered in more detail in our June-July issue.
Back to the April-May issue, Carr Withall provides the annual airspace update that all glider pilots should read; we update the BGA club map and directory; Guy Westgate and Paul Barker are on their way back from Mt Etna, while Chris Ellis, Richard Starey and Graham Turner share travellers’ tales of soaring in America.
Enjoy your gliding!
Helen Evans
Editor, Sailplane & Gliding
How it happened
Our series marking the British Gliding Association’s 75th anniversary year begins with Douggie Culver’s account of how it all started
The solo way to learn
Jochen Ewald tries out the Zögling, the way to learn in the earliest days of the sport
Good or bad?
Fransois van Haaff of the European Gliding Union gives a simple, Europe-wide view of transponders
AGM: BGA in a changing world
The news from this year’s AGM, the last one for long-serving BGA Secretary Barry Rolfe
The Way Home
Guy Westgate and Paul Barker are on the last, 2,500km leg of their epic out-and-return, heading back to the gentle South Downs of England after visiting Mt Etna in Sicily
Airborne in the USA
Chris Ellis, Richard Starey and Graham Turner share travellers’ tales of soaring in America
Gliding and UK Airspace
Carr Withall provides the annual update that all glider pilots should read
Also in this issue:
British Gliding Association and general news; your letters; BGA Development News; BGA Technical News; BGA Communications News; BGA club map and directory; BGA club annual statistics (corrected); club focus (London GC); club news; obituaries; BGA Badges; incident and accident summaries
Tailfeathers: Plat comes up with some diverting numbers and ponders the abilities of pigeons
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