Down Memory Lane - From the Log Books #19

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SETTLING DOWN IN UK. (Part 1)

 

 

As previously recounted in this series, UK gliding came off the post war starting blocks a lot faster than Europe was able to. A not inconsiderable legacy was having stacks of quite serviceable, large airfields all over the place and a pool of ex-military pilots and aircrew, many of who would have got the ‘flying bug’ and especially if nobody was shooting at them any longer!

 

 

But nevertheless UK gliding was not to see the widespread outburst of enthusiasm and participation displayed by the European nations once they achieved civilian freedom of their own skies again. This was an enthusiasm equalled, and led, by the manufacturers intent on serving that booming market.

 

 

The principle UK manufacturers were going to dictate what the UK gliding movement could buy and therefore which direction the movement took. There were two main contenders – Slingsby and Eon. I believe that some significant mistakes were made by both. Slingsby, because it did not progress enough with club level gliders and Eon because it effectively discarded the club scene and never built two seaters. If they had built successful trainers then they would soon have followed up with supporting, club level single seaters.

 

 

Instead both companies put development into competition type single seaters which clubs simply did not have the training facilites to support flying these gliders (or risk their high cost if they could afford them anyway). We will look at Slingsby first.

 

 

Right after WW2 Slingsby had a range of types available and a buyer for them (the Air Training Corps). This comprised the T31 and T21 trainers which were both at poor levels of performance. These led up to the Cadet, Tutor and Prefect single seaters. The highest performance of these could hardly match the pre-war Grunau 2b. Yet a lot of clubs got by with them for long enough for the Germans to become the leading manufacturers.

 

 

But Slingsby did try in progressing both the performance area and stuffed up. Possibly they were still coming down from building troop carrying gliders during the war because they sure went big and heavy!

 

 

As recounted earlier in this series the Eagle two seater was a very large glider. It was too heavy and expensive for the ATC and also for most of the clubs as it took a poor winch launch and you needed a big tug to handle it economically. So they went for the T49 Capstan which was not much smaller nor lighter (just looked a bit sleeker) and that was not much better.

 

 

The single seater backup for this was the Swallow that first flew in 1957. This was not a bad little glider at all for clubs and was not too expensive. Despite being much lighter it matched the general ‘feel’ of the T49 but would have been an easy and satisfying step up from the T21 for the budding pilot

 

 

In the more performance area the Skylark series which really followed on from the Gull were designed to fill the bill for both the intermediate and higher levels of a club fleet – as well as be effective in competition, and area that they initially did do well in.

 

 

The Skylark 2 was a 15 metre Standard Class machine that was appreciably bigger and heavier than, say, a Ka6 which was its main competitor. Not a brilliant choice for UK conditions with a quite high wing loading perhaps but there you go.

 

 

This was followed by the Skylark 3 which was taken up to 18 metres span. It’s three piece wing had a centre section as heavy as lead and really took four people to manage if the guy in the middle putting the main pins in stuffed up and left you holding the baby so to speak.

 

 

This was superseded by the Skylark 4 which was much the same as the 3 except a lot lower and sleeker and performed much the same.

 

 

The Skylarks followed on naturally from the T49 basic train (if you could afford the set) but there was another hiccup. Slings by seemed hell-bent on building ‘unspinnable’ gliders. This was achieved primarily by a lot of outboard wing wash-out that did not do much for performance at high speed and bent the wing tips down to an alarming degree.

 

 

However all of that changed when Slingsby went on to produce something hotter and this was the Dart. First issued in 15 metre Standard Class format (fixed wheel in those days) and was the Dart 15; then the Open Class offering of the fixed wheel 17 metre Dart 17 (which had poor ground clearance so outlandings in rough paddocks was often expensive; and then the retracting undercarriage Open Class version – the Dart 17R.

 

 

All of the Darts had all-flying tails but were not ultra-light or twitchy in handling for experienced pilots. They did not perform terribly well – the Dart 15 being a bit of a lead sled for UK conditions and the top end performance was poor.

 

 

The Dart 17R’s retracting gear not only provided more ground clearance but also enabled readjustment of the wing angle of incidence that improved high speed glide while still preserving docile landing characteristics.

 

 

Unfortunately the Darts were not designed to be ‘unspinnable’ and in fact were very enthusiastic about spinning (The 17R would virtually roll onto its back during entry). So we had a generation of pilots brought up on Skylarks and reaped the proceeds of the Dart. Quite a few were lost in spin-ins including a couple of friends of mine dying in the process.

 

 

Slingsbys obviously saw the gliding world passing them by as the ‘plastic fantastics’ were arriving in force on the competition front. So the last real effort of the UK manufacturers in wooden sailplanes was produced for a World Competition.

 

 

These were the Wortmann Darts. Only a handful were made and they were basically Dart 15s (for the Standard Class) and Dart 17Rs (for the Open Class). These gliders were designated as Dart 15Ws and Dart 17RWs. They had Wortmann wing sections and redesigned noses in keeping with the ‘fibre glass look’. With suitable filler and painting they looked like glass aircraft (just as the SH1, SHK and Cobra did). But they were outclassed and soon found their way onto the second hand market.

 

 

That took Slingsby to the end of wooden manufacture that it was equipped for and experienced with. But like Schneiders in Australia there was not the background expertise and facilities to catch up with the rest of the world quickly with a market that had already passed this point and was forging ahead. There was also a disastrous fire that wiped out the factory around this point.

 

 

Slingsby did try to come back and made something of a fist of it, but the scene and method was very different and I will cover this in a later part of this series. Meantime – what were they like to fly?

 

 

Swallow. I really liked the Swallow and did so immediately. Mind you I was very impressionable. I was not long out of the Grunau 2b which had been my first single seater and I recall on my first flight in one of those (without canopy because they would not let us fly under a canopy until we had more experience on the type – so it was very much wind in the face and bugs in the teeth stuff) I recall thinking ‘Damn, if this goes so well then what is a Ka6 like?

 

 

After that the Swallow was pure luxury! A spacious and sealed canopy, very quiet, handled positively and easily. The glider was totally docile. A bit high on the wing loading but in a German summer the thermals could be good so that was no problem.

 

 

The airbrake system was excellent, the stalling and spin entry docile, the landing was a cinch. The machine took an excellent winch launch and was equally benign on aerotow. As a first single seater conversion I would rate the Swallow a bit ahead of the Ka8 but you could grow into the Ka8 a bit more and would soon leave the Swallow behind.

 

 

All in all a superb first single seat conversion design – and would still be today for any club using earlier two seat trainers.

 

 

Skylark 2. I only flew one just the once and that was because of circumstance (plus I wanted to fly it anyway).

 

 

One of the RAF GGA members owned it privately and apparently knew little about trailer balance and had jack knifed the combination on the autobahn enroute to the winter wave soaring at Issoire in France. He had lost it in a big way and I went out to sort the mess.

 

 

That was OK except the straightened out combination was now pointing the wrong way on the hard shoulder so the proceedings were constantly interrupted by Germans who advised us (In German) that we were ‘crazy Englanders and were going the wrong way!’

 

 

That was OK as well as it was 2 am so the road was reasonably quiet and in consequence the German Mercs and BMWs were doing about the speed of sound - so we had to be a bit swift getting a 30’ trailer turned around across the autobahn and pick the moment to do it!

 

 

In the fullness of time (like about three days later) I towed the thing back to UK and the RAF GSA major repair shop at RAF Bicester. Somewhat later I returned with firm intent to fly it once it had been repaired.

 

 

Often I do not get a lot of luck! My first solo aerotow was in a type I had never flown, it was getting dark and the fog was closing in quickly. But that was OK as well as I knew Bicester well.

 

 

The Skylark 2 was easy. Nice lot of room in the cockpit and aerotowed like a dream (I assume as I had nothing else to compare with). In the still air it came down a bit quicker than I was expecting but handled very solidly (perhaps a bit firmly – not so much in control function but the glider felt ‘stiff and solid’ in the air with no ‘give’ to it. The airbrakes were very powerful and the landing quite normal and undemanding.

 

 

All in all a pleasant ride and a well bred machine that early pilots could adapt to easily, but perhaps a tad too heavy for weak soaring conditions.

 

 

Skylark 3. This was quite different from the ‘2! Get this beast in the air and it would talk to you. We had three two in the club at Lasham so I had to stay current on them for converting pilots to them.

 

 

For a single seater, even at 18 metres, this was a big glider. It stood tall and so had a spacious cockpit with a ridiculous big bubble hood which gave you more space that you could use. The machine winch launched or aerotowed equally well – it’s weight helping on aerotow and not detracting from the wire launch via a well positioned hook up and the big wing.

 

 

As would be expected from a wooden glider with that large a wing span, the rate of roll was not mind boggling but was very adequate and all control authority was in place all the time.

 

 

The glide was good for its day and the sink rate very acceptable. This was a well attuned glider for UK conditions and could ‘scratch’ in weak lift with the best of them – yet had the glide angle to go places at reasonable speed. Stalling and spinning were docile in the extreme.

 

 

The airbrakes were extremely powerful but were controllable as they did not have the ‘suck open’ tendency of some of the German machines. There was a hassle with the airbrake control and I will come to that in a moment. For a big glider you could confidently put it into a very small space if you were current on it.

 

 

The airbrake control problems was that the activating pushrod run up the side of the cockpit and had a short (about 4â€) 90 degree return at the action end with a knob on the end. So the whole thing just fitted into the hand. The positive lock was a recess in a piece of wood attached to the cockpit wall. So for actuation you grabbed the knob and rotated the thing sideways and then you could draw the pushrod backwards and open the brakes. Personally I like a big lever and my wife, Kay found out the hard way about how the Skylark system could bite.

 

 

I will not go into the detail as that story would take a couple of pages. Suffice to say that she found herself having to clean up in a big hurry when in a head on conflict with an ASK13 on base leg (Lasham had permanent contra circuits).

 

 

In the excitement of closing the brakes rapidly she trapped her fingers in the lock recess and then did not have the hand power to free herself plus started bleeding all over the place. She kept her cool and landed OK but I was less than impressed with this rather silly design aspect!

 

 

All in all an otherwise very sensible (but large and expensive) single seater that would suit any club but it’s cost put it beyond the hour reach (in club operation) than many pilots could have accessed a lot earlier.

 

 

Skylark 4. This was basically a lowered version of the ‘3 and had a more sensibly shaped canopy. They also did something with the outboard wing panels to get rid of the high speed wing twisting that improved the top end performance.

 

 

The machine was easy to get in and out of, very comfortable, lots of room, and I liked it a lot. Handling was much the same as the ‘3 – benign, and you could safely leave it in the hands of low time pilots. The glider had huge weak condition soaring ability that I shall relate an example of.

 

 

This is once more down to Kay. She got some extra time off from the office one late arvo and scooted out to the launch point to see what the prospects for a fly were. I had a couple of ASK13s on circuit training, 3 x Ka8s for the club members – who were all flyng circuits off auto tow – and a Skylark 4 parked up and waiting for somebody to take some interest.

 

 

There was not much interest as it was 8/8ths high overcast but was nevertheless still soarable (just) if you wanted to soar. Kay did and also wanted her first ride in a ‘4 that she had not yet flown. I briefed her and she departed for 1000’ agl and mooched about a bit. Then she had a sniff and spent ten minutes making something out of virtually nothing and was away to cloud base. 45 minutes later she was back as she had to feed the dog. The Ka8s that will soar on a hot meat pie had continued to just fly circuits! Some people get a mind set – them that want to will, those that give up before they start never will!

 

 

Yup the Skylark 4 was an OK machine and (along with the ‘3) would these days still give a great deal of cheap soaring pleasure.

 

 

In Part 2 I will finish off Slingsbys with the Dart17R and then cover the Eon offerings by Elliots of Newbury.