Glider Page

I got the glider urge about 1993 and can be seen twanging a bungee (histart) at our club field, or hurling something off slope at the Hole of Horcum. We are now equipped to winch launch too, so come wind or calm, there are no excuses left, let's go flying.

Here we are on the slope:

And on the flat:

In 1996 I tried aerotowing for the first time, inspired by the antics of my friends in the Isle of Man and getting involved with the demo at Woodvale. By the next year I had shoehorned a tow-release under the receiver in my long-suffering Algebra 1000 and successfully towed that. Towing a glider which has no ailerons can be difficult, as anyone who has tried it may have found, and seeing the Manx lads and friends with scale gliders encouraged me to go for a 1/4 scale job.

It just happened that Chas Gardiner had a much travelled Slingsby Vega kit that he was willing to let go to the right home, and my project was under way. I poked at the components for an age before taking a deep breath and hacking, filling and glueing them into a Sport Vega (non-retracting wheels for this type).

After getting the Vega almost ready for the annual Manx trip, and doing quite a bit of wing covering in John Martin's workshop (Ta John!), I took it down to the '98 Hucknall Scale Day for it's first airing. Luckily the weather was ideal on the friday evening and I got a vital test flight in towed behind John's Cub. No tow problems and straight into strong lift!

Since then Vega and I have had plenty of fun on slope, winch and tow, here's a pic or two:

Click on the right picture for closer look.

'Leccy models Oily models

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