GLIDING SILVER C AWARD

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28450, 3 December 1957, Page 17

GLIDING SILVER C AWARD

Flight Of 84 Miles Mr John Messervy, chief flying instructor of the Canterbury .Gliding Club, on Sunday completed the requirements for the International Silver C award, by completing a flight of more than 80 miles from the club’s new gliding site at Burnt Hill, near Oxford, to a landing field at Conway, just south of Kaikoura. The award, which will be the fourth in the South Island, is based on three qualifications—a flight of 5 hours, a gain in height of more than 3200 feet, and a direct flight of more than 32J miles under strict conditions. Mr Messervy fulfilled the first requirement about three years ago, the second last year and the third yesterday. The award should be confirmed from Auckland in a few days. Mr Messervy, flying in the club’s new Skylark glider, was winchlaunched from Burnt Hill at 10.39, a.m., and he landed at Conway' at about 12.45 p.m. For the first; hour, he was in great difficulty, struggling to gain height, and only! travelled about 12 miles. About : 11.30 a.m.*, however, he got in; front of a cold front moving up I from the south, and cruised along | at from 70 to 80 miles an hour,) gaining height for most of the| rest of the flight. His maximum height was about 9000 feet, and for the last hour he was flying 1 between 7000 and 9000 feet. I The glider still had plenty of lift at Conway, and could have continued much further on the cold front, but Mr Messervy decided to land as there was a field available. He took many colour! photographs during ' his flight, I which he described yesterday as, I “no trouble once I got on to the cold front; the lift was very strong. The plane was wonderful, and handled up to expectations.” Antarctic Softball The coldest softball game on record—played in —4ldeg—has been officially recorded in the) archives of baseball’s Hall of Fame in New York. The game ■ was played at Little America on 1 August 23, the first day sun was seen after the winter, and resulted in a 11-6 win for the Navy seabees against the civilian scientific men stationed there during the winter. One of the p’ayers, Paul C. Dalrymple, a glaciologist, sent the details of the game to the Hall of Fame and an acknowledgement was received recently.