GLIDING BOOM

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 35, 4 November 1933, Page 18

GLIDING BOOM

Britons Out for Record

Britain is out for a new conquest of the air. She is making secret preparations to wrest the world’s gliding record from the Germans. Recently Kurt Schmidt, a young student of languages in Konigsberg University, remained in the air on a glider for 36J hours. Britain’s best hitherto is a glide of 6 hours 55 minutes., made by FlightLieutenant Mole, of the R.A.F., on a machine designed and built by an exR.A.F. corporal. “It is through au adaptation of that type of machine,” said an ofiicial of the British Gliding Association to the “Sunday Chronicle,” “that we hope to tackle the record. “Hitherto we have had to depend on gliders imported from Germany and

Austria. But enthusiasts in this country have been experimenting intensively. The type ou which young Mole made his record British glide had several innovations iu its design. We are trying to improve on them.” “Our membership is going up by leaps and bounds,” said a prominent member of the London Gliding Club. “At ail our meetings on Dunstable Downs young men come along iu crowds eager to learn the new exhilaration in the air.” The Gliding Association has similar reports from all parts of the country and particularly in the north. Gliding has suddenly become elevated into a major British sport. It will be more so if the attempt on the record is successful.