AIR GLIDERS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18583, 2 June 1930, Page 3

AIR GLIDERS

FIRST EXPERIMENTS AT MANCHESTER.

The first gliding experiments in the North of England were made at the Woodford Aerodrome.

Gliding—or flight in a ’plane without any mechanical means of propulsion—is a branch of aviation which the Germans have studied and developed to a pitch that rather surprised Europe some time ago. As a practical method of locomotion it may never be of much value, but it is acknowledged that the German experiments have yielded results of considerable importance to the science and technique of aviation. It is a line of adventure almost entirely novel to British airmen. At most only three aero clubs in the country—and these only recently—have taken to it, and for once the South has been ahead •of the North.

In the North the Lancashire Aero Club have taken the lead. Some time ago they ordered a glider from a German firm of manufacturers, and this was delivered recently. It suffered slight damage in transit, but the repairing staff at Woodford were able to get it ready for the flying trials. The German makers, one learns, turn out three types of glider, one for the novice, an intermediate type, and one with which experts have been able to ieep in the air for some hours. The type which the Lancashire Aero Club have acquired is the intermediate. It is a beautifully made monoplane, suggesting to the eye even more subtly than the power 'plane, that paradox in design, fragility and strength. There is a'cockpit for the aviator, who manages the ’plane in the air with the usual type of controls. There is no wheelcarriage underneath; when it comes to earth it lands upon skids.

The difficulty, of course, is to launch the glider into the air. A hill-side slope is the best starting ground. Failing this, the method sometimes employed is that of the catapult. This was the method which had to be adopted at Woodford, a team of men with a long, powerful elastic cord serving as a catapult. It is a tricky method, but the club members who assisted in the experiment took to it quickly. There is a slight crest on the Woodford landing ground, the deeper dip from which is. on the southerly side. Unforunately the wind was blowing from the north, so the machine had to be projected into the air in the most inconvenient direction. Indeed, as members of the club gliding committee admitted, the conditions were most unfavourable for their first experiments. Moreover, not a member present—with the exception of Major A. ncodfellow, who had made the first lipht—had had the least experience with a frliHer.

Nevertheless the ’plane was launched 'nto the air at the first attempt, and several flights of 15 to 20 seconds accomplished, on one occasion the height cif something like 20 feet being reach'd. These, of course are only small ■’nd tentative achievements, but none .he less very satisfactory under most unfavourable conditions and by aviators who were trying an experiment absolutely new to them. In the near future it is probable that the glider will be taken into the hill country in the neighbourhood of Disley for more extensive trials.