Today was very much a typical gliding day -members turning up full of optimism, a weather forecast which suggested some flying, maybe some rain, a suitable level of patience needed when the rain did arrive and finally some soaring to complete the day.
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| Launch point (Mike Sloggett) |
Initially a K21, Junior and the Perkoz were brought out of the hangar and the winch set up towards the North West corner - allowing for an offset launch point to take into account the effect of the cut grass on glider wheel boxes and needing the ‘old’ part of the East end of the airfield to be used as the primary landing area rather than the new area.
Under grey skies the roar of a Merlin engine was heard around 10:30 with George Sanderson enjoying a “down the centre line” flight in a Spitfire at 200 knots.
And then there was just enough time for John Sillett and Charlie Broderick to start some currency check flights, Dave Perriam to complete two circuits in the Junior and Tom Sides to have a currency flight with Mike Sloggett in the Perkoz - before the potential forecast of rain became actual water descending on to gliders and members.
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| New area ready for seeding (Mike Sloggettt) |
With the rainfall radar indicating that the rain would be slow-moving across the airfield an early lunch was called and after an hour so with brighter skies appearing it was back to the launch point - gliders were wiped down...and then another line of rain appeared. But then shortly afterwards with blue skies and sunshine rapidly appearing to the West, early afternoon onwards saw thermic skies evident all around North Hill and an increasing cloudbase as the afternoon unfolded.
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| Afternoon skies over North Hill (Mike Sloggett) |
By the end of the afternoon climbs to 3000ft above the airfield and strong lift were being experienced and the flying list made steady progress towards close of play - with everyone who wanted to having flown the hangar doors were shut just after 6pm.
After re-acquainting himself with the Perkoz through a couple of flights with Mike, Guy Adams decided to show how much he liked the glider by achieving the longest flight of the day, only landing as he could see from the air that the Perkoz needed to go into the hangar next!
Another day of patience being rewarded... - Mike Sloggett
