Arrived at Belle-Vue at 10.15 Wednesday morning the start of a 7 day flying holiday presented by
John Greenfield and the Ghost Squadron,
This is our 4th year to this wonderful site in the heart of Devon.
Which is one of the highest points, which gives a great 360 deg view over looking Cornwall and the moors on one side and Bideford and the coast on the other, with a great view of Lundy Island.
The Ka8b had its first 6 flights on the Thursday and what a joy to fly, had a small problem with the airbrakes but with the size of the strip, they was not required.
The Sagitta had also had its first 3 flights on the same day, but before these two gliders could take to the air some work and setting up was required. This was done by a great bunch of lads from the Ghost Squadron, and to see them fly with almost no trimming just goes to show if you dont know much about gliders take them to someone that does, and it pays of in the end.
There was a great turn out of gliders as normal from vintage through to the modern style gliders, including gliders with mounted pods. And a large amount of tugs, petrol and electric versions which allowed us to fly in the evening till late which is a nice site to see with some nice background skies. 
Gliding normally starts about 12pm dinner time, and the skies start to fill up with gliders of all shapes and sizes. The tug guys do a great job of keeping us in the air. The glider on the left is a Meise D-11-240 is called the Meise and was the forerunner of the Olympia built
after the war by Elliotts of Newbury (EON Olympia).
This model is a 1/4
scale reproduction of the original that took part in trials, held in Sesse,
Italy to select a suitable glider for the 1940 Olympics that were intended
to be held in Helsinki in 1940. With the pre-eminence of German gliding and the political situation at the time the outcome was always a foregone conclusion.
In the middle of a large collection of models is Ivan from the Ghost Squadron and is also a genuis with turning fuel powered planes to electric and also with the help of John and Little Al created the Amply.
This was a of shoot of the Greenley, the Amply come in a few sizes with the biggest one with the power of a 62 Zenoah Which has made evening flying possible.
There was two strips to fly off, one being the full size strip which is a live strip and at times had full size movement. And the second was a angled strip which was spot on for most of the weeks flying.
And what a sight to wake up to each morning, a start to another great days flying
And a very nice sight to finish the days flying
Getting charged and gliders in line for the first tow of the day
D-4-610 is a Jatch J71, one of two seaplane gliders produced in Germany in
the 30's . Only one J71 was built and it was towed behind a speedboat on
Lake Bodensee in about 1931.The model , at 1/4 scale was scratch built in three months from small three
views and the few pictures that exist.
Ivan looking on while Big Dave is having a good glider flight
|
I would like to say a very big thanks to John and the Ghost Squadron Who include John Greenfield Alan Carter Ivan Goodchild Pat Marsden Tony Hazelhurst for whom without these chaps giving up there time and experience to help others this week would have not been possible. And a big thanks to Don who invites us down each year to this great site.
|
