ungee Cord - Vintage Sailplane · PDF file1 Bungee Cord • Winter 2013 Bungee Cord (ISSN...

The Voice of the Vintage Sailplane Association

Bungee Cord

Volume 39 No. 4, Winter 2013 $10.00 U.S.

1 Bungee Cord • Winter 2013

Bungee Cord (ISSN 0194-6889/USPS 47-430) is the quarterly publication of the Vintage Sailplane Association, Inc., a nonprofit organization for the preservation and operation of vintage motorless aircraft. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted without written permission from the editor.

Front Cover: Ross Briegleb's BG -6 utility trainer flies it's maiden flight in California (see page 7). This may well be the only airworthy BG-6 in the world. Ken Briegleb photo. Back Cover shows a Len Niemi-designed Sisu 1a on a dew-covered Chilhowee morning awaiting the promise of another soaring day in the hands of Dick Butler from Tennessee. AJ Smith flew this Sisu to win the 34th Nationals in 1967. Wolf Elber photo.

Vintage Sailplane AssociationA Division of the Soaring Society of America

<vintagesailplane.org>For inquiries contact the VSA Secretary

<[email protected]>

Promoting the acquisition, restoration and flying of vintage and classic sailplanes and

gliders and preserving their history since 1974.

President

Vice Presidents

Board Members

Secretary

Treasurer

Classics Chair and VSANews!

Webmaster

Archivist-Documents

Archivist-Drawings

Archive Location

Editors

Art Director and Assistant Editor

Jim Short<[email protected]>(708) 624-3576

East: Rusty LowryNorth: Lee CowieSouth: John HardyWest: Joshua Knerr

Dave Schuur, Past PresidentBurt Compton, SSA LiaisonNeal Pfeiffer, Director-at-largeMarita J. Rea, Corporate Agent

David L. Schuur16705 E. 300th AvenueFlat Rock, IL 62427

Mary Cowie31757 Honey Locust RoadJonesburg, MO 63351<[email protected]>

Josh Knerr<[email protected]>

Arthur Scott<[email protected]>

Lee Cowie <[email protected]>

Neal Pfeiffer <[email protected]>

Mid-American Air CenterLawrenceville-Vincennes Int'l Airport13610 Hangar RoadLawrenceville, IL 62439

Simine & Jim Short<[email protected]>

JoAnn Dawson

Legal DisclaimerThe VSA has made every effort to insure thecorrectness and completeness of material published in this issue. However, use of any material published herein will be deemed your release of the VSA and its personnel from liability for any injury, damages or losses claimed to be caused from the use thereof.

Editorial Policy and DeadlinesArticles, news, letters and calendar events must be submitted by 15 February (Spring), 15 May (Summer), 15 August (Fall) or 15 November (Winter). Electronic format is preferred. When sending digital photos use the highest dpi to ensure the best finished product. Submissions may be edited for clarity or space as necessary.

This fall’s Wichita Meet provided one of those rare occasions where the soul of the VSA really showed through. On a non-flying Friday afternoon, after a great lunch buffet prepared by Sue Erlenwein and Harry Clayton, several members happened to be sitting together in a perfect setup for a dynamic group discussion! The ensuing conversation stayed focused and fruitful. Here is how it went:

The first topic was “How do we help members know when they should renew?” We recapped Bob Helland’s excellent efforts to send renewal notices in time so that members do not lose a magazine and to follow up with those who let their memberships lapse. That’s a lot of work! Bob’s work becomes much easier, however (and costs about $2 less per member), if he can send renewal notices by e-mail; so the consensus was that we should HIGHLY encourage members to give us e-mail addresses rather than just snail mail addresses. The savings from e-mail renewal may help us avoid a membership price increase for another year or two.

We discussed the arrow on the Bungee Cord mailing envelope that points to one’s membership expiration date, a quarterly reminder of when to renew! We also decided to post a notice in Bungee Cord stating that members can contact the Treasurer or any VSA Director to check when their membership will expire. There is nothing like asking directly! We are not a high budget association that can send out multiple renewal notices.

Then we discussed: What will make folks join VSA in the 21st century? After all we don’t want gliding to be thought of as a great 20th century sport. One popular thought was affordability. Vintage sailplanes and projects sell for a fraction of the cost of more modern sailplanes. Many people starting out in soaring can afford a vintage or classic glider, good-flying planes for building a lot of soaring time even though one may need to substitute elbow grease for bucks invested. Another attraction is the group participation of those who enjoy flying, maintaining and collecting vintage gliders. A unique part of VSA is the comradeship and information sharing among those involved with restoration projects making beautiful and unique old sailplanes. Finally, if you like soaring history, where else would you want to be than the VSA? The group agreed we should push these attractions as we try to increase VSA membership and relevance.

The last topic was one about which we need to talk more. Should VSA move toward an electronic magazine? Currently, nearly all our annual budget goes toward publishing our quarterly newsletter/magazine. We could cut costs dramatically by switching to a full-color, electronic format and probably forego a dues increase for several years. The group weighed many pros and cons, deciding that it is not yet time to switch from a paper Bungee Cord to a digital e-Bungee Cord. But everyone agreed that the time would eventually come. “When?” was the most relevant question.

Then the weather improved and our great discussion panel broke up so all could get out and Safely fly. Bravo to all who participated! Jim

L u n c h T a l k

Winter 2013 • Bungee Cord 2

VSA News and UpdatesVSA Treasurer’s Report

We are gradually growing again, thanks to several members getting a new member to join, but also through Bob Helland’s efforts requesting renewals in a timely manner and contacting lapsed members to renew.

VSA members receive four issues of Bungee Cord each year, so your “ending date” will reflect the

issue which is the last due on your present membership: i.e., Spring issue 04/01/14; Summer 07/01/14; Fall 10/01/14; or Winter 01/01/15. Check

your Bungee Cord mailing envelope to see your expiration date. If in doubt, contact me or your Director to check your renewal date right from the database. Just ask! • Mary Cowie

Donations to the VSA Archive

VSA is especially grateful to the US Southwest Soaring Museum for loaning their collection of drawings, photos, letters and reports to the VSA, so that they could be digitized and preserved. These scans are now part of the VSA Archive. The originals, along with digital copies of all the material, have been returned to the museum. VSA would particularly like to thank the volunteer staff at the SW Museum, George Applebay, Kathy Taylor, Bob Leonard, Pete Pankuch and Gene Tieman for making this exchange possible.

The VSA would also like to thank Dan Rihn for providing digitized drawings for the Rigid Midget to the VSA. This is an important American glider. Doug Fronius had the original drawings (which however were in very frail condition) in his collection. He allowed Dan to borrow them for scanning. So the VSA thanks Doug for his cooperation and help as well.

Special thanks also go to Tom King, John Mills and Ted Teach who donated various documents and drawings (including the Fauvel AV-36) to the VSA Archive.

If you know of material that would be desirable to archive, please contact Neal Pfeiffer, the VSA Drawing Archivist, or Lee Cowie, the VSA General Archivist, so that arrangements to evaluate and scan can be made. • Neal Pfeiffer

Donations to the VSAWe would like to thank D G Airparts, Inc. and Daniel Rihn for their generous donations to the VSA. • Mary Cowie

VSA Quilt RaffleThe VSA’s 40th Anniversary Quilt Raffle will begin at the SSA 2014 Convention in Reno. We will display it there and sell raffle tickets. This awesome piece of glider memorabilia was designed and made by Dody Wyman, the brain behind this idea. What a nice way to celebrate forty years of VSA’s existence. Raffle tickets can be purchased for $5 or five for $20. You can also mail a check to VSA, 31757 Honey Locust Rd., Jonesburg MO, 63351, but add a note that this is for the quilt. Please provide a phone number or e-mail address, so that we can notify you if you are the winner. The drawing for this very special quilt will occur in June 2014 at the Lawrenceville, IL, 40th anniversary gathering. • Mary Cowie

Jim,Today, I received the latest Bungee Cord and was quite pleased (as well as informed) with the LO 150 piece. I knew Harald and Svend pretty well - both gentlemen of the highest order - and Jon Slack. I am renewing my membership for another year, just because of the magazine. • Eldon “Gene” Hammond

Dody Wyman working on the quilt project.


2014 Glider Calendar

Take a look at the cover of this calendar from Japan, showing Burt Compton flying his colorful ASK-13 over Harris Hill at the last IVSM. Vincenzo Pedrielli from Italy submitted this dramatic photo! If you are interested in a calendar, please contact Mr. Yasuhiro Yama at <[email protected]> or 2-15-13 Funai, Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama City 339-0042 JAPAN. The price is $10 plus $3 postage.

The VGC’s 40th Anniversary Book. Published by the Vintage Glider Club, Ltd., printed by EQUIP Werbung & Verlag GmbH, available from Paul Remde <www.cumulus-soaring.com/books.htm>. ISBN 978-3-9814977-8-6. This impressive, hard cover, large format book was published as the VGC celebrated its 40th anniversary. The book gives an overview of the club’s history, written by some of its senior members, a nice tribute to the founder, Chris Wills, who ran the club almost single-handedly until his untimely death in 2011. Twenty pages of the book deal with the club history and the remaining 330 pages are written by club members from various countries. Forty-one of these members live and fly in the US. VGC members describe their own special vintage gliders. Some descriptions are not in English, but most of these are accompanied by an English summary. Several excellent color photos accompany each story. Unfortunately, the accompanying photos do not always relate to the stories, but they are nevertheless spectacular. Anyone who has ever attended a VGC International Rally will enjoy looking through the pages of this book. The input by the many members around the world gives it a nice international flavor. • Jan Scott

Dear Jim:This is to let you and VSA members know that we will have a nine-day RC soaring event next year at Montague, CA (7 through 15 June). I’m calling it The Montague Glider Festival. Because this will be a great time to host a vintage glider meet, full-scale vintage/classic sailplanes are invited as well. Hangars and tie-downs available. We have plenty of space for visiting sailplanes at two airports, at Siskiyou County Airport (KSIY) and Rohrer Field (Montague Soaring). More information will be available at the Reno convention. • Dean Gradwell

Women Soaring Pilot Association Raffle

The 2014 WSPA raffle will feature a wire sculpture created by George Popa. Raffle tickets will go on sale on 1 January 2014 and the drawing will be held during the

WSPA seminar in July. Raffle tickets are $5.00 each. To order tickets, please contact Frauke Elber at <[email protected]>.


The vintage meet at Massey“It was a dark and stormy night” — and day — and another night. As a matter of fact it was about four dark and stormy days and nights in a row thanks to an old fashion Northeaster that settled in over the mid-Atlantic States for the Columbus Day weekend and effectively wiped out the Fall vintage meet at Massey Aerodrome. With the forecast being simply “no flying” and having no other scheduled activities arranged, meet organizers attempted to call everyone who had expressed an interest in coming and wave them off before they made the trip.A few dedicated souls decided to come anyway and enjoy a long weekend on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They included Marita and CB Umphlette from Virginia, Mary and Lee Cowie from St. Louis, and Paul Rabourn from Kankakee, IL.

Marita and CB lodged inChestertown and relaxed with some local sightseeing. In the

meantime Paul and Lee visited the US Naval Test Pilot School, after which they were pressed intoservice to retrieve a ‘new’ Schweizer 1-23H from New Jersey to add to a growing collection of 1-23s at St. Mary’s County airport. This proves again that VSA people are always up for an adventure and pretty flexible when it comes to unpredictable weather options.Massey remains a very vintage glider friendly site with a newly acquired Cessna 182 tow plane and ample outside tie-down space awaiting the vintage glider enthusiast. They have added a Schweizer 1-26 project to their recently completed 2-22 and are looking forward to a successful 2014 soaring season and hopefully less rain in October! • Rusty Lowry

Oktoberfest at Chilhowee.

Wolf and I just spent a week at Chilhowee helping Sarah and Jason Arnold around the airport and with the Oktoberfest activity. At this year’s Oktoberfest we had more vintage gliders than at the vintage meet last May. The star this time was Dick Butler, who attended not with the Concordia but the Sisu, formerly owned by A.J. Smith. • Frauke Elber

Wolf Elber photos.


Simine and Jim:

I was quite surprised, and very honored, to receive the very first VSA Journalism Award. Thanks for the Bungee Cord write-up with the photo of Rusty Lowry presenting me the plaque that goes along with the award, while I was seated in the famous Schweizer 1-23H “eBay Glider”. It brought back great memories of the Schweizer 1-23 Project of 2011.

So many people helped with the various parts and pieces, and many may not know the extent of what was created in that effort, or more importantly, where to find it. Below is a list of the products that resulted from this effort.

Cam Martin

---------------------

Soaring magazine, February 2011

Cover: painting “Flight Level 460” 1-23E N91893 by artist Mike Machat, who created a special version of the artwork specifically for this cover. Page 22: “Fifty Years Ago, Wave Flight to 46,267 Ft.” by Paul Bikle, reprinted from the April 1961 issue of Soaring; Page 23: sidebar “Researching the ‘Flight Level 460’ painting” by Cam Martin; Page 25: “Paul Bikle’s Record Setting Schweizer 1-23E N91893 Serial #30” by Cam Martin; Page 26: color 3-view drawing of Bikle’s Schweizer 1-23E as it appeared in 1961 by artist Tom Martin (no relation to Cam Martin), created for this special issue of Soaring; Page 27: “Paul Bikle: His Aerospace Career” by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; Page 28: “The Schweizer 1-23 Series: America’s Premiere Production High Performance Sailplane 1948-1967” by Cam Martin; Pages 32-33 (Centerfold): Schweizer 1-23H N3908A, air to air photo by Cam Martin with pilots Rusty Lowry and Ian Cant; Page 35: “Schweizer SGS 1-23 Model Types”, new 3-view drawings of the 1-23, 1-23D, 1-23G, 1-23H-15 by artist Tom Martin, created for this special issue; Page 36: eBay Glider - or “Be Careful What You Look For” by Rusty Lowry.

50th Anniversary NASA Colloquium Lecture, 25 February 2011: “Paul Bikle: Into the Stratosphere with No Engine”. NASA Dryden Flight Research

Center Auditorium. Featuring Speakers Einar Enevoldson, John Bikle and Hugh Bikle.

50th Anniversary Static Display of N91893, 25 February 2011. The restored Schweizer 1-23E was rigged and placed on static display by the Bikle family. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Hangar 4802, Edwards, CA.

NASA Television 2-minute Video Feature - Bikle Altitude Record, NASA - This Week @ NASA, 11 March 2011. <www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/TWAN_03_11_11.html>.

NASA Web Feature Article, 2 March 2011, with photos & video, “Bikle’s Altitude Record, a Testament to Perseverance ...” <www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/Features/bikles_altitude_record.htm>

Bungee Cord, June 2011, Pages 4-7: “The 50th Anniversary of Paul F. Bikle’s World’s Record Altitude Flight” by Hugh P. Bikle, with photos by Tony Landis. Centerfold: Schweizer 1-23E N91893 by Cam Martin.

DVDs were prepared for The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum and The National Soaring Museum Archives. Disk 1 Contents: Edited & produced video of 25 February 2011 Colloquium Lecture featuring Hugh P.

Bikle, John Bikle and Einar Enevoldson; produced video feature “This Week @ NASA”, NASA Television - Bikle Altitude Record; edited video “Rigging 1-23E N91893”; edited video “Static Display Walk Around of 1-23E N91893”. Disk 2 Contents: Transcript of Bertha Ryan’s December 1964 interview with Paul F. Bikle; Hugh P. Bikle, 25 February 2011, lecture, presentation, transcript & PowerPoint illustrations; 25 February 2011- Event Poster Artwork by David Faust; 28 still photos by photographer Tony Landis of 1-23E N91893 static display; 34 still photos by photographer Tony Landis of Auditorium lecture presentations; NASA Web Article “Bikle’s Altitude Record a Testament to Perseverance ...”; PDF copies of Soaring magazine dated February 2011.

The Schweizer SGS 1-23 Project of 2011, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Paul F. Bikle’s world record altitude flight.


This year’s Great Plains Vintage Regatta was held at the Wichita Gliderport, northeast of Wichita on 20-22 September with more than a dozen vintage gliders in attendance.

Friday began slowly, with much catching up amongst the attending pilots. Dave Schuur from Illinois trailered Harry Clayton’s new-to-him Laister LP-49, and Harry was hard at work with several helpers fixing minor things hoping to fly it. But a thorough check for corrosion prevented it from flying. Hank Claybourn came from Oklahoma City without a glider but lent a hand or story wherever needed, and so did Paul Rabourn from Illinois. Tony Condon pulled his newly acquired Fauvette glider project from its trailer and did a first assembly to check it out. It was neat to see it along with Matt’s SH1 and John Wells’ modified Schweizer 1-34R, each with a V-tail. There were a number of flights in the local 2-33 and Neal’s Ka-2b. Jim Short and Bill Jokerst from Lawrenceville, Chad Wille from Iowa, Dave Ochsner from Michigan, and locals Bryan and Charles Pate all made flights. They were not long soaring flights, but fun ones under blue skies and the early evening glow from the sun. Highlight of

the evening cookout was our own Charles Pate receiving an FAA Master Pilot award for more than 50 years of flying and dedication to general aviation.

Saturday’s festivities began with a safety/airport familiarity discussion, followed by several presentations, including SH1 Austria restoration by Matt Gonitzke, wizard-of-wood Harry Clayton’s report on his various projects, and Dave Schuur’s discussion of the repairs to the IOC’s Olympia. The soaring forecast was promising, with lift to ~5000’ MSL. Jerry Boone flew his Duster ABB, capturing some great in-flight videos with his GoPro camera, Matt flew

his SH1, Dave Schuur flew Harry’s Standard Cirrus, Tony Condon and Wick Wilkinson flew Wick’s 1-26, Chad Wille flew Tony’s NG-1, John Hardy his Ka8 and John Wells his 1-34R. Dave Ochsner flew Neal Pfeiffer’s Ka-6BR, Jim Short the Ka-2b, and Neal flew his own Ka-6E. Nearly everyone flew at least one hour, but no one ventured too far from the gliderport, as good lift wasn’t widespread. The grill was lit after the lift abated and everyone enjoyed brats and burgers.

Sunday brought high winds, resulting in no flying but lots of glider disassembling. Everyone, particularly the northerners, enjoyed the nice fall weather, and we all look forward to next year’s Wichita vintage meet. Matt Gonitzke

8th Wichita V intage/Classic Regatta

V-Tails everywhere. Matt Gonitzke photos.

VSA Brains at work. Jim Short photo.

Charles Pate receiving the FAA award. Paul Rabourn photo.


Your ProjectsA Brand-New BG-6Ross Briegleb and his son Kenny showed off their stunning BG-6 utility glider at the Memorial Day 2013 vintage sailplane regatta at Tehachapi, CA. At that time the plane was almost ready to fly.

Now Ross reports that this BG-6 has flown and all went well. Ken forwarded photos from the very first takeoff and landing on Saturday, 9 November 2013. Ross intends to write an article and send it along with some construction pictures for a future issue of Bungee Cord.

This particular ship is the last of its type, built in the Briegleb factory. According to a company flyer, the Briegleb BG-6 proudly wears her Type Certificate No.6 and her Production Certificate No.21.

The wings and fuselage of this particular glider had been partially built by employees working at Gus Brieglieb’s factory in the late 1950s. Ross put in about a thousand more hours to complete it.

All the work, from start to finish, was done using original drawings.

Ross assigned SN 36 to this ship, because he did not know how many BG-6’s were ultimately built from the numerous sets of plans sold by his father Gus Briegleb.

Ken Briegleb photos.

Josh Knerr photo.


Sports canopy anyone?Pilots of the 1920s and 1930s were wild for fresh air. Most cars were open “Touring” style, and airplanes had open cockpits. People knew what motorcyclists know today, that being out in the breeze is simply great fun. Schweizer manufactured an optional open canopy for their 1-26, and Schleicher offered plans for an open canopy on its Ka-8. I found an uncompleted frame at Lawrenceville in June, and brought it to my shop to build the open canopy version. In mid-

Dean Gradwell from Oregon reports that his TG-4A with its new flying surfaces is looking better and better every day. Dean’s goal is to display the completely assembled glider in an uncovered stage at the SSA convention at Reno at the end of February 2014. Here are two photos taken a few weeks ago. Look at all that new wood!

Tony Condon from Kansas provided a brief report on progress toward restoring and recovering the Ames Soaring Club’s Schweizer 2-22 from Iowa, which he discussed in detail in the last Bungee Cord. With Matt Gonitzke’s help, the left wing is almost entirely primed “with only a few runs”. The attached photo of the wing shows their progress.

November I installed it in the Wabash Valley Club’s Ka-8, and tried it out. It performs wonderfully.

Wind flow is minimal, with no backwash on the shoulders or in the eyes. Sink rate seems as low as with a closed canopy, and the fun factor is priceless. Many old gliders listed their records on the fuselage side, so why not do this here as well? After all, Karl Striedeck flew a Ka-8 for 767 km in 1968. What, you didn’t

know a Ka-8 could fly that far? Chad Wille, St. Croix Aircraft, Corning, IA


In the last issue of Bungee Cord we mentioned that the Virginia Beach Military Aviation Museum (MAM) in Virginia had acquired a Grunau Baby. In an unique arrangement, half a dozen members of the Tidewater Soaring Society (TSS) formed the “Keep Them Flying Club” (KTFC) to do the “grunt work”, thus assisting the technical staff of the Fighter Factory (the restoration and maintenance branch of the MAM) in restoring the glider to flyable condition. We have plenty of space in a heated hangar. An additional aid to restoration is the nearby Fighter Factory staff, an immediate

Grunau Baby Restoration

Preliminary fitting in Fighter Factory Hangar. Wedged sawhorses provided a temporary brace until George Kickhofel (facing camera) built a clever fuselage support. Greg Reese is helping. And yes, that is a Curtiss Jenny in the background.

GB in its allotted spot in The Fighter Factory. An added benefit is that visitors ask about gliding in general, so fliers for SSA, VSA and TSS are available.

source of expertise. As the logbooks were not shipped with the glider, its history was pretty much guesswork until a team from Germany arrived here to assist with a WW2 fighter project, bringing the books along. The glider is a Grunau Baby II, Werk-Nummer 030 340, built in 1942. It will have its glazed canopy replaced with an open cockpit cover. The question is whether to modify the existing cover or build a new one. The KTFC is also looking for plans for a ground/launch dolly.

Work has begun with stripping off the fabric; so far the structure seems in very good condition. As other restorers know, there’s a lot to be done before flying.

Robert “Boom” Powell

Bernie Harrigan from Wisconsin writes that he is making good progress on his newly acquired Schweizer 1-19 N91808 and that the wing repairs are nearly complete. He still has lots of sanding and varnishing to do but expects to be covering “before we know it.” He also mentions that the ship’s somewhat “worse-for-wear” enclosed trailer is also making progress. We hope he can join us and fly the ship at the VSA 40th anniversary party at Lawrenceville, IL, next Father’s Day weekend (June 2014).


Winter Flight InstrumentsNow that winter is here (no pun intended!), many pilots will utilize the time to overhaul their gliders and also take a critical look at their instrumentation, which may not operate as perfectly now as in the past. If instruments were made by the Winter Company, it is easy to ship them to the factory in Germany to be overhauled. Winter can also change the calibration units, for instance from meters/second to feet/minute or from miles an hour to knots. They also have various instrument faces, so ask what is in stock. We have shipped several instruments to Winter in the past few decades and were always happy with the results.

Brothers Eugen, Heinrich and Willi Winter formed the Gebrüder Winter Company in October 1931. Their goal was to design, develop and build aeronautical and meteorological instruments. Today Winter instruments are used world-wide and everyone, manufacturers and owners of planes alike, appreciates the reliability of the instruments and the prompt service in regard to inspection and overhaul. Winter now accepts Pay-Pal, making payment very convenient without bank drafts or wires.

Several years ago we inherited a non-working Winter airspeed indicator, perfect for our Schweizer 1-21. We asked Winter if they could overhaul this particular instrument. They responded quickly, so we shipped it to Germany. The repair quote came a few weeks later. The instrument was returned with the proper certification papers, ready for installation in the glider.

Simine & Jim ShortThe original face plate (top) and now back in the Schweizer 1-21.

Contact information: Gebr. Winter GmbH, Hauptstr. 25, D-72417 Jungingen, Germany. Phone: 011-49-7477 262; <[email protected]>; <www.winter-instruments.de>.

Trailer “Trash”It was a beautiful day in St. Louis when the call came that a tornado had blown through the airport of the Wabash Valley Soaring Association. After my original panic that one of the glider hangars might have been demolished (fortunately it wasn’t), I discovered that a glider trailer should be tied down in three places: the tongue, the rear and the axle. But, if the neighboring trailer isn’t tied down correctly, then . . . Now we need to decide what to replace and what to change for the better while everything is wide open. We can’t procrastinate much longer if we hope to travel to vintage glider meets in 2014. Mary Cowie


Not everyone has access to fancy equipment to rotate the glider when working on it, but everyone surely would like to have something to help keep the glider in a rotated position. So Neal came up with a “rotisserie” design that you can build from plywood, to make hard work of sanding, etc. much easier.

The drawing below shows how to make a wooden ring from a single 4x4-foot sheet of plywood. Six 120-degree segments may be cut from the sheet with material left over to build a roller base. The segments are glued together in two layers so that they overlap by 60 degrees. The layers are shifted slightly in the figure to highlight each ring. The resulting ring has an outside diameter of about 54” and inside about 48”.

Above: Neal Pfeiffer sanding the nose of the Ka-6BR fuselage, held tightly in position in a ring, similar to those used in the Schempp-Hirth factory.

Right: The Ka-2b is shown installed in a wooden ring or "rotisserie" with additional

supports made from 2"x4" lumber.

Artwork supplied by Neal Pfeiffer.

A Rotisserie for Gliders


In early 2012 I seriously looked for my first glider, as I would soon have my glider add-on rating. My original plan was to buy an airworthy glider that didn’t need much work.

But then Tony Condon persuaded me to buy something needing some work so I could have a better performing glider for less money. I felt comfortable with this, as I have been building and repairing things since I was old enough to hold tools. However having just moved to an apartment in Wichita, this didn’t seem like a practical option. Tony countered my arguments of not having the means to move the trailer or a place to work with “but I have a truck and a garage!” I will probably be forever in debt to Tony for graciously allowing me to take over his garage for many months.

It is probably safe to say that neither of us knew what we were getting me into when I bought a Schempp-Hirth SH1 Standard Austria from Steve Leonard in March 2012. It hadn’t flown since 2004 and the tail needed new fabric. Six weeks would be needed to recover and paint the tail and the glider would be ready once I finished my rating.

However, what began as a simple tail recover job turned into a full refinishing project.

As best I can tell, the glider was last painted in the late 1970s and the finish had become extremely brittle. Large sections of paint on the wings and fuselage had cracked and started to fall off. The glider, however, had almost no damage to the wood; only a small piece of plywood on one of the tails needed to be replaced. Wanting to do things right, I decided to strip both wings of all layers of paint (at least three!), plus some really strange white filler. Most of May and June was spent removing old paint with chemical stripper.

One interesting thing I discovered was a bunch of dates, signatures and other things handwritten in German in various places. In the interest of preserving those, I masked off a couple on the tail root rib and false spar ahead of the aileron before painting. Since the factory filler on the mostly plywood-surfaced wings was not completely intact, I decided to fill and sand until the wings were nice and smooth again. After applying three tubes of West System 410 micro balloons, nearly a gallon of West System epoxy, and about 80 or so hours of sanding, I was finally happy with the smoothness of the wings. I used three pieces of 2”x2” square extruded aluminum tubing for sanding blocks, one about four feet long, one about two feet long, and one about 14 inches long. I mixed up the epoxy, added micro balloons, and tried to spread it as evenly as possible over the entire wing. I then would sand each wing with the four-foot sanding block, moving the block at a 45-degree angle to the length of the block, while trying not to spend too much time in any particular spot. I would continue sanding until spots of plywood started to appear through the filler. Then, more filler was

added to each low spot and the process repeated, using the shorter blocks to sand off high spots between two areas that were correctly contoured. Eventually, all of the low spots were gone, and the wings were nice and smooth. An experienced wooden glider restoration expert in our club warned me not to try to turn it into a glass ship, and I tried my best to disregard his advice. There are a few defects here and there, but for the most part, the results were great. The wings are much nicer-looking than those of many other wooden gliders I’ve seen.

SH1 Austria Restoration

Numerous dates and signatures are written on the structure.


After the filling and sanding, I applied some Stits EV-400 epoxy varnish to the exposed wood on the wings and control surfaces. I was very lucky to have a nearly 50-year-old wooden glider with essentially zero water damage, and I wanted to make sure it would stay that way. Surprisingly, none of the wood on this glider was originally varnished at the factory. Tony and I assembled the wings to the fuselage for the first time after the varnish had cured, and we temporarily reinstalled the ailerons to check the deflections, as any adjustments would be far easier before the fabric would hide the control linkages again. This check is rather difficult on an Austria, as the deflection is measured with respect to a point floating in space behind the trailing edge of the aileron.

The deflections appeared to match the specifications within the margin of error of our measurement method, so we proceeded with the fabric covering. We used Superflite 2.7oz. certified fabric and the Stewart Systems STC for the fabric recover. All of the non fabric-covered parts were also painted with the Stewart Systems paint. It is expensive and a bit tricky to spray, but it seems to be pretty durable. I had some orange peel issues, but from a certain distance it looks great.

The new fabric was installed with much help from Tony and Harry Clayton. Without their help the tails never would have looked as good as they do. The seam at the tip is nearly invisible. After a series of late nights, several coats of EkoPrime were applied to the wooden parts of the wings, and EkoFill to the fabric. It was now mid-September, and I had hoped to unveil the Austria at the Wichita vintage rally in late September.

Unfortunately I ran out of paint two weeks before the rally.

This gave time to determine what to do with the seat belts; they were original and mounted rather strangely, with two bolts going through holes punched in the belt webbing itself. After contacting other Austria and SHK owners, I determined that no two of these gliders left the factory with the same seat belt mounting, or so it appears. I had my belts rebuilt by Wag-Aero to match pictures from another Austria. The belts weren’t ready in time for the rally either, so even if the painting was done I still wouldn’t have been able to fly it. But attendees could see the ship at Tony’s pre-rally cookout, and I discussed the restoration work at the rally.

At this point, I wondered if I’d even be able to fly at all in 2012, as there was only one month of soaring left. Further complicating things was my decision to begin night classes to obtain my Airframe & Powerplant mechanic certificates’ in addition to working full-time during the day. The night before my classes started, Tony and I finished painting the wings, and I spent the next couple of weekends getting the Austria ready for its first annual inspection in years. We re-weighed it and discovered that it was nearly 15 pounds lighter after the wing and tail refinishing!

Then all the local towplanes were down for maintenance, but another club member offered his Cessna 172. Since Tony is a far more experienced glider pilot, he did the first flight. He landed after 12 minutes grinning from ear to ear. I then took three tows, staying up for half an hour on my longest flight, with no good lift on

this late October day. It was so wonderful to finally fly it after spending nearly 350 hours refinishing the wings and tails. It handles quite nicely, and the cockpit is very comfortable in comparison to other gliders I have flown.

In early January 2013 we returned the Austria to Tony’s garage with the intention of refinishing the

Partway through the paint and filler removal process on the wings.


fuselage before the 2013 soaring season, or at least that was the goal. I removed the main wheel and tail wheel and made some wooden stands to elevate the fuselage such that the underside was no less than 2½ feet off the ground. This worked, but if I ever do this again I’ll make a rotisserie. I decided to try some different paint stripper on the fuselage; the KleanStrip I used on the wings worked fine, but it was messy and required a lot of safety equipment. Also, it was not safe to use on fiberglass. Since the forward half of the fuselage on the SH1 is fiberglass, I needed to find something else. Fellow VSA member Pete von Tresckow used Peel Away 7 on his Ka-6 fuselage, so I bought a sample can from the manufacturer to try it. This stripper is much nicer to use, it is safer and more environmentally friendly. It only has a slight smell (which is not unpleasant) and won’t burn your skin or clothes if you brush up against it. It is applied and covered with a special paper for 24 hours, allowing you to theoretically ‘peel away’ layers of paint. This actually works to some extent, depending on the type of paint. The outermost paint layer on the Austria came off with the paper, but we tried it on the 2-22 that Tony is refinishing and it wouldn’t touch the Aerothane. My advice is to buy a sample can first. The gallon cans of Peel Away 7 don’t come with anywhere near enough paper, but ordinary wax paper seems to be an acceptable substitute. Numerous applications were required; I think I used about a gallon and a half of stripper on the fuselage.

The fuselage was broken in a bad land-out over 30 years ago, and whatever filler was used was tough to remove. Very, very carefully I sanded most off, leaving behind only what I knew didn’t contain that badly deteriorated white lead filler. After spending far more time than planned removing old paint, I began filling it all back in much the same manner as I did the wings, using West System epoxy and micro filler. I bought a 3-piece “Ultimate Flex Sander” kit from Eastwood (Item #20328Z) that included 15”, 21” and 27” adjustable-stiffness sanding blocks, enough 120, 220 and 320 grit sandpaper to do an entire 15m glider. The nearly $300 cost of the sanding

block kit was well worth it, as it worked great for both the straight and compound-curve surfaces. I am very happy how smooth and nearly ripple-free the fuselage now is.

In much the same way that I filled and sanded the wings, I applied filler to the entire fuselage, then sanded it down until wood or fiberglass was about to poke through, then kept filling in low spots and pinholes and sanding them down. Mixing the last few coats of filler a bit more runny helped fill in the pinholes and made for less buildup to sand off. This is where the rotisserie really would have been nice, as I spent much time on my back on the ice-cold garage floor, sanding above me, getting covered in dust. Finally in early May I was satisfied with the fuselage and sprayed all exposed wood and original filler spots with Stits EV-400 Epoxy Varnish. I hadn’t done a good job sanding the wings uniformly with 320-grit-paper before priming, so I made sure to do better with the fuselage. I sprayed the entire fuselage with

Progression of the paint removal process with the Peel Away 7 stripper, with some VERY careful sanding here and there.

Fuselage after peeling off the masking tape from the stripe and N-numbers.


Stewart System EkoPrime, sanded it smooth with 320-grit paper, and then added a coat of EkoFill to the fiberglass portion of the fuselage and tailcone per their refinishing manual. I’ve found the EkoFill sands strangely on hard surfaces, and I had to touch up some areas where I sanded through it and then peeled up the edges. Stewart System Randolph White was applied as the base color of the fuselage to match the wings. I learned a few more things about the Stewart System paints, namely:

a) Make sure the viscosity cup is calibrated before each use. Water should run through in 14.5 to 15 seconds. I had a disaster the first time I tried to paint the fuselage because the hole in the cup was restricted.

b) Using the gun Stewart Systems recommends is helpful. I bought a DeVilbiss FinishLine 4 gun to do the fuselage. When the directions are followed it works great.

c) There is a fine line between applying not enough and too much paint. I found that applying more than I thought was needed provided a smoother finish. There are a couple of spots where I crossed the line and got a sag.

d) When removing masking tape after spraying trim colors, wait a little while, but not too long- it makes it easier to clean up the little strings of paint that result when you remove the tape. A rag dampened with isopropyl alcohol will remove the strings and other areas where paint seeped under the tape at this time. As long as you don’t get carried away with scrubbing, the base coat is not damaged.

I decided to use 12-inch N-numbers, even though the FAA only requires 3-inch numbers, but I think the larger numbers look better on a glider of this

vintage. The stripe and SH1 under the canopy were last-minute ideas. I played with the masking tape for the stripe until it looked right and then sprayed the paint. For some reason the Sea Blue Metallic paint sprays much easier than the white. It was easy to get a nice, even coat without orange peel. I will also note that anything more than N-numbers should not be attempted in 95-degree heat; the required 4 cross coats each tacked up in about 2 minutes. I was going as fast as I could to get all of the coats of paint for the N-numbers and stripes before the preceding coat became too dry.

In addition to refinishing the fuselage, I had to work on the instrument panel. That is another story.

Finally I trailered the glider to Sunflower for a weight and balance at the end of June.

All along I had hoped to fly the Austria in the Region 10 Low Performance Contest hosted by our club, but with each passing weekend it looked more unlikely. I missed many weekends for various reasons, and then lost another weekend when I had to sand off my first attempt at painting the fuselage. Despite all of this, I flew the Austria on 29 June, and then flew five consecutive days to prepare for the contest, including a 100km flight and a 4.2-hour cross-country flight, my first “real” cross-country flight in a glider.

We had only one contest day due to weather, but I flew in it and was very happy to do so. I am pretty comfortable in the Austria and have really enjoyed flying it. Now that I’ve spent 550+ hours restoring it, I hope to fly it at least that many hours before I move on to something else. As of this writing, I’ve put 15 enjoyable hours in the Austria and am looking forward to many more.

Matt Gonitzke

My first flight in the Austria after completing the fuselage restoration: happy to be flying instead of working on it.


G l i d i n g H i s t o r yIn the mid 1980s Ernest Schweizer, eldest of the three Schweizer Brothers, Chief Engineer and retired President of Schweizer Aircraft Corp., began a draft of the gliding design philosophy and history of the company he co-founded. Grandson Kyle Schweizer recently discovered this unfinished first-person manuscript and thought Bungee Cord readers would like to read Ernie’s own words. This is the first of two installments.

Design History and Philosophy at Schweizer Aircraft Corporation

Part 1: The First Decade: Learning to Fly.It all began about 1929, in the Lindberg era, when my brothers Paul and Bill and I became interested in flying and aircraft. We formed a model airplane club. The average age of the members was about 15. While model building was interesting, we kept looking for ways to fly since powered flight was beyond our reach financially. Around that time there was a sudden rise of activity in gliding. The National Geographic magazine had a great article on gliding in Germany in 1929, and other magazines also gave coverage.

We decided to build a glider and started a search for the necessary information. No plans were available, but we gathered enough information to cover the typical configuration. This began our original design effort.

The design was rather crude. My engineering knowledge was limited to simple mechanics in high school physics. Information on ribs was easy to obtain, and the spars were Sitka spruce, which we felt was the only material to use for wing spars. Ribs were made of white pine with 1/16 mahogany plywood for gussets. We used casein glue for all the structure.

The fuselage was made of aircraft grade Sitka spruce and birch and some ash. Some of the plywood used on the forward fuselage was commercial and proved not to be resistant to water, resulting in various problems. The typical glider in those days used hard wire for wing bracing, sometimes only single wires. Good airplane practice called for two wires, as the single strand wires were prone to sudden failures at the terminals, which consisted of loops and wire ferrules. We used single hard wires in the internal drag bracing which was less critical. We decided to use struts for the wing bracing, because they were more reliable and made assembly much easier. We also admired the efficient Bellanca Airplanes, using airfoil struts, so we made our struts as airfoil sections. Our first flights were made without the airfoil fairing, which was added shortly thereafter.

We had financial limitations, as well as minimum equipment, so we had to design in a way we could fabricate. Our budget, including the shock cord, was about $200.

Most of the metal fittings were cut and formed by a local sheet metal shop, which also did some welding on the fittings. A few fittings were made from a discarded kick plate from our father’s restaurant in New York City. We bought hardware, steel tubes and wire from Karl Ort, a famous junk man, who had lots of supplies from World War I and the late twenties. We made pulleys from shoe sole leather riveted between two aluminum discs. Control wires were single strand hard wires, but we used short pieces of stranded cable where the wire ran over a pulley.

Our model airplane club was called the Mercury Model Club, so the first glider was designated HG-1. Being optimistic we set up a design identification system, which is still in use today. Thus our first glider became the SGP l-l.

My father had a restaurant in New York City and came home only one day on weekends. He considered bicycles too dangerous. So we kept the glider project a secret from him. He first saw it when it was ready to fly and did not stop us.

We were concerned for safety and since we had no instruction, we read up on how to fly a primary glider. We were lucky and had relatively few accidents. Only four or five members made enough contributions of work and cash to get flying privileges. Some were, we felt, too young to fly. There were two brothers in the group. One was conservative in his flights and the other was less so and needled the first “Come on-pull it up”. He did, stalled it and hit the ground, breaking off the front part of the fuselage and damaging both wing tips. He was not seriously injured. We learned that the glider would fall-off in a stall. It was repaired and we continued flying. The big problem was the shock cord launching system that soon used up all the volunteer manpower and our field was too small for anything but short straight flights.

About a mile and a half away was a farmer’s field, which was occasionally used by barnstormers. We received permission to use this; we repaid the

Ernie Schweizer in 1937. Fred Loomis (NSM) photo.


farmer, Les Sebalt, by helping him hay. To move the glider to the field we built a two-wheeled cart using old motorcycle wheels. We had to push it by hand since no one had a driver’s license and we had no car. The day after Thanksgiving 1931 we went to fly. The wind was very strong with a full crosswind so we flew across the field. On one flight, Paul got too slow and stalled. He hit the ground in a pile of debris but was unscratched. Over the winter the glider was rebuilt, and to get more performance we enclosed the fuselage. It made quite a few flights, but we gave up flying it after two encounters with the stone wall at the end of the field.

When we got our driver’s licenses and a Model A Ford, our flying activity increased. Due to the short field, we continued to use shock cord, but added 100 feet of manila rope on both ends. The Ford kept going after the glider broke ground so that we could achieve longer and higher flights. On one launch the shock cord finally gave up and I could see it coming back at me. It smashed the nose fairing and the fairing on one strut, but did not hit me. We bought a bargain shock cord from Karl Ort, but after attempting a launch, we had a long cotton tube filled with walnut sized lumps of rubber - this ended the use of shock cord.

Our next glider was the SGU 1-2, which had more wingspan but basically was an enclosed primary. Being impressed with the German plywood construction we overdesigned it. It was not flown until 1934 and we were disappointed in its performance

compared with the SGU 1-3, which we started in 1931 and flew in 1932.

In 1930 I started engineering at NYU and Paul started in1931. I promptly bought a book on airplane stress analysis by Alexander Klemin. We applied this engineering knowledge to our design work.

We started the much better engineered SGU 1-3 in 1931. Its span was about 35 feet, braced by steel tube struts. It had a basic primary fuselage

faired with wood and tubular members and fabric covered. The 1-3 flew very well and we operated it using regular auto tow and made our first 360° flights around the field, still with no instructions. The 1-3 was turned over to the Hudson Valley Glider Club, formed about 1935. It made a lot of training flights, but due to some unusual flight characteristics it was christened the “Brick”. The airfoil was a Durrand 24 propeller section, a 15% airfoil with no curvature on the lower surface. It had a very high lift coefficient and was reluctant to stall. Our student members could level off 10 or 15 feet off the ground and still make a soft landing. If the student came in high the glider was aimed at the ground, it landed and did not float. As a result the club flew it for quite a few years with no incidents. It proved to be a good trainer for single place operation at a time when no two-place trainers were available.

Design numbers 4 and 5 were assigned to studies for trainers. These never progressed beyond the preliminary stage. There are no drawings, but I

Members of the Mercury Model Club and their first glider. Schweizer Archive photo.

The 1-3 at Peekskill. Schweizer Archive photo.


found some data and sketches in my old design notes. The SGU 1-4 had a wood 2-spar wing of about 40 feet and wood fuselage. The SGU 1-5 had a wood wing of 37 feet span and its fuselage was a welded steel tube structure.

In the mid 1930s, we were busy getting our engineering degrees and were short of funds. I graduated in 1934 and Paul in 1935. Our design efforts continued. It became apparent to us that wood and glue aircraft designs were not the best for American aircraft. Aluminum technology was expanding and we studied it carefully. We started design work using aluminum in 1935. We also had to find out how to fabricate aluminum structures and acquired some equipment including drill presses and brake and shears and designed a hand-operated blanking press and a drop hammer to form curved and contoured parts. The hammer was an iron, which we had cast and machined by a local foundry and machine shop. The drive mechanism was built using a retired Briggs and Stratton engine and a Chevy rear axle and brake drums. We also had to contrive a foundry to pour lead and zinc dies.

The SGU l-6 project was started at this time. The availability of aircraft aluminum alloy in warehouse stock was limited, but we were able to get very small orders from Alcoa. We were able to buy a tubular tail boom and two struts of 53st alloy and about 6 gauges of aluminum sheet, 52s ¼ hard to full hard. Rivets were 53sw and required no heat treat.

The SGU 1-6 had a single spar wing with formed fore and aft ribs. The spar was a formed channel with cap strips of 1/8 x1½ 5052 sheet. The main joint was made by riveting through the leading edge skin, cap and spar flange. This was a simple design, but not very efficient and all subsequent designs used flat welds and 17st cap angles, which

became available in warehouses. The 1-6 fuselage consisted of an aluminum sheet front structure with enclosed cockpit. The wings and struts were attached to this structure by a series of steel tube braces.

The tail surfaces were attached to the aft end of the boom and control cables were run through the boom. The landing gear consisted of a skid and two wheels about a foot apart width-wise and slightly aft of the CG. There was an auxiliary skid further aft. The gear worked beautifully for

landing and take-off as no wingtip runner was required. However the ground towing characteristics with no pilot on board were very odd. It waddled right and left like a duck or penguin so that it was necessary to hold the wing tip for ground towing.

The 1-6 was somewhat overdesigned due to our learning process in metal design. The use of 5052 alloy proved quite efficient. Parts could be hard formed on hard wood blocks using ¼ H alloy. The leading edge could be formed out of ½ H and skins were ½ H and full hard. The 52 alloy worked very well and was fairly corrosion resistant. We had a problem though one time when our St. Bernard dog lifted his leg against a sheet leaning against

the wall. Alclad alloys were becoming available about then but were still relatively expensive. Rivets fastened all joints, except bolts were used in higher load locations. The Parker-Kalon sheet metal screws were used in skin to joints and other locations with difficult access. The P.K. screws were tested in various combinations and were considered satisfactory since little vibration was involved. We did not have pneumatic riveting equipment at that time.

The 1-6 flew quite well and was entered in the SSA Eaton design competition. We were awarded third place at the National Soaring Meet with a cash

The SGU 1-6 at the 1937 National Contest at Harris Hill. Fred Loomis (NSM) photo.


prize of $300, a great help in our efforts to produce gliders. The 1-6 did quite a lot of flying and several of our group got our C-badges, including Paul and me. The 1-6 was later sold to the Harvard Glider Group.

About this time Paul and I founded The Schweizer Metal Aircraft Company. Looking critically at the 1-6 design, we decided that the design was too expensive to get much market, but we had learned a lot in the design and building process.

We proceeded with the design of the SGU 1-7. This was a more compact and simpler design. The advantage of the tail boom structure was outweighed by the installation complexities and we were now in a position to produce welded structures. The fuselage was steel tube structure with fabric covering. The wing was a single-spar D-tube structure with higher aspect ratio, braced by a single strut. The spar used 17st extruded cap angles with sheet aluminum web. The wing was fabric covered aft of the spar. The aileron control was differential. The empennage used a trailing horizontal surface, a configuration used in quite a few subsequent designs. The horizontal tail surfaces had a 7-foot span, so were not removed in trailering.

The wings were equipped with spoilers for glide control. Drawing on previous structures and experience with the 1-6, the engineering time

on the 1-7 was a fraction of the time. The flight characteristics were quite satisfactory. We concluded that an approximately 10% larger size would have been better. The 1-7 weighed about 225 pounds and with an average pilot, the wing loading was less than 3.00 pounds and with a light pilot about 2.5 pounds per square foot. A 230-pound pilot had difficulty in getting airborne. We made our first sale when the Altosaurus Soaring Club in Massachusetts purchased the second 1-7.

Ernest Schweizer

(To be continued)

The 1-7, dubbed “Pterodactyl”, was sold to the Altosaurus Soaring Club. Eliot Noyes and club members. Margaret Noyes Knowles photo.

The restored “Pterodactyl” flies again. Irene Cannon photo.


2014 Calendar of EventsFebruary 27-March 1 • SSA ConventionReno-Sparks Convention Center, 4590 S Virginia St, Reno, NV. Information: <www.ssa.org/convention>. On display: TG-4A and TG-2 exhibits and the completed VSA Quilt.

February 28 • VSA LuncheonAtlantis Casino Resort Spa, 3800 S Virginia St, Reno, NV, during SSA Convention. Information: Jim Short <[email protected]>.

May 24–26 • (Memorial Day Weekend) Eastern Vintage/Classic Regatta Chilhowee Gliderport, Benton, TN. Tows and flying operation provided by Chilhowee Soaring Association, Inc. Visit <Chilhowee.com> or call Sarah Arnold (423) 338-2000 or (423) 506-9015. Information: Rusty Lowry (240) 925-5683 or <[email protected]>.

May 24–27 • (Memorial Day Weekend) Western Vintage/Classic Regatta Mountain Valley Airport (L94) Tehachapi, CA. Tows, flying operations and camping facility provided by Skylark North (661) 822-5267. Information: Josh Knerr (661) 912-2102 or <[email protected]>.

June 7-15 • Montague Glider FestivalSiskiyou County Airport (KSIY) and Rohrer Field (105), Montague, CA. Nine-day RC soaring event. Full-scale vintage/classic sailplanes are also invited. Hangars and tie-downs available. Hotels nearby. Information: Dean Gradwell (541) 944-6446 or <[email protected]>.

June 11–15 • (Fathers Day Weekend) 18th Annual Midwest Vintage/Classic Regatta, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the VSAExpanded meet and party hosted by the Wabash Valley Soaring Association at the Lawrenceville-Vincennes Airport (KLWV), Lawrenceville, IL. Camping on field, motels and lodging nearby, hangars available by prior arrangement. Insurance requirements stipulate that tows are available only to members of an SSA chapter (or WVSA) unless prior arrangements have been agreed. Information: Dave Schuur (618) 584-3328 or <[email protected]>.

June 13 • VSA Annual Meeting Lawrenceville-Vincennes Airport during 18th Annual Midwest Vintage/Classic Regatta at 8:30 AM. Information: Jim Short (708) 624 3576 or <[email protected]>.

June 26-28 • Historic Schweizer Sailplane HomecomingFlying, history and nostalgic fun at Harris Hill Gliderport, Elmira, NY. Early reservations are recommended as this is the “high” season in the Finger Lakes region. Information: Ron Ogden (607) 734-3128 or <[email protected]>.

July 4–6 • 2nd Vintage/Classic RegattaTidewater Soaring SocietyJoin TSS at Garner Gliderport in southeast Virginia for a 3-day fly-in. Tows, hangar-space, camping available. Temporary TSS membership ($25.00) and SSA membership required for tows. Please check out <tidewatersoaring.org>. Information: C.B. Umphlette or Marita Rea (757) 925-4945 (evenings) or <[email protected]>.

August 30–September 1 • (Labor Day Weekend) Experimental Soaring Association Western Workshop/Vintage Sailplane Meet Mountain Valley Airport (L94), Tehachapi, CA. Tows, flying operations and camping facility provided by Skylark North (661) 822-5267. Information: Josh Knerr (661) 912-2102 or <[email protected]>.

September 2014 (dates tentative) 9th Great Plains Vintage/ Classic RegattaWichita Gliderport, two miles east of Jabara Airport in Wichita, KS. Hotels and restaurants nearby. Saturday features vintage topics colloquium. Information: Neal Pfeiffer <[email protected]> or Tony Condon <[email protected]>.

October 12–13 • (Columbus Day Weekend) Massey Aerodrome RallyMassey Aerodrome (MD1), 1.5 miles east of Massey, MD. Airport information: (410) 928–5270 or <masseyaero.org>. Information: Rusty Lowry (240) 925–5683 or <[email protected]>.

The Vintage Sailplane Association is pleased to print notices of events and meets that it receives from its members. VSA does not sanction or sponsor events or meets or accept any liability for them. VSA urges event sponsors and those submitting notices to provide as accurate information as possible and to indicate any restrictions or special requirements regarding participation in their events. Please contact the sponsor with any questions.

VSA Members!K & L SOARING owns the Type Certificates for all Schweizer built sailplanes and provides spare parts and technical support to owners and operators of Schweizer gliders.

Visit the 15th National Landmark of Soaring

at Marfa in southwest Texas


Classifieds

Bungee Cord Advertising PolicyAdvertisement Rates: Full page $100, ½ page $60, ¼ page $40, 1⁄6 page $25. Classified Rates: $10 for 25 words. Members are allowed one free ad per issue. Submit electronic files to the editor and mail check or money order to the VSA Treasurer.

Flying year-round with "slow tows" available

for your classic or vintage sailplane!

Marfa Gliders Soaring Center: www.flygliders.com

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Do You Need Help With Your Glider? Forty-five years experience of building, restoring, and inspecting wood aircraft.

Borescope inspections of wooden wings as per British Gliding Association procedures.

Annuals to full restorations. Chad Wille, A&P, I.A., St. Croix Aircraft,

1139 State Highway 148, Corning, IA 50841. (641) 322-4041 or <[email protected]>.

FOR SALE: Niedrauer NG-1. Excellent L/D per dollar, based on Briegleb BG-12 design. All paperwork back to original receipts. See Fall 2012 Bungee Cord. Enclosed Schweizer Trailer. $7000.

Tony Condon <[email protected]> or (515)-291-0089.

FOR SALE: Antique glider winch with flathead Ford engine. Needs restoration. Has new tires, bearings, hitch, so it can be

towed. Located Scottsdale, AZ. $2,700. Curtis Clark (602) 710-4494 or <[email protected]>.


BASEBALL CAPSTan or blue ... $15

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APRONSNavy with embroidered VSA logo...$17

PINS...$5

STICKERSLarge...$10Small...$3 ea. or 2 for $5

PATCHES...$5

VSA T-SHIRTS Long and short sleeve...$15-$22CONDOR IV POLOSEmbroidered...$30POLOS Long and short sleeve...$30

HOODY SWEATSHIRTS Schweizer Safety green...$30

PAST PRESIDENT Long sleeve, button up, emboidered VSA logo...$35–$37

MARQUE T-SHIRTSSchleicher, Schweizer and Wolf HirthLong and short sleeve$15–$20

Leah & Tony Condon911 N. Gilman Street

Wichita, KS 67203(515) 291-0089

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POSTAGE: $6 for first shirt plus $2 for each additional shirt. No postage for misc items when ordered with shirts.

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VSA BLUEPRINTS The following drawings are available as full-size custom printed copies from the digitized originals:

For domestic shipping, including mailing tube, please add $20 per order. Other drawings will be added as they becomeavailable. For questions and to order please e-mail Jeff Stringer at <[email protected]> or call (518) 772-9603.

Hütter 17 (20 drawings)... . ....... . ... ... ..... ..... .. . ...... $135Grunau Baby II (12 drawings).. ............ . ... .. .. ...... $115SG-38 Schulgleiter (30 drawings).. ... .. ... . ... ... $150Franklin PS–2 (62 drawings)............. ....... .......... $225Bowlus BA-100 Baby Albatross (92 drwgs).. $350

Bowlus BA-100 Instructions. ... ... ... . ... ..... .... $70Bowlus Standard Design Parts... ..... ..... .... $35WACO NAZ Primary (20 drawings).. ...... ..... .... .... $90Ross R-3 (13 drawings).......... ..... ............................ $135Mead Rhön Ranger Primary (6 Drawings). . . $75

<esoaring.com>

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VSA MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Name:

Address:

E-mail Address: Phone: ________________

Gliders Owned:

Enclosed is $ ________ for _____ years membership and $ __________ donation.

• Please make check or money order payable to VSA or use PayPal on <www.vintagesailplane.org>

• Rates are $30 for 1 year, $55 for 2 years, $135 for 5 years. • Canadian members please add $9 per year for additional postage. Other

members with mailing addresses outside the United States, please add $18.00 per year.

Mail to: Treasurer, Vintage Sailplane Association 31757 Honey Locust Road

Jonesburg, MO 63351-9600

<vintagegliderclub.org>

FOR SALE: Schleicher Ka-8B with Gehrlein-built all metal enclosed trailer. Flying condition, needs paint. Logs available.

Asking $7,200. Contact D.D. in NJ. (973) 923-1795.

ungee Cord - Vintage Sailplane · PDF file1 Bungee Cord • Winter 2013 Bungee Cord (ISSN...

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Transcript of ungee Cord - Vintage Sailplane · PDF file1 Bungee Cord • Winter 2013 Bungee Cord (ISSN...