Shuttleworth – Historic Gliders 21 March 2010

Following on from the successful introduction of the Collections own SG-38 glider into the displays last season, its hoped that a number of historic gliders will be featured as part of the displays in the coming season. With this in mind a number of owners were invited to bring their vintage gliders to Old Warden as part of the preparations for the coming season.

Before you can fly them, you have to put them together

First up is BGA3166 a replica Slingsby Falcon. Looks fast with those swept back wings, I am reliably informed that it isnt!

BGA 1639 a Go3 Minimoa, looks wonderful with those cranked wings. The cockpit is a bit cramped, especially as the pilot was 6ft tall

Next up are a couple of Kites. So named as their wings look a bit like the bird of the same name. First a Kite 1 built in 1937, another fabulous wood, varnish and clear dope work of art.

Next, the camouflaged “Radar Kite”. This aircraft served with the Glider Pilots Regiment at Haddenham near Thame, which is where it is currently based. It was used early in the war to experiment with the detection of gliders by Radar. As many of its metal parts as possible were replaced with wood. The control cables for instance were replaced with (and this is my favourite) solid oak pushrods.

Finally a Slingsby Petrel, a lovely looking single seat competition glider with clear doped wings.