Shuttleworth SG38

As a matter of interest, I happen to own a 1951 Slingsby T.38 Grasshopper TX.1 with a bunch of people in The Netherlands. We fly it on a regular basis. It’s painted in its original Air Cadets c/s, down to the last details. Lovely glider. We do aerotows, winch launching, car tows and bungee. Every flights an adventure. And usually the landing is actually on the airfield 😉

Would anyone out there have any pictures or tales of Grasshopper WZ795? We would love to have them for the history of our aircraft…

PS: there’s also a nice 1951 Slingsby T.34 Sky and a SLingsby T.30A Prefect to fly when winds are too high for the ‘Hopper…

Its not a Dagling! The Dagling has a different rear fuselarge. Theirs only one complete Dagling left in the Uk.

Dave

The Australian Gliding Museum has a German Zogling (Northrup) Primary Glider which I understand is a direct cousin of the Dagling.

Apparantly the “Northrup” reference relates to drawings available from American pre-war magazines? Apparantly there was plans for a “Northrup” primary glider in Popular Mechanics in 1938.

From the NEAM website http://www.neam.co.uk/grasshopper.html

Early Gliding in Britain
The British Gliding association was founded in 1929, and was heavily influenced by Deutschland in its early days.
In Deutschland, Alexander Lippisch had designed the Zögling, which became the standard primary glider (i.e. a simple one-seat glider).

In Britain plans of the Zögling were actually available at the cost of £1 10s to enable the type to be built at home by glider enthusiasts.

A British version was built in 1930 by R.F. Dagnall, head of the RFD company which built balloons and airships. This glider became known as a Dagling – 28 were built and all similar gliders built in Britain were also given this name.

Demand for this type of primary glider grew, and it was put back into production in 1934 by Slingsbys as the T.2 Primary. These were used by civilian gliding clubs, but on the outbreak of war most were taken over by the RAF for use by Air Training Corps squadrons.

Apparantly the Dagling led to the Slingsby T.2 and T.3 Dagling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingsby_T.3_Dagling

Design and development
During the 1920s Alexander Lippisch designed a training glider with very low performance to introduce pilots gradually to full-blown gliding. The result was a glider with a very simple structure of an open framework fuselage, with short wings attached by cables to a king post and the base of the fuselage. Lippisch’s original design had an all-wood fuselage and was called “Zögling”, but Wolf Hirth instigated a redesign of the fuselage using steel tubes.

History
The plans for the modified Zögling made their way via the USA to the London Gliding Club and Mr. R.F. Dagnall and the RFD company. Production by RFD lasted until 1931, and in 1933 Fred Slingsby took over building the “Dagling”. Production continued up to the outbreak of WWII. The Primary should not be confused with the T.38 Grasshopper which was produced for the Air Training Corps in the 1950s.

So it would seem the “Hirth” Zogling, the “Northrup” plans from the USA and the example built in Australia, the British Dagling and the Slingsby T.2 and T.3 may all be very similar primary gliders derived from the same earlier wooden framed Zogling?

Interestingly the early Zogling has a timber tail rather than the “Hirth” pipe tail, evolved into its designer Alexander Lippisch’s later training glider the Schulgleiter 38, which became the British EoN, all a very complex family relationship.

Regards

Mark Pilkington

I would like to be recognised for saving the Eon Primary G-ALPS. As a civilian gliding instructor with No 616 Air Cadet Gliding School at RAF Henlow I was looking for a non flying glider to donate to the No.2462 ATC Squadron based on RAF Henlow. to help in their understanding of flight. I knew the N.A.E (National Aeronautical Establishment)Gliding Club at Twinwood Farm near Bedford had a few Slingsby Tutor and T-31 fuselages and wings stored there in the rafters of a very long hut. I paid a visit in 1981 and enquired about a glider . I was shown to a hut on the NW boundary where a Eon Primary was stored dismantled G-ALPS. It was dusty and intact apart from a few fabric tears . It was silver overall with the registration in dark blue . I was told it had been flown at sometime by the test pilot Bill Bedford when he was test flying presumably at RAE Thurleigh and was a keen glider pilot at Farnborough.
The glider was given to me and I had a fellow instructor Rex Ford(of Dragon Rapide fame) borrow a large flat-bed lorry to remove it from Twinwood to Henlow on Saturday,8th August 1981. I donated the Primary to the Squadron and can remember it on static display at the Henlow Air Day’s.
I last heard of it in the nineties as a group was getting it airworthy and an Air Cadet was hurt by the bungy on an attempted launch . The Station Commander banned it and I don’t know it’s subsequent history.
So pleased it has survived and in stunning condition. Is there anybody out there who know’s more of it’s flying career at Twinwoods ?

The EON Primary at Old Warden is not the only airworthy one in the UK. BGA3214 ex WP269 is still airworthy at Keevil and will be returned to military marks this winter.

The Prefect belongs to Sir John Allison, this to was restored by my father some years ago. It was brought to Shuttleworth to train pilots in aero towing, before going on to the SG38. As most of there pilots haven’t flown gliders for a long time.

Dave

Robbo – The Prefect appears to be BGA815 ‘BAN’ along with the Banbury Gliding Club Super Cub. Not sure what the connection is? Do Shuttleworth own the Prefect now ?

There was a T21 hanging up in the roof at Little Gransden last year. The gliding site not the airfield.

Daglings & Co

Two books which give a good background to pre-war gliding in this country and Germany are ‘Happy to Fly’ by Ann Welch, subsequently ATA pilot and post war gliding champion and ‘The Sky My Kingdon’ by Hannah Reitsch who became Hitlers favourite test pilot, including flying the prototype ‘rocket engines’ and jets, including the Me262.

The Dagling was a very crude wooden skid, leather seat and stubby wing attached to a bungee rope, used circa 1933 plus as a very basic hand towed ‘try this’ experience. I would imagine that any attempt at an aero tow would very quickly lead to major surgery!. One is hanging from the ceiling of Dubrovnik airport as of approx 1997.

I learnt to fly with the ATC on a cable launched Slingsby T21 side by side glider in 1956, we solo’ed after about 4 – 5 hours circuits & bumps, then doing two circuits for the ‘A’ licence followed by two cross wind landings for the ‘B’ licence. This was at Hawkinge which was an initial entry camp for WAAF’s, 200 at a time on their initial entry period of 6 weeks, no leave allowed, only a unit of 24 airman on camp and us poor young cadets.

Just in passing, in 2001 I went to Rufforth near York for a large model aircraft flying display, (like 10ft wingspan, 4 turbines, Boeing 747’s, Vulcans, Concordes, Victors, 1/4 scale spitfires, Highspeed models – 350Mph flyby etc., worth going to), Lo & Behold the local flying club had a restored Slingsby T21, so I was able to go up with the owner on an aerotow and have a go again at the age of 60, fantastic, open cockpit etc. first proper flying for about 40 years.

Nice to have fun!! Cheers;)

I think its needs an engine on the front first:diablo:

Perhaps the Cub could tow that too

How about fitting a tow hook to the Storch and have some fun at the airshows.

CADman

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I think its needs an engine on the front first:diablo:

I haven’t been to Gransden in years, so i cant tell if its still around. But lots are still flying. There’s a mod for a belly hook which will give you a better launch now.

Dave

JDK – it’s possibly the numbers that are flying but I feel sadly that gliding is largely overlooked in the U.K and British museums tend to find it difficult to display gliders or understand how they fit in the bigger scheme of things.

Yes that looks very similar.. do you know the example i mean.?

Was it a Slingsby T21 like this one. Plus another photo of Bob Boyd and his Kite 1.

Dave

As we are talking gliders here.. i seem to recall an old side by side two seat glider that was operated by the gliding club at Dx in the seventies that was blue with red wingtips, and was nicknamed ‘bluebell’. Can anyone tell me what type she is/was and whether she is still active at Gransden.?

So the Shuttleworth aircraft is actually an EoN and not a genuine SG38 then?

Yes thats right, it was built by Elliotts of Newbury Ltd. Even the Germans got hold of few EoNs when they where sold off, as SG38s are very rare.

Here’s two photos of Kite 1, the yellow Kite is BGA 251. The other is Amy Johnson with her Kite at Dunstable.

Dave

So the Shuttleworth aircraft is actually an EoN and not a genuine SG38 then?

John,

Lovely photo of the Kite 1.
You Kite 1 is owned by Bob Boyd BGA 251? and is still airworthy. It has been fitted with a wheel. The other Kites just have a skid.
My dad also flew a Grunau at Bicester in the late 60s.

Dave

Kite at Netheravon. 61

Grunau at Bicester 61

John

So that was yours! I seem to remember seeing it at a Middle Wallop show – sometime just after the 50th? Neat.

The Kite at Middle Wallop is a different one. That was stored in a trailer during the war. They got there Kite in the late 1980s and painted it up as an army one.

My old Kite was BGA 400 , VD165 its ATC number. Kites never had militaty serials at Thame or Ringway. Was used by the RAFGSA but it dont know where it was based. There where other Kites with the RAFGSA, so it may have been at Netheravon. My father is now restoring a Grunau Baby in Luftwaffe markings.

Dave