Gordon
I remember first seeing G-ANFW at Perranporth, where she was the glider tug in 1967. Bought by the Cornish Gliding Club’s then CFI, George Collins from the Air Ministry, as he confirms in his book “Sails in the Sky”:
“At St. Eval (ATC Gliding School) the gliding was both boring and monotonous for any
Instructor with the slightest ambition to escape from what is now
often termed ‘aerial tobogganing’ so I bought a Tiger Moth from the
Air Ministry and went to Aston Down to collect it (after organising
a brand new propeller and complete set of instruments) and then
flew it to Exeter where it was strengthened to take an approved towhook
system. That was Tiger G-ANFW which even today in 1986 is
still aero-towing; sadly not at Perranporth for inexplicable reasons!”
http://www.lakesgc.co.uk/mainwebpages/eBook%20Library/Batch%201/SAILS%20IN%20THE%20SKY.pdf
George’s ‘inexplicable reasons’ were not entirely inexplicable, but may have seemed so to him and other war-time trained pilots, very capable at landing light tail-draggers in gusty cross-winds on a cliff-top airfield with runways lined with barbed-wire fences. Post-war tricycle undercarriage pilots preferred that configuration and also the more modern engines, and so G-ANFW was sold, although replaced I think by a Workmaster, and eventually an Airedale?
To date the acquisition of G-ANFW at Perranporth, George said:
“On April 19th 1957 we aero-towed the Olympia with the Tiger Moth from
Culdrose, both belonging to Ted and myself and immediately put
them at the disposal of our new club, which had obtained a T31, a
Tutor and was anxiously awaiting delivery of the New T21.”
In those days, there was enormous good-will, effort and generosity provided to start and keep things going in the Gliding movement. Today this continues as Gliding and Flying Clubs still rely so much on voluntary effort.
It’s good to know that G-ANFW brought pleasure to many after her Perranporth days, and some of her is again airborne on Malta.
Phil Hawkey
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