On the other hand: a kid who was walking across the mainspars of our Grasshopper one airshow day got the woppiest whack I’ve ever seen a parent give to his child (after I had already less than gently knocked him off our wing). Damage surprisingly was minimal (to the aircraft, that is).

@Tony: There is by the way only 7 years difference between the last Grasshopper leaving the factory (1960) and its slightly more modern cousin the Libelle’s first flight (1967)…

Laurence,

It is the Sagitta. Consistently referred to as the Alsema Sagitta, it is actually officially designated the N.V. Vliegtuigbouw Sagitta after the company that built it (and employed designer Piet Alsema). N.V. Vliegtuigbouw had started pre-war building mostly Grunau Baby’s, Grunau 8’s and ESG’s in Deventer and later at Teuge airfield, but also produced own designs such as the Wijkens Universal and Snellen V-20. The Sagitta was the only post-war model of the factory (built 1960-1968).

The aircraft shown here is the prototype (with slightly sweptback tail) which is being restored to fly at the moment. Ultimately 21 were built (prototype Sagitta, 1 Sagitta II, 1 Super Sagitta and 18 Sagitta 013). Unfortunately the company could not make the transition to building modern glassfibre gliders and folded.

Over to you.

Would that be the secret NATO fighter base at Brüggen?

50 years ago? That’s only yesteryear isn’t it? 😉

Will be flying our Grasshopper next Thursday to Sunday again on a daily basis. Lovely airplane…

Probably XA228, now in National Museum of FLight. I know that used to live at Glenalmond…

Yep. That’s the banana fitting I mean. Should be one on the mid-wing attachment, top and bottom LH-wing, to attache the tear-eye ends of the port tail-to-wing flying wires… These are the last to rig, puts some pre-tension on before turning the master screw on top of the A-frame…

Wellll, that rudder’s interesting! Seems to be original hinges and drive though…

Rudder should indeed be the same as the T.7 Cadet and T.8 Tutor, albeit there might be a small mod to the lower D-nose to accommodate the elevator drive arm (which is not a problem really since you don’t have one…). Rudder of T.31 is different altogether. I would suggest contacting the VGC for a suitable rudder, I’m sure there’s some out there…

Rear flying wires are relatively easy to make yourself, as long as you have the banana releases that are attched to the port lower and upper wing/wires attachment… Will check if I have a spare set though, but am afraid we used our spares in our own restoration…

As for spare parts, try WB981 on the forum here who has one or two Slingsby’s ;-), or try McLean Aviation at Rufforth who are a great help…