Bannerdown set the scene at the Park early saturday morning, with all gliders rigged before any members from the park turned up!  We took the k21, Janus and LS8
 
Saturday started off grey, but conditions improved and Dave P set off into Devon, While Ian H & Andy Smith nearly landed the Janus (Turbo) 7KM out from the park! The engine batteries need a little maintenance!! The day was enjoyed by all, with Bannerdown finishing the day with Aerobatics in the K21.
 
Sunday was a little more tricky. Wave set up west of the park, which interfered with local thermals. Dave climbed to 2700 while Paul G did a couple of Circuits with Ian in the K21 which led to him appreciating how spoiled we are at keevil with the size of our airfield. Sunday was very short on numbers, so the K21, and Janus were flown back to Keevil, and trailers picked up later in evening.
 
Thanks to Dave P for organising the Exped. Those that came enjoyed themselves, and those that didnt....well..you missed out!

Friday
 
I fantastic laid back evening flying some of Jon Lomas friends around the sky followed by a fantastic BBQ provided by cookie and Michelle. Congrats on Adam B completing his Bronze qualification. Only his field landing training needed now before his 50k.
 
Saturday
 
Weather was unpromised! However, we had the pleasure of flying lots of potential pilots in the form of scouts
 
Thanks to Merv for the arrangements. Everyone had a great day, despite the lack of turn out from club members to help!

Al Stacey became a BGA Stage 1 motor glider instructor.

Sunday

Excellent soaring conditions but very few members came to experience them. Glenn Turpin flew 200km in his LS 7. Gaz Baker returned from the 15 mtr Nationals having had in his own words ''a brilliant time''

Friday; We had a trial lesson evening on Friday with several very happy lessons, it turned out to be a lovely warm evening with the possibility of a good day forecast for Saturday with Arran planning a 500km flight.  The 500km plan was set off by Steve Tape who took a launch from Upavon at about 1100hrs on Friday morning to complete a 504km flight, well done Steve, the flight is now posted on the BGA Ladder (www.bgaladder.co.uk).

Saturday;  Proved to be very hot which started quite slowly but then 4-6knot thermals started appearing so Gaz Baker and Arran both took an early launch to have a go at a declared 500km.  Gaz ran into to mucky weather to the North and Arran was stuck at Olney and then Bicester for some time due to the horrible claggy weather, fortunately no land-outs although fields were being chosen on more than one occasion.  Gaz and Arran both managed about 300km each, once again the flights are on the BGA Ladder.  Also on Saturday Charlie Bridgeman managed a 1hr soaring flight and a bronze leg, Ian Harris and Ken Reid managed 150km in Ken’s Duo and Nick Jefferies completed his Bronze flying Exam.  Best of all, the day finished with a cracking Bar-B-Q organised by Michelle and Cookie, a great day finished with a great evening it doesn’t get much better.

Sunday;  The forecast improved for Sunday and Gaz Baker and Glenn Turpin managed 300km each, Jon Lomas completed a 1hr soaring flight and Bronze leg, Mike Swanson completed his 5hr Silver/Gold duration leg.  Also, we had a visit from a local microlight club and a few people enjoyed a different type of flying around the skies of Wiltshire, some photos have been added to the gallery.  Another cracking day at Bannerdown!

Next week will see a four of our members off to competitions; Steve Tape, Bob Bromwich and Arran Armstrong are off to Shenington regionals and Gaz Baker is off to the 15m Nationals at Nympsfield (this is Gaz’s first nationals comp!).

As you’ll be aware England were knocked out the world cup on Sunday, so best to come gliding next weekend and numb the pain…   Also, we’re trying to get the forum on the Bannerdown website active again, so please make use this facility to bring up any topics of discussion serious or humerous, tips, questions, but please try to keep it clean (those people know who I’m talking about!!!).  If you are having trouble trying to enter the forum please ask or drop an email and we’ll get you connected.

Saturday wasn’t strictly the longest day but that didn’t stop us launching at 0430hrs, after a few launch faffs!  After getting up at 0330hrs in the morning to set up the airfield in the dark we did wonder WHY?  However, we did it and Brian probably had the best flight with the Sun just emerging from the horizon as he launched in the K21.

Throughout the day we had a number of old members dropping in for a bit of flying and to join in the evening celebrations which went very well with a rather tasty pig on a stick cooked by Paul with Michelle slaving away in the kitchen to feed us all.  There was a lot of reminiscing and catching up with old friends during the evening about the last fifty years of Bannerdown Gliding Club history.  Also some embarrassing stories started to emerge that I think some members would preferred to stay in the past!  I’m sure some photos will start to appear in the website Gallery soon?  Also a big thank you to everyone that helped for the party setting  up/taking down the tent, running the bar and general bits and bobs that needed doing before and after the party, it’s good to see that Bannerdown can throw a good party!

Sunday, proved to be the better day for soaring with good potential for cross country, Steve Tape and Arran Armstrong both declared a 500km only to turn back near Great Malvern when the conditions turned blue and very difficult, no land-outs though (just!).  We had a few achievements again this weekend;  Andy Smith converted to the LS-8 (15m) and loved it, John Butler completed his 5hrs in the K18, Brian Poulsom was out and about doing his field landing training.  Pete Desmond completed all his ticks to become an RE and Ian Harris has completed his Full Cat instructor rating, so well done to all!

DON’T FORGET – We have a trial lesson evening this weekend so if you can make it to the club to help it would be most appreciated.

 

As I arrived at Soar Minden I was greeted with 'Great, our friend from the UK - shame you've bought the UK weather with you!'.  This was pretty much to story of my week - high cloud cover, temperatures 15 degrees below the seasonal average and unhelpful convergence zones.  Weather was far below average for Minden and the locals didn't seem to think that Winter had even ended!  Didn't really get high enough to safely move out of the first two valleys in to the big hills - you need 12000ft AMSL but you're at almost 5000ft AMSL to start with and some days we couldn't get higher than the first ridge line!  However, on one day I did manage to make the transition from local thermals to wave and fly well into the Mountains at 18000ft, which was stunning.  We flew every day and I did maybe 500-600k total and only one declared task but it was still good flying; all useful poling time for the ISRGC.  The hills are very different to France/Chile and the Minden  pilots don't so much fly on the hills, rather in thermals above them.  The hills are also relatively small over high surrounding ground.  That's the reason for needing a reasonable minimum cu height.  A good day should see you working between 12000-18000ft in thermals but we generally saw only 12000-14000ft in broken and rough blue conditions.  Weak wave and local 'uncommon' convergence zones were interesting but usually pushed any cu about 30nm from site and so out of reach.  I was there at the same time as the Belgium No.2 who had flown at Minden before and had already been there a week when I got there.  I was pleased that I seemed to venture as far in to the hills as he did!  Probably good that I came home when I did as on my last day I ended up ridge soaring at about 400ft AGL (12000ft AMSL) about 30km from Minden!  Eventually a bubble worked into a 7-8 knots average but in common with most days, it all fizzled out at about 13000ft.  One local

pilot landed out and had to spend the night with his glider!  Anyway, lots more stories over a beer or two but lots of good 'technical' flying and well worth while.  Hour for hour, the total cost of the trip, given that I was already in the States was cheaper than power flying in the UK.   We've got a few more days with our friends in Virginia Beach before coming home on Thursday.

Just a note to congratulate the club on its forthcoming fiftieth anniversary. I have many happy memories of my time with the Bannerdown club during the mid sixties. I flew all legs of my Silver C in the club Olympia 2b from RAF Colerne and became an instructor in 1966. Finally, I gained my Gold distance and Diamond Goal in an Olympia 419 during a Transport Command Task Week at Upavon in 1967 before commencing officer and pilot training later the same year.

 The happy memories are not restricted to flying either as I met a girl during the club Halloween party in 1966 who was to become my wife. We are still happily married and celebrate forty two years of marriage in December.

 Maren and I are sorry that we are unable to be with you this weekend, but we wish the club many more years of great flying with a confidence that it will remain a strong and healthy club in all respects.

 Best wishes to all,

George Lee

The weather looked as though it was going to be truly awesome with 500km being planned with an early start on Saturday.  However Saturday morning was like getting up early on Christmas Day and then finding no-one has bought you a present, it was overcast and fairly chilly.  It did brighten up later in the day but the thermals were very irregular if you could find them.  But Ron Peach attempted a 300km flight in the Janus, but couldn’t quite make it.  I have heard rumours that he landed at Rivar and had a cuppa instead, before launching and coming back to Keevil?  Then there’s congratulations to Brian Polsum (probably spelt wrong, sorry!), who passed his Nav-Ex for his cross-country endorsement  and then completed his 2hr soaring leg in our Discus.  A Bar-B-Q materialised on Saturday evening, which I have heard followed with some interesting stories from one of our not-so-senior club members… but that’s all we’ll say on that matter!!!

Then there was Sunday; the big news was Jon Lomas who went solo after only five weeks from his trial lesson with no previous flying experience.  Jon managed 28minutes on his first solo and pulled the airbrakes to let someone else take the glider, another 2 minutes he could have had a 30min soaring bronze leg.  We think Ian Harris, who has been doing a lot of instructing with Jon, was more frustrated about that than Jon himself.  Jon has shown a lot of dedication and has proved that regular visits to Keevil pay off and I would say he has definitely caught the gliding bug.   Also on Sunday, Dirk went solo in the K13 and Ken Reid took various people for cross-country trips in the Janus to give our up and coming cross-country pilots a taste of flying outside of the gliding range of Keevil.

DON’T FORGET: Next week is Bannerdown Gliding Club’s longest day and 50^th Anniversary party at Keevil and party tickets are available from Ali Arnold and Cookie at a very reasonable £10, there will be entertainment and a Pig on a stick.  Also, the winch launches for Bannerdown members will be half price on the day, so we may see our treasurer (Al) explode…

The last week, including the weekends was Bannerdown’s soaring week.  The first weekend we saw our friends from Lee-on-Solent joining us and as normal brought the bad weather with them as Saturday was a complete wash out.  However the weather did improve on Sunday and Monday with flying on both days, although the wind on Sunday made things interesting.  On the Saturday Gaz Baker went round the milkrun and Steve Tape and myself decided to try flying North hoping to see if we could spot any Dragons, unfortunately we didn’t make it into Wales but we did manage to get up to Gloucester, although I almost ended up landing at Aston Down, but Steve couldn’t understand why I was having a problem from his comfortable  5,200ft…

Bank Holiday Monday proved to be overcast, although some local soaring was achieved, but nothing spectacular.  The following soaring week, which by all accounts was well attended went very well with some very good flights and a number of achievements.  In actual fact to many to written into a paragraph so I have included a list below, sorry If I’ve missed anyone and also for the possible bad spelling of peoples names.

Lynda Davis – Silver Height

Andy Laslo – Silver Height

Adam Berrisford – Silver height, 5hrs Duration (Silver/Gold Leg) and passed the Bronze C exam

Steve Tape – Gold Distance and Diamond Goal (300km triangle)

Paul Gaunt – First Solo

Brian Poulson – Converted to DISCUS (547)

Pete Alsop – Silver Height gain

Rick Fretwell – Converted to Ls8-15 (R3)

Ian Harris - Gold Distance and Diamond Goal (300km triangle)

Arran Armstrong – Converted to Astir (HKB)

Oscar Constable – A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY on his 60^th

Obviously all the above also ended in some celebratory drinks for all involved and made for some good talking points whilst Ian Harris was busy cooking up a meaty feast on the Bar-B-Q for us.

We also have some club members away at the moment, Richie Arnall and Andy Miller are currently flying in the French Alps, has anyone heard how their flying has been?  Also, Gaz Baker and Dave Postlethwaite is away with the RAFGSA team to Romarantin for the European version of the Interservices, hopefully you can find the up to date results at the following web address  http://www.da273.air.defense.gouv.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218&Itemid=106

A few club members were around on Friday evening for a nice Bar-B-Q in preparation of a good flying day on Saturday. Earlier in the week saturday was promsing to be a good cross-country day, however as the day got closer the forecasts tended towards it being blue and hot, of course a few didn't fully believe the forecast was correct... it was, and so was Sunday! Saturday was finished off with a few drinks whilst watching the sun setting frorm the clubhouse viranda. over the weekend it was very hot out on the airfield and even hotter in the greenhouses (gliders!). So, first time this year that the sun screen was out in force, however some of us didn't quite apply enough... ouch!

 

Although it was blue over the weekend some good flights were achieved, firstly our feuerer, Oscar, managed an 87km cross-coutry flight with the Janus in the blue conditions along the Vale of Pewsey. Adam Berrisford completed a two hour soaring flight in R32 towards his cross-country endorsement and Nick Jefferies completed a half hour flight in R12 for a bronze leg. Also there were plently of training flights and some very happy trial lessons.

 

Don't forget it's a Bank Holiday weekend this week so three whole days of flying with our friends from Lee-on-Solent joining us.

“The forecasts for Saturday were not confident whether it would rain or be good soaring weather, the latter proved correct. However the turn out on the airfield was not great and as a result many members have missed out on a great days flying.  With average climbs of 6-8knots reported (once located) along the Vale of Pewsey from the few people romping off cross country, unfortunately due to the variation in the forecasts the tasks selected were definitely under set which became evident from some of the flights entered onto the BGA Ladder for Saturday.  Flight of the day has to go to Andy Smith who took the K18 (R32) cross county to Lasham to achieve his 50km Silver-C leg and thus completing his Silver-C badge.  Andy’s flight is entered on the BGA Ladder for anyone wishing to see his trace (www.BGALadder.co.uk).  This obviously warranted a round of beers on Andy in the bar afterwards.  Well done Andy and thanks for the beer!

 

Sunday; well looks like the British Summer has finally arrived…  Rain!  But then it brightened up… and then rained again!  However, every rain cloud has a silver lining, the K13 is now out of the workshop and re-rigged ready for flying, thanks to those people that have helped with the maintenance and also the re-rigging on Sunday.”