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We
were a new Club. 1958.
NSW
North
Coast
area. There was a group of us without gliding experience
setting things up. It took a time - two years in fact. None of
us had had any gliding experience. Only one has seen a glider.
We had not talked to any gliding people. We had read some
books though. And we did gather a nucleus of quite experienced
wartime pilots - four of us, two of whom had been
Air Force instructors.
Came
the time to start flying. We had a terrible strip to winch
from just inland from Mooloolaba. After a weekend at Armidale
with their gliding club, we were under way. The very early
days make another story. But we did get going safely.
All
Club members wanted to fly so it was circuit after circuit. By
ten each day the sea breeze started and in any case, as we
were under the airline flight path we were restricted to 2000
feet. Not that we got to that height really. We simply did not
know how to soar. We did spend some time at Oakey (and later
Kingaroy) chasing better soaring conditions but the trouble
was - we did not know how to thermal. In retrospect it is
surprising how long we took to learn. From my log book I note
that I had completed almost 1000 launches (almost entirely
short circuit instructional flights) before I could write -
April 26 1959 1
hour 50. Solo. To 5250 feet. Longest and highest Club flight
to date. So what did we do instead of soaring?
We
did aerobatics. Loops and chandelles. That is, if we could get
1000 feet. No rolls - gliders structurally did not like rolls.
We did streamer cutting. A length of toilet paper would be
thrown out and the test was to see how many separate times it
could be hit or cut with a wing on the way down. The trees
round the strip naturally became festooned with the stuff -
probably to the wonderment of later visitors.
So
I thought - Why not try some night flying?
I had liked night flying. It could be night flying
circuit and bumps as the Air Force expression goes. So the
planning began. Mooloolaba was unsuitable but there was an
electric flare path at Oakey. Maybe they would let us use
that. First step was to prepare a training schedule. I
followed strict Air Force methods. Suitable instrumentation.
Yes, we had that. Turn and bank
and even an artificial horizon . Suction was by both
the external fitting as per light power, and from battery. We
were giving instrument flying training - and that was a
necessary pre-requisite for safe night flying in any case.
Navigation lights? That proved easy. ANOs required gliders
flying at night to show a red light in all directions - not
the normal red and greens. To retain night vision (once
established) there would be a complete blackout at the launch
point except for the standard red when required. We could
arrange a suitable light signal to the winch driver to replace
the daytime wing waggle.
With all preparations ready and a detailed training schedule available
for inspection we approached the Department of Civil Aviation.
To operate by day from licensed aerodromes we had had previous contact and in fact, had established a good
rapport with the Examiners of Airmen we had to deal with. They
were all ex
RAAF
Flying
Instructor
School
Staff Instructors. So was I.
No problem, they said, provided we had Gliding
Federation clearance. They said OK so we were on our way.
So
it was December 12 1959 at Oakey. Bright moonlight - would
have been foolish to have the first try with anything but a
good moon. Daphne
did most of the winching. She had no trouble. It was sixteen
years since I had night flown in wartime
England
. Everything went well. First circuit was a solo test of
course. I included a stall.
Later on another circuit I tried a spin. There were
pupils under instruction on the other flights. Yes, we would
consider doing it all again.
At
this time we were still based on the coast with only
occasional weekends inland. The flies worried us at Oakey. We
tried Kingaroy and found it better. We shifted our inland
weekends to there and it eventually became our permanent base.
Goodbye Moolabah and unfortunately quite a few members who
would not make the trip. We still had a lot to learn about
soaring and had not broken into cross country flying.
About six weeks after our first night flying
session we tried it again - this time at Kingaroy. No electric
flare path there. We had to lay a flare path with the kerosene
flares. A long time since I had done that job in
England
, then, as duty (night) instructor. At Kingaroy there was an
on-site DCA groundsman. Apparently we put his nose out of
joint a little. If a flare path was needed for power aircraft
he had to get permission from
Brisbane
to lay it. All we had to do was inform Brisbane and also the
groundsman. He didn’t quite approve of the extra freedom we
had.
January
30 1960 and our second run. This time I selected a dark night
- no moon, and there was a slight haze so that there was no
horizon. Thus we had a real test for night flying. Daphne on
the winch again and as before, again an uneventful night.
Because of the strictly enforced procedures it turned out our
flight turn-round was better than by day. About fifteen
minutes per circuit I believe. We had some members who were
anxious to actually develop night flying skills and others who
simply wanted the
unusual experience. Of course quite a few club members showed
no interest at all. We tried to work it that all who crewed
got a flight. This had one interesting follow-on.
One
of our long time members was Dennis Wengert. He arrived from
Nambour this second night just after we had started flying. He
had with him a teacher from Mapleton, a Freda Pack, who was
later to become his wife. She helped with the running and
later both Dennis and Freda insisted on her right to a flight.
It was explained it would be better if she waited until the
next day by which time she could actually see a glider before
she flew in one. In the total darkness we maintained she was
able to see little. No - she wanted to fly and fly she did.
She did join the club and undertook some ‘daylight’
instruction as per norm, but she attended a number of night
runs and had other flights - at her level of skill, basically
as joy flights. She was to recall many years later how she
loved the chandelles where the stars seemed to do strange
things.
Under
certain wind conditions a glider will land well away from the
hanger necessitating a long tow back at the end. At times, to
avoid this tow the last flight is made ‘the hanger flight’
where the glider may does a long glide down the length of the
strip so as to finish near the hanger. This can be an
interesting and sought after
flight - a little out of the ordinary. The same can
occur at night. A fast approach and a glide of about 50 feet
just off the ground. A suitable reward for the winch driver
who may have done all the winching up to then - yes, Daphne.
She rarely takes flights. She caused some amusement one night.
She had watched the flares float by one after another,
she being only a few feet above them and to the side. After
the flight she remarked - ‘I love flying low and slow at
night’.
We
flew eight night flying sessions totaling over one hundred
launches. In mid 1960 we were assisting a group at Evans Head
who were trying to start a club. We took our Kookaburra to
Evans Head one weekend and flew from the old wartime strip. Of
course it was mainly passenger flights for interested locals.
They had heard about our night flying and of all things wanted
us to do just that. I didn’t quite jump at the suggestion -
it was hardly the normal introduction to gliding - but when
they persisted I was not too hard to persuade. It turned out
to be our busiest night - thirteen circuits in all by which
time the kerosene flares were about out of kerosene. We had to
be a little careful walking round beside the strip. There were
a number of snake holes.
But
taking the story back to Kingaroy. We had previously had
negotiations with the Examiners of Airmen concerning
permission to use Kingaroy. That was official and formal.
Obviously permission had been granted but apart from that
clearance we operated as our own bosses under the procedures
laid down by the Gliding Federation of
Australia
. I had negotiated with one examiner - Clarry Hibbert - over
permission to use the night flying facilities - the electric
flare path at Oakey and the kerosene flares at Kingaroy.
We invited him to come night flying - as our guest. He
arrived in the afternoon and saw us preparing for the night.
There was the checking and retying of all of the joins in the
launch cable. Standard practice even for day flying. He was
there when we laid out the flare path.
Of course a small power aircraft would not really need
a 5000 foot flare path. We did, in case we had a cable break
and had to land straight ahead. Cable break training was a
normal exercise all glider pilots did before going solo. Cable
breaks are not uncommon and not a real worry. But at night for
a landing straight ahead flares would be needed. When Clarry
saw the flare path we laid out he remarked - “You’re
stretching it a bit aren’t you?’ After his first flight
with me he remarked ‘I take back what I said. Maybe you
could lay a few more’. Obviously
he enjoyed his night flying as I notice from my log book he
did four flights that night.
June
28 1960. By now we had learned a little more about soaring and
cross country flying. That was the real interest for a glider
pilot. We did our last night flying. One ab initio had gone
solo. It had been an interesting exercise and night flying in
gliders is rare in the extreme. Rare anywhere in the world and
it was, I believe, the only time in
Australia
formal night flying training had been done here. Could it have
had any practical (by that I mean gliding) use? Maybe.
On
a good thermal day it was possible to stay up until after
dark. It certainly was possible on wave days. Thus a flight
could be prolonged if there was much point in that. It did
need, for a flare path landing, previous preparation and
permission. That could not always be relied upon. From above
12000 feet when daylight has almost faded, it is quite dark on
the ground. If caught out - car headlights rather than a flare
path. There would seldom be the advantage of simply switching
on an electric flare path. There could be that late final
glide. It is quite possible to catch the last thermal at
sunset and glide (or stay up) for another hour.
Deliberate soaring from a night launch would probably require
an aero tow rather than a winch launch. Again, wave flying.
Maybe deliberate night thermaling
near the coast or frontal edge flying. I have observed
beautiful midnight Cu clouds along the coastal area when
driving along the
Blackall
Range
. Yes, some possibilities - but they are almost certain to
remain just that - possibilities.
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