We all looked forward to this day, and the weather didn’t let us down. It was a bit windy, but otherwise suitable for the purpose: we were going to fly vintage gliders in Arnborg, home to the Danish Vintage Gliding Club.
From left to right: Henrik Valore, Bjarne Mortensen, Erik Balle, Jørgen Agesen, Klaus Degner, Vagn Jensen, Jens Johnsen, Lars Kalby, Steen Ole Nielsen, Carsten Madsen (the rest of the group is not on this photo).
It began for almost a year ago, in June 2018, when Gørløse gliding club celebrated its 75 years anniversary. Our ultralight flying club Albatros in Måløv was invited to fly in. We are good neighbours, and share the same passion. Gørløse was my first home airfield; that was the place where I learned to fly gliders, and this club will always have a special place in my heart. The Danish Vintage Gliding Club (Danish: Dansk Svæveflyvehistorik klub, or DaSK) attended as well; they came with a towing aeroplane and several historic gliders that were on a static display first, and later actively flying during the celebration. All guests had a feeling of deep affection to all those beautifully restored gliders, and some were lucky to have a flight in one or two of them.
After the event, Klaus Degner and I talked about organising a club tour for the Albatros flying club to Arnborg, home of DaSK. Klaus and other members from The Danish Vintage Gliding Club prepared an exciting programme for the day, and on the 11th of May, ten of our pilots were standing there on Arnborg airfield, almost refusing to believe that the weather gave us this wonderful opportunity, we all dreamed of.
We were welcomed in, through the main entrance, i.e. the vintage glider hangar:
While we were having coffee and pastries, Klaus (left) explained us more in detail about the programme for the day. Then Johannes Lyng (right), the chairman of DaSK, told us about the history of the club that was established in 1988 with the domicile at the Danish National Gliding Centre in Arnborg. The purpose of the club since then has been to secure that historical gliders are restored, kept safe, well preserved, and used for flying.
We asked many questions, and had an interesting dialog about all those related subjects we found so exciting. Johannes welcomed our to the workshop where we could see how a historic glider in a poor condition was getting transformed into a dream aircraft. Among other things, Johannes explained about the glue challenges, and how they are being solved:
The aircraft that is currently being restored is the Schempp-Hirth Gö-4, a two-seater “side-by-side”. From 1938 to 1943 more than 100 planes were built. In 1951 the production of this glider resumed with a shorter fuselage and changed rudder assembly, and 20 more pieces were built.
Buckle straps are used to ensure the veneer is glued properly:
The Gö-4 had been specifically designed as a trainer. To keep the fuselage as narrow as possible, one shoulder and one arm of each pilot were placed inside the wing root, which brought the fuselage width down to only 92 cm.
The fuselage in a pivot bracket:
There were many other projects that we got a chance to hear about:
After the guided tour through the hangars, seven of us that wanted to do some loops and spinning exercises, had a lecture about aerobatics:
Thanks to my weight of 50 kg, I was the first one to go up. Special weights, in order to comply with the minimum weight of 75 kg in the front seat, had been already mounted in the front seat, so we started from the lighter pilots.
It was easy to go into and out of a spin in a Puchacz. My instructor was Verner, a very experienced glider and aerobatics pilot. In a spin, you don’t get any g-force impact; quite an easy manoeuvre and it is fun to see the Earth rotating beneath you:
After a number of spins we went for a loop. Flying head-down was spectacular, and I could also feel the g-forces:
The next in line was Jens Johnsen. With Verner Lund and Per Enggaard before take-off:
Puchacz is a very reliable Polish training and aerobatic glider, though a large number of incidents involving spins, occurred with the Puchacz. It meets the certification requirements and is approved for the extended aerobatics including inverted flight and rolling manoeuvres; it has a glide ratio of 32.
While some of us were practising spins, others from our group were flying vintage gliders. Lars Toft, our chairman, shows off his skills in a 2G, a Danish designed and built glider from 1950. It was designed by Høgslund og Traugott-Olsen, and built in Odense Gliding club.
Vagn Jensen also dared to fly it, together with Johannes Lyng.
And after Bjarne Mortensen secured the winch connection, off they went. The 2G has a winch launching speed of 80 km/h. You really feel like a pioneer of flight when airborne:
Steen Ole Nielsen, smiling big after a tour in a Kranich with Klaus:
I’ve never been much into using a winch launching (prefer aerotowing). I know winch method is completely safe, and took the last flight with Klaus in Kranich. I attempted to take a photo representing the steep ride, though it is not possible to see the angle of attack:
We quickly found some thermals; it was a perfect day for gliding:
Up in the clouds, we met another glider that had a jet motor. Its pilot did a mini airshow, flying around us. Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed taking a close photo – it was like trying to take a photo of a car that drives much faster than you. That glider was flying very fast:
Turning on final for landing:
After a delicious late lunch (nobody wanted to take a break from flying!) we were hanging around, listening to the interesting stories about historic gliders:
Bjarne took us up to the loft and showed the treasures waiting there for their turn to be restored:
The vintage hangar from the loft:
It was a remarkable day, with so many wonderful experiences! We were grateful to all those people who were there for us, and helped to organise everything. Some of them are on the photo below, from left to right: Jørgen Bruun, Verner Lund, Erik Balle, Bjarne Mortensen, Jørgen Agesen, Lars Laursen. Per Enggaaad (not on the photo) arranged coffee and pastries, lunch and drinks. And of course, Johannes Lyng and Klaus Degner.
Many thanks from all of us for this amazing day!