Expedition reports, cross-country flight achievements, cadet milestones, and airfield updates from Gransden Lodge Airfield.
Today was a pretty good gliding day so there we used the whole club fleet. Here it is! That is: Four two seater gliders (two K21s, a Perkoz and a Puchasz) Four single seat gliders (two Juniors, a Discus and a Pegase) A Falke motor glider An honourable exception for Bluebell, our vintage glider, who … Read more "The whole fleet out!"
Sunday, May 4th was a cold and gusty day at Gransden Lodge but this didn`t dampen the enthusiasm to celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of the oldest club members – Slingsby T-21B, known to all as 'Bluebell'. Initially delivered to Cambridge University Gliding Club (now Cambridge Gliding Centre) in 1950, she performed as a … Read more "75 years and still flying high!"
On a bright, sunny day at Cambridge Gliding Centre, the club's Robin DR400 tug aircraft smoothly executed several aerotow launches. One by one, gliders were hooked up and towed into the clear blue sky, the powerful Robin pulling them effortlessly over the grassy airfield. As the gliders climbed higher, they were released at altitude to … Read more "A few aerotow launches on a very hot afternoon"
Launching a glider into the air requires a fair amount of power, but unlike the the US Navy we don't have steam powered catapults to launch our gliders we make do with a slightly different kind of American power, an 8.2 litre V8 from General Motors. These power units are incredibly reliable and produce enough … Read more "Winch launch as seen from the winch"
After many years of service the old launch point bus has reached the end of the road, so a small team of volunteers were tasked with finding a replacement, and after couple of months of searching, they found an excellent new vehicle for the club. It's a 3 litre Iveco, with space for 20 seats, … Read more "New Launch Point Bus"
Bluebell was our mainstay for instructing for many years, after she was supplied new in 1950 to Cambridge University Gliding Club (now Cambridge Gliding Club). (New price £587.0s.0d). She has racked up nearly 80000 (yes eighty thousand!) launches and something like 10500 flying hours. Since then, she has had various periods of little or no … Read more "Bluebell flies again"
