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Terry,
Tis is just brilliant. Can't see way I'm
ttyping, there is a poqer cut.
Gile Taylir
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 8:20
PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Aero-tow
question(s)
rolf a. buelter wrote:
When
I was a little boy I've seen a Tigermoth tow Grunau Babies and Rhoenlerche
(K4). Doubt however that anybody calculated anything. Rgds -
Rolf
Oh we did Rolf. Believe me, we did!
My
recollections of the few aerotows I had behind a Tiger Moth, mostly in a
Boomerang or Ka6, was that of constant calculation about whether we
would clear the increasingly sharply focussing fence at the far end of the
strip in use, and at the same time wrestling with the other constantly
changing dilemma: "Where, and how the hell do I land if this turns pear
shaped?".
I still recall with surprising clarity an especially generous
close inspection of the the creek off the end of the Stonefield strip in our
Boomerang of the time with (I think) the ASC Tiger Moth somewhere up ahead
doing its best to make a go of things. I never thought that gliding
would offer such brief and fascinating expeditions into the worlds of both
geology and geography whilst still on tow ......
It was still fun
though :-)
During the late night sessions of waiting for outlanding
pilots to return to Waikerie in the 1974 World comps, the chief scorer - the
late Reg Barrington told of a hilarious episode (more so in retrospect than
perhaps at the time) of a certain very well known German pilot, one of the
team practising at Renmark a few weeks earlier.
It was decided that in
addition to the generously ballasted ASW-17, the aerotow would also be a good
opportunity to take up a photographer in the front of the Tiger Moth. It
was, as you would recognise and recall instantly, a classic hot and still
summer's day.
The already marginal combination was not assisted by the
photographer attempting to wriggle around in his seat and trying to get some
really good shots of the following glider by leaning out of the cockpit of the
Tiger into the slipstream with the (bulky) camera pointed backwards.
It transpired almost immediately that this was the critical factor
between climb and sink. Reg told of the many onlookers' total disbelief
and silence as this unlikely combination reluctantly staggered into the air at
the far end of the Renmark strip. He said that if a train had attempted
to traverse the line at the end of the strip at that instant, there would have
been a collision. Apparently the climb progressed between no sink and
marginal climb for the entire episode, with some suggestion that they were
almost abeam Loxton before the petrified tuggy decided there was enough
altitude to throw a cautious turn. Reg swore that if it wasn't for the
curvature of the earth, any real climb would have been impossible, a phrase
and observation no doubt hatched from his wartime experiences as a Lancaster
pilot.
Far fetched? Exaggerated? Well perhaps ever so
slightly, perhaps not. However the event did take place, and perhaps the
prime lesson from this tale remains that the Tiger Moth cannot be considered
as the optimum tug for all situations. This still holds true today;
indeed more so.
Those late evening / early morning discussions in the
scoring office at Waikerie with Reg and Noel Jones, alas both now departed,
were immensely rewarding, enjoyable and contemplative. It was a totally
unexpected bonus from an event I was fortunate to have been involved in, and
will never forget.
Regards,
Terry
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