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Believe you can find a technical paper by John Cohn
on PA18 Super Cub towing performance in the Jan 1972 Australian
Gliding Magazine.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 5:39
AM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Aero-tow
question(s)
Have done heaps of tiger tows (VH-BUG inc that
real short strip -now the caravan park- at Keepit before the present strip was
even thought of) and always thought rope loops back to wing were
normal. The last tiger tow I can remember was behind "banger" going
west at warwick AD taking off 1/3 down runway (without a down hill slope
to help) with water in PIKB after relight. For the next 20 min or
so I had ZERO idea where the airfield was and finally I got thrown off in
thermal in the middle of one of those loops as Trevor stood the
tiger on its wing totally forgetting I had water on. I seem to
remember Max Hall in Chipmunk and the Auster were no better infact maybe
worse. I don't think they (QSA) ever invited Trevor B back as we
then got Citabria 150 or Pawnee 150 or SuperCub and of course they are a
thing of the past (except PA18 180hp). I can assure all motorglider tows
are far better than a Tiger Moth and better than citabria/pawnee
150hp No not a Tiger please - and then of course there was
the 1/4 litre of oil that had deposited itself over your wings - it was
the oil not the bugs in those days - I can always remember stopping
for oil during towing in between fuel stops!!!! That was an Auster
VH-RES Hopeless!!!-------------Ian
McPhee
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 4:14
PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Aero-tow
question(s)
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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