wrote:
Nigel Baker wrote:
I have read the launch methods with interest and add
this one, which has not come up yet.
Excuse the ramblings but you may find the story interesting.
Two early gliding Pioneers in Australia called Kevin
Sedgeman and Keith Jarvis were actively building Gliders
in the late 50's having moved on from Primary's. They
built one of Keith's own designs for himself called
the Joey which was a success so they went on to build
a second variant for Kevin (again built to fit the
pilot) called the Jumbuck. As both of these men were
short and slight of build in those days the aircraft
were built to a small and light specification with
a wingspan of only 10mts and an empty weight of 72kgs
(yes that is correct as I rang him to check). Around
1960 Kevin wanted to get his 5 hours and decided slope
soaring was the way to achieve it.
Thus with the weather in his favour he set of one morning
to O'Halloran Hill south of Adelaide on the coast with
two if his employees. After rigging on the lee side
of the hill back from the cliffs he discovered they
had left the auto tow rope behind. In true pioneering
spirit he didn't let this oversight end his attempt
but instead they dragged the glider to the top of the
hill where there was a sloping drop for about 20mts
before the cliff. After briefing the crew he climbed
in and strapped up watching the ASI and waiting for
the moment. The gusts were going to 27mph which was
not a lot less than stall so with the crew under the
wings on each side hunched over with shoulders under
the spar area and hand gripping the top of the wing
strut he shouted ready as a gust went up to 27 and
they lifted the glider up and walked at a brisk pace
towards the cliff. Of course with the wind on the nose
it was not as heavy to lift as you might think and
soon they were pulling the aircraft forward by the
struts rather than lifting. Apart from things almost
coming unstuck when one of the crew failed to let go
at the right time it was successful. The crew went
back to work for the remainder of the day and returned
after the prescribed 5 hours or so to find him still
flying the ridge. He landed on the beach having achieved
7 hours. An amazing but true story of a feat that he
never repeated thankfully as he survived a lifetime
of gliding and is still flying at 85 years of age.
In the last year he made the decision to fly dual only
now and has given his last aircraft which was a home
built self launcher to a museum.
Thus we can add Hand Launching to the list.

Nigel Baker.


Nigel,
thanks a lot for that beautiful story.

Yes, a good story.

I think the Wrights did something similar with the 1902 glider. IIRC
they too it to the top of a sandhill, the pilot got settled and then the
glider was picked up by its outer struts and hand launched pretty much
as Nigel described. Unfortunately I've loaned my copy of "Kill Devil
Hill" to another glider pilot, so can't check the details.


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